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Home | Virtual Assistance

It’s Your Business! Can you AFFORD to go it alone?

By: Kathy Farrales

Many entrepreneurs start their business thinking that in order to get anything done and done right, that they need to do it themselves, especially during the start up phase of their business venture. But believing that you can be a “Jack-of-all-trades” is a dangerous path to walk down and many entrepreneurs think just that. They believe that they can generate leads and close deals while keeping the books, designing marketing plans, responding to clients and provide excellent customer service. However, being able to do all these things doesn’t necessarily mean that you are good at completing these tasks and should be appointed to take care of them.

What to do?

First thing is first, determine what your strengths are. Get out a pen and paper and start jotting down things that you know you are good at. After you have list of strengths, it’s time to start listing out your weaknesses, things that you aren’t so good at. It’s hard enough to admit that you have a weakness but it’s even harder to write them down and admit you have them. After you have your two lists, start thinking about how much time you spend on your strengths and how much time you spend on your weaknesses. Here is a couple of things to keep in mind while you are tallying up the time you spend working on your strengths and weaknesses:

Where do I spend the most time?
What do I enjoy doing more?
Is the time I spend working on my weaknesses costing me and how much?
How long is my work day because I have to work on both my strengths and weaknesses for my business to operate and grow?
Is my business growing? If not, why?

I am sure that this list can continue, but you get my point. There are probably more hours spent working on your strengths and weaknesses that you forgot that somewhere in there you need time for yourself and maybe your family? As you go through your list of strengths and weaknesses start highlighting the things that you don't enjoy doing and that don't impact your bottom line. These are things that you should be willing to let someone else take care of.

Getting Help.

The hardest part about getting help is admitting that you actually need it. So once you have gotten over that hurdle, it’s time to get networking. Start talking to other business owners, see what they do, what products and services they offer and provide. Just because they have a product or a service that you don’t need doesn’t mean that they don’t know of someone who might have what you are looking for. And you never know if you might eventually need what they have later.

Just keep in mind that getting help doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to pay someone for a product or services. The United States is the “Land of Opportunity” and free enterprise, right? And since you are the decision maker for your business getting the green light to get help rest entirely upon your shoulders. Before you move on to getting help for you and your business, think about the activities you complete during a normal business day (be sure that you check your strengths & weaknesses list so you don't miss anything) and start highlighting the things that you don't enjoy doing and/or that don't impact your bottom line. The activities that you have highlighted are activities that can be done or given to someone else and can make sure what you need to be done actually gets done.

Getting help for your business can be obtained in a number of ways. You can try to Barter with other businesses that offer complimentary products and/or services, you can hire and employee and become an employer, or you can look into forming a partnership with a Virtual Assistant. In order to determine what is going to work the best for you and your current business situation, you will need to consider what the pros and cons are.

Bartering requires work on your part. (Remember, you are trying to get help with the work you currently have not trying to create more.) If you do not already have a strong business (and sometimes social) network in place, you will need to create one. This means looking into other business, especially ones that offer complimentary products and services or offer what you are in need of, introducing yourself and then building a sincere relationship with them. Bartering for products and services with individuals and businesses that you do not have first hand experience with can lead to trouble since you aren't familiar with the quality that they provide.

There are pros and cons to hiring and employee or a virtual assistant. Take a moment to look at your current business needs (refer to the lists that you made earlier) and see how much time will you actually need to get these things done. Will it take a person an entire eight hours per day to complete these tasks or can the be done in a few hours? How many days will you need this person to be available to assist you one, three, five days a week? How much are you going to pay this person? Thinking about these things can help you determine which option, hiring an employee or partnering with a Virtual Assistant, is better suited to your current business needs.

About Kathy ~ Kathy Farrales is the founder of Express Professional Services a Virtual Assistance Company that provides professional administrative, technical and creative services to a variety of clients including other individual business owners/entrepreneurs, home based, and small businesses on a contract basis. She has been providing administrative support for over 10 years to managers, directors, VP and CFO's in a variety of industries. Kathy is also licensed at a Realtor with the State of California and the web mistress for a number of sites including Express Professional Services and KathyFarrales.com.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

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