5 Differences Between Virtual Assistants and Online Business Managers

Many entrepreneurs in the coaching industry work incredibly hard, powered by their passion and desire to help clients achieve their goals. With all this hard work, it’s no surprise that running your coaching business can also be incredibly time-consuming.

To enable you to do the best job you can, hiring an online assistant is a natural first step to share the workload. You are having someone to delegate tasks to leaves you free to focus on your area of expertise: the coaching.

But what exactly are the differences between virtual assistants and online business managers – and which one is best for your business needs?

What is a Virtual Assistant?

A virtual assistant is someone – usually super-efficient! – who can help entrepreneurs and businesses with tasks that support staff does without having to be physically on the premises.

Whether it’s managing your social media channels, sifting through the hundreds of emails you get, updating websites or editing presentations, an online virtual assistant takes some of those to-do list tasks off your hands.

What is an Online Business Manager?

An online business manager is someone to help you combine all aspects of your business so that everything is running smoothly; someone who can help you juggle all those balls you have in the air at once!

Common areas an OBM focuses on are a project, operations or people management. They need to be in-tune with your business so they can make decisions and plans that tie into your overall vision.

So while there might be some overlap – and both roles can provide invaluable support to your business – there are some key differences between the roles as well.

The 5 Differences Between the Two

Focus: The Big Picture or The Details

One of the main differences is in the role’s focus. Because the OBM is working closely with you to develop and implement a strategy, they need to have an in-depth understanding of the big picture. You know as well as we do that there are multiple moving parts to any business; your OBM is there to help you have oversight of all of these – after all, the more you grow, the harder it is to do this on your own!

A virtual assistant, on the other hand, doesn’t need to worry too much about the overall vision. They’re there to ensure the individual parts that make up the picture are successfully and efficiently completed. It’s like they’re creating the puzzle pieces that the OBM helps to fit together.

Doing vs. Managing

Following on from this first point, another key difference is the scope of responsibility. A virtual assistant will be more task-oriented; they’re the person ticking their way down the to-do list, whether that’s dealing with incoming inquiries, scheduling social media posts or editing the newsletter. So they’re actively ‘doing’ the work that needs to be done.

As the OBM is responsible for ensuring the business runs smoothly, their key areas of responsibility are in managing. It could be project managing a launch, assigning tasks to team members or streamlining new processes. Whatever it is, they can provide a fresh perspective but also allow you the space to focus on your plans for growth or development.

Role Within a Team

It’s always great to work with a team, especially if it’s a group of like-minded people helping you achieve your vision for your own business. Nowadays it’s often easier and more cost-effective to work remotely, but it can also be difficult to handle.

Hiring an online business manager often means you have a team to oversee as they can take on responsibility for the whole team. Rather than you spending loads of time trying to keep track of who’s doing what when an OBM is there to coordinate the team members. They work independently to manage the team and strategy.

Because virtual assistants are more task-oriented, they are only responsible for their own work and take directions from clients, you or the business manager. It’s possible they have no contact with other team members at all, while the online business manager will probably communicate with all team members as part of their role.

Making Decisions and Taking Initiative

It will have become clear by now that your OBM can take a lot more initiative than online virtual assistants. In fact, it’s encouraged. They should be someone you trust to make decisions about the business and the team; this is why it’s so important for them to understand the business as a whole.

Because your virtual assistant is only accountable for their own tasks, they won’t play a role in decision-making or the overall running of the business. If you haven’t formally assigned a task, it won’t get done, while online business managers are more proactive. With a good OBM, you can relax and properly focus on what you love – coaching.

Surface vs. Depth

One final difference between virtual assistants and online business managers is the level of depth they go to in their work. Often virtual assistants will work with several clients, but do less work for each.

Meanwhile, an online business manager will deep-dive into the businesses they work for, so will do more work for fewer clients. This is important as you want someone who has the time to immerse themselves in your company, rather than floating on the surface.

Determining Which is Best for your Business

Whether it’s an online virtual assistant or a business manager, choosing the right person to outsource to can be a real game-changer. Only you know which role is right for your business at this point.

If you simply need to outsource some of the daily grinds to an efficient person, a virtual assistant will work for you. But if you want to be able to hand over some people or project management to a strategy-focused business manager or feel like you’re ‘hitting the ceiling’ of growth, an OBM will be a huge asset.

Of course, you could always hire both!