Every virtual assistant wants to create results for her client. Every client wants the same. But when the client’s budget is tight, what kind of outcomes can you realistically expect for only 5 or 10 hours a month?

This is where a lot of client-VA relationships go sour. Yet a lot of good things can come out of those hours if used the right way. Some tips for helping you leverage a limited virtual assistance budget:

1. Communicate expectations regularly. “Set it and forget it” doesn’t often work with a virtual assistant. Instead, treat your VA like a key player in your business, even if she’s only billing you for a few hours a month. Ideally, you should be telling your VA what you want to achieve each month, ahead of time. Then ask your VA for an honest assessment of what can and cannot be accomplished with the time and budget allotted. This doesn’t have to be a state-of-the-union discussion; an email exchange can work just fine.

2. Keep the momentum. When time and money are limited, it can be a challenge to sustain progress and in turn see real results. However, this can be overcome to some degree. Retaining your VA on a consistent, monthly basis, rather than booking her time willy-nilly with no real plan, makes a world of difference. Your virtual assistant needs to be in the loop and stay in the loop in order to feel and be invested in your business success.

3. Pick your battles. A virtual assistant can get a lot done if you delegate projects that are of manageable scope. That means they have a clear beginning, middle, and end. For example, my VA is organizing a blog book tour for me. This is very achievable with minimal input from me, while not eating up a ton of budget.

As I always say, I can’t change the world for five hundred bucks, but I can change your world enough to make it worth the money.

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As the virtual assistance industry evolves so are the service portfolios being offered by VAs. That is, today’s veteran virtual assistant is much more than a task master; she is an efficiency expert possessing specialized skills and knowledge that enable her clients to do much more than simply “offload” their to-do lists. A good VA does not only free your time, she frees your mind to think, plan and do bigger.

Yet I continue to come across business owners who fully expect virtual assistants to charge less than they do. That somehow the price of administrative, creative, and technical support services is a variable cost rather than an investment in the productivity of their operation.

Let me illustrate my point by way of example:

Joe Business Owner charges $100/hour for his consulting services.

Jane Virtual Assistant charges $55/hour for her marketing support services.

Sally Virtual Assistant charges $35/hour for the same.

Let’s suppose that Jane has more experience and resources at her disposal than Sally and, as such, can get more done in an hour than Sally.

Even so, Joe Business Owner might still draw the conclusion that Jane’s $20 premium ($55/hr versus Sally’s $35/hr) will cut into his margins too much to pay for itself. Essentially, he looks at administrative support as a variable cost because, in his mind, he’s paying out a portion of his $100/hr fee to a VA.

Do you see how Joe’s thinking might be erroneous? Whether Joe hires Jane or Sally, might he be missing the point of outsourcing his marketing support function?

Then again, virtual assistant websites everywhere justify the cost of hiring of VA using the “variable cost model” I outline here. So maybe I’m missing the point.

I’ll leave that for you to contemplate and comment on below. Because I think a lot of business owners—and VAs—are in fact focusing on the wrong things when seeking partnership with one another. In case I’m being too vague, here’s a hint to get you thinking:

What if Joe makes and sells widgets for $10 each?

Second hint: I already eluded to “the point” earlier in this post.

Leave your comments and insights below.

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Perhaps the biggest obstacle to outsourcing is the trust factor. I know this because I myself have outsourced to a virtual assistant who gave me numerous reasons to distrust her. In the end I cut ties with that VA and replaced her with someone that didn’t leave me in a cold sweat when I divulged a password or anything else I deem to be confidential information about my business–information that, unfortunately, some contractors will NOT use for good.

Which begs the question: how can a business person avoid outsourcing to a shyster when there is no way to look a candidate in the eye?

When all you have is a cool, emotionless email instead of a warm handshake? Something like 60% of communication happens through body language, so even if you hear a live voice, how much can you really learn about someone over the phone?

Here’s the thing: you put your trust–your life in fact–in the hands of complete strangers every single day. These transactions happen without much thought and cause you relatively little stress if any at all:

• When you get in your car and drive across town, you trust the citizens driving alongside you on the road to obey traffic laws.
• When you turn on the water and step under the hot shower in a 4-star hotel, you trust that the plumber followed protocol for temperature control.
• When you drop your child off at school, you trust the teachers to protect and nurture your little one despite threats abound to her physical and emotional safety.
• When you give your credit card number to the 15-year-old who answers the phone at your local pizza joint, you trust him to use that information responsibly.

