Kevin Zittle

Hiring a Virtual Assistance

Kevin — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:12:58 +0000

I was recently asked to speak at an event at Elance on Working Differently. It was an awesome event that discussed the future of work and the tools we used. Huge shout out to my co-panelists Jon Acosta (left) and Jonathan Fleming (right) who kept the night rolling with me – it was a great panel! If you didn’t know, I am a huge fan of Elance and have had a Virtual Assistant (VA) from Elance for the past 4 years or so. The question I always get, however, is how do you find a good one? How do you find the rock-star who can really make a difference in your life. So, I decided to share my hiring process that I used for my latest VA, and yes, she is fantastic!

The first thing to figure out is what you want your VA to do. If you were at the event, you heard me say over and over again, is to let go! (I think my actual suggestion was “Just give them your credit card and let go.” Jon, I’m looking at you…Haha!) Get over the fear of needing to do everything and just let go. Yes, you are probably great at doing everything yourself, but that doesn’t mean you are the only one who can. Here’s a challenge: throughout the next week, every time you finish a task, ask yourself, “Did I need to do that or can my VA do this?” Whenever the answer is ‘My VA’, write it down. You will find that many tasks don’t actually need you. Tasks such as scheduling, answering emails, internet research, customer service, even training.

I’ll give you an example, I have a client who wanted to have a Skype meeting, but didn’t know how. Not only did Audrey, my fantastic VA, schedule the appointment, but called the client and trained her on how to use Skype. Now she was all set for our appointment. Really challenge what you have to do and what your VA can do. My measure of success is when she comes back and says I am needed to complete the task.

So, now onto hiring. Here is the process I use. This of course is specific to Elance, but can be translated to work on any platform.

Post your project and begin getting bids.
Get rid of all of the bids that are way above or below your price listed.
Weed out any with 1-3 star reviews. Leave the no-rating ones still – they may be new, but that doesn’t mean they’re bad.
From here, you can filter out by location or by individual/group if you choose. Both are optional. You can also weed out any that look bad or that were copy and paste responses. This entire process should take you about an hour. For all of them, just hide the ones that meet one of the criteria above so you don’t have to see them. You should now be down to about 15 or so people.
Next, send them all a questionnaire. I’ve put mine down below for example.
This is where it gets a bit tougher. Now you have to read their responses. Once again, get rid of the ones that seem pretty standard or didn’t answer your questions at all. Then, really take the time to read each response. You’ll find ones that match your personality and needs.
Ask followup questions if need be and decide on 3 or 4 that you want to contact.
Setup a time to chat over phone or Skype and just talk with them about who you are, learn who they are. Tell them what you are hoping they will be doing for you and let them ask questions….they will have questions. =)
Finally, make your decision. Award them the project and try it out for two weeks, starting with smaller tasks. If you find that you really aren’t happy (which would be unlikely if you’ve followed those steps above) then just cancel the project, pay the freelancer, and go back to your list of 3 to 4.

The most important thing with all your freelancers is to be clear and concise with your tasks. What are you looking for, what does success look like, have you done this before so they have examples. Expect that you are going to have to walk them through a few things the first time. Make sure they take great notes and start a Google Doc where you can share best practices. You have to learn all of your quirks so that you can share them with them!

I have hired a lot of talent on Elance and not once have I had a bad freelancer by using this process. Remember, finding a good freelancer is both the responsibility of the freelancer and the client. You will have different needs then everyone else, so be flexible and take the time to find the right one – you will be greatly rewarded.

So, what tips and tricks do you use for hiring freelancers? Share them below in the comments.

Update: One of my wonderful co-panelist, Jon Acosta, has written his thoughts on the Elance. Be sure to check out his blog post here.

My Questionnaire:

This is the questionnaire that I send out to my final 15. Of course, this is specific to my needs so adjust it to fit your needs and what you care about!

Hey there {InsertName}!Thanks for applying for {ThePosition}. I have reviewed the proposals submitted and really liked your submission. I would like to ask you a few follow-on questions based on the specifics I am looking for. Be honest, open, and, and add any additional information that you think would be valuable.1. This position will be sporadic in its needs and will vary from no hours a week to 10 hours. Are you comfortable with this?2. Use of “new” tools like Dropbox, Google Biz Apps (Voice, Docs, Calendar, etc.), Skype, Evernote, etc. will be used often. Do you currently use any of these products?3. What is your process for learning a new tool like those listed above?4. What is your learning style? What is your organization style?

5. About half of the tasks will be internet-research based. What sources and mehtods do you use to find, collect, and organize information about a topic?

