The Art of Outsourcing with Melissa Smith & Raquel Wilson

Hello, hello. Welcome to Inside Scoop. I'm Paula Rizzo. And if the idea of giving your to-do list to someone else makes you excited and terrified all at the same time, you're in the right place. Stick with me because I'm going to be talking all about outsourcing and I have two fantastic guests that I'm going to get to in just a second. To talk all about how outsourcing can really change your life, change your business. I know it to be true because it's true for me. Uh, you know, when I started outsourcing, uh, it really was something that made my life so much easier and less stressed, but it takes a little bit of, you know, giving the baton away a little, which can be a little bit difficult. Uh, I have an exciting announcement, uh, about a brand new LinkedIn Learning course that I created. Uh, it is live right now. And if you go to, um, PaulaRizzo.com/LinkedIn, you'll be able to check it out. It's all about note-taking, effective note-taking. And here's the cool part. You can check it out right now. I have a bunch of other things on there, too. But my two guests today are actually featured in this course with me because they happen to know a lot about organization as well. And I'm thrilled to bring on two fabulous, fabulous guests and friends of mine and also vendors. We've worked together. I've hired both of these ladies. To help me. Full disclosure, I think they're both fantastic and they have a lot to talk to and tell us about. So Melissa Smith is here from the PVA and Raquel Wilson from Peachtree VA. Thank you, ladies.

You're welcome.

This is so fun to be able to chit-chat with the both of you. And also, we want to hear from you, so if you have comments, questions, thoughts, go ahead and make sure to let us know in the, in the comment section below. Melissa, I'm going to start with you. What is it that people need to know? When is the time to hire some help for your business?

The time is when you begin to borrow from other time, and this is how you accumulate time debt. So let's say you have an activity on your calendar, you're going to write from 1 to 2, from 2 to 3, you're going to take lunch, you could have a meeting, you're going to do nothing. And then all of a sudden, 1 o'clock comes around, you don't start writing, you take back lunch, you cancel the meeting, you have to reschedule. All of a sudden you're doing these things that are on your calendar but not at the right time, and you start accumulating time debt. And much like any other debt, it becomes much harder to pay back the more you start switching around your calendar and not doing the things that maybe you want to but don't necessarily need to get done. And then by the time that you need to, like the time you need to hire a VA, you have so much time debt accumulated that it becomes much harder to get back your life and to get back the ease of what a daily non-scheduled and time-off life looks like. So when you start taking that time away from other things, think time debt. We all want to stay out of debt.

Yeah, absolutely. That's a great way of thinking of it because it's like, where would you be spending that time if you weren't doing this other thing, right? Uh, and a lot of times, I know this was be true of me. I was doing a lot of stuff that I could do, but it didn't have to be done by me. Even though I like to make spreadsheets and I like to organize my calendar and all of that, it's not exactly the best use of my time. So Raquel, that brings me to you because I want to know a little bit more about what are the things that people most often, business owners, want to outsource or think about taking off their plate?

Yeah, absolutely. A lot of spreadsheets. So I'm happy that you said that. I do not like doing spreadsheets. So that's definitely something I outsource to people on my team. But in regards to your question, I like to look at it like from a macro lens and a micro lens. So on a macro sense, what I hear a lot during discovery calls is the client wants to get out of the admin and operations trench. So they want more time. Again, this time debt concept, right? They wanna get their time back and they want more time to work on their business and they find that they're working mostly in their business, keeping the administrative and operational wheels running. So that's the macro sense. On the micro sense, I see a lot of clients looking for the type of support that, that we're talking about today. 3 different categories: true executive admin support. The second is operations implementation support. And the third is help implementing their digital marketing plans or perhaps helping implement tasks around an upcoming digital launch. Okay.

