Become A Successful Virtual Assistant

by Melissa Smith

  One of the biggest hesitations business owners have is not knowing if they have enough steady work to hire someone. They think in terms of 20 or 40 hours a week. Rarely does anyone need a virtual assistant for this many hours. That’s a lot! The norm is five to ten hours a week, ten being on the high side. Remember you’re a business owner now too. The same rules apply.

  Watch for these signs that may indicate you’re ready to hire help:

  You are unable to manage your calendar successfully. It’s a problem if you don’t have time to schedule appointments with clients or potential clients. It’s an even bigger problem when you don’t have personal time to schedule or attend your routine doctor appointments. Ignoring how you spend time on your calendar is like ignoring the amount of money you have in the bank. Don’t become overdrawn!

  Every new client has you scrambling. You scramble to send the proposal, send the invoice, schedule the meetings, and then fit in the work.

  Everything you want to implement seems months and years away. One of my favorite questions to ask during client consultations is “What have you wanted to implement in your business but haven’t yet?”

  If you aren’t ready to hire help for your business, you might benefit from help for your personal life. Think about hiring a food delivery service, a housekeeping service, a lawn service, a laundry service, or some other help for your home life. What could you do to make your life easier so you can enjoy your time off from work more? Take a look at your client load, your services, and your prices immediately. You might need to redo your business model so you can keep up the pace and feel fulfilled in both your work life and your home life.

  Be honest with yourself. If you were your client, what would you tell yourself? The signs are all there. If you choose to ignore them, you’ll face the consequences later. When you decide to stop, listen, and take action, all the signs start pointing in a positive direction for your business. CEO-level thinking will get you to CEO-level lifestyle and money.

  Reevaluating Success

  Another critical step to growing your business is reevaluating success. And you do need to reevaluate. When your business reaches a level of success, then you need to redefine success. You achieved it, now you need to set your sights on something else, even if it’s simply maintaining your success. Again, your level of success doesn’t have to be something grand by anyone’s standards. It has to be something valuable and important to you.

  All growth brings change. Even slight shifts create huge changes. Before you begin to grow and take the physical steps to the next level, take out your business plan. Look it over thoughtfully. What did you start out saying you wanted? What did you achieve? What changed? What do you want now?

  We often talk about businesses—our clients’ and ours—like being our babies. When your children say their first word, take their first steps, start to be able to feed themselves, these are all monumental moments. However, as they grow, you don’t keep taking photos and videos and celebrating those same monumental moments. The natural growth and progression now has you awaiting the next first—the first day of school, the first dance, the first time driving, the first date. You don’t want to take first events for granted. They are basic but necessary motor skills. However, you have automatically reevaluated what your children’s next successes will be.

  Your business is talking, walking, and feeding itself. Now you need to reevaluate who you wish to talk with, walk alongside, and provide value to. Will it still be serving just a few clients, or are you ready to move to serving many clients? Are you happy where you are? If so, that’s fine, but don’t make the mistake of being stagnant. The smallest body of water will stay fresh with a small stream of flowing water. The largest body of water will become polluted with none.

  One area you may overlook for reevaluation is your ideal client. However, it is the most necessary. If you mirror your clients and you’ve changed, doesn’t it make sense that your clients have changed too? This is a perfect opportunity to go through your client and consultation list and see who you’ve been attracting, who you’re working with, and most importantly who you’ve turned away.

  What if you need to change your ideal client? Before you decide to change, consider adding another client. Coca-Cola didn’t only create a positive phenomenon with its “Share a Coke” campaign. In 1985 the iconic company that had been in business for 99 years announced it would discontinue the original flavored Coke and would introduce “New Coke.” It was a disaster so big it’s still taught in business schools today as what not to do. The company feared cannibalization if they offered both Original and New Coke.

  With backlash worldwide—yep, even Fidel Castro weighed in on the conversation—ABC World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings interrupted a soap opera to break the story—Original Coke was coming back. Here’s the clincher, though—Coca-Cola didn’t get rid of New Coke. They renamed Original Coke to Coca-Cola Classic. New Coke remained in production until 2002.

  How does this relate to your business? Be careful before you decide to get rid of what built your business. If Coke failed to do this successfully, we all need to be careful. Instead, label your original service as your “classic” option. Of course, that is metaphorical. Your verbiage should be in your ideal client’s language. Even if you no longer sell that original service, potential clients may be finding you through that service. So don’t get rid of it! Consider it your lead magnet. A good lead magnet is hard to come by!

  In the beginning of growth, only add; don’t take away. Once you start turning away customers and clients, it is very hard to get them back if your new plan does not work out. If it does, a smart business owner and CEO finds a way to convert those potential clients into sales. But if you know those clients do not represent the direction you’re going, then be smart. Offer to consult on or manage the project. If all else fails, find someone else to serve them. You might even get a referral fee.

