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3 Things I’ve Loved this Week

What I’m listening to: Sam Coroso on the Tim Ferriss Show. Sam is the co-founder of Levels.io, a company that makes continuous blood glucose monitors.

I’ve enjoyed tracking my blood glucose especially while fasting this year, but I didn’t know that Sam is also a productivity nerd. In this interview, Sam shares a wealth of tactics for hiring virtual assistants and making efficient use of your time. I’ve already listened to the interview twice.

Where I’m hiring: OnlineJobs.ph. This is one of the better sites I’ve found for hiring virtual assistants and workers in the Philippines. Whether you are looking for full-time virtual assistants to take care of life chores or more specific knowledge work, I’ve been pleased with the folks I’ve hired and the quality of their work.

(As with any hiring process, it takes a lot of work to find great candidates.)

What I’m rereading: The 4-Hour Workweek. Tim’s first book has aged well. While a lot of the specific tools are out of date, the strategies and approaches he shares are timeless. There’s a reason this book has sold millions of copies and been on bestseller lists for years.

Habits for Hiring

When I was in third grade, my class was given an assignment: give someone instructions on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Of course, we all started with, “Take the jelly. Put it on the bread.” And because we didn’t tell them to take the jelly out of the jar first, we ended up with a jar of jelly sitting on a loaf of bread!

My early experiences hiring and managing people were a lot like that.

When I first read Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek in 2011, I immediately went out and hired my first virtual assistant.

The several hundred dollars I spent to hire my first VA was, for me, a significant investment. I had no idea how to manage someone. Our communication broke down and within three weeks I concluded that hiring virtual assistants didn’t work.

As it turns out, the high cost, my own inexperience managing, and the lack of time I gave myself to learn didn’t make for a great first experience.

Unfortunately, this is how learning often happens:

• A bad math teacher leads you to the conclusion that you are bad at math.
• A bully on the basketball court leads you to swear off ball sports.
• Your first experience managing someone goes poorly and you conclude that it is your fault.

But more than a decade after learning that hiring virtual assistants doesn’t work, I’ve changed my mind. Here are a few of the hiring habits I wish I’d realized sooner.

Take the time to learn to manage

The biggest mistake most of us make when trying something new is attempting the new skill once or twice, assessing (correctly) that it is not going according to plan, and concluding that this approach doesn't work.

Worse yet, we often conclude that we are the problem!

I’ve found in hiring VAs recently that the key is to decrease the stakes and increase my time spent learning. Practice the skills you're trying to acquire before needing to get it right.

Habit: When you are hiring a virtual assistant, give yourself a set period of time to practice the skill of managing before making any conclusions about the success of the endeavor.

Start with lower stakes

The first mistake I made when I hired my first virtual assistant was to focus on the outcome. I wanted my VAs to do a great job and to save me time and money from the very beginning.

But that is not how learning works.

Instead, focus on what you have set out to learn, and don’t expect perfection on the first try. When you expect that the work will have some challenges from the beginning, you will give yourself more opportunities to learn.

Habit: When you are undertaking a new project, like hiring virtual assistants, set aside part of your time and budget for learning. A “learning budget” if you will. Instead of assessing progress right away, give yourself at least a few weeks to acquire the skills of management and leadership you need for longer-term success.

Know what you are hiring for

Knowing what you are hiring for sounds obvious, but has been one of my most frequent mistakes. In recent months, I’ve hired three teammates in the Philippines. I wrote out detailed job descriptions for each role, but when I shared them with a friend, my friend pointed out that it was still very unclear what I was asking the person to do.

Habit: Write a job description as if you were teaching a 3rd grader how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Make the expectations foolproof by writing at a 3rd grade level.

Expect it not to work at first

When I am learning a new physical skill, I expect to fail often. If I don’t fail at least 20% of the time, that means I’m not making the task difficult enough.

But, somehow, when I’m doing something new at work, I expect my execution to be flawless. When it isn’t, I get discouraged.

Hiring virtual assistants, just like anything else, might not work the first time you try it. Learn and try again.

Habit: When you assign a task, remind yourself that it probably isn’t going to work on the first try. That’s part of the process.

Just Begin

While I’m mildly frustrated that it has taken me a decade to realize that I can hire virtual assistants, I’m also amused that all those years ago, within days of reading The 4-Hour Workweek, I made my first hire. I didn’t even have a business at the time!

The only way to learn how to hire, or do anything else worth doing, is to try. And the only way to try is to just get started.

Habit: Take one step, today - and everyday - toward the outcome you want.

Some other things I wish I’d known sooner

Here are some other things I wish I’d known sooner about hiring virtual assistants internationally:

• You can hire people full-time for $2-10/hour. Compared to the San Francisco Bay Area wages I’m used to paying, these wages, which are fair elsewhere in the world, are revelatory.
• There is a subculture of folks around the world who work US time zones. I don’t insist on this with my VAs, but it can be arranged.
• Hiring can be very low stakes. Each hire matters, especially for a small company like mine. But when you are hiring for relatively low dollar figures, there’s more opportunity to focus on your learning.
• Volume and multiple tries really matters. As with anything, learning comes with practice. Hiring VAs overseas is a great way to get repetitions and practice in.
• Expect to sift through dozens or even hundreds of applications. Most people have only ever been on the applicant side of the hiring process. Get a glimpse of the other side of things when you post a job application online and get hundreds of applications.
• It takes investing the time to save time. The cost and time savings will come. But it doesn’t happen right away.

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I’m delighted to have realized that I can hire international help to run my business and also do simple daily chores like schedule travel.

Moreover, I’m pleased to have another opportunity to recall that just because something doesn’t work on the first try doesn’t mean it won’t.

It might just mean that I haven’t broken down the steps small enough. The key may be going back to the building blocks of learning and to try again.

Until next time,
Robin

Thanks for reading! I appreciate you being here. Do you have questions, thoughts, or feedback? Just rely and let me know.