As a business owner or entrepreneur in Nigeria, striking a good work life balance may sometimes seem “unattainable” – but this is very possible with the help of a virtual assistant.
Being an entrepreneur can be so difficult in this part of the world – with the ever increasing cost of living, poor infrastructure, bills (including , Local government, LAWMA, LASEPA, and all the other countless agencies that tasks entrepreneurs on a daily basis) even the time spent in Lagos traffic alone can be discouraging!
To achieve measurable success as an entrepreneur you’ll need to be focused and consistent in building your brand and you can’t achieve this if you are continuously working on the mundane.
By the time you have spent all your working hours on less productive tasks like updating your website, online store or blog, research, email marketing, chasing invoices, following up or managing customer inquiries, and all other general administrative tasks that do not make up the core of your business, where do you find the time and motivation to do the more important tasks that would actually grow your business?
Where would you have the time to go to the gym or attend your kid’s open day or go to the movies with your friends/partner? Your life would just be an unending circle of work, work and more work.
Although business owners sometimes have to wear several hats, this doesn’t always have to be so. A virtual assistant can work with you from any part of the world to grow your business giving you time to focus on more important aspects of your business. All you need to do is communicate tasks you’d like to be completed and it is as good as done.
How we manage overwhelm and help with work life balance at VAFY.
At VAFY, we derive pleasure in managing those tasks that you should not or would rather not do as the CEO of your company.
In June 2017, I got a call from the CEO of a fast growing company. Apparently, a friend had found me via my Instagram page (@virtualassistantsforyou) and thought I could be of help because she was constantly overwhelmed with her business.
At the time, her business was less than a year and she had gained success almost overnight due to her excellent use of social media. However, she had become so busy especially with administrative tasks and managing online inquiries on WhatsApp and Instagram that it was becoming an increasing nightmare and had begun to affect other aspects of her business.
In fact, according to her, sometimes she got so overwhelmed by all the inquiries she was leaving customer’s inquiries for up to 2 or 3 days because she just couldn’t get any work done. Her clients were upset and needless to say not all had the patience to wait for her.
Long story short, she signed up for one of our packages and we started managing her inquiries (online), processing the orders, taking inventory of stock, managing logistics, as well as managing her work emails . We also provided assistance in other areas of her business including online research , liaising with other key staff and associates as well as taking meetings on her behalf when the need arises – this is the extra mile we go to ensure that our clients are satisfied and overwhelm has become a thing of the past for her.
In the last 6 months since we have worked with her company, she has had time to remodel her home, the office and even take a vacation, something she obviously couldn’t do without our help . Our service has helped her achieve a great work life balance while focusing on the part of her business that she loves most.
Recently, she spoke to me about starting another business and asked if I would love to set it up with her and handle the administrative tasks. I was so excited because it meant firstly that I was doing a good job in freeing up her time and secondly that she trusted my skills and expertise in running a business.
Another client of mine – Alice Awobite who is the CEO of Fit n Fab Kitchen also employed our services to help her manage her overwhelm. She runs a meal prep kitchen from her home – where most entrepreneurs begin operations and as she was expanding, she began to realise that she sometimes had a hard time remembering a client’s orders, other times, she was too exhausted to respond to her client’s online inquiries. She also sometimes had to chase invoices and found this a little awkward.
Because she was also trying to scale up her operations, she needed someone who could also help her research companies as well as submit proposals to those companies.
After sending us all the necessary information, we got down to work. Barely a week, this is what she had to say “thank you so much, working with you has freed up my time, I can actually go out and have fun – so this is what work life balance looks like ? Most of all, the feedback we are getting from you managing our inquiries has been wonderful – I owe you big time”.
Getting this kind of wonderful testimonials totally makes us feel on top of the world, I may not be saving the world – yet (sic), but I am helping a few business owners manage their work life balance and focus on the core of their businesses.
If you’re a business owner or entrepreneur and you need help in managing some of your workload – do get in touch with us by sending us an email.