No Systems and Procedures - Systems and procedures are the live line of your business. Having everything documented not only saves you time, but helps you train your virtual workers. Traditional businesses have a procedures manual, in todays world, an online version of that manual is more appropriate. Check out Google Sites - you can use it as a wiki for all of your systems and procedures. Start documenting everything in your business. This will give your virtual workers a place to go to find answers to their questions and to follow detailed instructions to solve problems.
Under Working Your Virtual Assistant - Some clients think that giving their virtual team member free time is helpful to them, but in actual fact it makes for a long day of waiting for the day to end. Keep your virtual assistant busy, when they are busy, the day flys by.
Overworking Your Virtual Assistant - On the other hand, over working your VA can be a bad thing. That does not mean lots of tasks, lots of tasks to complete is excellent, rather what is bad is assigning tasks that your virtual assistant is not capable of or trained to do. For example, making a programmer or web designer do data entry is asking for them to resign. Or putting someone on the phones who is not comfortable with the phones. Make sure you understand the skills and passions of your VA and play to those tasks.
Not Providing Feedback - By not letting your virtual assistant know when they are doing great, or when they are making mistakes is not helpful for them or for you. You need to take the time to train them and provide feedback on what they are doing right and wrong. Feedback is imperative on a daily basis.
Jack Of All Trades - Trying to hire someone to do everything is not realistic. Think of it as hiring someone in your office, you have specific roles and you try and find people to fill those roles. The same goes for outsourcing, trying to find someone to do everything for you is not realistic and will end in problems. Best to focus on the role you need to fill and work to find someone to fill that specific role.
This are just examples of what we have seen here at OTD. We want to ensure your success and will work to make that happen with you. If you would like to speak with one of our outsourcing specialists about your specific situation, just drop us a line and we will setup a time to chat over the phone.