Kelly Williams, Virtual Assistant
Congratulations to Kelly Williams who is the recipient of this week’s VAccolade Business Entrepreneur Award.
Kelly is a virtual assistant in Oceanside, California, who offers such services as bookkeeping, information management, and project management. She has been a valued member of VAnetworking since April 2007.
How Outsourcing Can Make You More Accountable
It should be a given that hiring a Virtual Assistant will make you and your business more productive, right? But what about being more accountable for the tasks necessary to achieve your long range business goals? An incredible spin off benefit of hiring a VA is that you suddenly have someone who is “checking in” regularly to see if you’ve crossed any of those pesky to-dos off your list. Because let’s face it, a Virtual Assistant can do a lot but she can’t do everything for you!
When I hired my current Virtual Assistant back in July, (hi Ruth!), I told her upfront that she had carte blanche to boss me around whenever she felt it was necessary. Sound strange? Let me clarify.
Like any entrepreneur, I spend a lot of my time in what I call inspiration overwhelm. That is, I have more ideas than time. To bring my ideas to action in a somewhat premeditated fashion, I need more than someone to tackle my to-do lists. I need someone to actually wrangle my ideas into something more orderly than random emails to colleagues or scribbles in 10 different notebooks.
Now, when one of my projects or to-dos starts to linger a little too long on the back burner, I get a nudge from my VA (I love saying “my VA!”). Maybe she’s not exactly bossing me around, but knowing there is someone else on my team (I love saying “my team!”) who is waiting for me to do my part before she can either cross something off the list or move it to the next step, has a way of getting me off my proverbial butt. Suddenly I’m not just letting myself down by putting something off (because I’m being obnoxiously picky about perfecting it first which is another article entirely). Now I’m letting down a team member who is waiting for me to do my part so she can do hers.
Not to mention the powerful effect “otherness” has on the lone entrepreneur, the man or woman used to flying solo ALL of the time. When there is someone else watching you, observing you, waiting for your next move, you become self aware in a way that’s just not possible all by your lonesome.
So, if you’re putting off finding a Virtual Assistant because you don’t want someone else to answer to, scrap that notion. It’s misguided. It’s counterproductive. It’s really a bit high minded. You’re special but you’re not that special. Adding a new team member to your business might be just what the doctor ordered to cure symptoms you didn’t even know you had.
Rachel Reeves of Proactive Admin Services
Congratulations to Rachel Reeves of Proactive Admin Services, who is the recipient of this week’s VAccolade Business Entrepreneur Award.
Rachel is a virtual assistant living near Brisbane, Australia who offers such services as administrative support, proofreading and editing, and association management. She has been a valued member of VAnetworking since October 2007.
Outsource your higher learning?
By ‘outsourcing your higher learning’, I don’t mean you should delegate your university education or your college assignments. That wouldn’t be ethical. But how many times have you thought something like…
“I’m ready to put a shopping cart on my website, I should really learn how to do that.”
“I know I should be putting out a newsletter but I don’t know where to start.”
“As soon as I get a minute to figure out Facebook, I’ll put up a profile.”
“I’ll get my bookkeeping straightened out when I get around to learning how to use QuickBooks.”
In all honesty, are you ever going to get around to learning how to do all those things while you’re working in your business? Maybe, but at what cost?
If you have a Virtual Assistant already, have you thought about asking them if they would learn how to do any of these things? Or have you thought about asking for referrals for other Virtual Assistants they network with who already know how to do the things you keep “meaning to get around to.”
If you’re actively searching for a Virtual Assistant, keep in mind that a lot of VAs would be very happy to learn a new skill for you. You don’t necessarily have to find one person who can do all 30 things you want to delegate. It’s kind of tough to find someone who can do everything. But I’ll bet you can find a person who can do 15 things, learn how to do a couple more, and help hook you up with someone great who can do the rest!
Stop putting all those important things off. Outsource learning a new skill. Hey, why not?!
Katrina Burkhalter of KRB Administrative Resources, LLC
Congratulations to Katrina Burkhalter of KRB Administrative Resources, LLC who is the recipient of this week’s VAccolade Business Entrepreneur Award.
Katrina is a virtual assistant in Missouri City, Texas, who offers services such as mortgage loan processing, bookkeeping, event planning, word processing, and more. She has been a valued member of VAnetworking since July 2007.
