Delegation

Let Go in Order to Grow – Delegate by Using the Power of a Virtual Assistant

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Contributed by Laura Schappert.

“If you really want to grow as an entrepreneur, you’ve got to learn to delegate.” Richard Branson.

When you’re good at what you do, people want much more from you. This can lead to a real sense of pressure and work overload because you can’t do everything that everyone wants quite possibly leaving you feeling stressed, unhappy and like you’re letting people down. No matter how hard or how long you work, there’s a limited amount you can accomplish. What’s worse, you may be totally stalling your success if you expect to do everything yourself.

There’s no shame in asking for help, especially when you’re overwhelmed and overworked and time seems to do a disappearing act before your very eyes. One definition of ‘delegate’ is to ‘entrust a task or responsibility to another person.’ A good assistant helps you organize your processes, completes your administrative tasks faster than you can, helps keep you accountable and on track thereby creating a flow which allows you to achieve more and increase your value.

Here are some signs you’re overdue for an assistant:

  • You feel like your efforts are getting you nowhere or are not creating income
  • You’re constantly worried that things are falling through the cracks
  • You don’t think anyone can help, and there’s no one who can do all the things you can do
  • You struggle to make time for the most profitable parts of your business and those that create the biggest opportunities (these are generally the things you love to do most!)
  • Your business isn’t growing, and hasn’t for six months or more

If you’re already relating to this and nodding yes, it might be time to get in touch with me for a complimentary conversation.

People don’t often consider delegation because they think they can’t afford a virtual assistant. This is backwards. Resources always follow vision and until you get clear on what you need, the resources don’t show up. By learning how to delegate work and by doing it well, you can quickly build a strong and successful support system. Part of the delegation process involves knowing what you want to accomplish and determining a deadline to get it done. Having the goal of delegation creates freedom to plan for the future, find new ways to develop your business and time to invest in higher impact projects to achieve success.

To determine when delegation is most appropriate, ask yourself some key questions:

  • Is this a task that’s taking me away from planning and strategizing my business?
  • Are there tasks that are draining me and keeping me from doing my best work?
  • Is this a task someone else can do, or is it critical that I do it myself?
  • Is this a task that will recur, in a similar form, in the future?
  • Can someone else do this task better or more efficiently?
  • Are there tasks I don’t enjoy or am not good at?
  • Is this a task that I should delegate?

If you can answer “yes” to at least some of these questions, then it is worth delegating.

By delegating work, especially recurring tasks, you’re making a positive choice by acknowledging your time is valuable and you’re worthy of having the freedom to focus on your specialty. Employ your virtual assistant as you would your business coach, hairstylist, barista, auto mechanic, massage therapist, anyone who specializes in providing a service you often use, appreciate and trust they know what they’re doing. Remember that old V8 commercial, “I could’ve had a V8!”? Well, you can have a VA!

One last tip: The time to hire an assistant is slightly sooner than you’re 100% ready and comfortable. By the time you’re totally ready – both mentally and financially – you’ll be too busy to properly delegate and train them, if necessary.

Laura Schapert, Sedona Virtual AssistantAre you feeling inspired? Are you already feeling some relief from overwhelm? Are you ready to let go? Are you nodding and relating to any of this? If so, the next step is to contact me for a complimentary consultation. In the meantime, if you’d like to know more, please visit my website. As a virtual assistant, I share my client’s visions, I believe in the services they provide and want every success for them, including time to thrive and enjoy life.

“Success means we go to sleep at night knowing that our talents and abilities were used in a way that served others.” Marianne Williamson

Consistency: The most misunderstood key to success

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Consistency is a key to success. Intellectually we know this, but putting it into practice seems to be a constant battle. And why is that?

Screen Shot 2015-01-12 at 12.46.10 PMBecause consistency has a plodding, dreadfully dull quality to it, doesn’t it? And we freedom-loving entrepreneurs tend resist anything that resembles the regular schedule of employment. But it doesn’t have to be that way!

Consistency – done right – frees up your time, energizes you, and gives you results. Here are three tips to give you a new perspective on consistency:

  1. Structure your consistency on a larger scale. Entrepreneurs start businesses for the freedom from a regular schedule – is it any surprise that you’re bored and resistant to a day-in, day-out rote version of consistency? Instead of having daily tasks, consider tackling them on a weekly or monthly basis. I consistently do the majority of my marketing each month in just one or two days – often in just a few hours on the last few days of the month. If I had to do my tasks a few at a time each day, I’d go crazy.
  1. Build variety into your consistency. Most entrepreneurs I know crave new experiences, so variety is a key value to honor in business. Some example of variety paired with consistency: be consistent about networking, with the variety of attending various events; be consistent about touching base with past customers, with the variety of how you contact them (email, mail, social media, phone); be consistent about email marketing, with the variety of sending out tips, videos and photos. Variety keeps you engaged, and helps you avoid falling victim to distraction.
  1. Evaluate your consistency… consistently. Even if you’ve scheduled your consistency to give you freedom and structured it to give you variety, if you aren’t seeing results, you’ll just be consistently busy with nothing to show for your efforts. To counteract this, simply track your actions and evaluate your results, then be quick to adjust them when needed.

Bonus tip: Get an outside perspective. Whether from a coach, mentor, or peer, do not struggle to figure this all out on your own! If you want to be consistent and get results faster, learn from others. It’s one of the top three mistakes freedom-seeking entrepreneurs make: avoiding asking for help.

Change your perspective on consistency, then implement your new perspective and instead of being bored, distracted, and unmotivated, you will be engaged, focused, energized – and seeing results!

