Your Virtual Business Manager will help create a better business by giving you your time back, while building sustainable operations.
- By freeing you up from the noise in your business so you can concentrate on the tasks and projects that will increase your profitability.
- By supporting your operations with documented systems and procedures, building a scalable foundation on which you can grow.
In this article we’ll clarify the role of your VBM so you can decide if hiring one is the right decision for you and your business.
Your Virtual Business Manager is responsible for the following areas of your business:
Project Management
Your VBM is responsible for ensuring successful project outcomes. Ultimately their role is to ensure the right tasks get done, by the right people, in the right way, by the right time.
This includes:
- Initiating, planning, delegating, executing, monitoring and closing projects to meet deliverables
- Creating project plans that detail timelines, processes, resources, and people
- Setting-up and/or maintaining your online project management system
- Delegating project tasks to the appropriate team members
- Communicating project status updates and ongoing details
- Managing project budgets and any scope creep
- Handling challenges as they arise and finding solutions quickly
Team Management
Successful, healthy relationships are key to every profitable business. Maintaining internal and external relationships is a key aspect of your VBMs role. This includes:
- Building team culture, motivation and morale
- Keeping a pulse on day-to-day team activities, tasks and communications
- Identifying your team’s needs based on current goals and projects
- Determining what type of specialist would be the best fit
- Managing hiring, onboarding, firing and off-boarding processes
- Creating communication plans and allocating resources to new team members
- Promoting alignment, focus, simplicity, and clarity across the organisation
- Modelling the company values to promote a healthy organisational culture
- Leading the team and holding everyone accountable
- Resolving conflict in a practical and healthy manner using a coaching approach
- 90 Day Reviews (for long term) or End of Project Reviews (for project only)
- Managing team budgets and expenses
- Providing support and finding solutions when challenges arise
Strategic Management
Not every entrepreneur’s zone of genius lies in metrics and strategy. Having a VBM who’s responsible for measuring, planning and reporting ensures that you are on track. If not, knowing the numbers in a timely fashion gives you the power to implement new ideas and actions to get back on track.
Your VBM manages all things metrics, strategy, and reporting to define measures of success for individual roles. This ensures that goals are well defined, communicated, and achieved. They’re in charge of:
- Tracking and interpreting important data based on the company’s goals and key initiatives
- Keeping track of key statistics for your business
- Setting up a reporting system that includes what to track
- Analysing metrics and discussing trends/patterns with you regularly
- Executing business plans, achieving or exceeding established P&L objectives
- Developing short and long-term goals for performance and growth strategies
- Translating your vision to day-to-day tactical projects and functional plans
- Delivering a ‘road map’ on how to hit specific business goals
- Ensuring your procedures are “followed by all”
Systems Management
Also known as operations management, a VBM takes care of managing your systems and processes required for daily operations to run smoothly. They’re in charge of:
- Overseeing systems for billing, client relationships, workflow and communications
- Managing all payments and collections processes
- Managing systems access and login information
- Ensuring there is an effective backup system in place for all information
- Establishing decision-making guidelines for team members
- Documenting, streamlining, extracting and optimising business systems
- Reviewing key systems needed to run the business
- Setting up high level systems and processes
- Implementing automated business tools and software to manage various systems
- Creating and managing of SOPs
How your Virtual Business Manager will help create a better business
Emotionally, a VBM is a partner in your business. A sounding board who will keep you both focused and accountable for what you need to do in order to build a more profitable business.
They are very much vested in your success and committed to the journey ahead. Most importantly, they take the noise out of your day so you can focus on moving forward. On living a more balanced work life.
A VBM will improve your time management by:
- Bringing a solutions approach to issues, getting to the bottom of problems and removing obstacles and barriers
- Reviewing where you are spending their time and working with you to make sure you’re working in your genius zone
- Proactively taking tasks off your plate
- Acting as your gatekeeper
At the end of the day you get…
- A decision maker: Someone who can make day to day decisions on your behalf, with confidence that they’re acting on your best interest. It will avoid unwarranted delays and bottlenecks in your business.
- A trusted partner: Someone who cares about your business, is excited by new prospects and is invested in achieving success. A key member of your team.
