The 4 Elements of a Great Virtual Assistant Job Description | STP 181
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Alyssa Avant: those are different types of tasks that you might best be outsourced because you want to stay in the area of your expertise and your area, your zone of genius, if you will. And so in order to do that, you have to let go of some of the other tasks.
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Welcome & Introduction
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Speaker: Delegation sounds simple until you sit down and ask, "W- what exactly am I handing off? How do they do it? Where do they find the tools? What do they need?" That's where a good job description can save you a lot of frustration. So in this episode, Alyssa Avant is gonna talk to us about the four things to include in a virtual assistant job description so that your virtual assistant knows exactly what you need, what success looks like, and how you want to work together.
Very important stuff. And if you're thinking about delegation, here's something else that, uh, you can take off your plate. It's HIPAA [00:01:00] compliance. I have a HIPAA compliance workshop coming up with Nata- Dr. Natasha Guess, who can help you work through your HIPAA compliance, too. She has a workbook and toolkit, This... The workshop is a $500 value, where you can talk through your HIPAA compliance issues and do the toolkit, and then come out with a 30-day plan that will keep you in HIPAA compliance. You can find the virtual assistant job description handout resource in the show notes, as well as how to sign up for the HIPAA compliance toolkit workshop in the show notes. Now, let's get into the episode
James Marland: Hello and welcome back to the Scaling Therapist Podcast. This is Ja. I'm your host, James Marlin. This is the show where I help you take your idea to impact and put your mission in motion. And today we have Alyssa Avant. She's from Alyssa Avant and Company, and [00:02:00] she's gonna talk to us today about virtual assistance and. Helping you assign tasks and get, get the most benefit from your investment in your virtual assistant. Hello, Alyssa?
Alyssa Avant: Hey, thanks for having me back. So we just learned that I've been on twice, so this is actually my third time. That's exciting.
James Marland: Episode 46, we talked about how to improve your virtual assistant results with communication, and then episode one 19. Five questions to ask yourself before hiring a virtual assistant. Virtual assistants are near and dear to my heart.
I helped run a virtual assistant company and we helped therapists, schedule clients and just we took the load off. And just when things work, you can see in their eyes, right? Like, do you get that feeling too?
Alyssa Avant: ~I do too. Yeah, exactly. ~Because I work with authors and speakers and coaches and ~um, ~I see that, especially when I got to meet 'em in person. You know, that was really fun. I just went to an author conference and that was fun to meet my clients in person.
James Marland: ~what, uh, ~
Alyssa Avant: ~It is in Andalusia, Alabama. ~
James Marland: ~Uh, you, you, ~
Alyssa Avant: ~We were just, ~
James Marland: ~And I am like North and Midwestern. Uh, that's where I grew up. So anyways, uh, yeah. ~That's awesome. ~Uh, ~that you get to [00:03:00] meet your clients. It's just so neat when you see the, the, the, the weights fall off their shoulders like, oh, you, I can delegate this. I can, somebody else can do this and I can work on other things, or
Alyssa Avant: Yeah. Or what they are really good at. Yeah.
James Marland: I can do what I'm really good at. It's such an amazing feeling. so, ~uh, ~we're gonna talk about, ~um, ~how do you get the most from your virtual assistant? Probably by delegating tasks and ~doing some, ~doing some job description. Like how do you even set it ~up? Do you, so let's, let's set this ~up. Do you, do you have people come to you? And they don't know what they want. They know they need help, but they don't know what they need help with. Does that happen?
Alyssa Avant: ~um, ~I have people that come a lot of times other people will recommend to them that they need a va. And maybe they realize they're overwhelmed, but they don't understand what they can actually outsource, so they get overwhelmed with that idea. So it just, it's like overwhelmed on top of overwhelm.
And [00:04:00] so they're usually, ~um, ~I give them a process by which to kind of determine what it is that you. Can outsource and you know what it is that you can take off your plate because there's a lot of things that there you might be good at, but it doesn't mean you should be doing it or you know, I try to tell them what is overwhelming you the most?
What is, the source of. ~You know, ~your sleepless nights or you know, just spending too much time on these tasks. And so if you make some different lists, ~um, ~that will help you to determine, you know, what do I hate doing or dislike doing? cause I tell people, just because you can doesn't mean you should.
James Marland: Right.
