As an entrepreneur that wears often too many hats in my own business, I was amazed to realize the amount of time I could save by outsourcing to my Virtual Assistant. The hardest part for us business owners and operators is not knowing that we have so much to do. VAs are there to the rescue so we can go sit by the pool!
I now had to worry less about time working at my business, and got to enjoy more time growing it!
Here are the 8 Things I Outsourced That Benefited my Business:
1. Onboarding New Customers
Onboarding all of my new customers was a daily, time-consuming task. I had to enter my customer’s data into Quickbooks, Basecamp, MailChimp, Intercom, and then some. Off-loading this saved me 20 minutes for each new customer.
2. Welcome Call
We do a Welcome Call with each new customer and although it is a necessary part of our operation, it becomes very time-consuming. Not only did it take up time I didn’t have, but it was also energy-draining as well. That made this task a great off-load to my Virtual Manager because it gives them, and the new client, a chance to get to know each other as they will be the ones working together.
3. Hiring New Employees
I prescreen all of our new hires. It is something that I didn’t want to completely let go of but there are parts of the process that could be delegated. Onboarding which includes: pieces of training, all the forms that need to be filled out, and all the information that needs to be entered into our system was one part of that. Handing this off saved me considerable time, as we get about five requests per day to work at TaskBullet.
4. Answering the Phone
I don’t know about you, but I hate answering the phone. It takes me away from what I am doing and it takes so long to get back in the frame of mind I was in before the call. This was a huge momentum killer. I would spend time on calls answering questions, then spend another 30 minutes trying to get back to where I was prior. In the process of giving this task to a VA, I also set up 24-hour Customer Service, so now I never miss a call.
5. Answering Questions on the Online Chat
Answering the online chat was like talking on the phone, it took me away from what I was doing and killed my momentum. I also set this up on a 24-hour schedule.
6. Responding to Emails
Most of us business owners find a common hatred of emails. It is another time-consuming, tedious task. Having my VAA take care of downsizing my inbox was a huge help. I just forward the emails I don’t want to deal with to my VA and he handles them for me.
7. Payroll
I have my virtual assistant do all of the payroll prep work. This includes reviewing and submitting hours, I even have them finalize all of the numbers and prepare them to be sent to the bank for distribution. The only part I have to do is reviewing the final numbers to ensure accuracy and make sure everything is in line. The rest, done for me!
8. Social Media Marketing
I was failing miserably at this one. I can’t say it really saved me a lot of time because I wasn’t spending a lot of time, to begin with, but having my virtual assistant do this has given me the feeling of a huge weight coming off my shoulders. My VA finds compelling content online and posts it on corporate social media. This gives my audience content that they like, and when it comes time for them to purchase, I am the one who is on their mind and timeline.
Every business is different. These are the things I offloaded so that I had the time to focus on the big picture or sit by the pool. For you, this list might be different, but the bottom line is that there are things you can off-load to free up your time. If you are continually spending your time doing these things, then you aren’t focusing on the more important things, the things that will eventually result in growing your business and achieving your goals.
