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How and when to hire a virtual assistant

July 24, 2015Tips of the TradeAmira Alvarez

You know that voice…

It starts out as a gentle nudge in the back of your mind, a whisper of a thought…

It says….

Maybe someone else could do this?

Then it grows a little louder with…

Maybe my time and talents would be better spent working on my GENIUS work?

And then before you know it becomes a GIANT tumbleweed of urgency?

I NEED HELP!!! Aaaaahhhhh!

You there?

Then you’re WAY PAST TIME to hire an assistant and bring on team.

It’s much better to make that hire and grow your team before that level of urgency sets in.

When you’re already in overwhelm, you might not have the bandwidth to think through and thoroughly assess what you need.

Start a wee bit earlier OR if you’re already in overwhelm…create a little time and space and copy my system.

1) First, I started with some list keeping.

I love me a good list. It takes the chaos in my head and instantly makes order. Ahhhh…

I wrote down everything I could think of that I could use help with as well as the salient qualities I was looking for in an assistant.

Do this for a week or so, keeping Evernote or a Google Doc open on your browser and kept adding to your list.

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2) Ask for referrals.

You could ask your business coach or biz colleagues.

You could ask in groups on Facebook.

I’d much rather have someone who’s referred as there’s a bit more skin in the game when you’re running in the same circles.

You’ll also get lots of input about the great, the bad, the ugly of working with VAs. Lots of “learn from my experience” stories.

There are excellent VA companies as well–get a recommendation to one!

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3) Reach out to the referrals.

Use this step as a way to filter people. In your email, ask them specific questions or use an online application form.

Make sure there is some detailed element that they need to respond to. This is your filter for thoroughness and details.

Do they answer thoroughly? Do you like their responses? Are there typos? (The small things count.)

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4) Dig deeper into what you need

I looked at all the work I had and prioritized it… What would really help me get to the next level, not just take work off my hands?

I ranked what was most important and colored coded the tasks. (Yup. I really did.)

Then, I thought through interview questions that would help me get to know them and to see how they’d approach the kind of work I had.

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5) Interviews.

I suggest setting up Skype calls so you can meet them “face-to-face”.

Pay attention to how they answer questions and what their thought process is.

Do they ask you questions for more clarification? Are they confident in their skills? Did they bring up solutions that are new to you and make sense? Are they clear communicators?

Pay attention to their energy and vibe, and how you feel when speaking with them.

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6) Decide

Ultimately, you’ll have some good options from which to choose.

There are variables in style, energy, cost, experience, and technology know-how.

What is MOST important to you?

I also suggest having your final candidates do a Kolbe assessment.

Don’t know what the Kolbe is?

It’s a way to assess your strengths.

For most entrepreneurs, we’re what’s called “quick starts”… we like to get things done right away when the idea strikes us. (I’m off the charts in the quick start category. How about you? Do you know what your work style is?)

Although we’re quick starts, we’re not so great at the stuff that comes after the initial burst of energy.

You need someone who’s great at the details and follow-through.

Purchase a Kolbe for your top two candidates. It’s worth it.

Assess the results and choose.

And finally, don’t settle…

If you can’t find someone who has all the qualifications, consider splitting the job in two and hiring the right person for each part.

If you have any misgivings about someone, listen to that. Your gut reaction is telling you important information. Don’t just say yes because they look good on paper.

Get exactly what you want.

Does your business problem look like a mountain blocking your way to success?

By Amira Alvarez There's a mountain in your way and success is on the other side of it. Damn! That mountain? Any number of the thousand trillion problems that may arise when you're running your own business. (Sorry, that's just how it is. In life too. Daaaamn.) There will always be problems. Business…
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May 22, 2015Tips of the TradeAmira Alvarez

There’s a mountain in your way and success is on the other side of it.

Damn!

That mountain?

Any number of the thousand trillion problems that may arise when you’re running your own business.

(Sorry, that’s just how it is. In life too. Daaaamn.)

There will always be problems. Business problems.

We can call them challenges or issues to soften the edges… but really?

Right now it’s feeling like a damn mountain in your way to success. I get it.

