Building Your Virtual Dream Team

Growth By Delegation: Building Your Virtual Dream Team

Being a solopreneur is a bit like riding a roller coaster. There are plenty of ups and downs, you don’t know what’s next after each turn and it’s exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time.

It can also be exhausting.

Imagine one person working in and managing every department in a Fortune 500 company.

That is what it’s like being a solopreneur.

You are the Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

You must play the role of:

CEO
COO
Secretary
Bookkeeper
Sales and Marketing
Manager
Strategist
Human Resources
Web Designer
Graphic Designer

Just to name a few.

If you want to create any kind of scalable business, you cannot continue flying solo for long.

Inevitably overwhelm will strike. Like a distracted juggler, you will begin dropping the many balls you have in the air. Clients will become agitated and possibly leave. You will quickly find yourself working 16 hours or more, 7 days a week.

And then…total burnout.

That was me about 3 years into my business. It wasn’t pretty. And it was nothing of what I expected running my own business to be.

I envisioned working whenever I wanted, making TONS of money and being able to unplug and not have to worry.

I was seriously disillusioned.

My salvation came in the form of a strong team of Virtual Professionals who now manage the many facets of my company.

Building a Team of Virtual Professionals.

A Virtual Professional is a business owner who works as an independent contractor. The term virtual indicates they work remotely. Virtual Professionals vary in skills, expertise and price.

The benefits of a virtual team are many.

There is generally no extra overhead. Virtual Professionals are business owners. They provide their own office space and their own equipment. Unless you require specific items for your business (software, phone numbers, etc.) there is no extra overhead when working with Virtual Professionals.

Let’s examine a cost analysis between a full-time employee versus a Virtual Professional:

Table data from https://www.vanetworking.com/virtual-assistant-cost-comparison

You only pay for the time they work. Depending on the role needed, you can contract for a set number of hours each month, or on a per project basis.
No more paying for an employee to sit at their desk twiddling their thumbs because there is no work to be done.
You can save thousands of dollars a year working with Virtual Professionals versus hiring employees.
Less downtime. When you build the right virtual dream team, many of your team members will either have their own backup or can backup each other if someone gets sick or goes on vacation. This means less downtime and work will continue.

Example: A couple of weeks ago, my daughter was in the hospital for a week very ill. My team stepped in and completely managed my business leaving me with very little that needed my immediate attention. This allowed me to focus my time and energy on healing my child while knowing my business was running smoothly and efficiently without me.

Projects get done faster. Working with a team means projects can be broken into multiple pieces for a speedier completion time.

More experience. Having a team of experienced Virtual Professionals at your disposal means you also get the benefits of their experience versus just one individual. For example, my team has over 20 years combined experience working in the online world.

Types of Virtual Professionals

Virtual Professionals come in many different shapes and sizes. This allows you to pick and choose based on your individual needs.

Virtual Assistant. Probably the most common type of Virtual Professional, a Virtual Assistant or VA is here to be your main go-to assistant as a solopreneur. They can assist with business building, technical aspects, being a gatekeeper and more.

There are two main types of Virtual Assistants.

General Virtual Assistant – A General Virtual Assistant (often referred to as a General VA or a GVA) is usually where a new VA starts. The skills they acquire from years as an administrative professional can be well put to use as a General VA. General VAs can provide support to a wide variety of professionals such as CEOs, lawyers, business owners and other entrepreneurs.
Technical Virtual Assistant – A Technical Virtual Assistant (often known as a Tech VA or Techie) provides more in-depth support to their clients. They work on the website, put together sales and marketing funnels, send out emails and newsletters and so on. As the name states, they have the ability to manage all of the technical aspects of a business.
The Jack/Jill of All Trades - A third category of Virtual Assistant could be the Jack or Jill of all trades. These VAs have a little knowledge in a lot of areas, but they don't necessarily have strong skills in these areas. They can combine the general VA with the Tech VA and may even have some skillsets of the specializations. As the saying goes, these VAs are the "Jacks and Jills of all trades, master of none."
Online Business Manager – An Online Business Manager (or OBM) acts as a Chief Operations Officer for a company. The OBM becomes your right hand. They manage your projects, your teams, even you. They are monitoring ROI and watching stats and analytics. They help to create strategies and systems and ensure Standard Operating Procedures are created and are being adhered to.
Project Manager – A Project Manager does exactly what the title says. They manage a single project. They will create the strategy, build or manage the team members, and ultimately see the project go from idea to reality.
Web Designer - A true Web Designer solely works on websites. They can create from the simplest to the most complex of websites. They have a wide range of skills and ideas and are generally very creative.
Social Media Manager - Like a web designer, a true Social Media Manager specializes in ONLY social media. They know the ins and outs of growing your fan base, creating ads that convert and sparking engagement.Social media is much more than just posting content. While a Virtual Assistant can write content and post it online, a true social media manager creates strategies, measures ROI and monitors engagement.
Copywriters - It takes a special skill to become a valued copywriter. Not everyone can write copy that converts. Sales pages, website copy and even email follow-ups need a special knowledge if you want it to convert to sales. Even in the copywriting industry, there are levels. Not all copywriters can create incredible sales copy. And not all sales copywriters can write inspiring blog posts.
Coaches – Coaches are often left out of the Virtual Professional category but are one of the most important pieces to a successful company. A business coach can objectively see your business, and help to pull from you what is necessary to manage and scale your operations. They are your strongest advocate and your voice of reason. Ask any successful CEO and you can be sure they have at least one type of coach/advisor in their court.

While you may not need all of these team members in the beginning, you will at some point have need for most of them on your journey.

The two most important members for your team starting out will be the Virtual Assistant and a coach. The coach will guide you on your path to growth and the Virtual Assistant will be the one doing the work to get you there.

Before the tidal wave of overwhelm floods your world, begin building your virtual dream team. Start small and add as you grow. But you must start somewhere.

About the Author

Tracey Osborne is a woman on a mission. As the CEO of Daring Woman, Tracey is determined to make a difference in as many lives as she can…by empowering women on a global scale to unleash their inner strength and let their voices be heard.

Tracey Osborne

CEO Daring Woman, Inc. tracey@daringwomaninc.com www.daringwomaninc.com