In our latest video, Joshua and Attilio, co-founders of Therapy Flow, dive deep into the why’s and how’s of hiring your first Virtual Assistant (VA) for your practice. Whether you’re running a solo practice or growing a group practice, a VA can prove to be an invaluable addition to your team.
In this informative session, we discuss the importance and benefits of hiring a VA, along with the considerations to keep in mind during the hiring process. We also explore the various types of VAs, where to find them, and the tasks they can efficiently manage. Furthermore, we delve into the importance of offloading your mental load, creating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and how to effectively train your VA.
Our goal is to encourage you to take the initiative to hire your first VA and experience the positive ripple effect it can have on your practice.
We also touch upon the Therapy Flow program and how it can provide you with detailed playbooks and deep insights to further streamline your practice’s operations.
Here are the key insights from our discussion. Please take a moment to review them as they provide a quick summary of the content and can act as a guide while you watch the video. We hope this information will empower you to take the leap and hire your first VA. Your journey towards increased efficiency and growth starts here!
Key Insights From Video
Here are the key insights from the video above:
Importance of Hiring a Virtual Assistant: Hiring a VA can prove invaluable for both solo and group practices. This decision enables practitioners to delegate tasks and focus more on core business activities.
Understanding the Role of a VA: A VA’s role can range from general administrative work to specialized tasks. The VA can be hired as a general assistant or a specialist, depending on the specific needs of the practice.
Benefits of Hiring a VA: Even for practices seeing as few as 10 clients, hiring a VA can provide significant returns. The value they provide can far outweigh their cost, yielding substantial benefits.
Types of VAs: VAs can be classified into two main types – overseas and stateside. Within these categories, VAs can be further classified as highly skilled and experienced or relatively untrained.
Hiring Considerations: Your first VA doesn’t need to be a perfect fit. It’s more important to start the process and learn from the experience, and initially, it may be more beneficial to invest in a VA with more skills and experience, even at the cost of fewer hours per week.
Places to Hire VAs: VAs can be hired through VA placement companies, Facebook groups, or traditional platforms like Indeed and Upwork. It’s important to set clear stipulations to streamline the hiring process and avoid being inundated with applications.
Team Sharing a VA: It is possible for practice owners to share a VA with others who do not provide full-time work for them. This approach can make the hiring process more cost-effective and offer increased scheduling flexibility.
VA Placement Companies: Specialized companies such as The Productive Therapist and Mindful Admins offer VA services tailored for mental health practices.
Core Tasks for a VA: VAs can take on tasks including marketing, sales handoff, call handling, client follow-ups, schedule management, insurance verifications, and office supplies management. This delegation allows practice owners to concentrate on higher-value tasks.
Offloading Mental Load: Hiring a VA can significantly reduce the mental load on the practice owner. For this to work effectively, it is crucial for the owner to identify tasks to offload and create a clear process that the VA can follow.
Creating Standard Operating Procedures (SOP): Regularly scheduled times to create SOPs are essential for effective task delegation to a VA. These SOPs serve as training manuals, guiding the VA to complete tasks as per the desired standard.
Follow-up and Training: Regular follow-ups and ongoing training are important to ensure the VA performs tasks correctly.
Value of Process: Having a well-established process for hiring, training, and delegating tasks to a VA can unlock significant potential for a practice.
Utilize Existing Programs: Programs such as Therapy Flow can provide playbooks and deep insights into task management, especially beneficial for solo practitioners and growing group practices.
The Power of Action: The speakers advocate for taking action to hire the first VA. This initial step can lead to many more opportunities and efficiencies within the practice.
Final Thoughts
We hope that you have gained valuable insights into the practicalities of hiring your first Virtual Assistant (VA) for your practice.
The role and benefits of a VA are multifaceted, extending from administrative assistance to sharing the mental load of running a practice, and beyond.
The journey to hiring a VA can seem daunting, but as highlighted in the key insights, there are several strategies you can employ. From identifying what kind of VA you need, where to find them, how to train them effectively, and utilizing existing programs like Therapy Flow, each step taken is a step closer to unlocking the potential of your practice.
We want to emphasize again the power of taking that first action. Hiring a VA might not be perfect on the first attempt, but the experience you gain will be invaluable for future hires and for your overall practice management.
Don’t forget, the goal isn’t to get it perfect but to get it started. Your journey towards more efficiency, growth, and balance in your practice begins with hiring your first VA. And remember, we’re here at Therapy Flow to assist and guide you along this exciting path.
We look forward to hearing about your experiences and successes as you venture into this new chapter of your practice!
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