🛑 5 Flashing Red Signs Your Solo Business Deserves this New Resource

Hi there, Solopreneur! I trust you’re having a sensational week, and this issue of Solopreneur Doorway finds you getting ready for a festive December.

This week’s issue is a 4-minute read.

It’s tough to believe that in only 25 days, 2023 will shake our hand and say, “So long and be well.”

Before December disappears, let’s focus on one smart action item:

• Explore the 3 most influential changes you’ll make in your business that will reduce your stress and maximize your productivity in 2024.

Developing this quick 3-item list accomplishes two important objectives:

• First, it identifies the most pressing challenges that create a gap between what you want to achieve and what your sales numbers and net income display.
  

• Second, it keeps you honest about your progress as a solopreneur. It encourages you to find solutions so that your business brings you the freedom you deserve.

I tackle this 3-item planning list each year since I run a business like yours.

I empathize with your rollercoaster weeks.

Coordinating strategy sessions with clients and writing articles on the solopreneur adventure is my second solo venture.

My first was operating a financial investment and consulting practice that I led for 14+ years.

In this second solopreneur venture, I’m still learning where and how I can increase productivity and outsource tasks I don’t want to address (even though they all need expert attention).

📑 As I consider my list of the 3 most important planning decisions for 2024, I look at the post-it note taped to my monitor.

It reads…

“How many hours a week do you work on administrative tasks that take you away from talking to a client, chatting with a prospect, or refining your strategy?”

And so I extend the same question to you and ask that you give an honest answer, okay?

• 3 hours a week?

• 6 hours a week?

• 10 hours a week?

• More?

We both know your skills are unique.

Your clients and customers demand that you help them solve their BIG problem.

Creating and improving your strategy is your most important task.

I call it your MIT.

Yet, each time you divert your time and energy away from your MIT, you know what happens?

• Your strategy stays the same

• Your competition gains leverage in your sandbox

• Your potential clients start to consider other options

• Your future sales begin to disappear

Those outcomes are no good. I know it and you know it.

As you craft your 3-item list I encourage you to look at the

5 Signs It’s Time for You to Hire a Virtual Assistant

🛑 How many of these signs are flashing red in your business?

• ⚠️ Your inbox is overflowing and you don’t get back to folks in the time period you promised (12 to 24 hours)
  

• 👋 You don’t have enough 1:1 chats with potential clients
  

• 💻 You’re missing your production goals (new blogposts per week, new social media posts, starting your newsletter, etc.)
  

• 💵 You’re nervous or unsure about your business finances and you don’t have time to figure out exactly where to spend and where to save
  

• ☹️ You’re exhausted at the end of each day from putting out fires and trying to do more with less

I empathize if you’re facing 1, 2 or all 5 of these challenges.

I started my solo financial practice on my own, and these 5 signs flashed red every week for the first 6 months.

I lived at the office on weekends to catch up on administrative work.

As the business grew, the backlog of administrative work became overwhelming.

⌨️ I spent Saturdays catching up on paperwork, emails, and business development.

📊 I spent Sundays preparing client solutions for the upcoming week.

Working every day was not a good formula for maintaining a healthy life balance or creating a successful business.

😕 I had stress, frustration, and not enough sales to make the money come through the door.

I finally collapsed with a horrible flu and spent five days in bed.

I knew I had to make a change. I needed help.

I needed a virtual assistant.

😲 When I first had the thought of hiring someone to help me with important administrative tasks and interact with clients, I was quite nervous.

There was no way someone else would care as much about the business as I did, and I couldn’t risk making big mistakes with clients.

Plus, I didn’t have the money to hire an assistant.

😃 Fast forward to today → I’ve hired multiple assistants, and in each instance, my business grew and my sales increased.

Clients appreciate timely emails and correspondence.

New prospects like coordinating appointments with a sharp and friendly team member.

The tough question you and I have to address is, ‘why don’t you work with a virtual assistant?’

The two most common objections I hear include:

“I don’t have the money to hire anyone.”

“I don’t trust someone else to help me with important business tasks.”

Both of these reasons are valid, and I empathize.

I’m not privy to your financial situation. I encourage you to run the numbers and try to make it work.

📈 Even 10 to 15 hours per week of help from a smart, tech-savvy, and friendly VA will amplify your business, help your clients, and lower your end-of-day stress.

When you meet a terrific candidate, here are

🔥 3 Essential Tests for Your VA

• Ask the candidate to coordinate a mock online Zoom call with you and a pretend prospect. The VA has to email the prospect about what the first meeting will include and what materials they should prepare for the video call.

  
  

• Ask the candidate to create a dashboard that indicates the key metrics you follow to stay on track toward your goals. The candidate should embrace this dashboard and it’s design.
  

• Ask the candidate to provide two professional references you can chat with about their professional VA experience.

Let’s make 2024 the year you bring a VA into your world!

Have a fantastic week, develop your 3-items, and touch base if you want to chat about the VA world.
[email protected]

🔑Until next week…Stay curious and keep opening doors.

-Erik