  Since executive and virtual assistants are the worker bees in the working world, in the beginning we think that we’ll continue in this role as our businesses grow. But you can’t. You grew in the beginning. And now it’s time for scaling. You have become the person who is in demand. Now it’s a privilege to work with you. You’re not taking on new clients, but you’ve moved to private consulting. Do you see where I’m going with this?

  What if you don’t want to consult? Do you want to train? If so, who wants to pay to learn from you? Remember, you’re changing your ideal client. Your mirror shows something different when you look into it now. If you are a teacher, now the mirror should show you your ideal students. If you are a consultant, the mirror should show you a different type of client. Now follow the money trail to create your ideal client all over again.

  It can be trickier the second time around. The people who need your help might not be able to afford you. Believe me, this is a hard pill to swallow when all you want to do is help people. Remember that free, valuable lead magnet? That’s for those people. Is it valuable enough to help those who can’t afford you? If not, step up your value game. Never forget that when you’re growing a business, you should have more to donate—more time and more money. Don’t give what you don’t have. Donate what you have an excess of.

  One of the pitfalls of business is trying to get things perfect before we launch. But perfect doesn’t exist. In fact, it is your clients who can perfect it for you. Create pilot courses or programs, then ask former clients to test the pilots for you. People love being the first to try new things and products. Be very specific in your ask—explain why you chose them to test this product, what you want in return, and how you want to receive it. Otherwise you will get nothing in return. These people like you. They don’t know how forward or candid they should be, nor do they know what your desired outcome is until you explain it.

  One of the struggles of growing your business is trying to do so in a linear way. Nothing is ever that simple. To grow you have to have a following. Yo
ur following will tell you exactly what they need. Perfect! Offer it. Other times your following doesn’t know and you have to think it through for them. They have a lot going on. Listen to what they’re saying, what they’re doing, and most importantly where they’re spending their time and money. It’s all theory until someone pays for something.

  So how do you build your following? First, you need to give them a path to follow. Start dropping breadcrumbs. When a lot of people start to pick up the crumbs, create a roadmap and put up the signs.

  I was unknowingly doing this in my own business, and I bet you are too. I love to write, so I spent a lot of my time writing, and my clients were finding me through my writing. My clients were aspiring authors, and they pressed me to write my own book. They were looking at me to mirror them. One day I decided I would, and I did. The book was for the client and the potential client. I never could have guessed it would present an opportunity to expand my business the way it did.

  What I was hoping to do was gain more matchmaking clients. This book did that and so much more! It also opened the doors for me to consult, create a summit, write an online course, and eventually write this book. Sure, it makes sense now, but it didn’t at the time. Another bonus was signing a huge contract with a single client who already knew my time commitment. I attracted him, and he is my ideal.

  I call them breadcrumbs because they shouldn’t cost you a lot of time and energy. You shouldn’t be putting all your eggs in one basket. You simply never know what people want and will pay for until they do. What are the breadcrumbs and road signs that are directing people to you? Make sure it is free, helpful, valuable information.

  Why would I tell you not to monetize your giveaway? Because what you’re offering is the real business model to build on. You’ll only be able to charge so much for a giveaway, and it won’t position your business ahead of anyone else’s. It won’t create another income stream but a mere drip. Those who have nothing more to offer than what they’re selling have nothing to give for free. When you have a free giveaway, you’re telling the potential client that the best is yet to come.

  How does giving away free, helpful, valuable information help you build a following? That free giveaway will help you create an email list. Don’t give anything away to anyone without collecting a piece of their information first. Building email lists is all the rage, and you can buy countless classes and summits to help you build your list. I endorse none of them. However, I believe you do need to build your list of potential customers, clients, and most importantly evangelists—people who will promote you and your business whether or not they can afford your services.

  Now think about the breadcrumbs you’ve already been throwing out. Breadcrumbs are your content. Are you a podcaster, a writer, a speaker, a webinar host? The right one is a combination of something your clients want and something you love to do. Whatever you do, do it daily in the beginning. Think of it like compound interest. You don’t have to push it out daily, but you should get in the habit of devoting daily time to it. That is how you grow in leaps and bounds later. The point is to create some kind of momentum.

  At this point in your career, I also suggest creating or joining a mastermind group. I don’t recommend starting with a mastermind group because you first need a master plan. Joining too soon can actually be discouraging and not allow you to think through and process your ideas and your business goals. I’ve been in one long-term mastermind group, and I can tell you it’s been a game changer. Had I joined before I was ready, I would have been crushed at what the others in the group were accomplishing while I was still working out the kinks of starting up my business.

  Knowing what kind of mastermind group to join is key. You don’t have to join a group where all of the members share the same field or industry. (You can be the only VA in the group.) Your ideal mastermind group should contain people who are committed to the group, have shared values and goals, and are open to constructive criticism. If you can’t get real in your mastermind group, you can’t get real anywhere. Also, I firmly believe you should be a little afraid of going back to the group if you haven’t been doing the work in your business that you should be doing. It’s not a successful mastermind group if the members make excuses for one another.

