I have a big vision for my company as a pioneer in using Resonance Repatterning® remote distance healing proxy groups to facilitate personal and global transformation. I always knew that I’d have to hire help if I wanted to manifest my vision, but I was reluctant to take that next step. When I went to a seminar and the presenter said, “If you want to play a bigger game, you have to have a bigger team,” I knew it was time to take a leap of faith and hire help.

I have to admit that taking on a virtual assistant was a big leap of faith for me. My first assistant was a college kid whom I paid $12 an hour. He was so eager during the interview and he knew all about marketing and web 2.0. But I soon discovered that he didn’t have the attention to detail that my business requires. Any savings I thought I was realizing due to his low hourly rate were quickly expended on the high number of hours it took him to correctly complete a task. Needless to say I was relieved when a couple of months later he emailed me saying that he no longer had time to work for me.

After that experience, I spent months researching outsourcing companies and sites like Elance. I realized that I was getting stuck in analysis paralysis, so I repatterned my fears and limiting beliefs, and got clear on what I wanted. I decided that I didn’t want to always be putting out bids and interviewing people. I wanted to build an ongoing relationship with a competent and trustworthy professional who would get to know me, my business, my systems, and the tasks involved. I may be paying a higher hourly rate, but the continuity of relationship that I have with my VA is worth it to me. Now that we’ve been working together for a while I don’t need to spend much time explaining to her what I need done.

In addition to the expense, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to lead and delegate effectively. In order to make the most of my VA I have to give her tasks in advance to allow enough lead time so she can plan her work week. It took me a while to get over my resistance to this because I was used to flying by the seat of my pants. But as a result I’ve had to get more organized, do advance planning and manage my time better. I now have more time to devote to the things that I am the expert at in my business. I’m doing a lot more writing — articles, e-books, blog posts, social media, etc. I used to dread writing because I was always under pressure to get it done. Now I actually enjoy writing because I have the time, and the more I write the easier it flows. Since hiring my VA I’m averaging about 2 radio interviews a month, developing new joint ventures, using social media more, and I now have an active affiliate program.

I’ve developed new skills that I wouldn’t of have had the opportunity to develop had I stayed going it alone. Rather than feeling bogged down by administrative details, I am able to do the creative tasks that I love and this keeps me energized. In short, I would say that building your team is a way to not only grow your business, but to grow yourself.

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About the Author:

Elizabeth Tobin, JD; Certified Resonance Repatterning® Practitioner, calls herself a multi-dimensional cosmic closet cleaner. Internationally respected as a caring and gifted healer, her clients experience successful outcomes with physical conditions, trauma, abuse, weight loss, increasing abundance and overall health & well-being. Download a Free audio on how Money Archetypes are affecting your level of abundance at http://LizTobin.com

First, have a look at the following checklist to determine if outsourcing is what you need now.

You know it’s time to outsource when:

• You’re burned out from working too many hours a day and too many days a week
• You feel like you can’t take time away from your business and you don’t (and friends and family are noticing this too)
• You are spending less time on your core revenue generating and business building tasks and it’s costing you money
• Key administrative functions that keep your business running are not getting completed

If this sounds like you then it’s time to hire someone. But first it’s important to get clear about what you need help with. Here are some general guidelines.

Do outsource:

• The work that supports and builds ongoing relationships with your clients
• The back end work that contributes to the growth of your business, generates profits and passive streams of income

Some examples of these tasks are:

• Newsletter creation i.e. the formatting, set up and distribution; you supply the content
• Setting up and managing your shopping cart i.e. putting ‘buy’ buttons on your web site
• Creating/Managing your website
• Posting to your blog
• Handling customer support
• Article submissions
• Graphic design

As the business owner, you should continue to:

• Do the things that will help grow your business and the things you enjoy
• Speak with potential clients, attend networking events
• Plan and create your next product or service

How do you know if outsourcing makes financial sense?

You can determine what your hourly rate would be by dividing your monthly profits by the number of hours worked and compare that to the rate that you would be paying to outsource. Remember that it may take you twice as long as a Virtual Assistant to complete some of the tasks that you want to outsource.

What do I do next?

Now that you know what your needs are you can start looking for a reputable Virtual Assistant. Someone who will become a partner in your success and someone you will work with long term for a mutually beneficial working relationship. You may want to check with fellow business owners you know and respect for referrals. Do any clients or colleagues know of someone who might be able to help? You can also find assistants through VA associations, forums and social media sites.