Alyssa Avant: ~I can do this, but it takes me a long time. Um, ~those are different types of tasks that you might best be outsourced because you want to stay in the area of your expertise and your area, your zone of genius, if you will. And so in order to do that, you have to let go of some of the other tasks. So typically those are like [00:05:00] admin tasks.
Techy tasks that maybe you don't understand that much, or tasks that just take you an incredibly long amount of time. So that's kind of where we start to help them to determine what it is they could outsource.
James Marland: Yeah, ~when, when we, ~when I've talked about this before or when I read about it,
The 80/20 Principle
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James Marland: it's sort of like the 80 20 principle.
Alyssa Avant: Yes.
James Marland: ~uh, ~20% of your, the benefit comes from, or the other way to other way around 20%. 80% of the benefit comes from 20% of what you do
we spend, what I'm trying to say is we spend a lot of time. On things that are not the best benefit that
Alyssa Avant: Yep.
James Marland: bring to the company, and we only spend a short amount of time on things that bring the most amount of
Alyssa Avant: Yes. So
James Marland: 82.
Alyssa Avant: you spend 80% of your time on things that probably aren't revenue producing and 20% on of your time on things that are, and it should be the other way around,
James Marland: Yes. Yep.~ Yes. Yep. ~Figure out how to maximize where you [00:06:00] bring the most benefit. And definitely talking about your, your Zone of genius. And then the book Unique Ability. ~Um, uh, ~it's a strategic coach book. There's a workbook about. defining those things for yourself.
Alyssa Avant: Yeah.
James Marland: ~think, uh, you, ~
Writing a Job Description for Your VA
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James Marland: you also have a little process here of helping ~the, uh, the, ~the practice owner or ~the, the, ~the leader figure out what they need to focus on and where they can delegate things. ~Um, ~and ~you, ~you called it a job description, right? A
Alyssa Avant: Yes,
James Marland: description.
Alyssa Avant: correct.
to write a job description. And the reason I ask that is because a lot of times people, like we were saying, don't know what they need. And so basically a job description for a virtual assistant would include kind of the summary of what they're hoping to gain from hiring you.
~Um, ~and the responsibilities that you might have for them. So some task. ~Um, ~and then also if are there any [00:07:00] requirements or qualifications that you need? So coming into it, I often will ask them what. Programs they're working with. So for example, my team and I work with social media, marketing, email marketing, content repurposing and websites.
And so I need to know, okay, what email service provider are you using? You know, constant contact. ~Uh, ~active campaign kit, you know, making sure that it's something my team is trained in. Also with the websites, sometimes people will come to me with, ~uh, ~and this happened last week with a random website builder that I've never heard of, and there's no need for my team to struggle with.
Trying to learn a new, a new thing, you know, unless it's something that's really, really popular and it's gaining a lot of credibility, then that would be worthwhile. But, you know, those are some things. So like your, your summary of kind of what you're looking for, the [00:08:00] responsibilities, as well as any requirements or qualifications that they would need.
~So if there's specific programs, for example, and then, um, ~also it will help to ask yourself, you know, are you, are these general tasks or are these specialized tasks as well?
James Marland: What do you mean by that?
Alyssa Avant: So ~there are, I, ~I always explain that
General vs. Specialized VAs
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Alyssa Avant: the term virtual assistant is a very large term and it's almost like an umbrella term, and there's lots of other options underneath it.
Kind of like with doctors, you go to a specific doctor for like your eyes, your ears, your toes, you know, all these different things. So it's almost the same thing with a va. So we specialize in different areas of expertise. I just gave you some examples of some of the things my team and I do. But I have a VA who specializes in bookkeeping and ~she virtually does, ~she does my books virtually.
I also, ~um, ~have hired people in the past that specialized in graphic design. So they were a va, but [00:09:00] they did graphic design work. Then there are some that are specializing in podcasts. If you and I both have a podcast, ~you might have, ~you might hire a podcast virtual assistant. I have a good friend that does that, and she helps those clients with creating their show notes.
Sometimes she helps with onboarding their guests and getting everything ready for the show. So those are just some examples ~because. Many, many times. Um, and ~what I would recommend for a VA on that end of things is that they specialize or, or at least have certain, ~um, ~skills or services that they offer.
James Marland: ~So that was, uh, specialized in general. Yeah. And you were, you were saying in the summary, I think. ~I think that summary is really important because it tells them what success looks like for the owner, for the person assigning the work.
