Today we are going to talk about how I became a fully booked out VA – and how you can too. It’s really not as hard as you think!
Welcome to another episode of the podcast that teaches you how to be a ridiculously good virtual assistant.
Today’s Quote: In the business of referrals, trust is the most important reason a recommendation is made and, conversely, lack of trust the single greatest reason referrals don’t happen. – John Jantsch (Duct Tape Marketing)
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Connect with Tracey D’Aviero, VA Coach and Trainer
Episode Notes:
Now of course we aren’t operating an MLM here, but a service business grows easily when others send you more clients. And that’s what we will talk about in today’s episode. Let’s go!
Building an amazing Virtual Assistant business is not a difficult thing to do. You find a client, you do great work, they tell their friends about you, and you get more clients. Right?
Becoming a booked out VA is something that we all dream of – and strive for – when we start our VA business.
The most difficult thing you will do in your business is find great clients.
I talk often about finding great clients because running the business you love is all about the quality of clients you work with.
When we start our VA business, we will work with anyone who asks us to. And that’s not a bad thing. We need money to run a business, and when we are starting out it is totally okay to work with anyone.
But … as we build our business, we want it to be sustainable … profitable … fun … and fulfilling.
And that means finding the best clients we can.
It means finding a lot of them. And it means finding their colleagues, and getting referrals.
Today’s quote tells us that trust is one of the deciding factors of whether to pass along someone’s name or not. You know it yourself, you give a referral for someone when you think they can take care of your friend. Our clients are no different.
Becoming a booked out VA is a term that a lot of VAs are jealous of – especially if they aren’t booked out.
But it’s what we all work towards. So let’s talk about how you can do it.
I’ll set the stage a little for you, about how it all happened for me.
I started working for myself in 1998 just before I had my son. I was 7 months pregnant and I was leaving my job at the head office of a hospitality company. I didn’t intend to go back to that job, and I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do, but for a few reasons I knew I wasn’t going to be going back there.
First, I didn’t like the job. I liked parts of it, but some of what I was doing was kinda dull.
I definitely didn’t like the office life. Commuting, rush hour, figuring out what to eat for lunch every day, constant interruptions in my office … it just wasn’t my vibe.
I loved my coworkers, but I found corporate life to be really a bore.
Oh, I suppose I should mention that I had only worked at that position in the company for a couple of years. Prior to that I had been a kitchen manager in the company. So definitely not an office job!
Some quick background: I never really knew what I wanted to do. I started working in high school in hospitality and then quickly moved on to several different admin jobs. I worked in the government, private sector, community newspaper, as a courier, a sales rep, and many other jobs until I realized I didn’t love any of them. I thought about what I wanted to do and it was hospitality – so I went back to school for my catering management diploma and stumbled into the company I ended up working 8 years for. When I was in the kitchen there was a lot of admin, and I naturally gravitated to that. I loved cooking but I was really good at the admin, so I moved to corporate office. There now you’re caught up ha ha.
Anyway, I met my husband at restaurant (he is still a chef) and we got married and have a 25 year old son now (who is also a chef). When I was leaving on mat leave I knew I wasn’t going back, that’s where we were.
I again thought about what it was I wanted to do, and actually my boss answered that question for me.
He asked me if I could contract to do the important work he still needed (the stuff I loved) after the baby arrived. I told him I didn’t know how, and he said ‘We’ll communicate by email, meeting if necessary. You do the work, count your hours and send me a bill at the end of the month.’ Voila, I was a freelancer.
Why was I a freelancer? Because my boss trusted me with the work he needed done. In fact he had done the work before me. So he knew it was valuable, and he knew he wasn’t doing it anymore, so he had to suggest a ways for me to do it.
And so we began. That was great, and I did it for a lonnnnng time!
The problem was, it wasn’t a lot of money to start, just working for one client … and I had no idea how to get other clients.
So the second part or the story is my struggle.
I did everything I could think of to find clients. Fiverr, Upwork (they were called other things back when I was there), classifieds, local bulletin boards, yellow pages, cold calls, direct mail, job boards ,… who knows what else I tried.
I worked my butt off trying to find clients. Did I find some? Sure I did. But I heard a whole lot more NOs than Yesses. I heard them every day.
I thought that’s the way business was supposed to be.
But it’s not.
If that’s what you are going through right now, I want you to pay really close attention to the next part of this episode.
Business doesn’t have to be hard. At least the getting great clients part doesn’t.
I tell you every day. Find your people. Connect with them. Get great clients.
Why do I tell you that? Because it’s the key to having a thriving business that you love – with more clients than you know what to do with.
I did it. And you can do it too.
It’s not hard. I tell you that all the time. And I’m not lying.
