Determining Your Hand-Off List

0:00 Hi, welcome to the podcast that explores virtual assistants, lump business owners to know, when they start asking themselves the question, hey, do I meet a VA? I'm Rachel Davila, and after 18 years as a virtual assistant going at a loan, I experienced the steep learning curve from the other side of the VA client relationship when I hired my own assistant. Joining me on this podcast is a group of friends and colleagues who all have their own take on what busy entrepreneurs need to know to find, hire, and work with a virtual assistant, and mindfully answer the question, hey, do I meet a VA? Let's get this episode started.

0:47 Hello, welcome to, hey, do I meet a VA the podcast? This is episode six, and I'm your host, Rachel Davila with me is Bre BV, we and Aramlee and Sydney Hubbard. And today we're going to be discussing determining your handoff list. So, wait, it's one of the client comes to you and says, I don't know what help I need. I always go to the first thing in his, what are you doing? What do you wish somebody would take off your plate? Well, how do you guide a client or potential client who's coming to and saying, I know I need help, but I don't know what to hand off.

1:35 The first thing I do is reassure them that they don't have to have all the answers, that it'll come up through conversations that we have, and as we get to know each other and have conversations about what's going on in their business, we'll find out those areas and find ways that we can hand them off and what that will look like. So, I start with, it's okay that you don't have those answers. Yeah, I kind of do the same thing. I don't, hey, let's, you know, don't worry about you know, a list so much as, hey, which is a bigist pain point. You call me for something. Let's start with that. Even if it's like a 10-minute little fix for me, does that make your life so much better? Okay, let's start there. And then just like Bre, kind of work through it and eventually you find more and more pieces. I also do much more project oriented versus ongoing. So it's like, hey, you came to see me for a project. Let's take care of that.

2:24 And as I'm working for the project, I find other pieces that they are needing help with, and then, you know, one project spawns into multiple projects. Yeah, but I definitely, most of my clients don't know, hey, here's my list. Go do it for me. It's not the thing. Yeah, those things, what are you avoiding, right? And I always find too that the more you work with somebody, the deeper and wider it goes as well. Sydney, how about you? I think that I tend to focus on on a client's why. Why did you start this business in the first place? What do you enjoy most about what you're doing? And for me, my job is trying to help them get back to that.

3:09 So I think a lot of times people can get so caught up in the nitty gritty things that make a business run, that they lose sight of why they actually started their business and what they enjoy about their business. So I think that focusing on that and then it can help with a sense of understanding around, oh, I like this and these are all the things that I have to do in order to make that possible. I find too. I don't know if it's the same for you. Sydney is like, when you start asking them those questions about their why and getting them connected to it, they get excited about their business again. And they're like, okay, yeah, like, let's do this. So that by the time you actually have a couple of things that they've handed off to you, they're like excited about doing it.

3:58 Yeah, exactly. I love it when they come with this list of things, and because I always say to them, I'm like, within the flow of any one thing, anyone project, anyone, you know, process, there's things that they do like doing and then there's like the things that stop them because it doesn't go with their way. Like, I love talking to the client. I love doing this, but then I have to send them all of it. It's the, I don't like doing that part. And so I love when we start kind of pulling apart their processes. And I go, well, V.A. can help with this.

4:40 And it be a can help with this. And you just see them, the release on their face coming to do the things that stop me of my tracks because I can do the things that I love doing. And you could take the things that I don't. That kind of relief on their base. So like when somebody comes to me, I'm like, what is that list of things that you do or want to do or can't get to do because you're doing all these other things. And as I take them off their plate, then it is that kind of deeper. It's like, oh, I didn't know it could hand that off. Okay, here you go. And yeah, I love that moment that epiphany that they get as they start to hand things off or their life. I didn't even think about that piece or that piece or that piece and then it just, it just gets easier and easier for the client. So one of the things that I do with clients is I make them do a brain dump. I'm like, get it all out of your head and on to paper. All those things that you are, you know, that you're currently doing and don't want to do. The things you even you love doing and don't want to hand off and like the stuff that I call them procrastinations and tolerations, so things that you wish you could

6:12 get to, but you other things come first or there's things that you're doing because you tolerate the task instead of it's not a get to or I don't like it. It's more like in the middle like, I don't do it, but if you could take it on then that'd be awesome. Is there a process that you do in working with the client to really get them to deepen the hand off? Because I know that some clients tend to come and they, they don't want to say they they hoard the ideas they can't let it go because maybe perfectionism plays a part or they don't think they can let it go, but really they can and should what some of your process and in kind of going, I can take that, you can give it to me.

7:11 It's okay. What's kind of your process for that? Fear plays a big factor too, right? Like what happens if I let it go and it drops and not knowing what that looks like? So for me, I'm similar to you like do a brain dump but also track throughout the day, the things that like them happen the things that they don't and what let's start with some of those easier things so that they can kind of get to a feel of what the flow looks like. They can get a feel of what the communication style that they want our need is. They can get a feel for what what it feels like when that's done and they didn't have to do it so that it kind of helps with that momentum and keeping conversations like talking about what's coming up in your business, what's coming like having a good communication and meetings where you talk things out, that's where like those little nuggets like you were saying come up and you can be like, oh, did you know that we also do that or we could help with that?