Yet every business will run into problems… supply chain problems, employee problems, content creation problems, design problems, cash flow problems, time management problems, admin problems, and marketing problems… just to name a few.

You’re not alone. That’s part of doing business.

And you know what? As you grow, as you create more, as you do more in the world… you will face new and varied problems. They don’t go away. (But you may have more fun with them and may start seeing them as opportunities.)

Since business and growth come with new and varied problems, the trick is figuring out how to face and solve problems.

The trick is turning that proverbial mountain into a molehill.

It doesn’t help to rally against the mountain, fist in the air.

Okay, maybe it helps a little to vent.

But it won’t solve your problem.

You need to go into problem-solving mode.

In fact, it’s YOUR JOB.

You need to look at the problem and solve it. Again and again.

It’s your responsibility as a business owner.

How you solve your problem depends on you and the problem itself.

What I know for sure is that it takes…

1) Getting clear about what the problem is and how it’s related to what you’re doing or not doing.

2) Getting clear on what deeply patterned beliefs are keeping you from taking problem-solving action and attending to those.

3) Taking action to solve it.

I’m also 100% certain it’s NOT your intelligence that’s stopping you.

Ask yourself, what’s the problem? Get clear on what that is. Then break it down to it’s essential core by asking WHY.

Relate it back to YOU. Take personal responsibility. This is ultimately where your agency and problem-solving abilities comes from.

Do you have a belief about the situation that’s keeping you from seeing the solution?

For instance, if your problem is… I don’t have enough clients.

Then ask yourself… WHY?

If your answer is… Because people don’t know that they need my help. Ask “why?” again.

If your answer is… Because I haven’t told them. Ask “why?” again.

If your answer is… Because I don’t know what to say or where to say it. Ask “why?” again.

If your answer is… Because every time I think about it, I get blocked. Ask “why?” again.

If your answer is… Because I’m worried about offending someone, not saying or doing the right thing, wasting money. Ask “why?” again.

If your answer is… Because I believe I don’t know enough, that I’m not enough yet, etc. This is where you need to do the work.

You’re problem may be different, but the PROCESS is the same.

The answers are not out there. They’re within you. Do you see all those “I” statements?

Ultimately, you need to identify the belief that is stopping you and attend to it, so you can get into problem-solving action.

Rally. The power is in you.

Steadily grow your business with elephant steps

By Amira Alvarez Recently I've been talking A LOT about elephant steps. Elephant steps? These are the steady steps that get you from here to there. Where's there? There is across that vast savannah... what seems like an insurmountable distance to cross. There is where you want to end up in your business…
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April 17, 2015Classic Post, Creating EasyAmira Alvarez

Recently I’ve been talking A LOT about elephant steps.

Elephant steps?

These are the steady steps that get you from here to there.

Where’s there?

There is across that vast savannah… what seems like an insurmountable distance to cross.

There is where you want to end up in your business in 6 months, in a year, in 5 years.

It seems SO FAR TO GO. Yet you have a dream.

You know where you want to be going. You have a direction. (Even if it’s just a money or life style goal.)

BUT….

To get you THERE, you need to focus on (and know) the very next step in front of you in the HERE AND NOW… what you need to be doing NOW. (Not tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or next year. And certainly, not 5 years from now.)

This is something I see that messes up the business growth and flow for a lot of women. It’s jumping ahead of themselves, at least in their minds, and thinking that they need to do everything now.

Or thinking that they need to be further along then they are.

Or thinking about the things that come later…

Yet, they haven’t done the basics. They haven’t gotten done what’s in front of them right now that absolutely needs to get done… first.

What is this first thing? What is this one basic Elephant Step?

Well, it’s different for everyone.

But you can tell if you’re taking an Elephant Step by how it feels.

It will feel basic. (As opposed to elaborate.)

It will feel steady. (As opposed to scattered or shaky.)

It might feel challenging. (But it won’t overwhelm you.)

It’s YOUR very next growth step. It’s the very next way YOU stretch yourself.

Maybe a little out of your comfort zone. But never scattered.

If you’re getting pulled in many different directions… you’re NOT taking an Elephant Step.

Pull back. Re-focus. Do one thing.