None of these choices we make every day is foolproof. Not even close. Yet you continue to make these choices over and over again. You make them because you’ve already assessed the risk and decided the risk is worth the potential reward. You get to where you’re going. You wash a days’ worth of dirt off your body. Your child gets an education. You get pizza when you’re hungry and too lazy to cook on a Saturday night.

Do I have your attention yet?

Yet when it comes time to virtually outsource your business admin or web design or copywriting tasks, there is an inevitable gnashing of teeth through the entire exercise. This is for a number of reasons. Fortunately for web entrepreneurs everywhere, various risk-mitigating measures are available to you:

1) The Internet is a relatively young and lawless place, at least when you compare it to driving or the pizza-by-phone method of satiating hunger. If someone screws you over digitally, who are you gonna call? Internet Busters? If you call the police, what are they going to do? As in what are they going to do about it right NOW? Send a SWAT team to ambush the cyber criminal? Will the police even understand the offense that’s been committed? My own lawyer still has almost no clue what I do or how I do it.

Trust measure: If the contractor or virtual assistant doesn’t ask you to sign a contract, ask for one. Better yet, ask why he or she doesn’t offer one for both parties to sign. Remember, it’s not so much that contracts are easily enforceable (because often they are not), but that a contract creates an opportunity for mutual understanding and clarity. Why would you forgo this in any business deal?

2) Where is your money really going when you click the “Buy Now” button? Most of my business cohorts here in my hometown still don’t understand how it is that ALL of my clients actually pay me in real currency instead of Monopoly money. Though a few of my virtual clients have been intimidated by the big bad PayPal button.

Trust measure: Larger contracts (e.g. $1,000+) can be divided into payments, with a deposit due upfront and the rest payable upon completion of the project. For projects extending beyond a few months and for considerably large sums of cash, negotiate paying in 3 or 4 installments instead.

3) We like to see who we’re doing business with. Much like we prefer to see a person–anyone with a heartbeat really–deliver our pizza right to our door. (This is instead of placing the box on the step, ringing once, and running away knock-knock-ginger style.) Of course, the way a person presents him- or herself can say a lot about the care and diligence he or she puts into business dealings with clients. Looks aren’t everything, however, so keep some perspective. For example, do you really care if your web developer wears a purple Mohawk if he’s the best web developer in town?

Trust measure: Look for a photo of the person you’re doing business with on his or her website. Then look for a photo or bio of that same person elsewhere on the web. All you’re wanting here is to know that this is a real human being running a real business with real products and services. Suspicious web entities usually don’t post much of anything about the owner, let alone a photo or bio.

4) We are tribal by nature and therefore want the approval of our peers before bringing someone new into the fold. That includes the VA or contractor you’re considering. When we allow someone into our professional “space” it’s not just intensely personal but inherently social. As such, there are all kinds of sociological implications to outsourcing, and cyberspace is no exception. Nearly every business owner intuits that he or she runs the risk of “guilt by association” should something go wrong in the relationship.

Trust measure: Talk is cheap, unless we’re talking referrals. What others say about a independent contractor counts. And, perhaps unfortunately so, there is usually a grain of truth to the gossip you hear. That doesn’t mean you should decide not to outsource to someone on account of a nasty rumor. Indeed, the onus remains on YOU the business owner to use your own good judgment and intuition.

5) Letting go of something we love is hard. Letting go of something we loathe is harder. Why? Because we’re afraid that, in the hands of another, the something we loathe will morph into something even worse. As if our inability to manage the loathsome task is evidence of everyone else’s inability as well. It’s the folly of entrepreneurs everywhere: “If I can’t do it then NO ONE can!”

Trust measure: Get over yourself. Let go of the dreaded tasks that are chaining you down. Exercise judgment according to the principles I’ve outlined here, and then accept that risk is an inherently desirable part of being in business for yourself. You take risks with much, much more important things each and every day. Taking informed risks with your business will be at least as, if not more, rewarding.

