There are two important criteria you must have in place before you’re ready to hire a VA.

• Profitability. First and foremost, you must be profitable before hiring a virtual assistant. You can absolutely outsource sales tasks, but it is too much pressure to put on your VA to make a business profitable.

• Have time to make time. You must have time upfront to train and onboard your VA.

  If you don’t have time to 1) write out the goals you want accomplished by having a VA, 2) train them on your workflow, and 3) onboard them in a slow but steady way that sets them up for success, you won’t have a successful experience, and your productivity will diminish.

There are five limiting mindsets that prevent ambitious, scrappy solo entrepreneurs from realizing it’s in their best interest to outsource help:

• It's easier to do it myself. As a solo entrepreneur, delegating can be difficult because you’re so used to doing things yourself. But if we were to add up all of the micro “I’ll just do it myself” moments into hours, we’d realize we could have spent those hours focused on the parts of the business we love doing and driving business impact.

• It has to be perfect. The idea that all tasks must be performed perfectly is a limiting mindset because it exaggerates the idea that you are the only one who knows how to do it best. Instead, change the mindset and get comfortable with the idea that it could be done better if done by someone else.

  Of course, you have to do the upfront work and ask yourself, which tasks have more bandwidth for mistake risk? But this way, you can more easily determine which tasks make sense for you to outsource.

• I don’t have time to document processes and train. The idea that you don’t have time to document processes and train your employee is a common trap. Without the upfront investment in a virtual assistant, or any employee for that matter, you will always be stuck in this constant cycle of being overwhelmed and overworked

• My back office is a secret fire dumpster, and I don't want anyone to know.Let’s face it: no one has absolutely everything under control. And yet, we struggle with letting other people see the behind the scenes chaos. Don’t let the misplaced embarrassment of a back office dumpster fire prevent you from letting someone in to help you get it in order.

• I'm too nice to give feedback. We get it, we’re nice people, and we don’t want to hurt other people’s feelings. To overcome this, think about discussing and implementing feedback loops so that your VA knows feedback – the good and the room for improvement – is coming their way routinely.

When choosing a VA, it’s important to define your ideal virtual assistant. Most solo entrepreneurs make the mistake of assessing their ideal VA on a skills match alone. This means they focus only on hiring the VA with the social media management, bookkeeping, or CRM expertise they’re looking for, neglecting four arguably more important factors:

• Energy levels
• Risk tolerance
• Learning style
• Domain knowledge

Energy levels

When your virtual assistant matches your energy levels, it can lead to smoother and more effective workflows. If you’re someone who tends to move really fast, you may get frustrated with someone who is more methodical. Conversely, if you're a more calm and focused worker, having a VA who mirrors that energy can ensure that workflows remain grounded and focused.Energy levels can even influence collaboration dynamics. When your VA matches your energy, it fosters a sense of camaraderie. You're more likely to feel connected and engaged, leading to better brainstorming sessions, problem-solving, and creative ideation.When you and your VA are on the same wavelength, tasks tend to get completed more efficiently. There's less likelihood of miscommunication or misunderstanding, reducing the need for clarification and rework

Risk Tolerance

It’s important to be honest with yourself about how risk averse you are. If your risk tolerance is low, you’re most likely going to appreciate someone who habitually checks in on the progression of a project because it makes you feel safe in knowing the project is under control. Conversely, if you have a higher risk tolerance, that same VA may make you feel that they are not as independent as you’d like them to be at best or a nuisance at worst.

Learning style

You want to make sure your VA’s learning style matches your teaching style, or put another way, matches the way you communicate things. For example, if you’re working with someone who is a visual learner, it may be a bit more helpful to communicate things through a loom video versus typing something out. An auditory learner may do better with receiving instruction through voice memos.

Domain knowledge

At first glance, VAs who have side hustles may seem like they won’t have enough time to handle the tasks you need them to. On the contrary however, this may be a clue into their experience in the entrepreneurial domain. When you’re in the weeds, it’s helpful to have a VA who really understands common entrepreneurial obstacles when you need someone to brainstorm resolutions with. For example, someone who understands the importance of marketing execution or the why behind giving a webinar.