Online business manager? If you’re like me, you may have never heard the term before. It appears to be a relatively new job description…..at least formal job description. The reason you should be interested is because you might be one, without realizing it. You might already have the skills to be one, or on the path to be one. Or you might need one.
If you’re Net savvy, this could be a job for you. If you don’t think you’re ready to be an online business manager yet, you could start out as a virtual assistant ( we’ll describe the difference later), or work on an online business manager’s team.
The flip side of the coin is, if you run an online business, organization or association, you might need an online business manager to handle the day to day tasks and free up your time for your core skills or to grow your business. Perhaps you just never knew such a position existed or put together all the elements you need to have for an online business and realized you could get all that implemented for you by a single person, who knows the right tools or manages the right team.
Tina Forsyth is the person who really crystalized this concept in her new book, Becoming an Online Business Manager.
Tina describes a situation in which business owners “already have teams of virtual assistants, webmasters, designers and other contractors, but what they really need is someone to manage all of this; to play a bigger role in their business so that they can grow to the next level.”
Now, as online businesses have grown and increased in complexity, with more sophisticated online tools available, Tina says she is “seeing more business owners who are ready to hire at the management level.”
When I started reading Tina’s writing, it was with a mild shock of recognition I realized I had been doing what she described for a number of clients for some time. Since I had operated a major website since 1996, I had ample experience on the web, so a number of businesses and organizations I had come into the same orbit with had asked for me to help them set up shop online. What happened, in every case, was that I was not just setting up or overseeing the set up of a website and collaborative and marketing tools, but helping them think through the business processes they would need to succeed and grow their businesses. It was a collaboration where I implemented their vision, more like a doctor collaborating with a patient, to diagnose the state of his or her health, determine the level he or she really aspired to reach, then prescribing a regimen for increased fitness to ultimately reach that goal. The actual construction of the website was more like being the pharmacist dispensing the medicine.
Why Aren’t More People Hiring Online Business Managers?
First of all, they don’t know such people exist. I didn’t. And I was one. I just hadn’t realized it. Tina says:
“For business owners, it is a matter of not knowing who or what they are really looking for. They may have a faint idea they could benefit from hiring someone to help them manage and grow their business online, but they often have no clue what that role looks like. They aren’t clear themselves on what it is they need, which of course makes it quite hard to find someone! Quite often, when we describe the role of an oBM to the business owners we speak to, we hear, “yes! that’s exactly who I need on my team … now where do I find someone?” and that leads us to the other side of the gap, that there just aren’t a lot of people out there who are actively working as oBMs, consciously or unconsciously. So when these clients start looking to fill that role, they are having a tough time finding the person they need.”
Let’s start with a job description so we can learn a little more about what the job looks like.
A sample oBM job description from the book reads like this:
The Online Business Manager will:
Have 5+ years experience in one or more of:
- the fields of marketing, ecommerce, programming, coaching, business management, human resources, project management, personal development or other related area of study, or equivalent.
- Work with the very energetic CEO/Owner of the business to create new passive revenue streams, taking them from idea to sale
- Manage administration, logistics, human resources and infrastructure of a growing online business
- Recruit additional team members and train/manage them into their respective functions
- Be familiar with and/or practically experienced in all facets of Internet marketing including:
- Product planning and research
- Copywriting
- Website design and creation
- Creation of graphics and user interface
- Product packaging
- Traffic generation
- Conversion and
- The overall strategic marketing plan that creates a cohesive whole out of these elements
- Have experience creating and implementing a business plan in a competitive environment
- Be a relationship builder, client service oriented and a team player
- Understand advertising, affiliate programs and joint ventures; be able to hold and cultivate key relationships
- Diligently maintain and create a standard operating procedure or business training manual for the business
- Be fiscally responsible
So why isn’t it easy to find these people? Tina says:
“I believe that there are .. professionals out there who have the skills to be working as an oBM; they just haven’t realized that this opportunity exists… This way of working is still quite new to most people and because of that there is a gap between the business owners who are looking to hire oBMs and the people who could potentially be working for them in this role.”
In fact, I believe there are two levels of workers an online business owner can turn to. A good virtual assistant, or VA, with substantial experience could oversee the technical tools and processes and probably has some tricks up her sleeve about marketing tools which could help expand your business. An online business manager would be a step up from that: someone who could analyze your business and its processes and collaborate with you to design the elements which would create more value and help you reach your goals.
So, if you’re Net savvy, there could be a job in here for you. Most small business owners, or growing organizations will definitely reach a point where they are either unable to handle all the tasks before them, or don’t have sufficient background and experience online to know how to proceed. When that point comes, don’t hesitate, look for an online business manager.
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