So if they have something like very specific that they're looking to launch, and I think that that's probably true of a lot of people. So for, for me, when I started looking for VA, I had obviously met Melissa. She was a student of mine for a video class that I ran. And when I got to see that what you do is that you basically pair up people with the correct VAs, I thought, that's what I need. I need some help. I don't know what I don't know about this, so I could use a little bit of help. Uh, and One of the things that you had said is that you always need to get some help before you think you need it, like right before. And for me, I was right about to launch my second book, Listful Living. And I knew, okay, things are going to start to get a little crazier. I'm going to not be able to maintain the pace that I'm maintaining. So I need a little bit of help. And then you paired me with Raquel and Tabitha, who's my amazing virtual assistant. Hit the ground running with that. So it's been amazing. Um, but what are some of the other things, this question's for both of you, um, that, that business owners or, you know, people who are looking for help with VAs might not realize that they can outsource? What are some of those things? You know, we think of calendar, we think of email, those kinds of things, but what else?

I like to start with all the technical aspects. I don't enjoy doing anything technical and most people actually do enjoy the technical things.. But you have to stop and say, am I the expert at it? Or is my thinking, if I don't know how to do this, I'm going to look it up. I'm going to look at a YouTube video. I'm going to find a tutorial. If that is your thinking, I can tell you right now, you're going to waste a ton of time. And that's time that you don't have. Your question really needs to be, if I'm not the expert, if I can't jump on and just go do this, then I need to find the expert, stay in my lane, and then pay someone else to do it. Because it's really easy to say, oh, I hate email. I want someone else to do my email. Oh, I don't want a calendar. I don't want to do that. But where people really see their time go away, and if your time equals money, if your time equals dinner time, if your time equals I didn't get that extra hour sleep that I wanted to, then that's something that someone else needs to do. And that could be an FAQ. That could be putting something on your website, video, podcasting, editing. Um, you're talking about templates. If you are constantly sending out things and you're like, gosh, this is like the umpteenth time I'm gonna send this out, that's a template. That is something that doesn't need to be done over and over again. And where people get confused and why I can't hire a VA to do this is because they're under the misconception that if you hire a VA, it has to be long-term or that it can't be project-based or you have to use so many hours. That certainly can be the case, but it's not always the case. And you can certainly hire a VA just to do a single project that will save hours of your time each month, let alone over the course of a year. Hmm.

Good point.

Good point.

Raquel, what do you think?

So I was thinking about this question and I agree absolutely with everything Melissa said. I also think for business owners who are their brand, you know, they are out there with a membership course or a podcast and they really embody, you know, their brand. Um, it's difficult for them to think about how to incorporate a virtual assistant or how to outsource work because they are their brand. Um, and there are a lot of ways that a virtual assistant or, you know, another virtual professional can support a business owner who is the brand. One example is by providing community concierge services. So a lot of business owners have online membership communities, and if it's growing, which is the point of having that membership community, it gets really hard to keep up in real time with questions and comments and posting events and the appropriate follow-up that is needed to grow your audience base and grow your business. And so I think that's a more abstract idea, but something that I hear during discovery calls, talking to clients who have a business like that.

Yeah. It's interesting though too, back to a little bit of what Melissa was saying before about what is it that you're looking up? What are the things that you're trying to figure out how to do? I love a good list. So I think for anyone who's watching this, for business owners that are thinking like, maybe it's time for me, or maybe in the future I'd need some help, just start keeping a running list of those things that you're constantly doing. Uh, you know, for me, the big thing was, uh, airline travel, which— how hard is it to book a flight? It is not difficult at all. But the day that I knew I needed to outsource that was the day that I booked a flight for the wrong week.

Right.

And then I had to, you know, pay the $200 and whatever it was at the time, the $200 change fee to switch it. And I thought, okay, I'm doing too many things. Just because I can do this doesn't mean that I should do it. And, you know, also this is, this is someone else could do this so much better than I can. Totally, totally true. You know, 100%.

I think to your point too, really quickly, Paula Rizzo, is that if you keep that list, if you, if you come up with what we call the VA wishlist, by tracking how you're spending your time, you realize that a lot of what it takes to run a business is rooted in administrative and operational task management. So that's a really important exercise that we encourage all business owners to do. And if you haven't done it, by time you get to, you know, one of our desks, we're going to ask you to do that anyway, right? Yeah, it helps to lead to a more successful onboarding and partnership in the long run.

