If you’re an online business owner and you’ve spent some time on social media, you’ve probably seen the terms VA or OBM floating around. Perhaps it took you back to your corporate days where you threw around acronyms and didn’t think twice, but now as an outsider they look like alphabet soup. 

In this blog post, I’m going to  untangle the terms a little for you to help you know what or who you’re looking for! If you have clarity in the role you’re seeking, you’re going to have a better chance to find the person that will fit the needs you have. 

What is a Virtual Assistant? 

A Virtual Assistant or VA is someone who needs (and is expecting!) directions. They are joining you to execute specific administrative tasks with outlined steps and objectives. Ideally you have SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) that you’re handing to your VA to take care of repeatable tasks. 

What are some tasks a VA could do for you?

• Inbox management

One of the biggest things that online business owners are overwhelmed by is their inbox. It’s common for people to hire VA’s to help manage their inbox so that things are filed and organized neatly, relieving some of the overwhelm. 

An SOP for inbox management might outline where certain emails get filed and when, or how to communicate to you, the client, if there is something you need to take action on

• Scheduling social media posts

Notice this says schedule? Not create? A VA is not a content creator or social media manager and if they’re doing those tasks for you, they need to be compensated for it! 

A VA could put together Canva graphics based on templates you already have, add text to images, add the caption to a post, set the post up in a scheduler. 

• Maintaining your calendar

If your calendar feels out of control and chaotic, a VA could help you maintain it, by doing things like adding your family’s birthdays or client meetings so that it’s up to date and you don’t get double booked.

• Schedule email newsletters

Similar to scheduling social media posts, if you write an email newsletter and provide all the links/information to your VA, they could put the copy into your newsletter template and schedule it to be sent.

But again, a VA does not double as your content creator.

• File organization

Your VA could organize your Google Drive or Canva based on a structure you provide so that you’re never left looking for that one file you need again!

Virtual Assistants are a wonderful tool to add to your business when you are ready and set up for one. If you’ve previously hired a VA and it didn’t feel like a weight was lifted off your shoulders and you were constantly being asked questions, perhaps what you really needed was an OBM. 

What is an Online Business Manager? 

An Online Business Manager or OBM is someone who can create. The creation can look like systems, processes, procedures and more. An Online Business Manager is managing the business (or owner!). This role is more of a partnership between the client and OBM. An OBM can see needs in your business and provide solutions to fix them. 

What are some tasks and OBM could do for you?

• Write Standard Operating Procedures

An OBM can help you get ready for hiring a VA by writing out SOPs for your processes. This ensures a high quality of care is continued even when you’re delegating tasks. 

• Create processes

If you’re reinventing the wheel every time a client offboards or reaches a milestone in their project, an OBM can help set up processes, workflows, and templates to make that process more streamlined. 

• Provide team leadership

An OBM is a much more active role in your business than a VA. You may have both an OBM and VA. Maybe you have additional contractors or employees also. An OBM can help with communication between your team so that you are left to work with clients or do other tasks. 

• Project management

Online Business Management involves more ownership of tasks or projects. An OBM can manage projects, create plans to execute projects and oversee day-to-day operations. 

• Problem solve

If an issue or bottleneck occurs within your processes and systems, an OBM can make informed decisions around how to solve the problem. An OBM is a part of your business in all stages so they understand the ins and outs. This enables an OBM to fix problems sometimes even before they occur!

Online Business Managers are a strategic partner to add to your business. They can become your second brain and see your business as a whole. If you’re a solopreneur, it can be really hard to have ideas and not have a thought partner to help you apply them to your business. An OBM can be that thought partner. 

An OBM can also help you short term to get your business in a place where it’s more easily managed by you or with the support of a VA. Your OBM can put repeatable processes into place and create SOPs so that you or your VA can maintain the systems that already exist or are created. 

Am I a Virtual Assistant or Online Business Manager? 

I do both! For some clients, they have some processes in place that work and if it’s not broken, we don’t need to fix it. I keep their processes in place and continue to execute them. Often as an OBM, as I implement or set up processes, they become more like VA tasks. If there’s not someone in a dedicated VA role to take the process on, I continue that support. 

Some of my clients have never had someone else work with them in their business so they have no SOPs in place or official systems. For those clients, I step in and figure out systems for them, create SOPs, and solve problems. Once processes are created, clients can either take on following the processes themselves or keep me on retainer to execute the processes, project manage and continue to be a strategic partner. 

You can call me a VA, an OBM, a thought partner, a reality checker, a cheerleader, etc. Clients can call me whatever they want as long as they call me so I can help make their lives easier. Do you need your life to be easier? If so, CLICK HERE to get connected and let’s see if you need a VA or an OBM on your team!