I’ve been there. Actually I’m still kind of there, just trying to really find the right fit right now. “There” is that wonderful but terrible place where business is booming and you have clients starting to pour in…but you only have so many hours in the day (and night) and your kids and spouse are beginning to think your laptop is permanently attached to your body.
It’s a crossroads where you wake up one day and realize that you are either going to have to start telling potential clients no or you are going to have to build a team to support you and your clients.
It can be daunting, that’s for sure! But it’s a wonderful problem to have. Just don’t stay in it or you will wind up ruining your business. The first step you should take if you are finding yourself in this situation is to evaluate your goals.
I sat down and asked myself if I was content where I was at, if I wanted to build this business bigger or maintain it as-is, and you know what? Fear tried to tell me that I was ok as-is. Fear tried to say “Who do you think you are to think your business warrants a team?” “You aren’t like those other people who run big teams of virtual assistants.” “You just need to find a few clients and be happy with the status quo.” And best of all… “You know you don’t deserve to do better than this little bit of success.”
But I have known for some time that I couldn’t keep up the pace I was working at by myself. And I have this crazy drive to always build it bigger and do it better. (If you are a true entrepreneur, I’m sure you understand!)
I first tried hiring a virtual assistant about a year ago. That didn’t work out. I really couldn’t tell you why, it just didn’t. Then a few months back I decided that hiring a business manager would not only help me manage myself, but would also help me manage any assistants I hired. And that was just what I needed to do.
Not only does she keep me in check, but she has taken over the burden of finding people for my team. Now I can tell her “I need someone who can help me publish ebooks,” or “I need someone who can do the basic installation and setup for a new WordPress website.” And she runs with it. I don’t have to spend hours of stressful contemplation reading through responses from HireMyMom.com or Facebook VA groups anymore. She finds them and screens them, I interview them, I tell her I want to bring them on board or not, she sends them the contract and gets them all hooked up with our task management system. When I have a task for them, I forward her an email or message her on Skype and she gets it assigned and makes sure it gets finished.
Saves me so much time!!
Now I need to let go of some other mundane tasks since we just brought a new virtual assistant onto our team to help with newsletters and social media. I’m excited but it always scares me to just “let it go”. What do you struggle with letting go of in your business? Do you try to “do it all”? Leave a comment below!
Getting a trusted and competitive VA is a great chance to build your business as long as there are good in communication. You’l be great ahead that’s for sure.
I am on the brink of hiring a VA. I have had two they didn’t work out, but that hasn’t put me off and I shall write up a specification of what I want and then go from there. This time I will use a professional company. You are right that we do have to let go of being the technician!