Happy 2020! At the time of publishing, we are a few weeks into this year, and while a bit of the shine starts to wear off at this point, there’s still some excitement about what is possible in the next 12 months. The year ahead is still a fairly blank page, waiting for us to record our goals, our plans, and our achievements as they arise.
Sometimes, we can exhaust ourselves with all those fabulous ideas we develop in a new year. Sometimes they’re so big, and we try to get so much done, so quickly, that we - not the idea - start to fail. One of the many reasons why New Year’s Resolutions do frequently peter out is that we expect too much of ourselves all too soon, or we go far too deep into something we should have backed off of earlier. Before you sink too deeply down any given path, please do head back to our still relevant 2017 article How to try new things without burning out and going broke featuring the all-Canadian, endlessly useful, Hudson’s Bay Start. Keep those goals - and yourself - on track!
At Admin Slayer, one of our goals is to provide you with information, motivation, and inspiration that helps you move forward successfully in your business. Throughout 2019, we spent our time researching, thinking about, and sharing information on resilience: the ability to adapt well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, or stress.
While we know this is a topic with virtually no end, 2020 is a new page for all us, so we’re turning in another direction for this year, taking an in-depth look at specific types of businesses and the transformation that is possible with the support of expert administration.
The question we are constantly asked, by people considering working with Admin Slayer, by people we run into in our travels, by strangers in the streets is:
How do I work with a virtual assistant?
Since we live and breathe it every day, it seems obvious to us, but of course, since you don’t, it may not seem obvious to you.
Perhaps you’ve tried to use a virtual assistant before, but got hung up on actually delegating in a meaningful way, or found that the skills match just wasn’t appropriate.
You may not even know what an assistant is capable of, or how you would go about handing off all the things you’ve always done yourself. It may surprise you to know that many tasks that are unique to your profession - as unique as they are - still don’t need to be completed by you.
For many business owners, the idea of working with a great virtual assistant is as magical and unattainable as catching a unicorn. It sounds fantastic, but when it comes right down to it, figuring out the how is basically impossible.
The truth is, the way you work with a virtual assistant, or a team of expert administrators (like us!) is going to be unique as you and your business. This is why it’s a difficult concept to wrap a mind around, and since you’re laser-focused on running your business, and being an expert in your field, this idea can become far too much to deal with, and it floats away.
We know, and want you to know, that you don’t have to figure out the “how”. You just need to communicate the “what,” and we’ll use our expert skills - because this is where we shine - to figure out the “how” and then implement it. This year, we’re going to show you exactly what that looks like, in the best way possible:
With stories.
We know that our readers, like all readers, love stories. You love stories about the slayers - our most read articles each month are the ones focused on the outstanding people on our team. Stories are how we learn, how we understand, and how we connect.
We are taking a case study approach to this year’s series of articles, using examples of real clients we actually work with. For their privacy, we’ve removed all identifying characteristics and proprietary information. We’ve made up names, mixed up vocations, and created composites of several businesses in the same vertical. We may be sharing our secrets, but we don’t want to share theirs. Rest assured, however, that we are describing actual business problems and the tangible solutions we’ve developed - and executed.
Stay tuned throughout all of 2020 for actionable insights for:
Financial advisors
Realtors
Coaches
Consultants
Manufacturers
Retailers
and many, many more!
We invite you to peek into the worlds of industries outside of your own, in addition to those that seem more familiar - because innovation often comes from taking one idea from over here and applying it over there, where no one ever considered placing it before.