6. I am hoping this is a long term relationship, my last VA was with me for over 3 years. As things progress, I learn more about you (and vice versa), and we build trust, you will be handling a lot of personal information. What measures do you take to keep that information secure?

7. It’s important to be happy and healthy. It’s also very important to me that I work with a human being, not just a robot. (It produces better work) Tell me about yourself? What do you do outside of work? Do you have kids? What inspires you to work everyday?

8. And three logistical questions:
a) Are you on a Mac or PC?
b) Hourly Rate? And do you round to the nearest hour or use WorkView?
c) Are you comfortable signing an NDA?

Old School: Film

Kevin — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:13:56 +0000

Shot on a Mamyia RZ67 with Kodak Portra 400 and then scanned.

On the Bookshelf

Kevin — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 23:18:28 +0000

So if you know me, you probably know how much I love reading non-fiction. (Despite the fact that I can never remember which is which!) I am a total junkie for business books, productivity, life-hacks, marketing, leadership, etc. About 1/4 of them I’m done reading but like to return to for either full reads (4-Hour Work Week) or reference (Rework). Another half are somewhere between started and finished. Just search any of them on Amazon and their all available on the Kindle. So, without further ado, what’s on my current (virtual) bookshelf in no particular order:

The Ultimate Startup by Jason L. Baptiste

Emergency by Neil Strauss

The 4-Hour Chef by Tim Ferriss

Influence by Robert Cialdini

22 immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

The Art of Non-Comformity by Chris Guillebeau

The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss (Can you tell I’m a fan? haha!)

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell

The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuck

Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh

Rework by Jason Fried

What books would you recommend?

Slow Down.

Kevin — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 22:48:21 +0000

It’s not just something I should be doing in the car (a totally different story!) but something that I feel like screaming out so often when working on a project. I had a wonderful conversation with someone recently discussing work environments: what allows us to succeed? What does the perfect work environment look like? (Hint: more than likely, it looks nothing like the corporate environment we are all forced into.) I know that for me, and I suspect many other creatives, tight deadlines and constant interruption are two of my biggest culprits of productivity-zero. Andy Budd put it into words perfectly in his latest post. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Goodbye 2012. Hello 2013!

Kevin — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 01:00:25 +0000

This year has been quite the experience. It has truly been one of the best years of my life. (Other than maybe the last half of 2011) It has brought some amazing times – both good and bad – and has made me a better person because of it. Here are some of the highlights:

• First time to the East Coast with 500 Startups Demo Day in New York (and took some photos of it)
• Met some amazing people like PK Agarwal, Karen Baker, and Matt Mahan

• Partnered with Silicon Valley Leadership Group with 1000 Hearts for 1000 Minds
• Got the chance to work with a startup in Boston called CommonPlace
• Went to Boston for the first time!

• Mere hours after landing back home, flew to San Deigo to speak at Cisco Live!
• Loved Boston so much I went back a second time

• Participated in an awesome Iconathon and helped make awesome icons
• Built a ordering/delivery app for the Mountain View Art and Wine Festival

• Finally launched a photography portfolio site
• Started learning how to fly

• Launched version 2 of GoVoluntr
• Attended the Warm Gun design conference
• Finally got this blog going
• and most importantly, spent hours and hours laughing, talking, enlightening, pondering and generally hanging out with some of my best friends in the whole wide world! =D

Now, as the hours wind down of 2012, I look forward to 2013 and well…it’s going to be super exciting. Just hold on because it is going to start with a whole bunch of awesome and only get better from there!

To everyone who has been part of 2012, I thank you for shaping who I am today. I am so excited to see what 2013 has in store for us in 2013. Happy New Year!

When did that happen?

Kevin — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 21:02:47 +0000

Hmmm. I must be late to the party on this one but when did Instagram start creating profile pages for users? At least, ones that look this good. Check it out.

http://instagram.com/kevout

Hello world!

Kevin — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 21:16:49 +0000

Well we’re 3 days away from 2013. I’ve kind of been slacking on this one so I decided to just make it happen and get it done. So – here’s my personal blog. Boom! Done!

Why would I want to start a blog? Well, mainly because I have a ton of ideas, thoughts, projects, etc. that I really want to share…but not sure any of them was worthy of a blog by itself. I’ll let you all be the judge of that though. You’ll probably see quite a bit of design topics covered, some photography is bound to come up, technology, code, who the hell knows what else.

I may post everyday. (But probably not.) Maybe it will be once a week, once a month. The only thing I can assure you is it will be whenever I feel like it. =)

Anyways, get on with life. Have a fantastic New Year’s Eve and I will see you all in 2013!