Hiring a VA as a Small Business Owner: Your Guide to Ads, Interviews & Offers

I am revealing the top hiring mistakes I have made as an entrepreneur and small business owner over the past 17 years which encompass over 15,000 applicants, 1,000’s of interviews and having to fire more people than I have fingers and toes to count!

Hey there, I’m Sailynn, Your FUN Business Coach and I empower women to boost profits & banish burnout so you can enjoy a healthy work life balance in just 90 days!

Mistake #1 - Not taking the time to craft a compelling job advertisement

Okay I am going to date myself here, but back in 2007 when I was hiring my first employees, we used to advertise in the print newspapers!  And when you use that avenue, you are charged by the word or character count, so it can add up quickly!

As a small business owner, my budget was slim to non-existent, so I tried to keep the ads as short as possible.  But the problem with this was when the ad hit the newspaper every week, yes I said every week, it was so generic that we would be inundated with applications.

Which at first seemed great because we needed a team of caregivers for my senior home care franchise, but this also required me to have a Human Resources Department to sift through all those applications. Which became very time-consuming!

The lesson I learned from this experience, was to spend a few more dollars on the front end, paying for a bigger ad with more details, to bring in more qualified applicants.

So when you are ready to hire your first (or next) employee, virtual assistant or contractor, you want to craft a compelling, clear ad with enough detail, but not too much, that is going to call out your ideal candidate!  It is better to receive an Inbox full of more qualified applicant’s vs an Inbox overflowing of just humans who need work.

Mistake #2 – Not having a thorough interview process.

My first hire was a friend who I had worked with for a few years and was previously working for me at our 9-5 job.  I thought to myself, why spend time searching for the best candidate when I have a gem right here, I can just take with me when I open.

That was a HUGE mistake!

My fears of starting my business alone with someone I did not know and trust led me down the wrong path!

Sure, she was a gem, and I could totally trust her because she had my best interests at heart but her situation was not ideal to take the job and she did not even make it a full year with me in my new business. She left and I was back at square one!

Freaking out a bit, because hiring a new office manager was not something I had planned to do that month on top of everything else on my to-do list, I asked around for a recommendation, and was referred to my second hire!

I did a crappy job during the interview process.  Okay let me be honest there was barely any interview process. She was a fellow sorority sister and had come recommended so we chatted a bit and I offered her the job!

I immediately knew something was off, but I was so focused on checking off my never ending to-do list that I just ignored the signs.

Around the same time, my mother had started to work in my franchise office with her 30 years of Human Resources experience. And she arrived while I was at our company convention and saw what was going on while I was away.

When I returned, she asked me if I allowed my staff to close the office to get their hair done or leave early, and was it okay for them to put their feet up on the desk?

Again, I failed at hiring the right person for my small business!

I went on to learn from my mother that there is a process that needs to be developed to interview the right candidates for the job. She taught me that Retention Begins With Recruitment. Together we went on to develop a 3 Part interview process that saved me tens of thousands of dollars, if not more, in bad hires.

Having a 3 part interview will give you the insight you need to determine if you have the right candidate for the job!  The first interview should be about 30 minutes with about 4 questions about why they want the job and why they want to work for your company. The second interview should be about an hour and go further in depth into the job description you created, which if you need help with this, check out this video: How to Hire Your First VA: Tips for Women in Business. And the third interview should be around 2 hours.  This one brings out the real truths in your candidates. I have had people start slumping in chairs, giving callous answers, and almost walking out due to its length.  If you truly want to find the right candidate who will make you money and work for you like its their own company, this 3 part interview process is exactly what you need!

Mistake #3 – Making an Unclear Job Offer

Now that you have found your candidate, it’s time to make them the offer!

While this may sound super easy, you want to craft a job offer that is clear, so the candidate has all the information about job responsibilities, working days & hours, and any benefits you will offer.

One time, when I was hiring an on the road salesperson, I thought my job offer was clear until I realized the hard way, it was not!

The sales job was a flexible one due to the nature of having to attend networking events after 5pm and some early morning meetings. So, the hours weren’t exactly black and white in the job offer. I assumed the employee would use their discretion to ensure they were completing their job duties during the 40 hour week I was paying them a salary & commission for.

My new hire sailed through the interview process, seemed excited for the opportunity and readily accepted the job. She did well during the Onboarding phase of my 3 Part Hiring Framework that I have all the details on inside my signature program, The Legacy Business School.

But after just a few weeks something was off, we could not reach her at times during the day. She missed a meeting that I expected to see her at. And something just didn’t feel right. After some sleuthing, yes this is sometimes required as a manager, we discovered she was home a lot during the day. I brought her into the office and had a conversation with her and she confessed to a drinking problem, which kept her in bed till late morning.

She was dynamic saleswoman, but unfortunately we had to part ways because she was unable to complete the job duties.

I learned so many lessons from this hire, but most of all, that you need a clear definition of a “flexible work schedule” when you are hiring someone who will not be sitting at a desk in front of you all day.

So, this is super important now that so many of the support team members we will hire an entrepreneurs will be working remote. You want to clearly define what hours are required for them to be available to you and which other times of the day they can flex their schedule.  Make sure this is clear in the job offer and they agree and sign off on it!

Now you have a behind the scenes look into some of my personal hiring mistakes as an entrepreneur.  Don’t let my mistakes scare you from hiring your first (or next) employee, VA or contractor. I hired 100X as many amazing team members vs the ones who did not work out. And when you use my 3 Part Hiring Framework inside your business, it helps you avoid a lot of the mistakes I made.

To learn more about the tools like this framework I use in my business, I want to invite you to join me inside my free training: The No BS Work Life Balance Workshop where I am sharing the 3 Vital Shifts to Banish Burnout, Boost Profits, and Reignite Your Entrepreneurial Fire!

This is the exact blueprint, I used inside my senior home care franchise business to shift from working 80+ hour weeks to just 16 while tripling my business revenue and 4x my personal paycheck. And I am using this same blueprint inside my coaching business to avoid burnout and work part time hours by hiring the right people for my team! You can find the link below:

And if you have any questions, DM me on Instagram or Facebook

Thanks so much for watching and remember to live your one life!

💗Sailynn...

Your FUN Business Coach

Creator of The Legacy Business System

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