Hey everybody, welcome to the Becky Beach Show. I’m becky beach and today we’re going to be diving into a topic that can truly transform your business. Its all about hiring a virtual assistant or va. If youre feeling overwhelmed with your workload and looking for ways to scale your business, this episode is for you.

One of the best decisions I’ve made in my business is hiring a full-time VA from the Philippines. Today, I’ll share with you my experience in the process I followed and some tips to help you find and work effectively with a VA. So why should you hire a VA?

Running a business can be incredibly demanding, and there are only so many hours in the day. A Va can take over the tasks that consume your time, allowing you to focus on the strategic aspects of your business. Whether it’s administrative tasks, product creation, managing sales pages, or handling shop listings, a VA can be a game changer.

So, for administrative tasks, you should think about the daily tasks that take up a lot of your time, such as answering emails, scheduling appointments, and managing customer inquiries. A VA can handle these tasks, freeing up your time for more important matters. It would be best if you always did your creative genius. There are lots of tasks that you may not be the best at, so you can hire a VA to tackle these. A VA can help with product creation because product creation can be very time-consuming.

But with a VA, you can delegate parts of the process such as the research and design or even write content like mine. My VA actually designs the products in Canva and PowerPoint. That increases the number of products I can sell by having my VA do it.

Maintaining and updating your sales pages and shop listings is crucial if you sell products online. A VA can keep everything current and optimized for conversions. So the way to find the right VA is to find mine through onlinejobs.ph, which is a platform for specifically hiring Filipinos.

The subscription is $99 a month, which allows you to post job descriptions and review candidates. Even if you only need it to use it for a month, it’s worth the investment. So what you should do is you sign up first on onlinejobs.ph. Then you should post a job description so be as detailed as possible about the tasks, required skills and the nature of your business so you can find the right candidate and spend time going through the applicants, look at their resumes, previous work, and most importantly, the reviews from past employers. Some people will read the job description automatically sending you their cv or resume.

So I always put in like some hidden text in the job description to make sure the person reads it. And that helps you find someone that’s detail-oriented, which is always good, too. So then you can conduct interviews via Skype or Zoom or just any other video platform to get a feel for their communication skills and personality. You probably want to do it later at night because that’s when it’s morning for them. If you’re hiring someone from the Philippines, another great platform is upwork.com, where you can also find talented VAs. Just read the reviews and feedback from the previous clients to ensure you’re hiring someone reliable and skilled.

And I don’t recommend using Fiverr. There’s a lot of unskilled workers on there. I have hired a few people at Fiverr when I was first getting started, and they just didn’t do a really good job. So when I went to Upwork, I found that there were more skilled workers there and also onlinejobs.ph if you’re wanting Filipinos only.

A lot of entrepreneurs will hire Filipinos because, first of all, they charge a lot less than people in the US because money goes a long way in the Philippines. Also, Filipinos are hard-working as a culture.

They take a lot of pride in their work. They’re really awesome people. Like every Filipino I’ve ever hired, I’ve tried their best to do a good job. There are some that didn’t do a good job and they ghosted me. But the thing is, with a Filipino worker, most of them, you have to praise them because if you just constantly criticize them, like, it hurts their feelings, and they could ghost you. So make sure you praise them. That’s what I recommend.

Because as a culture, they’re very sensitive about their work. So make sure you give them plenty of praise. I’m not saying every Filipino is like this, but just in general, what I’ve noticed, because I’ve hired lots of Filipinos over the years, of course, there’s other people in other countries you may want to hire, even people in the us if you want someone in the same time zone as you, but it’s going to cost you a lot more. So back to Upwork, just like online jobs.ph, you know, clarity is the key when you’re posting a job listing, you should filter applicants.

Use Upwork’s filters to narrow down candidates based on skills, hourly rates, and more. You should view their work history, look at their completed projects, client feedback, and ratings so now we’re going to talk about training your VA. When I hired my VA, I needed to ensure she was well trained. She didn’t have any of the skills I was looking for, so I had to train her to on things she didn’t know. Like she knew nothing about Canva. She knew nothing about Amember, how to list product listings on Etsy, Amember or Shopify.

