Create a 'virtual' business: 4 ways

Q: Steve, How do I spend less time on time-sapping administrative chores that I dislike—and more time running my business? I own a one-woman shop and can't get everything done! — Sue

A: It is highly ironic. You went into business for yourself because you wanted more freedom (among other reasons) and you ended up with less freedom.

You are not alone.

Yours is a trap many small- business people fall into: Although they dreamed about starting their own business, they find, usually a couple of years in, that they have created a job for themselves, not a business. Not quite a nightmare but not exactly a dream.

Even worse: They have a demanding boss who won't give them any time off!

The solution? Create a "virtual company." I am not suggesting that you go out and hire a slew of full-time people that you can't afford. Instead, what I want you to consider is hiring a couple of part-timers or as-needed people to do the work you don’t like doing.

This plan offers a variety of benefits:

• It frees you up to do what you do best, so you end up enjoying your business more.


• It frees you up to create more business, and business guru Peter Drucker says that is what we should be doing with 80% of our time anyway.


• It will mean your business is run more professionally.

Even better: If done right, creating a virtual company will not cost you money, it will make you money. In the short term, the plan costs you a little money, but soon it pays off, big time.

Here is how you do it:

1. Start with a part-time (or full-time) real employee. You begin to free yourself from the drudgery by bringing in someone to handle those mundane tasks that take too much of your time. Remember the 80-20 rule. If 80% of your profits come from 20% of your efforts, hiring someone to handle the most time-consuming of tasks immediately makes you more effective.

Get someone to handle the stuff you dislike. If finances are your weak spot, hire someone to do your books. If you don’t like sales, get a salesperson.

Here’s an example: I spend a lot of time online. But one thing I do not enjoy and in fact find frustrating is the day-to-day management of my Web site. For years it was an easy one-man operation, but as the site grew and became more popular, I found myself spending more time working on it, and less time creating good content or finding great partners. So although we offer great content, ample freebies, and get plenty of traffic, the actual process of managing all of that content became increasingly tiresome.

Finally, I hired a Webmaster. She has completely redone my site, and made it far more interesting and usable. What took me so long?

2. Go virtual.: If hiring an actual assistant is out of the question for some reason, then the next option would be to look at hiring a virtual assistant. Between e-mail, instant chat, cell phones, and Web sites, working with someone remotely is easy. A virtual assistant can take on all sorts of administrative duties which, again, frees you up for more important things.

Make a list of some projects in which you could really use some help. It could be a simple as having someone handle the books and do the invoicing or having someone handle e-mails and other correspondence. The point is, for say, $15 or $25 an hour you can really create some additional time for yourself.

3. Look at your other needs.: Outsourcing is all the rage because it works. Getting assistance (or assistants) on an as-needed basis enables you to run a far more professional company while offering clients better service for which you probably should charge more.

Consider outsourcing the following:

• Reception: Most small shops have no receptionist and rely exclusively on voice mail. Hiring a telephone reception company is inexpensive but makes you look big.


• Graphic design: Projects that need panache can be helped by hiring a pro.


• Sales: Commissioned salespeople can be found for any industry. They increase the bottom line, but you don’t pay until they produce.

4. Put it all together.: By putting together a team that offers professional services as you need them and as your business grows, you become a more polished, successful entrepreneur. The final thing I would suggest is that you find some sort of powerful project management solution, such as Microsoft SharePoint that allows everyone to communicate with one another easily.