E31 – Danielle Cuomo / Virtual Assist USA
One of the main stages of metamorphosis for an entrepreneur starting a business is going from specialist to manager. The old adage “work on your business, not in your business” rings true in almost every circumstance. Danielle Cuomo joins us to talk about how you can offload some of those tasks that fill up your day so that you can focus on building and growing your company with her One Big Tip.
The Value of a Virtual Assistant
Small businesses often go through growth spurts, but that doesn’t come without some growing pains. The typical method for an entrepreneur is to grow the business themselves until they start to sink under the weight of the work, then hire someone to take some tasks off of their plate.
But you don’t necessarily have to hire a full-time employee to get the job done. Danielle is the owner of Virtual Assistant USA and highlights the telltale signs that its time to hire a virtual assistant to handle the mundane tasks:
- You find yourself spending a lot more time on administrative work than on building or growing the business.
- You’ve lost the passion for your business and you’re just getting into the humdrum of daily tasks.
- Things are starting to fall through the cracks.
Let Go So You Can Go Forward
If you find yourself in this situation, then it might be time to look into getting a virtual assistant. However, there are some things to keep in mind if you want to mentally prepare for outsourcing some of your day-to-day tasks:
- Your business needs to be generating some positive cash flow. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but “hiring a virtual assistant shouldn't be a burden on your budget, it shouldn't be something that's going to put that added stress on your bottom line.”
- You have to be prepared to let go of control. “You do have to give up on that idea that your hand needs to be in every single little detail of the business. You have to trust and know that maybe someone else can do it better, faster, and cheaper.”
- You either need to put processes in place or allow our virtual assistant to create those processes for you. “...something that can make processes repeatable, it can make them documented.”
- You need to analyze what your business needs. “Before you hire a virtual assistant, just taking the time for you to say, ‘What am I spending my time on?’ ‘Where am I spending too much time?’ ‘Where do I think that somebody can be doing this a little bit better than me?’ and be ready to...communicate your expectations.”
If hiring a virtual assistant sounds like it would help your business, or if you just want to reach out, you can find Danielle at virtualassistusa.com and fill out the contact form.
