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What Housecleaning Has to Do With Your VA Service Offerings
Why do household chores remind me of your Virtual Assistant services?
Do you like vacuuming? I really don’t like it. I tend to do it quickly to get it overwith so it makes me all hot and sweaty.
Vacuuming is simply probably my least favourite household chore. I do a decent job but I often take shortcuts because I just dislike it that much.
I also don’t like ironing, but I’m good at it, so there’s that. I tend to iron as we need things though, instead of doing it all at once like my Mom used to do. I remember her setting up the ironing board on a Saturday morning and ironing everything in the house while we watched cartoons. She taught me how to iron shirts properly! (but I digress LOL)…
I do like dusting. I have this amazing furniture polish that I really like. It smells great and it really does a beautiful job. And it leaves the wood furniture and my upright piano nice and shiny!
And I quite enjoy doing the laundry. I get into a groove in the evenings or the weekends, washing, drying, folding and putting away. (My husband and son wash and dry, but they don’t fold and they rarely put away – how about yours?!)
So what does any of this have to do with business?
Well, your household chores are much like the tasks you do for your clients. Some you like, some you don’t. Some you are good at, some you aren’t.
Think about your daily tasks that you do for your clients (or for your own business).
Can you classify the things you do every day into the following categories?
- I don’t like to do it. Hate it.
- I’m good at it, but I don’t love it. I do it when I need to.
- I like it, there’s not a lot of need for it, but when there is I take pride in it.
- I love it. I could do it every day. I have a great system to get it done well.
Who knew housework was so much like business, eh? 🙂
Look at your daily or weekly task list.
What is it that you really like doing? Do your clients even know what you like to do? Are you just doing everything they ask you to? You don’t have to. Look at the last month of things you have done for your clients and categorize things as above. What do you see?
Are you a task-taker?
Some clients treat us like ‘the help’. And we let them. Are you doing everything that your clients ask you to? We are support professionals, yes, but we do get to make choices. Especially if we are doing things we don’t like to do, or are not good at. It’s simply not a good use of their money.
Remember you are running your own business.
You are the owner of your business. You get to decide what you do. What services you offer. Not the client. We are not their employee. Part of the beauty of being your OWN boss is that you get to decide. We have the right to determine exactly what it is that we love to do, and we have to be able to tell people ‘I don’t do that, let’s find someone else to look after that for you.’
How can you make some changes in your business that will help you get to where you want to be?
Getting back to the housecleaning, several years ago we hired a housecleaner. This was a huge step in our family. We dreamed about it for a long time and thought ‘if only we could afford it!’
But it turns out we could – because we determined the tasks we needed her to do, and what our budget was – and that’s what we pay her to do. (She does the floors, the bathrooms and the dusting every two weeks!) Hmm doesn’t that sound just like a client sales conversation?
She told us that she does not clear ‘knick knack’ shelves to clean them so we remove things from shelves if we want her to clean them. We each set the expectations and it’s great. We would never be without a housecleaner anymore.
And although she doesn’t do the ironing (she might if I paid her to, who knows!), the vacuuming gets done very well every two weeks – way better than it did before we had her.
It’s the same with your clients.
Make some definitive decisions about what you love to do, and what you are GREAT at, and then approach clients for that work.
There are plenty of options for clients to work with more than one person to get all of their ‘stuff’ done.
If you want to be in business for a long time and make the money you want to make, you must act like the head of the household (or the CEO).
I promise you, these types of decisions will be the most impactful things in your business.
Do what you love, charge properly for it. Voila. Amazing business that you LOVE.
If you are stuck at how to build your list of what you love, book a free consultation with me here. We’ll talk about what you love to do, what marketable skills you have, and what your next step should be to put it out there for clients to see!
About the Author: Tracey D’Aviero is a Virtual Assistant Coach, Trainer, Speaker and Author. After operating a busy VA business of her own since 1996, Tracey began teaching others to run their VA businesses in 2010 through Your VA Mentor. In 2016 she purchased the CAVA and GAVA VA associations and now teaches and coaches VAs exclusively. She has a vast amount of experience working in many different industries which helps her to offer her students and coaching clients a unique perspective and sound advice. She is a proud advocate of the Virtual Assistant industry. Learn more about Tracey’s journey in the VA industry here.
How to Deal With Difficult Virtual Assistant Clients
Do you have any VA clients that you kind of dread dealing with?
