Written By: Steve Wagner (CEO, Evergreen Strategic Systems)
November 5, 2019 | 3:03pm
I am now in the 7th year of my business. I can remember the stages I went through.
When I first started, it was the COOLEST thing. I was achieving my dream of being an entrepreneur! I was self employed! I didn’t play by the rules everyone else did! And with every victory, my excitement grew! Every new lead was invigorating. Every added customer was AMAZING! Each time I would get a check, I would be out of my mind with joy and couldn’t believe I was doing it!
I remember my 3rd year, where slowly, tasks started to become overwhelming. I would have to spend 8 hours in the office finishing small tasks, emailing clients, taking calls, and following leads, and then having to execute the delivery of our product. The greatest feeling in the world, and the ecstasy that came with really "crushing it” began to fade.
I remember one period in particular when I was cranking out 5 hours every morning at my desk, and then 7 hours with clients (meaning I was with them and had to be “on” every minute) for 32 consecutive days, weekends included.
I remember feeling BEYOND burned out. Way, way beyond burned out. To a point where I wanted to stop.
BUT, like so many entrepreneurs who are superpeople and have no quit in them, I could not stop. (I now know that, without knowing it then I was building a job, not a business...I was so mistaken!).
Thankfully, I was able to take a 2 week vacation following that busy period, and, at the suggestion of a mentor, I decided I needed to hire help.
The issue was, I could NOT afford help. No way.
First, I was in a specialty service field and my customers trusted me. I couldn’t just hand business over to somebody new—that would take time.
And, although I could hand over my office duties to someone (emailing clients, CRM data input, back and forth time scheduling, invoicing, etc) I could NOT afford a full time assistant. The time it took to hire someone, the risk, not to mention full time wage and benefits. And if I was going to hire someone part time I would have to find them a place to work, find the time to meet with them, make sure they were screened and trained…
Then, I found out about VA’s. I first read about them in Tim Ferris’ four hour work week (if you haven’t read it, you should!). And then I heard about them from a kind business owner I met while I was traveling abroad.