Like
Alyssa Avant: Right.
James Marland: they, how do they define the success? What are they looking for? What are the outcomes and results they're looking for? ~Uh, ~because without that section, you could say, you know, build me a website and I, [00:10:00] I'll build it, you know, I, I could even build it in the wrong program, you know, build it in
Alyssa Avant: Yes, we gotta be specific.
James Marland: And they're like, oh, I wanted it in WordPress. 'cause I really wanted this WordPress plugin that I bought that did that I needed to work. so without, without really defining what success looks like, you could be working hard but not producing exactly the results that the, the, the, the practice. So I'm just gonna call 'em practice owners.
'cause I work with a lot of therapists that that person is looking for. ~um, ~you, you found that, that, ~uh, ~that summary helps people get. Moving in the same direction.
Alyssa Avant: ~Yes, correct. ~Because expectations, ~you know, ~you want to set that expectation upfront than waiting, ~you know, ~three, six months down the road and them not, ~um, ~being happy with what you've provided. And so ~another reason, uh, or ~another way that we help do that and. ~And, um, ~I believe is helpful is to, ~you know, ~have specific questions that we ask so that ~you, ~we will know [00:11:00] exactly what they are looking for.
So, and most of the times VAs will do that. But having that ~when you, ~when you first approach the VA through, ~you know, ~creating this job description will be super helpful to you so that you are one step ahead.
James Marland: Yeah, and, and you might not know all the steps, but you do. I think ~they want, ~they know the outcome
Alyssa Avant: Yes, exactly. ~You will know the outcome that you're expecting.~
James Marland: Right. ~And, ~and who ~part of the, ~part of the struggle is like, oh, I can't outline every single step of the process. Well, nobody can outline every single step of the process
Alyssa Avant: No.
James Marland: you're like sitting there with them, doing it with them. ~Uh, uh, ~I know I've tried to assign some tasks and ~I, ~I created a long SOP on exactly how I did it, and the person's like, well, I, I don't do it this way.
And they decided not to work with me, and that is, it's not. I think I was just too detailed. Like they were
Alyssa Avant: Yeah. ~Yeah.~
James Marland: ~am I gonna find, how am I gonna do everything? Every little task that he's asking for, I was just showing her, ~I was just trying to be helpful. Like, this is how I do it. But it was, it wasn't, ~um, ~I could have [00:12:00] probably just said, the outcome of that is I want a, you know, a video and a couple, a couple, ~uh, ~social posts and they'd be like, okay, I know how to do that.
~And they'd~
Alyssa Avant: Yes. And they might have a different process by which to get there. ~Yep.~
James Marland: Yeah. ~uh, uh, ~you know, let's say, ~um, Is that a, ~
Alyssa Avant: ~For, Well, so because I've had people come to us wanting, uh, one of the things that we help with this course setup and so.~
~If we don't know that course, uh, platform. ~
James Marland: Yeah, time, time delays, mistakes, re rework. ~Um, ~All right. ~What else? ~What else? What else is involved in the job description?
Alyssa Avant: Okay, so besides, you know, choosing, am I going to be general need a general VA or a specialized va? You have to ask yourself, am I clear what I need them to do? So I have a, you know, like I shared, I have like a system for kind of. Writing down the things that take you the most time writing down a list of things that you know you don't know how to do, or you don't have time, time to do, ~um, ~that sort of thing or something that you just absolutely dread.
So the very first thing I ever outsourced was bookkeeping because I hate numbers. I'm a writer. [00:13:00] And so, ~uh, ~that was the very first thing I ever outsourced. But I had made a list of things that. I wanted to get help with, or I thought maybe I should outsource these things. And that was number one on my list.
So I kind of narrowed it down and that was the first thing that I did. So that is helpful too. ~Um, ~and then from there
Communication with Your VA
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Alyssa Avant: the next big question is about communication. And we talked about on that, that on a previous episode. I'm sure you can refer them to that, but you know, different, ~um. ~Different people like to communa communicate in different ways, and that's one of the reasons that I, ~um, ~ask that is because I find that there's some people that don't check their email as often as others, and it would be just as easy for me to, to shoot them a quick text message in order to hear back from them in a timely manner.
