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Crisis manager? Or Powerful Business Ally?
The Choice is Yours
I know that as your business is growing, and you get in the swing of creating passive revenue info products, one of the biggest questions you face is: When do you hire additional help?
As more and more money comes in, you find yourself with a dilemma.
- Will finding someone to help give you your life back?
- Will it help create the lifestyle you went into business to achieve?
- Or will it rob you of capital necessary to grow?
And, most importantly, what point is the best time to take the plunge?
Now if you listen to the high priced Gurus the answer is simple: pull the trigger and hire that VA (virtual assistant) and that team of personal assistants
Which is exactly the worst possible thing you can do.
In fact, I am going to cause a lot of controversy here by saying those folks telling you to throw money at assistants are dead wrong.
Now before all you VA’s put me on your enemies list hear me out.
Because in most cases, when entrepreneurs and solo professionals like us want to hire an assistant its in response to a crisis. A product MUST get out, expectations MUST be met, or else the world will collapse.
And we simply didn’t budget enough of our own time to make it happen.
Here is the rub:
Hiring a VA in the midst of a crisis sets a horrible precedent: Your VA becomes your crisis manager, who comes to your aid when all seems lost. Instead of what your VA should be used for: a partner in creating a business that allows you to live the life you want.
There is a crucial, important, cataclysmic difference.
(OK VA’s, starting to like this a bit more?)
So what are you to do when you are at wits end and you simply can’t pull off another miracle on your own?
If possible, back out of the situation. In most (if not all cases) overwhelm is self-inflicted, by false deadlines and expectations that are unrealistic. So take a good look at your situation and diffuse it by giving yourself more time or leeway.
See if it really is absolutely necessary to launch by Thursday.
If indeed the situation is critical, your deadline is not negotiable, and you won’t pull a rabbit out of your hat (at least not this time) then go out and hire a VA to help get you through. But do it consciously with the knowledge that THIS TIME, your VA is your crisis manager.
But with full knowledge this is NOT the best use of a VA
In either case, once the situation has cooled down, take a look at your business and from an affirmative position of:
- What you want your business look like
- The lifestyle it will enable you to live
- The specific tasks you love that you do not want to delegate
- The things you can’t stand that you do
And make your decision on bringing on help based on this vision, instead of on avoiding disaster.
In this way, your assistant, team or VA becomes the way you AVOID crises, rather than the one who has to rescue you from yourself over and over. Because this is the best way to ensure your business takes you where YOU want it to (rather than simply drift from crisis to crisis) and that your team, VA or assistant is an invaluable asset in making that happen.
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