Q & A: Cybersecurity & Virtual Assistants
By Next Level Pod on May 11th, 2022 in Uncategorized
Last week on the podcast, we did our second-ever episode of answering listener questions! We received many questions since our last Q & A episode and took an episode to answer three of them.
Some of the topics we covered include cybersecurity, hiring virtual help, and how to manage your virtual assistant well.
Cybersecurity as a Solopreneur
Many small business owners wonder, “Why would hackers come after me?”
Regardless of your doubts about whether or not hackers would bother coming after you, there are little things you can and should do to protect your information. For example, a lot of the newer Macs allow you to unlock your computer with your Apple Watch. There are many little things like this that help keep you safe.
Secondly, you need to know that there is no business that’s too small to be hacked.
Many attorneys out there don’t realize the impact they have on financial institutions, real estate transactions, etc. You hold a lot of information that might be valuable to someone else. Imagine having your client call you and say, “Where’s my down payment? I just send it over and it’s gone now.”
It doesn’t matter how small you think you are or how much you think hackers aren’t paying attention to you. You do have valuable data that they are looking for and would be interested in.
Hiring Virtual Help
If you’re looking to hire a Virtual Assistant or another team member, you could start with word of mouth. You might also look on social media or go to job board postings. Start with a very detailed description of what you want this person to be doing. Make sure you include details about what kind of person they should be and the values they should hold.
Some attorneys worry about their Virtual Assistants taking advantage of them. How can you be sure they’re not charging you for time they weren’t working?
The answer all comes down to communication. Give your team members the information they need to do their job. Set your team up for success by being very clear about what needs to be done and when. If there’s a particular way you like something to be done, tell them that as well. Don’t expect them to know already. Putting these things in writing can be very helpful as well.
Once you have clear expectations, you can start coming up with ways to measure your team members’ success. Will you know they’ve been successful by drafting a document, filing it with the court, or another key performance indicator (KPI)?
If your team members meet your KPIs, you don’t have to be quite so concerned about them taking a longer lunch or emailing a friend in between drafting documents. You can stop measuring their success by how much time they’re spending on something and instead measure it based on them getting the job done.
If you have more questions after listening through this episode, you can always send us one of your own as well by emailing or Tweeting us.
If you want to learn more about keeping your information safe and hiring virtual help, check out Episode 041: Listener Questions.