Are you feeling overwhelmed by the daily demands of running your business? Do you struggle to find time for strategic thinking and growth? In this episode, Lauren Glynn breaks down the crucial differences between Virtual Assistants (VAs), Online Business Managers (OBMs), and Executive Assistants (EAs). You'll learn how to choose the right support for your business stage, budget, and growth plans, helping you reclaim your time and focus on what matters most.

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VA vs OBM vs EA

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So let's get started.

First, let's clarify a little bit about what might make you seek out one of these roles. The first thing is going to be overwhelm. And I know we talk a lot about overwhelm on this podcast because there's a lot of overwhelm for entrepreneurs. But specifically this overwhelm is the overwhelming amount of work that you have to do.

And all you really want is to be able to take a step back and plan and think and create a vision, but you're stuck posting to social media, you're stuck responding to emails or managing your calendar or booking travel for yourself. And these are all things that these roles can actually take off your plate for you so that you can then focus on that bigger picture, the vision, what are sort of the bigger moves that you want to be making in your business.

You also, like I said, might be struggling with your email, your calendar management, and it might be surprising that even a solopreneur can hire someone to help with your email and your calendar management and what a big difference it can make in your business and how you show up for your business and how you feel during the day when you're not managing all of these things yourself and you're passing it off to someone to filter out so that you don't even have to think about it.

And I think a lot of entrepreneurs, and especially people who start out as solopreneurs, as you all probably did, really struggle with this role because we started our businesses because we really love helping people and we love the work that we do. Maybe you're a health coach and you really like helping people with their nutrition.

And it can get really overwhelming. So let's talk through how these roles can help with all of these things. Let's start by talking about the roles and responsibilities for each of these roles and Signs you might need this particular role. So the first one we're going to talk about is a virtual assistant or a VA. And a VA is a remote professional who provides administrative, technical, or creative assistance to clients, usually from some other part of the world or country.

Make sure that they do have some sort of training in that. They may be managing your social media. They probably are not specialized enough to do the strategy of your social media, but they could potentially do the execution of the strategy for your social media. They might be able to make travel arrangements for you, again, depending on the skills of the VA.

And then other general administrative tasks. And what I want to make clear here is they're probably doing one set of these things, they're not doing all of these things. So someone who specializes in bookkeeping is probably not also going to be managing your calendar and your email. You really want a specific person for a specific task because they're usually pretty highly specialized in the work that they're doing.

You find yourself doing a lot of repetitive administrative tasks that could be easily handed off to someone else because they don't require your strategic expertise. Or you're spending long hours, but not making any progress on your important projects.

Some of the benefits of hiring a VA are they're usually pretty cost effective depending on what you need them for and what they specialize in compared to something like an executive assistant or an OBM.

It helps free up your time for more core business activities to get some of these administrative things off your plate. It will help increase the overall productivity of you and your business.

It allows you to access some specialized skills without committing to hiring on a full time employee. And it can help you maintain or create a work life balance by taking over some of those more time consuming tasks that, again, don't require your expertise.

If they have a lot of clients, they may have some limited availability, that's something you'll have to talk to them about when you hire them.

They may not have in depth knowledge of your specific business or your specific niche or customer and so it might require a little bit more explanation from you and some things that you might assume would not be something that they would assume necessarily. For example, I have a Leeds generation VA that works for me and I want him to find people that I can collaborate with and people that I can work with and he was finding a lot of people in other time zones.

between us. So it was just something that I assumed, but didn't articulate and lesson learned, I should say, every single requirement that I can think of. So, but he was very open to, to the feedback. So it worked out fine, but things like that, you know, with a VA, they may not be thinking as in depth about those things as you are.

And that brings me to my next point where a VA may need a little bit more instruction on their tasks and their management and things like that. They may need a little bit more of that than some of these other roles.

So make sure you tune in for that series.

So the next role we're going to talk about is an OBM or an online business manager. Sometimes it's called a digital business manager. Just depends on what that person likes to call themself. They're pretty much the same thing.

So an OBM is a little bit more high level than a VA. They're going to have more management responsibilities, a little bit more involved in projects and not so much task oriented. They do what's on the tin, what it says on the tin. They manage your online business operations. Their primary responsibilities often include things like project management and overseeing team members, implementing business systems and processes,

And a lot of OBMs will offer different size packages depending on how big your business is and how much time you actually need from them. A lot of them will do part time, like you don't have to hire an OBM for 40 hours a week because a lot of our online business owners do not need 40 hours of OBM work.

But, you know, so they'll have multiple clients, but what they'll do is they'll usually have a package that includes specific project management, Tasks are overseeing or depending on how many, you know, other contractors you have, that could be a different package. It just depends on sort of how they package their services, but you can hire a part time OBM.

So, some signs that you might need to hire an OBM in your business. Your business is growing, but you're sort of struggling to keep up with operations. You might have a lot of different VAs that you're working with, or a lot of different other vendors that you're working with. Things like social media and content creation.

