And Why It’s Hurting Your Small Business More Than You Think

If you run a small business or a family-owned operation, you know what it’s like to juggle a thousand moving parts at once. Orders to fulfill. Customers to respond to. Vendors to manage. Staff schedules to coordinate. And somehow… you’re expected to keep track of it all.

For many small business owners, that means relying on sticky notes, group texts, email threads, or just trying to remember everything in your head.

Here’s the problem: that’s not a system… it’s a setup for mistakes, stress, and lost profits.

If you’re like most small business owners or entrepreneurs I work with, you started your business to do something you love. But lately? You’re just trying to keep your head above water.
Here’s the good news:
You don’t need more hustle.
You need better systems.

So… you finally hired help!
Maybe a VA. Maybe a few contractors. Maybe even a full-time team member.
You put an ad up online, you interviewed people, you sorted through countless resumes and emails.

You thought, “This will finally free me up.”

But somehow… you’re still buried. Still stressed. Still wondering why your to-do list never shrinks.

Let’s get one thing straight: you don’t have a time problem. What you actually have is a systems problem. Every day I talk to brilliant, ambitious business owners who say, “If I just had a few more hours in the day…”
But here’s the truth: more time won’t save you if your business is built on digital duct tape and chaos.

There are a lot of terms thrown out there for support roles and all are valuable in their own way. You may have seen roles like Virtual Assistant (VA) and Online Business Manager (OBM) tossed around, but what actually are they and what’s difference between them? And more importantly which one do you need to help grow your business?

When your operations live in your head, in your inbox, or on sticky notes, it creates bottlenecks. Your team can’t move without you. You can’t take a real day off. And worst of all? You spend more time working in your business than growing it.

Let’s talk about what operational support is, what it looks like to get help, and how to know it’s time to stop doing everything yourself.