![]() ![]() I did not get access to this inbox in my first year of working at the firm, and also after I had shown that I could handle having their phone calls routed to me when they wanted to go on Do Not Disturb. I try not to even leave the emails in their inbox marked as read if that's possible, and the main reason I have inbox access is if a client says they sent the partner some specific info I will be able to locate it in the partner's absence. I'm an admin (in person, not virtual) who has a partner's inbox delegated to me, and I do NOT respond directly to client emails without them being forwarded, or at least a verbal "so-and-so sent me an email this morning, can you respond?" In the latter cases, I email the client directly, without an email thread, and say something like "Partner asked me to let you know XYZ, forward you this info in response to your question, etc." What happens if a client calls/emails and asks a question, this person respond with bad info, your client acts on it and does something financially damaging or impermissible from a tax standpoint? That’s your lawsuit not your assistants What happens, because it will if this person is literally learning tax for the first time, when they give a client wrong information, you have no idea, and then they up and leave you because come to find out they were misrepresented the facts and/or they just think you’re completely incompetent and so is your staff? Why would you possibly think hiring somebody for work they’re not at all qualified for makes sense? Somebody applying for an assistant position part time for a virtual firm obviously is not going to have any accounting or tax background. it’s mind-boggling to me that you’re even entertaining having a non-tax staff deal with bookkeeping and tax issues. They’re going to be learning administrative tasks, that’s the reason you brought them in. They’re not full-time, they’re not going to develop any time quickly. They are completely virtual, you can’t be around babysit and/or watch what they’re doing. It boils down to three things:ġ) competency of the person you’re hiringĢ) clients getting wrong information without your knowledge and then you having to back track the persons mistakesģ) an extension of 2, but you’re talking a big liability It has nothing to do with the complexity of your client base. Depending on how well this goes, I may hire VAs for my employees to keep them more billable. If they replied from their own inbox, did you ever have clients who felt frustrated the answer wasn’t coming directly from you? Here’s my question, if you have worked with a VA before, did they have access to your inbox? Or did you forward them emails?ĭid they ever reply from your inbox as if they were you? However, they have also agreed to learn some basic bookkeeping and tax law to be able to respond to some easier tax questions eventually too. My plan for the VA is that they will immediately take over any kind of simple status updates or anything that doesn’t require technical knowledge. I knew I needed help with my inbox in the future. The week before the deadline I stopped answering emails and was shocked by how much I could get out the door with the extra time I had. But I still spent easily half my day just communicating with clients. Didn’t open emails until I was in a position to reply. ![]() This busy season, I worked really hard on having a good strategy for my inbox. They will be doing a lot of admin tasks, but the biggest thing I’m wanting them to do is help me manage my inbox. I have a new virtual assistant starting in a couple weeks.
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