And marketing, you know, you have all these different people kind of working together and an OBM can help them all come together to work through the same plan so that they're not sort of off doing their own thing. And then you have to keep track of them all. That's what the OBM is for. You might find that you're spending more time managing your team than you are actually spending with your clients.

Your systems and processes are non existent or they're not efficient. An OBM can help you implement a lot of the systems and processes because they're a little bit more hands on. Or you might need someone to actually implement your vision and manage projects.

You know that you're maxed out. You know that you cannot spend any more time with your clients or outside of working with your clients, but you want to get bigger. So an OBM can come in and help you figure out how do you actually achieve that without working more hours in a day. Some benefits of hiring an OBM or an online business manager are that it allows you as the business owner to focus on the high level strategies.

Similar to a VA, but taking on even more tasks. They really take on sort of the day to day running of your business so that you can focus on that big picture strategy. They'll help you improve the overall efficiency and productivity of your business. They'll provide a strategic partner in your business operations, because they're going to be experienced with running probably several businesses, so they can, you know, give you advice and tell you how other people have done it, and maybe help you figure out some of those things.

They will bring professional management skills to the business. So like we talked about at the beginning, as a business owner, you probably or may not have leadership and management experience. So by bringing in an OBM, they're bringing those skills to the team so that you don't have to have them, and they will take on the management of the people that you're working with.

Even if it's a bunch of different contractors and not actual employees, they can take over managing all of them.

And finally, they can actually coordinate all of the other contractors that you're working with. So, if you have a couple of different VAs, or, and then, uh, you know, a social media person, and, like I said, a marketing person, or, um, you know, a customer service person, they can take over managing that whole team so that you don't have to be bothered with any of it.

Some potential drawbacks or challenges to hiring an OBM. They're definitely going to cost more than a VA, especially the good ones. But, again, like I said, they usually have packages depending on how big your business is, how much time you need from them, that will make it a little bit more affordable so that you're not paying for 40 hours a week when you don't need 40 hours a week.

It does require your business to be a little bit more complex in order to be cost effective. So if you're just a solopreneur and you don't really have any other contractors that you're working with, you probably don't need an OBM yet, depending on what kind of services they offer. So an OBM is only really cost effective if you're managing a team, you have a couple of different contractors or even employees that you're working with, and those are the things that they're taking over for you.

It also could be a challenge to find the right fit in terms of your personality and your management style and your business, you know, the type of business that you have. Finding the right OBM can be a little bit challenging because, I mean, there's a ton of them out there, but you might have to talk to a lot of them before you find someone that really clicks with you.

And it's really important that they do. It's important that you don't just take the first person that you talk to. You really want to make sure that you are interviewing people that you know. a couple of OBMs to see all of the different ways that they work, all the different management styles that they have and find one that really fits you, your business, your personality, and how you want your business to run.

So you want to be really clear with your team, with your OBM and with yourself around what this role actually means, what it will entail in your business, what kind of decision making ability they have in your business, all of those things to make sure that everyone is on the same page around what this OBM role means in your business.

So the last role we're going to talk about is the Executive Assistant or the EA. And this role doesn't get talked about as much in the online sphere because most people just use a VA for a lot of these responsibilities. But you may be able to benefit from an EA if you have a really complex business.

And their primary responsibilities include managing complex schedules and communications, preparing reports and presentations, attending meetings and taking notes, possibly handling confidential information and acting as a liaison, potentially between executives or clients, and then managing personal tasks for the business owner.

They are really the person who, uh, kind of takes over a lot more of your personal life. Much more so than usually a VA will. And the term VA is pretty fluid. So they could do a lot of these things potentially,

but usually an EA is going to be much more experienced and much more able to take on those complex tasks, but probably also much more expensive because of their experience and their skills.

You're spending too much time on that administrative tasks instead of high level strategy, just like those other roles. You may need, you need someone to manage complex schedules and communications. If you have a big team, if you have investors, if you have, you know, a lot of different companies that you're working with or clients, an EA might be a good consideration for you.

You require a high level of confidentiality and trust. You know, an EA is usually much more experienced in working with things, you know, things like confidential information and handling all of your personal information. So there's someone that's, that's potentially a lot more trustworthy.

Lauren: And you might need an executive assistant if you're looking for someone who can, like I said, be that right hand who can potentially anticipate your needs and You know, has an instinct for what it is that you need and how they can help you.

Lauren: It allows you to focus on that high level, strategic, value add activities in your business that you don't have to think about all of the little things like making sure your HelloFresh is delivered or ordering presents for your kids for their birthday. You know, an EA can actually take on a lot of these more personal tasks that you wouldn't normally give to someone like a virtual assistant and definitely not an OBM.

Some potential drawbacks or challenges with hiring an EA is that they're almost certainly going to be more expensive than a virtual assistant.

And they are probably going to be more expensive than an OBM, again, depending on their roles and responsibilities and the expectations around both roles. And they both, they have different roles, the OBM and the VA, the EA, which we're going to talk about in a second. It can be really hard to find someone that you trust with your confidential information like you do with an EA.