Combine a series of “ONE THINGS” over time and you’ll look up and realize you’ve traveled a long way across the savannah of your business.

You’ll wake up with your website complete, your program launched, your practice filled with new clients, or a gazillion sales of your beautiful widget.

You’ll wake up an expert, a leader, a teacher… you’ll wake up touching and helping loads of people.

And you’ll be astounded.

This is how to steadily grow your business without making yourself crazy.

Yet, it takes you putting one foot in front of another. Knowing what to do next. And actually doing it. (Not just thinking about it.)

So your action today is to: Take your ELEPHANT STEP.

Take the very next step you need to take. Not the step that’s in the future. But the one that’s in the here and now with your business.

Take that step. As small as it seems, it will move you forward.

You will steadily grow your business.

And you’ll be surprised how quickly.

Being intentional makes for an easier business

March 6, 2015Creating EasyAmira Alvarez

Being intentional about your weekend makes your business easier.

Weekends are important. (Of course!)

The main reason?

Well, duh, downtime is dope. (You knew that, right?)

But it’s not just a nice to have.

Downtime rejiggers your creativity and fills up your energy tanks.

And this is essential in business.

It’s kind of obvious but I never used to believe this.

I thought non-stop work was the way to get ahead. I was always go, go, go… one last thing… work harder.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a time and place for digging in and just getting ‘er done. For sure. But it’s not sustainable to do this all the time.

You may be able to do it for a day, a week, a month, or even a few years…but then you exhaust yourself.

And along the way you’ll make yourself miserable, which sucks and should be avoided at all costs. (Do you hear that? Completely unacceptable. It’s the quickest way to hard and seemingly unsurmountable roadblocks. Don’t get stuck there.)

If you want a successful and sustainable business, and if you want to really enjoy your business and look forward to running it each and every day, then being INTENTIONAL about your downtime is essential.

Intentionality with regards to the weekend is about thinking through what you want and how you’re going to get it.

I ask myself questions like…

1) What do I need to get done in my biz today to feel DONE?

2) Is that reasonable? Can I really accomplish it?

3) What’s my vision of an awesome weekend? What do I want to do? How do I want to feel?

4) Is there anything I have TO DO to make that happen?

This is what intentionality is about.

Being intentional doesn’t have to take long. Just a couple of minutes of thinking through what’s important to you right now and how you’re going to make that happen.

The old me used to get half way through her weekend and realize she was dragging herself down mentally by thinking about all the unfinished business and work stuff I needed to get done.

Or, I didn’t really have a clear intention for the weekend, so it just happened to me in a very unsatisfying way so I never got the bounce from the weekend.

All that to say, there’s a big interplay between your work week and your weekend, your business and your play time. They affect each other greatly.

Being intentional about this and really setting yourself up to make the most of downtime amps up your energy for business.

Being intentional about your business and really setting yourself up to make the most of your work time amps up your energy for life.

With that, have a wonderfully intentional weekend (or other downtime)…and business.

Creating your brand…the easy way

By Amira Alvarez I've got a question for you...What have you been ranting about recently?What have you been thinking, or even saying out loud, that's exasperating to you? What is it that really gets you going?THIS, what you're all up in arms about, that you're going on and on about... this could be…
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February 3, 2015Tips of the TradeAmira Alvarez

I’ve got a question for you…

What have you been ranting about recently?

What have you been thinking, or even saying out loud, that’s exasperating to you? What is it that really gets you going?

THIS, what you’re all up in arms about, that you’re going on and on about… this could be the basis of YOUR BRAND.

Creating the message and brand could be as easy as paying attention to your rant.

Why?

Because it shows what’s important to you, what you’re passionate about, and what matters to you.

Let me give you an example…

I’m on a client call and my wonderful client is letting it rip about how she’s annoyed by the way the people in her industry do things.

After her rant, I ask her, “Well, how do you do things?”

And she busts out with this beautiful manifesto of how it’s done:

“Creativity comes first. The technical stuff supports the art. Not the other way around.”

When I heard it, I said…

“That’s it. That’s what you stand for. That’s your brand. That’s how you’re going to position everything.”

The next day, I bring this concept of “the rant” to my private Facebook group for women entrepreneurs who want to rock their business without contorting their soul…

And I get into a conversation there with a woman who’s making good on her dreams.

