Wondering if you should hire an Online Business Manager? Here are 5 tell-tale signs that it may be time for you to add an OBM to your team.
1. Your business is growing while your own free-time is shrinking.
I’m betting you started your business to create more freedom in your life yes? Freedom of time, money and choice. Let me ask you – as your business grows are you actually working more or less time?
If you are on the ‘working more’ side of things you certainly aren’t alone… I can’t count how many times I’ve talked to business owners who have shared how they are actually working more hours in their own business than they ever did in their ‘old job’! Ugh. However it doesn’t have to be this way… as a business owner you have the freedom to be able to make changes in your business, including hiring the right help to get stuff off your plate.
This is exactly what an Online Business Manager does – their focus is to free up the business owner (YOU!) so that they can focus their time and energy on the things that only THEY can do in their business.
2. You are having to turn away opportunities because you are so busy!
This is a sad by-product of the first point. Are you so busy that you can’t take advantage of the opportunities that are coming your way? Do you ever find yourself saying “I would love to do X and know it would be a great new offer… but I simply don’t have the time for it right now.”
Not only can an Online Business Manager help free up your time to be able to explore these opportunities, they can also work on bringing some of these opportunities to life for you! An Online Business Manager helps turn your vision into reality, and can manage the process of creating new offers in your business from concept to launch.
3. You are still doing things the same things you were doing when you started your business.
Remember when you first started your business and had to wear many hats? You were the cook, hostess, waitress and busboy (so to speak, hehe.) Now that your business is growing, are you still doing the same things as you were in the beginning? Are you still updating your own website? Are you still sending out broadcasts? Are you still answering all your customer service emails?
As your business grows your role will (and should!) change. An Online Business Manager can lovingly ‘slap your wrist’ when it comes to you doing some of these things… helping you delegate the ‘old’ stuff that is taking up your time and getting in the way of you growing your business.
4. You have a great team, but find yourself frustrated by them always ‘bugging’ you.
This is a common complaint from business owners – they have a great team of VAs, techies and such. And yet they are constantly frustrated by how much their team needs from them. They feel like someone is always tapping them on the shoulder with a question or request.
The thing is, your team does need someone to manage them. They need someone who they can turn to with questions, to get what they need to complete their projects quickly and on time. And if there is not an Online Business Manager on the team who do they turn to? You – the business owner.
As a colleague of mine so eloquently shared:
“My VAs were doing a fine job – it was ME who was unhappy managing them.”
Most business owners really don’t enjoying being managers, and I’m guessing this may be the same for you. An Online Business Manager becomes the key point of contact for your team – all questions, requests and check-ins go to the OBM instead of you.
5. You are stuck at $X revenue and can’t seem to get past that point!
When you find yourself stuck at a certain point in revenue there is usually one thing getting in the way – you! This is often referred to as the quarter million dollar speedbump – where you get stuck in early 6-figures – and a big part of the solution usually requires you removing yourself from the day-to-day of your business.
Start to ask yourself as you go about your day – do I need to be the person to do X? (with X being the many things you spend your time on each day.)
Chances are many things on your to-do list could be passed along to someone else on your team. And an Online Business Manager can help with that process by delegating and managing those tasks on your behalf.
Ready to hire an Online Business Manager? Check out our Certified OBM Directory to find a match for your needs.