A VA and an Online Business Manager?
Last week during a training session, I talked about the difference between a VA and an OBM. ⠀
This is something that I think can be kind of confusing, whether you’re a business owner looking to work with someone at either level or a VA hoping to transition to OBM. So let me break it down for you.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
A VA will…⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
✅ execute general tasks like customer service, email scheduling, social media posting, graphics creation, etc.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
✅ potentially be very skilled in a single area like social media management but they are still largely executing the doing tasks each day or week⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
✅ not be thinking on a strategic level for the ENTIRE business⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
An OBM will…⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
✅ manage the entire team, delegate tasks, oversee completion of tasks, etc.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
✅ manage ongoing projects and launches to make sure that the right thing gets done by the right person at the right time ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
✅ be the bridge between the CEO and the rest of the team so that the CEO can focus on their visionary role and not have to spend time answering a bunch of questions from the team⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Both roles are SUPER important to the running of an online business. But they are also vastly different in terms of scope, responsibilities, mindset, and actual day-to-day responsibilities.
If you don’t have a VA or two already on the team, then you might not need an OBM that operates alone because an OBM needs someone to manage and delegate to in order to do their job effectively. But businesses like Bright Moments have VAs available to delegate to.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It’s incredibly difficult to both do and manage at the same time. So this role really should not be a hybrid where one person is performing VA tasks and also managing large projects at the same time. That leads to mistakes and burnout.
Have any other questions about the different roles? Send me a message and I’ll answer as many as I can!