8:00 Or did you consider this and sharing those ideas and kind of going from there? Yeah, I do the same kind of thing. I just kind of keep talking to them pulling it through mentioning things. I also noticed that the more I get them to talk about themselves and you know, that they kind of relax it's no longer just a quiet partner kind of, now becomes a hero or friendly. Even if we're not friends or like, they share stuff about their kids and whatever, then they start talking more and they relax a little bit more about, hey, I'm not hoarding at all because now I kind of trust you. Now I can kind of hand this off to you and if you're going to have a problem, you let me know. I've also noticed that when I do say things like, hey, this is a timing issue for me. They're like, okay, there's no big deal for the timing issue, but then they start to realize, okay, she's going to say something if she has a problem. She's not going to disappear because she doesn't know or you know, drop the ball because she's going to say something.

9:04 And that kind of gets them to relax a little bit more. And I kind of feel like the more I know about my clients on the personal side, then they kind of, they don't hoard. They don't seem to hoard as much. I agree with everything that you guys are saying. I think that trust is a big part of it and something that I do is remind them that I can start something and then they can take over and finish it if they want to. I think sometimes having a starting point is all a client needs to just have that push and or to just have a foundation. And I think also consistently checking in with here's what I have is this what you want because I can make adjustments and I can change. And so I think that eases the fear of, oh, what if it's not something that I like? Well, it's okay if it's not something you like because I can change it. So I think being flexible can help build that trust. When I think that a hand-off list from getting started, point of view, is really just a getting started kind of to do list. These are the things like you said the pain points, the things that are getting in the way of the why. And it can also be the, well, if I start with this project, it's not urgent, it's not scary, it's not overwhelming,

10:45 it can help build trust. But a hand-off list kind of is that getting the ideas out of your head and on the paper so you can kind of look at like what projects can I start with to build trust? What are the things that would really make my life easier until I have that momentum, that trust, that communication down those kinds of things? Having a hand-off list can also kind of help you prioritize those things that, you know, especially when you're like, this is important, this is important, but you only have so much hours in your budget to do those things each month or at a time, it can be make it easier to kind of look up. Well, if three takes this on, then I can take this on and we're building trust, you know, I'm using my hours wisely, all those kinds of things.

11:54 And it still gets it off your plate to open up the space to kind of go, oh, that thing that I thought was a whole another project was really just to step in this one or, you know, didn't turn out to be as necessary as I thought it was, I can delay that and use different hours for kind of things. So I think taking the time to create a hand-off list, to get the ideas out of your head and on a paper and then communicating them in the discovery call process or those first, you know, later on in the season, we'll talk about interview processes, but I know for me, the hand-off list kind of comes into play in that first 30 minute call where you're kind of going, are the tasks that you need the tasks that I do?

12:49 Are we the right fit? I think having an idea for that is one way that a hand-off list kind of comes into play, but it's not always the do-all be-all because I know for me, if it's not something that I can do, I can refer out or I can bring on a team member to kind of take on a task that maybe all the other things on the hand-off list I can do, but some other things I can't. How do you guys kind of use the hand-off list in terms of, I guess maybe expectations, setting expectations with the client terms of priorities and budget and whether or not you take that client on as a client? I think also just remembering that it doesn't have to start with the big heavy things, like the hard things, the things you don't know how to do. Sometimes starting small with something you do know how to do, but it just plays on you or it's that thing you're avoiding was that it may be checking your email and just having somebody go in and make you a priority in box and that's just relieves you so much for that you know you just go and you check those emails and you start from there. It can be something small to get that that we'll go in and feel with that's like. It doesn't have to be the big complicated things when I start with a client

14:19 and we do those first calls, we usually start with just a couple pieces at a time and then keep checking back, like okay let's try these three things and we'll this is how it'll look if it doesn't work, let me know feedback is important right and then we'll just keep altering it or see how it goes and then we'll go onto the next things and just kind of do it step by step, not feeling like you have to be a snowball rolling down a hill. Anything else before I wrap up? I think that going back to the question of gauge in priorities and expectations, I think that I manage that based on deadlines so even if a client doesn't give me deadlines I'll make them for myself and it comes down to what do you want me to have finished first and sometimes you need to have one piece finished before you can even do another piece so that comes into play but other times there's there's going to be things that they want more and that's where the priority is. When I think we talk about priorities and there's lots of different ways of considering priorities right it's like in what order do I want to do a project, how important is it in the overall scheme of things and when we talk about budget, where do you want your dollars to go that can help you prioritize your project but also

15:54 to land's point about the pain points right a little you know a little project can cause a huge amount of pain sometimes like you sound like free like your inbox right if it's even just opening your email causes extreme anxiety you know sometimes no that's not really a high priority task except that relieving the anxiety you know is really the priority versus the actual task so I love that you guys brought all that up because you know a kind of the implementation site like what are the things right what are the tasks that you want me to do and like I know got level like taking those things on really does calm anxiety it it creates space and energy and focus to kind of you know I always see at the universe likes to fill a void so if I take things off your plate then I know you're going to get that creative download but I don't always take into account the ease of the anxiety the emotional pieces right I'm more of the tactical side the logic side but I love that you guys brought up the emotional side because you know when clients come to us that really is right like you said it's that pain it's like what brought you to me to get started and it's

17:31 really more I think that emotional side then the the actual like test side so thank you for bringing all that up because I don't always think about it so I don't even bring clients to that point okay but you guys well I think it's so much and thank you for joining us today on this episode of hey do I need a VA the podcast if this brought up any questions for you please email us at hey VA podcast at gmail.com or reach out to any one of us using our connector links in the show notes below thanks so much for your great rest of your day thank you for joining us on this episode of hey do I need a VA the podcast if you found this episode helpful please leave a like comment or review and feel free to join our Facebook group find higher and work with a VA for more tips and tools if you have any questions please email them to hey VA podcast at gmail.com we'll see you next time