Did I struggle? Oh yeah.
Did I fail? You bet!
Did I learn? Yep … and that’s the key right there.
To find the best clients for you … you need to learn how!
I use the term ‘great clients’ all the time. You probably have noticed that. Because not all clients are equal.
Are they all great people? Probably! But they are not all great clients.
A great client is someone that needs the services you love to provide. They have a growing business that depends on your support to make it fantastic. They value you and your business. And you work well together. And they want you to succeed as much as you want them to succeed.
Great clients need us, appreciate us, value us, and PAY us.
Those are the clients I want you to work with. The clients I want you be a BOOKED OUT VA supporting amazing clients.
Don’t fill your VA business for the sake of filling up your week.
Set your rates where they need to be for you to earn good money. Work only with the clients you want to work with (no more micromanagers!). And do only the things you love to do every day.
How did I get there?
Easy. I worked with my first business coach in 2008. Now if you’re paying attention to the years in my story, that’s a full 10 years after I started working for myself.
TEN. YEARS.
I didn’t struggle the whole time but I sure wasn’t flying for a long time.
And then when I got introduced to my business coach (through one of my clients), I learned how to find clients.
I actually joined their high-level mastermind group (which cost me $750 at the time … probably at least 30% of what I was billing at the time)
I learned a strategy, and system that worked for me.
I found the people that I could help.
I hung out with them.
I talked to them and their colleagues every day.
And … I doubled my rates overnight.
My business coach looked at what I was doing, asked me what my revenue goal was (I didn’t even know!) and we made the necessary changes to put a plan in place to get me there. Within months I was a booked out VA and on a waiting list.
I raised my rates and I focused on the services that I loved to do – that I was terrific at – and that my clients really needed. I started offering packages and prepaid retainers. No more hourly billing, no more unused hours to roll over. No more waiting on clients to send me stuff to do.
I became proactive and talked to them about ongoing work. Things they needed to have done regularly – weekly if possible. I held weekly meetings to keep us on track. I was no longer a task doer, I was a required part of their business and I kept all of their balls in the air.
I also created a high ticket service that I was able to offer my clients on a project basis, and that was a great thing for my business too. My clients referred their colleagues to me, and I was able to attend networking events and live events where all of their colleagues were.
Getting known in the community of people that I knew I could best support, that could allow me to build the business I wanted, was the key to being booked out.
And it happened fast! Once I knew what I was doing.
But the bottom line was that before that, for 10 years! I had nothing in place to build my own success. Nothing.
I was flying by the seat of my pants every day and just hoping something would stick.
I needed a plan and I got the help I needed. I learned what I didn’t know, and I got to where I wanted to go. FAST.
I didn’t do it alone, and you don’t have to either.
I can help.
I’ve been helping VAs for 13 years. Two years after I made all my changes, I started teaching VAs how to do the same. It was at that time I launched my Getting Started as a VA program that continues to help VAs today.
When people trust you, they love to do business with you. That’s also part of the reason I do so much free training – including this podcast. I want you to trust me to help you with your business. I have been where you are. It’s not a fun place to be. I don’t like to struggle and I don’t want you to either.
You don’t have to. I can help you get out of where you are and create a plan that will work for you.
I’m going to leave it here for you today after this quick recap:
How do you become a booked out Virtual Assistant?
- work with a coach
- set realistic rates (do the math)
- create packages
- find your people
- network every day, attend events
- ask for referrals
And of course the most important (and easiest!) part – do a great job for them!
Gathering testimonials is secondary to people talking to their colleagues about you. When you are a ridiculously good VA, your clients’ colleagues will ask how they are doing so well – and they will mention you!
Becoming a booked out VA means you being an important part of many clients’ businesses. An indispensable part. The need you, They value you. They will pay you what you are worth, because they are confident that you are worth it.
Don’t wait 10 years like I did. You don’t have to. I can help you TODAY.
Need Some Help?
This is exactly what I help VAs do. As a VA coach and trainer, I help you set yourself up for success, helping you fix the specific things that are going wrong in your business. When we work together either privately or in a group we talk specifically about your business and you – there is no one stop solution for everyone when it comes to service businesses like VA businesses.
I’ll help you get clarity around your issues, and cheer you on as you walk through the steps to fix them.
I’ve helped hundreds of VAs through their challenges and got them on their way to growing their business and the lifestyle that they dream of.
I’d love to do the same for you.
You can work with me privately, or you can join The Virtual Circle, my mastermind group for Virtual Assistants. Check it out at www.YourVAMentor.com/TVC (the virtual circle) – I bet it’s exactly what you need to start running the VA business you dreamed of.
Reach out to me if you want to become a booked out VA.
That’s all I’ve got for you this week, see you next time!