According to marketing and business consultant, Michael Charest of Business Growth Solutions, in order to grow your business successfully, only 10% of the hours you spend in one week should be spent on administrative tasks. Which means that in a 40-hour work week, that's only 4 hours! You might be thinking "How can I possibly manage my business on only 4 hours per week?" The answer is ... you can't. Although it is important to take care of these tasks and projects, the truth is you don't have to personally take care of them. You can outsource your administrative work to a Virtual Assistant (VA) so you are free to concentrate on other important aspects of building and managing your business.
Given that the virtual assistance profession is relatively new to the entrepreneurial world, many people still struggle with what a virtual assistant actually does. The best definition of virtual assistance that I've come across is defined by Cindy Greenway of Virtually Successful as "A Virtual Assistant is a professional independent contractor who provides expertise, skill and assistance to other professionals to help them build their business and generate more revenue."
And not to confuse you more but if you haven't already heard these other new professional labels, 'Virtual Business Manager' and 'Online Business Manager', you soon will. I predict that these labels will become a new name for VAs who want to be distinguished from the many VAs who are actually operating as administrative assistants working virtually. These days, the VA title is losing its uniqueness because many people are hanging a shingle out, calling themselves virtual assistants and charging exceedingly low fees. You can discern this type of VA by looking at their business mindset. Do they appear to have an employee mindset which is characterized by being task-oriented (waiting for tasks to be given to them) and needing micro-management or do they have an entrepreneurial mindset and are proactive in approaching their clients with ideas that will help them bring their business to new levels of success?
What are the unique qualities of a business manager? They are ...
- Passionate about their client's business
- Independent thinkers
- Great managers of projects and ideas
- Intuitive and have an entrepreneurial mindset
- Willing to learn new technology
- Willing to invest in continual personal development
- Always looking for opportunities that will benefit their clients
So which one am I? I am both. I am a professional VA and a Virtual
Business Manager.
My specialty is working with coaches and consultants, helping them to
develop more profitable businesses by using 1ShoppingCart and other
online technologies to automate tasks and generate more revenue. If
you are a coach or consultant looking for an efficient way to run your
business online and reap the benefits of additional income without having
to invest your valuable time learning these systems, then you have found
the right person!
For a detailed list of 1ShoppingCart's tools and features, please visit my Services page. To discover what makes Virtually With You unique to other VAs, please visit my About VWY page.
Want to know how you can increase your
business by working with a virtual assistant?
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'101 Ways to Boost Business with a Virtual Assistant'
"As my business
keeps growing
in wonderful
leaps and
bounds, I've
realized that I
can no longer
be a 'one
woman show.'
It's a huge
pleasure to work with my very first Virtual Business Manager, Karen Schatz. I'm blessed to have found this incredible woman who brings 18 years experience (and lots of fun!) to the table. It's so cool because Karen actually lives all the way down in Maryland, USA but modern technology allows us to work 'virtually' together. Karen is an exceptionally organized, intuitive and charming woman."
~ Kim Sarrasin
Dating and Relationship Expert
