As a business owner, you have to juggle a lot of different things & wear a lot of different hats. Sometimes it’s overwhelming and you find yourself not having enough time to live the life you wanted your business to provide for you. It’s a challenge each of us must face as entrepreneurs but you don’t have to do it all yourself. In fact, you can’t.

So what are you supposed to do?

Well, Chris Ducker (my go-to expert on all things related to outsourcing and virtual assistants) has written a book that will show you exactly how to get the help you need. It’s the most comprehensive book on working with virtual assistants and it’s called Virtual Freedom: How to Work with Virtual Staff to Buy More Time, Become More Productive, and Build Your Dream Business. This is your comprehensive field guide for building and working with a team.

You are not a superhero.

The problem is that you more than likely think you are. Chris calls this “Superhero Syndrome” and it’s rampant in the entrepreneur community. Chris describes this so well in the book…

[pullquote width=”500″ float=”center”]”Your symptoms will no doubt include the following:

• If there’s any money to be saved in doing something yourself, you’ll do it.
• If you don’t know how to do something, you’ll teach yourself.
• You may have the inability to take criticism of any kind.
• You’ll believe that your ideas and concepts are far greater than anyone else’s.
• The word “recharge” will only apply to your cell phone.

After all, your business is your baby and who better to take care of that baby than the person who gave birth to it – you![/pullquote]

Here’s the thing – this will burn you out. It will have you working 16+ hour days and if you’re like me and want more freedom in your life, that’s not what you signed up for. Chris hit burnout hard and he tells his story in the book and how it made him realize that he had to build a team and become a “Virtual CEO” instead of trying to do all the work alone.

The world is your hiring oyster

Most people don’t realize that you can hire a self-employed virtual assistant and that person can be based anywhere in the world. In fact, the cost of living in their home country can greatly impact the amount you’ll pay. Chris lives in the Philippines and runs Virtual Staff Finder, a matchmaking service for entrepreneurs and Filipino virtual assistants. Don’t limit yourself to just the people who live in your city and don’t forget that you can hire a self-employed virtual assistant to work with you as a contractor thus bypassing having to deal with all the things that go along with hiring an employee.

3 lists to freedom

So I know you might be thinking “But what tasks can/should I outsource to a VA?” and that is where the 3 Lists To Freedom exercise comes in.

What have you put on your 3 lists? Keep in mind the often times someone else can do a task faster than you and better than you. The doesn’t say anything about you, it just means that it makes sense to let someone else do it for you! Need some inspiration? Here are 101 tasks you can outsource to a VA.

Finding, training & managing virtual staff

Virtual Freedom is a very actionable step-by-step guide to building your team and it goes into great detail and shows you exactly how to find, train and manage your virtual staff. There really isn’t a stone left unturned and you’ll learn exactly how to do all of this and how others do it.

Stop trying to go at this alone

Why are you trying to do it all alone? I don’t just mean when it comes to doing the work, I also mean building a support team of fellow entrepreneurs who can help you out when you get stuck.

I know exactly how isolating and stressful that can feel because I’ve been there. It can be really tough not having people who fully understand what you do to turn to for advice & support.