Welcome to another episode of the podcast that teaches you how to be a ridiculously good virtual assistant.
Today I want to talk about being your client’s partner, not just their assistant. The difference isn’t in the title, it’s in the way you work with them.
Today’s Quote: You have to see yourself as equal to everyone, no matter what. – Mariska Hargitay
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Connect with Tracey D’Aviero, VA Coach and Trainer
Episode Notes:
Today, we’re diving into an essential mindset shift for every VA out there: realizing that you are your client’s equal, not just their assistant.
This episode is all about empowerment, confidence, and understanding your true value in the VA-client relationship.
The Traditional VA Mindset
For many virtual assistants, especially those just starting out, it’s easy to fall into the mindset of being “just an assistant.”
This often stems from the traditional view of assistants as support staff, there to handle the mundane tasks while the client focuses on more “important” work.
It’s not the way it is when you become a VA. Virtual Assistant.
I always like to think of it as the descriptor, so that people can identify who you are. Like consultant, or bookkeeper, or marketer.
When you say you are an assistant, people understand that. They get a sense of what you do. Except now you are virtual so you don’t work in the other person’s office.
You are someone who provides administrative support, from your own office.
That’s what Virtual Assistant means to me.
But the mindset of being just someone’s assistant can hold you back.
Why is this mindset so common?
The term itself – assistant implies a secondary role. In corporate there was always a boss and there was always an assistant.
The assistant made less money, and did the tasks that the boss needed.
But in the VA world it’s different – you are a business owner helping another business owner.
Many VAs also start with basic admin tasks as their services – and think that at some point they want to grow into something different, bigger, better.
They think that general admin is for those starting out – and when WE think like that then sometimes our clients do too.
But the fact is that you can specialize at general admin forever and make a really good living.
It’s not our clients fault that they think of us as their boss.
If they are thinking that, you are probably acting like their employee, or their subordinate.
In order to flip that thought process, you have to show up and be proactive, act like a business owner. Act like their colleague. Not even act like it – you are their colleague!
We all get the sense that our clients know more than we do – that they are smarter or more successful than we are. I think this comes down to what they charge.
I mean, we need to find clients who earn more than we do – so that they can afford to pay us.
But often that makes us feel as though they know better than we do.
They don’t know admin better than we do. They don’t know social media better than we do. They don’t know podcast production better than we do.
No matter what your service offerings are, your client offers their clients something else.
Maybe they are a coach or a trainer or an accountant or a consultant or a C Suite entrepreneur.
That’s what THEY know how to do better than anything.
Trust me, it’s not our work. That’s our specialty.
Don’t forget that you are an administrative specialist. That’s why you are starting a VA business – to bring that service to the clients who need it.
We must first believe ourselves that we are not ‘less than’ our clients, and then we can act appropriately.
I have had clients treat me like their assistant, but it’s because I was being a task taker, I was asking them lots of questions and making them the gatekeeper of all the decisions.
When I learned to not do that and trust my own instincts, I became their ally, their partner.
That’s the goal – you can fill a role of an assistant, without being beneath them.
Let’s talk about this a little deeper.
The Reality of Your Role
As a virtual assistant, you bring immense value to your client’s business. You are a crucial part of their success. Without your support, many of their tasks would go undone, or they would be overwhelmed trying to juggle everything.
Your Expertise – we already talked a bit about this. You have specific skills and knowledge that your client lacks or doesn’t have time to develop. This makes you an expert in your own right. Never, ever forget this.
When we view ourselves as what we are, it goes a long way to others seeing it too.
Time Management – we all know that we free up a lot of our client’s time so that they can focus on their actual business activities. I call these revenue generating tasks – their business grows when they can focus on that.
What are revenue generating tasks? Working with clients, and finding new clients. Sometimes we can also throw in business development too (figuring out how to get new clients).
These are the only things your client should be doing in their business at the end of the day. They are the ‘things’ that they specialize in.
Everything else they should be getting help with.
Now naturally when they first start their business they won’t pay for help with everything, but at some point they will. It will be a smart decision.