Yeah, for sure. Well, let's talk about onboarding a little bit, Melissa. I'm going to start with you on that. But, you know, being able to think through that process, because it's not just— look, you're a great matchmaker, I have to say, for sure. But, you know, not everyone is going to use a VA matchmaker to get a, to get a VA. We know this, right? And not always is it a good match. But are there things that people can do ahead of time to make sure that it is?

Well, I have a 98% match rate, so I'm pretty good. But yes, there are things, and what I like to do is look at behaviors. So again, we're, we're, we're talking to you. So we're talking to the list producer here, right? There are a lot of people who are really good at making lists, but there are a lot of people who are going to be taking your list courses, reading your list book. They struggle, and a VA is there to help you to get away from that list. You brainstorm, they'll create your list for you if they can't master it the way you have. And so we're talking about behavior. So when we're talking about matchmaking, we have to think about how is this behavior going to work?

Who—

what kind of person am I? What kind of person are they? Are they going to be dealing with someone who's been labeled as difficult, or do I consider myself someone who needs to be herded like a cat? And we have to have a sense of awareness. And once we have that, then we can start with onboarding. We can start with matching and have the proper expectations. When you work with anyone, it has to have, you have to have a proper communication strategy and ideal client fit. So the communication strategy is for you, the client, the manner, the medium, the tone, the verbiage. It has to be super simple. The idea that you're gonna create new habits of communication, is not, is not realistic at all.

Right.

The ideal client fit is for the VA. They're thinking, I love lists. I love Airtable. I love people who love to geek out on spreadsheets and organizing all my lists. That's the kind of person that you're going to need to work with. Those behaviors won't change over time without intense therapy.

Desire to, right?

So you have to work with someone that already does that and already can deal with that type of personality, that type of person. And then through that communication, through the type of people that you both are, as you grow your business, as you create new goals, as you expand, as you scale, as you do all these things, you'll be able to grow together and communicate thoughtfully and effectively. And let's say a person does start out with a single VA. If you have that communication strategy, if that VA knows who they're ideal client is, they'll be able to say, "Gosh, Paula, you are way too big for me to work with now. You have so many moving pieces. I can't keep up with your list the way that I know that I want to, the way that I know you need to. You need to have a team." And so when we first started working together, I knew that was going to be the case then and there. And I knew that you needed a team to begin with, like Peachtree Versatile Assistants, So that way, as you grew in scale, they were going to be able to keep up with you so that it was this seamless process as you got every new speaking engagement, every new course, every new website update, whatever that may be, that they were going to be able to grow with you. And it was because when we first started out, we really narrowed down that communication strategy, that ideal client fit, and what's really important to you. And those are all behaviors not actually tasks and duties. That is the way to do things. And certainly Raquel can talk about how that onboards as a client, but you have to start at the habit and behavior level.

Yes. And I mean, you're totally right. You are completely correct. That is 100% the correct assessment. I did not see it at the time because I think also with business owners, you know, it takes a little while for you to really step into that CEO role. And be able to see beyond what's right in front of you and be able to see beyond this one year. For me, I was like, "Oh, I have a new book coming out. I need help with that." And it's like, "Hmm, okay, yes, but there's all this other stuff." Right? And I didn't totally see it. At the time when we started working together, Raquel, I think I was one year into my business. So we've been working together for two years now. And I knew that I needed some help, but I wasn't exactly so sure. So that's why I'm so happy to have you know, Melissa to, to basically tell me what I needed. But that I think is really important point for, for business owners to be able to step into that CEO role a little bit and say, okay, let's take a broader look at what we might need down the road, you know. And so Raquel, what do you think of that?

Yeah, no, I absolutely agree. Um, and just to, to piggyback on what Melissa said, I also firmly believe that it is all about the match and making sure, um, whether you're using a matchmaking service or, uh, you know, a VA, um, staffing company or whatever you choose to do, or just do the hiring yourself, you know, take the time to fully understand your needs, to fully and honestly assess your work style and your communication style and your expectations, especially when you're partnering with a virtual contractor who's not a full-time employee. You want to make sure that what you're looking for is aligned with the capacity that they have to serve you. But once you get through all that and you find the appropriate match, I think, uh, a really great VA is going to be process-driven. So they are going to have a process, uh, for onboarding, whether or not they're collaborating with you on your process that you need them to fall into. Or a lot of our clients come and they say, I need help, I know I want to get it from you all, but I just don't even know where to start, like, guide me. So that collaborative partnership mindset is what we're looking for both in our clients and also with our VAs. So a great VA prior to onboarding is going to thoroughly review all of your information, is going to have a firm understanding of your priorities and your goals, and it's going to come to that kickoff call ready to dive in and to get to work, and also be able to lead from their support role and help guide you into what we need to do first and, and what they need from you and what they can, what they can expect from you.

