Virtual teams

Help for smaller service businesses and solopreneurs.

Grow your business, get more done, more quickly,

and feel less overwhelmed.

There are 8 tell-tale signs a virtual team might help you grow your business.

Is this you?

1. You can’t afford a full time (or even a part-time) employee.
2. There are tasks you need doing for which you have no expertise, but which are important to the growth of your business. Currently, you’re trying to do these by yourself (and you might be hating it!)
3. You have some “one-off” tasks you need doing.
4. You really never wanted to go down the “employee” route, with all its rules, regulations and red tape.
5. You have a home based business and have no wish to change that.
6. You are looking to utilise the potential of the internet as part of your business strategy.
7. You are feeling overwhelmed with the amount of tasks you need to do in order to maintain the business; sometimes things fall through the cracks.
8. Customer service is not as good as it could or should be.

If any of this resonates for you, then read on!

Let me start by saying I hire virtual assistants….

I couldn’t run my business without them!

So this aspect of building a team is something I’ve learned and now practice.

And for those of you who know me, you know I like to walk the talk!

But knowing how to find, advertise, hire, train and keep good virtual assistants is a skill, just like building and motivating a bigger team is!

(Cathy – One of my virtual assistants)

There are some fundamental principles you need to be aware of, and which you need to implement if you’re going to make this really work for you.

Let’s face it; the reason any business hires anyone at all, is because it’s an investment designed to help the business grow and prosper. You need the right people, and you need them to be motivated and productive for you. None of that changes if you hire virtual support, but there are some additional challenges managing a virtual team brings which you need to be aware of.

As with building a traditional team, there are some critical steps you need to take if you’re going to to make this work.

Some of the most frequently asked questions I get include:

1. Where do I look for a virtual assistant?
2. When should I be thinking about hiring support?
3. What sort of tasks can I outsource to someone virtually?
4. Don’t you need someone who lives close to you so you can meet?
5. How can you trust someone you’ve never physically met?
6. What does virtual support cost?
7. How do I know they’re actually working the hours I’m paying them for?
8. Will hiring virtual support help me grow my business?
9. I’ve tried using a VA but it didn’t work out  – how do I avoid making costly mistakes?

In response to people asking me how I’ve done it I’ve developed the following: