Susan Holmes is an author and professional speaker. She travels frequently
and hates coming home to piles of bills, unheard telephone messages and
thousands of e-mail. Susan works harder and harder spending most evenings
and weekends doing administrative chores and spends the workday servicing
clients. No matter how hard she works Susan cannot get ahead. She begins
to suffer from the symptoms of stress. She can't sleep, doesn't bother
to eat regularly, suffers from anxiety to the point of feeling paralyzed when confronting the mess on her desk.
Susan wishes Superman really exists so that he can swoop into her home
office and rescue her from the foot high stacks of paper on her desk that
are threatening to topple over. Susan tries to keep up as best as she
can but soon she is so overwhelmed that she turns away paid speaking engagements
in order to do administrative work.
Can you identify with Susan? Do you dread opening your office door because
it isn't a pretty sight? Hopefully you have a friend like Michelle. After
months of trying Michelle finally talks Susan into having lunch. Michelle
is taken aback at how tired Susan is and how unhappy she seems. After
Susan confides in Michelle she gets silent and stares at the table. Michelle
jumps in an offers Susan a solution that will both relieve her of her
stress and allow her to pick up more speaking engagements.
What is this magical solution? It is a Virtual Assistant (VA). Michelle
has been using a VA for several years because she once was in Susan's
position. Michelle explains to Susan that her VA handles all of her administrative
and marketing tasks in addition to answering the phones from a remote
location. The benefits of working with a VA becomes clear for Susan as
Michelle tells her that she only pays for the time her VA works for her
and that benefits and taxes are not an issue. Susan begins to think about
all of her tasks she can outsource to a VA that would allow her to take
on more speaking engagements. Susan also realizes that a VA can market
her book and her articles and search for more lucrative speaking engagements.
Michelle then explains that a Virtual Assistant handle a multitude
of tasks including:
Answer phones
Business correspondence
Article Submission
Paperwork
Design marketing materials
Typing
Document formatting and clean up
Proofreading and editing
Marketing
Direct mail
Voice and e-mail monitoring
Research
Select and ship gifts
Travel arrangements
Lunch is soon finished and Michelle is suprised to see that Susan looks
more alert and happy. Michelle offers to search for and screen VA's while
Susan organizes the work that needs to be turned over when someone is
hired.
Finally, Susan tackles those stacks of paper on her desk and the dust
bunnies with gusto. Within just a few hours she is ready to delegate work
and a few days later, thanks to Michelle, she begins working with Alice.
Susan and Alice create a set of tasks that Alice will handle daily and then Susan
packages up all the paperwork from her desk and sends it to Alice. In
addition to the daily work Alice does she also motivates and supports
Susan in her business goals.
Several months down the line Susan shares the secret of her success with
her other friends and one by one they seek out and hire a Virtual Assistant.
Lives are improved and businesses grow at a fast pace.
If you can identify with Susan then you need a VA. Don't let money issues
hold you back. A VA can be suprisingly affordable when you calculate how
much more billable work you can accomplish instead of handling daily tedious
tasks. Go through that messy pile of papers on your desk and organize them with an eye towards delegating everything that you can.
Seek out and hire a VA that will help you avoid going crazy and you will
be glad you did!
Bonnie Jo Davis is a Virtual Assistant who helps small businesses
succeed by taking over those daily tasks that can drive even the most
level headed entrepreneur crazy. For more information about Bonnie visit http://www.DavisVirtualAssistance.com