  Besides finding these criteria in my mastermind group, I also leveled up. I joined a group that included women who were far more successful than me. They served as mentors and people I aspired to be like. Had I joined a group of women who were in the same place where I was in business, I wouldn’t have been as driven to grow my business. To be clear, this was perception. I perceived that the members of my mastermind group were successful business owners based on how they presented themselves within the group. No one shared financial information. However, I could see that this group was full of people who were listed in Forbes, who speak at international conferences, who had social proof. That’s what I was after.

  When you get out of the habit of doing things in a linear way, you’ll naturally have more opportunities to improve your business. Be careful when people want to partner with you. I’m a huge fan of partnering and collaborating. But I have a rule: Would I trust this person with my children? If I can’t answer with a “yes,” the answer is made for me. “No.” Don’t ever make the decision based on how you judge that person’s character. No one is that good. This is business. Get everything in writing. That means you should have worked together on a previous project, know the other person’s financials, contacted the person’s references, and collected legal documentation to prove the validity of that person’s business.

  What’s the fastest way to grow and make money? Hiring a business coach. I can’t stress enough the importance of having the right coach. I make more money when I work with a coach. Period. That’s their job. They take my natural skills and abilities and make me better. The best quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) has a coach. In fact, he has many coaches—head coach, quarterback coach, strength and conditioning coach, nutrition coach. You only need one coach to improve your game.

  The First Time I Invested in a Business Coach, I Was Terrified

  I remember the first meeting I had with my business coach. I never had one before, so I didn’t know what to expect. We were meeting at Starbucks, which I thought was “safe.” If the meeting didn’t go well or if I became uncomfortable, I knew I could leave as soon as I finished my coffee. Except that didn’t happen.

  Our 30-minute coffee meeting turned into a two-hour discussion. I still remember her face when she looked down at her phone, discovered how much time had passed, and realized she was late to pick up her kids! Of course, there was no time for proper goodbyes as she rushed out the door.

  Sitting there afterward, I was amazed. Who was this woman who knew all these things about me? It was like I just had coffee with a psychic. No one had ever understood me like that before. No one really understood what I wanted out of life or my business. How could they? I barely knew myself. What I wanted at the time, I wasn’t even sure it existed and if it did, I surely didn’t know how to obtain it. We joke now, but I tell people she had her work cut out for her when she started working with me. I wasn’t at ground zero; I was subzero.

  Later the next week, we had a formal call to talk about her services and what she could offer me. I wanted what she had. It was a six-month commitment, and it would cost me $5,000! What?! I was struggling to get clients. How was I going to pay that? How could I justify spending money that I wasn’t even making? Something in my gut told me I wasn’t going to get where I wanted to go on my own. Before the call, ended I made the commitment. Later that day, I submitted my credit card number and then wondered what in the world I had just done!

  What I did was make a huge shift in my thinking. I had started thinking like a business owner. I made an investment in my product and what I was selling—me. It was the best thing I could have done. During the next six months, I began to work less and make more money doing what
I loved. I signed a six-month $7,500 contract, which was my largest to date. Then I signed a few more $4,500 contracts. I was about to send out a $15,000 contract and my hand was shaking. I was terrified it would be rejected and I would lose the client. The proposal was already three times more than I had charged previously. I texted my coach, and we got on the phone. After talking with her, I raised the price to $21,000, and guess what? It was accepted! Throw in some other contracts, and I suddenly made over $40,000 in six months!

  The biggest takeaway was I was working less and really enjoying what I was doing. No more cringing or rolling my eyes when I received a phone call or an email from a client who wasn’t my ideal client. It didn’t really feel like working. Since then I’ve never been without a coach or in a class of some sort. I always make more money when I invest in myself. Period.

  I’ve included this in the growth section because not everyone will need a coach in the beginning. I did. It was the right time for me. You need to hire a coach at the right time for you and your business. I’ve met my fair share of VAs who were doing great right out of the gate and didn’t hire a coach until they had a full client load and needed to diversify their income or raise their rates. Whether or not you hire a coach in the beginning, hire one during your growth phase. It is a must!

  As you grow your business, it might become apparent that you are no longer a VA or an admin. That’s okay. Don’t fight it. This is your new career journey. The clients who need your services may not be looking for an assistant, but they are looking for what you offer. You’ll be ahead of your competition because you’ll already know how to operate and create your own systems and procedures.

  Opportunity is a funny thing. I often hear VAs tell me the moment they finished a course on a specific topic or took a class on a certain software, they met someone who needed it. It’s not simply by chance. When you prepare yourself for opportunities, you begin to see them everywhere. What are you prepared for? What have you been wanting to do and haven’t done yet? Instead of planning for every crisis, plan for every opportunity.