You know the ones. The ones who give you anxiety when you see their name in your email inbox or on your phone. The ones whose work you do because you need the money but you really wish you had a different client.
To figure out how to deal with difficult clients, let’s first talk about what kinds of clients might be considered difficult:
• Constantly gives you work to do on short turnarounds or deadlines, or changes their mind often
• Treats every task like an emergency
• Sends an email or calls you every time they have a thought
• Complains or scrutinizes your invoice and billable time
• Constantly tries to sneak more things into a defined (or undefined) scope of work
• Speaks to you like you are an employee, or is mean, aggressive or rude to you in any way
Wow that list could have kept going!
There are a lot of difficult clients out there. As service professionals, it’s natural for many VAs to want to be helpful and do whatever the client needs. But it can create volatile relationships between the VA and the client – and many times things go from bad to worse fast.
So what can we do to deal with difficult clients?
Well, first you need to analyze what the problem is. It’s not personal – we need to act like business owners in every aspect of our businesses, and that includes identifying why the client is behaving in a way that we think they should not behave.
How is your behaviour contributing to this problem?
With clients, you teach them how to treat you. So how are you letting your clients treat you?
Short Deadlines
If you are actually doing the work when they send it to you late, or allowing them to do countless revisions, you are teaching them that you will get it done no matter what. Or if they treat everything they send you like an emergency the same thing can happen. Instead: Give the client firm lead times and tell them that they need to abide by them in order for the work to get done on their deadline.
Communication Issues
If you pick up the phone or respond to every email the client sends, you are teaching them that you are putting their schedule ahead of your own. Instead: Schedule a regular phone call (weekly) with your client so they can have your undivided attention. Make sure all other project or task requests go through your project management system or whatever communication policy you have set up.
Critiques Your Invoice
If you are providing detailed billing for your clients, you run the risk of them scrutinizing every point on the invoice. Instead: Your clients are paying you for your expertise – and yes, to get the work done – but you may want to revisit just HOW detailed your billing is (consider detailing the tasks completed on your bill instead of the minutes).
Scope Creep
If you keep saying yes every time a client asks you to do something, you will soon be doing more than you agreed to, probably for the same amount of money. Instead: Define what tasks you will do within the agreement you have with any client. If something new comes along, address it immediately with your client to discuss how to fit in into their work – and address additional billing if necessary.
Aggressive or Rude Behaviour
If your client is speaking to you in a tone that you don’t like, that is absolutely not okay. Of course business is business, and it’s not personal, but some clients do cross this line. If they consider you to be their employee, some clients will speak to you like you are beneath them. Instead: Assert yourself as the client’s equal – and fire the client if necessary. You are not their employee and there is never any reason for aggressive language or behaviour.
In a service based business like a VA, our personalities need to fit together properly in order to get the work done in a professional manner. If you have any clients that you consider to be difficult, first assess why this is happening.
Try to identify if there is anything you can do to make adjustments to the behaviour by reinforcing boundaries or policies, or having a discussion with the client to make things right.
We are in business for the long term, and part of that is finding clients that we love, and that love us!
If you are dealing with a difficult client and you aren’t sure how to handle it, I invite you to reach out to me for a complimentary Cut to the Chase call with me: www.canadianava.org/15-min. I know what it’s like to go through something like this and I’d love to help you push through the fear of handling it.
What Is Keeping Your VA Business Stuck?
If your VA business is not where you want it to be, what is making you struggle? Figure that out by reading below.
How do you feel when you think about your VA business?
Do you feel like a success? Are you proud to talk about how it’s going?
A lot of Virtual Assistants – no matter what stage of their business they are in – are not happy. In fact, they are struggling, and they don’t know why.
Or they just fly by the seat of their pants, and then they wonder why they are not successful.
I hear from VAs like that every day. Is that you?
When I ask them how their business is going, I get a lot of the same responses:
- It’s hard.
- I don’t know where to find clients.
- I am not making enough money.
- I’m stuck on a business name.
- I can’t start marketing until my website is ready.
- I’m still working on my logo.
- I’m no good at networking in person.
Some of these problems are just excuses to not start (that happens very often with new VAs!)
Some of them are simply decisions you have to make – you must learn to be brave!
And some of them are valid issues that you need to get help with, if you can’t move forward yourself.
I often challenge the excuses that VAs use to not start or grow their business.
