Today, we’re going to talk about bringing on your first support team member. I already convinced you in previous episodes why hiring a virtual assistant is a solution to every single one of your problems—no really, I think I at least made a good case for the wondrous possibilities that hiring a virtual assistant can create time for business and life, so if you’re back, I’m going to take it that you’re at least willing to entertain the idea. Maybe you’re just now jumping in, so no worries, just listen now for the when and how of taking the plunge of utilizing a team, and you can go back and listen to the episode “What in the World is a Virtual Assistant” for reasons why.
In that episode I hope I made it apparent that I understand this is a huge step. Your business is your baby, and it’s not easy letting someone take the reins, even if it’s starting with small tasks here and there. If you can recall, I used to be exactly where you are. I know what it’s like losing sleep worrying whether or not someone will do the job well, as well as you’ve been doing it. I’ve spent countless hours double checking work and grumbling to myself that it would have been faster to just do it myself. I have missed more than one bedtime with my kids redoing a project, because it wasn’t completed how I wanted.
For me, these were all signs that something wasn’t working, and that’s what I’ll be covering here, some of the surefire signs it’s time to outsource and, most importantly, once you decide to pull the trigger, what to do next: How, exactly, to go about hiring a virtual assistant in a way that works for you and your business. Fortunately, I have helped many business owners facing some tough situations to make the right decisions; so just know that the hesitation and fear you’re experiencing is nothing new and there is a solution.
I think I should tell you a bit about the tough situation I was facing when I realized I needed to make a change. A little over a year into running COYL, I was sinking despite—and maybe even because of—my efforts to do it all. I had two children under the age of two and an ever-expanding client list. Every single morning my alarm went off way too early. I worked when my kids napped, took client meetings when I should have been spending quality time with my husband, when the kids finally went to bed, and responded to emails in the middle of the night when my little one was feeding. Then I did it all again the next day.
I knew I couldn’t keep it up permanently; A decision had to be made. This lifestyle was not sustainable. I was missing time with my family. I had no energy or time for acting or even just a good book; these things I relied on in the past to stay balanced. One night, I finally just broke and cried to Colin: “I need to hire someone or fire some clients.” His initial reaction was to fire some clients, because it was easy and gave the immediate relief I desperately needed. I’m a ‘go big or go home’ type of person though. If I had fired some clients, which was definitely a viable option, my workload would have been less, but that didn’t mean I would have the flexibility I so desperately needed. It was a bit of a catch-22: Yes, I’d have more time, but it also meant less money, less money to do the things my family wanted to do. It’s not that we needed things to enjoy our time together—before Check Off Your List saw any success, we lived with a lot less and were perfectly fine—it was about the potential regrets. In my gut, I knew that if I downsized my client load, I would always wonder (in the back of my mind) what could have been had I just hired someone instead. Would I always have that nagging doubt as to where my business and my family could be if I had learned how to successfully scale my business and transition from doing everything myself? Thankfully, I chose to step out of my comfort zone and learn how to outsource.
As business owners you know these doubts, uncertainties, and what-ifs. For me, at the time, there were some certainties. For one, I knew where my priorities were and working all the time was not what I signed up for. Check Off Your List started as a way for me to stay home with my children. I knew it was doing me—or them– little good to be constantly exhausted and distracted by work, around the clock. I couldn’t enjoy being a mom. I couldn’t be a good wife. And I couldn’t be a good business owner.
We all know how fast children grow and our time with them is never enough. I wanted to prioritize time with my children – even if it meant slower growth for Check Off Your List. And As much as I felt like the time with my children was not enough, I knew my role as a wife was taking second and even third place to Check Off Your List and the children. A few years ago, Colin and I made a conscious effort to not put aside spending time together after our kids’ bedtime, but that hasn’t always been the case. There was a time that we would miss those moments because I had to meet a deadline or a meeting took longer than expected. That’s not good for a relationship, and the negative effects were definitely felt, but truly this feels like another, less happy life, a time before I made the business altering decision to hire others to shoulder some of the burden. This life-altering decision meant that I was finally able to put my priorities in the right order for me.
