When your business gets successful enough that you are ready to
hire a virtual assistant or outsource to freelancers and
consultants, these templates,
checklists & worksheets will help you
decide what to outsource, choose the right person, get them
productive quickly, and make sure the work is done right.
|
| | 1. Where to Start: Advice From an Expert
Download Word Document
|
| | Know you need to outsource, but not sure where to begin? Follow this roadmap to make outsourcing work in your business.
|
|
| | 2. Avoid 13 Common Mistakes |
| | Outsourcing doesn't work well for most people. When you understand why, you can avoid those mistakes.
|
| | 3. Can Project Be Outsourced? |
| | 3 ways to tell if the work you want to outsource can be outsourced easily.
|
| | 4. If You Don't Outsource |
| | If the work you would like to outsource isn't a good fit for outsourcing, here are 5 tips for getting it done without outsourcing.
|
| | 5. 3 Ways to Get More Leverage |
| | It takes a lot of your time to get started outsourcing. Here are 3 tips to get more leverage.
|
| | 6. Ready to Define a Role? |
| | Most people outsource projects. But when you hand off responsibility for a whole area of your business, you free up mindshare as well as time. Here's how to know when you are ready to do this.
|
|
| | 7. 12 Top Projects
Download Word Document
|
| | Hiring a virtual assistant? These are the 12 projects that are most often outsourced successfully.
|
| | 8. Project Checklist: Administrative |
| | Need more ideas? Here are administrative projects a virtual assistant could do for you.
|
| | 9. Project Checklist: Marketing |
| | These are projects a marketing assistant could do for you.
|
| | 10. Project Checklist: Sales |
| | Here are sales projects an assistant could do for you.
|
| | 11. Project Checklist: Web Work |
| | These are projects related to your website that an assistant could do for you.
|
| | 12. Project Checklist: Bookkeeping |
| | Here are projects a bookkeeper could do for you.
|
| | 13. Project Checklist: Personal |
| | You can also use your virtual assistant to help you with projects that need to be done in your personal life.
|
|
| | 14. Create an ROI Plan |
| | You'll want to ensure that you increase revenue enough to pay for your assistant. Create your ROI plan here.
|
| | 15. ROI Calculator |
| | See how much you can afford to pay. Experiment with different wage rates and rates of return in this Excel spreadsheet.
|
|
| | 16. Virtual Assistant, Freelancer, Consultant or Partner?
Download Word Document
|
| | What kind of person should you look for to help in your business? Answer these questions to find out.
|
|
| | 17. Write a Great Job Posting |
| | Follow these steps to craft a job posting that makes the right people contact you.
|
| | 18. Personality, Skills, Experience |
| | Use this checklist to help create your job posting. Just check off the personality characteristics, skills and experience you want your assistant to have.
|
| | 19. Where to Post Your Job |
| | Reliable sites where you can post your job listing.
|
| | 20. Applicant Screening Checklist |
| | 8 questions to help you screen the people who respond to your job posting.
|
|
| | 21. How to Interview |
| | Tips for conducting interviews and getting the information you need to make a decision.
|
| | 22. Interview Questions: General
Download Word Document
|
| | 9 basic interview questions that you can use when you interview anyone, plus questions for digging deeper.
|
| | 23. Interview Questions: Marketing |
| | 12 questions you can ask anyone who will be helping you with marketing.
|
| | 24. Interview Questions: Virtual Assistant |
| | 12 questions to ask any virtual assistant.
|
| | 25. Interview Questions: Bookkeeper |
| | 10 questions to ask any bookkeeper.
|
| | 26. Questions to Ask References |
| | It can be hard to get references to talk freely. Asking these 3 questions can help you get a better picture.
|
| | 27. Crafting a Letter Agreement |
| | Sources for legal agreements you can use when you outsource, along with issues you need to consider.
|
|
|
| | 28. What Makes a Good First Project? |
| | A project that is ideal to give someone who has just started working with you has these 10 characteristics.
|
| | 29. First Project |
| | Use this checklist to make sure you get your assistant everything they need when they start working with you.
