Welcome to another episode of the podcast that teaches you how to be a ridiculously good virtual assistant.
Today I want to wish you a very happy new year – 2024 is here! – and I want to focus on the possibilities that lie ahead for you this year.
Today’s Quote: The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written – Melody Beattie
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Connect with Tracey D’Aviero, VA Coach and Trainer
Episode Notes:
It’s the beginning of a new year, and there is so much that can happen this year for you in your Virtual Assistant business.
Even if last year your VA business was not where you wanted it to be, you can change that.
You can actually change what your business is any day of the year, but everyone seems to look to make changes to things, especially to business things, at the beginning of a new year.
So let’s talk about what you need to do to get to where you want to go – because you can, you know.
I know you can.
Maybe you don’t know it. You want it. But you don’t know it. Maybe deep down you don’t even believe it.
I believe it. I know you want it. But this is really important so listen up.
If you don’t believe it, you will not be able to convince any clients to work with you.
What you put out there is what comes back to you.
If you are down, and you are feeling like you can’t do it, that is the vibration that you are putting out there – even if you don’t think you are.
The reason that the law of attraction works for people is that they start to focus on positive stuff. Like all the time. When you are focused on the good, and you really consciously work to keep your thoughts on the goal, you will manifest what you want.
I know that if you haven’t done this for yourself before, that it can be hard to believe.
I talk to VAs all the time who do not believe that they are the BEST VA for their clients and that makes me so sad.
Because I know how amazing you all are.
I really do. I believe in you. I know how uber talented you all are.
And yet every day I talk to VAs just like you who are struggling.
Who are talking negatively about their business. Because they are having a hard time, and they don’t know how to get out of the struggle.
So here it is.
Think positive and you’ll get clients. I know what you’re thinking. Tracey, it can’t be that easy.
And it’s not, I won’t lie.
But I will tell you that it helps you 100x over to focus on positivity to get those clients.
Here’s how:
You set an attainable goal.
What is your goal?
Maybe that goal is to get 2 new clients. You know that you can reach this goal, why? Because you have clients already, or have had them. And when you have had one client, you can have many clients. So a good goal is to get 2 new clients.
But what if you haven’t gotten clients before? Then how do you know you can get them? Because you have experience doing the thing that you know you can do. People have paid you (even in a job situation) before to do the thing. Therefore you know that clients need it. And you know that you have been paid to do it. So there’s your proof. See the way to get to that?
You have to build your own business, and you have to remain in a positive frame of mind to do it well (and easily). So let’s set that goal of getting 2 new clients in the next 30 days.
What do you need to do next?
You need to form your plan to get to that goal. What does that mean? You have to map out the action steps you are going to take to reach that goal. Let’s stick with the getting 2 clients goal.
What do you need to do to find 2 clients? You just need to talk to 2 people in a sales conversation that will say yes to working with you. Great! Where can you find the people? You can find them in your network – your audience – your community.
You need to decide who it is you will talk to, where and when. Reaching a goal is about taking action steps and especially when your goal is get clients, you must take action. Sometimes you need to take a lot of action.
This comes back to whether your goal is reasonable or not. First, what is your deadline to reach you goal. Second, what do you already have in place that will help you reach that goal by your deadline? And then what are the specific daily action steps you need to take to get there?
And remember we are focusing on the positive here – so where are the people that you love to have conversations with? That’s where you want to spend your time.
Where are the people who already know or understand what you do to help your clients? That’s a better place to start than, say, joining a brand new Facebook group or networking group.
To get the results you want, you need to give yourself the best shot at it – go to the lowest hanging fruit you can.
If you aren’t sure what you need to do, then maybe your goal isn’t attainable.
We want to always be giving ourself the best advantage.
So, if you don’t have the base pieces in place to get clients, then that should be your goal – join a community, make connections, whatever it is, and focus on that for a period of time.
But if you have any sort of community already then you can do it.
Thinking positive is much easier when you can see the road in front of you.
That’s why mapping out the action steps you will take to reach your goal is so important.
You have to be able to visualize yourself walking down that path and getting there.
Like a downhill skier visualizes the course they will ski before their race (hundreds of times, in some cases!), you need to visualize your path to success and see yourself on it.
Okay so when we know we need to talk to two people that will say yes to working with us, what do you do next?
You have as many conversations as possible.
And before you ask, I don’t know how many that is.
In my busiest time as a VA, I needed to have 2 conversations to get 2 clients.
I was that good at my sales conversations. I had a great network. If I needed a client, I just went and found one.
For many of you listening, that won’t be possible. So what you have to do is have more conversations.
How many depends on how good you are at them – and how good your connections are that you are talking to.
If you don’t know them well, you will have to talk to more people before one says yes.
But honestly if you don’t have clients, all of your time should be spent having conversations with potential clients and potential referral partners.
And finally, what do you need to do on these calls?
You need find out what they need help with.
Ask them questions. Can you help them? If yes, great, continue talking and be sure to ask what their budget is. What are their expectations from outsourcing their work?
Your sales conversation should be used to get a feel for who they are, what their personality is like, if it fits with yours, if they can afford you, but all of this gets figured out after you know for sure you can help them.
The positivity here comes from the yes, I can help them. Yes, they need me. Stay positive even if you are not within their budget.
I always say ask them what their budget is, and then try to fit into it.
If they don’t have a big budget, then do things less frequently (like email is a big one – everyone seems to think they need to check a client’s email 80 times a day). If the client doesn’t have a high budget, tell them you can check it once a day, and it will get tended to once every 24 hours. That is often enough for smaller budget clients. Promise them to be consistent with your checking and responding. The more they can pay, the more of your time they get. That’s just the service industry.
Remember we are trying to foster positivity in ourselves so we can write that chapter in the book, like Melody said in our quote for today.
Being able to remain positive will rub right off on everyone you talk to.
I love to talk to virtual assistants who are positive. You might not have everything you want, but it makes it a whole lot easier to talk to others when you are using positive language.
How do we stop ourselves from getting down? That’s the easiest one of all!
Talk to people.
I bet you knew I’d say that!
If you are struggling, talk to someone to figure out how to get out of it.
If you are confused, talk to someone to get the answers you need.
If you are shy, talk to someone to learn how to still have the conversations you need to do business.
If you are not sure how to set a goal, or how to lay out the action steps or how you can help your clients, talk to me.
Whatever you need to do to get into a positive frame of mind, that’s your job.
You owe it to yourself to put as much effort into that as possible.
What you put out there is mirrored back to you. Even if you don’t think it is.
I promise you, if you are feeling negative, your attitude towards others will be less than it should be.
You have to find that positive, and then you need to surround yourself with people who will help keep you UP and positive. It’s hard. Business is hard. Working alone is hard.
You need to have support. You need to create support for yourself.
That’s where I come in.
I can show you how to set the right goals, to create the right plan, how to find those clients, and how to find your community – your people.
If you need help doing any of these things for your VA business, be sure to 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. I’d love to do the same for you.
We can work together privately, or in The Virtual Circle, my monthly mastermind group, or in my Plan to Profit group coaching program, or you can enroll in some of my self study trainings. I have lots of options to move your forward. Check them out in the show notes for this episode. Thanks for tuning in this week! I’ll see you next time!
What You Need to Do Next:
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.
The Virtual Circle (TVC) is a monthly mastermind group for Virtual Assistants just like you. We get together 3 times a month for group Zoom sessions to talk about what you are struggling with, working on, or celebrating. It’s a close knit community of your VA colleagues that provides the best kind of support for your VA business. Learn more about TVC here.
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.
Click here for more tips to help you with your productivity and time management in your Virtual Assistant business.
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.