And it's very interesting to, you know, look at yourself as the business owner and what you're good at, what you think you're good at, what you're what you're actually good at and having a real deal conversation with yourself and being honest, right? To be able to say, and for me personally, I like all of this administrative stuff. Administrative. I like to look for gifts to send to clients and to send to people. I like all that, but it's not always the best use of my time. I think it's one of those things where when you see that there are people who actually do it way better than you do, and that is one of the things that Tabitha, the, you know, my virtual assistant who works for you, Raquel, she is like awesome at systems. So good at, you know, standard operating procedures and, you know, here's how we do this and this is what comes next. And like, I sort of have it in my head and I'm like, oh yeah, that's what I was thinking. That's sort of how I do it., but it's like, nope, she's got it like it locked down. She's way better at it than I am. And so I think that's what you need to look for as well in a match, to be able to say, okay, this is somebody who has up-leveled this. You know, I think I'm good at lists, she's like way good, you know. Uh, and, and so, you know, Melissa, I know that that's something that you always tell people to, to look for as well, to be able to say, you know, is this someone that you can have a long-term relationship with if that's what you're looking for? So let's talk about that a little bit, the idea of Yeah, there's a VA or help that you might have for a project, but if you're looking for someone for a long-term relationship, basically, what are the steps to that?

Think about where you want to go and dream big. If you're not willing to invest in your business, then I would say don't invest in a VA. A VA is an investment in your business. So dream big. Where do you want to go? Where do you see yourself in 3 years? Everything lines up, everything, your hard work pays off, you come upon some luck, whatever you want to call it, where are you going to be and what will that VA be doing for you at that time? And that's how you start to figure out, okay, well, yeah, my goal is to write a book. Yes, I do want to start a podcast. Yes, I want to be working less. Yes, I no longer want to work on Fridays. What are all the things that need to happen? They don't need to happen right now, but will this VA need to possess the skills that it takes to make those things happen in the future? Any assistant, whether human or AI, the true measure of an assistant is their ability to anticipate your needs. So the ability to anticipate your needs and get all those things to you and for you and research on your behalf before you actually need them is always going to be a crucial step But if you're thinking, I just need this right now, I just need this right now. This is why it's so important to stay out of that mindset and hire before you need somebody. Because once you do, the client is so focused on, oh, I need this done. Oh, I need this done. But then what happens when it's done? That's just, you could hire anyone to do that. That's just someone to complete the task. But an investment in your business, an investment in a virtual assistant, is to see to the future and to invest in your business in the long term. And in order to be able to do that, you need the time to really see the long term, believe in the long-term vision for your business. But so many clients, they get into this need, need, need, need kind of mentality that they can't see the forest for the trees.

Yeah, I get it. I get it. And Tony Howell gets it on LinkedIn. He says he loves it. Systems is my word for 2021. Asana makeover underway and contacting you is on my list, Paula Rizzo. Yes, Tony and I spoke a couple of weeks ago. We said we have to get back together. So I'm glad that I'm on your list. But systems, it really is the thing that will keep that relationship running and keep it going. And I'm sure you have some thoughts on that too, Raquel.