It will be okay. Really.

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I’m not sure why it hasn’t occurred to me before when scrambling for working on post ideas for this VA blog, but wouldn’t it be cool to get an inside look at what some of us biz peeps have our trusty Virtual Assistants actually do for us each day? Like a straight-up list of the tasks my VAs do for me that they didn’t necessarily sign on for but fit rather nicely into their skill sets.

This isn’t the stuff you’ll see on a lot of VA websites–though it might be something to consider if you’re a VA. It’s just the nitty gritty of what really happens when you work for me.

Wanna look behind the curtain then?

Here are my VAs–with appropriate aliases of course–and what they do for me when no one’s looking:

1) The Details Diva

This gal works for me on retainer, usually in 5- or 10-hour blocks by the month, though of late she’s been kind enough to just let me purchase blocks of time as I need them. Some months we only use 5 hours and other months we plow through more time blocks. I call this VA my Details Diva because she looooves working the details and I, well, HATE it. Details she’s handled of late include:

• Helped me draft and send out an email to select people I wanted to interview in regards to a bonus report I’m creating alongside a book I’m about to release this fall. Details Diva also collected and organized all the responses into a Word document.
• Updated my article directory profile pic on various sites because I hated my old one. She also submits my articles to those directories on a regular basis.
• Got in touch with an exclusive (invite only) article directory I was interested publishing articles to. I stumbled upon the site a few days ago and thought it looked like a perfect fit for some of my articles. So I just sent Details Diva the URL and asked her to look into it.
• Organized, submitted and formatted 2 speaker proposals on my behalf. The RFP was very long and I did not have time to sift through all the requirements. Details Diva was my filter. I just wrote up the creative stuff and she did the rest, including helping me troubleshoot weak spots in my proposals. (I got a great speaking gig in the end.)
• Details Diva is also my private investigator. She’s got her ears and eyes open all the time for marketing and PR opportunities that might raise my profile, bring me clients, or otherwise help me attract more business.
• Keeps my Smartsheet pages up to date, including updating my “Marketing Leads” sheet which is essentially a database of contacts and client leads. New leads and contacts are added as new rows at the top of the sheet along with who is where in the lead generation-client conversion cycle. At a glance, I can see who needs follow up from me or a thank you card dropped in the mail.

The Creative Whiz

Creative Whiz is a graphic designer, ebook editor, layout guru and copy editor all rolled into one. She’s also helped me with various web copywriting and editing projects. She just makes me look really really good all the way around. Things I’ve taken her to task on of late include:

• Assistance with editing and organizing the content of my up and coming book. She’s also helped me brainstorm tag lines and other wordy tidbits and catchphrases I’ll be using in my marketing.
• Cover design and interior design for the book. This is precisely the type of task that epitomizes WHY you need to have VAs like this on side. While I’m the type who could probably have tackled this one on my own, huffing and puffing all the way up the learning curve, the task would have not only made me incredibly grumpy but would have stalled the book project for weeks if not months. That would be very wasteful indeed.
• Creative Whiz is also an all around “bounce-it-off-me-and-see-what-comes-back” chick that will give me her honest opinion about a marketing or otherwise creative tactic I am considering for my book.

The Techies (Yes, I have two)

No one but NO ONE working online today should be without at least one techie that can be called upon during times of crisis. Not that I only use these peeps in crisis But when you’ve just blown up your website, or you have a prospective client with a wacky technical issue happening that you don’t dare quote without understanding the back end issues first, techies are are the friends you need. They’re the superheroes of the web when all is said and done as far as I’m concerned. These are just a very few of the ways my techies have helped me out over the years:

• Add new “Connect” social media buttons to the sidebar on my website. Again, I probably could have figured this out on my own, but after sifting through istock and other sites for buttons that looked the way I wanted, I got fed up and decided to part with the $40 and get one of my techies to do it for me. (Never underestimate the power of a nicely styled and well placed feed button for your blog!)
• Created a couple of snazzy graphical concepts for the website that will launch my new book. (Did I tell you I have a new book coming out? Just checking …). There’s a tip right there for you–if you can find a techie with an artistic bent, all the better.
• Assists me in writing website critiques. This is by my techie who has a very firm grip on the interplay between site architecture, content, usability, SEO and conversion rates. I save so much time because she can literally create the bones of the review and I go in after and edit, tweak and fill in the blanks where she’s less knowledgeable.
• Answer bizarre, out-of-the-blue questions I send in the middle of the night via email. Sometimes you just need to know something so you can get something else done. And sometimes you want to get that something else done more quickly than it would take you to figure out the first something first. Get what I’m saying here? Aaah. There is nothing is more satisfying than getting a techie answer when you need it by simply hitting the Send button.

