As an Entrepreneur, you always have to concentrate on the tasks that bring the most bang for your buck. Your highest and best use is to be actively and strategically thinking about how to grow your business. If you find yourself stuffing envelopes or answering silly phone calls, then you need to reorient your efforts.

I am not saying that you should ignore menial tasks, or administrative things, I am saying that you should outsource these functions as quickly as possible. Imagine that you are building a company web site. To be honest, anyone with a bit of sense can teach themselves how to build a web site, it is not that hard. Your first attempt will likely be a sad little web site that does not work correctly. Your second attempt will not turn out much better. Would not you be much better off outsourcing this task to someone who already has web design skills? Is not that exactly the same reason that your company will hire an accountant? Sure you could teach yourself how to fill out the forms and do you own taxes, but would that really be a good use of your time? Would it be cost-effective for you to learn on the job?

I send out a lot of marketing material, direct mail stuff, and I get a lot of calls. Most of the calls that I get are from people who want to waste my time. There is no reason for me to talk to time wasters. I outsource that function. Then my assistant sorts potential customers and eliminates the time wasters. You have to sort through a lot of suspicions to find real prospects in my business. My highest and best use is not in the sorting, it's in the selling.

I understand that it is difficult to employ a full-time staff. I do not employ a staff; I use virtual assistants. VA's are a wonderful tool. You can outsource almost any administrative or secretarial function to a VA, you can even pay VA's to build your web site and perform sales related tasks for you.

What makes the virtual assistant vastly superior to the employee is the way that they are paid. Unlike an employee, a VA is paid only for the minutes that they actually work on your business. When you go on vacation, your employee expense drops to zero. As contract employees, you can use them as much or as little as you want.

The best thing about VA's is that they have a wide variety of skills. Many virtual assistants have worked at corporate jobs, and they carry those skills with them. All you need to do is to identify the skill set that your business requires and then find a VA who meets your needs.

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Source by Joshua T Caldwell