I’m about to go on stage at a speaking engagement to talk about how small businesses can simplify and streamline marketing. They’re announcing my name, talking about my experience and giving a preview of all the cool things I’m going to talk about. Then my phone rings. It’s someone I know so I pick up. Here’s what he says, “Where are you?”
“What do you mean where am I?” I reply as the announcer runs down my educational accomplishments.
“I’m at Starbucks waiting for you. It’s been 15 minutes since we said we would meet.”
At that moment I vowed to hire someone to manage my schedule. It has not been easy. I’ve run into some psycho people who just want to take the money and run. But I’ve taken away a few pointers that will save you time and money and since we’re cool I’m sharing them with you today.
- Break down each and every process into steps. To conduct this step you’ll have to do it yourself, slowly and painstakingly. It sucks but the payoff is huge. So stay with it.
- Give a time estimate for each step. It’s critical to do this because it affects how many hours you’ll need someone each week or each month.
- Make a video showing what you want done. There are several tools you can use to video capture your screen as you’re conducting the work you’d like your assistant to do. This helps with training should you need to hire another person. It also cuts down on pesky questions (which I hate!) that are a part of the process when on-boarding a new person.
- Use a wiki or intranet site to keep everything in one place. This is the landing spot for all of your assistant-related content. This can help greatly with cutting down on pesky, interruptive questions that were once the bane of my existence as a side hustler.
- Always Be Hiring. Develop a system so that you can fire one assistant and hire a new one without a disruption in your business. My motto is, ABH (Always Be Hiring). The videos and the intranet site could definitely help with that.
I’m holding an online training session about this. I plan on revealing my desktop and all of the resources I use to make this system work for me. By the way, I’ve never had one of those “Where are you?” calls again.
Lisa D. Sparks is a marketing expert with 13 years of experience developing and implementing marketing communications solutions for small and medium sized businesses. Lisa uses her expertise to teach small organizations in South Florida how to use technology to maximize the power of relationship marketing. She is experienced in providing guidance, instruction, and comprehensive planning advice for the development, growth, and expansion of new and existing businesses. An award-winning business strategist and accomplished speaker, Lisa educated more than 3,000 people on the power of relationship marketing in 2010. http://www.LisaDSparks.com
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