When I first read Timothy Ferriss‘ excellent book on lifestyle design, The 4-Hour Workweek, one of the things that struck me as most interesting and most unusual was his suggestion that we get a Virtual Assistant (VA).

“Sounds cool,” I thought, “but definitely not within my reach.”

But as I work more and more to simplify my life and focus myself on what I truly want to do, the idea of hiring a VA keeps popping back into my mind. Now, I haven’t actually taken the plunge yet, but it’s something I’ve decided to try this year.

The reason I bring this up now is that when popular outsourcing site Elance.com approached me about becoming a Zen Habits sponsor (that was my way of giving full disclosure), they told me about a contest they’re holding where you can win $5,000 in credit to hire your own Virtual Assistant for a year. And while I don’t do paid reviews (you can only buy an ad in the sidebar), I thought it would be cool to share the contest with you guys.

But more than just sharing the contest, I wanted to share some tips (as always). So I asked Elance to provide some tips on working with a Virtual Assistant (provided below).

Why would you want a Virtual Assistant in the first place? Well, for me, it’s about allowing someone to take care of small things, repetitive things, that I’m not very interested in doing … so that I can free my time up to focus on the things I love, the things that will bring me the most long-term benefit, and to increase my effectiveness. And it’s not just limited to VAs: I recently used Elance to outsource a project that I didn’t have time for. It’s about simplification, really.

It’s not an idea that’s for everyone, but if you’re interested, here are the tips:

1) First and foremost, determine why you want a virtual assistant (VA). It is important to think through your goal in hiring a VA so that you can determine if it is a good fit for you. If your answer is to have more time, think about how you would use that extra time. If your answer is to get more done, think about your top priorities to make sure you are getting the “right” things done.

2) Answer the question: What should I use a virtual assistant for? Combine your busy work and home schedules with the annual holiday rush, and this question seems to answer itself. However, it can be daunting to define, exactly, what you’d have a personal assistant do for you. Here are a few ideas for both personal and work-related tasks:

* Travel Plans—Have your VA create the ideal itinerary for your next business trip or family vacation.
* Transcription—Record a business meeting or classroom lecture and have it transcribed by your VA.
* Event Planning—Have your VA research the perfect restaurant, resort or conference room and manage all the logistics for your parents anniversary, a company off site or a romantic evening out.
* Presentations—Use a VA that has PowerPoint skills to make your presentations look more polished and professional.
* Update Address/Contact List—Make a New Year’s resolution to stay in better touch with your family and important business contacts. Have your VA update your address list, contact information and even create labels and reminders in advance.
* Birthday/holiday gift buying—Never miss another birthday. Set a budget, give a few guidelines and let your VA track down the perfect gifts or online cards for everyone on your list.
* Market research – Identify and research local businesses you could partner with to reach new customers, or create a list of tradeshows and industry events you should attend.
* Online marketing – Research blogs and websites for potential advertising opportunities and get pricing.

The list could go on and on, but this should give you a few ideas. Now that you have the Why and the What, let’s talk about the How. There are a few easy-to-follow tips that will help you get the most out of your virtual assistant.

3) Clearly define the task you want your VA to accomplish. This will help you determine the qualifications your VA should have. For example, if you want your VA to plan your upcoming office party, this requires a different skill set than if you had requested a VA for a transcription job.

See a sample VA request from Elance below. This will help you format your project.

4) Provide specific guidelines and time lines for the project. Write down exactly what you want your VA to accomplish. Then, think through the steps that you would take to accomplish the task. Write those down as well. For example, if you want your VA to update your address list, you should outline the task step-by-step:

* Step one: Review list and determine what information is missing.
* Step two: If an address is missing or labeled “old” but there is an email listed, send an email requesting an address update. An email template will be provided.
* Step three: Update the book based on email responses.

Another important element is a time line. Since most VAs work on an hourly basis, it is important for you to think about the task in terms of hours. Determine the amount of time the task should take and communicate that to the VA. For the first few projects, set multiple milestones to make sure the project is heading in the right direction.

5) Remember the “Why.” Realize you have more time! You hired a VA to give yourself more time with your family and friends or to focus on growing your business or to take that weekend away. It is easy to replace “stuff to do” with more “stuff to do.” Check in to make sure you are spending your additional time as you had hoped.

SUGGESTED WORK REQUEST FROM ELANCE

What I need done:
I need the information from approximately 260 business cards transcribed into an excel spreadsheet. This will be used for mail merge and mailing list creation purposes.

What will be provided:
Business Cards will be sent to you by mail and are expected back by mail when job is complete.

Other context/requirements that providers will need to know:
The required fields to capture will be: Name (First, Last), Company, Title, Email, Phone 1, Phone 2, Website Address 1, Address 2, City, State, Zip, Notes (Please enter any notes on card, or information that does not fit into the fields above.)

Specific expertise that I am seeking:
Basic excel, data entry skills.

Timeframe for delivery:
Within 2 days of selection.

Project timeline:
Start Date: 01/07/08
Milestone 1: 01/08/08 – Review spreadsheet and formatting of first 20 entries
Project Complete: 01/09/08 – Final deliverable due