Given how much the REtipster community has helped me as a newbie land investor, thought I would throw this out there as a way to begin to pay it forward…
After about a year and a half as a land investor, I knew if I wanted to grow my business and reach some pretty lofty goals, I needed to build a team. At the beginning of the New Year, I began game planning for how to do this. Fast forward and in late January I hired four VA’s at the same time (hey, go big or go home!)
Three of the four VA’s initially hired are still on my team, and while there have been some growing pains, we’re at a place now where I’m mostly happy with the team members’ individual development and very happy with the team dynamic. Hiring VA’s has freed up a lot of my time and yet my operation is more productive than when I worked alone. Yes, there is a cost but it’s less than you probably think.
I do not proclaim to be an expert on VA hiring and management by any means. However, I have some insights that I think would be beneficial to anyone who has struggled with hiring and managing VA’s before or anyone who is strongly considering adding one or more VA’s to their team.
If you would like to have a conversation on this topic, please leave a note here. FYI I will be driving for about 3 hours on Friday and another 3 hours on Sunday and would be happy to set aside time to talk with you then.
@hmetzinger not yet at that stage but I saved the post…thanks for the availability!! Just out of curiosity, how does your team look like and what is, in your opinion, the most critical figure?
Man, I do love the spirit!
@arturo Hey Arturo, thanks for your response. Right now two of the positions are what I call Research & Data Analysts and the third is what I call my Acquisitions Coordinator. I wouldn’t necessarily say one is more important than the others at this point. Happy to connect down the road whenever you feel is appropriate.
@hmetzinger thanks! Are they US or from out of the Country and did you use a specific service to find them? I have no experience about VA’s but I would probably consider the acquisition manager to be the most critical. Is your Research and Data Analyst in charge to identify the right market to hit or do you keep that task for yourself?
@arturo First, as far as relative importance, over time I imagine the Acquisitions Coordinator being more critical. In the current stage of my operation, relative importance between that role and the Research & Data role is about even.
The VA’s are based overseas. There are a few different overseas-based VA platforms. I tried out OnlineJobs.ph for my first go-round.
As for picking markets, it’s a shared responsibility between my R&D Analysts and myself. They will do further research on an area that I identify as potentially promising and also look at states or part of a state that I may not know much about and research which counties or cities in that area might be ones we want to target.