Regularly on the chat forums, I see new VAs seeking advice for getting clients. I recently posted the following on one of those forums. As with any business, marketing is an important part of what you should be doing regularly, at least weekly. This could be in the form of paid advertising, networking, calling people, going out and meeting people, doing leaflet drops, registering with directories online and so on. I've never found advertising in a local publication useful but that can differ … [Read more...]
A Day To Work On My Business, Instead Of In It
If you've had any contact with a business coach, or if you do a lot of reading about operating a business, you will be familiar with the need to work on your business, instead of just in it. Michael Gerber mentions this in his book - The E-Myth as well - I read his book many years ago. When I first started my VA business many years ago I did anything that came along on any day it came - even weekends and evenings. As my business picked up, so did the hours I was doing and for quite some time … [Read more...]
What Do VAs Do?
I came across a blog entry today regarding Guy Kawasaki and the fact he had hired a virtual assistant but struggled with the discipline of being able to get things done. He spends a lot of time blogging and writing these days (seems an addiction many of us have!). I posted a comment and the owner of the blog responded to that comment asking about VAs - which gave me the opportunity to explain what I do for my own clients as an example of some of the things we do in our industry. Although … [Read more...]
Starting With the End in Mind
This relates to something that happened to one of my team members, but it is an important note for all in any regard. A client came through us last year seeking someone to set up a database in Excel for him. Originally it started off being a simple database but grew more complex as the client thought of more things they needed. This then proved a difficult task for the team member who did the job because she didn't have the knowledge / experience required for the complexity that developed and … [Read more...]
Getting Out Amongst the Clients!
I am constantly amazed at the number of people I come across who want to operate a business online from home - but not put in what's required to meet their target audience! You can't just put up a website and say 'here I am world, come to me!' because that just doesn't work. You have to go where the people are and that means a number of things, depending on what your business is. But here are some suggestions: Find out about local business networks and attend networking events - it's worth … [Read more...]
Are You Really Operating Globally?
A recent post at SOHO-Life was about telling your (global) audience about your business in global terms. Today, my daughter and I have been trying to fax a horse stud in South Africa. She's booked to go there for a working holiday but is having no success with responses to recent emails. The owners may have been away on leave but there are no autoresponders to let people know that. We tried faxing this morning our time and the first time the phone just rang and rang. The second time the answer … [Read more...]
Working In Your Bathrobe?
This month has been deemed the month for home-based workers to don their bathrobes to do their work. Whilst I appreciate the sentiment and reasoning behind this idea, I honestly can't say I've ever worked in my bathrobe in the almost 13 years of my business. For the record, I do enjoy the freedom that working at home gives me and constantly give thanks for it. I don't know about you but I find I cannot focus 'professionally' without being showered and dressed and out of my bedroom clothing. I … [Read more...]
Business Operator or Employee?
There still seems to be confusion, at least amongst the newer entries into the VA industry, that they are looking for 'jobs' online as opposed to seeking 'clients'. The confusion of not knowing what your target market is in getting established as a Virtual Assistant will cause considerable delay in getting things happening. You can get jobs where you are an employee and are operating from your own home, but that is not what a Virtual Assistant is about. VAs are usually business owners, not … [Read more...]
VA Forums – Boards or Emails?
For many years now the VA network I manage has been using YahooGroups for its messaging to members. I had explored message boards quite a long time ago and felt that members wouldn't log in on a daily basis to check for messages relevant to them. At that time my choice was the right one and I currently moderate two VA forums with a sum total of well over 1,000 VA members. I had tried about 3 or 4 different messaging systems till we finally made a shift back to YahooGroups, which had improved … [Read more...]
