Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Are you a solopreneur trying to get your company off the ground? Trying to wear all the hats in your business works until it doesn’t. You find yourself working 80 hours a week with a constantly populating to-do list. The good news is that you can hire freelancers to help leverage your time and offer support so you can scale and grow. Don’t let yourself be the bottleneck. Explore hiring one or more of these five professionals. 1. Virtual assistant The easiest thing to get off your plate is virtual assistant work like data entry, customer service, email management and calendar organization. Anything that needs to be automated or taken off your plate reduces decision-making and small tasks that are not the best use of your time. Virtual assistants often specialize in different kinds of tasks, so do a brain dump list of all the things you could outsource first. You might find that many of those tasks are related, like calendar and email inbox management. One virtual assistant might be able to handle several of the tasks on your to-do list so that you can focus on higher-level or revenue-generating tasks. Use a test job with a new virtual assistant to see how they approach problems and meet deadlines. This will give you a good sense of their communication style so you can determine whether this has the potential to be a great working relationship over the long haul. 2. Copywriter You can’t sell well without excellent copywriting . Even if you consider yourself a great writer, there might come a time when you just don’t have the time to be the primary copywriter anymore. You can suggest ideas and do final proofs if you’re that committed, but hiring a copywriter who understands your industry removes that heavy lifting from your shoulders. For years as a copywriter, I worked directly with law firms. None of the busy attorneys had the time or interest to write copy, but it was also an essential part of their website and marketing plan . Handing the copywriting off to a freelancer gave them the best of both worlds: top-notch writing but none of the stress of managing it themselves. When hiring a copywriter, ask to see examples of the specific kind of writing you’re looking for as this will narrow down the applications received to the most qualified candidates. You need to like their writing style. 3. Online business manager or project manager A few steps up from your entry-level virtual assistant is an online business manager or project manager. These professionals can handle the strategic and team management aspect of your business. Think of them as part task-doers, part systems and streamlining advisors. As they learn more of your business, they’ll be able to more effectively help you scale and onboard more customers or other employees/freelancers. An online business manager often plays a key role in strategy, serving as your “right hand” person, […]
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