~Um, ~others don't want, you know, to talk on the phone. They just want to do email. So. How would they best work [00:14:00] with a, a person on a team like this? ~Um, ~and I ask what they prefer and we try to accommodate that. So you wanna think about that because, ~um, ~the team or whomever you hire, the VA that you hire, has to be willing to communicate in that way.
James Marland: Yeah, communication's a big. Big. ~It's just a, it's, it's, ~it's harder virtually, but it's not impossible.
Like
Alyssa Avant: Yeah.
James Marland: not walking past their desk and, and seeing what they're doing. You're not seeing them in the hall. You know, ~you don't, ~you don't know what, ~know, what, what's, ~what's going on in their life most of the time. And so having a way to communicate that everybody understands. One of the things that, ~um, ~one of the things that. I thought was a big for, for me, was to keep communication or most of the communication in one channel.
Alyssa Avant: Yes. ~Yes, ~absolutely.
James Marland: by email, stay in email. ~Uh, ~I have a Trello board with my assistant.
~Like we communicate~
Alyssa Avant: And that's your main source? Yeah.[00:15:00]
James Marland: That is the, if they have a question, they tag me in it. If I have some, an assignment, I put it in there. ~We, ~we try to stay out of email. But, ~um, ~no matter what you choose, having one place to go, just ~remove, ~remove so much of ~the, ~the mental burden of like, where did I see this or where is there any messages waiting for me?
Things I don't know about. Just check. Just check the source of truth and just
Alyssa Avant: ~absolutely. Well, even though I do ask. For their preference. ~One of the things that I recommend and have my team members do is to send a weekly email summarizing what was done that week, what they need from them, and what, ~um, ~they, ~uh, ~can expect to receive from the team member even. But even. Even though I say, you know, yes, let's, ~um, ~try to accommodate them if they want to receive a text message.
Usually what the biggest thing is with them is like in order to, you know, how you have to get codes and things like that from people to log [00:16:00] in to different. Services and things like that. So a lot of times if it's something that needs to be done in a timely manner, then our clients will say, will you please text me and I'll check my email.
One of the reasons why I prefer to stay in email is it's trackable and like Trello would be trackable. So, ~um, ~you don't want to have a source that you can't go back and look at, you know, you want to have a source that you can. Go back and review for sure.
James Marland: ~I, I, I, ~it just takes off so much of the burden if I know where to go and how to, how to check, and ~I do, ~I don't want to skip by that weekly email. ~Uh, uh ~Why do you send a weekly email? You know what?
Alyssa Avant: Okay.
James Marland: ~the bill at the end of the month? ~It's just, they, they, it, it helps you find out where things are going right and going wrong. And if. you have four weeks in between, you find out something's wrong. That's a long time, that's a lot of wasted time and frustration on, on everybody's part. The, the, [00:17:00] the va, the owner, the the VA company. Just everybody gets frustrated if the, the error goes on and on and on and on. So those weekly communications, I think are very critical for anybody who has a VA or if you're gonna be a va. Just keep in contact over communicate. Nobody's gonna say, oh, you send me, you know, I have too much information,
Alyssa Avant: Yeah, I find that clients really appreciate it because it helps them to know where they stand and it kind of gives them an idea of what's been accomplished and what they can expect. ~Um, ~because, you know, the lack of communication, many times I'd have clients come to us who would have. Previous experiences where the communication was not up to par, and so that's one of the reasons I started implementing that was because I had heard that so many times.
James Marland: Yeah. And, and I suppose they, they'll let you know if, if they're getting too much, you know, I'm, I have [00:18:00] too much information. Can you just gimme the facts or gimme the hours and where you're at? ~Don't~
Alyssa Avant: Yeah.
James Marland: know, don't gimme a paragraph of stuff. Just gimme like bullet points.
Alyssa Avant: Yeah, we usually bullet point
James Marland: Yep.
Alyssa Avant: ~it, it, it's not a paragraph, ~it's usually a bullet point, an update of, ~you know, um, ~deadlines and where we are on those as well as the hours.
James Marland: ~Perfect. ~Yeah. ~That, ~that just keeps you informed ~and, ~and also takes the worry off ~the, ~the owner like, oh, I, ~I wonder what they're, ~I wonder what they're working on. ~I~
Alyssa Avant: Yeah. ~What are they doing over there?~
James Marland: ~I wonder what the deadline is. Yeah, just keep 'em updated. It's, it's, it's good. ~So, okay, so we've got, ~uh, um. ~The, the summary or what, what success looks like, the programs, the tasks, communication. Are there other things on that job description that for the va.