Is it possible that, like me, outsourcing is the simple change you need to put your priorities in the right order? if so, how do you know if outsourcing is something you’re in dire need of? Well, the need to outsource seems to have similar signs no matter who you are. So, ask yourself, do any of these sound familiar?
- You have too much to do with too little time to do it.
- You start your day wondering how you will get everything done.
- You check one thing off your list only to add three more things to your to do list.
- You don’t respond to e-mails, texts or phone calls as quickly as you should.
- Your family says you work too much or you’re distracted with your phone in hand when you’re with your family.
- You don’t have time for ‘me time’ – whatever that term means for you.
If any of these sound like you, I promise it’s not that I have spy equipment in your home and office. It’s simply that I’ve been where you are, and I desperately needed a change, so more than likely you need one, too.
Now that we’ve established you could use a change and you’ve agreed to take me on my word about the spying thing I just mentioned, where do you go from here?
Your next step, or really the first step forward, is to evaluate what you WANT to spend time doing and what you NEED to spend time doing. From there, you can start a game plan for tackling the ‘left over’ tasks. Take a few minutes to write out your regular responsibilities. You might even keep a running list over the span of a week to get a real grasp of everything pulling you in a million different directions. These might be office tasks like marketing or bookkeeping or household tasks like lawn care or cleaning. My guess is that it’s a mash up of both.
Once you make this list, I insist that you stop and congratulate yourself on everything you’re responsible for. I’m sure it’s an impressive list, and you need to celebrate everything going on in your life. After your little party (I recommend a glass of wine to go with it!), it’s ok to recognize it’s a stressful list. I realize by asking you to draft this list I’m just adding another thing to it. Maybe just take a deep breath and try not to worry, I will make it worth your while. Next episode, I’ll rundown some strategies to help you pinpoint what to outsource from that exhausting list.
So, once you have that list, you’ve enjoyed your party for one with glass of wine, and you’ve circled back to the reality of everything on your to do list, it’s time to outsource. This is my favorite part! You need to decide what someone else can do better than you, faster than you, and actually enjoy doing for you.
Don’t get me wrong: Deciding what to outsource is not easy, especially at first, but I promise that once you get started you won’t stop. I have a running list of my responsibilities, and I consistently try to get someone else to take them over. As I’m working, I subconsciously (and other times intentionally) ask myself why I have to do something. Am I the only one who knows how or does it need my perspective and my input as the business owner. Based on the answers, I take steps to prioritize the task in my life or find the person who will be excited at the opportunity to take it over.
As much as anyone, I know it’s a tough decision to make. But it works, and if something works, it is best done sooner rather than later: We know with some things every second counts. For too long, my Saturday mornings were spent getting up too early to create client invoices. Exciting right? Colin handled breakfast with the kids as they shared a lazy Saturday morning playing and just spending time together. I worked away at my computer. On a good day, I’d wrap up around lunch, but I hated it. I was missing out, so I began to put it off, which often meant our accounts receivable was delayed. This also meant that when I should have at least been enjoying the precious time with my family I gained from playing hooky from my work responsibilities I couldn’t really enjoy it because I felt guilty and worried about the repercussions—did I mention these were just my Saturdays?
Now, I don’t even look at invoices unless someone has a direct question. My team handles invoices. I don’t have to worry about sending invoices or collecting payments, and I get to wake up on a Saturday morning when I naturally wake up (or when my youngest crawls in bed with me). Colin still makes breakfast; he makes a much better breakfast than I do by the way. But now, I actually get to sip my latte and enjoy breakfast as I share a lazy Saturday with my family. With work as far from my mind as possible.
I think you get the idea that outsourcing is a philosophy I apply to my personal life just as much as it’s become a tenet in my business one. For that first year of business, I was fortunate enough that my mom babysat 1-2 days a week. I didn’t then, but now I realize that’s a form of outsourcing. If we’re talking about today, I don’t have a regular babysitter, but I do have someone who cleans my house a few times a month. Truthfully, this is not a luxury: I need the mental security that comes with knowing when my bathroom was cleaned last. All my groceries and general supplies show up on my doorstep thanks to Amazon Prime and Shipt.
