There are many roles we apply ourselves to as business owners, especially when we are first starting out. Taking on the role of bookkeeper, marketing strategist, web developer, graphic designer, personal assistant to yourself! The list goes on.
We inject what knowledge we have on each of these subjects into our business, so that we can keep our expenditure to a minimum, sometimes with little or no experience at all. Are you finding that you resonate with this scenario? Do you feel as though you have to ‘spin plates’ to keep everything functioning? Are you dragging yourself into tasks that you lack the skill set for, don’t earn you any money or quite simply, you just don’t enjoy them?
There are so many small businesses and start up businesses out there that fall into the same trap and find they just want to save time. They believe that by taking on these tasks themselves they can achieve more for their business, but is this the right mindset to have?
Consider these 3 scenarios:-
Scenario 1: When you were (or if you still are) constructing your website, how long did it take you? Was /is it a drawn out process that still needs finalising, which in return leaves you with no web presence or an unpolished, slightly unprofessional insight into your business? We understand that building a website can be totally ‘alien’ and more often than not very expensive, however, there are solutions.
Solution 1: There are professionals out there, such as a Virtual Assistant, who can help you to create a professional, affordable website. Many specifically cater for new start up business or those in the early stages of development. By utilising these services or for a better word ‘collaborate’ you can save time on the frustration of web building and focus more time on earning your income.
Scenario 2: Social media, you either love it or you hate it, but the truth of the matter is that it’s a necessity to your business. It can also be a complete time suck if you don’t know how to manage it properly and could result in many a wasted hour, where instead you could be working on billable tasks. This is of course, not to mention how to get involved in it in the first place. Are you finding that your social media input just isn’t having the desired effect?
Solution 2: Again, take some pressure off of yourself and utilise the expertise of someone who knows social media inside and out. Collaborate with someone who can create, schedule and monitor your social media and implement a strategy that will help you to gain engagement and interest for your product or service and therefore save time for you. Many Virtual Assistants also specialise in this area and can contribute to a vast improvement to your social media presence.
Scenario 3: Does trying to keep on top of all your income and expenditure drive you mad? Is it a rush when the deadline for your self assessment is due, to collate all the information together so that you can forward this to your accountant or submit your application on line?
Solution 3: Keeping tabs on your invoices (sales) and receipts (purchases) can be time consuming. Imagine if someone took the administrative side of things under control and updated all this information for you? This really is the task of data entry and a time consuming one at that, so collaborate again with someone such as a VA to relieve that pressure and save time. Have all your income and expenditure nicely organised in time for the tax man, so that there’s no end of financial year panic.
These are just 3 examples! There are many more.
You may have noticed that we used the word ‘collaborate’ in our above scenarios. This is because the concept of working jointly on an activity or product is what we at Virtual Hand believe to be the way forward. What successful collaboration have you used within your business?
It’s about teamwork, time management and communication, the perfect recipe for an onward and upward successful business.
Busy business owners and successful trainers all struggle from time to time to get everything done in the working day. That’s why we put together our list of favourite tips, tricks, and real life examples that you can use to start doing more with the time you have. Download your free copy here
Learn how you can work with Virtual Hand; how your business can grow and how you can communicate better with your audience.