You need to be willing to let go of the control and give them your trust. After the initial learning curve your assistant will know your business well enough to work proactively with little or no direction from you. When you outsource and stop trying to do it all yourself, you’ll have the potential to become more productive, offer more services, increase revenue and grow your business to become more profitable.

Use the VACA system to create your back up plan allowing you to get away from time to time without your business suffering:

V = Virtual Assistant. Outsource your administrative tasks to a Virtual Assistant. By partnering with a professional who manages your core business functions regularly you are covered during periods of absence. A reputable VA can handle both the basic administrative and the highly technical functions of your business and almost everything in between. If you’re just getting started, hire someone to manage your voicemails and emails ensuring that customer service is uninterrupted. As your assistant learns your business she can proactively suggest more ways to help.

A = Align yourself with like business owners. Is there someone your clients can call on if they have an urgent request or to continue work on a project in your absence? Through online and offline networking you should be able to find someone with a similar work ethic who can take over for vacation or any period of extended absence. Then notify your clients in advance that you have handpicked a reliable associate that is available to assist them if required. You could arrange this as a subcontractor relationship or even negotiate a barter.

C = Create processes. Document your processes on a regular basis. List all the things that you do in your business with step by step instructions. This only has to be done once and refined when necessary. Do this for each client, product or process. Your Operations Manual will be a useful tool to anyone providing back up in your absence and if you outsource to a VA. It shortens the learning curve and is a valuable reference and time saving tool.

A = Automate your business. Set up a shopping cart system that integrates with your website. Anytime someone wants to make a purchase from you it’s a simple click of the mouse. If you are communicating regularly with your clients, you can schedule your weekly newsletter in advance to send to your list while you’re away at the cottage. All this and more can be done within the shopping cart.

Once you have set up your VACA system, the business can run without you to a certain degree. Now you can concentrate on other aspects of your business that will allow your company to grow and you to achieve the freedom you deserve and take a real vacation.

Here is your ‘getting started’ checklist to help you prepare to market your articles:

[ ] Create your author resource box of about 50 words in length. This is what will appear at the end of your articles stating who you are, what you do, the service or product and benefits you provide and a call to action inviting the reader to your website to sign up for your free report, newsletter or other offering. The resource box should be written in third person.

[ ] Create your author bio of up to about 150 words in length. Some of the article directories require a bio in addition to a resource box. Your bio will be based on your skills, experience and achievements and should also be written in third person.

[ ] Choose an author image that you will upload when creating your profiles. Most article directories will ask for one. Your photo will help people connect with you and should be professional looking.

[ ] Create a list of directories you are going to submit to. Start small with about 3 directories. Try www.ezinearticles.com, www.articledashboard.com and www.goarticles.com to start. You can add more later. Just Google “article submission directory” to find more sites.

[ ] Sign up for accounts with these directories and record the Name of the directory, Login URL, User Name, Password and any specific guidelines. For example one site only allows articles with a minimum of 500 words.

[ ] Create an Article Marketing Tracking document in the form of a spreadsheet to track the above directory information, articles submitted and dates submitted.

[ ] Create an Article Template for your writing. Article directories work best with text based articles. Just use plain text, no formatting, no tables etc. by creating and saving your articles in Notepad or another text based editor. Within each file include the Title, Category, Word Count, Key Words and Summary. You will need to enter this information with each article submission.

[ ] Decide on topics based on your market & your expertise and create an ideas file.

[ ] Write your first 400 – 700 word article and start submitting!

Most of the above steps are to be set up once and left. When you have everything in place, make sure you write and submit your articles regularly. If you write an ezine or newsletter you can repurpose these works. Once your subscribers have received their copy, start submitting to the article directories. You can also rework chapters of a book or ebook you have written into shorter articles.

If the above sounds like a great marketing tactic but you lack the time, consider hiring a Virtual Assistant to set you up with the accounts, edit your writing and submit your articles. All you need to do is provide the content and watch your website’s placement in the search results increase.

If you’re at this point of frustration, it’s not too late to restructure a few things to achieve work, life and family balance. After all, as a business owner you have a highly sought after benefit that employees in the corporate world value highly – a flexible schedule. It’s time to get things back into perspective and enjoy this perk.