Yeah, absolutely. Having a process for everything is important. And when I mean everything, I mean everything. Have a standard operating procedure. There are so many wonderful tools out there for business owners. And for VAs. Um, it doesn't have to be this very complex process and, and really formal handbook or, you know, manual. Um, screencast, Google Docs, bullet points, just understanding, uh, you know, the steps necessary to, um, complete and to fulfill the systems that you're creating in your businesses is how you grow. Uh, but getting back to the, the partnership and, and, you know, the We, we are invested in long term. We certainly help in short-term project-based type things for clients, especially our specialists, but really we're, we're looking for clients, and we find that most clients are looking for what Melissa described as that long-term growth relationship. So for us, it's really important, again, getting back to that collaborative mindset, um, you know, if you're matched with a VA who has that collaborative mindset and wants to be, um, not just your right hand from an execution standpoint but your right hand from You know, having a seat at the table and really understanding your goals and having the toolbox and the skill set to build the systems around helping you achieve that is really critical, I think, to a long-term relationship. And then lastly, the time investment, like Melissa was saying, is, you know, if you enter into an outsourcing partnership with this, I just don't want to do it, I need it done yesterday, and I don't really care just as long as I don't have to do it.

Right.

You're gonna get like a very short-term reward there, but it's not going to help you grow your business.

Yeah.

And so really taking the time to find the match, taking the time to participate in the onboarding process, and then taking the time to nurture that relationship ongoing is, is very critical.

Let's talk a little bit about tools, uh, just because Asana was mentioned and Airtable and all of that. So, you know, I know you guys are on the, like I said, uh, you know this way better than I thought I did. I thought I was on top of my game, but you, you guys are are way ahead of me. What are some of the newer tools, right? We've heard of Asana, Evernote. They all work. They're all good. I use them too. But are there any new latest and greatest that you're really into? Melissa, I'll start with you.

I believe less is more. And I tell it to all my clients, pick the thing that you do. The more you keep switching, the more you're going to have to keep switching and the longer it's going to take you. But I, so I stick with my staples. But now I will tell you that clients, they love the latest and greatest. So I would say—

What are your staples first? Give me your staples.

My staples are email for longer term and outside communication. I use ScheduleOnce for scheduling and automating my meetings, including taking payment at time of service, at time of booking, I should say. I use Slack for immediate and things that need to happen sooner than later. And I use Asana for collaboration and long-term project management. That's it.

Yeah.

Yeah. And Raquel, and then I wanna hear about the latest and greatest, but Raquel, what are your go-tos? Yeah.

So our go-tos are pretty similar. We use G Suite as an organization for our email management. Most of our clients do as well. Asana internally, Slack. And I actually like Flowdesk for our internal newsletters. It's a newsletter management tool that's very aesthetically pleasing and works for our needs. It's not as robust as some others like ConvertKit or Mailchimp. If you have high automation segmentation needs, you're gonna look into a more robust platform. Mm-hmm. And then another one that we use and I've used for a really long time that continues to add features to support business owners is 17hats. I started using them strictly for the electronic signature function. I got tired of sending PDFs and HelloSign and all these things. Right. And so that has become a really wonderful tool because you can also do questionnaires. It's a CRM system. It has some accounting features. So I really like 17hats.

Hmm. I like it. Excellent.

Okay.

Melissa, latest and greatest.

I want to know.

I don't know if it's the latest, but I see it becoming one of the greatest for a lot of people is Memberium.

Oh, I've never even heard of it. What is it?

It's membership site. So if you have a membership site, it's integrated to help out members and take care of your membership. Meet up needs and their needs as well. ClickUp has been getting tons of traffic these days.

Wow.

I know so many people who are switching from Asana to ClickUp in droves. And HoneyBook is another one. HoneyBook does the scheduling. It sends your reminders. It takes invoice payments. It schedules time. These are all really great for virtual assistants specifically. Adminja is hands down my favorite. It is, it is built and intended for virtual assistants, not freelancers, not business owners, not specifically virtual assistants. So its capacity for teams, project management, clients, invoicing, time tracking alone Hands down the best time tracking for virtual assistants out there. Really? And whether or not you are a virtual assistant who charges by the hour or you want your virtual assistant to charge by the hour, right? That their time tracking is the bar none the best out there. And so I've seen a number of people say, let me use it because I think this is what I'm spending on it because I love this thing, right? It doesn't take me that long. It only takes me 5 minutes. And the number of people who are able to track their time, maybe for a to-do list or maybe because they're just trying that Pomodoro technique or something, they're shocked at the amount of time. But if they didn't have Adminja to track their time that way, they probably wouldn't have done it because there's nothing simpler than to track your time through Adminja.

