Trivinia is the founder of Priority VA – a boutique Virtual Assistant Agency that matches elite level entrepreneurs like Todd Herman and Ray Edwards with highly skilled virtual assistants who “get” the online space and come prepared to deliver massive ROI right out of the gate.
Show Highlights
- What should we outsource? [2:00]
- How do you know when you’re ready to hire a virtual assistant? [4:00]
- If there is a communication breakdown with a virtual assistant, does that mean the trust is broken? [9:00]
- Can you describe the different levels of delegation? [11:30]
- How do we know when we’re ready to say goodbye to a toxic relationship? [15:00]
- What’s the best way to communicate with our team? [17:00]
- What do you love the most about PriorityVA and the people that you serve? [21:00]
Special Offer
- Sign up at priorityva.com/bella to receive your free Ultimate Playbook to Email Delegation.
Links
- Jump & Scale: jumpconsulting.net/scale
- Jump Mastermind: /jump-mastermind
- Ari Meisel: https://lessdoing.com/
- Loom: https://www.useloom.com/
- Trivinia’s Website: http://priorityva.com/
- Fancy Hands: https://www.fancyhands.com/
- Get Magic: https://getmagic.com/
- Asana: https://app.asana.com/
- Slack: https://slack.com/
- Voxer: https://www.voxer.com/
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Transcript:
This is episode 126 of Bella in Your Business. Do you feel like your business is going around on a merry-go-round? Well, I’ve got news for you. This episode is sponsored by my incredible webinar series called Jump and Scale. It gets you off that merry-go-round and up to the next level in your business. It’s called Jump and Scale and it’s free for you right now. Just go ahead and sign up at jumpconsulting.net/scale. You will learn how to grow your business, increase your staff, and not be held hostage to business. So go ahead, sign up for free. That’s jumpconsulting.net/scale. I’ll see you inside.
Welcome to Bella in Your Business, where Bella will discuss anything and everything about your pet sitting business to help you land on target. So get ready, Bella’s got your chute. Let’s jump.
Welcome to Bella in Your Business. My name is Bella Vasta, and this is where I bring you some of the coolest people that have really impacted my life. Today, we have Trevinia Barber with us, and she is the founder of Priority VA. It’s a boutique virtual assistant agency that matches elite-level entrepreneurs like Todd Herman and Ray Edwards with highly skilled assistants who get the online space and come prepared to deliver a massive ROI right from the gate.
Welcome, Trevinia.
Hey Bella, so glad to be here. How you doing?
I’m awesome. I’m so excited to have you here because I think one of the things that I’m seeing in our pet industry is that it’s so exciting that people are actually no longer saying they want to be a six-figure business. They’re like mid-six-figure, seven-figure. And as that happens, you need support staff. But unfortunately, it’s much easier for us to train someone how to walk a dog than it is to train them how to do tasks and help us out.
That’s what I really wanted you to come in here today for. You were gracious enough a couple of months ago to visit us in the mastermind. It was so fruitful for all of us. I mean, so much just bombs—and you’re a speaker—so you guys get ready because the next 20 minutes is going to be awesome. And we have show notes for you. So Trevinia, let’s start off with: what should we outsource?
Yeah, you know, for you guys, it’s a little bit different, right? And I think that everyone often comes to us asking, “How do I know what to give my virtual assistant, or how do I even know where to start?” And it’s different for every business. For some of you, it might be the billing stuff that just drives you nuts and you want to gouge your eyes out, right? For others, maybe it’s the onboarding of new staff or new clients and that whole customer experience journey that you just feel you need to up-level. If someone else was taking care of it, it’d be better for you. It will be different for anyone.
I often say that the best things to outsource are the things that are sucking up so much of your time. For me in my business, it’s email, calendar management, travel booking—things like that—because I’m on the go all the time and people are always pinging me. For someone else, it might literally be following up with people after they’ve just had a new dog walker, like asking how that experience went, creating that real depth to that relationship that maybe you just don’t have time to do.
Or don’t want to do, right? And typically those things that we don’t want to do end up taking us the most time because we either procrastinate, put them off, or just dread them. Ari Meisel has a saying that the time it takes to do something versus the time it takes to actually get it done can be vastly different, right?
