Not that you know you’ve been working too much IN your business and not enough ON it, let’s talk about one important strategy to implement to get out of the do-er mindset and uplevel your business. (Not sure what we’re talking about? Take my quick quiz now.)
Once business owners decide it’s time to hire a virtual assistant, or VA as they’re commonly referred to, I often hear “what can an assistant actually do for me?”
The answer is simple and sure to please – anything you want.
Ok, maybe not anything, but certainly within reason and as long as you’ve both agreed upfront, it really is that simple.
A VA can support you with pretty much any task that you want them to.
The possibilities are endless:
- Answer emails in your support inbox
- Schedule your weekly newsletter
- Publish your weekly blog post
- Post on social media
- Research sites for you to guest post on
- Pitch podcasts for a guest interview
- Remind clients to schedule their remaining sessions
- Manage your business calendar
- Manage your personal calendar
- Book your travel
- and so on…
Do you have big eyes now?
It’s fun, exciting and all-around glorious. But, it all comes with one caveat – clarity.
The key is to get really clear on what your new assistant could help you with. Otherwise, how is she going to know if she can provide the services you need (yes – VA’s specialize) and how are you going to tell your VA what you need done (remember – no one is a mind reader).
It only takes a little thinking (and maybe a bulleted list). Here’s how…
For the next week (or at least 5 business days), make a list of everything you do in your business. This will include any task or action that allows your business move forward and operate efficiently, whether that be in the operational, marketing, financial or administrative areas.
Next, once you have your list, spend some time to go through and mark all of the tasks that you don’t want to do anymore with a highlighter or symbol (I always enjoy a lively asterisk * ).
Then, go over the marked-up entries and see which items could easily be done by somebody else. These will typically be more low-level tasks that are repeated frequently, maybe each week or every month, and don’t really need much of your intervention to happen. For example, working one-on-one with clients can’t be delegated to your assistant, but sending clients a gift once you wrap up working together can.
Do you have your starred shortlist of tasks you’re ready to take off your to-do list?
Excellent – that’s your exact list of tasks a VA can help you with.
We’ll pick it up next time and use it to take the next steps to find that new assistant. Until then!
Don’t have your VA task list yet? Work through the exercise above and let me know how it goes.
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash