What Is an Online Business Manager (OBM)? A Complete Guide

I’ve recently begun a new blog series highlighting different opportunities and niches within the virtual assistant industry, and because I’ve been seeing the term a lot lately, I decided to write a post about what it means to be an “online business manager,” or OBM. Many virtual assistants are interested in ways to increase their income and scale their businesses, and for some of them, becoming a Certified OBM® is a natural next step.

To clarify, an online business manager is not just a glorified virtual assistant or a VA that charges higher rates. Although it’s true that the earning potential of an online business manager is much higher than that of a virtual assistant, the role of an OBM also includes more responsibility and a set of skills that may not come naturally to all VAs. (Fortunately, many of these skills can be learned.)

In this post, we’ll cover:

• What is an online business manager?
• What’s the difference between an online business manager and a virtual assistant?
• What are the benefits of becoming an online business manager?
• Who can become an OBM?
• What does an online business manager do?
• What services does an online business manager offer?
• Why would a business need an OBM?
• How much can an online business manager earn? How do they set their rates?
• What are the steps to becoming an OBM?

This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosure for more info.

Definition of an online business manager (OBM)

So what is an online business manager? And how is an online business manager different from a virtual assistant?

Online business managers work with companies transitioning from the six- to seven-figure range and act in a similar role as an Operations Manager or Chief Operating Officer.

The official definition of the online business manager, as per the International Association of Online Business Managers (IAOBM) in their Certified OBM® training, is:

A virtual based support professional who runs the day-to-day activities of online based businesses, including the management of projects, operations and team members.

Let’s dig into this definition a bit more.

Like a virtual assistant, an online business manager saves the business owner a lot of time. However, this is where the responsibility of a VA ends. Unlike virtual assistants, online business managers are hired to be strategists and decision-makers – big-picture thinkers – not just doers. They function in a leadership and team management role, taking initiative rather than just taking orders. Most importantly, a good online business manager is there not just to free up the business owner’s time, but to impact the bottom line of the business.

Tina Forsyth, founder of the International Association of Online Business Managers, explains in her highly practical book Becoming an Online Business Manager, “The key is to change your mindset from how can I make this business owner’s life easier to how can I help grow this business?”

Because of the measurable value the online business manager adds to the business, OBMs often charge an incentive-based rather than hourly pay structure. They aren’t trading time for dollars and are therefore not capped in their earnings the way VAs are. (We’ll talk more about pay in a bit.)

Online business manager vs. virtual assistant: What’s the difference?

To recap, the most prominent differences between an online business manager and a virtual assistant include:

• Online business managers function at the management level and take an active role in growing the company, whereas virtual assistants work at a micro or administrative level
• Online business managers are delegators rather than doers of tasks, unlike VAs, who are usually only responsible for their own work
• Online business managers can charge incentive pay, whereas VAs usually charge hourly

What are the benefits of becoming an online business manager?

There are many benefits to making the transition from virtual assistant to online business manager:

• Greater earning potential, with most OBMs charging incentive-based payment plans rather than project or hourly rates
• Less time and resources spent marketing for new clients, as most new business is obtained through referrals
• Less time and energy spent onboarding new clients, as most OBMs only work with two or three long-term clients at a time

Who can become an online business manager?

In theory, anyone can become an online business manager. Just like being a VA or other type of freelancer, you don’t need a degree or certification to become an online business manager. (Nor do you need to work as a virtual assistant before becoming an online business manager.)

However, if you start promoting yourself as an “online business manager” without fully understanding what the role entails, it will almost certainly lead to burned bridges.

This is why many online business managers take the route of obtaining an OBM certification through the International Association of Online Business Managers. The IAOBM clearly defined and standardized the OBM role in 2009 with an established set of responsibilities and expectations for certified online business managers.

Although anyone can enroll in the OBM certification program, certain career paths lend themselves naturally to the role of an online business manager. While the below list is not exhaustive, typical certification candidates include:

• Established virtual assistants who want to take their income to the next level and are prepared for the added level of responsibility that comes with it
• VAs who are already acting in an online business manager capacity without realizing it
• People with professional experience in project or general management
• Business school grads with an interest in online business
• Entrepreneurs who are savvy in business, digital marketing, or tech

Learn more about becoming a Certified OBM® here.

Online business manager job description: What does an online business manager do?

Although the exact job description of an OBM varies widely among industries, typical responsibilities of an OBM include:

• Spearheading projects, such as product launches and marketing campaigns
• Freeing up the owner or CEO by making lower-impact decisions for the company
• Hiring and managing a virtual team (including conflict management)
• Making suggestions for improvements; for example, streamlining workflows using technology
• Taking initiative by identifying opportunities for the business, such as new marketing channels or partnerships

Online business manager services

What services does an online business manager offer?

Whereas a virtual assistant may only perform one or two very specific tasks for a company, an online business manager is expected to work across a wide range of business functions. These include:

• Project management
• Team management
• Marketing
• Operations management
• Analytics and financial management

Let’s look at each of these in a bit more detail.

Project management

One of the main roles of the OBM is to take the role of project management off the business owner’s plate. This entails communicating with the business owner to understand exactly what they want to achieve, and then executing the project. From start to finish, this includes:

• Planning the project
• Obtaining approximate costs
• Setting completion dates for each milestone of the project
• Hiring contractors or VAs to complete the work, or delegating the work to existing team members
• Coordinating with team members and vendors to ensure that everyone gets their work done on time and to satisfaction

Team management

Online business managers are hired to manage the operations of the business, not do all the work themselves! As such, delegation and leadership is a crucial part of online business management.

The OBM is responsible for managing the business’ core team, plus any other contractors or vendors, such as writers, graphic designers, web designers, and marketing strategists. This includes following up with team members to ensure everyone gets their work done on time and to standard, as well as assisting with any conflicts that come up between team members.

Additionally, OBMs may act in an HR capacity by finding, hiring, and training new team members and freelancers needed for specific projects.

Marketing

As discussed above, the goal of an online business manager is not just to save the business owner time, but to help grow the company. Therefore, marketing is a key focus for an online business manager. An OBM should be knowledgeable in all areas of digital marketing, including:

• Content creation
• Search engine optimization
• Social media management and graphic creation
• Copywriting
• Digital advertising, especially Facebook ads
• Email marketing
• Website design (especially WordPress) and landing page creation
• Sales funnels
• Webinar management
• Conversion rate optimization
• Website analytics
• Partnerships

An OBM is expected to help plan and manage marketing campaigns, promotions, and product launches. A good OBM will also take initiative and come up with ideas of their own to market the business or else make improvements to the current marketing strategy.

Operations management

Because efficient, streamlined workflow systems and processes are critical to business growth, OBMs are highly involved in operations management. This includes:

• Identifying and fixing bottlenecks
• Auditing and optimizing existing workflows
• Identifying and automating repetitive tasks using software (instead of spending more money on human resources)

A good OBM is always looking for ways to automate, systematize, and streamline, the day-to-day activities of the business as much as possible. In her book Becoming an Online Business Manager, Tina Forsyth suggests creating standard operating procedures for a business as a “first date” project with new clients. Her OBM certification program includes an SOP guide template for students.

Analytics and financial management

Although an online business manager isn’t expected to act as a finance manager, they will still need to monitor the data that counts so they (and the business owner) can optimize for business growth. For example, an OBM might take on the task of identifying and trimming unnecessary expenses.

Examples of useful data include:

• Website traffic
• Social analytics
• Email subscribers
• Sales and revenue
• Business expenses

Another advantage of data collection is that it demonstrates the value the OBM is bringing to the business, which is vital information to consider if the OBM is on an incentive-based payment plan.

Why would a business need to hire an online business manager?

Just like brick-and-mortar companies, online businesses, coaches, and creatives reach a point in their growth when it becomes necessary to hire additional team members. Depending on how many contractors or employees the business has, the business owner may also need to hire someone to manage that team.

The main purpose of an OBM is to free the business owner from distractions so they can work on higher-value tasks and move toward the original vision for the company.

Specific reasons a business owner may want to hire a OBM include:

• They’re overwhelmed with work
• Their business growth is stuck and they want to scale the business
• They struggle with project or team management, or they just don’t want to do it
• They’re a visionary – they have lots of ideas for new projects but no extra time

Not every business is ready to hire an online business manager. A business must have an established foundation already in place before the OBM can start building successfully on that foundation. This means the business needs a clearly defined target market, products and services that people want, a marketing and sales funnel that works, and a steady income. It’s not the responsibility of an online business manager to put these pieces in place for a struggling company.

In her book Becoming an Online Business Manager, Tina Forsyth suggests that, “in general, a business is ready to hire an OBM if they have at least a six-figure annual income ($15k/month or more) that is steady and reliable throughout the year.”

How much can an online business manager earn? How do they set their rates?

VAs typically charge one of two ways: hourly or project-based rates. Even if a virtual assistant has created monthly service packages that work out to an optimal hourly rate, they’re still capped on their earnings at some point. This is because they can only work so fast, and they can only raise their rates so high before they start losing work to competitors.

One of the most exciting things about transitioning to an OBM role is the opportunity for incentive-based pay, which means you’ll be paid based on your performance and the value you bring to the business.

Tina Forsyth recommends that OBMs charge a base retainer, plus a percentage of revenue or profit of either individual projects or total business income.

Certified OBMs charge $65 and up per hour. Average retainers start at $2,000 per month, per client.

For more practical suggestions about how to structure an incentive-based payment plan, I recommend reading Tina Forsyth’s book Becoming an Online Business Manager.

How does an online business manager get clients?

“I never had to market my OBM business at all, because every single client I worked with came to me by word of mouth.” – Tina Forsyth

Word gets around fast online, so online business management is a very referral-friendly industry.

Additionally, because OBMs work with their clients at a higher level of responsibility and for a longer period than VAs – and because they’re able to charge more – they typically only work with two or three clients at a time, instead of 5 to 10.

How to become an online business manager

If you’re interested in pursuing a career as an online business manager, the first step is to learn everything you can about the role. I recommend the following two resources:

Certified OBM® training program. Offered by the International Association of Online Business Managers, this certification program will give students the confidence and skills it takes to be a successful online business manager and charge professional rates.

Upon successful completion of the program, students are awarded the Certified OBM® credential and membership in the international Association of online business managers. New trainings start every quarter. Learn more about the online business manager course and certificate program.

Becoming an Online Business Manager: Playing a Bigger Game with Your Clients (and Yourself). I read this book in a single Saturday. It contains plenty of details about the role of an online business manager as well as practical tips for structuring incentive-based payment plans. The author, Tina Forsyth, is founder of the International Association of Online Business Managers and the Certified OBM® training program. If you’re interested in making the shift from virtual assistant to online business manager, this book will show you how.

If you’re just starting out in your virtual assistant career, you may be also interested in some of my other posts:

• Free virtual assistant training courses and resources

Thanks so much for visiting my blog, and all the best in your pursuit of a career as an online business manager!