10 Reasons Virtual Assistant Projects Fail

November 6, 2008 | 5 Comments

Sultan Mahmud Bridge, Kuala Terengganu (DSC_0810)

I’d love to say that most of the time Virtual Assistants are a great buy.  The fact is, it is a lot like hiring a normal employee.  You get better at it over time.  You learn what to look for and what to ask.  And you eventually realize that you have to manage them, not just tell them what to do and hope it turns out OK.

Here are the 10 top reasons a project with a virtual assistant will fail:

  1. Poor definition of tasks the Virtual Assistant must do.
  2. Hiring the VA for a big project without first doing a small project to test the Virtual Assistant.
  3. Not setting clear outcomes that you expect from a group of tasks.
  4. Hiring the cheapest Virtual Assistant.
  5. Not monitoring progress and setting milestones.
  6. Having unrealistic expectations of the outcome (especially with internet marketing)
  7. Hiring a virtual assistant that tries to do too many different things – they will not be very proficient at any.
  8. Failure to cut project quickly.  If things are not going well and you are spending more time with the virtual assistant than it would take to just do it yourself, cancel the project and move on.
  9. Assumptions – Failure to carefully explain each thing will doom your project.  Assume nothing and document everything.
  10. Forgetting about the VA over time and not giving them encouragement.  It is easy to forget they are out there doing tasks for you and they may not stay enthusiastic if you do not connect with them occasionally.

Really all of these items can be summed up into this.  You need to carefully hire, train and manage a virtual assistant if you expect them to preform well for you.  And if you do not succeed with the first one you try, don’t give up.  Assess what went wrong and hire a virtual assistant that is better the next time.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

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