The role you’re not (ful)filling

You have an idea for an online program (or workshop, or mastermind, or community).?

You’re buzzing with excitement when you think about the potential, about the value it will bring to your clients.

But then ..

If you're a solopreneur, chances are your enthusiasm soon starts to fizzle out as you sink deeper and deeper in online tech quicksand.

Each tech tool recommendation you follow opens another can of worms.?

You just don’t see how all the pieces fit together, and it feels like tech and admin stuff is all you do now, when what you really want to focus on is connecting with potential clients and serving existing ones.

Maybe just the thought of dealing with all that stops you before you even start, and you think,

“I should just outsource all the tech stuff!”

If you do have a team, you’re probably rolling your eyes right now because you know that it’s never a matter of “JUST” outsourcing the tech.

Especially if you hear “tech” and you think “tech VA.”

Yes, it’s easy enough to find someone “who knows ActiveCampaign” (or whatever tools you’re using or considering .. that’s a topic for another day) but if you’ve ever tried, you know that with a team like that you now have a new set of problems ..

“I have a team but I keep getting sucked into the technical nitty gritty because things go wrong - clients get messages or access to content they shouldn’t be getting, wrong links go out, stuff that should go out doesn’t .. It's so frustrating!

I’m paying to get this sorted but everything takes ages and I STILL have to deal with it and put out fires almost daily!”

If I received a tennis ball every time a disheartened business owner shares a story like this, my dogs would be permanently (over)excited ??

So, is hiring tech VAs a bad idea?

That’s not what I’m saying.?

Let me share a story to explain what I AM saying.

In 1997 I signed up for a “Java Programming Basics” course at Sydney University.

I couldn’t wait to dive into this new language and the new world that would open up with that.

I remember the exercises. There were “classes” with “properties” and “methods”, and there was the concept of “inheritance” .. you know how cats, tigers, lions are all felines that share certain characteristics ..

Interesting and fun enough but ..

I had no idea how cats, tigers and lions would help me build business software.

I had no idea how to translate business requirements into software functionality, and software functionality into the set of classes, properties and methods a programming language like Java required.

The thing is, the “Java Programming Basics” course didn’t cover that.?

Just like the ActiveCampaign manual doesn’t cover how to translate your business requirements into a system of lists, segments, tags, forms, campaigns and automations that get the right things to the right people at the right time.

So what’s missing?

Well, when I was wrestling with cats, tigers and lions, I discovered that there was a whole other area of expertise:

Systems Design.

It’s the magic missing piece,the bridge between business requirements and software functionality.

It wasn’t until I spent a good chunk of time studying THAT that the Java cats, tigers and lions started to make sense.

It’s not talked about a lot.?

It’s not taught in tech or business courses.?

It requires you to deeply understand the business vision AND the tech options available. You need to know how to flesh out an idea to the point where you can make a solid decision about which tech tools to use, and how exactly they’ll work together.??

Chances are, you’re not good at that. Chances are your tech VA isn’t good at it.

And if nobody really knows how to connect the dots and put all the pieces together in the most efficient and effective way, it’s no surprise that your backend systems are messy, whether you have a team or not.

The thing is, a messy (or non-existent) backend system isn’t just frustrating, it can be outright embarrassing, and it's not hard to see how it makes you leave plenty of money on the table.

And yes, in case you’re wondering, the process of diving deep into a vision for an online offer and designing a system that ensures everyone gets what they need where and when they need it - without spending all day tinkering with tech or slogging away at boring manual (and error prone) admin tasks - is a huge part of my work with clients.

It’s the difference between launching an idea in a matter of weeks vs struggling for months. And it's the difference between an ok customer experience and a mind blowing one your clients rave about.

So ...

... if you now have a sense that not having a well designed backend system might be at the root of your frustration, and you're sick and tired of that, DM me and we'll schedule a time to talk.