Other Cool But Not Really Advertised Things ALL of My Virtual Assistants Do For Me

• Let me bounce crazy, disorganized ideas off them whenever the inspiration hits me and then give me feedback without asking, “What idiot told you to do that?!?”
• Force me to be specific when it’s needed and allow me to be big picture when I know they can handle the rest. This one thing is so valuable! The best VAs know when to run with something and know when to press for more information. Makes teamwork a breeze.
• Indirectly force me to follow through with implementation on my big ideas. This one is hard to explain, but essentially it comes down to this: if I hire someone to do something for me, and then when they need my feedback along the way, I’m going to look like a total flake if I don’t respond in a timely, intelligent manner. It’s amazing how much more stuff you get done if you have the right kind of people backing you up … and watching your every move.

So while my VAs may not always do exactly what’s listed in their service portfolios, they DO get a lot of important things done for me. My business keeps moving forward because my team generates a kind of momentum that makes me want to do what I do faster AND better. And working on my business is altogether more enjoyable.

Hard to put a price on that.

What are some of things your Virtual Assistant or subcontractor or even your team does for you that keeps your business moving forward like a well-oiled machine?

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Not long ago, Virtual Assistants offered phone, email and fax as their key tools for working with clients. Today, however, “working in the cloud” offers small business owners and their team members–outsourced or in-house–a dizzying array of online tools for collaborating, communicating and simply getting more done despite the miles that may lie between them. No longer are intranets the domain of big corporations who want to boost productivity through streamlined communications. Now any business of any size can access the power of the cloud; whether you’re a one man show outsourcing to a handful of people thousands of miles away or a growing enterprise trying to improve team building efforts amongst stakeholders far and wide, the cloud is yours for the taking.

As a web marketer who has teamed up with all kinds of specialists in all kinds of capacities over the years, I’ve taste tested more than my fair share of online collaboration tools. Some vexed me; some I just couldn’t stick with; and a select few made it beyond that of the forgotten one-off. While much depends on the needs of your business, I do believe that every web tool should meet 4 strict criterion right off the hop:

1. Easy to start using and keep using: short learning curve, decent load times, cross browser compatible, etc.
2. Easy to get others to use: this includes clients or other team members for which the value should be obvious.
3. Affordable: it doesn’t have to be free, but base line functionality should be within reach of the start-up or cash-tight biz.
4. Provide good returns on time/energy/money spent: life should become easier and more productive.

To help you get your feet off the ground and business working more efficiently in the cloud, I’ve compiled a list of cloud computing and collaboration tools that stand out as my favorites:

Socialcast: This is like twitter for your company. If you don’t know what twitter is, it happens to be one of–if not THE–fastest growing social networking medium going today. As for Socialcast, the gist is that it permits you to communicate in real time with your colleagues but without all the distracting bells and whistles of a full blown intranet. To make sure you actually “talk” to your comrades often, there is a free desktop application as well. This should allow most busy bodies to reduce email clutter while keeping on top of the details amongst team members throughout the day. (And please do NOT use twitter to tell your colleague that you’re taking a pee break … save it for Socialcast or better yet, just save it.)

Basecamp: This is probably the most well-known online collaboration tool, and for good reason. The features are robust, yet the dashboard is very intuitive, making even the most tech-wary client feel comfortable enough to share files, post comments and stay in the mix. Moreover, Basecamp has an API (don’t ask) which means that cute little add-ons and desktop apps abound for the real propeller-head who wants added functionality or cross-compatibility without having to code a darned thing.

Speaking of cross-compatible cloud applications ….

