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  • How Virtual Assistants Gave Me a Life Again!

HI <<First Name>>
When I first started as an entrepreneur 10 years ago I constantly asked this question of other entrepreneurs :
 
"Knowing what you know now, if you had to start over again what would you do differently?"

However, over the past several years I've noticed people now asking me that same question and my answers are slightly different, perhaps more tech oriented. 
 
There are, of course, several things I would do differently, but my top two answers are always this:
 
1. I would start building my  "client list" right from the start; and
2. I would have stopped trying to do everything myself. 
 
#1 is easy!  Start an email list as soon as you can. I didn't, and I missed out on several people who would have been interested in my services and products. 
 
#2 - Stop trying to do everything myself  -  allow me to elaborate on this.
 
When I was first starting out, I wanted to do everything myself. Everything. I thought it was a necessary sacrifice as an entrepreneur to fill all of the roles required of my business - so I tried to figure it all out on my own. All of the technical stuff. I did all of the design work. I tried to figure out all of my quickbooks. It was stressful, it wasn't very fun and I wasn't spending as much time doing what I really wanted to do, which was interacting with my customers.
 
After learning the hard way; I primarily learned from the example of others, that instead of trying to do everything, take advantage of Virtual Assistants for work that you either don't know how to do, or don't want to do, to those that enjoy and excel at those specific functions.
 
Often times, those specialists can do those things much better and faster than we can. Whether it's part-time or full-time work,  virtual assistants (VAs), a website where you can find hired help for one-off tasks, or even just asking a family member, friend or colleague for a favor; allowing people to help will rapidly accelerate the growth of your business. 
 
I will tell you, however, that even though I eventually learned about VAs and asking for help, I still was quite reluctant at first. It took me a while to get used to the idea of "handing off my baby" to someone else. Whether it was it was a trust issue, or stubborn pride getting in the way, it felt counter intuitive at first to let someone else do the work that I thought I should be doing. 
 
Now, I currently run my business with the help of multiple VA's, and several "experts" who are on call when I need specific things done. For example, a graphic designer when I need some graphic work done, or a quick books assistant for my quarterly taxes.
 
Here are a few resources that I've used in the past  to locate virtual assistants and other services for tasks.

www.guru.com
www.fiver.com
www.taskrabbit.com
 
I hope this helps!  Wishing you all the best <<First Name>>
 
-Ray


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