Welcome to the team! We are so happy you’re here. Take some time to review our website, meet some of our key players, and check out some of the awesome work we do for our amazing clients.

Watch this video to learn about our core values at Accordus.

Upload your W-9 here so we can have all of your official data in our files.

• QuickBooks Time
• WorkrBee email 

If you don’t have access to these systems yet, email [email protected] to request it.

Please complete the following steps to set up your email signature:

1. 1. Once you receive your username and temporary password from Alex, login to Office.com.
   2. Setup the email on your phone and computer
   3. Please download this image and add it to your email signature:

1. 4. Your email signature should look exactly like the example below. Please ensure that the WorkrBee logo is about the same length as your name in the signature.
2. 5. Send a test email to your spouse or a friend to make sure that it is set up properly and the WorkrBee logo image comes through clearly. If your email signature does not look like the one below in the test email, see troubleshooting options here.

Please review the following resources summarizing your payroll and benefits:

QuickBooks Time:

• QuickBooks Time (QBT) is the app we use to track our time and run payroll. You can use this as an app on your phone as well as in your browser on the web. You will receive an invite via email. Follow the link to sign in. Clock in when you start work and clock out when you stop or take breaks. Whenever you log time, be sure to select the Customer (i.e. <Client Name> – WorkrBee) and fill in the Comments section with a short note (i.e. “working through client emails”). Here is an introductory video of how to use the system (* Note: we do not use the “take a break” feature.)

• Payroll and Pay Periods

  • The pay periods run 2nd – 16th, and 17th – 1st of each month.

  • Accordus issues payments twice per month within 3 business days after the pay period closes. Sign up for DIRECT DEPOSIT HERE.

If you experience a family emergency, illness, or anything in your personal life that is affecting your work, please contact Alex Webber, Director of People Operations.

Please upload a recent headshot here – include your first and last name as the file name. Our design team will add our WorkrBee logo to your headshot.

• The headshot needs to be just you (no kids, spouse, pets, etc.).
• A selfie is not acceptable.
• The picture needs to be high enough resolution that we can zoom in close to your face and shoulders.
• It can be either indoor or outdoor but must have good lighting. 

Welcome and First Thoughts

If you’re a Virtual Assistant veteran, welcome to the team and we hope the thoughts in this guide will be helpful and complement what you’ve already learned!

If you’re a newbie to this role, welcome to the wonderful world of Virtual Assisting and we hope these thoughts will provide a solid framework and supportive hand-holding as you find your way!

The information below is meant to provide guidance for the first 3 months of supporting a new client. Please review this for onboarding. Please also download and bookmark the PDF version now, as it will be your lifeline for the first few months! You’ll find the following sections included:

• Anchor Ideas – These are simple best practices and anchor ideas to help keep you grounded.
• Prep – How to be prepared for onboarding with your new client.
• First Week Guide – Providing some insight on your first communication, meeting, and tying a bow on the week.
• First Three Months At-A-Glance Chart – This is a simple chart with some highlight goals for each month.
• A Handful of Task-Specific Tips – Just a few helpful tips that might make your life easier.

To get the most benefit from this guide, it’s suggested to read it over in full, jotting down notes or (if printed) highlighting things that stand out. Go ahead and bookmark it so you can refer back to it often!

Anchor Ideas

• Be flexible – There is more than one good way to accomplish a task. Be prepared to take a breath and pivot if needed.
• Be proactive – Rather than waiting for your client to assign tasks, always look for opportunities and ask how you can help. If you see a task that you know your skills can easily meet and you have the bandwidth, don’t hesitate to ask your client if it’s something they’d like you to support.
• Ask questions – It’s easy to feel paralyzed or overwhelmed by confusion of starting in a new support role. It’s always better to ask questions if you’re feeling stuck. It might feel like a time waster or even embarrassing to acknowledge that you don’t remember or know the next step, but learning all you can on the front end will help support efficiency and trust further into the role.
• Be honest – Your client’s greatest need isn’t to get the to-do list empty. Their greatest need is to find someone they can trust to support them. This means being honest about your skills, your availability and even your mistakes. Speaking of mistakes, they are going to happen. The best approach when this happens is to be open with your client and own it.
• Be observant – Not all communication is verbal. Pay attention to your client’s verbal and nonverbal cues as a window into how you’re doing.
• Be organized – Your system doesn’t have to look one specific way, but you need a system that helps you stay organized and on track.
• Stay simple – It’s easy to be caught in the vortex of over-processing or complicating things! Try to remind yourself continually to keep things simple and peaceful!

Prep

You and your client want to hit the ground running! The tricky bit is — every client is unique and brings their own personality, needs, and tasks with them. This makes it impossible to have a complete picture of what your first few weeks will look like. The good news is that there are some common things that seasoned Virtual Assistants all agree are key.

These include:

• Project Management Tools & Plan – This can be flexible to your style and as simple as a spreadsheet or as fancy as an Asana board with automations running. The bottom line is that you need one place to add all the important links you’ll need access to and a tool to help you stay on top of tasks.