It’s my job as a coach to help push you through the fear that you have around being a business owner and experiencing success.
I had to have someone push me through my fears and insecurities too. It’s not fun, but it does work.
So I ask these VAs what their plan is. Often they don’t have a plan, and that’s the whole problem.
Are you making excuses? or do you just need a little push?
If any of those protests above sound like you, here is my advice:
It’s hard.
Yep, it is. Being a VA means being a business owner, and that’s not always easy. Usually the reason it’s so hard is that you don’t have a strategy in place to market your business, to find clients, and to manage the work with them. That’s really all you need to do. Treat your VA business like a business, act like a business owner and you will find it much easier.
I don’t know where to find clients.
Who are your clients? If you have not chosen a target market or industry yet, that’s your first step. Once you decide who you are looking for, you can figure out where to find them. Ask your colleagues if you don’t know. Getting clients means getting in front of the people who need your services, so they can see you. Reach out. Connect.
I am not making enough money.
How much money are you making? Where is it coming from? Do you need to raise your rates? Or do you need more clients? Get specific about what the issue is, so you can put the right plan in place to fix it. If you need to raise your rates, figure out how to tell your current clients. And any new clients you bring in, start them at the new rate. If you need to find new clients, make a plan to do that.
I’m stuck on a business name.
You have a name. Your personal name. Don’t let branding or a business name stop you from starting your business. It’s an excuse, and a bad one at that. If you are ready to serve clients – you have your services chosen, your rates set, a contract to have them fill in, and a means for them to pay you, you can get going. Don’t hang yourself up on this. Get moving.
I can’t start marketing until my website is ready.
This is the same as your business name. You don’t need a website to start having conversations with people. Your website will always be a work in progress. You do need an online presence when you get started but not necessarily a website. Update your LinkedIn profile so it’s current and describes what you do. Start a Facebook page for your business. There you go. You’re online and visible.
I’m still working on my logo.
Most clients will never even notice your logo. I know that’s probably upsetting if that’s your main focus right now but it is so true. Clients want to know two things: what you can do for them, and how much it will cost them. Branding is important, sure, but it should not be a stopping point to getting your business off the ground. Bring in some clients and revenue, and then you can brand to your heart’s content!
I’m no good at networking in person.
Many VAs are introverts. It’s part of our nature, being support professionals. But networking is really just about asking questions and assessing whether you can help someone. That’s not as hard as you think. If you really get paralyzed by networking, you might need to seek help to get better at it. If you really can’t connect with people, you will have difficulty getting clients. Maybe being a subcontractor is a better plan for you.
If you are using any of these reasons (excuses!) to stay stuck in your business, start moving through the issue. Check out the links in this article to get more info.
Success takes planning, and consistent efforts to implement those plans. And it’s great when you can crush those excuses!!
If you just need a little help to push you through what you are stuck on, reach out for a complimentary Cut to the Chase call with me. We will talk about where you are now, where you want to go, and I'll give you my best advice for what your next step should be. Book yours here: www.yourvamentor.com/15-min.
6 Ways to Manage Your Time Better Every Day as a VA
If you are a Virtual Assistant who is working early mornings, late nights, or both trying to get it all done, it’s time to look at how you manage your time every day.
As a VA, we preach to our clients the importance of not working all hours of the day. But are we taking our own advice?
How is your VA business running? Are you finding you have enough time in your day to do your client work and your business admin?
Or are you struggling every day to get it all done?
If you constantly run to keep up, or get to the end of your day and your task list is not complete, it’s time to look at a few ways you can better manage your time.
Being in business doesn’t mean you have to work all hours – we tell our clients all the time that they shouldn’t, and yet we sometimes don’t take that advice to our own hearts.
Here are 6 tips to help you become more productive (or figure out where your time is going!):
Assess your To Do List
When you start your work day, look at what it is you need to get done. How does it look? Do you immediately know that this will be a very busy day – that you might not get it all done? That’s okay if that happens occasionally, but if it’s happening every day, you need to assess what you are putting into your calendar and how you can adjust it. What you plan for the day needs to be manageable.
Work During Business Hours
When you are running a business, you have to pick and choose what to do – and your billable work should come before everything else. With no client revenue, your business will not survive. Working during business hours instead of doing the groceries or going to Johnny’s school is important. You don’t have to work 9-5 every day, but you do need to set business hours that work for you and work during them as much as possible. Trying to work around family needs will lead to burnout faster than if you just hold certain periods of time for you to be working on business.
