When I started my Canadian private practice I did all the admin, from answering the phone to responding to emails. It took up a lot of hours that could have been focused on seeing more clients or building my practice. But finally I hired a virtual assistant and now my practice is growing and I haven't looked back! Are you still doing all the admin within your private practice while providing therapy to your clients? Do you find yourself stretched thin between all the deadlines and to-do lists? Maybe it's time for you to hire your first virtual assistant (VA)! In this podcast episode, I tell you my story and explain exactly how you can get started. In This Episode: Why is hiring a VA important? How I hired my first VA How to train your VA When should you hire your first VA? Why is hiring a VA important? As a counsellor, you don't want to waste your valuable time doing admin work like answering phone calls or responding to emails. These admin tasks can easily be done by someone else, freeing up your time and energy to focus on what you do best: being a therapist and helping people! Some reasons why hiring a VA is important for your business: You can then see more clients You can take more days off to rest Legitimize your business because clients have to go through your VA to get to you How I hired my first VA I decided I wanted to hire my own VA because I wanted the freedom to train them from the ground up for my specific Canadian private practice and I wanted them to do specific tasks that were not  included in packages at virtual assistant companies. After realizing that these companies were not the right fit for me, the next option was to write up an ad and post it online. In this ad I wrote about: The qualities I was looking for in a virtual assistant The education that I was expecting from my VA The hourly price I was willing to pay How many hours of work per month I needed from the VA How to train your VA After you have found your VA, and hired them, this is what I recommend to train them to become a well-suited employee for your Canadian private practice: 1. Meet with your VA once a week for 30-minutes 2. Create a Google Doc instruction manual and have your VA as an editor so that you can both edit it as you are talking in real-time. 3. Use Slack for communication with your VA about scheduling or any work-related queries. Remember that Slack is not PIPEDA compliant, so be careful not to share any identifying information through it. 4. For password privacy, use Dashlane to share passwords securely with your VA and monitor how your VA is checking up on the accounts they need to. 5. Set up a virtual phone to contact your virtual assistant! Use Grasshopper to communicate with your VA easily and professionally. When should you hire your first VA? As soon as you can! It is one of the best investments that you can make in your Canadian private practice. Connect with me: Instagram Resources Mentioned and Useful Links:  Ep 23: What should I Include in my Canadian Marketing Plan?: Live Consultation with Michelle Noftall Article: How to Set Up a Canadian Private Practice Website  Sign up for my free e-course on How to Start an Online Canadian Private Practice How I Set Up My Canadian Private Practice | EP 02 How I Grew My Canadian Private Practice | EP 04 Consider using Slack for online communications with your VA Consider using Dashlane for security and privacy with your VA Consider using Grasshopper as a virtual phone system Rate, review, and subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Amazon, and TuneIn

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