Last week we shared our best tips for successfully working with a virtual assistant but today I’m excited to talk about 3 tools to use when working with a VA. These are our favorite tools to us and are vital when you’re working with a VA!

Let’s jump right in!

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Tool #1: Trello/Asana

Whether you’re a Trello or Asana fan -- or even Basecamp, a project management tool is key when working with a VA! I love Trello just because I am more of a visual learner and worker and don’t like lists. But Asana is equally amazing and both have their benefits and shortfalls according to your work style. Let me tell you about our Trello boards!

Using a project manager allows us to not only list our projects, but also to break them down into steps, tasks, needs, checklists, add a due date, and assign each task to a specific person.

So, Trello is where all of our projects - future or ongoing - are listed.

If it’s the weekend and I am wondering where we are on a project, I can pop on the Trello App on my phone and look at our team notes and updates. If there is something one of our team members is trying to do and needs my input, she can tag me in a comment and assign that task to me. We use Trello for everything from our Content Calendar to keeping track of our invoices. Our incredible bookkeeper, Sarah from Steadfast Accounting, is kept in the loop with changes in hours or new teams starting or discounts offered to new clients -- all on Trello!

We also have the **most amazing** team manager anywhere on the planet! (Nope, not exaggerating! haha!) Trello is an amazing tool to keep our entire team in the loop when Steph is getting team feedback or needs to relate a piece of information to everyone all at once about a change in hours or specific need!

I also have a couple of informational boards there - these rarely ever have any action, but it’s a great place to list our Standard Operating Procedures. If Christina or Steph is wondering how we normally handle a certain event on my calendar or the steps we take on a certain

Tool #2: LastPasS

The second tool that I have to share with you is LastPass. It’s a free password manager. It is great for your personal life and it is essential for working with a VA. We all know we shouldn’t use the same password everywhere we visit or work or shop online, right?! (I may or may not be guilty of that very thing pre-LastPass, so this has proven to be a great tool for my personal life.) However, when it comes to working with team members, it’s invaluable!

In case you’re not familiar with LastPass, let me give you just a quick run-down! I have gone to the website, created my account, signed into that account and added the very important browser extension. Don’t forget to sign into the browser extension once added!

Now, let’s say that I want Christina and Steph to work on my Wordpress Blog. I will simply go into my LastPass Vault, click on the WordPress site, and click the share button. Once I’ve entered their email addresses, they get an email saying “Tracy has shared some information with you.” They click, “Accept Share” and are now able to go to WordPress and log in as me. The beauty of it is that they never ever know my password. When they log in, they only see dots in the password box. If the day should ever come that I don’t want one of them in my WordPress account anymore, I simply revoke the share in the LastPass vault and it’s still secure because she didn’t even know my password to begin with!

LastPass creates a safe and secure place to share all the information you and your VA need to access!

One more important thing… we’re all busy and in a hurry and often we share pictures of important documents via text or email -- and we shouldn’t!!

As an assistant, I’ve received pictures of everything from credit cards to driver’s licenses to passports via either text or email. This is obviously a huge security risk! However, if you just enter the information or even a picture into a secure note within your LastPass Vault and share it from there, security isn’t a worry anymore!

But wait, there’s more! Haha! I feel kind of like the guy on TV - you know the one!

Tool #3: Voxer

I don’t know where our team would be without Voxer. Steph, Christina, and I talk throughout the day on Voxer and it has been a lifesaver more than once. When I’ve had 3 or 4 interviews in a day and have pages of notes to relate that won’t be typed up until the next day (or later), it’s so simple and quick to grab my phone, click one little button, and just speak to my incredible team walkie-talkie-style! There are so many times that grabbing my phone to type up a long text at the end of a busy day just isn’t going to happen.

So many of our clients use Voxer when working with a VA! Let’s say you’re walking out of a busy meeting and into another without much time between. Voxer allows you to send a quick message to your VA letting her know your takeaway points, to-do items, and deliverables. Maybe you’ve just had that first meeting with new clients and you want to remember something amazing they said to make their wedding album extra special -- send a Vox to yourself OR to your VA reminding her to put a note in their project list in Trello! Easy-peasy!

Ok, that’s all for now! I hope you found some helpful information here and as always, we’d love to hear how it works for you! Drop us a note -- we always love to hear from our friends!