How to Keep in Touch With Your Virtual Assistants Using Google Docs for Business

A Va or Virtual Assistant is a great asset for your business for several reasons:
One: they get you rid of so many tasks and therefore help you win valuable time while increasing

your profits.
Two: if you know where to search for them, you will find that you dont need to spend a fortune on

getting one hired. Bear in mind that it is very important not only to try and save money, but also to find a trustworthy partner for your business. Here are some tips on how to hire a virtual assistant and how to keep in touch with them.

Where can I find my Virtual Assistant?

They are pretty bad at hiding and very often they prefer to stay in plain view. Well, of course, this is what makes business owners see them and get their hands on one. But choosing the best Virtual Assistant is not an easy job. You have great chances of finding a trustworthy VA for your business on one of the following freelancing websites: oDesk.com elance.com freelancer.com

Personally, I again state my preference for oDesk.com. As they officially say on their website, they are the worlds largest online workplace. So the chances of finding a good VA there are pretty high. What is more, you can pay them on a fixed-price project or on an hourly basis as you prefer. My suggestion is to start a contract on oDesk for the trial period, but as soon as you decide that you are

going to have your VA work full-time with you, switch to PayPal. It gets you rid of oDesk fees and it is way more comfortable for the virtual assistant (they have instant access to their money).

How Do I Decide Who is the best candidate for my VA post?

It is up to you to decide who you work with best. My advice is to look for someone who is on the same track as you; its important that they understand how much you treasure your business and that they express their interest in helping you grow your business. While experience is always a plus, never forget that you are their mentor. So experience will come naturally, but it wont happen if your personalities do not match. Invest time and put effort into teaching your virtual assistants; show them what are your expectations from them and show them how to achieve the goals that you set for them. Be a leader,
not a boss.

During the trial period, look for traits such as initiative and imagination. The VA needs to be able & willing to help you sort out difficult situations. A person who has initiative will often suggest solutions that never occurred to you. In a nutshell, when searching for a virtual assistant, avoid putting too much emphasis on experience. Instead, look for someone who has the same personality as you, a person with initiative and with an inclination for problem solving.

How do I keep in touch with my VA?

This is a great question to ask, especially when you are working with people who are on the other side of the world. I myself am dealing with some time issues: I work with several Australians and the difference in time is sometimes an impediment due to which we have to postpone things. A great way to keep in touch with a virtual assistant is by using Skype, or by making a subscription to JoinGoToMeeting.com. Skype is a free service that allows free online calls everywhere in the world. In fact, I doubt that there are people who havent yet heard of the software. The sound is pretty good and the occasions when you might experience poor sound quality are rather rare. On the other side, JoinGoToMeeting is a paid service which allows you to hold weekly meetings with your staff. Extremely useful especially when your whole team is scattered around the world. Another great means of communication (well, of staying in touch) is using Evernote and Google Docs. If you want to know more about how to use Google Docs for business, then scroll down a bit there it is!
Evernote is a program which remembers everything. You can use it as an agenda, you can save your

favourite websites or articles there, add meetings, events, parties or business-related stuff. The cool thing about Evernote is that it comes for free. They also have a premium version for those who want to store lots of information in the cloud but you have to pay for it.

In my opinion the best thing about Evernote is that once you have created your notebooks you can share them with other people. I am going to show you how to do this in a future article.

Why & How Google Docs gets you rid of many headaches & misunderstandings
Google Docs is really an AWESOME tool for everybody, but especially for business owners and their faraway teams. When working with people that are thousands of kilometres away from you errors can occur at the most unpleasant times. Unfortunately, e-mails only add up to misunderstandings and in time it gets really frustrating. By using Google Docs you can solve this problem. And its free! You only need a @gmail.com e-mail address.

4 Ways in Which Google Docs can help you boost your business
1. Google Docs allows you to add or create new documents. If you have a Word document that you need to share with a member of your team, you can simply upload it in the cloud and select the Share option.
Note: The receiver is not always announced when a new document has been added in a folder which

is already shared. So to make sure that your team is up to date with the latest additions and editing, send them an e-mail with the the links URL. Only those who have access to the document will be able to view it. 2. You always have the latest version of everything. If lets say, your content writer wrote a new press release, they can send it to you via G Docs. You simply edit the parts that you want and the modifications are automatically saved. Once you are done, simply inform your content writer about it and they will have access to the edited version of the text. 3. It successfully replaces a backup system. If you deleted one or more files from your computer and after two days you realized that you actually need them, simply go to G Docs and search for them there. It is a great and entirely free backup system that I suggest you should use shamelessly! 4. You can share various types of content. Whether you want to share a word file or a video, you can do it via G Docs. It supports PowerPoint formats, .pdf, avi, YouTube links, etc. You can even create a document on the spot. You can choose to create: documents presentations spreadsheets forms drawings

and you can organize them in folders.

Now I pass this to you, and I have two questions that I am curious to find an answer to:
1. Do you use a VA? How did you find them? 2. What other ways can you think of for using G Docs for business?

Take advantage of that Comments section! Or simply click on the questions the link will take you to the website where you can comment and share.

My Best Wishes,
Bianca Marieta

Thanks for downloading and taking time to read this document. I am waiting for your opinions at http://www.biancamarieta.com/ or on my Facebook account, www.facebook.com/MarietasBlog/.