I NEVER Want to Exercise

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I was frantic. I wanted to go to the gym in the afternoon. You must understand – I NEVER want to exercise, so I seriously needed to take advantage of this sudden burst of motivation.

The problem was, I was mired in important but tedious tasks that I did not want to do. Simple things, things that I could give to a 6th grader to complete. All day I avoided doing them, but kept up a steady stream of mental chatter, “What’s wrong with you? Just do it. It’s no big deal. Get off your duff and just do it. What’s wrong with you?”…ad nauseum.

Not only was I avoiding those piddly tasks, but I also didn’t feel comfortable moving on to the more important tasks pertaining to business development and marketing.

So here’s the rundown:

  • I was spinning in circles
  • I was talking to myself in a not very nice way
  • I wasn’t getting the tedious done
  • I wasn’t getting the important things done
  • I wasn’t going to get to the gym

Then…MAGIC happened. I picked up the phone and asked my Virtual Assistant for help.

I realized that I had to delegate the really tiny tasks. The ones that I tell myself will only take 5 minutes, so what’s the big deal?

The big deal is that those tiny tasks drain us if we do them, make us feel guilt-ridden if we don’t, and either way prevent us from working on the critical tasks of business building and development.

I strongly recommend that everyone who thinks they can’t afford administrative support, think again. If you want to grow, you have to get assistance. And it doesn’t need to be a huge investment!

Many business owners find they get all of the administrative support they need for around $300 per month. In a fraction of the time, Virtual Assistants complete the tedious tasks that drag the life out of you. Trust me, it’s worth it!

9 Best Practice tips from Virtual Assistants

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I recently asked the Virtual Assistants on my site what they considered their #1 best practice when working with clients. The most common theme is communication, and I love how each Virtual Assistant expresses it in their own style!

1.  “The #1 best practice (in my opinion) is to become acquainted with the client’s work style, attitude and expectations – that allows you to see if you are both a good fit.”  Jeanette Hughes Barnes

2.   “Set up a regular scheduled meeting at least once a week with clients. Even if it is only a 15 minute call – this gives me a chance to ask questions and give them an update on projects.”  Candy Sugarman

3.  “My #1 best practice is ongoing, open communication scheduled on a regular basis.”  Michele Reynolds

4.  “The #1 best practice for working with my clients is organization. Staying organized! I have to be organized or I begin to feel overwhelmed. When a client emails me a project, I place the project in a TO DO folder in my Outlook. I then assign it a task, and create a time schedule for the day. When I’m running close to the time to end what I’m doing, I get a pop-up to let me know that I am running close to ending that project and it’s time to begin the next one. Once I complete a project, I move it to a completed folder. This is the only way that I can run my business successfully.”   Christine Davis

5.  “I would be lost without my Outlook Calendar.  Not only does it help me remember meetings dates/times, but I also use it to keep track of project due dates and milestones.”  Dawn Kramer

6.  “Listening! (Whether it’s their needs, wants, complaints, rants….just listening!).”  Amanda Lawson

7.  “The best practices I use for working with my clients are clear communication and follow up.  Clients are generally comfortable as long as they feel they are in the loop with a project. I also try to assess early on if they want me to have creative control of a project or want to take the lead and have me follow their instruction. If I feel the client may be moving in the wrong direction, I will sometimes offer a draft of an alternative design or approach at no charge in order to help them consider options that may be more favorable.”  Jennifer Molton

8.  “I think for me that the best practice with my clients is consistent communication and follow up.  Especially if I am scheduling their week, or they are depending on me to follow up with their clients.”  Kristina Andaya

9.  “Using online project management tools such as Basecamp or Google Docs is an easy and efficient way to share project information, tasks and milestones: from any place, any time!”  Danielle Seville

 

I can’t WAIT to get a Virtual Assistant!

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I was talking with a coach last week and she remarked, “I can’t wait until I can just do what I love and delegate everything else to a Virtual Assistant!”

I thought, “But you don’t HAVE to wait!”

Looking for the best way to help her understand why I know this to be true, I went to my Brilliant VA’s for answers. Enjoy their responses!

“The SBA estimates that small business owners spend at least 40% of their time on administrative tasks. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to find the time to get the assistance you need and want. Determine your VA budget and start from there – you’ll be surprised how much time and money you will save using a VA!”

– Dawn Kramer

“Investing in a VA can seem like a big step, especially if a business owner has been wearing all the hats that have historically kept the business going. What I’ve seen happen though, is that by making the decision to begin delegating out the jobs that are time-consuming, or not their areas of expertise, the business owner will often experience a sudden quantum leap in both productivity and growth (without simultaneously losing the sense of ‘big picture’ control they require). Why? Because they’re using time and energy more efficiently in their business, not to mention getting the help they need without the overhead often associated with acquiring additional employees.”

– Jennifer Molton

 

“Great! I can start immendiately!”

– Michele Reynolds

Virtual Assistants in Space

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Woops – I meant Virtual Assistants AND Space. But the title was too funny to change…

What do Virtual Assistants have to do with space? Let me explain.

Imagine you need to write an article. Article writing is a great business activity that requires some quiet, some focus and a little creativity. In other words, space.

But you have to get your invoices done, manage your overflowing email in-box, set up an auto-responder in 1ShoppingCart for an upcoming teleclass, edit your newsletter, set up your Click Bank account and take your dog Fido to the veterinarian.

With all this information, how does the prospect of writing feel? Probably crowded, cramped, uncomfortable and downright no fun.

A Virtual Assistant can take on the management of everything on that list – with the exception of Fido’s vet trip – and once again give you the space to work on the business activity that requires YOUR time and attention.