• Client Playbook – This is a document where you can add all the client-specific information you’ll need at your fingertips for easy reference. This is a living document and will be a tool that you are continually filling in as you learn new or information changes. The goal is to fill this in organically as you learn and grow with your client. This is not meant to be a document that you send your client to fill out. A template is provided below based on the most common information a VA will need.

Watch this quick video before filling out the playbook below.

View Playbook Template Here. Then select “make a copy.”

• Reports – Depending on the frequency that you meet with your client, you may or may not need to send daily reports but it’s a good idea to send an end-of-the-week email that highlights things you did, questions you have, and goals for the next week.

First Week Guide

First Email

Before meeting with your client for the first time, send a short email expressing your excitement to work together. This will also be your first touch base with the client, so be sure to go ahead and set up your first meeting with them. See the sample below for some inspiration but make sure your email to your client expresses your own voice.

Hi <Client Name>,

I’m looking forward to our first meeting and beginning to support you so that you have more time and energy to invest in your <ministry, organization, or business>!

Please let me know when a good time for us would be to sync up this week and I’ll get it on the calendar.

Looking forward to meeting soon!

<Your Name>

First Meeting

Chances are your client is feeling overwhelmed and looking for support immediately. Below is a helpful checklist to walk through with your client during this first meeting. You might not make it through all of these questions, but your goal is to leave this first meeting with some tangibles in place to support your client.

Pro Tip! It’s helpful to share your screen during this meeting to give your client a view on the information you’re collecting and ensure it’s accurate.

First Meeting Checklist

• If you haven’t already been given access to email and calendar, do this first so that you’ll be able to start supporting your client immediately.
• Are there any other tools I might need access to in order to support you well right now? If so, can you point me in the right direction to gain that access?
• Client details (fill in details that you learn about the client on this call).
• Discuss your client’s work preferences (communication, meetings, availability, etc.).
• Can you share a little about your organization’s history with me?
• What are your goals for our collaboration?
• How often would you like us to meet live?
• Discuss workflow (use playbook chart to keep track of daily, weekly, and misc. tasks).
• What is one thing I can do for you this week that will help lighten your load?
• When would you like us to meet next?

First End of Week Check-In

See if your client would like to schedule a meeting to end the week. This is a great time to review the tasks that you’ve taken on and ask questions. Use the following checklist to help guide that meeting:

• Share an update on the tasks you’ve taken on.
• Ask for any clarity you need.
• Ask your client what worked well for them.
• Ask your client what didn’t work quite so well.
• Ask your client to share what task would be most helpful for you to pick up next.

First Three Months At-a-Glance Chart

A Handful of Task-Specific Tips

General Tip

• Use YouTube and/or podcasts for self-education. There are so many wonderful folks out there sharing their skills for free!

Client Care

• Be intentional about making time to ask your client about their day/weekend but be mindful and intentional to keep it professional.
• When you learn important dates, like birthdays or anniversaries, set a reminder in your calendar.
• Learn their family’s names.

Inbox

• Create a folder system that works for you and your client. One idea is to have a To-Do folder for yourself and another for your client. This will allow you to quickly move emails out of the inbox and into your folders to work through.
• Learn the difference between folders, tags, and flags — oh my! Each are different and serve you differently.
• Get familiar with rules and settings so you can use them to serve you. There are some really neat automations that can be super helpful if you learn how to use them well.
• Using Priority Inbox setup is helpful for keeping the view clean. You can then play with rules to make sure emails from key people always land on the top of the list.
• If you’re using Gmail, Simple Gmail Notes is a lifesaver!
• Always, always add new contacts immediately.

Calendar

• Look for patterns and start building a naming convention system. This will be so helpful for keyword searching.
• Make sure you reserve spaces on the calendar that you’ve offered as meeting times.
• A tool like Calendly can be very helpful for smoothing out scheduling wrinkles. Do make sure you double-check against your client’s calendar to help ensure there aren’t any sync issues.
• Make sure the titles are clear.
• Always include the location of the meeting or Zoom link if it’s virtual.
• Use the description box to help add additional clarity and link notes as appropriate.
• For important meetings, add a 5-minute event immediately before the meeting and add notes to the description box. This will help give your client a private heads-up.
• Playing with the colors can be fun and helpful. Selecting specific colors to represent specific types of events can give immediate visual clarity. The trick is to make sure you make yourself a legend to remember!

Organization

• Asana is a wonderful tool to help with staying organized! The free version has everything you need to be successful. The best part is that you can add recurring tasks, assign to yourself, set a date, and let Asana carry the mental burden of reminding you! Asana also has a nice Overview page where you can store all the links for easy access.
• Create a folder organization system. Numbering folders is helpful as it will automatically keep them sorted in the same order. It’s also helpful to have a folder dedicated to Open Projects and pop everything actively being worked on in that folder.
• Bookmark everything! It’s helpful to make folders to sort bookmarked items.
• Create visual workflows for yourself in a daily, weekly, and monthly cadence. This will help you stay on top of tasks and build fluency in your role.

• If you’re interested in meeting the other WorkrBee Virtual Assistants, please email Alex and request to be added to our WorkrBee Facebook Group. This is a place for us to chat, share pictures, and swap VA tips & tricks!

• Once you have completed all the steps for onboarding, please email Alex for your next steps.