How to Create a Virtual Team
A lot more of us are working from home these days. You may be on a virtual team with your colleagues, or leading one for the first time, or perhaps looking to assemble or expand your team virtually while we’re all staying safe and staying home.
As a sales professional, entrepreneur and coach who’s built a pretty fantastic (if I do say so myself) virtual team over the past few years, I’m excited to help you bypass some of my own pitfalls and encourage you along the way.
Don’t Be Afraid - DIVE IN
As much as I’d love to give you an easy 1, 2, 3 to hiring the perfect team, building a team from your laptop is an art and a science. There’s no perfect methodology. I can share with you my journey and a few places I’ve been successful in finding team members, but I encourage you above all to just GET STARTED. Come to grips with the fact that you may fail a few times before you succeed and that’s ok. The truth is that you can’t accomplish your dreams alone and you need others to be successful. No one exists in a vacuum.
Personally, my journey to build a kick ass virtual team began when I read Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Work Week. I knew I needed others on my team in order to maximize my personal output and build the life of my dreams. I firmly believe this still for us all. I can’t do it alone and neither can you.
So I jumped in. In the beginning I hired a virtual assistant that didn’t work out for very long. I didn’t get frustrated but kept trying new ideas. I found a graphic designer to create my first logo. Spoiler: It’s not the beautiful artwork we have now by Claire Price, but it was a place to start. I realized I didn’t want a cookie cutter logo, I wanted high quality design and a designer I could trust to be part of the team. I’ve used Upwork to find assistants. I’ve used Brickwork, and still do for some tasks. I even hired off Craigs’ List at one point...without going into too many details, let’s just say I don’t recommend that strategy. I found my current executive assistant, Dara Rosenthal, who has been my amazing organizational angel for nearly two years via Belay Solutions. Through Dara I found Claire to help with branding and design for This Sales Life, and through Claire my copywriter, Caroline Cole.
I walk you through that whole rigamarole to show that there’s no perfect process. A good percentage of assembling your dream team will be trial and error. It will be elbow grease and research. It will be not giving up and believing your people are out there. Because they are -- mine were.
That being said, there are some definitive things you can do to cut down on your trial and error time. First, don’t go in blind. Do the groundwork of asking yourself these questions.
Questions to Ask Yourself
BEFORE you begin the search to expand your team, make sure you’re clear about who you’re looking for. Doing this work before you begin will save you a LOT of time in the long run.
What do you need?
The more specific you can be with what you expect from your new team members, the better. If you’re not sure what you want them to do beyond “make my life easier”, then your search will take much longer and be less successful.
What will make your job easier and free up your time?
What rote tasks eat up your time every day that you could easily outsource to someone else? The best way I’ve found to do this concretely is by utilizing a method called “Time Boxing”. For one week, record EVERYTHING YOU DO and how much time it takes you. Yes this is it’s own time investment, but it’s worth it. From your ‘Everything’ List, identify which tasks you could easily outsource and someone else could complete successfully. Making a concrete list of these tasks will give you the knowledge you need to create a specific job posting and ultimately find the right person for the job.
What don’t you know? What expertise will your team or business benefit from most?
You don’t want a clone of yourself, while it may be easier to train someone who thinks exactly like you up front, that won’t create a well-rounded business in the long run. Seek people who bring something new to your team, whether that’s a specific skill, a diversity of work experience, or just a new perspective, you’re hiring for the metaphorical marathon, not a short sprint.
What tasks do you dread that someone else may enjoy?
Just because you hate scheduling and organizing doesn’t mean everyone does. Look for people who enjoy the things you’d rather skip. When people enjoy their work, they bring a better attitude to the team, plus you get more time to do what YOU enjoy and bring a better version of yourself to the team. It’s a win all around.
Do Due Diligence
I can’t tell you who to hire, but I can tell you what to look for when you’re scrolling through online profiles and proposals. Take your time with each candidate. Look through their profile for review from old clients, a portfolio of their work, proof they are who they say they are. Search their name independently from the job site. Do they come up as the same person on different job sites or do they seem to only exist in one place online? With a quick search or two it’s easy to tell if someone is who they say they are. Do their profile pictures match up? Is their work really featured on Forbes? Do the leg work before hiring -- this will save you time and money in the end. It’s an unfortunate truth that often, when desperate for some help, entrepreneurs are quick to hire but slow to fire. Be slow to HIRE. Take your time. Seriously interview multiple candidates. See who’s best for your team.
Once you’ve picked someone who you’re excited about, don’t jump into bed with them 100% right away. Hire on a trial basis of 60-90 days to see if you really do mesh well working together. This gives you both a chance to make sure it’s the right fit before committing to anything long term or putting yourself in an awkward position in a month when it’s clearly not working out and you’ve got to let them go. If it’s not working say thanks for the month, pay them and pick your search back up. There will be missteps and mis-hires along the way -- don’t get discouraged!
Take Your Time: Humans First
Because the truth is, there’s no magic bullet. Getting impatient or frustrated will only slow you down. Creating your ideal remote team is a process. Figuring out how to manage, how often to check-in, how best to communicate and delegate tasks is different for each team.
Remember you’re creating a team of humans, not remote robots. Be kind and patient with the other humans you’re bringing along. This process is one of self-discovery and self-awareness for YOU, as well as your team. Commit to clear communication, and own your mistakes when you change your mind or realize you haven’t communicated clearly or responded ideally.
Before you know it, you’ll have your dream team assembled too!
If you need help, encouragement, or concrete assignments along the way, contact me for coaching packages and options to fit your schedule and needs. I can’t wait to help!
Have you joined our mailing list yet?
No?! Don’t worry, we’ll get you caught up on all the latest posts, advice, and personal tales from Keril by joining our weekly newsletter below.
PLUS, we’ll send you Keril’s FREE streamlined checklist when you sign up!
Once you’ve assembled a talented team you trust, the world is your oyster. For more details on how to do that successfully, head over here to get started.