I had to teach her to do all these things and she didn’t know how to make sales pages. I did this by recording videos of myself performing the various duties in my business, and these videos were then uploaded to a dedicated folder on Google Drive that she could access anytime. That way she could watch and re watch the training videos as needed. This method not only saved me a lot of time, but also ensured that she could learn at her own pace. The way I created the training videos was I made a list of all the tasks that I want my VA to handle.

Then I recorded the process. I used screen recording software, I used Ecamm live, and I’ve also used loom to record videos to capture my screen as I’m performing the tasks. And loom is free to use up to five minutes or you can pay and you can have a longer time and Camtasia is also good. To get. To record your screen, you should provide context, explaining why each step is important and any tips you’ve learned from experience.

You should organize the videos like share them in a clearly labeled folder on Google Drive that they get access to and consider breaking them down into subfolders by task type. And I do that like if I want, if I have a product listing folder and inside there, there’s like how to list on Shopify, how to list on Etsy, how to list on Amember.

I keep them really organized in there and then as for product management, we use Trello and it’s excellent tool for organizing tasks and projects. Since my VA starts work at 7:00 p.m. my time and works through the night, Terrell allows me to assign tasks that she can work on independently. I create detailed cards for each task with instructions, checklists, and deadlines.

That way she knows exactly what needs to be done and by when, because otherwise she’ll bother me during the night she has before in the middle of the night she has bothered me because she was confused about something. So she called me on Skype and I have the I have the notification on for that. So when someone calls me on Skype I can hear it and they woke me up in the middle of night like at 02:00 a.m. and I had to help her, but I’ve told her not to do that, to just leave the leave the question for the morning because I try to get up early like at 05:00 a.m. so because she’ll still be working by then and then I could help her with anything she’s having trouble with.

Like I do that a lot of times. The way to set up Trello is you should create a board for your business and add lists. Like add lists to categorize the tasks, like to do list and progress completed. You should create cards and each card represents a task. Add detailed descriptions, checklists and due dates.

Then you could add relevant files or links to each card for easy access. And communication is key when you’re working with your via, especially if you’re in different time zones and we use Skype for regular check ins and discuss any issues or questions that she may have.

Having this open line of communication ensures that we’re always on the same page and can quickly resolve any problems that arise and some effective communication practices that you should do regular check inside of. Schedule weekly or bi weekly meetings to review progress and address any concerns. But we do it every single day. Like I’m always checking in to see when she’s doing her work and when she starts work I want her to tell me in Skype, and when she stops work I want her to say stop and then tell me what she worked on during that day so I’ll know. And also give her paid days off too.

But she’s paid a salary each month and I give her clear instructions. I ensure that the task instructions are clear and concise to avoid misunderstandings and we do a feedback loop. I encourage her to provide feedback on the processes and tasks to improve efficiency. So it’s always good to get feedback from your VA on your instruction video.

Maybe your instruction video didn’t make any sense, so you should rerecord parts that make more that would make more sense to her. You can also do a PDF with screenshots. If you don’t want to be on video, you can just do that and give that to your VA because people learn different ways. But my VA is very visual so making videos helps her learn.

But maybe your VA would prefer to read so you could make like some screenshots and like a PDF with text about different tasks that way if you want. But for me, it’s just faster to make videos. And plus she learns the best with videos. And right now I’m in the process of hiring another full time VA to further support my business. I really would like to hire someone in the US to support me. I can talk to her during the day because they’re in my same time zone, like, that’d be very helpful.