FreshBooks: If you’ve ever gotten behind with your invoicing, or you’re tired of clicking through multiple applications just to get an invoice out the door, this one’s for you. Not only does Freshbooks create professional looking, branded invoices you can email to your clients with one mouse click, but you can “load” your account with stamps and snail mail those puppies as well. Yep, Freshbooks will mail your license to print money right to your client’s doorstep; you don’t even have to lick the stamp. Your accountant will also love you because your Quickbooks file will remain beautifully pristine (un-tampered with by you).

Freshbooks and Basecamp just happen to play nice together too. So you can track projects in Basecamp and have Freshbooks bill the client accordingly. Or, if you’re not using Basecamp, you can track hours right inside Freshbooks and then turn those hours into an invoice. You really have no excuse for poor accounts receivable turnover now, do you?

Smartsheet: This is a great tracking system for left brain, Type A peeps who think in lists and to-dos. And I admit, while I have used Basecamp off and on for years, I am giving Smartsheet the college try. Everything is tracked in spreadsheets you can format with any one of the useful templates housed in the Smartsheet “Template Library.” What makes this otherwise listy little app like a real database, however, is the functionality housed within each sheet. For example, you can “attach” a discussion or a file or even a reminder to a specific row of your sheet. Think of rows like your to-dos and columns as ways to track the status or details of those tasks. Moreover, you can tweak the templates in all kinds of interesting ways, such as adding a list of choices to a dropdown menu within a column, without knowing a lick of Excel.

TimeDriver: This simple online appointment scheduler lets clients and other peeps who want a piece of you book appointments  through a self help type of interface. All you–or your VA–have to do is point people to the URL dedicated to your timedriver calendar online. The system even accounts for time zone differences so you don’t have to. Additional features include the ability to create different types of appointments (each with a unique URL), welcome screen customization, and integration with Google Calendar or Outlook. My engagement rate with this one is almost 100%. It’s that user friendly.

Dropbox: Need somewhere to temporarily store a few files? Want to move files between two computers without using a USB key? Or maybe you want to send a ginormous file to your Virtual Assistant but email just isn’t going to work. Enter Dropbox. Create an account. Download the desktop application (for Mac, Windows or Linux). Drag and drop files at your leisure. Log in and share a few. Enjoy 2 Gigabytes of free space before you have to pay a dime. You even get additional storage space just for getting your mates to sign up. Buh-bye USB key. Hello cloud.

Google Docs: A discussion on cloud computing wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Google Docs, and Google Calendar while I’m at it. Everything goes into my Google calendar which I can easily share with my Virtual Assistant or anyone else I choose. Google Docs is like a mini office suite for people on the go. Create a spreadsheet or “Word” document and easily share it to others on your team. They can view the file online, make changes or edits, save their work all without going near their hard drive (or Microsoft Office). It’s all free. It’s all easy to use. It’s all good.

Bonus Tip: Have your VA check your Outlook or Google calendar weekly to ensure appropriate times are blocked off in your timedriver account. This will ensure you don’t book a client call when you really should be wearing a paper gown at the doctor’s office. Yikes!

Sigh. So many wonderful ways to work in the cloud. So little time. Oh wait, if you choose the right tools–such as some of the ones I’ve listed here–you might buy yourself some extra minutes to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor productive prowess.

Happy cloud computing!

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I’ve got a peeve with some of you prospective VA clients out there and I need to get it off my chest. Please forgive me in advance if I offend, because truly, it’s not my intention to do so. My only goal here is increased awareness of an issue that, in my mind, hurts all business people in the end. Here goes:

For the love of Virtual Assistance, Do your homework before you ask for a quote!

What do I mean by “homework?” Well, if you want to avoid royally pissing off the next Virtual Assistant you contact for a quotation, read the following detailed instructions and take some notes:

1. Google the services you’re looking for in a VA. If Google doesn’t bring up anything promising, check out VA directories, RFP systems. or ask your colleagues to recommend a VA based on personal experience.
2. Write down the URLs of the 3 top contenders. Yes, THREE is enough! Anything more and  you’re just price shopping. That’s bad karma, but more on this later.
3. Go to each VA’s website with pen and paper in hand. Check out key information such as services offered and how, rates and package deals, owner bio or company profile, testimonials, etc. Make note of what you like, what you don’t like, and what you’re not sure about. What you’re not sure about will determine what you’re going to ask the VA during the pre-consult.
4. Contact each VA to arrange a time to discuss your needs AND the question marks still in your head after reviewing each VA’s website.
5. Okay, here’s the part I need you to pay close attention to: while you’re on the phone with the VA, ACTUALLY ASK THE QUESTIONS THAT YOU NEED ANSWERS TO.

