I have done all the work myself, not assistants. That’s why I’m in a wheelchair: I’ve been doing it physically – it’s hard labour – throughout my life. – Yayoi Kusama

Do you currently have a business support team?

A common piece of advice from business coaches to those who want to grow their business is to hire team members who can do the support work so you can focus your efforts on money-making tasks. In other words, don’t waste your time doing bookkeeping or answering emails because you’ll make more money selling your signature program or coaching clients.

So how’s a business supposed to run smoothly when you’re not doing those necessary support tasks? Simple…you hire people to do those tasks for you. There are expert Virtual Assistants who can create an organized inbox with filters, folders and labels in mere minutes. There are expert Bookkeepers who find joy in numbers and live for balancing your books each month. And there are others who adore creating online content and helping customers with their questions and problems. This is the team you need to create.

If you’ve ever thought any of the following, it might be time to start thinking about expanding your support team or just getting a little extra help.

There’s Not Enough Time in Your Day

If this is your excuse for not getting tasks done, then it’s time to hire at least one team member. Make a list of your most pressing tasks that need doing and hire the appropriate person for the job. Start small if necessary, paying a Virtual Assistant for 5 hours a month, for instance, and then work up from there as you become more comfortable delegating tasks to her. You’ve just gained 5 hours in your month so use it wisely.

You Can’t Clone Yourself

How on earth can you coach your clients while also getting prospects into your sales funnel and creating books or other signature programs? You can’t, plain and simple, because there is only ONE of you! This leads back to you doing the money-making tasks. Hire a ghostwriter to write your book or programs; hire a Virtual Assistant to help with administrative tasks; hire a Customer Service Specialist to answer your phones and client questions. While they work, you work on building relationships with your clients and prospects.

You Don’t Have Time to Learn the Latest Technology

Technology is wonderful and keeps improving every day but who has the time to learn all these programs and apps? Canva is certainly a cool tool for designing graphics but instead of fooling around for hours to design your book covers or social media graphics, hire a graphic designer who already knows about design and color principles and likely has the latest and greatest design program. There’s no learning curve here. You only have to explain your vision to the designer and let her take over. Again, focus on your money-making activities and stop wasting time learning programs that take hours, if not weeks to master.

Know What Tasks You Need to Give Up

Giving up control can be intimidating but if you have a business plan and know exactly what tasks YOU want to handle, the art of delegation becomes much easier. Start with thinking about the tasks that you can’t do (like copywriting or web design), once you have one or two reliable people on retainer that you can reach out to every once in a while, move onto tasks that are time consuming. These can include things like setting up your email marketing campaigns and automations or editing your podcast episodes.

Places to Get Help

• Colleagues. The best places to find people are typically through word of mouth and referrals. Check in with some of your business colleagues and see who they are using or if they have some companies they can recommend.
• Facebook and LinkedIn Groups. If you don’t have any colleagues to reach out to, the next place to check are your social media groups. If you are on Facebook or LinkedIn, pop into your business groups and ask if they have any VAs, web designers, etc. they can recommend. You’ll be surprised at the amount of responses you’ll get, and some VAs might actually be in the group!
• Upwork. Upwork is sort of a marketplace for Freelancers. Post a job, and freelancers who think they are qualified for the position will reach out to you to submit their bid. You can view their proposal, profile, reviews, etc. and decide who will be best for you (don’t forget to interview and ask questions first!). You can search for freelancers and filter by skill or country. Invoices are submitted through the platform and you only pay for the work you authorize.
• Fiverr. You can find great freelancers on Fiverr as well, and they are especially great for one-off projects like creating a logo, or doing some copywriting. If you find someone you really like, they can probably let you know if they are willing to work on longer term projects as well.
• Virtual Staff Finder. Chris Ducker’s VA-matching company. The workers are based in the Philippines and you can find and search Filipino workers with great skill at a great rate.