Delegating to your Virtual Assistant

I am sharing some cool excerpts from an article that my colleague Sue Canfield wrote. She is an expert in her field of Social Media and does consultations and audits for authors.

Do you think you have to do this all by yourself?

This powerful belief that you can do anything, while vital to getting you through the dips you will encounter, is a risk in itself. Even if you have the skills, you will quickly reach a point in your business that you need help. It will come sooner than you realize, sooner than you like.

Delegating is difficult. If you are anything like us, you just know that no one will love your business, no one will care for the day-to-day like you will. In some areas, you are right. Guess what? Don’t delegate those!

Even when you do have all the skills, is every single task the best use of your time? Some processes make you money. Some, while necessary for business function, do not directly apply your expertise to bringing in money. ‘Opportunity cost’ is the concept that, by choosing one thing, you give up another. If you are doing the filing, you cannot be making phone calls. If you are making phone calls, you cannot be baking or building or whatever else you do.

Is there an existing discipline that specializes in this task? Office administration is a long-standing field with some solid experts out there. Virtual Assistants will work for two, five, ten hours per week, per month; whatever you need. Most admin tasks can be done remotely; some will require in-house effort. Sales calls? Yes even sales calls can be remotely.  Many virtual assistants are professional sales people who specialize in the skills and personal qualities which are so important in helping prospects feel comfortable enough to buy.

Have you used a virtual assistant? How did that work?