8 Benefits of Hiring an OBM – And What Makes OBM Associates® Different

Are you feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, or like your business is a train running off its tracks? If you’re constantly stuck in the daily grind, it might be time to consider hiring an OBM (Online Business Manager) to step in and help free up your time so you can focus on growing your business.

Hiring an OBM can feel daunting – after all, you’re bringing someone into a close partnership to take control of your daily operations. But that’s where we come in, and make the process smoother for you.

So if you’re feeling unsure, here’s 8 key benefits of hiring an OBM and what makes me and my team of amazing women stand out.

1. Support of a COO and OBM in your Business

What’s better than having the best of both worlds, two wrapped into one? At OBM Associates®, all OBMs have access to me, a COO with financial services operational experience since 2008, who come to you trained and vetted by me! Instead of working with just one OBM, you’ll have access to a tight-knit community of OBMs coming together to share advice and knowledge with each other behind the scenes. 

While COOs are more about the long-term vision and overseeing future growth plans regarding operations, your OBM will implement, systematise, and streamline the plan designed in the first strategy and vision planning session, with our support in the background as your OBM begins to build. You’ll get the most optimised, efficient, and aligned ecosystem to help you achieve your wildest business goals. 

2. Vetted and Trained OBMs 

The task of hiring an  OBM for your business can feel overwhelming. A great partnership should feel more like a friendship between the two roles, with mutual respect for the creative vision. If that relationship is lacking, the results may be affected, so it’s important to vet your OBM to ensure you’re on the same page. 

When you choose to work with OBM Associates®, everyone is thoroughly vetted. We’ll pair you with an OBM matched to your personality, needs and creative vision. Think of us as your OBM matchmaker! 

Partnering with an OBM early in your business can fast-track your growth. When you have momentum and your business is scaling sustainably with your OBM, that person will become a partner for life. 

Ultimately, having someone understand your business and connect deeply with your mission builds a strong bond, making the initial decision to bring someone into your business such an important one. Knowing that your OBM is vetted, trained and supported by a trusted adviser will remove the pressure and stress you may feel trying to do it yourself. 

3. Foundational Experience

All Associates go through a rigorous application process to ensure they have the right skills and experience to support your business. 

Corporate experience is a must for our team – every OBM comes with a background in project management, team management, administrative or office management, and operations, plus hands-on knowledge of the online space.

Equipped with this, our OBMs bring verified expertise, comprehensive training, and my support to the table. But don’t worry, we’re not about the rigidity often associated with corporate life. 

While our OBMs carry the structure and discipline that comes from their corporate backgrounds, they’re also adaptable and flexible, ready to adjust to the unique needs of your business and the ever-changing nature of the online world.

It’s all about balancing your wild ambition with a partner who’s practical, logical, and able to navigate whatever comes their way. Your business needs that blend of corporate know-how and agility, and that’s exactly what our team brings.

4. Get Back to Doing What You Love in your Business

As the business owner, you will likely be fiercely protective over your vision for the business; rightly so, and that’s your duty.

Without hiring an OBM, you may get bored in the backend and regularly make changes to spice things up, giving your team a run for their money. And I want to normalise this! It’s perfectly normal, and I’ve seen this happen when entering a business for the first time, especially if they have never had an OBM before; it takes time to build trust in the relationship and for the CEO to loosen their control grip. 

My associates have been trained to know how to manage this part of the relationship. It takes patience and trust to chip away slowly, giving the CEO time to integrate into their new leadership role.

Stop self-sabotaging your vision. Let your OBM take care of executing it instead. Stay in your hat, the leadership hat!  

Depending on your business offers, this newfound time would allow you to focus on revenue-generating activities, seeking opportunities, networking, managing external relationships, and keeping up with your industry.

Think about what only you can do. If you believe only you can do everything because everything is important, it means nothing is important to you! Hiring an OBM will allow you to bring priorities and boundaries back into your life, bringing you back to the why of your business. 

5. Communication Skill Training

Solid communication is the foundation of every successful OBM and CEO partnership. We prioritise communication skills training for our associates. You’ll never be left in the dark about what’s happening in your business. Our OBMs are emotionally intelligent and tuned to your energy. 

As a CEO, it’s easy to become so close to your business that you feel stuck in a bottle and can’t read the label – at OBM Associates®, we’ll always have honest conversations led with integrity to draw awareness to the areas you can’t always see. 

6. High-quality Online Business Managers 

When you invest in your right-hand partner, you can explore while your OBM analyses and manages your business. Knowing your business is fully taken care of and held to the highest standards, the weight you carried before dissolves. You’ll be sharing the workload with someone you deeply trust and respect, who has the prior knowledge, support, and community to fully support you. 

An Online Business Manager builds businesses with a mission, vision, and values at the forefront of every activity, building a solid structured foundation with systems and processes for you to move freely through your days. 

7. Community and Culture

At OBM Associates®, you’ll never be without support! You won’t have to scramble when your OBM goes on holiday – we’ll find another trusted partner to cover their duties while they’re away if necessary.   

Beyond just holiday cover, OBM Associates® is a small community of high-quality OBMs that not only support you as a client but support each other in problem-solving, sharing resources, and doing business together. This means you’ll gain access to not just one OBM but the powerhouse of many knowledgeable OBMs and COOs collaborating behind the scenes. 

8. Support with stepping into your CEO and leadership role

As a visionary, you are incredibly entrepreneurial and passionate about your business. You’ve never fit into the box of “normal” and always knew you were made for more.

You have lots of ideas. And you probably think of many new ideas daily and are very good at solving problems. You need SPACE to do this! There will always be something to do in your business, but you’ll never be able to scale independently.

When I was working late in corporate, my Dad always told me, “The job is never done, Lauren. You can’t get to the end, the job is just never done!” That advice made me realise that hustling outside my paid hours or operating outside my zone of genius, wasn’t doing myself and the people I served or worked with any good. 

There will always be something that needs to be done in your business. There will never come a time when you sit back and think, “Everything is done!” That’s why you need an OBM to step in and support you in the never-ending work, so you can finally start to set those boundaries.  

Did you know successful entrepreneurs take a “think week”? They allow this time to do nothing but research and provide solutions to industry problems. Implement this practice, and take your business to the moon. How could you do this if you don’t even want to step away for an afternoon? 

An OBM will filter through all those ten-tonne ideas daily by checking in with the business vision, mission, and values. Your OBM must challenge you with integrity on each of these ideas. Ultimately, it’s the CEO’s last word and the decision to go ahead, but the operations will make it a reality.

Your vision is strong, but you must learn how to get there. You can hold the vision but need more time to implement plans. At OBM Associates®, we are the HOW to your WHY.

Ready to fast-track your growth, scale to new heights, and build the business partnership to give you your time back? Let’s chat about how me and the team can help you and your business grow.