Block Out Your Schedule
Blocking out your schedule helps you to identify what you should be doing at what time. That doesn’t mean rigid and boring routines – but it does help you stay focused and let others know when you will get to things. Put start times and stop times in your calendar, so you know when it’s time to move on to the next task. Advise you clients what your turnaround time is for their projects. Block out personal time like meals and breaks – no eating at your desk! You will get more done, and still be able to do everything you want – business and personal.
Limit Distractions
One of the biggest issues with working from home is distractions. Sometimes it’s because there are others home with us during the day, and sometimes it’s just that no one else is watching us. We can do whatever we want! If you are not being as productive as you need to be, try switching off all distractions – notifications, social media, Netflix (!) – and see just how much you can get done in a short period of time. It’s really effective – trust me!
Get Support When You Need It
If you are working all hours of every day, look at why that is. What is taking up your time? If it is billable work, it may be time to hire a sub or two to lighten your load. It’s a great to build your business and bring in even more clients, when you get a couple of people to help you with the client work. When you are working alone, you will eventually max out the amount of work you can produce for clients. If you are underwater with bookkeeping or marketing tasks, consider getting help with those. Support is something we tell our clients is essential to grow their business, and the same is true for our own.
Use Checklists
Even if you think you know what you need to do, a checklist is an indispensable tool in our businesses. When you have a a repeatable task, set up a checklist for it so you don’t have to think about what to do next. You will free up very valuable brain space when you just need to consult a checklist to complete your tasks. And you can use a checklist when you bring in other support to help you.
When you work alone, no one is there to make sure you get everything done and don’t fall off track. You need to do it yourself.
By implementing simple things like scheduling, focus and checklists, you can help yourself get more done in a shorter period of time.
When you are starting your VA business, time management seems less important because you don’t have a full client load. As you get busier, you will need to manage many more tasks every day.
I always find myself dropping balls when I have less to do, not more. When I have lots of things to get done, I manage my time much better.
Setting up good practices now is a good habit to get into, so when you get really busy you already have great habits!
If you want more lessons on time management, check out my Productivity videos on my YouTube channel. There are more than 50 free training videos for Virtual Assistants there!
How to Build a Virtual Assistant Service Package
Do you get stuck trying to create service packages for your Virtual Assistant business? You are not alone.
This is one of the questions I get asked most often – how to package your services.
Virtual assistants know that when we charge clients for a package of services, we all benefit.
Trading hours for dollars is not a bad business model, but there are downfalls to it.
One of those downfalls is that you max out how much money you can actually earn. Because it is based solely on your time, and you only have so much time, you hit an earnings ceiling, and sometimes that happens very quickly.
Or, if you choose to work 60 to 80 hour weeks to earn more money (which some VAs do!), you will soon suffer from burnout. And then you will lose clients, and your income will go to ZERO!
Sounds dramatic, I know, but it really is true.
Any VA who has charged by the hour before knows that this is exactly what happens.
So. We talk about packages.
But there seems to be a lot of mystery around how to do it. Or at least how to do it properly.
I moved my clients to packages so long ago that I sometimes forget that someone taught me how to do it!
So now I’ll teach you!
Here is how you start to build a service package:
1. Write down all of the things you do for your clients.
All of them. Go back as far as you need to in your records to figure out what services you offer. The list should be comprehensive.
2. Write down all of the services you offer on your website.
These are the services that you tell people you offer. Why the extra step? Because sometimes there are things on your website that you are not doing for clients. It's a double-check!
3. Go through both lists and start to categorize the tasks that are on them.
Think of categories like organization, business correspondence, marketing, networking, list building, client communication, payment processing, wherever you find a common thread – that’s a category. Some services offerings/tasks can be in multiple categories.
4. Next, go through your client list.
Write down their business info: what they do, who their clients are, and what types of things they need support with (whether you are doing those things for them presently or not).
5. Categorize your clients as well.
Who do you really love to work with? What do you love about them? Who do you prefer not to work with? Why not?
6. Finally, have a look at the lists of things that you created that your clients need support with.
Are there other things you could be doing for them that you are not currently doing? (Keep in mind this is not a wish list, but an actual ‘I have experience doing this and I could offer it to them right away’ list).
Now you have your pieces!