Yeah, you actually turned me on to him. That sounds funny, but I was looking for strategic people that could come into the mastermind and talk to us about productivity and delegation and stuff, and you had suggested him. Talk about mind-blowing. So we’ll have to put a link to him in the show notes because if you guys have not heard about him yet or you’re not in the mastermind, you need to hear about him.
Yeah, well, first get in the mastermind because that’s where you actually hear all the good stuff that can be actionable quicker for you instead of having to wait for a podcast interview.
No kidding, right? And then just be overwhelmed and not know how to break it down or what to do with it. Thank you for that. So how do you know when you’re actually ready to hire a VA? I feel like a lot of us are like, “It’s all in my head. Don’t you just read my mind?”
Yeah, no, they don’t read your mind. They will get there, but when it’s time for you, a few things I like to look at—it’s just like having a child or getting married, right? You’re never going to be fully prepared. There will always be spilled milk. You can’t pause getting the support you need because you don’t feel ready. But here are some indicators that maybe it’s time to pull the trigger.
Are you financially stable? This doesn’t mean you’re making six figures right now. You can get support even if you’re bringing in $1,000 a month. You just need to be revenue positive. I don’t suggest putting virtual assistants on your credit card. If you have a few things—maybe three to five things—that are repeatable processes in your business that you can get out of your head very simply by using a tool called useloom.com, a free Chrome extension, record your screen and talk out loud while you do the task. Because right now you’re doing it anyway—just record it, save that link in a Google Doc, and then they can watch and create a checklist.
You need at least three to five repeatable things that you’re doing in your business—something daily, weekly, or monthly—that a virtual assistant can take over. If you have that, you’re ready. If you’re still branding or gathering clients, maybe you’re not ready yet. Some people think it’s the cool thing to do. They want to be able to say, “Contact my assistant,” even though they’re not ready yet.
Some very high-level people pretended to be their own assistants because they wanted that image. But some of that can be a mental block. You’re afraid to spend the money, you have imposter syndrome, you’re not sure if you’re big enough or worth it. We have a bunch of resources on our website to help with that—one is 50 Things to Outsource to a Virtual Assistant to get your brain going, like, “I didn’t know a VA could do that!”
That’s awesome. So since we’re talking about it, it’s priorityva.com—we’ll have it in the show notes. So what I heard you say is you want to be revenue positive, use Loom, and it’s more of a mindset—you have to be ready to be there. It’s not like you’ve achieved X amount of dollars and now you’re granted the opportunity to have someone help you.
Exactly. I literally know seven-figure business owners who aren’t ready to have help because they’re clutching onto things with a death grip. I call that the “helicopter CEO.” They’re micromanaging everything and aren’t willing to trust someone with outcomes. People are good at saying “do this task for me,” but not at handing over ownership.
Start small. There are services like Fancy Hands or Magic to dip your toes in and get used to delegating. It’ll teach you how to communicate clearly and delegate effectively.
Bella: That’s great advice. So if someone listening is ready to hire a VA, where do they start? What’s the first step?
Trevinia: The first step is to really get clear on what you want them to do. I know that sounds obvious, but most people come to us and say, “I just need help.” That’s not specific enough. You need to have a clear idea of what tasks or outcomes you want to delegate. So take some time to track what you do for a week. Write down everything you touch in your business—every email, every phone call, every scheduling task, everything. Then, highlight the things that you dread doing, or that aren’t the best use of your time. Those are the things you delegate first.
Bella: That’s so good because so many of us just think, “I’m drowning, I need help,” but we don’t really define what that help looks like.
Trevinia: Exactly. Because if you’re not clear, the VA can’t succeed. You’ll both end up frustrated. I always say clarity is kindness. The more specific you can be about what success looks like, the better. And then, decide if you want someone part-time, full-time, or on a per-project basis. There’s no one-size-fits-all.
Bella: So once someone knows what they want to delegate, how do they find the right VA?
