Today I am celebrating our one year anniversary of Bravo Tango Tees, a business I co-own with my friend, Becky Litton. As I writing a blog post reflecting on the first year of our business adventure, I started to realize a couple of things about working with someone else.
You need to treat this partnership – whether with a business partner , Virtual Assistant and other team member – like any other relationship. You need to communicate, listen and nurture that relationship. I’m a big advocate of working with team members that can help you do your job better. Having a virtual assistant (or some other assistant) is something I highly recommend to all my clients.
Working with an assistant can provide many benefits for you and your business. You will have more time to work on projects, yet the day-to-day activities of your business will still get done. A good assistant can also provide great feedback and help you brainstorm new ways of managing the business of being in business. When you find someone that you enjoy working with, it is important to keep them happy, productive and motivated. If they feel bored or taken for granted, they may look elsewhere .
The following are some tips to help you keep your assistant…
Keeping your lines of communication open. When you want her to complete a job, explain exactly what you want. Keep track of the progress of long projects to make sure things are moving along smoothly. This will prevent any bad feelings if your assistant hands you a project that wasn’t completed exactly as you had envisioned.
Coaching your assistant will help both you and your assistant. Teaching your assistant to set goals will empower your assistant in their personal and professional life. When your assistant feels empowered professionally, they will feel more confident and will be motivated to take on new challenges.
Keeping your assistant stimulated and helping them learn new skills will keep your assistant motivated and productive. You can offer to teach them a new skill, such as blog customization or help them learn a new software program. As your assistant learns new skills they can help you with more of your business tasks. This can help you grow your business to new heights.
Give your assistant feedback on the work they have completed and praise your assistant when they have done a great job. When assistants are not told if they are doing good work, they may assume that they have done badly or even failed. This may cause them to suffer a lack of confidence and eventually, they may not try as hard as they could to do a good job. When they are praised and given encouragement, your assistant will work harder to do a good job.
Most importantly, telling your assistant thank you will make them feel appreciated and worthwhile. Being an assistant is hard work, and a little praise can go a long way.