Take your categorized service listings and apply them to your favourite clients.
Build Your Packages
To build the packages, start with basic items (ie a regular newsletter) and then add on other complementary services (services that build on one another – ie social media posting of the newsletter, article marketing, blog post, etc.)
Voila! You have basically created a service package for a client that you love to work with.
Don’t worry if those examples aren’t on your lists.
Types of Packages
You can build a client care package, a list building package, a social media package, a graphics and web package, a bookkeeping package, a general admin package, a calendar management/follow up package … any service you provide can be packaged if you just think about what you can put with it to enhance it.
Set Your Prices
Now, from there, you need to decide what your prices look like. I suggest starting with a basic package price and then adding on additional services to come up with premium package prices as well.
For now, start with building some packages and in another blog post we will talk about how to price them.
I have a system that will help you understand what your billable rate should be, and how to build great pricing structure from that.
And certainly if you need help to get yours on paper (or post its!), have a look at my self study program How to Package Your Virtual Assistant Services which will walk you through the steps to do it for yourself.
What Counts as Billable Time For Your VA Clients?
What do you charge your Virtual Assistant clients for? Just time on task? Or more?
Quite often, I see posts in the VA forums talking about time tracking and billing.
One of the topics that is discussed a lot is around what is billable time to your clients and what isn’t?
And the answers you see posted would probably surprise you. They definitely surprise me!
The short answer is that anything you are doing for a client should be billed to them.
Here’s a quick example.
When you go to McDonalds (I use McDonalds as an example often!), you don’t leave with anything that you haven’t paid for. You get your sandwich, your drink, and you get your condiments and napkins on the counter adjacent to the cash. Maybe you didn’t see the napkins and condiments itemized on your bill, but everything you are leaving with is factored into the price you paid – including the staff that served, the machines they used to process your order, and the lights over your head.
It’s the same thing with your clients.
You provide a VA service to them. The service includes what you do for them (ie managing their scheduling), and everything else that you need to use to provide that service for them. These things are what make up your billable rate. You need to make a certain amount of money in your business to cover your expertise and your expenses.
I’m not talking about your internet and your other overhead expenses – I’m talking about all of the time you spend looking after their client work.
If you can not earn a profit in your business, then you won’t be in business long.
Now let’s talk about the itemized stuff.
Aside from doing the client’s scheduling, what else do you need to do to manage their work? With VA work it’s mainly communication and administration. Do you bill for these things? If you do not, then you are giving away your time.
What specifically? Phone calls, meetings, updating the project management system, reading and responding to emails.
It is important to factor all of things like communication into your billable rate – and find a way to do all of it efficiently.
Some Virtual Assistants do not charge their clients for this time. They call it ‘included’ but what if one client sends you one email a day and one sends you 20?
The assumption would be that the one who is sending you 20 emails is a larger client, who is probably paying you for more time. But it’s not always the case.
I once had a client who LOVED her email. She was a writer, so words were her craft but I used to dread seeing her name in my inbox because it was there so often. One Monday morning I logged in to see more than 80 emails from her, that she had sent over the weekend. Eighty (I counted them). And she was a client who was billing only 5 hours a month with me.
I had another client who LOVED phone meetings. She didn’t like to write or type, so she wanted to speak on the phone every time she needed to tell me something. A phone call every day adds up quickly – even if it’s just 5 or 10 minutes, never mind the fact that you have to stop everything you are doing to take the call.
As a service business, your time is your money. You need to get paid for it.
That means everything you do for a client should be getting billed to them. If you were not there helping them in their business, they would be doing things themselves.
And yes, we all want to be giving and generous – there is never a problem with that. As a VA, that is one of the best things you can be – provided that you are not giving your time or energy away for free.
Clients are paying you to work with them. So charge them accordingly to get their work done. Your time is as valuable as theirs (actually it’s even more valuable, in my opinion!)
Charge for your phone time, your email time, your project management system time. If you don’t like the idea of itemizing that kind of thing, fix a monthly rate to it, something like 15 minutes a day for communication with a client is only 5 hours a month. But then be sure to track it so you are sure you are billing them the right amount.
Nobody should be working for free. Your clients don’t, and you shouldn’t either.
What’s billable? Anything you do for a client (honestly - except sending them their invoice each month!).
Factor in everything you do and you will be happier in your business, and your clients will be happier too!
