Before we dive into Kristina’s AMAZING blog post about how to find a virtual assistant for your business, I want to give her the BIGGEST shout out here on the blog!

Hiring Kristina has been the best business decision I’ve made over the past year!! This is actually the first time I’ve worked with a VA, and I don’t know why I waited so long to hire a VA, to be honest!

Kristina oversees all of my social media platforms. In addition, she curates and preps all of my wedding and engagement session blogs! It has been such a relief to send her the edited blog images and have someone else curate the images! It used to take me HOURS to prep one blog post (perfectionist over here! HAHA), and now this is a task I can confidently hand over to her each week.

From the beginning, I’ve communicated my aesthetic, and she has learned my style so well!  I so appreciate how well she communicates with me, too! This has allowed for such a wonderful VA relationship!

I’ve enjoyed every moment of working with Kristina! She has gone above and beyond with every task, she’s super organized, and I couldn’t imagine not having her in my life! She cares so much about my business like it’s her own, and I’m so grateful!   

If you’re looking for a VA, reach out to Kristina! I know she would love to get to know you more and talk about how she can help you!

Guest Blog by Kristina Dowler, Owner of Dot the I’s Outsourcing

Becoming a virtual assistant wasn’t exactly something I had built into my business plan. The opportunity came to me by accident, if I’m being totally honest.  But now, after working as one for the last (almost) three years, I’ve realized how much I love being able to support other business owners and complete the kinds of tasks I’ve been given. I’ve definitely learned a few things over the years and I know my clients have too, so I wanted to give other business owners who might be looking for some extra help three quick tips to finding a virtual assistant for their business!

Think about what you want to outsource!

Think about what tasks you’d want to outsource because this will tell you the skill set you need to find in your VA! If you’re thinking about outsourcing blogging, you’ll want someone who understands SEO. Social media? They should be able to understand copywriting, best practices and even scheduling apps. Client management? Good people skills, organization and a knowledge of software out there. Generally, VAs will learn whatever products you have in place to run your business but you want someone with SOME knowledge of the other pieces of the tasks you want to give to them.

Do you need local support or a virtual assistant?

Determine if you want someone who is local and can be in your office or if you’re willing to use someone who is not and has more of a virtual presence. This decision impacts where you want to look for someone but also how you will communicate. Will it be mostly via email, text or phone calls or scheduled weekly in person meetings? There’s certainly pros and cons to each. I have clients both locally and out of state and we all have our own systems of maintaining communications, task management and our various systems.

Know where to look!

The internet is full of pages online for small business owners to meet other creatives they can connect with. I met my out of state clients though the Rising Tide Society Facebook group and then word of mouth from the current clients. My local clients I met from Tuesday Together meetings – and then word of mouth!

Ask questions!

Bonus tip! Ask your potential VAs for information about how they communicate, the tasks they do, what they like or don’t like. Don’t be afraid to ask for information from them. They’re going to be helping your business so you should be comfortable with them and they should make your life easier. Make sure you’re a good fit for each other. Can you communicate clearly? Are they willing to learn whatever skills they might not have? Do the skills they DO have line up with your needs? These are all important things when adding someone to your team, but especially someone who will be doing so much behind the scenes for you! Oh, and don’t be afraid to ask for references!

If you have a question about finding a VA, send me a note! I’d love to help or answer any other questions folks might have! I’m certainly no expert but I love sharing whatever I can to make your lives easier!

Kristina is the owner of Dot the I’s Outsourcing. She is a virtual assistant and content creator for small business owners who crave more time with their families and desire more freedom in their lives. Kristina offers services like blog prep, Pinterest management, client and email management, album design, and publication prep. She can be reached at kristina.dowler@gmail.com!