Delegation to Out-sourcing

Many business professionals begin their careers on the corporate ladder and happily enjoy all the perks that that entails.  When their day becomes just too much and the To Do List is never ending and when it demands too many of their evenings and weekends, they look to see where they can delegate specific tasks and typically that appropriate person is approached and, as if by magic, their To Do List is trimmed down.

Fast forward a year, two or maybe ten or more …. their ambitions have grown and those ambitions lead to becoming their own boss and running their own business.  This is a great goal which can bring many benefits and positive changes to a business person’s personal life.  BUT not if they try to do it all on their own! It does not take long for the savvy business person to realise they still need someone to delegate tasks to.  You know – the ones they don’t like doing, they are not qualified to do and tasks they simply do not have time to do.  If they fail to fill this gap in their support armoury they are setting their business up to fail.

So where does that leave them?  Simples – instead of delegating they out-source to a Virtual Assistant (VA).  Finding a good fit VA takes a bit of time and thought but will prove to be worthwhile in the medium to long term.  It is important that all business owners looking to recruit a VA carries out an audit of the tasks they perform within their business.  They must identify the tasks they HATE to do, the tasks they CANNOT do and the tasks they lack TIME to do.  The types of tasks which need to be carried out will determine the skillset and qualities required in your VA.

Once you have recruited your VA the work on building the relationship commences.  This process is not a lot different to the PA-Manager relationship – over time you learn how to work together and a good VA will be better able to support individual clients the longer they work together just as a PA would in a normal corporate environment.  The key difference is the business owner has no employee liabilities as the VA takes all the liabilities on their shoulders.  That includes any training needed to get the job done as well as physical office space and equipment.

With support staff no longer an issue this frees up the business owner to focus on developing new business which enables growth and eliminates stagnation.  Now that has to be good for everyone.