If you’re a small business owner, then this blog is for you. In fact, this blog is for any business owner who dreams of someday hiring in employees, or working with bigger clients and spending less time in the office at the same time. In short, any business owner who wants to grow.
So, all of us, right?
The problem with small businesses is that it can be very difficult to break out of the small business bubble, particularly if you can’t hire an employee to help you share the load yet. Luckily, your second in command doesn’t have to be in your business – they can be someone outside it, supporting you and helping you grow. In other words – a VA. And here are just a few ways a VA could help you grow your business in the next 12 months.
Develop Better Relationships
Good client relationships are essential to any business, but particularly a smaller business trying to grow. But if you’re rushing around trying to do everything yourself, those client relationships can start to slip, and soon you’ll find yourself sliding backwards while you desperately doggy paddle to move forward. A VA can help you gain time back to focus on those key relationships, while they take care of those niggly yet time-consuming jobs. They can also actively help you build those relationships, taking on things like diary management, client follow-up and support organising client events.
Make Like A Cat
Ok, so there are a lot of reasons we would like to be more like a cat – being able to spend all day eating and snoozing in the sun definitely sounds appealing! But in this case it might be more accurate to say ‘be like a cat when it’s cornered’ – and make yourself look much bigger than you are. Just as a cats coat can puff up and make it seem huge, a VA can surround your one man band and make you seem much bigger. True, a VA isn’t a full-time employee with your business, but by assigning them an email address with your company name on it, you can copy them in on emails and make it seem like you have a bigger in-house team. You could also include your VA’s details in your email signature, and when you respond to clients you can copy in your PA. This makes your business look bigger to clients, and it’s always about perception after all.
Get Some Mental Space
When you work with a VA, you get an extra brain in your business. This isn’t just great for productivity, but it frees up a lot of space in your brain too! Instead of struggling to keep a strong working memory of every single thing going on in your business (and the rest of your life), you can delegate some of that responsibility to your VA. That way, if you ever need to know something, you can just ask them. Don’t get us wrong, your brain will still be a very busy place, but a good VA can help give you that mental space you need to be happier and more productive.
Keep Yourself Accountable
When you’re on your own in business, there is no one around to hold you to your word, and make sure you do what you say you will. So you end up procrastinating, or just not doing the task at all. But with a VA, you have someone external who can hold you accountable and make sure you follow through on your plans. If you tell your VA that you’ve set a deadline for a task, your VA will work with you to make sure it’s met. Depending on you, your individual VA and your preferences, they can be as pushy or as laid back as you like – as long as the results happen!
Focus On the Things You Love
Let’s face it, one of the main reasons you got into running your own business was so that you could spend more time away from work and doing the things you love. But as a business owners you’ve probably found that’s not the case, and if anything you spend more time working than ever before. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Having a VA in your corner means a lot of those necessary yet time-consuming admin tasks are being done for you in the background. So, let’s say your VA works with you for 5 hours a week. That’s 5 hours you have that could be spent on prospecting for new sales, going to the gym or picking the kids up from school. It all helps fuel that work-life balance, which leads to an all-round happier you.
At Your Admin Hub, we work with business owners who have too many things to do and not enough time to do them in. We help you work out what tasks really need you to do them, and what could be handled by someone else. This helps you grow and expand, all within your budget and timescale. So if you want 2020 to be your year, all you have to do is get in touch.