So that’s what we want to refer to.
And we can help with a lot of the other things.
By doing so, we save our clients a lot of time of their own – and yes, it costs them money to buy our time.
So our responsibility as an excellent VA is to figure out ways to manage our time, and sometimes our client’s time, as efficiently as possible.
I tell the story of a VA that I once hired for a 10 hour project. It was to be a research project where she was finding contact info for me for some people to connect with about teaching. 10 hours was a sufficient budget, I knew, because I’m good at time management and I have done a lot of research before.
She was to put the info into a spreadsheet and then she was going to make the initial contact with people and pass along those that were interested in talking with me, to me. We set up a shareable Google sheet so she could simply drop the info into it as she went along, and I could see all of the info easily when she was finished. It was a one time project. 10 hours. Great!
After a week or maybe even two, there was no info in the spreadsheet, and I hadn’t heard from her so I reached out. She said she was having difficulty with the project, she wasn’t finding good contact info. No problem. Let’s figure out what the block is, and fix it. Well … she told me in that same conversation that had already spent 8 hours doing research. And we had almost nothing.
Jump to the end of this story – this was essentially a waste of my money, because I didn’t get nearly enough information. The VA should have been more mindful of her time which was my money, and checked in after 2 hours of not getting what she needed.
Could I have done the research myself? Yes. Could I have filled in the spreadsheet? Yes. Could I have made the initial contact with people? Yes.
I was paying her to do the initial steps – I should only have needed to talk to the qualified prospects.
See how we can really be valuable to our clients when we do things well?
I’m not upset with this VA, although I do tell this story a lot, but it’s to point out that we have a responsibility to our clients when we are using their money for our time.
And in this case, she not only wasted a lot of my budget, but she also cost me 2 weeks of time because she didn’t reach out to me – I had to reach out to her when I hadn’t heard from her. Big fail.
This is SUCH an easy way to lose your client’s trust and get treated as a subordinate. Ghost, and then not deliver.
All this VA had to do was reach out after 2 hours and say ‘I’m not getting what I need what do you suggest?’ and we could have discussed it.
Yes, sometimes things take longer than we expect, but when you price a whole project at 10 hours, you don’t leave the client wondering for a week or more, and use up more than 80% of the allotted budget struggling.
That’s what gives VAs a bad rap.
Be professional, manage your time well and therefore your client’s money too.
Doing just that will go a long way in your clients feeling that you are much more than just the help.
Shifting Your Mindset
So, how do you shift your mindset from being “just an assistant” to being an equal partner?
Acknowledge Your Value
Like I have said, recognize and appreciate the skills and expertise you are bringing to the table.
If you need to, make a list of those strengths and the ways you have positively impacted your clients in the past.
I like to suggest keeping a success journal, but anything you can do to remind yourself daily that you are very worthy of your client’s respect, helps you believe it too.
Set Boundaries
This is something that I just don’t see enough VAs doing well. Again if you act like their employee or their assistant, then that’s how you can expect to be treated.
Setting boundaries is a really key way to be proactive and to act like the professional business owner that you are.
Things like business hours and response times, lead times for work are pretty easy to set and keep. Thinking about other things like communication and your scope of work is the next step.
Probably the scope of work is the hardest thing to set a boundary for. It’s one of the things VAs struggle with the most – because you are their assistant, you find it hard to say no to any request.
But you must! If there is something that isn’t currently accounted for in your scope of work, then it has to be added (if you want to do it). Getting really clear about what you will do and won’t do for your clients is one of the best ways to escape the assistant label.
Communicate Confidently
You know I always recommend having production calls with your clients to go over the tasks you are doing for them.
When you are proactive on these calls (you run them), then you reinforce your expertise every week.
Always speak with confidence. Ask thoughtful questions. Keep conversations and work on task. Use professional language without trying to be someone else.
Striving for good communication is often the easiest way to elevate your reputation as a VA.
Clients love to understand what needs to happen and when it needs to happen. Get in the habit of telling them those things and you will not be seen as their subordinate.