So I’ve been looking on Upwork to find someone. I’ve also been looking in my own community, and right now I have two additional part time vas. They’re more like on a project basis, and they handle specific tasks when needed. And that allows me to scale my operations with the overhead of full time employees. So you may want to do that. Just hire a Va on a project basis. Like say you want a printable done, you just hire a va that’s good at designing printables. Or if you need a sales page done, you might want to hire a va just for that. And then when they’re done, you pay them for their work. And then when you need some more work, you could hire them again. And the benefits of project based vas, there’s a lot of flexibility.

You can bring in additional help as needed without committing to a long term contract. And a lot of them will have specialized skills, like they have specific expertise for particular projects. Like I’ve been hired some contractors to make spreadsheets that I sell, and it’s very cost effective. You pay only for the work done, making it budget friendly option for scaling your business. So that’s another good reason to do project based vas instead of like a full time VA. But it’s always good to have a full time VA if you can afford it and you have lots of work for them to do. Like, I just have a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done in my business and my VA just has so much work to do. So I thought about hiring a second full time VA to help her. So hiring a VA has not only helped me manage my workload more effectively, but also allowed me to scale my business faster.

The additional support, I’m able to focus on creating new products and marketing strategies that drive growth because I have my zone of genius and I don’t want to sit there and make sales pages. Like, I will write the copy, but setting up the sales page is like, that’s what she does, and I’ll just go and write the copy because I’m good at writing sales copy. I’m good at other things like that. She’s also good at creating marketing graphics and I’m pretty good at making graphics too, but it just takes a long time. So it’s good to have someone on staff that is also well trained on canva that could create really good quality graphics that advertise my business.

Some benefits that I noticed. That effect that helped me personally was I have a lot more increased productivity because I delegate the time consuming tasks and focus on high impact activities. Because you gotta think about of yourself as the CEO of your business. You know, a CEO isn’t sitting there making sales pages, you know, and listing products. Of course not. They have hired people to do that for them. Like a CEO only focuses on what they do best. So it also helps your work life balance and it frees up your schedule to spend more time on personal pursuits or with your family.

I had no hobbies before I hired my full time VA because I would work well into the night, I would work on the weekends. I just never had any time. And I would put stuff off. Like I wanted to do some products, but I would just put them off to the last minute to get them out and have a membership. So my membership has reoccurring products I’m giving these members. My membership is businessbeachclub.com and every single month you get a commercial use product bundle and my VA helps me create those bundles. She’s like a lifesaver because otherwise I’ll do it.

I had to do it myself before I hired her and it would take me a long time to do, but now my VA could do it. Like why I’m asleep. And while I’m asleep I know the products being worked on and that helps increase my productivity and my business growth and it helps me with my work life balance. And with more hands on deck you can expand your product offerings and reach more customers because now I spend a lot of my time, you know, joining summits and bundles.

Like when I hired the other Va. I’m thinking that she’ll like fill out the bundles and summits for me because I think that would be a great thing. But I need someone that’s a really good english speaker. So I’m thinking about hiring someone in the continental us that has a similar time zone. Like either ESt probably don’t want someone that’s in PST that’s like 2 hours from me. Like me. Someone in Est or CST would be best. And that way he or she could fill out summits and bundle forms for me and create like summit and bundle like free products and like make email sequences.

Like that would be really helpful because I spent a lot of time doing that. Like I had tried to enter multiple summits and bundles each week. So with someone to help me do that, that would free up so much work. And then I could focus on creating courses, which is my zone of genius is creating courses and writing sales copy. Like, I’m really good at that. I’m also good at coming up with product ideas too.

I do like a lot of my product research to study the market, to see what’s currently trending, what’s currently going to sell, and I give those ideas to my VA to create the products. I’ll do a layout of the planner and then my VA looks at my layout and makes it into Canva. It makes a prototype for my wireframe. So I have some tips for hiring a VA. You should be clear in your job description detailed the tasks and skills required to attract the right candidate and you should take your time reviewing the candidates, look at their experience, reviews and sample work if it’s available.