Alyssa Avant: Yes. The last thing is that,
One-Time Projects vs. Ongoing Support
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Alyssa Avant: is there this going to be a one-time project or is this going to be an ongoing project? Because many times people will hire someone to complete a project that they're working on. For example, we, ~uh, ~mentioned like a course, so they're creating a course and they need extra support to make that happen.
Then they might hire us. To, ~uh, ~build out the [00:19:00] course in a specific program and they might not need ongoing support. So ~some pro, ~some, ~um, ~VA relationships are just for one-time projects.
James Marland: Okay, so you're kind of defining, defining the project
Alyssa Avant: Yes.
James Marland: what do you do with this when, when you've completed it?
Alyssa Avant: Well, ~um, ~usually if we've completed it and it, there is a way that we can continue to help them, like with a course, there might be communication that goes on or maybe connecting it to an email sequence, things like that. Then we will pitch to them, Hey, we could help support you in this way on a monthly basis.
~Um. ~If, if not, then you know, we just ask for their feedback and any referrals that they might have and, ~um, ~ask it if they never, ever need anything in the future, you know, to reach back out to us.
James Marland: Cool. All right. And, ~uh, ~you said you have this resource on your webpage or where, where
Alyssa Avant: Yes, I'm gonna send you the link that will go straight to the resource so that they can watch the short training video about [00:20:00] how to write a job description for their virtual assistant.
James Marland: ~So I'll, I'll include that in the show notes. ~This was very, very helpful. ~Uh, ~when you said, people are like, I know I need a va, but I don't know how to do it, and I don't know what they would do. So then they keep putting it off
Alyssa Avant: Yep.
James Marland: the, the time to hire a VA is probably about three months before you actually do hire one or
Alyssa Avant: Yeah.
James Marland: you really need one, is when you're like, oh, I got, I gotta get this done. Yeah, don't, don't hire it when you're so overwhelmed. Hire 'em just before you need it so that you can continue focusing on what you bring the best to. So, Alyssa, so much for being on the show.
Where to Find Alyssa & Wrap-Up
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James Marland: Can you tell us where people can find more about you and your, your services and your company?
Alyssa Avant: Yes, it would be on my website. So it's Elisa Avan and Company. And ~um, ~then also I do, ~we mentioned, ~I have a podcast. It's called the Christian Business Advantage Podcast, and you can find that on your favorite podcast app.
James Marland: Okay, ~I, ~[00:21:00] I've been using the northern pronunciation of your name, ~the whole, ~the whole episode ~uh, ~sorry about that, but.
Alyssa Avant: That's okay. We're all unique.
James Marland: Yeah. ~But, uh, yeah, thanks so much. ~Thanks for what you do. Thanks for, ~um, ~being a supporter of the show. ~uh, we'll have you on later, uh, when, you know, just ~
Alyssa Avant: Sounds great. I enjoyed being on again.
James Marland: Okay. Listeners, thanks so much for, ~uh, ~joining us today. I wanna encourage you to get, get the support you need so that you can do your best work and put your mission in motion. We'll see you next time. ~All right, and that is the show. I'm gonna hit stop and it will do some sort of upload. ~
James Marland (2): one last reminder, the HIPAA Compliance Toolkit Workshop with Dr. Natasha Guess is coming up Friday, September 18th at 11:00 AM Eastern Time.
It's virtual, so you can attend if anywhere you are, and if HIPAA is one of those things that you keep meaning to get to, you keep meaning to get organized, this is a perfect way to spend the time to get it done with an expert who will answer your questions. You can find the registration link in the show notes. [00:22:00] Before we end the show, I wanna thank our pro-level sponsors for helping make the Scaling Therapist podcast possible. They are Humor Speaks, RevKey, The Practice Collab, Arc Integrated, Their SAS CRM, Guests Compliance Consulting LLC, Private Practice Elevation, Freedom Business Solutions, Bosco LLC, Profit Comes First, River Street Studios, Wealth and Worth Within, Therapy Flow, and of course, coursecreationstudio.com.
If your therapy practice has a bottleneck and you need getting through it, head over to scalingtherapistservices.com and you'll find businesses and resources there that can help you break through that bottleneck.