Invest in Professional Development
Education helps everyone become better at what they do. Yet, a lot of VAs don’t invest in training or coaching or support.
It’s okay, you don’t have to in all cases. If you are a bookkeeper who works with Quickbooks, you might not need to be updating your skills every time you turn around.
I don’t mean you need to learn new stuff either. If you are a kick ass Virtual EA, you don’t have to become a social media expert or an OBM.
But, investing in professional development like attending networking events, or trainings for mindset or business growth, can be very important to your mindset.
Most VAs I know love to learn, but they don’t all want to pay for it.
The more you learn, the more you know. The more you know, the more valuable you become to your clients. And when you feel valuable, you will be more confident in your role.
I still love to learn. It’s important to choose what you want to learn so that you can implement it.
Getting support when you need it is the big one. Struggling in business is hard. It makes everything harder.
Sure you can learn something and then implement it on your own, but we are talking about confidence and value and mindset here today – and sometimes that boost comes only from working with someone who can help you push through the obstacles that appear in front of you. The things that stop you from moving forward.
I do this every day with VAs. I help them see their value, their strengths, I help them build their confidence and help them see the ways around or through the obstacles that are in the way of their success.
Let’s circle back to today’s quote: You have to see yourself as equal to everyone, no matter what.
You are equal. There is no reason to think you are not. In some cases, you are even BETTER! Has anyone ever given you a compliment for a job well done?
If they have, you have exceed their expectations. Mariska is right though. and to build a strong mindset, you need to see your expertise in yourself. Sometimes it takes people to tell us, and to remind us, but it’s up to us to find that inspiration, to find those compliments, those words, so that we can use them when we need them.
You are your client’s partner, not their assistant. Point final. End of story. That’s it, that’s all. You are. Now start acting like it!
I’m going to leave it here for today.
But I want to leave you with a few final comments:
- Be your client’s partner, not just their assistant
- The word assistant is just a word – it’s a description of what role you fill. People understand it. Don’t shy away from using it. Just elevate yourself, your mindset, your language, your communication – and be their partner.
- You are a valuable, skilled professional who plays a critical role in your client’s success. Be proactive and show them this value and skill every day.
- Shift your own mindset and your clients will follow
By doing so, you will not only improve your own confidence and satisfaction but also elevate the level of service you provide.
Elevating what you do is how you become (say it with me) a ridiculously good virtual assistant.
Do You Need Help?
If you need help shifting your mindset from assistant to partner, get in touch with me. I’m here to help.
It’s the only reason I’m here at all, as you know. To help you become a ridiculously good VA.
I have helped hundreds of VAs who are stuck get moving through private coaching, group coaching, and live and self study trainings. If you want to talk about how we can work together, let’s connect on a Cut to the Chase call. You can book yours at YourVAMentor.com/chase
Thanks for tuning in this week! I’ll see you next time!
What You Need to Do Next:
PRIVATE COACHING: Let’s work together privately to get you to your really big goal. It’s the fastest way to get results and we can start right away. Learn more about private coaching here.
GROUP COACHING MASTERMIND: The Virtual Circle is a group coaching mastermind option that costs less than private coaching, and can help you achieve the goals you set for yourself. . Check it out here: The Virtual Circle Group Coaching Mastermind for Virtual Assistants . We’d love to have you join us!
50K VA GROUP COACHING PROGRAM: If you have been struggling to build your VA business, get in on this live coaching program where we will help you create the framework for a business that can earn you 50K a year and beyond. LAUNCHING AUGUST 2024, stay tuned!
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SELF STUDY PROGRAM: My self study program Getting Started as a VA can help you get your VA business started easily and quickly too. You can sign up right away and be on your way to getting clients by the end of the program, with all the right foundations in place. Check out the program here.
COMPLIMENTARY CONSULT: Reach out to me if you need to talk about where you are stuck and what the right option might be to get you moving. It’s literally all I’m here to do is help you get to where you want to go. Book a complimentary Cut to the Chase call with me here.