For more tips and resources on making your VA business more profitable, sign up for a free CAVA membership today! Connect with VAs like yourself, and have a look around at our resources, while you consider full membership in our association!
5 Tips for Better Follow Up in Your VA Business
Where are your clients coming from?
Are you getting great clients easily from the people you come into contact with on a regular basis?
Or are you struggling to find clients - and maybe even taking on clients that you don't really want to work with, just so you don't turn down the money?
If you aren't meeting enough business people, that should be your first step in trying to get new clients.
But if you are meeting business people and still not getting clients, your follow up procedure probably needs work.
How many sales conversations have you had this week? this month? this year?
The more people you talk to about your business, the more clients you will get. It's just a numbers game. Honest!
A recent Hubspot survey (and many others!) says that it takes 5 to 7 marketing touches to bring someone from a new prospect to a client.
Are you following up with people 5 to 7 times? Are you following up with some of them at all? For me, it's the statistic more than that 'marketing' piece that is important. You have to connect with most people more than once to get them to advance their relationship with you in order for them to start working with you.
Here are 5 steps to set up a follow up system that works to get you clients:
1. Create a master list, database or CRM.
Keeping everything in one place is the most important part of managing your follow up (other than doing that actual follow up, of course!) Set up something that works for you. For some people that's a notebook, for others (like me!) it's a Google Sheet, and even others use a database, CRM or app on their phone. The key is to work within your habits. A beautiful database that you never use is useless. Keep things simple to start with and find a way to use it every single day so that it becomes a simple habit.
2. Record every interaction.
When you connect with someone, you need to find that master list and update it. That's part of why it needs to be so accessible for you. If you don't keep things up to date, it will not be effective for you. I use a Google Sheet because I can access it from my PC and my phone and anywhere else online. So when I speak with someone I can update it with my most recent notes and it is always current. With the many ways we can connect with people these days, having a central place to record it all is essential.
3. Communicate with intent.
When you are looking for those 'touches', be sure that you have a reason to connect with someone. Creating the intent - the topic of conversation, if you will - is essential when you reach out to connect with them. Maybe you know of an event that is coming up that you want to tell them about, or an industry trend that you are reading about that you want to share, or maybe it's just a check in to ask how their business is going. But be sure you know what the intent of the communication is before you send it.
4. Schedule time to do it daily.
Daily follow up is really important. When you are talking to people every day about your business, you will end up with a lot of conversations going on at once. Of course that doesn't mean that you have to email or message or call everyone every day! But you should reach out to at least a couple a day. It makes the routine regular and helps you stay on top of all of the relationships you are building.
5. Ask for a sales conversation only when the time is right.
When you are prospecting and doing follow up, patience is a virtue. Don't connect with someone and right away ask them to talk to you about working together. You want to nurture the relationship with anyone you connect with. When the time is right, you can ask the prospect if they want to chat about you helping them. Or, if they aren't your ideal client, you might ask them for a referral. But always make sure it's time for that and not jump into it.
Following a few rules when you are doing your follow up helps you to keep organized, on top of things, and authentic in your relationship building.
Remember you are going to be in business for the long-term. Connecting with potential clients is about the long game. Treat your prospects well, keep in touch with them, and you will find that you will get clients more easily. And you'll probably even find the networking part FUN!
For some tips on how to manage your sales conversations once you get there, check out this free training video: The Sales Conversation. There are over 40 free training videos for VAs on my Youtube channel!
How An Accountability Partner Helps You Grow Your VA Business
Did you reach the last goal you set in your business?
Good Virtual Assistants set goals, just like all good business owners. It's how we grow, and it's how we get better at what we do.
Whether it's business or marketing related, there is nothing like achieving a goal you set for yourself to help you celebrate your success!
But if you are setting goals and then just not reaching them - then, honestly there is no point in setting them. You have to do what you say you want to do!
However, all is not lost!
All you need is someone to help you stay on track - an accountability partner.
An accountability partner is someone you choose to partner with in your VA business, that becomes your confidant/e, your cheerleader, your butt-kicker, and even your strategist.
When you start a partnership with someone else, you help each other with moving ahead in your business - and helping you to get done what you say you want to get done.
Just like we do for our clients!
Our own VA business 'stuff' often gets left by the wayside as we focus on client work - but our business can't grow if we don't nurture it.
Here are a few tips for you to find and work with an accountability partner:
Find an accountability partner.
