Melissa Ingold — March 18, 2019 — March 18, 2019
Isn’t it weird that getting started is always crazy-hard?
You can realize that you definitely need to start outsourcing some tasks, hire a fabulous virtual assistant, and prepare yourself mentally to hand off workloads…but actually pulling the trigger might feel overwhelming.
Are you assigning the right tasks to your virtual assistant?
Should you be keeping some of this work on your own plate?
Was all of this a massive mistake??!?
Deep breath, lovely. You’re doing the right thing!
And I’m here to give you some guidance on which tasks are absolutely ideal for outsourcing to a virtual assistant. Stick to these, and you’ll never have to worry about juggling everything yourself again!
Administrative tasks that you can outsource to a virtual assistant
APPOINTMENT SCHEDULING TASKS
Why it should go to a virtual assistant: VA stands for virtual assistant, which means schedule management is almost a given! With shared electronic calendars, you can give her access and put her in charge of getting all of your appointments set, including logistics.
Risks: If you schedule personal events that don’t make it onto your shared calendar, conflicts may arise.
Rewards: You’ll spend less valuable energy hashing out the details of meetings. You can just check your calendar and head to your appointments feeling confident and prepared.
INVOICING TASKS
Why it should go to a virtual assistant: Full-on accounting can take a specific skill set, but sending out invoices is a simple, repetitive task. So long as your VA has accurate billing information, she can handle this workload quickly and easily.
Risks: Clerical errors are inevitable … but if you’re anything like me, you make them yourself on occasion, too!
Rewards: With your VA in charge of invoicing, you’ll never forget to bill a client again. Income will roll in faster and more predictably.
Customer support tasks that you can outsource to a virtual assistant
EMAIL MANAGEMENT TASKS
Why it should go to a virtual assistant: Answering emails is time-consuming and distracting, especially when many of them involve questions that you’ve answered 963 times before. Even sorting through your inbox and figuring out what needs addressing is a time-suck! A good VA can do the sorting, respond to the simple requests, and funnel the important stuff to you.
Risks: Occasionally, your VA may reply to an email that actually needed your personal attention.
Rewards: Less stress, more time, and the ability to focus only on top-priority correspondence.
HELP DESK TASKS
Why it should go to a virtual assistant: Most virtual assistants are tech-savvy and trained to troubleshoot, so simple help desk requests are a perfect fit. Even putting your VA in charge of facilitating communication between customers and a tech expert will save you time and trouble.
Risks: Some requests will stump your VA, and she may offer incorrect answers on occasion. (Proper training and constructive feedback should correct this over time.)
Rewards: Your customers get faster responses to their questions, which makes them feel valued and appreciated.
FACEBOOK GROUP ADMIN TASKS
Why it should go to a virtual assistant: Responding to Facebook comments takes some finesse, which means it can be ridiculously time-consuming. Train your VA on brand-aligned responses, and put her in charge of monitoring discussions.
Risks: Trolls. Can’t avoid ‘em!
Rewards: Facebook highlights fast response times, so having your VA manage your group will get you a stellar rating. It also takes an important but low-level task off your plate.
Operations tasks that you can outsource to a virtual assistant
FUNNEL DEVELOPMENT TASKS
Why it should go to a virtual assistant: So long as your VA has some writing skills—and most do—she can take the classic sales funnel formula and tweak it to suit your latest offerings and products.
Risks: Relatively few, especially if you proof her work yourself.
Rewards: A pair of fresh eyes on your funnel emails, and you’ll have more time to spend developing and honing the products themselves!
MEMBERSHIP MANAGEMENT TASKS
Why it should go to a virtual assistant: Welcoming new community members, answering questions, and reminding fans of upcoming events are easy tasks … but ones no entrepreneur should handle herself.
Risks: Some followers may prefer a response from the business owner. (Most will never know the difference.)
Rewards: Fans are happy, connected, and well looked-after.
Marketing tasks that you can outsource to a virtual assistant
ADVERTISING MANAGEMENT TASKS
Why it should go to a virtual assistant: If you run ads or use affiliate programs, you know these things take some maintenance and tinkering. Your VA can make sure plugins are up to date, revenue is flowing, and links are all correct.
Risks: If she doesn’t notice a tech issue, some money may be lost … but frequent check-ins can curb this issue.
Rewards: With a talented VA in charge, advertising becomes a truly passive income stream!
SOCIAL MEDIA TASKS
Why it should go to a virtual assistant: Many virtual assistants excel at social media management and maintenance. In fact, some ONLY handle these specific workloads. Make sure your marketing vision is clear, give some guidelines and provide some SOPs, and set your VA to dazzling your followers.
Risks: Social media is where most people learn about you, so missteps can be painful. Step in personally if something truly controversial pops up.
Rewards: You can rest easy knowing that your profiles are fantastic, your follower counts are growing, and all you have to do is offer high-level guidance on occasion.
CONTENT DEVELOPMENT TASKS
Why it should go to a virtual assistant: As an online entrepreneur, pumping out content is a HUGE part of what you do to promote your work and offerings. It can be tough to keep up if you’re writing everything yourself. Instead, generate some ideas and outlines, but entrust the content creation to your VA.
Risks: If your VA isn’t a decent writer, your content may be sub-par. Only outsource content to someone whose skills match (or surpass!) your own.
Rewards: With a talented VA in charge, you can keep high-quality content flowing through your marketing channels. You focus on strategy, and entrust execution to your assistant.
GRAPHIC DESIGN TASKS
Why it should go to a virtual assistant: Your graphics need to be branded, consistent, and absolutely stellar … and as a modern business owner, you need TONS of them. Most of us post graphics as often as we post writing, and that means they need to be created and tweaked almost daily. So time-intensive!
Risks: Some VAs are more artistically savvy than others. If yours is a beginner and you task her with creating graphics from scratch, she may botch them. (Consider graphics templates in this case.)
Rewards: Gorgeous visuals to accompany your messages, on-brand images and visual consistency, all without having to open Photoshop yourself!
Your virtual assistant may have other talents or skill sets that fall outside of these 11 tasks, and if so, use them!
Find out what she loves to do, and devise a way for her to do it on your behalf. But if you’re just establishing a relationship and aren’t sure of her strengths, pick a few of these tasks to start with, and you’ll soon see where she shines!
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