The following post has been replicated on the Your Executive Secretary Website by kind permission of Ali Brown. “Entrepreneur mentor Ali Brown teaches women around the world how to start and grow a profitable business that make a positive impact. Get her FREE CD “Top 10 Success Secrets for Entrepreneurial Women” at www.AliBrown.com“ . The original article was published on her website on 14 Nov 13.
“I often see my entrepreneur clients fall prey to a stubborn mindset: they strongly resist the idea of hiring help. Women entrepreneurs especially get stuck here.
But the truth is, trying to do it all yourself doesn’t make you a better business owner. In fact, it can hurt your business growth and throw your personal life off balance. An assistant can help you manage your business more efficiently, freeing you to focus on the big picture.
Here are FIVE tell-tale signs that you need to get help asap:
1. You forget to perform tasks, like sending out invoices, updating your website, or confirming appointments. Imagine how much better off your business would be if these routine tasks didn’t fall through the cracks. An assistant can easily be trained to help with billing, online updates and scheduling, so that these business functions always happen when they should.
2. You waste time looking for lost documents or emails. Entrepreneurs’ inboxes are usually overflowing with correspondence with clients, industry newsfeed updates, e-zines, prospects and leads, and more. If you find that you’re losing track of important items, like invoices and invitations, it’s time to have someone come in to help. An assistant can take these items off your plate, so you don’t miss payments or make costly administrative mistakes.
3. You don’t have time to see family or friends. When you find yourself missing out on brunches or birthday parties in favor of work, then it might be time to reprioritize. Hiring an assistant–even one who works just a few hours a week–frees you up to focus on what matters, like spending time with loved ones and experiencing those once-in-a-lifetime moments first-hand.
4. Your billable rate is higher than an assistant. Let’s say that you bill client at $100/hour and you can get an assistant whom you pay $20/hour. Rather than taking time away from your paying clients to send out invoices or book appointments, pay an assistant her $20/hour while you earn $100/hour from your clients. Even after you pay your assistant, you’ll still bring in $80/hour that you otherwise wouldn’t have time to earn.
5. You’ve been putting off tasks that you dislike. Most of us have tasks we dread doing. Some people hate filing. Other people can’t stand paying bills or making appointments. The great news is, there are people out there who actually LIKE doing what you despise, so why not bring them on to handle these tasks with passion and dedication? It’s a win-win! All it takes is a little legwork to find someone you trust to get the job done.”
The above article really highlights the benefits of working with a Virtual Assistant, have a think today about what 3 tasks you could assign to an assistant this week if you had one? And, what would YOU do with the extra time you’d gain? Share your insights in the comment box below or why not email Amanda at [email protected] to see how we might be able to help.
