Are you tired?
I don’t mean, “Wow, I really need a nap!” tired. I mean is your soul tired? Are you tired at the very core of your being, sick of doubting yourself and wondering whether what you’re trying to do will ever pay off?
Tired of being a one-person show?
Tired of knowing you can’t go on vacation because there’s no one to keep things running while you’re gone?
Several times a year I travel to big networking events to meet with other online entrepreneurs. We spend several days eating, chatting, learning from each other and comparing battle stories about our businesses.
We discuss the latest ways to build a sales funnel, what is currently working for online advertising and the latest trends in social media. But the one thread that runs through nearly all of the discussions is just how exhausted online business owners are.
Many online entrepreneurs are overwhelmed and exhausted by everything there is to do in their business. It no longer brings them the joy it once did. Maybe you feel the same way. Unfortunately, burnout in online business is pretty common.
You Need Help
Here’s what I’ve learned in talking with my entrepreneur friends. They need help. You need help.
But here’s the irony. When you were just starting out as an online business owner you probably felt like you could manage the processes yourself. You cut corners and really couldn’t afford to hire help. Besides, there wasn’t really that much to do. It seemed manageable. At first.
As your business grows, however, so do the tasks. Suddenly, you need to know how to set up sales funnels and landing pages, produce videos and webinars, and keep a strong presence going on social media delivering exactly the content your perfect customer is looking for. You need help.
Now, however, you’re so busy that hiring help is the last thing you have time for. Who has time to hire someone and train them?
The crazy thing is, at this point, hiring help is rarely about the money. It’s all about time. Time you don’t have to hire and train the help you so desperately need. You’d probably pay just about anything to have someone else set up and handle all of your tech, for example.
Fortunately, the solution isn’t as difficult or overwhelming as you might think. It doesn’t even have to be expensive.
You Need a Virtual Assistant – Today
Here’s my pro tip: Hire a virtual assistant early on in your business. Hire one right now. Someone with great potential, but few skills. Someone who is as eager to learn as you are and who can be your right hand woman (VAs are almost always female).
Here’s the thing: if you hire a VA early, and hire her only for a few hours a week, it will be very easy for you to say to her, “I don’t know how to set up an Instagram presence, can you figure it out for me and take care of it?” Maybe that’s all she’ll do that week because you can only pay her for five hours. But when she’s done, you have someone who is trained to handle Instagram for you. And then you move her to the next task.
If you wait until your business is successful to hire a trained VA, not only are you going to spend a whole lot more money, you’re going to have to train her how to do things your way. Because by then you will be convinced your way is the best way. And you will have spent countless hours developing a specific process that now (ironically) you’d prefer to hand off to someone else because it’s no longer something you enjoy doing.
This is where most online business owners get tripped up. They’ve bootstrapped for so long and done the work themselves, they become convinced they are the only ones who can handle what needs doing. It feels like it takes more time to teach someone else than to do it themselves. And before they know it, their business isn’t fun anymore because they’re doing tasks they hate.
They’re burned out.
Help is On the Way
In the next few weeks, I am doing a series of posts on how to successfully find, hire and train a VA. If this is something you’ve been wanting help with, you won’t want to miss the series. And if you know someone else in the same boat as you, please be sure to forward the link so they can follow along.
But before the next post, comment below: What are the things that need doing in your business, that you wish someone else could handle for you? They can be things you need to learn but aren’t excited about, or things you just don’t like to do. Comment below and let me know.
