One of the biggest hurdles we face with first hiring a Virtual Assistant is getting over the Trust issue.<\/p>\n
Likely we won\u2019t consider it when initially hiring someone, actually looking for a characteristic of the person called \u201cIntegrity\u201d.<\/p>\n
But what\u2019s even more important is having some type of plan in place, a series of steps, or gates, that a person will need to pass through to establish that trust.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, we don\u2019t even consider that our new Virtual Assistant is trusting US in multiple ways.<\/p>\n
Thus, we need to create two plans to establish trust:<\/p>\n
A good way to think about this is how do two people establish trust between themselves in a romantic relationship, that may eventually lead to marriage, having kids, sharing finances, retiring, and then ultimately taking care of each other when growing old?<\/p>\n
OK, now maybe that\u2019s going too far, but you get the point.<\/p>\n
In every human relationship, even between business partners, and also companies, trust plays a pivotal factor.<\/p>\n
From reading the book \u201cThe Speed of Trust\u201d by Stephen Covey, the main point is that the more you can trust someone, the faster things move.<\/p>\n
For example, if you can trust each other based on simply a handshake, you can start executing on shared interests immediately, as opposed to waiting days, weeks, or even months, for contracts to be drawn up, reviewed, and signed.<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s involved in these two different trust plans when hiring a Virtual Assistant?<\/p>\n
It can be broken down into these factors:<\/strong><\/p>\n Let\u2019s look at all four of them.<\/p>\n But first, as you\u2019re considering the factors, make sure you have backup plans to recover, or take over yourself, in case trust breaks down. For example, if you do ever give your VA access to a credit card, establish a strict limit.<\/p>\n Gates are a series of barriers, or doors, that must be unlocked by the person under control. That person is either you or your VA.<\/p>\n Example gates for you may be<\/p>\n Example gates for your VA may be<\/p>\n You can see there is a gradual path to building a level of trust to where you can both be open and honest with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n
Gates<\/h2>\n
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