Just yesterday I was on the phone with an amazing business man. I met him at the biznik BizJamSeattle2008 a couple of weeks ago, and was really impressed with his work, attitude and obvious success.

So we were chatting to get to know each other better and see if there might be some synergy or strategic partnering potential.

He does fascinating work around helping entrepreneurs recognize and harness their strengths—and let go of limiting beliefs—to achieve success. What struck me was that about 30 minutes into our conversation I ran straight into a big wall of his limiting beliefs…!

We were talking, and I mentioned something about having my Virtual Assistants (VA’s) take care of a task for me. And you know what he said???

“I’ve been thinking about hiring a VA, but I have a really hard time figuring out what I can let go.”

I almost sprayed a mouthful of hot tea all over my monitor! Here’s a clearly successful guy with a thriving business helping others let go of their limiting beliefs to achieve success, and he’s got a doozy himself!!

Frankly, if someone asked me for just one piece of advice I could give other small business owners, it’d be “Outsource everything you can, as soon as you can (and no matter what your budget, or income, or field, you CAN start outsourcing right now)!”

How do I know? Because I’ve lived on both sides of the coin.

I grew up working in my parent’s animal hospital (definitely as cool as it sounds  ), and my mother was a firm believer that if you wanted something done right you had to do it yourself. So, like most small business owners, I struggled to do it all myself in my first three businesses.

When I did finally start trying to outsource, I had worse luck finding good people than I did finding quality to men to date in my early twenties.

I hired a bookkeeper who didn’t keep my books…An accountant who was always nine months late filing my taxes…A copywriter whose work I had to completely rewrite…

The list goes on, and the experience was bad enough to make me stop outsourcing for almost nine months!

In hindsight I think part of the problem was that, although I knew I needed to lighten my workload, deep down I still believed I had to do it all myself.

Plus, in the beginning it was a bit of a cool challenge to learn it all. So I was having fun being the copywriter, marketer, bookkeeper, accountant, sales person, Web designer, admin assistant, shopping cart administrator and email autoresponder expert (just to name the biggies!).

Then the clients started rolling in, and it wasn’t long before I was also overworked, overstressed, exhausted, in pain from sitting at a computer all day, and not making enough money.

On top of that I had zero time to focus on getting out of this rut. So I and kept pushing forward and making it happen. I lasted almost 3 years before burn out set in hard.

Finally, I hired a part-time assistant for 4 hours a week (it was all I could afford). This helped, but it wasn’t enough. I was unhappy and unhealthy because I didn’t have time for the things I enjoy, and my hubby was feeling neglected.

It was time to take stock and redesign my business so I could work less and make more. Otherwise I was not going to last.

So I committed to outsourcing everything possible.

Today I have two VA teams, a bookkeeper, an accountant, a graphic designer, a couple copywriters, a print production team, and a Web developer who all do work for me.

I’ve reduced my work hours by 30% AND increased revenues by 35%, while only paying about 15% more than I was before.

So if you’re still doing it all…STOP! You don’t have to. Even if you have very little cash, you can afford to hire a VA to work a couple hours a week.

You’ll be amazed at what they can get done in a short amount of time. And at what YOU can get done once you have the stuff you’re not good at off your plate.

The best part is, you don’t have to pay taxes or guarantee anyone a certain amount of hours each week. Plus, they come pre-trained and only bill you for the minutes they work on your projects.

Wondering what you can hand off to a VA?

I say outsource anything you hate doing, are not good at, never seem to get to, or that someone else can do faster or cheaper than you can.

Here’s a short list of what my VA’s do for me…

Blog design and updates, press release submissions, setting up and maintaining social networking sites, Website updates, building mini-sites, online article submissions, buying and mailing gifts for clients, handling emails when I’m out of town, shopping cart management, online research, data entry…The list goes on.

Finding a great VA is as simple as doing a Goggle search

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you look for your new VA…

• Some VA’s specialize in certain software or tasks, so have an idea of what you need first.
• It’s best to hire a VA who has more than one person on their team. That way if they have an emergency your business doesn’t come to a screeching halt.
• Just like hiring an employee, check references and ask to see samples of their work before you hire them.
• It’s best to create standardized task lists with details of how you like things done. That way there’s no confusion. And if you have to switch VA’s you already have everything documented.
• A good VA will charge anywhere from $35-60 depending on their skill level. Though it seems expensive, since they only charge for the minutes they’re working on your project (and most are really fast because they do these tasks day in and day out) you can a lot done for a little money.

If you haven’t started outsourcing, I’d love to know what’s stopping you…

If you already use a VA, I’d love to know how it’s been going for you and any tips you have for outsourcing effectively…

And if you hire a VA in the near future, let me know how it works for you…

Please leave your comments below!

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