My post was definitely more oriented towards hiring a new person. Once you have someone that is a trusted team member, that dynamic changes.

As for doing everything, I disagree, but only in the sense that if you know someone that can get anything done and done well, you have a business manager, not a virtual assistant. This is a different kind of skill set.

From working with VA’s I have found that some people are under $10 an hour willing to do anything while other people are truly high end consultants calling themselves VA’s. It really is all over the map and just depends.

These problems, in my experience, come when a person outsources projects or piecework, rather than finding a Virtual Assistant to be his or her right hand person, investing in the partnership, and making the Virtual Assistant an integral part of everything that goes on in his or her business/life.

When retaining a Virtual Assistant on that level, tests aren’t necessary, nor is management.

If you think or working with a Virtual Assistant as the business version of getting married, you’d spend far more time choosing, and far less time worrying on the back-end about that choice, or the value of what you were getting from the chosen.

As for not choosing a VA to do many things, in fact, the most powerful thing you can do is retain one who wants to be your one-stop shop… the person you turn to for literally ANYTHING you need. In turn, you should know that while everything will get done and done well, your VA is unlikely to be the person who does it all. What s/he can’t do, she’ll make happen.

All VA’s need managed, but good VA’s are very easy to manage because they have systems in place and have set clear goals.

My point with managing a VA is that everything in a business needs managed by the owner/manager. If something is not profitable or performing as planned, it needs adjusted or eliminated.

A good VA manages themselves well and reports accurately, making it an easy decision.

However, I don’t quite agree with your statement that VAs need to be managed. A good VA should have a project management system in place and be on top of things. If anything, it would the VA’s responsibility to ensure her projects and clients are well managed.

And I cannot stress number 9 enough!! Assume nothing and document everything. Everything!