| Always Professional…
"Why Are
You Doing Everything Yourself?"
By Alexandria K. Brown
One problem I often see with solo professionals is that their businesses
aren't growing because they're simply not
making enough time
to do it!
It's not that they don't understand the value of those efforts, or they
don't WANT to make the time. It's that they're simply trying to do too
much by themselves. They're so busy running their business that they're
not working ON their business.
Are You Spending All Your
Time on the Little Stuff?
Owning your own business requires wearing a lot of hats. But it seems
that when many people leave their jobs to "go solo," they think they
must work completely
solo as well. They insist on doing everything themselves -- even tasks
they know darn well they're not good at.
They try in vain to design their own Web sites and brochures, write
their own sales copy, process their own orders, manage their own mailing
list, personally respond to every customer call and e-mail, ship their
own products, and more. Pretty soon they're running around like that
proverbial headless chicken.
What eventually happens is their love for their work -- the reason they
started their own business in the first place -- drowns in a flood of
administrative trivia. Suddenly one morning they wake up feeling burnt
out and without that positive, creative energy they used to have.
When this happened to me a few years ago, I was lucky to learn about
virtual assistants (VAs).
VAs are freelancers who take care of all that "busy work" for
entrepreneurs like us. Because VAs are independent themselves, they work
on an as-needed basis from their own homes or offices, saving you the
cost and hassle of hiring a regular office assistant.
I now have six VAs -- Liz, who lives in Boston, Julie, who lives in
Iowa, and a few others scattered all over the country. And I can't live
without them!
What Could YOU Delegate to
a VA?
During next week, keep a log of all your activities. Then sit down and
review it. Decide which activities are truly
ones that only you can do
and which you can delegate.
For example, here are some
of the tasks I delegate to my VAs:
* Responding to customer e-mails and phone calls
* Scheduling business and personal appointments and interviews
* Bookkeeping: invoicing clients, receiving and paying bills,
reconciling bank statements, tracking expenses and tax records, working
with my accountant (This was my favorite to delegate!)
* Internet research and fact checking
* Planning my travel for speaking engagements and seminars
* Maintaining my e-zine and customer mailing lists
* Managing my e-zine ad sales
* Handling registrations for my teleclasses/workshops
* Maintaining my Web site (copy edits, additions)
* Creating sales reports
* Shipping customer orders and shipping products to anywhere I'm
speaking.
* Submitting my articles to other publishers and article sites
* Placing ads in publications and at Web sites.
* Formatting e-books, creating PDF files, and sending out for printing.
* Designing PowerPoint presentations
And I don't stop there. Liz and Julie have also been happy to help me
with personal stuff like researching vacations, shopping around for car
insurance, and reminding me of birthdays and other important dates.
Thanks to these two amazing gals, I save my time and energy only for my
"genius work."
Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine
Queen," publishes the award-winning 'Straight Shooter Marketing' weekly
ezine with 22,000+ subscribers. If you're ready to jump-start your
marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business,
get your FREE tips now at
www.EzineQueen.com
VIRTUAL ASSISTANT NEEDED
Brent is interviewing for a qualified free
lance professional for up to 20 hours a month.
Call 903-819-0301 or Email
your resume to
Brent now
.
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