Look for someone who understands the VA industry or business. You don't want to spend your time explaining everything all the time. Ideally another VA might work - but it's not necessary, as long as your partner understands how the VA industry and role works. You can look in CAVA for one - just reach out to your colleagues!
Build a partnership with structure.
Don't keep it casual. You want to have a structure - a regular check in call is going to be essential to your success. Figure out how you keep your records of what your goals and actions are (I suggest a shared Google Doc you can both access and update). And be sure to schedule and structure your phone call so you both stay on track for reporting your updates.
Help each other build better habits and routines.
The hardest part of getting things done in your VA business is thinking you have more time than you do. We are all busy, so that's why we don't get things done to begin with. Try to help each other move slowly but surely. If a goal is too lofty (ie get 10 new clients in a month), you won't reach it. You want to set goals that you can reach (especially in the beginning). If you think your partner's goal is too big, challenge them to break it down so it's more manageable.
Set each other up for success.
Make sure that you are both at the same place in your business - both committed to doing the work to help yourselves and each other. Commit to being present and supportive on your check in calls. Schedule them and be honest with what you have done and what you haven't. Your partner can't help you if you are not being honest.
Accountability is an essential piece of your business. Getting a partner is simplest way to get started. If you want support from a group, be sure to have a look at my Inspired Action Mastermind Group for VAs - a low-cost, high value coaching program centred around monthly goal setting and weekly accountability.
Get more details here: www.YourVAMentor.com/inspired
Freshen Up Your Social Media Content with These Tips
Do you get stuck when it comes to social media content?
Many Virtual Assistants say they don't know what to post, and so they end up either wasting time, or posting nothing at all.
But social media is one of the best tools you can use to market your VA business.
I don't know about you, but when I come across someone that I might want to work with, I immediately check out their online presence, and that includes their social media profiles and content.
No matter what your service offerings are, I want to see that content in your social media posts.
If you are struggling with what to put out there, here are some tips to help you get unstuck, and getting your profiles to work for you.
1. Plan ahead
So many VAs try to just post spontaneously, and then they say they don't know what to post or write. Your social media is marketing - and you need to present a cohesive message to your audience that lets them know what you do and how you can help them. Without a plan, you will not be able to make sure that your message is consistent and clear.
2. Focus on 1-2 platforms
It is tempting to be everywhere and do everything, but the more you try to do (especially without a great plan), the more you will dilute your efforts - and your results will reflect that. Focus on 1 platform at a time, and really do it well. Facebook or LinkedIn are usually the two biggest places that VAs post. Clients are generally in one or the other, and you will have the time to interact with people better when you don't have to go 5 places. Master one platform, and then start to work with another.
3. Schedule and Be Spontaneous
Some people will tell you to never schedule any social media, but it helps to make sure you are consistent. Don't rely on scheduling everything, however. The idea behind social media is to be social. Schedule one post a day to Facebook, and make an effort to be present at least once a day to share and be social. When you aren't present, your content will reflect that.
4. Curate Great Content
Your social media channels don't have to be all about you. Find content that others are posting and share that with your audience as well. Of course make sure it is congruent with your own marketing message. But you don't have to reinvent the wheel with every post. If you see some great information that someone else has shared about a topic that your audience will be interested in, share it. They will appreciate it!
5. Check Your Messaging
Make sure your messaging is consistent with what you are talking to clients about on a regular basis. If your service offerings have changed, or if your target market has changed, make sure that your social media has changed too. It's important that your marketing message is consistent across your online channels. You sometimes don't know how a client finds you - so you want your message to be the same no matter where they are finding you.
6. Create Your Own Images
Sharing other people's images is easy - but it's not always the best idea (or even legal!). Creating your own images helps you to ensure that you have original content - and you can brand them to suit your business. It is a fact that posts with images garner much more interest that posts without them. Do yourself a favour and have some images made or make your own with a software like Canva.
7. Educate, Don't Sell
Many VAs get challenged by the ratio of content to sell their services versus those that don't sell. You will hear percentages like 20% or 25% sales posts. But what you really should be focusing on it educating your audience. When you do that, you are seeding your service offerings without providing a link for them to buy something. Focus your posts on providing information and your audience will get the message that you can help them.
Whether you are new to social media, or stuck in a rut of 'I don't know what to post', it's about strategy and congruency.
