In this video, I am going to answer a question I get all the time – what kind of tasks do I give my VA. People ask me this so often that I had to make a video about it. Now, when people ask me, I am just going to give them the link to this video. The kinds of tasks that I give my VA vary but they all have one thing in common. They are algorithmic. They are repetitive. However, there is some kind of a formula. So let me give you a few examples of some of the tasks that I give my VA.

 

First off, they have daily tasks. Some of these tasks involve responding to emails. I tell explain that if the email says this, respond this way. There are a few emails that I get on a regular basis and I do not want to have to respond in the same way over and over again. So, I tell my VAs, “Hey, if you can respond to the email, great. Here are a few templates to use. Respond to the email if you can. If you cannot, put it in this special folder. I will check that folder.” So, if they cannot respond to an email, that is fine. But 80% of the time emails I get are repetitive or very similar so that my VA can handle them.
Other tasks that they do are things like seeing what items we have in stock versus what items we do not presently have. I ended up creating an automated computer program that is able to determine this but originally we had to do this manually. Originally, we had to go into an Excel spreadsheet and search for which items we had in stock and compare that with sales.
Another task which I was also able to turn into an automated computer program is when we get an order, we would have to put the instructions on a big piece of paper so the people that cut the fabric to be sewn were able to read the instructions easier. There were some reasons behind that but originally we had employees doing this by hand. Then we had employees typing it on the computer. We then had our VA do it and then ultimately we ended up designing a computer program they could handle it. Okay. Great.
So, what other types of tasks am I going to be giving my VA for the new business that I will be launching soon? By the time this video is out, the new business may already be launched. I am going to be interviewing top people in the fitness health space with the goal of creating some kind of a connection with them. Now, I need to figure which people I should interview so I gave my VA a list of different keywords to type into iTunes and then 50 different tags or keywords, for instance, Paleo diet. I said type “Paleo diet” into iTunes and then 50 different podcasts would show up. I told my VA that for each podcast I want them on a spreadsheet which I provided. I told my VA to enter the name of the host of the website that is associated with the podcast, how many reviews it has, their email address, and their twitter handle onto the spreadsheet. Obviously I could do that myself but that is pretty boring and there is an algorithm or a formula typed in the keyword column. I told them to click on the icon. Figure out the website. Figure out what this is.
Another task for my VA has to do with my videos. In this video, my VA is going to be editing it. So, Adrian, thank you so much for editing this video. I appreciate it. Once again, this is something that is very algorithmic. It is cut out. Let’s make the intro start time cut out the outro in time; put in any kind of graphics; get rid of the green screen behind me here; and sync up the audio tracks. These are all things that are very algorithmic.
So, those are the kind of tasks I give my VA. I guarantee anything that you are doing more than once can probably be done by a VA. So, do not do things over and over and over again. That is what virtual assistants are for.
That being said, my VA is really smart. There are tasks that I originally did not think I could give to him but I tried him out and discovered that he was actually able to handle them. So, realize that your virtual assistant, if you are looking to hire a virtual assistant, are going to be smart people. I have a bunch of videos available on how to hire VAs properly if you are not sure exactly how to do that. You can get a smart person that is what I highly recommend.
So, anyways that is it for this video. If you enjoyed it, be sure you click that “Subscribe” button down below. I have a ton of videos on ecommerce including how to hire virtual assistants and all that kind of stuff here and more coming out soon. You will get those for free if you click that Subscribe button. Additionally, if you click up here, you can get my free ecommerce success pack. In that pack, I have checklists for starting your business, i.e., a checklist for your AdWords marketing idea and others topics. I recently added free access to my ecommerce Facebook group – the Effective Ecommerce Facebook group. This is a live community that is totally free and you can post questions you have and I will respond in real time. So click up there to get access to that. Last but not least, if you have any questions, leave them in the comments section and I will answer them. Thank you for watching and I will see you next time.