If you do everything I’m telling you to do, you should have 99% of the information you require to decide if she could be “the one” before the conversation is over. If you think she won’t be a fit, please, tell her this either before you get off the phone or within 24 hours of speaking to all 3 contending VAs. Explain your reasoning.

Yes, if you turn her down, she may be offended (silly VA). Or, she might counter your convictions with additional reasons she could be the right VA for you anyway (ambitious VA). Or, she might thank you for your candor and refer you to someone better equipped for the job (considerate VA).

Now, you may be thinking that this is a great deal more honesty–and interpersonal squirming–than you really want to expose yourself to before you’ve even decided whom to hire. Yet by going through this exercise now as opposed to AFTER you get a quote, you’ve achieved a couple of things:

1. If you do decide, after receiving a quote (and possibly formal proposal which gee, takes TIME to write), you’ve created a climate of candor and honesty. No one is playing it too close to the chest and no one is feeling ripped off. Nice feeling, don’t you think?
2. If you decide against hiring the VA you spoke with (again, BEFORE she wasted time on a quote), you’ll feel confident in your decision and will sleep easy at night. Why? Because you didn’t created one of those convoluted situations where a business person is putting much energy into a process that was a lost cause to begin with. Yeah, lost cause. Lost cause because had you done your homework like I told you to, you would have known within minutes of speaking to the VA if you weren’t that into her.

Reasons you might not be into a VA could include:

• price
• personality
• skills
• availability
• procedures
• work style
• etc.

Don’t you want to know this stuff before you get a quotation drawn up? There is nothing worse than spending time and energy on a quote only to have the prospective client turn around and say,usually quite sheepishly in an email response they’ve been avoiding, “I’ve decided to put this project on hold for now due to [insert excuse here but usually this piece includes financial reasons, change in strategic direction, personal challenges, and on and on].

Um, yeah.

Making people do cartwheels for you when you’re not really that hot to trot in the first place is inconsiderate, wasteful and downright unprofessional. It makes VAs want to take up drinking. This is the bad karma I was talking about.

So, please, I beg you, do your homework. Make the most of your research process. Ask the tough questions (like “Why you?” and “How much?”) during that pre-consult. It will put some good energy back into a universe that could really use some right now.

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During periods of growth it should be at least somewhat obvious that hiring additional help is the sensible thing to do. After all, you want to be at the ready for every juicy opportunity. If you are outsourcing to a virtual assistant or other type of contractor, you retain the ability to pare down costs during slowdown without a lot of hassle or risk. But to what extent are you leveraging the power of outsourcing when there are less urgent but perhaps very important business priorities needing attention?

For example, the first time I launched a business, I did everything myself; this was not because of financial constraints but because no one relishes the grueling details quite like a newbie entrepreneur. You are so impassioned, so in lust with the fresh, shiny adventure before you, it hardly occurs to you that hiring some of the work out could lighten the load. You want all the glory and you’ll break yourself to get it.

I was classic. And I had the dark circles under my eyes to prove it.

Today I look at things a little differently, especially as I work behind the scenes to start a second business venture. I am willing to use the credit card if it means shortening the time line to launch.  And I am only too happy to let someone else sweat the details so I can stay focused on the big picture. I am also getting a little more sleep this time around.

There are no “front lines” to troubleshoot (yet). There are no clients calling (yet). There is no cash coming into the coffers (yet).

Yet I have a team of outsourced talent working hard to help me turn vision into reality.