Oh, for sure. And I'm a big, big proponent of timing yourself for everything that you do. The TV producer in me thinks in seconds, right? I know what's going to be 30 seconds. I know what's going to be a minute. Most people don't think in seconds, but I want people to because then you know how long it actually takes you to do things. So you have a realistic view of how long does it actually take you to reply to emails? Probably a lot less than what you actually think. When you sit down and you do it and you set that timer and you go, it's like, "Oh, I've been avoiding this for the past 2, 3 hours or 2, 3 days." and it took me not that long. So I love that.

You know, they say that the most productive people track their time in minutes, not hours. So you must be the— because you're talking about seconds now. Congratulations, Paula, you just made it to the next level.

I'm taking it to the next level, people. Raquel, any, any thoughts on the latest and greatest?

Some— yeah, I was thinking about that while Melissa was speaking, and we're seeing a lot of clients migrate away from plugins that they're using on their website. So for example, if you have a membership program or an online course, prior to these all-in-one learning management software tools, people were using individual plugins on the back of their WordPress site to kind of cobble together a course and a membership platform and things like that. So now we're seeing people move away from that and use tools like Kajabi. That can be an all-in-one course. It can host your videos for you. It can take your payments. You can send your newsletters through there. So really it becomes a one-stop shop for people who are selling courses online or have an online community. So that's a pretty common thing that we're seeing right now with clients. Cool.

That's awesome. That's great. Well, that was an extra, extra little, you know, look into the tech world because the tech does help us. You know, we don't want it to, to, to hinder us too, too much. Sometimes people get too wrapped up in it, but I always love a good, a good app or a good tool, you know. Uh, just a reminder to everybody, if you go to paularizzo.com/linkedin, you can check out my brand new course on note-taking, and these two ladies are featured. Some of their greatest ideas on how to keep better notes is in there because I said, you know, I need to go to the experts. I know a lot about this, but I want people who know even more than I do. So if you check that out, uh, you can check out all of my courses there. And also if you go to paularizzo.com/list, you will find my list-making starter kit. And the two of you have some freebies. I've been flashing them on the screen, but, um, you know, Melissa, can you tell us a little bit about yours, which is at thepva.com/hiring-workbook?

Absolutely. My mission is that everyone who wants to hire the right VA is able to do so with or without me. I give everything away in the workbook. It is quite extensive, but if you follow it, you will have a successful VA. And we cover everything from what— why are you hiring this person? What's the number one reason? How is this person going to be impactful? What are you going to do in the long term? How do you look for this person? What does good look like? How to write the job description to not only attract the right VA, deter the wrong VA, how to conduct reference checks, setting up interviews, background check services, you name it, it's in there. Reviewing proposals, everything is there for you. Follow it step by step and you will hire the right VA.

I love that. That is, that's, that's worth, worth the, the admission cost. I like it. Uh, okay. And Raquel, you have something as well. Why don't you tell us about your quiz? I love a good quiz. It's at my3va.com.

Va.com/quiz. Thank you, thank you. I love a good quiz too. I'm a sucker for those online and in magazines. Um, so the most common thing that I hear when someone is talking to me about VA services or on that discovery call or even in the contact form is, I know I need help, but I don't know where, I don't know how, I don't know who. Um, so the quiz is just a very simple, quick way to answer 10 questions, and the questions are really geared towards understanding how you're you're spending your time. And at the end of that quiz, it'll output the type of VA support your business may need. So we break it down. Maybe you need an executive admin who is savvy in operations management. Maybe you need a VA who's savvy in social media execution. So the quiz is just a really quick, easy, free way for business owners to take a quick inventory of how they're spending their time and what type of VA support they might need.

Mm, great. Well, that's wonderful. Well, ladies, thank you so much. It's been a blast to hang out with you. I'm thrilled that you were able to join me, and, uh, to be continued. I'm sure we'll be talking a lot more, uh, at a different time. But thank you for, for being here and for all of your wonderful, great knowledge. And to all of you watching, we will see you next time.