How? Here are the top 5 ways to balance your commitments:

1. First, start by setting boundaries: Solopreneurs working from home must have clear cut business vs. personal time. Set your business hours and stick with them. Ensure personal time is spent away from work-related activities. Don’t run errands during working hours or answer your business line when you’re about to sit down to dinner.

2. Next, start a waiting list: Too many clients may seem like a good problem to have when in reality it’s better to have fewer clients that get your full attention than more than you can handle. Never promise what you can’t deliver. There will always be an ebb and flow in your business which means that you can offer to put potential clients on a waiting list and contact them when you are available to fully accommodate their needs.

3. Or refer the work to others: Chances are that you have business relationships with others in your industry. Some potential clients may not be the right fit and you can choose to work only with those who are a good fit. Be honest and let the client know that a fellow business owner may be more suitable. Make the introduction.

4. Or build a team by subcontracting and/or outsourcing: Do you have a close knit group of colleagues that share your skill set, work ethics and standards that you would feel comfortable working with? Put together a team that you can subcontract out the overflow work to. And/or outsource to a Virtual Assistant rather than spending your own time on administrative and technical tasks. When you stop trying to do it all yourself, you’ll have the potential to offer more services, increase revenue and grow your business. Not to mention you’re helping others by employing them.

5. And last, but not least, make commitments to yourself equally as often as you do to others: What really matters to you? Make a commitment to yourself today about what you want to achieve. In my yoga classes we have been practicing making our ’sankalpa’ (a Sanskrit word meaning to set an intention using a short phrase or sentence). When you incorporate your intention into your daily routine, in time you can bring about positive change.

As a small business owner you already have many responsibilities. Setting boundaries, getting help and honouring commitments to yourself will satisfy the need for balance and boost your success.

Why is Pink Spoon Marketing a good way to boost business?

• It is a lead generation tool. Providing a free offering to visitors to your website is a good way to capture people’s names and email addresses.
• It allows you to keep in regular contact with your prospects. You are building a mailing list that you can broadcast to.
• It is a way to build relationships and trust. As you continue to communicate with your list, they get to know you and see the value of the products and services you have to offer.
• It generates new business. You will earn paying clients when your services fit with their needs.

A Pink Spoon can apply to almost any industry and there are many possibilities of what you can offer as a freebie. Here are a few examples:

• a 5 part (or 6 part etc.) e-course
• a free report
• a newsletter subscription
• a free chapter of your book

Are you ready to start setting up your pink spoon to build your database? You will need:

• An email marketing or shopping cart service with website sign up form and autoresponder capabilities, i.e. AWeber, Practice Pay Solutions. (If you’re not quite ready to start selling products you can still go with a shopping cart and upgrade your cart later with the selling features.)
• A pink spoon sign up form and attached thank you page on your website. The sign up form should be one of the first things someone sees when they visit your website. Generally the form is added to the top right of a web page and is really obvious. The form is usually quite simple asking for First Name and Primary Email with a Submit button. If it takes too long to complete the form or the info you are asking for seems too personal to give out on a website for a free offering, the less likely people will sign up. It is also good practice to indicate that you will never share your prospects information with anyone and that they have the option to unsubscribe at any time.
• An autoresponder or a series of autoresponder emails to be sent out on a predetermined schedule to deliver your free offering and broadcasts for ongoing communication with your list.
• Support with the process. If you are technically challenged, find a Virtual Assistant or a Webmaster who is familiar with this marketing strategy and who has the technical expertise to set up and customize the shopping cart and your website.

If you are willing to take the initiative, pink spoon marketing is something that can be set up once and continue to work for you time after time.

A maze puzzle is symbolic to taking our businesses on the path to reaching goals. From start (building), there is no direct route (growing) to finish (your goals) but rather twists and turns and some backtracking along the way. Your schedule is like your plan through that maze. When you take the time to contemplate your route and map it out, you get through your ‘maze’ with less backtracking. It’s easier to stay on course and reach your goals with that plan.

To help you apply this approach you must divide up your time into 5 main areas when organizing your schedule. Here is the list and some of the items that fall under each category:

1. Client Work – or the area in which you perform your revenue generating activities. If yours is not a service business, this area may be Product Sales for example.

2. Business Development - time spent working on your website, preparing marketing materials, proposals, making phone calls, correspondence, attending networking events, planning, meetings, reading/audio/video (resources for business/training), writing (articles, submissions, ezine, blog), social media activity, participating in forums.

