Decide who will do what. It’s important to determine who will be taking care of which tasks, and when they will be taken care of. If you don’t use some type of collaborative software, at least keep a simple checklist that everyone can work with. There is nothing worse than missing a deadline simply because someone wasn’t sure that it was their task to complete.

Schedule regular check-ins. Although it can be tempting to pick up the phone every time you have a question, it’s easier to schedule regular check-ins to cover updates for more than one task at a time. Email is such a distraction, but a good way to ensure that everyone is communicating is to simply reply to an email when someone sends you one. A simple ‘yes I got it’, or ‘I will send it to you this afternoon’ can save so much worry, especially when you don’t have a regular communication routine going yet.

Ask questions. Be sure that the tasks set up are clear, and that the steps to complete them are also clear. Just because someone has used the same service as you to send a newsletter before, doesn’t mean they will do things the way you want them done. When a task is completed, be sure to discuss whether it was completed properly, and work out any issues before the next time.

Build standard operating procedures. The best time to build your standard operating procedures is when you first start working together. Write everything down as you get it done the first time, and be sure that the procedure is right for the next time. Keep your procedures up to date once you begin!

Get to know each other! It is much easier (and more fun!) to build a strong working relationship when you find out a little bit about each other. Ask about family, hobbies and things like that. You don’t have to have long drawn-out conversations about what you watched on television the night before, but little tidbits of information can help to break the ice when you are just starting to get to know each other.

Bonus Tip: Be honest and open minded. It’s important to be honest with each other as much as possible. If something isn’t going exactly the way you planned, be sure to speak up. Likewise, if your new partner gives you some constructive criticism, try not to take it to heart, but work with it so that it benefits both of you. Not everyone works the same way, so compromise will be key to keep everyone happy. By working together, you will form a solid lasting relationship more quickly!

One of the things I love about being a Virtual Assistant is the chance to work with people that I want to work with.

It’s not a job, it’s a business. And I have worked very hard over the years to be able to pick and choose my clientele now. I rarely seek out new clients, though … much of my business comes through referral from my other clients or people that I know.

It can be said that networking is everything when you are running any type of business, but networking doesn’t seal the deal. It gets you to where you need to be, but YOU are the reason that potential clients will want to work with you, or they won’t.

YOU = your personality, your work ethic, your style, your communication skills.

Many of my clients have been with me for many years. I don’t very often have a client ‘quit me’, and I don’t very often quit them. If that happens, it’s usually pretty early in the game. Once we have done any type of work together, we end up growing together, because the fit was right.

Oh, that’s not to say that I haven’t parted ways with clients over the years. That has definitely happened … but I am proud to say that in the last, probably, three years, that I still work with 90% of the clients that have come on board with me. That’s 9 out of 10, which is pretty good.

Take the time when you are having your preliminary meeting with your potential client, to really see how their personality and their style and their needs fit into your ‘work box’. If they don’t fit into your ideal client type, take a pass on them. It probably won’t work out long-term.

It’s like any relationship … you have to ‘fit’ to make it work.

Hope you are continuing to tune in.

One of my favourite commercials on television these days is the one in which the little boy and his Dad share an Oreo cookie ‘virtually’.

The Dad smiles and says, ‘Good night, son,’ and the son says, ‘Good MORNING, Dad’ and then we see that they are on opposite sides of the world, but they still shared a cookie … virtually!

This scenario reminds me of how I work every day as a VA. I can share so many things (including, but not limited to, cookies!) with my clients, and we don’t have to be in the same place, or even in the same time zone.

One of the tools that I use with my clients is project management collaborative software. I have used several different systems lately and I wanted to give you an idea of some of the ones that I like.

If you are a small business owner or a solopreneur, using a VA to handle your administrative tasks is just a smart business move. By using collaborative software applications, you can keep tabs on your projects up-to-the-minute and free up your time to do what you do best … which is to grow and run your business!

I won’t bore you with the bad things about these applications, because, frankly, you will probably come up with your own list of good and bad, but here is my list of favourites, in no particular order!

Google Docs

Love it. ‘Nuff said. It’s such an easy application to use and it’s always there when you need it. You can created documents, spreadsheets, presentations and more that you and your VA can share or send to each other via email. You can even save them to your computer using the export feature, but the key with them being online is that everyone is working with the same document, in the same version, when they access it. Too cool. And it’s free!

Basecamp

Basecamp is great for project management, allowing you to set milestones and deadlines, share files, log time, and all kinds of other good stuff. It’s easy to create projects, and task out the various steps to employees or colleagues, and keep tabs on it all in one place. The ability to reply to messages or a notification by email instead of logging in is a thumbs up feature for me. Plans start at $24/month and go up. Highrise is also a cool contact-info-keeping collaborative unit of Basecamp (no more slips of paper with login details on them, you can keep it securely in one place!)

ActiveCollab

I just recently started using this and I must say it’s a great system. Hadn’t heard of it before my client started using it. Very easy to navigate and use. Milestones, tasks, tickets and time tracking all keep things organized and easy to keep track of. One of my favourite features is the ‘pages’ tab, where collaborative writing can take place. Saves emailing docs back and forth as well.  One time purchase price starting at $199.

Wrike

Wrike is really cool. My favourite feature is that I can reply to an email and it will update the project automatically. No logging in required. It automatically sends a to-do list every morning and outlines deadlines and allows you to reschedule items, all by email. It organizes the tasks and projects, so you don’t have to.  It’s as thought it collaborates with you and for you! Plans start at $4.99/user/month.

There are so many collaborative applications that you and your VA can use (go here to Wikipedia to see a huge list), but these are a few that I have some personal experience using for project management. I hope you find some of them useful in your business!

Now go and share an Oreo with your VA!