Virtual Freedom. Chris C. Ducker
• Which low-level tasks could be easily given to a virtual assistant as part-time work?
• Which tasks are you handling that could be taken over by a professional who knows exactly what he or she is doing? These are tasks where the potential harm outweighs the cost savings of doing them yourself.
• Which tasks are stopping you from really focusing on the strategic growth of your business?
Mediapreneur David Siteman Garland was bogged down handling every tiny detail in his online media business, TheRiseToTheTop.com. Realizing that he needed more time to focus on the most important things, such as building relationships and further monetizing his blog and online brand, he turned to virtual help. He gained countless hours back into his schedule and today has one of the most popular online TV shows for entrepreneurs.
Here’s an example of how your lists might look, as you start out with the exercise. Note: This is standard stuff and generic to entrepreneurs everywhere in today’s business world. Your lists should be focused on you and your specific needs as a business owner.
| List #1Don’t Like Doing | List #2Can’t Do | List #3Shouldn’t Do |
| Checking E-mail | Developing Website | Updating Facebook Page |
| Managing Social Media | Editing Podcast Episodes | Handling Tier 1 Support |
| Handling Basic Inquiries | Designing Logos & Graphics | Transcribing Online Video |
| Researching Travel Options | Bookkeeping & Accounts | Managing Company Blog |
| List #1Don’t Like Doing | List #2Can’t Do | List #3Shouldn’t Do |
| Checking E-mail | Developing Website | Updating Facebook Page |
| Managing Social Media | Editing Podcast Episodes | Handling Tier 1 Support |
| Handling Basic Inquiries | Designing Logos & Graphics | Transcribing Online Video |
| Researching Travel Options | Bookkeeping & Accounts | Managing Company Blog |
Keep your 3 Lists to Freedom handy: We’ll be coming back to them quite regularly.
You now have a foundation of tasks that are easily delegated that will continue to grow over time, as they do for most entrepreneurs today—not only that, but through the 3 Lists to Freedom exercise you’ve deepened your understanding of yourself and the types of tasks you need to delegate. This is essential to your success. With that in mind, let’s discuss how to find and hire the people who are going to help revolutionize the way you run and grow your business going forward.
This is where I begin leading you down the path to virtual freedom, distilling almost ten years of outsourcing experience into a bite-size training system that will revolutionize your personal and professional life.
But before we dive in, I need you to make me a promise. I want you to promise that before you incorporate a single virtual staff member into your workflow or hire additional staff, you will first commit to reading at least the first and second sections of this book. These sections have been specifically designed to point you in the right direction, and they will give you the solid foundation you’ll need to build on.
Sure, you might stumble every now and then, but how quickly you pick yourself up and dust yourself off will depend on you consuming the content in these first couple of sections. In my experience, there are two solid reasons why your virtual staffing empire could crumble:
1. You build around one strong person instead of building a team with specific roles. This is an easy trap to fall into when you find a VA who works exceptionally well for you. You may think your VA will always be with you and start building around his or her strengths instead of focusing on building a team. I truly value the longevity of my staff, but I would never put my company in a position where it would be completely destroyed if I lost someone. Each role within your organization should be clearly defined, and you should know exactly what you would do if someone decided to quit or if you needed to let someone go. Life must carry on.
2. You fail to properly train your team. Training is the foundation of your success with virtual assistants. You’ll learn how to handle this part of the journey in Section 2 of this book.
I want to ensure that you don’t make either of those mistakes.
Understanding the 2 Different Types of Outsourcing
In order to simplify things, think of outsourcing as falling into two different categories: project-based outsourcing and role-based outsourcing.
• Project-based outsourcing is used when a business needs just one task or one project completed. This might be a simple task like creating a logo or installing an auto-responder form on a website, or it could be a more detailed project like creating an e-commerce site or a mobile app.
• Role-based outsourcing involves finding someone to fill a particular role within your business on a part-time or full-time basis. In role-based outsourcing, the VA becomes a member of your team. In order for this to make financial sense, you’ll need to have enough work to justify paying someone regularly to perform these tasks.
The upside to having a full-time or part-time employee on your team is the speed at which you’ll be able to implement everything you want to do. But what if you don’t have enough work or revenue to support a full-time or part-time virtual employee?
Great question. For now, you’ll need to work with a project-based mindset but keep a long-term perspective. This means each task you outsource is an opportunity to
• Learn how to properly communicate the work you want to delegate. Save any correspondence or media that could be used to train future VAs. There’s no reason to reinvent the wheel.
• Find a VA you might want to work with in the future on a part-time or full-time basis. Some of the best working relationships will arise out of working on smaller tasks together. Keep an eye out for promising talent that you’d like to bring on board in the future.
Whether you start on a smaller scale with freelancers on a task-by-task basis or you get started with a team of part-time or full-time workers, one thing is for sure—you had better understand who should be doing what for you.
Jared Croslow is a brilliant marketer. A true entrepreneur, through and through. His thirst for building businesses, creating great products and services, and generally helping everyone he comes into contact with is second to none.
When I first spoke with Jared in 2011, he was working with five full-time VAs on various ventures, including his Internet marketing blog, Cliconomics.com.