I’ve been a wedding pro virtual assistant for almost a year now and worked with many clients, most of whom are very new to bringing on a team member in their planning or photography business. I thought it might be helpful to include some of my best tips and tricks when working with a new virtual assistant. If you’re currently planning to hire a VA, or if you’ve just started working with one, this post is for you!

1) The Onboarding Process

Once you hire a wedding pro virtual assistant, the first step is the onboarding process. Onboarding essentially is the first step to a great client and VA working relationship. When you are mapping out your onboarding process, ask yourself some important questions:

• What systems do they need access to?
  • ie. Email, HoneyBook, Trello, Pinterest, Aisle Planner?
• What files do they need access to?
  • ie. Planning guides, album pricing, vendor recommendation lists?
• What training or SOPs do they need access to?
• Do you want them to spend time reviewing your branding, brand voice, or processes? If yes, make sure these are laid out in an organized and clear way.

And as an extra tip: Make sure they feel welcome! Whether they are joining a virtual team or are your first team member, make sure to welcome them to the team and start creating a great team environment. I always say it’s important to me that my clients feel like friends, that I’m not just someone helping check off todo’s, but that I also know who they are as people!

2) Figuring Out Your Expectations

While figuring out your expectations should have been mapped out during your pre-hire discussions, it’s important to make sure they are still clear when you first start working together. You should have your tasks mapped out and have an easy way to assign them to your virtual assistant, like using a project management software like ClickUp or Trello. New to these systems? I can help get us setup during our onboarding process!

3) Processes, Communication, and Feedback

When you first start working with a new virtual assistant, your processes, communication, and feedback are essential. Your VA wants to help you, but they are new to your specific business, so getting feedback on their work is vital for improving and growing with your business. Most virtual assistants welcome your input and want to ensure things are being done correctly.

4) More Time Back

After the onboarding and learning process with a new virtual assistant, you’ll start getting your time back. Yay! That’s the goal, right? Your new virtual assistant is doing well, getting their work done, clearly communicating with you, and now you can focus on your zone of genius and the most important business tasks, or that launch you’ve been dreaming up!

5) New Ways to Figure Things Out

Having a team and a virtual assistant can allow you the space for figuring out new ways to do things that you wouldn’t have ever thought of before. I encourage you to have an open mind! Here’s an example: you notice your virtual assistant is spending a lot of time on email management because the email volume is increasing. That’s a sign that you might want to put together some canned email responses (or have your virtual assistant do the first draft for your approval). I do this quite a bit when setting up automations in CRM systems like Honeybook or 17hats.

If you’re a wedding pro and are ready to work with a virtual assistant, check out my services page, and then book a quick discovery session to see if we’d be a good fit to work together!