Many business owners are a little confused between an Online Business Manager and a Virtual Assistant – they think they’re one and the same. To some extent they are, but there is a role for both types of virtual support professional in your business. And it very much depends on where you’re at in your business.
To put simply, I equate an Online Business Manager with the traditional Office Manager/Executive Personal Assistant in the corporate world; and a virtual assistant with an administrative assistant. I think most people understand these concepts. So in an online business, the Online Business Manager and Virtual Assistant fulfill these same roles.
When you first start out in your business, you typically have very few clients; your marketing strategies are simple; and you have a limited budget. In this situation a Virtual Assistant can fully support you and take some of the basic day-to-day tasks off your plate, leaving you to build and grow your business.
But as you do your job in growing your business – you get more clients, your income increases, you start to offer products and programs – then typically you’ll find yourself not only growing the business and working with clients, but also managing a lot of the day-to-day activities that you shouldn’t really be managing. This shows up in ways such as:
- Knowing that you don’t have enough systems in place, but not having the time to put them together.
- There’s so much going on in your business that you don’t know what’s getting done and what isn’t.
- Delegating work between your Virtual Assistant, your web designer, your graphic designer, or your affiliate manager, and having to constantly check in with them.
- Not having the technical expertise (either yourself or your team) to get your Infusionsoft or 1ShoppingCart account set up properly.
And as a result you become frustrated and overwhelmed, and all the fun goes out of running your projects. A lot of those projects you want to implement, which you know will generate additional revenues for you, are getting put on the back burner because you’re spending most of your time putting out fires.
This is when you need … an Online Business Manager!
In an organizational chart (see graphic), the Online Business Manager will sit between you and your team members. They can see the Big Picture for your business (because they’re big thinker strategists), but they are also be able to break down that picture into step-by-step projects to delegate to your team.
Your Online Business Manager will take responsibility for:
- Project Management – setting up that new online program or membership portal.
- Operations Management – ensuring that your Infusionsoft or 1ShoppingCart account is set up correctly to deliver your automated marketing plan, programs, and products.
- Metrics Management – tracking your stats so you know exactly what’s working in your business and what isn’t.
- People Management – managing the day-to-day tasks of your team members so that you don’t have to.
And your time is freed up to focus on growing your business. The result … your Big Picture gets implemented and your goals are achieved!
Understanding how these various roles fit into an online business will help you determine the best needs for your business. You’ll be able to hire the right team member, at the right time.
And when you have this level of support – someone who understands both business strategy and is very detail oriented – you have a winning combination for growing your business from five figures into six figures and beyond.
