Scale Your Business Beyond Yourself – Rebekah Radice

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With many On Track Tip subscribers tackling marketing, product development, and sales — while trying to build a natural social media presence on the side — a virtual assistant (VA) can be the answer to “How the heck can I possibly get everything done and still have a life?”

But, wait!

It also takes extra time and effort to train and supervise a VA, and you will need clear systems in place to put the extra help to good use.

The key?

Knowing how to scale your business in a way that’s simple, systematic, and manageable on a long-term basis.

But how? 

Watch this On Track Tips interview. Hear Rebekah Radice describe how to scale your business beyond yourself.

Things to consider when getting ready to scale your business …

Are you willing to change?

Rebekah once owned a brick-and-mortar mortgage company and managed over 100 employees. She realized, though, that her heart was turned towards marketing, not management. She made a tough decision and decided to get out of the mortgage industry and pursue an online business that could hold her interest.

Seeing the type of help she needed had changed, she began to consider the idea of hiring virtual assistants to plug the gaps and augment her own talents.

How to get started with delegation

Rebekah’s first experience with a VA didn’t work well. She wanted one person to handle a wide variety of tasks, but quickly determined it would be best to chunk out the jobs and hire specific people for specific tasks.

How to begin:

1. List the various tasks your business requires
2. Decide which you want to delegate
3. Create a list of duties and outcomes for each
4. Determine the skill set the right person (VA) would require
5. Identify potential areas of conflict and determine how to avoid them

To determine which tasks to delegate, take an honest look at your own abilities. Where do you not perform at “your highest and best”? Those are the things you should pass on to a VA.

Then identify the two or three things that, when done, would “explode your business results” … if you could attend to them every day. Those are the things YOU should focus on.

The myriad little tasks tend to serve as distractions and excuses. Let’s say you are in sales. The best use of your time is to call on your top five prospects. That can be a scary proposition, though. You are risking rejection.

So you busy yourself with answering email, posting on social media — all those things that could easily be delegated — while the most valuable work goes undone.

How to Develop a System that Works for your Business

More than likely, your system is already in place. To identify it, monitor everything you do for 3-5 days. Note every task and the steps involved. That will not only reveal your system, but it will help you identify areas where you can increase efficiency.

Training is key – don’t just throw a document or idea at your virtual assistants and expect them to run with it. Take time to walk through each step in the process and be clear on expectations.

You should also develop a plan for communications, set the accountability process, and make sure each team member knows what is expected, when it is expected, and how it should be delivered.

It all boils down to this: Hire right and train right.

From there, you need to have faith that you chose the right people and they can do the job well.

How do you know when it is time to scale beyond yourself

When you get to the point where you are totally overwhelmed, you are juggling WAY too many things, and there are too many people tugging at you — you know it is time to scale your business beyond yourself.

You are going to have to make an investment in your business, but you can start small. You can take baby steps. If fear is holding you back, you need to take a look at it. You need to be able to devote yourself entirely to the process; you need to be “all in.”

There will be some tasks you can outsource at a low cost, but there will be other tasks where quality is an issue (copywriting and design, for instance), and you need to go with the best you can afford.

To find the best VA’s, ask your friends for referrals. It is a lot easier to hire and trust someone if they are recommended by someone you trust.

It was great visiting with the magnificent Rebekah Radice. Want more? Check out the video and learn how to successfully scale your business beyond yourself.

About Rebekah: She’s regarded as one of the top social media mavens anywhere, and she has worked with a wide range of clients — from Fortune 500 companies to small business owners. Rebekah Radice was listed as one of the Top 100 Social Media and Technology Leaders in 2014, by Inman News, and as one of the top 40 Social Media Professionals of 2013.

Radice is a classic example of someone who’s turned her mistakes into lessons and now shares what she learned. Her in-depth knowledge and transparency left our audience demanding more, and her experience shows that yes, passion and persistence pay off … big time.

About wisersites

Host of "Get on Track, Stay on Track" weekly interview series, helping your small business one expert at a time.And CEO of Wiser Sites, a general contractor and marketing agency - connecting your customers with your products.