Posts Tagged "delegation"

3 Things to Consider Before Hiring a Virtual Assistant

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Aug 16, 2011 in Virtual Assistance | 2 comments

Virtual assistants can be an amazing addition to any business.  Virtual assistants provide support to business owners but do so from their own home or office.  Assistance can come in the form of Internet marketing, social media, web design, administrative support or any other area of support that the business owner may need.

Virtual assistants are a huge asset to business owners that need support but who do not want to spend the time and money on hiring, managing and paying full-time staff.  The beautiful thing about a virtual assistant is that the business owner doesn’t need to pay for taxes, benefits or vacation/sick days.

In an article on MSN’s Business on Main called, “How Do I Hire a Virtual Assistant“, the multiple authors involved with the article share their tips on hiring a virtual assistant and provide advice to all types and sizes of businesses.

However, before you hire a virtual assistant, there are three things you should consider before you set out to hire one.

One-on-One Coaching is Not Always a Perfect Fit

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Feb 17, 2010 in Business Tips | 14 comments

Let me present you one of my most recent case studies.

I’ve always said (screamed aloud?) that one-on-one coaching without implementation was a complete waste of time and money.  It seems though that everyone and their brother is still rushing to hire expensive coaches that give them a lot of direction, a lot to think about but very little follow through.  Sure, they might give you a pretend spanking (ooo la la, let me grab my whip!) if / when you don’t do your “homework” but in all reality, does that kickstart you into action?  I’m betting that it doesn’t.

So, I tried it.

Yep.  I created some one-one-one time with Erin and I made it available to a select group of people — ten to be exact. I wanted to see what the experience was like from the coach / strategist side and how I could finally prove that one-on-one work without implementation was crap.

I’m going to be admitting to you what some people may call failure but what I call a success.

However, before I continue, let me make something really, really, really clear.  I have A LOT of great information, guidance, strategy, ideas, etc. to give to people. Throughout these experiences, I did and continue to provide really great service.  However, it was clear to me that there were two groups of people.  #1 — The strategy implementers and #2 — The strategy non-implementers.

A handful of these people aligned our strategy calls with direct implementation to my team.  For these people, the results paid off instantly and it became a really fun way to spend our time.  We’d dream up the next big thing and my team would make it all happen.  Just like that.

The rest of the group would get fired up on the call, be really into everything we’d discuss but they’d walk away and implement nothing.  Then, they would show up on the next call either providing a reason why they didn’t do it or they would tell me the coaching style just wasn’t working for them.  Totally cool… I didn’t take offense.  When they asked to discontinue their coaching with me, I agreed with them 100%.

Why?

The coaching style had nothing to do with it. The client was excited on the phone, I gave them fabulous ideas, I told them what they needed to do but when it came time to pass the torch to them, the torch sizzled out and died.  They didn’t do any follow through, didn’t want to hire a team to implement so therefore nothing got accomplished.  My guess is that they’ll go and hire another coach to learn the exact same thing.

What the coaching client missed was that they were firing themselves.  They had failed in their part of the bargain.  I had provided the strategy but there was zero implementation being done. No one is going to run your business for you unless you specifically hire for THAT position. Hiring a coach or a strategist is getting someone to give you ideas, tell you what to do next but the actually leaping (or walking / running / jogging) is up to YOU.  If you need ACTION, hire someone who can do a combination of both strategy and action or hire a team to work on outsourcing in your company.

So, I lost two coaching clients.  I am not at all upset or embarassed by it because I wanted to learn whether coaching on its own was effective or not and in this particular case, it was not.  It was actually highly ineffective and led to the breakdown of a potentially great scenario.  It also made me realize that I have to be really clear up front with people that I have zero interest in working with non-implementors.

What do you think?  Is coaching one-on-one without aligned action or implementation a waste of time?

Don’t Make This Cheap Outsourcing Mistake

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Feb 16, 2010 in Business Tips, Virtual Assistance | 24 comments

I get a lot of e-mail and I’m betting that you do too.  Lately, I’ve taken to unsubscribing from nearly every publication that I get e-mailed to me.  If it’s another pointless newsletter filled with salesy garbage, I don’t want it.  There is enough of that “stuff” circling the web as it is.

Today, as I was going through my e-mail, I received yet another newsletter.  Going through the motions to unsubscribe, I realized that this one was different.

This one had my e-mail address, and a group of others, in the “To:” line of the e-mail.  Realizing that my contact details were exposed, I scrolled down to the unsubscribe button and clicked it… only to realize that I was met with a Constant Contact “Test Message Only” error.  Turns out, I was forwarded a test e-mail that someone had generated from Constant Contact… I couldn’t even unsubscribe.

Scrolling back up, I noticed that the e-mail was in fact forwarded from the e-mail address that the test had gone to.  Not only was this particular e-mail not in compliance of CAN-SPAM laws, it was just a messy way to get a message across to your audience!

After realizing all of this, I sent the following e-mail to the company’s owner:

“Please remove me from this mailing list immediately.  Your unsubscribe button doesn’t work because this was sent out as a test instead of an actual e-mail.  If you have an assistant looking after this, he/she may want to know that it’s against CAN-SPAM laws to not allow unsubscribe from your e-mail list.

Also, my e-mail address was exposed (as were your other recipients) in the “To:” line of your e-mail.  I don’t want my contact details shared with anyone that I do not share them with as I get too much e-mail as it is.  Exposing my details goes against CAN-SPAM’s privacy laws.

Hopefully you understand that these suggestions don’t come from a place of negativity but being an Internet marketer, I do my best to inform people about the things that are happening in their business that may not be compliant.”

The owner of the company promptly wrote back an apology, which was appreciated and included the following line:

“I have an intern from the college i teach at doing this and will look into it.”

This is where I stopped in my tracks to write this blog post.

Too many business owners are cutting costs in the WORST place in their business — their operations. Instead, they pour buckets and buckets of money into coaching, info-products, training, seminars, networking events, etc. and they scour the Internet looking for CHEAP outsourcing.

Why?

When we’re investing in more information, more training, more networking and we’re lacking on the investment back in the business’ core, things WILL fall apart when your momentum picks up.  Or, you won’t have time to implement 3/4 of what you learn so it becomes a waste of capital.

The worst part is, when all of the mistakes happen, the messy business operations happen and the business’ image is flawed (as the above example shows) the business owner places the blame on their team.  The very team that they went cheap with because the value of that particular service, to the business owner, just wasn’t there.

When you invest in your team, think about the fact that they are your core.  They maintain your operations.  They make sure that your professional image is carried through everything you do.  Outsource cheaply and you cheapen your image.

Luckily for this particular business owner, I was willing to point out where the errors had gone wrong and how they were in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act.  Had I been someone who didn’t care as much about informing them or who was really irritated over the situation, it could have gone very sour.  That business owner could have lost their right to their Constant Contact account, their ability to send out e-mails without being blacklisted and who knows what else.

However, this is just my opinion… what do you think?  Do you think outsourcing cheaply cheapens your business or do you think budgeting this area is important?

P.S. — I’ve been told that this video has helped people understand the value of outsourcing. Check it out:

How Can I Afford Outsourcing? (Video)

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Jul 28, 2009 in Business Tips, Videos | 12 comments

A new video from Erin Blaskie… The drawing in this video is by far the best part

It answers the question: “How can I afford outsourcing?” or “How can I justify paying someone else to do something that I can easily do?”

Or, watch it here on our YouTube channel.

Metromom Online Success Telesummit – Must Attend!

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Apr 27, 2009 in blog, Events | 2 comments

I’m really excited to be one of the speakers at the upcoming Metromom Online Success Telesummit. I’m one of 18 experts giving information on how to maximize your time and energy with knock-out internet marketing strategies.

My talk is about: Virtual Assistants: Delegate For Greater Success

I will share the following tips:

• Learn how hiring a VA saves you money
• Discover what kind of tasks your VA should be doing
• What you need to do BEFORE hiring a VA
• How to find a great VA
• Learn how much delegating tasks will cost you

This is a virtual event that takes place on May 1st and 2nd. And the best part is that it’s f.r.e.e! You can go to this page to learn more about it and watch a great video by MetroMom Founder, Kim DeYoung

Ps – Here’s a quick audio message about the specifics of my talk.

[tags]Metromom Online Success Telesummit, mompreneur, Kim DeYoung, MetroMom, virtual assistant, virtual assistants, virtual assistance, delegate, outsource, delegation, outsourcing[/tags]