THE SYSTEM YOU NEED TO SUCCEED
No matter what kind of business you’re running, it’s absolutely vital that you create a solid business system. One that enables you to focus your attention on bringing your ideas to life in profitable ways.
A lot of the entrepreneurs I know find that they’re spending their precious time and energy doing work that is not in what Dr. Gay Hendricks calls their “zone of genius.”
BAD IDEA!
At some point—even if you’re just starting out—you have to get help. Otherwise, you and your business are going to crash. But how do you know when is the right time?
5 SIGNS YOUR READY TO HIRE AN ASSISTANT
1. You’re feeling overwhelmed by your daily business activities. It seems as though you’re spending all your time answering emails, maintaining your Facebook page, managing your Twitter feed, and doing marketing research. You’re freaking out because you’re barely able to stay on top of things.
2. Things are falling through the cracks despite your best efforts. You can’t keep track of what’s happening in certain areas of your business. So, you end up putting out fires because you missed a deadline, forgot to pay an important supplier, or missed out on a partnership opportunity with an industry influencer.
3. Time-consuming projects that you don’t even like to do (and might not even be good at) are eating up your energy. Do you insist on resizing a picture for your website even though it takes you half a day? Or, you sit for 2 hours in front of a blank page trying to start a blog post. Perhaps you start researching blogs to guest post on, but end up buying a book on Amazon.com.
4. It’s difficult to give enough attention to responsibilities outside of your business. Your frustration about the state of your company spills over into your personal life, negatively affecting your loved ones. You have to interrupt a romantic dinner to handle a client’s request. Do you feel guilty for not working when playing with your kids? Maybe you’ve snapped at your partner when he reminds you of a social engagement you both made a long time ago.
5. You have little to no time to yourself. Your phone constantly beeps, notifying you of another email or business appointment. When the phone doesn’t beep, you check it non-stop to make sure the technology is working. You have to pick vacation spots where you have sound phone reception and speedy internet. Worse yet, you don’t remember when you last went on a vacation.
SUCCESS STORY
I know many of you are just starting out and might be really nervous about spending money on a virtual assistant. Kaneisha Grayson’s story reveals, if you find the right person, you’ll start reaping benefits almost immediately.
I recently interviewed Kaneisha—the winner of a $10,000 grant from the Rock Center of Harvard Business School—about her experience hiring an assistant to help her run The Art of Applying, a company devoted to helping individuals get accepted into top grad schools.
Kaneisha told me she delegates mechanical and time-consuming tasks to her virtual assistant. Now she spends her time on generating ideas, handling high-leverage activities that need her expert attention and taking some much needed time for herself.
She also shared with me how hiring an assistant has made her much more responsible and organized: “Once you start paying someone money, you are forced to make sure you structure their workload to get a return on your investment.”
The last advantage Kaneisha points out was the fact that having another person to work on her business made her vision much more real and her goals much more achievable: “When you start an online business and for a while work on it by yourself, you begin to wonder if you are a crazy person trying to make this work. Having someone work with you towards accomplishing your goals and share your vision shifts your focus from questioning the viability of your business to paths to turn your ideas into reality.”
How do you find your ideal assistant? One who shares your values and has the qualities necessary to result in all those benefits?
Next, I will introduce you to an effective system for creating the job description for your ideal assistant.
