Brendan breaks down the indications that made him realize he needed a VA for his family business and personal brand, the specific tasks he delegates to a VA, how he delegates effectively and more!
We run a luxury lighting business in Cambodia specializing in custom crystal chandeliers. I’m the procurement manager and my responsibilities include liaising with manufacturers and suppliers in China and Italy.
Aside from the family business, I run my own personal brand where I help others build their creator business like a startup.
The hardest part is trying to manage the family business while working on my own creator business. There’s just so much stuff to do.
It mostly involves admin work like database management, content curation, and content writing.
The point where I realized that I needed to offload these low-impact activities so that I can focus on more strategic things.
For my family’s business that would involve traveling and meeting with the suppliers and clients.
And for my personal brand that would be networking, building backlinks, and creating digital products.
All of which cannot be outsourced because it has to come from my own expertise.
For my family’s business that would be social media management, creating catalogs, and some basic housekeeping.
For my blog that would be content writing and curating information.
I simply use WhatsApp or Skype but there honestly isn’t much communication needed aside from weekly check-ins as most of it is asynchronous.
I use Notion as my complete life management system where I have standard operating procedures in place.
So whenever I make a new hire, I simply share my knowledge base and get them on the same page for both projects ASAP without much intervention from my end.
The tasks required by the family business don’t require much oversight. I simply give them the task and deadline.
For my creator business, the bulk comes from content writing and I write content briefs for every article so that they can spend more time researching and writing rather than figuring out what to do.
Initially, hiring competent VAs was the issue. I would just post a job ad and they would reply with an email with portfolios, resumes, and cover letters which at that point seemed enough.
But when it came time to actually do the work, it wasn’t what I expected.
I came to realize that many would showcase work that they didn’t even do or simply name drop various tools or brands.
So, I completely revised my hiring process using Airtable and its automation features to create short assessments to filter through the low quality candidates.
I finally get to focus on the more impact activities that are needed to actually scale both my family’s business and my own.
Huge Thanks To Brendan For Taking The Time To Do This Interview, If you interested in following his journey further, make Sure To follow him on Twitter for more interesting content and learn how he turns your blog into a revenue channel.
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