My coach says, “When you are the bottleneck, it’s time to hire.” This is so true. When things are starting to stack up in your business, it’s often you who is the culprit. 

You’re the CEO, right? You’re in charge of it all, right? Wrong. It’s your job to delegate so you can continue doing the best work ever.

Here’s the problem: when you are the one responsible for doing all the work in your business, and you’re finding yourself letting easy things fall through your fingers (or, hell, you didn’t remember them in the first place), it’s time to find some support.

Oftentimes, an Executive Virtual Assistant (like the amazing team at Prestridge & Co!) can help you regain control of the chaos in your business. Not only so you can be in a good place to grow your business even more, but so that you can buy back precious time in your day to do things that bring you joy without feeling like the whole thing is going to fall apart without you on the computer.  

If you’ve found yourself doing or feeling any of these five things below, it’s time to hire support from an Executive Virtual Assistant.

Sign #1: Nothing is Happening

I don’t mean, “No news is good news.” I mean… things that really need to happen aren’t getting completed. Tasks that you need to do to move the needle in your business have fallen by the wayside so many times, that you couldn’t find that needle if you tried.

Further, sometimes things aren’t even started. Whether it’s from being overwhelmed to not remembering or just plain not feeling like it… for whatever reason, it hasn’t been started. It’s okay. Remember, you are actually human.

But this is when it’s time to get yourself a second in command. You didn’t start your business to work all the time and be incredibly stressed out, and not grow. You wanted freedom, flexibility, and to make a large impact! By hiring an Executive Virtual Assistant, you’ll know that everything will get done without you having to do it all.

Related Reading: 25+ Tasks To Delegate To Your Executive Virtual Assistant

Sign #2: You Need More Hours in the Day

If I had a quarter for every time I said, “I need more time,” I’d have my vanilla chai latte expenses covered for life. Heck, if I had even a nickel for every time a client has said that to me, I’d be on the beach somewhere sipping on a daiquiri because I hear it all the time.

Stress and overwhelm are real. They plague so many CEOs. The mentality of needing “more hours in your day” is a symptom of not having support and not delegating tasks that shouldn’t be on your plate. It is not a failure on your part. 

It’s time to take a look at where you’re spending all of your time. Are you avoiding tasks? Are you so busy that you don’t have systems and processes set up to streamline everything? Or are you spread thin by all your obligations? When you feel like you need more time, there’s an easy way to find it. Hire someone and gain back the time that is stolen in your day by doing tedious tasks that someone else could be doing for you.

Sign #3: You’re Not Doing Your Genius Work

You are passionate and determined to grow your business. But you feel like you rarely get to be in your ‘zone of genius. Your zone of genius is when you are doing what you are an expert at and also what you actually LOVE doing. If you’re in a place where you need support then, it feels like you only get to do your genius work for a few fleeting minutes. Something always comes up to pull you away OR you’re constantly worried that if things are too quiet, that means something bad is happening in the other room (I have a toddler. I know that feeling.)

If you’re spending most of your time not in your zone of genius and delivering work for clients and instead putting out absolutely every other fire in your business, what’s the point? Didn’t you start this business so that you could focus on your genius work and growing in that area?

Sign #4: You Forgot [Insert Almost Anything Here]

Have you ever been so busy you didn’t pick up the kids? Or forgot your mother’s birthday? Like, literally forgot it was that day?

That overwhelm and overstimulation of business owners is so real. There comes a point where we’re trying to keep too many balls in the air, and with too many things in our short-term memory banks, we forget really simple dates, numbers, and tasks. Hire support and move some things off your short-term storage space and into the capable hands of someone who can manage it all for you.

Sign #5: You Want to Quit Your Business

Do you remember the early days of starting your business? Everything was new, fresh, exciting, and electrifying. You could stay up until 4 am working on a project. 

Now? Is it fresh and fun? Or is there no joy and anticipation? Just a slog of butt-in-chair, do-the-work, when-can-I-stop?

When you’re ready to throw in the towel and get a corporate job, it’s a sign that you need to get someone else in your business so you can get back to the magic of what being a CEO is all about: giving your unique service for your clients. Not being an administrator, a social media manager, and a lead generator.  

In short, if you’re feeling and seeing these tell-tale signs, it’s time to hire an executive virtual assistant.

Here’s what I want you to remember…

Number One: It took a long time to get this way, and can’t be fixed overnight – patience is required.

Yes, you will get back to feeling like you’re on top of the world and it’ll take time to sift through what needs to be completed, delegated, and deleted from your business.

Number Two: What do you actually want to create?

Go back to your vision and refocus on your goals before you hire on. Take a moment to reflect on what you’re creating. Write it down and stick it to your computer screen, bedside table, mirror… Really feel it. Understanding this will allow you to communicate it to a potential team member you bring on to help you.

Number Three: Don’t hire for the short-term, quick fix.

You need to look for someone who can stay in it for the long haul so you can actually make sustainable, measurable progress in your business. Knee-jerk hiring could leave you worse off, which I explain in detail in this article about hiring mindset mistakes when looking for an Executive Virtual Assistant. 

Just because things may be feeling tough right now, it does not mean this is the end. Even if you’ve felt like you barely have time to take care of yourself. Even if you’ve felt like you don’t have enough time in the day to grow this business on your own. Even if it feels like you just want to give up it’s not time to throw in the towel. It’s just time to try a new method of operations. 

If you’re interested in working with an Executive Virtual Assistant to provide support, and you want to know what an EVA can do for you, click here to download The Ultimate Guide for Leveraging EVA Support!