What did you get into your business for?

More time, more money, to do what you love, all common answers, but running out of the 1st usually prevents the next 2 from happening

The answer to the question of “how do you get more time?” when running a business has a simple answer… You don’t get more time, you get help!

The next question is what do the best in any industry do differently to the worst….. The answer to this is Nothing different, the best just do the same things better.

So how do you get more time? Find people that do it better than you?

Start with the things you don’t love, you won’t mind if someone else doing it, even if it is not as good as you. You just want more time to do what you love.

If you love what you do, you will naturally get to be better than average, but be realistic about what your business needs

OK, but what do I do to get more time? JUST TELL ME!

You don’t have to get more time, you already have enough, and it’s the same as everyone else has, so it is more about how you free up your time.

The temptation to save money and free up time is to get an overseas Virtual Assistant (VA), but what are you really paying them for? Do you know what they do for the minimum hours you pay for? Many business people can’t answer that question because they only know how long it would take them to do it.

If you outsource, you still have to know what they do. How they do it is what you are paying for, so if they are not highly skilled, you actually pay extra for that over time, both in time and money, but also quality.

Ever feel like you may as well do it yourself?

You could, of course, but here are the 7 things we suggest you look at first before making that decision. It is how we decided what to teach our Virtual Assistants, and it is no good us providing a service that doesn’t do what Small Businesses need.

After talking to loads of small business owners, turns out you are not alone, and have lots of things in common with each other…..

1. Know what you ARE good at – Called “superhero syndrome”, you have the confidence and believe you are the best at everything.  Learn to recognise skills for the 10 “Core Skills for Work” areas (in every formal training package), and do a professional development plan to fill the gaps (or outsource to cover them). Focus on what you already have to get into a “career” you love (not just a job). Skills ARE transferable to a workplace, including parenting skills. Get help in these areas so you keep doing what you love.
   

   If you love what you do, it is no longer call work!

2. Learn what to look for in a good resume, identify the talent a business needs, plus the needs of a target market. If you are looking for a job, an employer is your target market, the product you are selling is you, so writing a resume requires advertising copywriting skills.
3. Find support services available to improve skills, and networking to make business connections. How do you find people you know, like, and trust, and how do they find you?
4. Learn the basics of Facebook advertising: Start with identifying and researching needs of your target market, writing ads, sales lead generation from engagement, and “boosting posts” to specific audiences to save time AND money. All in under 30 minutes a day? Facebook is usually the biggest time killer. Facebook is meant to suck you in. Focus on what gets you sales (yes, it does happen from Facebook). Same goes for other platforms, and beware of “vanity metrics”.
5. Only learn time saving technology, like using internet based “cloud” software and data storage that you absolutely need, including Xero accounting software for data entry and producing reports. How long does this currently take you? How long will you save? and how long a better product will come along?
6. Keep up-to-date with other software to automate key business functions to save time and money, and stabilising cash flow. You don’t have to use it, but need it to scale up your business. This include project management/task delegation and monitoring software. Start familiarising yourself now.
7. Sales funnels and lead generation, CRM and mailing list management, plus customer service expectations in the digital age. Learn the processes early so you can decide what to do at every stage of your business development. And don’t just think online, or for that matter outsourcing everything.

Whether you want an assistant, want one training, or even just want to learn what they can do…. we are here to help you. Say hello@ozva.com.au, or call us on 0423 933 504. It’s not an international call, and we’d love to talk to you.