As a small business owner you ultimately become a Jack of all trades. In part you do this because of financial restraints, but in part you probably do it to make sure each and every job is done perfectly. After all, it is your business and you want it to succeed.
However there will come a time when it’s not physically possible to do everything, in fact if you haven’t already got to that stage I’m sure it’s not too far away.
No matter what you do there is and will only ever be 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, 365 days in a year. So unless you’re incredible lucky to be able to exist on just 3 hours sleep per night, you will need to have good, trustworthy, smart support around you.
So here’s the easiest way to look at it:
What’s the one thing that takes up too much of your time?
We all have one, in most cases we have more than one, but let’s start with just one.
It could be your social media, blog article creation, your customer newsletter, your business accounts, your business website updates, or just general administration and organisation.
Decide what it is for you and then outsource it.
Find a Virtual Assistant who specialises in that skill, or perhaps is a Jack of all trades herself and therefore can offer you much more rounded support if that suits your needs better.
Talk through your business, the area(s) you need support with, and ask her questions to ascertain her ability and suitability. If the partnership seems right, start small and trial how it goes for a month or so.
I speak to so many small business owners who wish they’d made the decision to release their tight grip on the reins sooner.
But this leads me to ask them why they didn’t. The responses are always fairly similar – finances, lack of time, worry that the work won’t be up to their standard, lack of trust, not sure where to find someone, not too sure how the Virtual Assistant ’thing’ works, etc.
Don’t let these same responses stop you from getting that much needed support today.
The small business owners I’ve talked to always end up saying that hiring a VA has helped them financially by allowing them time to focus on attracting new business, rather than the reverse.
The lack of time issue goes to show how much you need a VA! Taking even a day upfront discussing and delegating work will save you at least a week trying to do everything yourself.
Of course you have high standards and think that no-one else will match them, or perhaps it’s because you think they don’t care as much as you about your business, but I’ve got to say that neither are correct. Most VAs that I’ve come across, myself included, have exceptionally high standards. They’ve often come from both management and administrative backgrounds working in fast-paced executive environments and therefore know the basic need for quality. As for not caring about your business, whilst we may not be as close to it as you, we will care about it just as much. If your business does well, you’ll continue to need support. It’s in our best interests to care about your business as much as we care about our own.
If you find it hard to build trust then you may struggle with a VA, or for that matter any support. But as with every working relationship, trust is built over time and through working together and the VA becoming more familiar with you, your business and your needs. The lack of trust will soon disappear.
Virtual Assistants are becoming more and more well-known. The majority of us have our own website, blog, social media channels and can be found in forums specific to VAs as well as more general business forums – after all we’re in business too. So finding them really shouldn’t be too difficult. Or of course there’s the even easier method of doing a Google search.
And finally if you’re not too sure how the VA ‘thing’ works, just ask! (or read my earlier article on this topic here). VAs’ are the business support you need, without having to pay the overheads of office space and equipment.
So what’s the one thing that takes up too much of your time, that you can outsource today?
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