I’ve learned to recognize when the need to outsource arises, and these days I’m just a bit quicker to respond. Take for instance, homeschooling—yes, did I mention I’m also my children’s teacher? Well, this year with everything going on work has been especially busy and I’ve been feeling like my mental capacity has been stretched too thin– I’ve been lacking the initiative and creativity to design lessons tailored to their learnings styles. So what did I do when I realized this struggle? I took myself back to the basics of outsourcing and asked, “ Where am I most effective? Who could do the other things better?” This self-reflection helped me to realize that I homeschool to spend time with my children and not to plan their lessons. I was able to see that lesson planning isn’t my expertise, and a tutor can create better lesson plans in much less time. God made me to be my kids’ mother, and I’m passionate about being as involved as I can be in their education. Their tutor designs their lessons and spends 1 afternoon a week with them to make sure her lessons are meeting their needs. Meanwhile, I spend that time making an impact at Check Off Your List. The best part is that the lesson plans are better, and the time I devote to home schooling is spent with my children…exactly where my heart is. I can be fully mom when we’re together. This works much better for everyone than me trying to be mom and teacher and CEO and actor and podcast host.
Of course, you will have your own priorities, and that’s what determines how you outsource. As your business grows and your needs change, what you outsource will evolve. What I’m trying to get at is that what people choose to outsource is entirely personal. What worked best for you yesterday might not be best for today and what works for 1 person personally and professionally might not work for the next person. Your business has different needs. Your family has different needs. That said, the process is the same, and the freedom you experience is the same no matter the needs.
Maybe the absolute best part about outsourcing is the freedom I feel on lazy Saturday mornings, and for my business the best part is that the person I have doing what I did drudgingly for years, something like invoicing, is actually excited to do it, just like their tutor loves thinking through creative ways to teach my children each new topic, which is never something I really enjoyed. I can say that everyone is now working where they shine. I’ts a win – win. I see this consistently as each task is moved from my to do list to someone else’s, and it’s wonderful to see the efficiency and improved results from outsourcing, whether it’s my kids who are benefitting or Check Off Your List.
I will admit, though, hiring the tutor was easy compared to my early experiences finding help for my business. Over the years, I’ve had to learn from trial and error how to go about finding the right person for outsourcing responsibilities. I’ve hired friends, which has worked on the rare occasion, but it risks straining the friendship. I personally value relationship over work every single time, so I typically avoid hiring friends and proceed with caution when I do hire someone I know personally.
I’ve used temp agencies, which can be effective for full time positions. I didn’t find them as effective for part time positions. When I had part time help through a temp agency, the placements tended to move on pretty quickly when full time opportunity came along through the temp agency, so it doesn’t seem to be a great solution for an entrepreneur looking for a little help in a variety of roles.
Another alternative I used to find expertise in all the areas I need led me to work with different companies for different needs – a marketing firm, an HR firm, a web design firm – but maintaining all of those relationships is a lot of work. This is what led me to starting my back office support company, Check Off Your List. Lucky for you, you don’t need to struggle through finding a company or virtual assistant for each of your individual needs. Go to checkoffyourlist.com to learn more about our entire team and the variety of skills our VAs bring to our clients and their businesses.
Ideally, today’s episode gave some insight into what I’ve learned about the power of outsourcing and what to outsource when. I made many mistakes figuring this out, and my hope is you learn from my mistakes. I’d love to hear your outsourcing or VA questions, so find me on Instagram at @rachelluther or Facebook at Checking Off Your List with Rachel Luther to ask your questions or tell me what you’d like to hear more about on this podcast.
In the next episode, I get into the nuts and bolts and share the specific things I outsource and dive a bit deeper into the steps I take that ensure I’m outsourcing the right things. If you want to find where you’re most impactful in your business and do more of that, subscribe so you don’t miss an episode of Checking Off Your List with me, Rachel Luther.