And there's also a potential for the role to be pretty ambiguous, which can be really challenging. You know, what's the line between what they're supposed to be working on, what the expectations are, and sort of what's beyond the scope of their work. So making sure that that is super clear is going to be really important if you hire an EA.

And then an EA actually might require more direct communication and direction because of the high level of the work that they're doing. And because of the personal nature of the work that they're doing. You probably don't have SOPs for things like ordering your kid's birthday present, so you're going to have to direct them more onto what it is that your expectations are, what your kid likes, what they need to be doing, all of those things.

So let's talk a little bit more in depth about the differences between these three roles. First, the scope of responsibility between the three. A VA handles specific, often routine tasks. They work on their assigned duties and nothing else. They're usually not someone who goes out and finds more work for themselves to do.

They're heads down working on the thing that they are assigned. And some of them are a little bit more of a go getter and they might go do that, but that's not generally the expectation of a VA. Whereas an OBM manages overall business operations.

They have the decision making authority. They are directing the work that other people are doing. And then an EA provides support directly to the business owner. And they may even act as a gatekeeper or a representative of that person. They're probably, you know, very self driven. They're figuring out what it is that they're supposed to be doing.

And, but they're not directing other people necessarily.

They are a task doer, usually. An OBM, on the other hand, will contribute to and implement your business strategy. They probably have experience in other businesses, they can give you advice, and then they'll execute whatever it is that you both decide is the strategy of your business.

And then an EA generally isn't involved in strategic decisions, they're much more of a personal assistant and personal support for the business owner, and they're not really involved in sort of the strategic decisions of the business itself.

the different requirements of business knowledge, the VA needs a basic understanding of business, but they usually can be taught sort of the, the necessary information for them to actually, you know, do their tasks. They don't need an in depth understanding of your business. Usually, again, it depends on the role.

And then an EA doesn't necessarily need as in depth of an understanding. Depending on how you decide their role is going to work, they may need comprehensive understanding if they're going to be managing things like your inbox and your calendar, but if they're more of a personal executive assistant and less of a business one, then it's less important for them to understand how your business works.

And then finally, each role has a different level of autonomy in your business. A VA is going to need direct supervision and direction of the tasks that they're focusing on. An OBM shouldn't need direct supervision, they should be able to work autonomously, and they should be able to make operational decisions in your place, and they shouldn't need to have, you know, you watching over their shoulder to make sure that they're doing their job and doing it well.

So, now that you understand all these different roles, how do you decide which one is right for you and your business? First, I want you to consider what stage your business is in. If you're just starting your business, if it's really new, you're kind of in the startup phase, then a VA is probably the best first hire that you could make because they can be someone that can take some of those administrative things off your plate, take off some of those repetitive tasks, and they're going to be a good first step for you for being able to take yourself out of the day to day of your business.

If your business is much more established, you're really getting ready to scale, you probably already have an VA. So an EA is probably the next logical step for you so that you can get more personalized help and support in your role as a business owner and potentially in your personal life and not as much or in addition to on the business side.

The next step you want to do is assess your specific needs. If you need help with specific tasks, and administrative things, and just getting those done, and your business is on the smaller side, then a VA is going to be the right step for you. If you need help with overall strategy, you need help with processes and systems, and team management, then an OBM will be the right step.

So you want to consider the tasks that you need done and your budget.

An OBM typically, an OBM is typically more expensive than a VA because they have more skills and more management skills, more project management skills, and they can provide significant value in terms of improved operations, growth strategy, those types of things. And then an EA, especially those with extensive experience often have the highest rates because they are invaluable to business owners who need comprehensive, high level support across a broad range of activities.

They can take a lot of those, uh, more, um, in the weeds things away from you, managing team members and things like that. And so if you want to grow rapidly in scale, then an OBM would be a good choice for that.

So I hope that this overview has helped you understand sort of the difference between all those roles and when you might need each individual one. I wanted to help people understand that these roles are not interchangeable. They are very specific, different roles within a business, and you need different.

And usually each one is needed at a different time, at a different stage of business, depending on your personal needs, your, like I said, stage of business. So I wanted to make sure that everyone understood when you need each one. And it's not, never usually just one or the other, unless you're in the very beginning stages of your business, then it would probably just be a VA.

And then just as a reminder, I'm going to be starting my VA series next week about finding and managing and hiring your first VA. Uh, probably could apply to OBMs and EAs too, because we'll be talking about how you actually find them and then interview them and then train them for their role. So definitely make sure you subscribe so you can check that out.

And if you want to get a head start on the VA series, then I highly recommend you go to laurenglynn.com/resources and check out my seven days to streamline your business. And the reason that I recommend that specifically is because the first activity in that is listing out all of the tasks that That's the first step that we're going to do as part of our VA hiring series, because you have to understand what the work is in your business in order to be able to know what you can hand off to a VA.

Remember your systems are the backbone of your business. I'm Lauren Glynn, and I will talk to you again soon. Bye.