She says,

“I get annoyed by people complaining and pushing responsibility onto others rather than owning it for themselves, seeing the mirror that is in front of them. I notice that people are so quick to say NO, to find all the reasons why NOT to do something, why something won’t work. I always ask, what would happen if you said YES to that?”

That was her rant. And do you see how her brand exists right there in her rant?

RIGHT THERE, is what she stands for…“Getting to YES! starts with accepting that our No is not true.” Boom!

Pretty cool, huh?

If these two women, photographer Tara McKinney and parenting coach Bea Marshall, integrate these concepts into all their marketing and public facing work, they will have a truly coherent brand and one that is attractive to their ideal clients.

If they make sure that everything they do in their business ALIGNS with these concepts, they will be able to take action and make decisions easily.

They will be in integrity with themselves and their business will feel good while making them great money.

When you have this kind of clarity about what you stand for, you’re golden. Creating your brand becomes easier because you have something very definitive and true for you to build your brand on.

My brand?

I’m about clarity, connection, and ease.

Show up in your business clear…about who you are, what you stand for, what problems you solve, etc.

Stay connected…to yourself, your clients, your potential clients… and Spirit.

Continually move towards ease in your business. Don’t over complicate things. Create solutions. Understand that it can be easy.

If you do all of this? You’ve laid the foundation for a successful and easier business… then it’s about executing your plan and persevering.

So with that, let’s go back to the question we started out with… what have you been ranting about recently?

Dig into that. See if the core of what you stand for in your business is in there.

If you’d like some help with this, post your unedited rant in The Be Unstoppable Facebook Group and I’ll help you out.

You miss all the shots you don’t take.

By Amira Alvarez "You miss all the shots you don't take." I saw Wayne Gretzky's philosophical musing written on the sandwich board, outside the cantina up the street. And although I like to imagine the cantina folks as my wise messenger friends from the universe, I think they were actually just trying to…
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January 31, 2015Inspiration, Tips of the TradeAmira Alvarez

“You miss all the shots you don’t take.”

I saw Wayne Gretzky’s philosophical musing written on the sandwich board, outside the cantina up the street.

And although I like to imagine the cantina folks as my wise messenger friends from the universe, I think they were actually just trying to sell tequila shots to the students in the hood. (Or maybe they’re doing both?)

It’s like the adage nothing ventured, nothing gained.

And yet so often we don’t venture and we stay exactly where we are.

We stay stuck or safe… and things stay the same.

This is great if your business is perfect, making exactly as much money as you’d like, while providing you heaps of pleasure and freedom. (If that’s you, keep rocking it!)

But if that’s not where you’re at, then you’ve got to wonder….

What would happen if I just took a chance? What if I just took a shot at something?

You might just make it!

Now the other side of that optimistic vision…

Sometimes your idea, what you’re contemplating doing, is SO FAR OUT of your comfort zone (or knowledge zone or competency zone) that the likelihood of taking that shot and making it are slim.

You know this, so you don’t take the shot.

I get that. It’s logical and rational. It makes total sense.

But what if you still took a shot at something… but maybe that something was a little more do-able, a little closer to your current zone of knowledge, competency, and comfort?

You’d be PRACTICING. (As in, the years of practice before the big game and the big shot.)

It would be a practice in expanding and stretching yourself, in taking risks, albeit small ones, in getting started and moving in the right direction.

It would also be a practice in trying and failing. (Yup, failing but NOT dying.)

And, MOST IMPORTANTLY, it would be a practice in making it.

Because eventually, with enough practice, you’ll make that shot.

And then you’ll make the next one and the next one. You’ll also miss some, but that’s okay, because now you know, that with practice you’ll make more and more of your shots. And you’ll have more and more success.

But if we don’t ever take that risk… We miss ALL the shots we don’t take.

All of them.

So answer me this…

What shots are you not taking in your life and in your business? (Honesty goes a long way here.)

What kind of practice shot can you take right now? (Don’t skip this. Really, what could you try right now?)

Are you going to take that shot? (Decide. Because you know… you miss all the shots you don’t take.)