HireMyVA Podcasts

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HireMyVA Podcast 13 – I just want to do my work and not worry about someone else

HireMyVA Podcast 13 I just want to do my work and not worry about someone else 1

Can I be really honest on this? I think I can because this is our actual podcast, right? Reality is our friend. And so for those who have been on the journey with Dave and I, for some period of time, you know, I tend not to pull punches. I try to speak the truth, even when it hurts, I try to soften it a little bit. Sometimes it’s like an iron fist and a velvet glove. What Teddy Roosevelt used to like to say, but if that truly is your attitude, and I mean, truly, and you’re not just saying that as an excuse, then this isn’t the program for you. Then really freedom is not what you’re looking for. That’s an absolutely fear-based comment. You will not grow your business. You will not find the freedom that Dave and I are trying to offer, if you’re going to do everything by yourself. Dave, you’ve got this great comment on the board, over your shoulder there that says “control is an illusion”. If you think you’re going to control everything, you are nuts. The more you try to hold on tight to things, the less control you have of what’s really going on around you. And we can really dive down the rabbit hole with Alice in Wonderland or go through the matrix or whatever it is on this one. But truly, if you want to find freedom, you have to have team members, really strong team members.

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HireMyVA Podcast 12 – I’ve heard they’ll just disappear days at a time

HireMyVA Podcast 12 Ive heard theyll just disappear days at a time 1

It really comes down to three things. I think one is the personality of the person that you’ve hired. The second, that can be cultural because there are some cultural events or life circumstances that happen where culturally, they deal with it differently than we might here in the U S additionally, part of the cultural thing is the way that they respond differently to their boss versus here in the U S and the third thing is communication. Have we communicated effectively what our expectations are of what happens when some kind of life drama, emergency, tragedy, holiday, comes up? So really, I think comes down to those three things and we can kind of winnow this down from there.

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HireMyVA Podcast 11 – I’ve hired someone from the Philippines before and it’s never worked out

HireMyVA Podcast 11 - I’ve hired someone from the Philippines before and it’s never worked out

You can hire people in the U S or the Philippines or wherever, and they may not work out. So let’s not get stuck on that because some of what we need to separate. And I say this often we need to determine, what are we rationalized? we watch them make excuse. And what’s your reason so it could be, these people could be from anywhere and they might not work out. It’s not a country specific issue. The issue is not knowing what or whom to look for that, the right characteristics. Not being able to filter them out up front.

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HireMyVA Podcast 10 – Will they steal from me if I give them access to sensitive information?

HireMyVA Podcast 10 Will they steal from me if I give them access to sensitive information 1

There are some things you’re always going to withhold – you have to. But if we want more freedom, we have to give up the reins to a lot of the things that we do. And so the, I think the thing that most people are afraid of is intellectual property and finances. Those are the two things that people are most concerned about stealing. And so there might be small things that you can do to…

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HireMyVA Podcast 9 – I’m concerned about tracking my VAs time & getting the value I paid

Im concerned about tracking my VAs time getting the value I paid 1

If we’re hiring somebody to do a task and we know that they’re strong at this, most people don’t like to be micromanaged, right? And people who micromanage do it out of fear. I’m afraid they’re not going to do what I need them to do. I’m afraid that this was not going to be a great investment. There’s just a lot of fear about this is why people micromanage. When we let go of the fear and just let people do what they are great at, you’re going to see great productivity, but here’s the key we have to set expectations. We have to set goals. This is why this one of the things that you’re so good at so many things. They, when you do your meetings, you say here’s what the agenda is. Here’s what the goals are. And here’s what we expect to achieve.

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HireMyVA Podcast 8 – How do I handle that they aren’t in my timezone, or my night is their day?

HireMyVA Podcast 8 How do I handle that they arent in my timezone or my night is their day

And just to put a fine point on this, you may, many of you probably will get to the point where we are, where we have multiple VAs and we have in-house assistants and team members as well. So you could have somebody who does a complete overlap with you or a partial overlap or very little overlap. Just remember, just do what works best for you. And w what works with the strengths of your new team member. This is going to take time to tweak. You’re not getting it right the first time. Probably it might take a couple of times to actually figure out what works best for all of you, but we’re going to guide you through this. This is what the community is about. So go to the community. If you’re having challenges, let us know. And we’ll absolutely people will be chiming in and helping you through the process.

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HireMyVa Podcast 7 – Is the language barrier too great for hiring someone offshore?

HireMyVa Podcast 7 Is the language barrier too great for hiring someone offshore

So the important thing for this is yes, there are times when the language barrier is great, but there’s a lot of times, most of the time when you screen, right, you will get somebody who can speak/write depending upon your needs. And that’s one things you have to talk about and think about is what are your needs? And Larry, we were talking about, you know, like you said, if it’s a graphic designer, if it’s a code or something like that, their level of English may not have to be quite as good as, like we said, some of the writer who needs to be a content writer. So it depends upon what you need, but you can definitely find people who are really, really good at English, from an offshore. English in the world is kind of like the common communication language.

