Keeping Things Simple for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners

Online, February 1, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Answering phones. Reviewing emails. Invoicing clients. Updating websites. For many entrepreneurs, the daily grind of running a business is getting in the way of doing business. But according to one local virtual assistant, a small business owner can focus on profitable business tasks by simplifying their to-do list.

"Most entrepreneurs didn't start their business thinking about all the time wasters they would need to do to keep the business running," says Staci Jansma, owner of Your Online 24/7 Virtual Assistant in Lakefield. "By outsourcing those things to a virtual assistant, you will reduce stress - and focus on work that actually brings in money - and the things that you love to do."

Virtual assistants (VAs) are professional office assistants who provide office services and support without being physically present by using the Internet, fax, and telephone. Since much of their work is done online, they can work locally or globally. Founded in May 2009, StaciJansma.com offers a variety of services including promotional marketing through articles and press releases, e-commerce solutions for your shopping cart setup including autoresponders and affiliate programs, transcription for audio and video, setup of social media community, and administrative services.

According to Jansma, the benefits of outsourcing to a qualified VA are plentiful. VAs only charge for actual time worked. VAs use their own equipment so there is no wear and tear on your office equipment, nor is there a need for special equipment.

In honor of "Simplify Your Life," for the month of February, she offers the following steps to discover what to outsource:

1. Figure out what your time is actually worth. "Whether you bill hourly or not, you need to start by figuring out how much your hourly rate is," says Jansma.

2. Assess how many hours you are spending on non-revenue generating tasks. She suggests taking a few days and actually writing down every task done, and how long it takes to do. "Once you have this task/time list, look at which items are helping you build revenue," she says. Usually reading/answering emails, answering phones, scheduling, etc., do not generate income. Try to stay organized and go through your email inbox daily. I designate folders and assign non-important emails to be sent there so I do not even have to spend one second on those emails until I need to. So if you know there is 5 emails during your day that you do not even have to read make a folder and assign a rule to have that email automatically transferred into the folder so it is marked for you as "xxx" folder. This will help you in the long run.

3. Calculate how many more billable hours you can have. "Take your non-revenue generating tasks and times and multiple them by what you estimate your time is worth," she says. "Most people are quite surprised by the amount of money that they are 'using' up."

4. Find a VA to do those tasks. "Delegating those tasks to a VA is cheaper in the long run, and allows you to spend more time working on building your business," says Jansma. Find someone that can help you with the task that are time busters and being delegating to gain back some of your time to put towards what you love to do and helps you to generate more income.