How often do you feel overwhelmed in your work?

If you responded with daily, or even weekly, it’s time to assess where you might need some help… and that’s where I come in.

I specialize in virtual assistance, but it’s so much more than that. About a year ago, I decided to create a team of virtual assistants. This team allowed me to not only the time and ability to expand my virtual assistance business, but the individual skills that each team member offers has allowed us to better serve our client base.

For example, I’ve been getting more and more requests for support with web design. As a result, I recently brought on a new team member at the start of the summer to help share some of the burden with me as my other team members don’t have this skill.

Another team member is a writer/editor. This has allowed us to offer more content services, such as blogging. Editing/Proofing is a helpful skill that offers my clients comfort knowing all their content and communications will be perfect before seen by the public.

Because creating my team has been such a success, I’ve created a Virtual Assistant Academy to help other virtual assistants, like myself, get started. I’d heard feedback while giving presentations that folks were looking for flexible work they could do from home (being a virtual assistant is a GREAT fit for a stay at home mom who wants a little income!), but didn’t know where to start. My academy provides all of that and more!

I’d like to give you some strategies for creating your own virtual team. Expert coordination is the most critical aspect of a successful team – someone has to have the ability to manage multiple projects with various deadlines. Here are a few other tidbits:

• Run a professional business – remember, just because you “work from home” doesn’t mean you aren’t a professional entity. You must still conduct interviews, set expectations with your team, celebrate each other, and terminate when needed.
• Don’t just look for specific skills you desire, you must all seek people who can problem solve, have strong work ethics, etc. as you don’t want to be fixing all their work.
• Take a hard look at what can be delegated. Just because the team member doesn’t currently have the skill set doesn’t mean they can’t learn.
• Pinpoint a “lead” team member, the one you trust when you are on vacation (and yes, when you have a team, you can take a vacation!!!) to take care of things in your absence.
• Keep everyone engaged. Make sure everyone gets work. If someone isn’t getting projects, they are more likely to fall off the radar.

There you have it! Check out my website at www.dorthahise.com for more information on the services we offer our clients, the Virtual Assistant Academy, and speaking options.

Dortha Hise  provides a wide variety of business services from an array of team members that will support