3. Home Office – tracking business expenses, filing, invoicing, record keeping, managing emails, scheduling.

4. Personal – build this into your day to remind you to break away from work, to eat lunch or go for a walk with friends.

5. Family – spending time with kids, pets and family activities. This usually comes only at the beginning or end of my work day, but I like to have it showing on my schedule.

How you divide up your time will vary from person to person, but it’s important to assign time to each category throughout the week and work with it until you find a good balance. If you neglect one area the others will suffer. Revenue generating activities have to be consistent obviously, as well as Personal and Family time, but don’t neglect Business Development and Home Office time. You have to incorporate these areas into your week in order to effectively grow your business and prosper.

And if you don’t want to make the time because you dislike these tasks and would rather be doing what you’re good at or taking some more personal and family time, then outsource. Most of the tasks that fall under Business Development and Home Office can be managed by a Virtual Assistant (VA). You don’t have to do it all yourself. Like the saying goes, “Do what you do best, then hire out the rest”.

When I get approached by newbie or wannabe VA’s, they want to know how to get started, how I got started and if I need help. I think it’s great that the VA profession is becoming more widely recognized. If you’ve read my bio you have an idea how I got here, but to elaborate on that, here’s my story.

Like the majority of emails I get from those looking to become a VA, I did my research on work from home jobs and found the Virtual Assistant profession to be a perfect match for my many years of corporate experience as an Administrative and Executive Assistant. And like most of those looking to get into this type of work, I also investigated the alternatives to taking the big leap to Entrepreneur.

Telecommuting seemed the perfect fit. Why not? I loved my job and what I did in the office could easily be done from home. The ideal solution to rushing baby out the door to the sitter every morning and I to work and repeating everything in reverse come 5:00 pm. After presenting my superiors with a formal proposal detailing the specifics of how I would work from home, they agreed it was a fantastic idea. They knew my work ethic and trusted me enough to give me the go-ahead.

Little did I know our office manager had other plans. This was new territory for the company and she wasn’t willing to let me go there. The week prior to my telecommuting launch, the office manager vetoed our plans for fear it would cause too much animosity amongst my co-workers. I was crushed!

A few years and another baby later, I knew that launching my VA business was the way to go. Life was busier and I was tired of working on someone else’s schedule. Things weren’t the same at my place of work and I knew in my heart that changes were impending. During this time I started putting the pieces together for my business in whatever free time I had. I enrolled in a web page workshop and learned enough html to build my first website. I created templates for client agreements, gave my company a name and designed a logo. Progress was slow but sure.

The day I was called into the office and laid off due to a company restructuring, was the opportunity I knew I needed to pursue my entrepreneurial dream full time. From there I enrolled in a very supportive small business start-up program which helped me to finish getting everything set up to launch my business 4 months later in July 2006. When one door closed, I opened another and have never looked back.

If you are considering either working with a VA or starting up your own VA business, I highly recommend it. A VA will provide a different level of assistance to that of a traditional in-house employee. As business owners ourselves, VA’s understand the day-to-day challenges and demands of operating a business. VA’s and clients work together because they choose to enter mutually beneficial working relationships that often become long term partnerships. It’s a win-win! I’ll let you in on a little secret, if you do the work, entrepreneurial dreams can and do come true! What’s your dream? Do you have a story to share?

First ask: Remember, networking is not about you. Take the pressure off by asking questions. “What kind of projects do you work on?” is a good conversation starter after the initial introductions. Redirect your nervous energy to enthusiasm. Listen, be helpful and share information.

For 10 more questions that make networking easy, see Bob Burg’s 10 Feel-Good Questions® taken from the book “Endless Referrals” by Bob Burg

Then tell: Practice your Elevator Pitch. Keep it simple, “I am… I help…” For example, mine would go something like this, “I am a Virtual Assistant. I help business owners with administrative and technical tasks to assist them in generating more revenue and growing their business.” If you’re prepared with what you’re going to say, it will be more natural.

Also note:

• If there are no individuals to approach, find a group of 3 or more where you can connect with one person not highly engaged in the conversation. Avoid groups of 2 in conversation with each other only!

• Have plenty of business cards handy. Exchange cards at the end of a conversation if there is a need to stay in touch.

If you’re still feeling the anxiety, know that you are not alone. Accept the fear and do it anyway. Networking is about establishing, maintaining and building relationships and is a necessity in business. You never know who you might meet. You can almost always find commonalities or come up with a good connection for someone. When you do, everyone benefits.

Happy networking!