When you first get started as a Virtual Assistant, you earn money by charging clients for your services. This is usually the only stream of revenue that you have for your business in the beginning. Some people never have any others, but there are many other ways you can earn revenue in your business, above trading your time for money with clients.
In order to grow your business to the level of success that you want, you need to formulate a plan that will get you there with the least amount of resistance. How do you do that? Easy. You work with someone who has been in your shoes, and who is at (or past!) a level of success that you want to achieve.
One of the things that ‘busy’ people often lament is the lack of time. Well there is only so much time available. If you find yourself wishing you had more time, it would be a good exercise to look at exactly where you are spending yours.
Whether you are looking to build your business from the ground up, or grow from where you already are, it’s important to look at what you are filling your days with. Essentially your time should only be used to do two things in your business – working with clients (and therefore directly generating revenue), and doing specific marketing tasks (to plan revenue strategies, and to network with potential clients). If you are doing anything else during the day, you are possibly leaving money on the table.
Your clients are the people who pay you money to do what you love. Without clients, you have no business. So you need to be really aware of valuing them in order maintain and build a successful business.
It’s easy to say that you know your value, but you could be sabotaging yourself and your business by not paying enough attention to this very important item. By setting the proper value on the services you provide, you will set your rates where you can charge what you deserve and also be successful. How do you know if you are charging enough?
When you work from home, sometimes it can be easy to get caught up in the ‘liberty’ of it all – setting your own work hours, not having to commute, and working when you want to work. And while all of those things are in fact true and very possible … in order to grow a really successful business, you also need to realize that your business growth depends on you, and only you.
I had a conversation with a VA last week who was trying to decide who her ideal client was. She had selected a market to work with that she thought would be a ‘good market’ because they needed a lot of support.