When you see your entrepreneur friends leaving for yet another vacation, or taking their kids to classes or sports events, or posting those darn pictures on Facebook with another sumptuous meal wherever they’re celebrating this time, does it make you mad and maybe a little jealous? It tweaks me too. I think to myself, "now what is it they’ve got going on that I don’t? Is there a husband and his salary in the background? Do they earn so much money they can afford to hire staff who keep the company going while they’re gone?”
My life as an entrepreneur began after 40 years in corporate America. I’ve always been so grateful that my sons were both raised and that the cats didn’t require a whole lot of my time, because, ladies, I hit the decks running with my hair on fire and it hasn’t gone out since 2003!
Like you, I became disenchanted with corporate America and the shenanigans that were often played there. No more. Not for this girl. But corporate America can be easy compared to being an entrepreneur. Working for a corporation, you do one job in one niche. As an entrepreneur, you’re the CEO, the purchasing, marketing, sales and shipping department. You create the product(s) and deliver them. You’re responsible for all the decisions and some days, facing yet another list of decision-making can get you down.
In corporate America, sometimes you can get away with a mere 40 hours a week. Not as an entrepreneur! It requires long days and nights. If you’re lucky, you’ll find a Virtual Assistant to take some of the load off. You’ll create a support team to handle your website, your graphics design, writing your newsletters, developing curriculum, setting up your training copy for your teleseminars.
Sometimes, your spouse doesn’t understand the requirements you have as an entrepreneur. He’s more than likely got support staff where he works, but you can’t just toss a paper at a secretary, can you? And you love him! You want to spend time with him. You want to snuggle with him, and nurture your children, and keep the house clean and the meals tasty.
So, Wonder Woman, what can you do to accomplish all you do, not get frazzled or hospitalized, and look in charge and cool most of the time? Here’s a list of things that can help you make your entrepreneurial duties easier.
- Get yourself a coach: Find someone with the expertise you need to either get organized, become more successful, set up your business. There are thousands of coaches out there and you can find one with the specific skills you need to back you up. Look here: Find A Coach, or Coach Training Alliance. Find a Virtual Assistant: Virtual Assistant comes with many different skill sets, many different niches, and many different prices. You can find inexpensive Virtual Assistant overseas and they may add much more to your workload and time because they don’t fully understand our culture. The Cadillac of Virtual Assistant are trained at Assist U, my Alma Mater. Another splendid organization for finding a VA is IVAA.
- Become More Organized: Some Virtual Assistant are organizational experts, so you can use the links above to ask for help getting more organized.
- Create a Support Team List: The internet has revolutionized business, and it’s just not possible to know everything about every single aspect of your business. You need the help of other experts. Let your VA create this list for you. You’ll want at least two names in each category until you settle on “the one.”
- Use the Right Systems: Automation is ultimately the way you’re going to earn money. Automating as many processes as possible will save you lots of time in the long run. Use an automated calendar; an automated meeting scheduler; faxes that come in to your PC, Mac or iPhone; invoicing and bookkeeping; documentation; policies and procedures, and autoresponders for marketing. A technically-skilled VA can help you find these.
- Be Sure You Have a Social Media presence: It’s a fabulous way for folks to connect with you as you show them who you are. Join groups of like-minded folks. You’ll get tons of ideas from reading the postings of others. A Word of Caution: set a limit to your time out there. It can take you off your path if you’re not careful. I would like to think that you’re sitting under a palm tree with a Mai-Tai as you read this article. No? How about at least in a lovely office where you can look around joyfully at the things you love as you steadfastly carry on with the life and the job you love!
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