Freshen up your social media by taking these two things into account. Sell less. Educate more. Make things look nice, and branded for your business. Share relevant content always. Schedule but be present.
To make sure your marketing message is congruent and working properly for you, check out this blog post: Get The Most Out of Your Marketing Message
Don't Be Wendy Whiner! Get Better at Networking with These 5 Tips
Are you good at networking?
Networking is really just talking to people about your VA business, either in person or online.
But when I ask VAs if they are good at networking, they tell me it is something that they dread.
So instead of networking with potential clients, they hang out in the VA forums and online groups with their colleagues. And they develop terrible networking habits!
You've seen them - maybe you even are 'them' - Wendy Whiner. Always complaining, or looking for someone to agree with what they are complaining about. (apologies to any Wendys out there!)
You really need to be networking with potential clients.
But even if you are spending more time in the VA forums, then I have some tips for you on how to practice your networking there, so that you get better at it (and then move to business groups!).
I see VAs talking to each other ALL DAY LONG in Facebook groups and other online forums.
I shouldn’t have to tell you that you will never get clients by spending your days in VA groups.
But it’s not just the time being spent there. It’s what I see being posted there.
Do you know what they are talking about? How crappy their clients are. Or how uncertain they are about their skills. Or how they can't even find clients because Upwork refused their profile.
These posts bother me so much.
Why? Mainly because they are not a good use of anyone's time. And some of the groups even have potential clients in them which makes VAs look even worse.
If you are going to seek out support from - or give support to - your colleagues, you need to start to develop the right attitude and skill - to do it well, so it supports both of you. You might even find a great collaboration or referral colleague!
Here are 5 tips to get better at your networking:
1. Find a Great Support Network
Where do you find support for your business? Many business owners seek it out through their colleagues - and VAs are no different! If you want to be successful, you need to surround yourself with others who are working towards success as well. Fresh ideas, advice and camaraderie is important as a business owner, but especially one who works virtually - alone - all the time. A free VA group with thousands of members is not always the best place for you to grow, or to get the best support. If you can't find a support network that gets you excited to share and support the others in the group, keep looking. There is one for you!
2. Offer Advice Only From Experience
One of the things I see VAs do all too often is offer advice they are not qualified to offer. That's not a dig - it's a simple truth. You should only offer advice when you have had experience with the exact situation that is being discussed. If a VA is asking about business advice or advice about a client situation that you have no experience with, simply don't respond. Don't guess at what you think you would do. Think of your VA colleagues as your clients for a moment. Would you offer your client untested advice in a similar conversation? Probably not.
3. It's Not Personal, It's Business
Keeping emotions out of business is challenging at times - especially for women. But if we don’t learn to separate the business from the personal, that makes for difficult conversations with people. When you are networking with colleagues, look for the opportunities to lift everyone up by focusing on the business impact of the discussion - not on how it makes you feel. Business is business and when you remove the emotion from decision making and how you handle certain conversations (like money!), it is often so much easier. Sounds easier said than done – until you try it and you’ll love it!
4. Come From Abundance
When you are struggling to find clients, it is hard to stay positive. It gets difficult to watch others celebrate getting new clients if you aren't. You might even feel that other VAs are somehow taking your clients. Having a poverty mindset will take its toll on you. It's important to remind yourself every day that there are plenty of clients for everyone. You just need to find and connect with yours. Creating and maintaining an abundance mindset - where you know that there is enough for everyone - is so worthwhile.
5. Keep a Positive Mindset
Stop complaining! As a VA, you are a business owner. You must act like one everywhere you go. A negative mindset will soon take over your thoughts and will reflect in your actions. Work on reframing your thoughts when they go to the negative side. If the forums suck you in and drag you down, stay away from them for a week (or forever!). Focusing on a positive mindset not only helps you, but it helps those around you. Connect with other excited business owners – who need your support! You might even get a client!
Simple advice, right? I know it’s difficult to do. That’s why it takes practice and good daily habits to help you maintain it.
I urge you to try it.
Focus only on positive messaging for a week – in what you post yourself, and in what you respond to. Skip over everything else.
I think you’ll find that you are in a better frame of mind. And that’s the vibe you’ll be putting out there for your potential clients. They’ll notice!
For more tips on how to think like a business owner, check out this free training video Creating a Business Mindset. There are over 50 free training videos for Virtual Assistants on my Youtube channel.