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HireMyVa Podcast 6- I haven’t a clue on how to communicate with a Virtual Assistant

HireMyVa Podcast 6 I havent a clue on how to communicate with a Virtual Assistant large 1

I think between the “application or approval” process, and then during the interview process, you’re gonna be able to tell how effectively are there, do they communicate in writing and how do they communicate verbally in person and even over a video, one of the questions that came up, I’m not sure whether you folks have seen it yet or not, but it’s how do I communicate effectively with these folks and one of the tools we give is communicating through video conferencing, and so there will be plenty of opportunities before you actually pull the trigger or make the final decision. We’re going to give you some tips and tools on how to make sure that you are communicating effectively with your VA. If you can’t communicate directly with your VA, you’re not going to have to run your business effectively. And the whole thing is going to be counterproductive to what we’re trying to do here is to help you launch your business, the stratospheric success without breaking the bank so this is so vitally important.

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HireMyVa Podcast 5- I don’t know the right tools to use to manage a Virtual Assistant

HireMyVa Podcast 5 I dont know the right tools to use to manage a Virtual Assistant large 1

And now let’s talk a little bit about project management. I think we, we mentioned a little bit before, but it’s basically, you’ve got to have a place where you communicate written and putting to dues tracking progress and seeing what’s happening on team members, because you want to make sure that what’s in front of them is written down so that they can see it on a daily basis or a minute by minute basis, depending upon how fast they’re, you know, doing their To do’s. So there’s the slack. You can do that, I think to a certain extent, but that’s more the project management tools base camp, Asana, teamwork, click up, you can do that even with Google docs, you can do it with Microsoft teams, you can do it with Evernote if you want. So there’s multiple tools that you can do.

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HireMyVa Podcast 4 – If it doesn’t work out, there’s no way I could ever fire someone

HireMyVa Podcast 4 If it doesnt work out theres no way I could ever fire someone large 1

It shouldn’t be a surprise when you have to let somebody go. There should’ve been plenty of discussion leading up to it. They should have been plenty of action steps taken before, I’m just gonna use this intentionally the, before the X falls, they should know that it’s coming. So, but what we do talk about through the program is that there are some things that it’s caused for immediate termination, even when dishonesty, disrespect to a client, those types of things should be kind of non-negotiables. But another one of the mantras that we have throughout all of our organizations is coach them up or coach them out. Once you decide I’m going to coach them up, that means I’m going to be committed to getting them on board, getting their skills up to speed, or you coach them out. But at some point you’ve got to have our, in our minds, Dave, that at what point do we change from coaching up to coaching out and oftentimes that situational, and this is why I love the community that we have is why I love the form, because sometimes we don’t know, because we’re so in the weeds with this, that we need some outside perspective.

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HireMyVA Podcast 3 – I Have NO or Little Experience Managing. Will Building a Team Work for me?

HireMyVA Podcast 3 I Have NO or Little Experience Managing. Will Building a Team Work for me large 1

We’ve got lots of years of experience in managing people in our office, but also remotely. That’s absolutely true. And you can’t deny that and you’re right. We’ve done it in the corporate space and done it in the nonprofit space, in the military. Absolutely all that’s true. We know the great thing about mentors and coaches is that you’re not just paying for a program. You know, there’s paying by the hour, really what you’re getting when you have a coach or a mentor or a program like this is all the years of experience that come with it, all the life lessons, all the failures, all the successes that get to be shared. This program is not just about how to hire a VA. That is easy. I think I hope you found out by now. If you’ve scrolled through the whole program, Dave, is that we’ve got all kinds of stuff, not just how to be successful with a VA, but how to run a successful business, how to be a successful entrepreneur.

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HireMyVa Podcast 2- I’ve Never Managed Someone Before and Don’t Know Where to Start

HireMyVa Podcast 2 Ive Never Managed Someone Before and Dont Know Where to Start large 1

Managing anything or managing any one for the first time it’s scary. You know, it’s like anything going on a rollercoaster for the first time is scary. But I think that if we have a look at it for those first time managers and leaders, particularly in the solopreneur or business ownership space, the way I look at it is, everything is hard until it gets easy. You got to start doing it. You got to get in there and just do it. But the great thing is if you consider that managing a team or managing your first team member, we call them team members, not employees, because it changes our mindset about how we treat each other. But when you are managing or leading your first team member, it’s like going on a road trip across country, but, and you’ve never left your hometown.

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HireMyVa Podcast 1 – Doesn’t Hiring Someone Cost Too Much?

HireMyVa Podcast 1 Doesnt Hiring Someone Cost Too Much 1

We advocate for going to the Philippines, especially for first timers, because it’s a great way to get started. You don’t have to allocate that much money and you can hire somebody full time, you know, say around it’s about dollars an hour. Communication barrier Isn’t really there. I mean, it’s a great experience. And typically it’s about a 10th of the cost of what you might pay here per hour. If you had an employee or a team member from the U S and if you have them in the Philippines, it’s about a 10th of the cost.

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HireMyVa Podcast – Who da heck are Dave Braun and Larry Broughton?

HireMyVa Podcast Who da heck are Dave Braun and Larry Broughton

An easy way to find out a little bit more about us is go to hiremyva.com/aboutus. You can see that here in the URL for the browser. And this guy here on the left is joker here is Dave and this awesome, amazing dude is Larry on the right and if you want to come to the page and you can see, read about, you know, what are we passionate about? Why we’re doing what we’re doing here. We’ve got some great, some great texts here. I guess we can talk about it, Larry. But you know, we want to have people reach their full potential.

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