How your VA could save your business (and your sanity)

Why do you need someone you can happily call ‘your VA’?

Well, perhaps you don’t. You’re a capable, energetic person. You can do it all yourself. There’s a skill you don’t yet have? You’ll learn it. Software you’ve never used? You’ll ace it in the first week. Phone call to answer? You have an excellent telephone manner. And surely anyone can wrap and post a parcel?

Well – yes. And then again, no. Because the trouble is that one person can’t do all of those things at the same time. But if you’re running a business, and it’s going well, you might find you have to.

And if you’re still on a learning curve with some of the trickier tasks, you may not do them as well as you would like…

Picture this…

You’re hard at work on your newest project. For a brand new client. So you’re excited, and motivated, and full of good ideas. You just need to get them down while they’re still fresh in your mind…

And that’s when the phone rings.

It’s an urgent order. Something that’s needed right away. From another new client you’re anxious to please. Who keeps you on the phone for half an hour checking the details. Chatting. Schmoozing. And taking up time you haven’t got.

Then, while you’re talking, one of those annoying little texts from the bank pops up on your mobile. Apparently your account is going into overdraft. Meaning you desperately need to take a hard look at your accounts. Right now.

Except you can’t. Because you’re still finding your way round the accounts software. Anyway, you need to make up that order and get it to the post. You need to finish that concept report. And…

Oh good grief. There’s an enquiry under the current pile of paper that came in a week ago. Only you put it down in a hurry and never got around to opening it.

And that’s life in a one-person business. Where your interruptions have interruptions, which in turn have interruptions. Making it pretty hard to focus on anything…

…and then picture something much, much better

You’re hard at work on your newest project. For a brand new client. So you’re excited, and motivated, and full of good ideas. You just need to get them down while they’re still fresh in your mind.

You check your diary and are pleased to see that it’s completely clear today – because that’s what you asked your VA to ensure. So you pile on in. And three hours later you’ve got a piece that still needs work, but has all the main elements you were thinking of in the first place.

Over a cup of coffee you check your email and see a note from your VA. Apparently you’ve had a couple of orders in which they’ve fulfilled on your behalf. They’ve also chased up a couple of late payers, so your bank account is looking much healthier than it did at first light. And they’ve sent in their monthly bill. Which looks extremely reasonable, given the amount of time you’d have wasted doing those jobs yourself.

Thinking about it, you’ve effectively earned more than that with just one morning’s work. Which you’ve been able to complete without distraction, interruption or hesitation.

Wait a minute – wasn’t there an order that came in a week ago…?

No worries. Your VA dealt with it last week – because you outsourced the whole process to someone you knew you could trust.

And the conclusion?

In any growing business there comes a time when it no longer makes sense to do everything yourself. Yes, it can be hard to let go. And yes, there’s pride and satisfaction in feeling you’re in charge, and it’s all down to you.

But there’s even more pride and satisfaction in creating a business where you can focus on the things that matter, without interruption. On doing what you’re best at, while others do the rest. With time to relax at the end of a working day, without feeling you need to spend half the night just catching up with all the routine stuff you didn’t have time to do in your ever-extending ‘working day’.

So be kind to yourself. Give us a call on 01638 741079. Let’s have a chat about what you’re doing, and how we might be able to help. Because there’s one thing we can promise.

Whatever you’d like us to do for you, we’ll do well – so that you can get on with building your business. (Not to mention having a life…)