As a Business owner, you’ve done it all and might STILL be doing it all!
It’s not unusual for the owner to be working their business during the day and running their business at night. I get that and I’ve been there! However, your time can be better spent elsewhere.
There are definitely those business-building tasks that you should be doing but there are many that can and should be outsourced. Any task that adds great value to your business should be yours and yours alone. These will include product creation, building relationships and most of the time delivering your services.
Most anything else can be delegated or outsourced.
The vast majority of business owners and entrepreneurs face 2 obstacles for delegating: 1) Fear of letting go of control and 2) Fear that the cost is going to be outrageous.
I’ll leave the fear of letting go of control alone and talk dollars and cents: Imagine yourself spending 3 hours setting up blog post on your website, scheduling your ezine and posting to your Social Media outlets. Say you charge $997 for a VIP Day (3 hours).
You just spent 3 hours on a frustrating, hair-pulling, boring as heck task AND you just lost $330+/hour! Those 3 hours could have been used to serve a Client – doing what you LOVE.
Hiring a Virtual Assistant or Personal Assistant will cost you between $25 and $50/hour. If you had one on your team, it would have only cost you between $75 to $150 to hire a Virtual Assistant to do those tasks for you.
Your net gain: $997-$150 = $847!
I don’t know about you but that sounds good to me! Plus, I’m sure those boring, tedious tasks are not as mesmerizing to you as they would be for someone who loves that kind of thing.
Hey! Stop snickering, yes, I know, HOW COULD ANYONE LOVE THAT STUFF?!?!?!? They do. And, the bonus is that they’re GOOD at it.
No, strike that, THEY’RE GREEEEEEEEAAAAAT! at it. How can you NOT afford a Virtual Assistant?
I’ll go back to my earlier example of the Webinar. I know this person personally did a lot of the tasks associated with the Webinar.
I don’t know what they charge per hour but I know the cost of the program was $497.
Let’s say it would have taken a Virtual Assistant approximately 4 hours to set up all the tasks for the Webinar and purchasing the product. Max cash out of pocket for this setup would have been $200.
If only one person bought this product, the net gain would have been $497 – $200 = $297. Only ONE person and I know I wasn’t the only one to buy the product…
Now that I’ve shown that you can afford a Virtual Assistant, I know your next question will be:
Where the heck do I find a Virtual Assistant? Great question!
And…I have the answer!
- Business Associations. There are several that encourage you to submit an RFP (Request For Proposal) for any personnel you may need to hire. Once you’ve submitted your RFP, you’ll need to sort through the most qualified and then interview the ones you feel might be a fit. Once you’ve decided on a candidate, make sure you get a contract in writing! The IVAA is one resource: http://ivaa.org/
- Many companies are popping up that offer many of the services appropriate for a Virtual Assistant.
- Word of Mouth. Ask other coaches or speakers who they use AND if they’re happy with them.
- Train your own. Maybe you know and really LIKE someone who is sharp, professional and efficient but doesn’t quite have all the skills you need.
For a list of tasks that can be outsourced, click here.