Letting go of control was crucial to growing my business
If you’re feeling overwhelmed because you’ve got too much work on and you feel like you’re spending too much time on tasks that aren’t pushing the needle, it’s time to think about outsourcing some of your work.
Working with a virtual assistant was one of the best business decisions I’ve ever made. VAs are there to make your life easier and support you, no matter where you live or work. Some are admin superstars, some are great at implementing systems, and others are really creative. Personally, I really needed someone to help with the admin and maintenance of my business.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed because you’ve got too much work on and you feel like you’re spending too much time on tasks that aren’t pushing the needle, it’s time to think about outsourcing some of your work.
Working with a virtual assistant was one of the best business decisions I’ve ever made. VAs are there to make your life easier and support you, no matter where you live or work. Some are admin superstars, some are great at implementing systems, and others are really creative. Personally, I really needed someone to help with the admin and maintenance of my business.
I had no idea how big an impact working with my first VA would have on my business. For the first time in ages, I wasn't spending all my time on daily business, had the time and headspace to make decisions, and focus on long-term strategy. Since then, I’ve worked with lots of different kinds of VAs and my business has reached new levels.
So today I'm going to share my experiences working with virtual assistants and the lessons I’ve learned to help you decide whether to start outsourcing more of your work.
Ready? Let’s go!
#1 Ignore what other people think
Back in the summer of 2019, I hired my first virtual assistant, Audrey. Everyone in my circle – even my dad – recommended against it. They told me not to do it, to focus on creating an overflow of business, and only to hire someone when I really couldn’t handle the work by myself anymore. They thought I was crazy.
But at that time, it felt right to me. I was already working really hard. I didn’t want to work harder or work more hours. I wanted to work smarter.
I had lots of great ideas and projects that I wanted to work on, but I didn’t have time or energy to put into this because I was wasting a lot of time working on systems, lead magnets, email systems, my shop – the list goes on and on. All of this was getting in the way of building my business. So I was like: You know what? I'm just going to give this a try!
Many of my best decisions in my life and business have come from not listening to other people and following my instincts. And hiring Audrey was one of them.
You should do the same: ignore what other people think and do what feels right for you.
#2 Working with a virtual assistant creates accountability and structure
It's not just that my VA took over some of my work and helped me free up time. I actually found that it created a lot of accountability, because I would need to prepare tasks and projects for her. Gone were the days that I could change my mind every few minutes (which is exactly what I did up until that point). I had to start sticking to a schedule.
Things moved quickly from there. I launched my podcast just a few months later with Audrey’s help and my business growth accelerated: I went from 30k months to 70k months and I had my first ever million dollar launch just one year later. Coincidence?
Before I knew it, me and Audrey had more work than we could deal with and I started falling behind again. The same thing happened: I had no time to think about strategy, I started dropping the ball, and stopped replying to all my emails. So I found another virtual assistant, Ellen, who could help me manage my inbox.
I didn't even know it was possible until I saw someone else doing it. I used to be stuck in a mindset that I had to do everything myself. I thought I was the only person who could take care of my emails.
When I was explaining to her how I deal with different emails it became clear to me that I had been sticking to quite a specific structure without realizing it. When someone asks me to join an event, I ask questions about the type of audience, audience size, location, and budget. When an invoice comes in, I forward it to the accounting mailbox. When I get spam, I unsubscribe straight away.
This applied to all kinds of areas of my business. All I had to do going forward was teach people my structures and they could take over from there.
#3 Ask for help and let go of control
Asking for help is one of the things that I find hardest. Feeling alone and thinking I need to do everything myself has been a major bottleneck in growing my business. It's been my biggest limiting belief.
I know I’m not alone in this. So many people who start a business think they have to do everything themselves because they’re strong, they’re smart, and all of that. But it’s bullshit!
It’s crazy really. I was able to develop a money mindset. I worked through a lot of complicated issues in my business. But this was an issue I would run into again and again.
Working with VAs has helped me grow a lot in this area. If you’re like me and also struggle with this, I want to tell you it’s okay to ask for help and hand over control.
My business has actually seen the biggest growth when I've let go of control. Being in control doesn't mean literally controlling everything that happens in your business. It means having the option to control things yourself or having organized things so well someone else can easily take over.
Letting go of control also means accepting that other people will make mistakes. In the past, I would see mistakes and correct them without letting the other person know. I used to think I was doing them a favor by doing it myself, until I was told it had the opposite effect. People like autonomy and taking ownership. Don't let your ego run the show.
I also realized I feel a lot more comfortable asking for help if I’m paying for it – this was really a game changer for me. You’ll create more space for yourself to focus on important parts of your business and increase your revenue.
#4 People thrive doing different things
We all have work tasks that we hate doing. If your work requires you to do those things every day, it’s costing you a lot of time and energy that you could be using doing things you love.
For me that’s creating content – not implementing it. But what I learned from working with virtual assistants is that someone else might thrive doing that. They might get a lot of energy out of creating systems and finding smart ways to plan how and when we post content.
For example, when I hired Ellen I saw that she thrived managing my mailbox and setting up systems for the business. I couldn’t believe it. I thought no one would ever like doing that. I was so wrong. She loved doing it. She got paid for it. And I got more time to work on growing my business. It was a wild success.
Other people like other things than you and are better at other things than you. So just accept the fact that some of the things you hate doing might be things that someone else loves doing.
#5 Create stability through a clear contract
The idea of working with a VA might seem daunting. You might be thinking: What if something goes wrong? What if they get up and leave? What if they don’t deliver?
You can make sure that both you and your virtual assistant are covered and have stability by creating a clear contract.
I’m not a legal consultant and I’m definitely not about to give out any legal advice but I’ll share what I’ve learned from personal experience.
When I’m drawing up a contract, I like to think logically about what could go wrong and how I can protect myself against this. I always like to be in control and be on top of the exact terms of contracts. I want to know how far people can screw me over. That might sound a bit grim but my business means everything to me. It’s important to cover all your bases.
One of the most important things to establish early on is your VA’s availability. How many hours will they work for you? Which days? In the mornings or afternoons? How quickly will they turn work around?
For some VA roles, I expect work to be done every day in the morning. With others the work might not be quite as urgent. For example, finance tasks don’t need to be done first thing, but it does need to happen every week. Agreeing a fixed turnaround time will help you know when to expect work to be done so you can make time to check it.
Some people don’t care when their VAs work, as long they get it done on time. They could work in the middle of the night for all they care. Personally, I don't like that because I want to be able to reach people during the hours when I'm working.
I tend to work on a fixed amount of hours each week or each month with my virtual assistants. This gives both sides a sense of security, knowing you can count on each other.
I like creating win-win scenarios. I'm really grateful to anyone who wants to help me. People don't just work for you for money. People deserve respect, trust, and transparency. They’re giving time and energy to you. You work together.
Want to learn even more about starting a team? I'm hosting my webinar “5 Gouden Tips Om Zelfzeker te Delegeren” (in Dutch) where I share my 5 quick fixes that are going to make delegating a lot easier! I made this specifically for the entrepreneurs who want to start outsourcing and get it right from the start, or for those who are already outsourcing and feel there are still a lot of struggles. After the webinar, you will outsource the right things, set up time-saving collaborations and be able to trust your team. Register here: https://fastforwardamy.com/delegerenwebinar
Watch this episode on YouTube or listen via iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and search for episode 128 of The FastForwardAmy Show.
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