If you're a small business owner who is starting the process of scaling your business, you might be experiencing thoughts like…
- I need to be able to be less involved in all the small day-to-day decisions
- I'd like to have a developed system that I can easily hand off to someone to run
- It is physically impossible for me to handle everything that needs to happen in this business
- I want to spend more time working on my business instead of in it
If any of those things sound like something you would say, then you should probably keep reading.
What is a Digital Business Manager?
While it's not a common title, you might come across a listing for a "Digital Business Manager" on job posts, LinkedIn bios, and various other places online. You might also see similar titles like "Online Business Manager," but regardless, the role can seem quite vague. Adding to the ambiguity is the fact that a Digital Business Manager can sometimes be referred to as a Virtual Assistant with the titles used interchangeably. But they are not the same. Understanding the distinction will reveal whether your business needs one or the other because the two solve different problems.
What does a Digital Business Manager do?
The short answer is that a Digital Business Manager runs the operations of a business so the owner doesn't have to be involved in every detail.
Practically speaking, the work falls into two areas: project management and systems management. Project management involves ownership of a singular project. It can be large or small, a one-time engagement or ongoing, but in its essence, it is a single initiative. The second work area is in systems management. This is related to the creation, implementation, and improvement of the systems and processes that drive the business.
Project Management
Owning initiatives from start to finish, both the one-time projects and the ongoing ones.
Systems Management
Creating, implementing, and improving the processes the business runs on.
The thread between the two is that the Digital Business Manager role operates based on outcomes, not tasks. You bring your vision and your definition of success to a DBM, and they build the architecture to make it happen. They will construct the strategy, coordinate the resources, and provide you the necessary updates and decision points so that you can stay working on the items that are most worth your time.
Why does a scaling business need a manager?
Small businesses that scale tend to run into the same set of difficult problems. The first is owner burnout. The burnout drives the owner to hire someone to start offloading tasks to, but because the owner is burned out, they don't have the capacity to effectively create a system to delegate. Without the system, the new hire is left to create their own which may or may not align with the overall structure of the business, and it often results in the owner attempting to take back control and feeling like they'll never reach a place where they can hand things off.
That might be a dramatic picture, but the point stands that without the middle layer between the owner and the one who will be responsible for completing the work, delegation becomes difficult.
This is detailed out perfectly in the book The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. Gerber describes three roles that live inside every business owner:
- The Entrepreneur, the visionary who sets the goals and direction
- The Manager, the one who builds order and systems
- The Technician, the one who actually does all the tasks
Most owners find themselves oscillating between the Entrepreneur and the Technician. They spend their time either casting the vision or delivering the work, moving back and forth between the two depending on what the week demands. The place where stress starts creeping in is the lack of the Manager, the one who creates systems so that things can easily be delegated, run autonomously, and operate without the owner being involved in every detail.
The Entrepreneur
The visionary who sets the goals and direction.
The Manager
The one who builds order and systems.
The Technician
The one who actually does all the tasks.
When that piece is missing, the effects are specific and counterproductive. The owner starts getting a larger backlog of decisions to make. Team members have to wait on approvals to keep the work moving. Any attempts to establish systems or conduct improvements get pushed to the side because no one has capacity. The systems that do exist tend to live in one person's head, which is what makes them so hard to hand to anyone else.
How is a DBM different from a Virtual Assistant?
To start, this is not a section to say one role is more valuable than the other. Both can be necessary in a growing business. This distinction is to help discern which is necessary for your business right now based on the problems you are experiencing.
The need for more capacity
The tasks are already known and there is more work than hands. Someone receives the list and works it.
The need for better systems
The tasks themselves need deciding. Someone receives the goal and builds what runs it.
To continue using Gerber's definitions, a Virtual Assistant adds capacity to the Technician role. They primarily take on tasks that already exist to expand the ability of the business to get work done at its base level. Whether it's administration, client services, marketing, etc. work has to get done, and a good Virtual Assistant will do the work at a high quality level.
Alternatively, a DBM fills the Manager role. They take on a slightly more strategic element by deciding which tasks should exist in the first place and building the systems that run them.
To give another example of the difference, we can look at how an engagement starts. A Virtual Assistant engagement typically begins with a scope from an owner that dictates what work needs to be completed. An example would be the need for social media management where the scope includes posting on various social media platforms on certain days. A DBM engagement typically begins with a goal, problem, or project from the owner, and the DBM helps to develop the plan and scope of the work.
It should also be noted that Digital Business Managers and Virtual Assistants work well together. A DBM will often manage contractors, Virtual Assistants included, so the primary question is which need does your business currently have:
- The need to expand the capacity in the tasks
- The need to develop systems for the tasks
Answering this question will help direct you toward the right fit for your business.
How a DBM fills the gap
A Digital Business Manager is a dedicated person to take on special projects, establish systems, train employees, and connect the dots between the vision of the owner and the system that makes that vision come to life.
That might look like taking a project off your plate entirely, documenting SOPs so it can be handed to someone else, training the team on a new process and supporting them through the change, or keeping the systems current as the business keeps growing. Ultimately, the work bends toward whatever the changing needs of the business while keeping the owner's vision in mind.
The goal is a business that runs with strategic, sustainable, and scalable systems without you being involved in every detail.
Is your business ready for a DBM?
A DBM is a powerful player for your business. Many times, you can hand over a pile of papers and come back to a completed filing system. With that said, there are elements of your business that will make the most use of a DBM's skills if they are established.
First, your business positioning is defined.
This is important because it's related to the overall direction and vision for your business. If this is already established, then it makes it easier for a DBM to make sure their execution is in line with those goals.
Second, you have a lowercase-'v' vision.
Whether it's for a project or a system, you have a general idea of what you want it to look, feel, and generally accomplish so that you can articulate what success looks like when it's completed.
I will add here that I have taken on projects as a DBM where the project is to establish one or both of these items, so these are not absolute "must-haves" before you can hire a DBM. However, if you do have these things, then you can get ready for exponential impact from a DBM.
Bringing it together
The tension most growing businesses feel isn't the need for more available man hours, although it might appear that way on the surface. In reality, it's the need for a manager, the part of the business that turns a vision into something repeatable enough to hand off.
It's a more ambiguous need, and it can be more difficult to articulate compared to something like the need for a Social Media Manager.
"The role of a Digital Business Manager is to take the ambiguity, organize it into manageable information, prioritize it into a plan, delegate it appropriately, and run it effectively."
With that, the owner gets back a business that still functions without them making every decision or being on 24/7.
The Author
Leina is a Digital Business Manager who helps business owners bring structure and strategy to their growing businesses.