So take your time reviewing your candidates, look at their experience, reviews, and sample work. You should always ask for work they have done in the past. You can even ask them for some references that you can reach out to to see what their work style is like. That’s always good to do. You should start with a trial period. This helps you gauge their performance and fit for your business. Like what I do when I hiring a hiring a coloring book artist is I’ll give them a $20 project to do and I’ll like have some outlandish drawing they need to do because otherwise they could copy and steal someone else’s work or use AI.

I’ll give them outlandish project to do and I tell them to make it in color and black and white and it’s pretty difficult to make to make a page in AI in both color and black and white looks the same. I guess they could remove the color in like Photoshop or canva, but I tend to ask them for their portfolio and I make sure the art styles match. Because these days with AI you’re trying to hire an artist to make coloring pages or illustrations or clip art. You want someone to do it hand drawn, you got to make sure that art styles match. You should provide comprehensive training. Use videos and documentations to ensure that they understand your processes.

You can use project management tools like Trello and there’s a sauna and many others. They can streamline tasks, assignments and tracking. You can maintain open communication. Regular check in and updates are crucial for a smooth working relationship. There’s a lot of timekeeping software out there. There’s one called Clockify and it’s a free timekeeping software for tracking and managing work hours online. And several others are only Google search away if you want some more options. Now let me share a specific example of how my VA has helped me. One of the key tasks she handles is creating product listings from my online store.

Before hiring her, I would spend hours each week writing descriptions, uploading images, optimizing listings for SEO. She takes care of all this and I’ve noticed a significant increase in my productivity. I can now dedicate that time developing new products and marketing strategies hiring manager VA isn’t without its challenges. Here are some common issues and how to address them. There are time zone differences, but tools like Trello and Skype make communication more effective. You should set clear expectations and deadlines. That also helps too. There are cultural differences. Be mindful of cultural differences in work styles. Take the time to understand your VA’s background and encourage an open dialogue about work preferences.

Like I said with the Filipinos, their culture, they’re very hardworking and they don’t like to be criticized without being complimented. So first you should compliment them and then criticize them because as a culture they’re very sensitive about their work. And if you just constantly criticize them, they could ghost you because they don’t want to work with someone that’s going to treat them badly. So make sure you’re very kind and friendly to them and compliment them. And if they are, if they’re still trying to learn, even though you’ve given like some videos and everything, then you may want to just find someone else if they still can’t learn after you’ve tried to teach them tasks in your business and that this can be for any culture, really. Like people in general don’t like to be criticized constantly.

That’s what I always do anyway. When I’m managing someone I like to compliment before I criticize. Like tell them what they did that was good and then say, well, you could do this. Like some criticisms, make sure it’s constructive criticism, not anything that would be negative.

So you should also do trust and delegation. It can be hard to let go of control, but trust is essential. Start with smaller tasks and gradually increase responsibility as your VA proves their reliability. Like my VA now has access to my shops and the systems. You know, when I trust her not to go through and delete products and ruin my shop listings or anything like that. So I know that she wouldn’t do that because I have a lot of trust in her and hiring a VA can be a pivotal step in scaling your business.

It allows you to delegate time consuming tasks, you can focus on strategic growth and ultimately achieve a better work life balance. If you’re considering hiring a VA, platforms like onlinejobs, PH and upwork are great places to start. So I hope you found these insights helpful and feel inspired to take the next step in scaling your business. If you have any questions or topics you’d like me to cover in future episodes, feel free to reach out by emailing me at becky@coachbeckybeach.com and make sure to check out the Businessbeachclub.com membership has everything you need to start and scale your own digital product business. We’re actually doing a seven dollar sale next month and the deadline is August 9.

So, if you join the Business Beach Club today, you could submit a product for this sale, and you can reach a whole you can reach a big audience because I have 166,000 subscribers and I promote the products to over 500 affiliates. Plus everybody in the sale promotes to their own audiences too. So you can reach quite a lot of people. And a lot of people in the sale are new sellers, so it is newbie friendly. So again, join the businessbeachclub.com and also check out the show notes at beckybeatshow.com well have a great day. Goodbye.