This is the stuff of entrepreneurship. And it’s the stuff you may not think of when you go scouting for a virtual assistant. In fact you may think you don’t need to hire anyone at all if business is slow. If you want to still be living the entrepreneurial dream five years from how, however, maybe now is the perfect time to outsource. Consider the following examples of how a VA might be able to help you create that big picture reality you’ve been dreaming of instead of really working toward:

1. Brainstorming and feedback
2. Gathering marketing intelligence (surveys, web research, etc.)
3. Financial forecasting
4. Prospecting for joint venture partners
5. Researching new market opportunities
6. Brand development (logos, websites, social media)
7. Procedures and standards maintenance and development
8. Competitive intelligence
9. Act as a sounding board for new business ideas and concepts

Of course, the above activities are more strategic than administrative in nature, and my friend Tina Forsyth might say they are more akin to the duties of an Online Business Manager (OBM) than that of a VA. I tend to agree. However, you can cultivate a culture of strategic thinking within your existing team as well as amongst new hires and contractors.

The point is this: even if you’re not putting out fires or fielding reams of inquiries from prospects, even if you’re battling the recession blues, there are likely a great many things you could be doing–and delegating–to ensure you are prepared to meet the next big opportunity head on.

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Some marketers around the web harp that in order for social media marketing to be effective, you have to and should do it all yourself. That is, you shouldn’t let someone else socialize on your behalf. Tweet your own tweets. Post your own juicy bits to Facebook. Etc. Yet social media marketing is a time consuming and often tedious undertaking. Isn’t it possible to outsource at least some of this increasingly critical piece of the web marketing pie?

Indeed it is. And you don’t have to compromise your integrity or your brand to do it. Instead, think of your social media marketing strategy as an ever changing tapestry. Most elements of the artistry must be painted by you and only you. But who says you have to find the right frame for each piece? Or hang your own art on the wall? Here are some social media marketing tasks you can outsource and still sleep at night:

1. Social media profile setup. Who the heck can figure out those blasted Facebook Fan Pages anyway? Hire a Virtual Assistant to set up your profiles on selected social media sites. But go beyond the data entry and have your VA assist you in making those profiles mini marketing engines for your core online business or website.
2. Research and select social media tools. Tempting as it may be, resist the urge to take a shotgun approach to your social media strategy. Instead, have your Virtual Assistant scope out those tools and sites that fit your online marketing goals best. Different sites attract different audiences. Know who you’re talking to before getting involved.
3. Dig for the gold. You can’t just contribute content; you must actively seek out your ideal audience. Once you’re active on the social web, you need to be on the lookout for groups, networks, individual users and power users whom you should be connecting with. Potential clients as well as strategic alliances (think joint ventures and referrals) are everywhere.
4. Maintain. Maintain. Maintain. If you’re not engaging your social circles on a consistent basis, your returns will be inconsistent if not negligible. A VA can ensure you stay focused by setting up contribution schedules, Tweetlaters, and weekly alerts and updates around what is happening in your social sphere. You’ll have no excuse for dropping off the radar.
5. Micro-content creation and distribution. Assigning a Virtual Assistant this task doesn’t make you a fake or a liar. For example, why can’t a VA who knows  your brand inside and out ping your content (new blog posts for e.g.) or reply to specific questions or replies from followers? The key is to remain the primary gatekeeper of your brand, to remain engaged with your audience on the whole. If you can outsource things like copywriting and SEO, you can outsource this kind of micro-content and do it ethically.

The social web doesn’t have to be overwhelming, though it can be when you’re trying to implement a multi-channel marketing strategy. With a trustworthy VA on board who “gets” social media, you’ll be on the radar screen of your target audience and ready to convert fans into clients.

So how about it? Are you ready to outsource some of your social media tasks? If not, why? If so, which ones?

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Everyone is feeling the pinch. Even if you’re projecting more prosperous times, there remains a dilemma over how to sustain key operational and marketing activities when cash is tight. And if you have a virtual assistant or other contractor on the team, you’ve no doubt considered cutting them loose so you can breathe a little easier at month end.

This might seem like an obvious way to lighten your budgetary load, but what of those prosperous times you’re planning for? If you permit the fundamentals to deteriorate (marketing, operations, customer care, etc.), what will be left when opportunity comes knocking (and it will come knocking again)? Will you be ready? Will you be sane?

