For months now, Mr. Muse has been nudging me to find a part-time virtual assistant. I resisted at first, figuring it could be a hassle to train and manage someone else, worrying that it might not be worth the expense or that the person I hired wouldn't be as meticulous as I am. But after a few particularly frenzied weeks this summer, I realized it was time to outsource the extraneous tasks associated with freelancing. So, a few months and one false start later, I'm finally in the groove with a virtual assistant who's reliable and eager to help with whatever projects I need off my plate. (It's a beautiful feeling!) I chose someone local, because I wanted to build a sense of trust with the person who'd be handling my invoices and other documents. (Plus, I know I could find a super-cheap VA overseas, but frankly, I wouldn't feel comfortable with that.) Although I chose someone with writing skills and aspirations of her own so I can help mentor her, I made it clear that she wouldn't be writing anything that carries my byline. Instead, here are some of the tasks I've been able to delegate so I can focus more on writing.
- Updating invoices. Because my clients have so many different invoice formats and requirements, it's been tough to automate my invoices, even the ones that occur monthly. I sent all my monthly invoices to my VA and asked her to update them and forward to me towards the end of each month.
- Researching new topics. I used to spend quite a bit of time researching new topics for queries and reading articles that had already been written on the topic. Not the best use of my time, since some of those ideas never get assigned. So, I asked my VA to research a few specific questions about a topic I'm interested in pitching and told her to see what links she can come up with an in hour or two. That gave me lots of relevant information to read through without sifting through the stuff that isn't so relevant.
- Screening interview subjects. Every time I post on HARO, I get about a zillion responses. Some right on target, some not so much. I asked my VA to screen responses and send me the names of the ones she found most relevant. I can always read through the original responses if I need more, but so far this approach has definitely saved me time.
- Proofreading and testing links. It's tough to proofread your own writing, because often we read what we meant to write rather than what's actually on the page. And sometimes we copy and paste the wrong link without realizing it. So far, my VA has proofread my newsletter and she's working on re-testing all the links in my ebook so I can update any out-dated links. I still try to build in time so I can read things over and check for errors, but having another set of eyes puts me at ease so I can focus on writing rather than proofreading.
- Searching Flickr for images. Much as I enjoy browsing photos on Flickr, it takes awhile to find the exact right image. Locating photos is an easy task to outsource, and I've also shown my VA how to resize images in Picnik (some of my blog clients have super-specific image size requirements).
- Scheduling guest posts. For me, the biggest time suck associated with guest bloggers is formatting and scheduling guest posts. I created a separate Blogger account for my VA so she can handle that aspect of the blog, saving me time.