What were you struggling with in your business that led you to begin working with virtual assistant?
I have: creative chaos brain, which means I get easily overwhelmed and my ability to prioritize effectively basically disappears and everything starts to look important.
When I launched Baby Got Booked in August 2014, I knew I had to do things differently. And I was going to need more than just willpower and my addiction to business blogs.
I needed structure brain. Basically, I needed to hire someone to be the boss of me.
Tell us a little about what you have delegated and how you work together?
My VA, though drawn to my high-energy visionary style, was more of a structure person: a list-maker and a note-taker. She thought things through and was more detail-oriented than me. We tried a couple of different systems for our daily to-do list.
How has working with a virtual assistant supported your business, and you personally?
I wasn’t allowed to deviate on our pre-decided list that we hashed out at the beginning of each week. Her ability to keep us on track and keep my energy focused allowed me to quadruple her hours and double her rate within six weeks of her starting.
What differences have you noticed in your business since you started working with a virtual assistant?
As a novice leader, I made all the usual mistakes: I’d delegate without a clear enough explanation. I’d allow myself to get so tied up with my own tasks that I wasn’t helping my VA plan hers. At this point she actually sat me down (she was the boss of me, after all) and we had a long discussion about her expanded roles as well as where we wanted to take our company.
What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs seeking virtual assistants?
- You need to be brutally honest with yourself. Nobody’s perfect and having a clear sense of your failings will allow you to hire to fill the gaps. This helps you focus on the stuff you rock at.
- Hire for attitude and aptitude rather than skills. Hire one for the parts they love and will excel at rather than what they say they’re willing to take on just because they need the hours.
- Stop expecting people to read your mind. Plain and simple.
- Hire before you’re desperate. Get help before you’re drowning in deadlines and dropping too many balls. If you’re waiting to be “too busy” so you have “extra” budget, you’ll likely squander any money you do spend because you won’t have the time to properly select, train and set up your team.
Want to learn more about Geeta Nadkarni and her business? Visit her website here.
Looking to hire your own virtual assistant? Start here!
Award-winning journalist, world-renowned speaker and passionate entrepreneurship advocate Geeta Nadkarni has 20+ years of experience producing print, TV, radio and new media for outlets including the CBC, CNN, Global TV, Reader’s Digest and more and was voted “Best TV Personality” by the readers of the Montreal Mirror. Her online course, Baby Got Booked teaches entrepreneurs how to do their own PR and has landed students local, national and international coverage within weeks (sometimes even days) of starting. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
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