Trevinia: That’s a great question. There are a few ways. You can go through an agency like ours at Priority VA, which handles the recruiting, vetting, and matching process for you. Or you can find someone on your own through referrals or platforms like Upwork or OnlineJobs.ph. The key is to make sure they’re the right fit—not just the right skill set. A VA can be incredibly talented but not aligned with your personality, values, or communication style, and that mismatch can be painful.
Bella: Yes! I always say hire for personality and train for skill.
Trevinia: 100%. When you’re interviewing, focus not only on what they can do but how they think. Ask questions like, “What do you do when you don’t know the answer to something?” or “Tell me about a time you solved a problem without being asked.” Their answers will tell you if they take initiative or wait for direction.
Bella: That’s such a good point. What would you say are the most common mistakes people make when hiring a VA?
Trevinia: The first one is not onboarding them properly. People think hiring a VA means the problems disappear overnight. It doesn’t. You need to invest time upfront. Give them context, access, and resources. Have regular check-ins. You can’t just hand off a task and hope it’s done perfectly if you’ve never explained your expectations.
The second mistake is not giving feedback. A lot of people avoid giving constructive criticism because they don’t want to hurt feelings. But that’s how your VA grows. Feedback doesn’t have to be negative—it’s guidance. Tell them what’s working and what’s not.
Bella: That’s so true. We’re so used to doing everything ourselves that sometimes it’s hard to slow down long enough to teach someone else.
Trevinia: Exactly. But if you take the time to train them right in the beginning, it will save you hundreds of hours later. It’s like a short-term pain for long-term gain.
Bella: So what does good communication look like with a VA?
Trevinia: Consistency is key. You should have regular check-ins—maybe a daily message or a weekly meeting. Use tools like Slack, Voxer, or Asana to stay connected. I also recommend having a weekly scorecard where you track priorities, what’s been accomplished, and what’s stuck. That keeps everyone aligned. And don’t assume silence means everything’s fine. Create a culture where your VA feels comfortable asking questions and bringing up issues.
Bella: That’s great advice. I know one of the biggest fears business owners have is trusting someone with passwords, client info, or access to systems. What do you say to that?
Trevinia: It’s a legitimate concern, and it’s one we hear all the time. The first thing I’d say is, trust is earned but it also has to be given a chance. You can use tools like LastPass or 1Password to share login info securely without exposing the actual passwords. You can also start small—give them access to low-risk systems first and build from there as they earn your trust.
Bella: That makes sense. So start slow, build trust, and use the tools available.
Trevinia: Exactly. And remember, your VA’s success is a reflection of your leadership. If something’s not working, ask yourself, “Have I given them everything they need to succeed?”
Bella: That’s powerful. I think a lot of us need to hear that. It’s not just about finding the right person—it’s about being the right leader for them.
Trevinia: Yes, leadership is everything. I always tell my clients: you’re not just hiring hands; you’re hiring a brain and a heart. Treat your VA like a partner, not an assistant who just takes orders. When you empower them to think and make decisions, that’s when the magic happens.
Bella: I love that. So true. As we wrap this up, what would you say to the person listening who’s still on the fence—who feels overwhelmed but isn’t sure if they’re “ready” to take the leap and hire a VA?
Trevinia: I would say, if you’re waking up dreading certain parts of your business, that’s your sign. You’re spending energy on tasks that drain you instead of tasks that move your business forward. Start small—maybe 5 or 10 hours a week. You don’t have to go all-in at once. But you do have to start somewhere.
Bella: That’s such a good reminder. Start small, but start.
Trevinia: Exactly. You’ll be amazed at how freeing it feels once you hand something off and realize, “Wow, I don’t have to do this anymore.” It gives you space to focus on what you do best.
Bella: I love that. This has been such a good conversation, Trevinia. Thank you for sharing so much wisdom with us today.
Trevinia: My pleasure. Thanks for having me, Bella.
Bella: You guys, make sure you check out priorityva.com and download their free resources, like the 50 Things to Outsource to a Virtual Assistant. It’s a great starting point. And remember, when life gets you down, always keep jumping.
Thanks for jumping with Bella in Your Business. For more information, free articles, free coaching sessions, and more, go to jumpconsulting.net. And remember—Bella’s got your chute.