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Should You be Doing Everything Yourself? - By: Victoria Player, The "Online Marketing Coach", Posted on: 2008-09-01

When I coach my entrepreneur clients, one problem I often see is that they're not taking enough time to market and grow their business.

Owning your own business often means that you wear many hats. But when someone leaves their jobs to "go solo," they think they must work solo as well. They insist on doing everything themselves -- even the tasks they are not good at or don't enjoy.They try in vain to design their own web sites and brochures, write their own sales copy, process their own orders, manage their own mailing list, personally respond to every customer call and e-mail, ship their own products, and more. Pretty soon they're running around like that proverbial headless chicken.

What eventually happens is their love for their work, the reason they started their own business in the first place, drowns in a flood of administrative trivia. Suddenly one morning they wake up feeling burnt out and lacking the positive, creative energy they used to have.

Fortunately I was lucky to have learnt about virtual assistants (VAs) some time ago. VAs are freelancers who take care of all that "busy work" for entrepreneurs like us. Because VAs are independent themselves, they work on an as-needed basis from their own homes or offices, saving you the cost and hassle of hiring a regular office assistant. I have my own VA, Patricia, to alleviate some of the day-to-day administrative stuff, the tasks that take up time but aren't directly making money.

What Could YOU Delegate to a VA?

During the next week, keep a log of all your activities. Then sit down and review it. Decide which activities are truly ones that only you can do and which you can delegate. For example, here are some of the tasks you could delegate to your VA:

* Responding to customer e-mails and phone calls re. downloading e-books.

* Scheduling business and personal appointments and interviews

* Bookkeeping: invoicing customers, receiving and paying bills, reconciling bank statements, tracking expenses and tax records, working with your accountant.

* Internet research and fact checking

* Planning travel for speaking engagements and seminars

* Maintaining e-zine and customer mailing lists

* Managing e-zine ad sales

* Handling registrations for teleclasses/workshops

* Maintaining your Web site (copy edits, additions)

* Creating sales reports

* Posting customer orders

* Submitting articles to other publishers and article sites

* Placing ads in publications and at Web sites.

* Formatting e-books and creating PDF files

* Designing PowerPoint presentations

* And I don't stop there. You might find a VA that's also happy to help you with personal stuff like researching vacations, purchasing client gifts, and reminding you of birthdays and other important dates.

Really you're trying to save your time and energy so that you can focus on your "genius work."

Keep in mind that having a VA will IMMENSELY free up your time to focus on the stuff that matters: marketing and growing your business, developing bold new product ideas and income streams, and servicing your larger clients. You'll think much bigger and will have much more creative energy.

Take action NOW and at least learn more about getting some help. It will be a big relief, I promise!

Article Source: http://bb-articles.com

About the Author:

Victoria Player, the "Online Marketing Coach" is founder of Innovation Coaching. She's also the creator of the Online Marketing Success System, a complete step-by-step formula for creating a fully automated business. Generate MORE free publicity, get recognised as an expert, free up TONS of marketing time, and easily TRIPLE your income: www.VictoriaPlayer.com/OnlineMarketingSuccess

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