What an Online Business Manager Really Does, How It Differs from a Virtual Assistant, and Why Team Support May be What You Need

As the owner of a growing business, you may find yourself overwhelmed managing the day-to-day, managing your team, staring at a smorgasbord of outstanding tasks, all while trying to better serve your clients. This is the perfect time to begin exploring options for support.

How do you know if you need an Online Business Manager (OBM) and/or a Virtual Assistant (VA)?

Finding the right solution for your business can feel daunting. You might be unclear about how an OBM and VA differ, and unsure what is best for you and your business.

What is an OBM?

If you have reached the stage in business where you feel disorganized all the time, you are losing track of deadlines, and you have great ideas that you just haven't been able to turn into a reality, congratulations! It means you have experienced tremendous growth and success!

To get you out of that chaotic state so you can breathe and continue growing, an OBM provides strategic support and creates an action plan that goes beyond basic administration.

The benefit of working with an OBM is having someone with both strategic thinking skills and advanced hands-on skills to manage your business behind the scenes. This includes things like managing team members, leading your day-to-day operations, managing workflows, keeping projects on track, and creating valuable structure behind the scenes.

What is a VA?

A Virtual Assistant (VA) provides day-to-day support that helps keep your business running smoothly. This can include inbox and calendar management, customer communication, a variety of general administrative support, and other regularly occurring tasks.

While an OBM focuses on strategy, systems, and management, a VA focuses on daily execution and smooth ongoing support.

How they work together:

An OBM creates structure by documenting processes and creating SOPs. A VA follows the processes and SOPs, so that important work is done consistently and to the quality you want and expect. Every time.

Together, they create a strong foundation that frees business owners from constantly reacting to daily demands.

One of the benefits is getting you out of the weeds! Then you can focus fully on being the CEO. VA's are skilled team members who can quickly be trained on the regular ongoing tasks which need attention like clockwork.

Another benefit is the mental space that this frees up for you. Your VA is attentive to the ongoing daily, weekly, and monthly tasks that you no longer need to worry about.

You may also hear the term Executive Assistant (EA) and wonder where they fit into the mix. Think of an EA as the bridge between the execution of a VA and the strategy of an OBM.

While a VA handles a breadth of regular ongoing administrative tasks that are essential for the company to run, an Executive Assistant offers higher-level and specialized support. An EA is often considered the trusted right hand of a leader.

Many EA's have strong critical thinking skills and are administrative partners. Teams rely on both EA's and VA's for different reasons. If you don't know what you need, an OBM is qualified to assess your needs and recommend what is best for you.

How do these team members bring value?

• Creating breathing space for overwhelmed entrepreneurs with a vision to grow

• Leading back-end operations and managing your team so you can focus on scaling

• Helping you shift out of constant reacting and into intentional business growth

• Completing one-time projects or providing ongoing monthly support to drive progress forward.

The right team members give you back valuable time and help move you closer to your goals.

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If you're reading this and realize you need an OBM or VA, schedule a Complimentary Discovery Call.

To read more about how to start streamlining to simplify, download my free resource, 5 Ways to Streamline Your Business Operations.