|
|
| | 30. Project Definition Template
Download Word Document
|
| | Whenever you give someone a project to do for you, you should include these 6 pieces of information.
|
|
| | 31. Quotes & Testimonials Project |
| | Getting quotes is a great project for a new assistant because they learn what your customers value about working with you. This template includes instructions and sample email text you can give to your assistant.
|
| | 32. Social Media Marketing Project |
| | Letting your assistant identify opportunities for you to participate in social media is an effective way to leverage your time and teach your assistant about your market. This worksheet helps you define what you want your assistant to do.
|
| | 33. Nurture Marketing Project |
| | Staying in touch with prospects who are not yet ready to buy helps increase your close rate. You can also use a nurture program to increase the number of referrals you get. This set of instructions explains how you and your assistant can set up a nurture program for your business.
|
| | 34. Travel Preferences |
| | You can free up a lot of time by having your assistant plan trips and make reservations for you. Use this form to share your general travel preferences with your assistant, so you don't have to provide this information for each trip.
|
| | 35. Travel Reservations |
| | When you want your assistant to make reservations for a specific trip, use this form provide details about what you want done.
|
| | 36. Research Project |
| | Research projects provide a good way for you to obtain information faster while educating your assistant about your market and what matters to you. Use this template to help define what you want done.
|
| | 37. Get Control Over Your Email Inbox Project |
| | Most of us spend way too much time processing email. Whether you simply want help getting your email inbox back under control or you are ready to have someone take over managing your email on an ongoing basis, you and your assistant can use this 12-step process.
|
|
|
| | 38. Training Plan |
| | Here's a process that works for training your new assistant, along with tips to make your training faster and more effective.
|
| | 39. About My Company
Download Word Document
|
| | This template helps you provide information your assistant needs to know about your company, your goals, your products and services, your competitors, and your target market. When you write the information down (instead of talking) you create a resource you can use over and over again, and that your assistant can refer to as needed. (And you can task your assistant with keeping it up to date.)
|
| | 40. Creative Brief |
| | This is a more detailed version of the About My Company document that is designed specifically for marketing. It includes information you need to provide when you do a wide variety of marketing projects, ranging from creating advertisements to redoing your website.
|
| | 41. My Work Preferences |
| | Defining your preferences about contacting you, delivering projects, status reports, telephone answering, emails and more in one place makes it easier for you to get what you want.
|
| | 42. Judy's Formatting Preferences |
| | If you are as picky as Judy is about formatting, spelling, capitalization and punctuation, use this as a starting point for defining exactly how you want your materials to look.
|
|
| | 43. Status Report Templates |
| | Two status report templates that you can use to monitor progress on your projects. Either format takes less than 15 minutes for your assistant to fill out and only a couple minutes for you to read.
|
| | 44. Meeting Agendas |
| | Meeting strategies that help make your meetings more productive.
|
| | 45. Giving Constructive Criticism |
| | Work is almost never done exactly right, particularly when you are working with someone new. Here are tips for giving constructive criticism in a way that is painless for both you and your assistant.
|
|
| | 46. Essential Software Tools |
| | Free software you can use for screen sharing, remote desktop access, Internet phone calls, project management, shared calendar, and collaboration.
|
|
| | 47. After 30 Days |
| | At the end of the first 30 days with your assistant, schedule a meeting to discuss answers to these questions and make a plan for the next 60 days.
|
| | 48. After 90 Days |
| | At the end of the first 90 days with your assistant, it's time for another review. Are you going to keep working together? What can you do to make things work better? Here is a set of questions to use as a framework for discussion.
|
| | 49. Quarterly Planning |
| | A quarterly planning session keeps both you and your assistant focused on moving your business forward. Here are some questions to use as a starting point for discussion.
|
|
| | 50. Tips for Avoiding Problems |
| | A few final tips to help you avoid problems that typically occur when you are outsourcing.
|
There is an amazing amount of information encapsulated in this toolkit! I'm finding it a great resource. 
Chris Calbury
Douglas Dolan
Susan L. Reid, Owner