Keeping yourself surrounded with good talent is critical. However, to afford it during a cash crunch, small business entrepreneurs must start to think outside the box when it comes to managing their people. Here are 5 ways to get more bang for your outsourcing buck:

1. Barter for services. Chances are you’ve got a product or service up your sleeve that you could provide to a virtual assistant, web developer, writer, consultant or coach who has a skill you want access to. Give some of what you have in exchange for an equal dollar value in hours. Be clear upfront about what is to be exchanged as well as time lines for product delivery or service completion. This will protect the working relationship from going sour due to misunderstandings or false expectations.
2. Move from an a la carte arrangement to a retainer. While the upfront cash outlay might be intimidating, there are many advantages to using retainers. Most virtual assistants will discount your hourly rate in exchange for the security of being paid in advance. Moreover, you can rest easy knowing that your VA has slotted those hours for you exclusively.
3. Stop thinking on a monthly schedule. Most retainers for administrative services, including virtual assistance, are committed to on a monthly basis. While this can work well for staying on top of recurring tasks, some activities happen in fits and spurts throughout the year. For example, purchasing a specialist’s expertise in 5- or 10-hour blocks of time upfront without the obligation to use that time by month end could help you get that pet project off the ground even before you’ve fully defined its scope.
4. Only hire proven talent. This might seem obvious, but if you’re going to invest cash, time and energy into a new team member–even if that team member will only be with you for a the short term–do your homework. Get referrals from others in your industry, check out portfolios and past clients, and always make sure to get the final agreement in writing. A contractor or VA who doesn’t make you feel comfortable with your decision might end up costing your business rather than helping it succeed through tough times.
5. Be able to articulate your needs upfront. Ask yourself why you’re looking for outside help in the first place. Yes, outsourcing is often more affordable–and profitable–versus hiring more staff. But what do you want exactly for your money? You must be able to explain this to whomever you bring into the fold. Otherwise, you’ll both be flying blind and things will end badly. Not to mention how wasted time, effort and dollars will impact your bottom line, leaving you in an even weaker position to go shopping for help again.

In a recession it’s tempting to focus only on cost cutting. After all, no cash means no business to run. But a cautionary outlook must be balanced by a proactive view to the future. Think strategically about the talent you pay for and know that you will reap dividends long after this recession ends.

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Hiring a virtual assistant can help your business succeed in so many ways it’s hard to imagine why anyone would not at least give outsourcing careful consideration. Then again, why take bold and strategic steps forward with your business when you’ve got things like status quo and been-there-done-that to keep you warm and comfy? Just in case you’re running out of excuses though, I’ve come up with a handy little list of trite excuses for not hiring your own VA today.

Print this list off and tape it to your desk. You just never know when you might have to turn down another opportunity to grow:

1. I’m really not a planner. If I hire a virtual assistant I will have to think about why I have a business and what I want to achieve this year and even 5 five years from now. Otherwise I’m just wasting her time and my money. And that just wouldn’t be fair to either of us.
2. How can I trust a VA with my business? I mean, I’m over here and she’s over there, way over there. How these VAs get any work done without someone looking over their shoulder is beyond me. It’s just not good management. Besides, if I can’t micromanage the details what will I do all day?
3. No one could possibly do it as well as I can. (And the way I do it is quite unlike anything you’ve ever seen.) I started this business because I have something unique and special to offer my adoring public. To think a virtual assistant could step in and competently assist with anything related to marketing or administration is, well, it’s crazy talk.
4. I don’t have time to explain everything to a VA. I’m too mired in paperwork and marketing and answering emails and God-knows-what-else to actually waste an hour or two a month with something as tedious as delegating. And like I said, what I do is complicated. Mysterious in fact.
5. I can’t afford to hire a virtual assistant. Nope, not a single dollar left in my budget for getting the right things done at the right time. Heck, this computer system alone cost me thousands. I’d be nuts to spend another three hundred bucks this month on administration when I could just do it myself for nothing. I mean, the sales aren’t exactly pouring in right now. (Though I’m not sure why.)
6. Bonus Excuse: Maybe next year I’ll think about hiring a VA and getting ahead with my business. Right now I’ve just got too much to do.

There you have it. Six of the most widely used and abused excuses for not outsourcing all the crap that’s getting in your way. Why choose silly things like productivity and purpose when you can defer to much easier choices like chasing your tail and working yourself to the bone?

Don’t let a VA stop you from getting what you really want out of your business. It’s just not worth it.

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