Are you afraid to OUTSOURCE?!
We admit… it can be a bit scary (at first) to trust your “business baby” to an outside resource. But…
Let me let you in on a little secret...even Virtual Assistants outsource.
Particularly those who have turned their passion into a business. Outsourcing is of grave importance - if you want to scale any businesses (period - end of story).
Shocker…I Know!
Now that that's out of the way, let's discuss my story and why I can understand why you might be afraid to outsource as well.
The Posh Organization (then, Posh Life Enterprise) opened its virtual doors in October of 2016! Right away we were able to secure a celebrity client that sent us on a trajectory toward building a successful and sustainable business.
My bestie and I started this business together with the best intentions, but shortly decided to go our separate ways.
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I had to make the difficult decision to either continue on, or to leave my dream of becoming a successful entrepreneur on the back burner.
I decided to keep striving forward in the pursuit of my dreams.
Over the next few months, I taught myself how to build a website (Weebly), I established a social media presence and begin to market my business and services. Behind the scenes, I changed my business name and requested a change in ownership with the Georgia Secretary of State to protect myself and business moving forward. I also filed a local trademark, invested in a logo, and enlisted a resource for brand development and support.
Fast forward... As a natural multi-tasker and propensity to organize, I wore many hats from writing the copy for my website, to managing my systems administration, to developing contracts, facilitating invoices, taking consultation calls and managing social media. This was all while supporting the needs of my ever growing list of Clients.
By the way, Christopher James Gholson, better known as Drumma Boy, American record producer, rapper, composer, and philanthropist was our first client!
At that point, I was working 10 to 14 hours or more 7 days a week, and had a roster of over 5 full time clients.
I had to do something.
Quite frankly business was great. I was earning far more than I was making working in corporate America - but me and my household was suffering.
I knew I had to do exactly what I was teaching my Clients to do. Learn to delegate, learn to trust, learn to let go, and rely on the professional assistance from outside resources.
I'll admit, I am a perfectionist at heart. So I would tell myself that it would take too much time for me to explain my standard of excellence to another VA, so I might as well do it myself...
But I was stifling my own growth with that mindset.
I finally came to terms with creating a team that also did EXCELLENT WORK (I mean... I couldn't be the only one that valued excellence.)
A light bulb moment happened...
Who other than my mother and my sister could I rely on to care for Posh clients like I would?! Together we have a spectrum of professional experience that spans more than 20 years in diverse markets.
Fast forward to now... I have successfully contracted the support of several Consultants to support our needs as well as other female business owners to support us in areas that are outside of our scope of services.
Together with my team, Posh has been successful in supporting the virtual business needs of #savvy female CEO's with Posh brands across the nation for more than 5 years. We have been dubbed an "invaluable resource", and work extremely hard to exceed every expectation of our clients.
So as you can see...I get you.
I've been in your shoes.
You want to protect your business, your clients, your investment.
That's understandable.
Trust me...it can be quite a feat, but not an unattainable one!
Here are a few ways to get over the fear of outsourcing:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Come to terms that although you can do anything, you cannot do everything...
(At least if you want to scale)... At some point, you have to realize that you're compromising your health, client satisfaction and productivity-potential by taking on so many tasks. Outsourcing is the first step in order to grow your business. It allows you to focus on why you got into business in the first place, while providing you the time that you need to work toward money making tasks in your business. The value is endless. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
A virtual assistant can save up to 78% in operating costs each year.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
By overworking yourself, you are doing your business and clients a disservice and leading yourself down the road of Business burnout. By taking on everything that your business requires in addition to tasking for your clients, you are essentially committed to more than you can deliver, especially if you continue to take clients (which is the point).
According to The Week notes, there are “more than 5,000 virtual assistants listed on Upwork, 74,000 on Guru, 26,000 on Freelancer, and 5,000 on PeoplePerHour.”
Stop working outside of your wheelhouse, and beyond your bandwidth. It's time to bring on another person who can help you maintain and optimize. Take back control of your business. If you don't, your quality of work will continue to decrease, your clients will suffer, and you will keep inching closer to burnout. ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I know for a fact that there are tasks that stay on your to-do list because you either hate doing them or it's something that you don't particularly do very well. Quite frankly they kill your creative vibe, and are a drain on your energy. These are the very task that you should outsource. In order to maintain your sanity, produce your best work, and provide exceptional client experiences, you need to stay in your zone of genius. If the task doesn't bring you joy...outsource them.
In order to grow your business, you must change your mindset about outsourcing. Step outside of the box, and discover the value that a Virtual Assistant and outsourcing can provide you.
