Are you overwhelmed by work? Desperate to outsource but no idea where to start? It can be dispiriting looking at a mountain of work, knowing it would be so much easier if you had someone to help but feeling that you have to get everything in order before you can ask someone to take it on.
Do you want to know a secret? You don’t have to get everything sorted before you outsource your tasks. In fact, isn’t the whole reason you need to outsource that you can’t physically get through it all?
Here are 5 things you can outsource now:
Do you want to know a secret? You don’t have to get everything sorted before you outsource your tasks. In fact, isn’t the whole reason you need to outsource that you can’t physically get through it all?
Here are 5 things you can outsource now:
Email management
If the thought of your Monday morning inbox fills you with dread or you last filed an email when David Tennant was The Doctor then perhaps you should consider outsourcing your email management. It will take about 5 minutes to grant access to your inbox to a VA who can set up an easy-to-follow filing system, forwarding or highlighting the important messages, responding to quick queries and flagging anything that needs action. All you need is a quick meeting beforehand to discuss your priorities and ways of working and the VA can hit the ground running.
Filing/office organisation
To some it sounds crazy to hire an assistant to do something as simple as filing but don’t dismiss it. One of the first jobs I ever did as a VA was to sort out filing for a local designer. They were so busy with work that they had no time to sort out the backlog of client materials that had been building up. Brochures and other print from recent jobs were piled randomly in their main meeting room. As a result each time they wanted to take design samples to meetings with potential clients or welcome a client to their office it was taking them ages to prepare and tidy up. It took less than 30 minutes to explain what they wanted me to do and one day for me to do it. If your office environment inspires more chaos than calm then maybe it’s something you should consider.
Minute/note-taking
This is so easy to outsource. Taking the notes at a meeting, typing them up afterwards and then distributing them can be incredibly time-consuming, especially when you’re trying to catch up with all the work you didn’t get done because you were in the meeting in the first place! A quick introductory conversation to explain the purpose of the meeting and what you want to take away from it should be enough for any VA to be able to start almost immediately. Bear in mind that if you work in a niche industry (and even if you don’t) they may need some assistance with jargon and specific terms to begin with but a good VA will keep such enquiries to a minimum. And you can focus your time on much more interesting and business-critical tasks.
Mystery shopping calls
This one requires a little more preparation but it will be worth it. If you rely on mystery shopping calls to review and evaluate areas of your business you’re probably finding that it takes up hours of your time each month. However you almost certainly have a script or key questions that you use for such calls (even if it’s just in your head!). Make some time to prepare the key questions in a way that others can understand, outline your business, aims and desired outcomes to your VA and voilà! You’ve gained valuable time to focus on your client base.
Meeting arrangements
How long do you spend arranging meetings? Co-ordinating diaries, booking a venue, arranging teleconferencing? A quick sit-down with a VA to go over the details of regular meetings – attendees, preferred locations, timings – will result in this tedious task being taken off your hands immediately. You could get this sorted inside 60 minutes. And you’ll never have to do it again. That’s worth it surely?
If you’re feeling motivated to outsource your admin get in touch to see how I can help. Or if you’re not ready yet then follow me on LinkedIn to get more tips on how to make your life easier.
If the thought of your Monday morning inbox fills you with dread or you last filed an email when David Tennant was The Doctor then perhaps you should consider outsourcing your email management. It will take about 5 minutes to grant access to your inbox to a VA who can set up an easy-to-follow filing system, forwarding or highlighting the important messages, responding to quick queries and flagging anything that needs action. All you need is a quick meeting beforehand to discuss your priorities and ways of working and the VA can hit the ground running.
Filing/office organisation
To some it sounds crazy to hire an assistant to do something as simple as filing but don’t dismiss it. One of the first jobs I ever did as a VA was to sort out filing for a local designer. They were so busy with work that they had no time to sort out the backlog of client materials that had been building up. Brochures and other print from recent jobs were piled randomly in their main meeting room. As a result each time they wanted to take design samples to meetings with potential clients or welcome a client to their office it was taking them ages to prepare and tidy up. It took less than 30 minutes to explain what they wanted me to do and one day for me to do it. If your office environment inspires more chaos than calm then maybe it’s something you should consider.
Minute/note-taking
This is so easy to outsource. Taking the notes at a meeting, typing them up afterwards and then distributing them can be incredibly time-consuming, especially when you’re trying to catch up with all the work you didn’t get done because you were in the meeting in the first place! A quick introductory conversation to explain the purpose of the meeting and what you want to take away from it should be enough for any VA to be able to start almost immediately. Bear in mind that if you work in a niche industry (and even if you don’t) they may need some assistance with jargon and specific terms to begin with but a good VA will keep such enquiries to a minimum. And you can focus your time on much more interesting and business-critical tasks.
Mystery shopping calls
This one requires a little more preparation but it will be worth it. If you rely on mystery shopping calls to review and evaluate areas of your business you’re probably finding that it takes up hours of your time each month. However you almost certainly have a script or key questions that you use for such calls (even if it’s just in your head!). Make some time to prepare the key questions in a way that others can understand, outline your business, aims and desired outcomes to your VA and voilà! You’ve gained valuable time to focus on your client base.
Meeting arrangements
How long do you spend arranging meetings? Co-ordinating diaries, booking a venue, arranging teleconferencing? A quick sit-down with a VA to go over the details of regular meetings – attendees, preferred locations, timings – will result in this tedious task being taken off your hands immediately. You could get this sorted inside 60 minutes. And you’ll never have to do it again. That’s worth it surely?
If you’re feeling motivated to outsource your admin get in touch to see how I can help. Or if you’re not ready yet then follow me on LinkedIn to get more tips on how to make your life easier.
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