Great question and one we get a lot!
What the heck is an online business manager, anyway?
Every successful entrepreneur knows they are meant to serve as the CEO, the visionary, the strategist for their company. When they first start off, they are probably doing this and also doing “all the things.” But what happens when you’ve seen enough success that you can no longer do it all yourself…when running the business is simply taking too much time and stifling your growth, creativity, and focus?
Enter the online business manager (or OBM for short).
In a nutshell, an OBM is someone who virtually manages aspects of an online business.
Let’s get into this a bit more.
A Deeper Dive into OBMs
At the end of the day, you are only one person and simply can’t do it all forever. Nor should you! Most people tend to lean more to the CEO side of the brain or the operations side. Why not play up your strengths? If you are loving being the visionary, bring on an online business manager to serve as your virtual COO…the ying to your yang…the left brain to your right brain.
While you are out there networking, growing, and serving your clients, an online business manager will make sure everything required to keep your business running gets done. Can I get an amen for that? Phew!
Essentially, an OBM takes your vision and strategy and she oversees it so that it not only happens, but also all the key players are functioning cohesively as well. They manage your business behind the scenes.
So take a big sigh of relief, continue to create all the good mojo for your biz, and let your OBM handle the rest.
What types of things does an OBM handle?
OBMs can handle a lot of different aspects in your business, but they generally fall into three categories.
Business Systems, Procedures, Policies / Operations Management: This encompasses anything you use in the business to operate behind the scenes. OBMs can offer ideas of how to increase efficiencies (like creating workflows and automation) or suggest new software or programs that will remove some of your pain points (like a password management system #lifesaver), then they will implement them and even train you on how to use them!
Project Management: Any projects you take on that need oversight fall into this category along with team or contractor management. This includes working with and keeping everyone on task (team members, contracts, vendors, clients, even you!). Maybe this is focused around a sales launch, a client deliverable, a content calendar (including your blog posts, social media, and podcast, etc.), or an online summit, for example. This is another set of eyes making sure everything gets done so you can focus on creating or more sales.
Administrative support: This encompasses all the random tasks that have to get done to keep the business moving forward along with all of the extras that make it a great customer experience for your clients. Maybe it’s invoicing, client surveys, client birthday gifts, being the first point of contact for inquiries, filing that required sales tax doc., etc. The list goes on and on of things that can come up, but once you have someone intimately clued into how your business operates and it is someone you can trust, you can hand these tasks right over so they never even cross your to-do list.
Does an online business manager sound similar to a virtual assistant to you? It is similar, but it’s also quite different.
Why Do You need an OBM?
Now you know what an OBM is and does, so it is probably obvious why having one is immensely helpful in your business, but let’s highlight a few things.
You likely don’t need someone full-time nor do you want to hire someone even part-time. Most of our clients bring us on for a handful of hours a week. We can knock out some serious work in that amount of time. Imagine what you could do with five extra hours in your day!
Maybe you’d like to take some time off or work less…gasp! If you have someone who knows your business, they can serve as your back up for anything urgent that comes in while you are out. This means you can actually enjoy your time away and not worry about anything slipping through the cracks. It’s this peace of mind that will allow you to truly take time away so you can come back refreshed.
Not to mention, imagine the increased focus you can achieve on strategy, growth, or creative when you can offload certain aspects of your business and not spend time thinking about them.
Having a trusted OBM behind you gives you more time, more resources, and more focus in your business.
What are the next steps to bringing on an Obm?
But wait…this is your brand, your business baby, your reputation! You can’t just have anyone seeing behind the curtain and representing you.
No, you certainly cannot. We absolutely get it. Make sure you do your diligence and spend time getting to know any possible partners. Check out their website, do a video call, ask them what their values are and the type of person they work best with. Then do a trial period to make sure it is a great partnership and if it isn’t, you can back out without too much hassle.
With all of that in mind, we have some great news. We do just that with anyone interested in joining our amazing client family. We have a discounted, hourly, three-month trial period because we have found it can take about that long to get to know your business and start moving away from onboarding tasks and into actual ongoing support.
The OBMs that are part of More You come from professional backgrounds, are engrained with empathy, and will represent your brand as they would their own. They are reliable and have been rock stars in their previous roles. Plus, they are capable, thought partners who can truly serve as your right hand.
We’re looking for an amazing partner just like you are, and we are in it for the long haul.
Curious but still wondering how this all works and if we could be the answer to helping you find “more you” in your business so you can have “more you” in your life? Learn more about your services.