By Mallory Underwood
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“Do what you do best and outsource the rest.” Peter Drucker
You get it, and you’re onboard. You know you need to outsource once you hit a certain level of success in your entrepreneur business, but who do you outsource to?
You’ve likely heard of virtual assistants and seen the acronym VA floating around. Maybe a peer has one or you’ve seen the phrase in an online network. Until fairly recently these were typically overseas roles that charged a low hourly wage for a few different types of tasks.
Given the drastic advances in technology, more businesses are virtual which has lead to an increase in “freelance economy” or “gig economy” meaning VAs who offer a higher level of support are now all across the U.S. and Canada.
There is also another support role available called an online business manager (OBM). You may not have heard of this role yet, but I bet you will see it more often as more businesses are open to remote and virtual support. You may be searching for this exact type of person but not even know it has a name!
A VA and an OBM are both great options for outsourcing aspects of your business. Okay, great, but what’s the difference? It’s a logical question and one I get asked all the time.
Let’s start with defining each of them.
Horkey Handbook, owner of 30 Days or Less to Virtual Assistant Success, defines a virtual assistant.
“A virtual assistant is anyone who offers services to other business owners from afar in exchange for an agreed upon fee.”
Tina Forsyth, the author of Becoming an Online Business Manager, defines an online business manager (OBM).
“An OBM is a virtually based support professional who manages online based businesses, including the day-to-day management of projects, operations, team members, and metrics.”
As you guessed, these support roles can certainly overlap, but they actually are quite different. Now that you know the “official” definitions, let’s breakdown those differences to help you determine what type of support you need.
Virtual assistants (VA) and online business managers (OBM) are the perfect solution for outsourcing in your business, but what’s the difference? A lot!
Project management versus task management
This may be considered the biggest difference. A VA is task based while an OBM is project based. Likely you have tasks on your plate that are critical to keeping your business running, but they don’t require you to actually do it. Those should go on the outsource list for your VA to handle.
As an example, let’s say one of the things you want off your to-do list is to schedule and share your bi-weekly newsletter. You already know how to do this and can train your VA on the steps required. This is a task that your VA will handle every other week.
On the other hand, an OBM is project based. This means they can handle all aspects of entire projects from finding and communicating with external vendors to working with your internal team members (including you!) to ensure deadlines are met.
An example of this may be a website rebrand. Your OBM could handle finding the designer to redo your logo, a web developer to update the site, and a copywriter to refresh the lingo, all while ensuring everyone meets their deadlines to ensure the project stays on track.
Executors versus strategists
A VA is someone who can be your “doer” and execute tasks. They will require tasks to be assigned, guidance on what needs to be done, and instruction on how to complete the tasks.
A VA is a reliable professional to hand off tasks and specific action items especially because they likely have experience with that type of work or system. They may even be a specialist in a specific type of task.
On the flip side, an OBM can be the one who creates the plan. They can work with you to come up with the strategy then implement it in its entirety.
An OBM is someone you can trust with your entire brand operations, all those behind the scenes tasks that have to get done to keep the business healthy. Think of OBMs like Chief Operating Officers (COO) for virtual businesses. They’ll get to see behind the current of how the business runs and help figure out how to enhance efficiencies and implement best practices.
A great example of this is an OBM completing a systems audit then creating a custom business operations plan with recommendations (hint, you can get our systems audit for free by signing up for our quarterly newsletter at the bottom of this page!). Once you approve the strategy, she can implement all the new systems and provide training for you on how to best use them. Because they will be intimately invested in your business in order to serve you at this level, they are also a perfect thought partner or brainstormer.
Amount of support
Typically a VA works with a lot of clients for fewer hours because they may specialize in specific types of tasks such as email management or scheduling. They won’t require as much insight into the business operations and therefore can support more clients.
An OBM is likely to work with less clients because they will need to become deeply ingrained in the business and its goals in order to see the bigger picture to make sure all the pieces fit together. This requires more hours of support.
Hourly rates
Now that you see the different strengths a VA and an OBM can bring to your business, you may not be surprised that their hourly rates are different.
Typically a VA will have a lower rate around $25-35 per hour while an OBM will fall into the $35-$50 range. Either may suggest setting up a monthly retainer for the tasks or projects they will handle for our business which is great for budgeting.
Without a doubt, you can easily tell what type of support you are craving right now. Do you need a reliable, consistent VA to step in and clear off your task list, or do you need a rock star OBM to create a strategy for business operations?
Now What?
Either way, reclaiming your time starts with letting go. It’s finally time to feel supported in your entrepreneurship and stop trying to do everything yourself so you have more time, more resources, and, ultimately, more you to go around.
Decide which route you want to go. If you’re ready to bring an OBM into the fold, you’re only one step away from sanity and serenity in your business. Check out services and see if we are the right fit to put the focus back on what you—and only you—do best.