Rachel interviews Check Off Your List HR Manager Misti Mazurik about common hiring mistakes that small business owners make and how to avoid them. Both Rachel and Misti have experience and stories to tell about the ups and downs of hiring.

Having hired more virtual assistants than most people will come in contact with during their entire carrier, Rachel has identified six qualities that a good virtual assistant should have. These characteristics hold true no matter the tasks your VA will be performing. And to make this big step even easier for you, we’ve compiled a checklist of skills and qualities to use when evaluating a virtual assistant, which you can access through the link in the episode notes.

(Previous title: How to Hire a Virtual Assistant)

So you’re ready to take the next step in your business and your life and hire a virtual assistant... the good news is that Rachel has years of experience with the process and in this episode she’s telling you the best way to find the right people for the job.

Hustling: For some it's the key to success and for others it's a way of life. This is no surprise, given that many of the business world's luminaries are constantly telling us about the value of hard work toward their success. In this episode, Rachel tells you about her experiences with the Hustle and why for us mere mortals it might not be the best path toward sucess and happiness.

How does a simple fraction enable some of the most successful entrepreneurs to surpass the competition and live their best lives? In this episode, Rachel discusses the not-so-secret 80/20 rule, the formula many of her clients use to decide where to focus their energies and what to delegate to others.

This episode covers Rachel's five proven tactics for increasing your productivity: time diaries, sticking to a routine, prioritizing a to-do list, freeing up your mental space and rest, as well as the benefits of technology and automation. She's also included a productivity workbook, which you can download in the episode show notes, or at COYLwithRachelLuther.com.

What if you could fill your schedule with tasks that you enjoy doing and filled you with feelings of success? How would you feel if you looked forward to everything on your to-do list? In today's episode, Rachel helps you determine what tasks you could be outsourcing to someone else. She describes her process in full detail, and to make it easy for you to replicate, she's providing an outsourcing checklist, which you can download at COYLwithRachelLuther.com.

Now that we know what a virtual assistant is, this episode is dedicated to taking that next—and sometimes scary—step: outsourcing. Rachel shares the surefire signs for when it's time to hire your first virtual assistant. She also talks about how outsourcing applies to your personal life, and how delegating to others can help you better prioritize.

One of Rachel's frequently asked questions: What is a virtual assistant? In this episode, Rachel defines a virtual assistant and clears up common misconceptions about virtual assistants. She outlines the many types of VAs and takes a general look at how VAs have evolved over time. Lastly, she talks about where she sees the VA market going.