Tag: questions

Q&A: What kind of investment should I expect to make to be a successful Virtual Assistant in 6 months?

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

What kind of investment should I expect to make to be a successful Virtual Assistant in 6 months?Question:

What kind of investment should I expect to make to be a successful VA in 6 months? I know it is important to get business cards, get a domain, create a website, join online industry organizations and memberships. But what are the other considerable costs one should make?

Answer:
I think the answer to this question is a bit subjective. First you need to define what success means to you. Some only want to work part-time while others hope to make it a full-time business and earn six figures.

More important than a monetary investment is the investment in your time and energy. Before we get into that though I will cover some basics you need.

In my book, The Commonsense Virtual Assistant – Becoming an Entrepreneur, Not an Employee , the introduction lists some skills and tools you’ll need such as:

  • Business Plan
  • License
  • Contract
  • Reliable computer
  • Internet access
  • Phone service
  • Time tracking tool
  • Project management tool

There are other investments you can make to get training and certification. These are not necessary. If you do choose some training or classes to get certified, make sure to check them out thoroughly so you are getting the value you need for the investment you make.

Now to the important investments: your time and energy. Your success will depend largely on the time and energy you are willing to spend to build your business. The number one investment in your time and energy should be to attend in-person networking events. I’ve written numerous times  about how important it is to do this if you intend to build trusting relationships with prospects and clients and gain referrals. The Commonsense Virtual Assistant book has an entire chapter dedicated to marketing and specifically covers networking.

So the real question you need to ask yourself is, “Am I willing to attend four networking events every month for the next six months and build relationships?” When I was growing my business I attended a different networking event every week of the month and did that consistently for six months. By the end of that time I had built trusting relationships with people who I was able to refer work to. That in turn led to my gaining new clients and referrals.

Let’s ask other successful virtual assistants: what did you do to succeed?

 

Q&A: How Can I Market My Business?

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

How Can I Market My Business?Marketing a business is a huge topic. Today we will address a specific concern one virtual assistant has.

Question:
I ran a VA business from 2007-2009. As much as I loved it, I found that I was having to spend a large percentage of my time marketing my business. I would like to start up again, but what alternatives should I consider besides doing my own marketing?

Answer:
To give the best answer, I first asked some additional questions.

  • What percentage of time did you use to market your business?
  • What marketing strategies did you use?
  • Would you be open to having someone else do your marketing and if so, how would you envision that?

The virtual assistant stated she spent at least 50% of her time marketing her business. Now that may seem like a lot. However, I did a bit of research and found several entrepreneurs who encourage spending at least 60% of your time marketing. I do know that if I’m working 20 hours a week for clients, I’m spending an additional 10 hours or so marketing my business. So the amount of time seems right.

What we sometimes forget is that we are entrepreneurs and business owners. That means usually we are the one person doing it all: sales, marketing, client work, administrative work. And that takes time. If we don’t want to spend the time doing the marketing, we have two choices:

  1. Hire someone as our marketing person
  2. Find a J.O.B. – because a business owner must market their services and products in order to succeed

Some marketing strategies that are very effective are in-person events such as SBA events, BNI meetings, professional associations. Then there’s online marketing: a blog, social networking sites, ezines, press releases. Yes, these all take time. That’s why it’s important to put together a simple marketing plan and calendar and schedule these events and actions. Our Action Guide has a sample marketing plan and calendar with details on how to put them into action.  Having a plan helps you make sure you’re using strategies that are most effective and less-time consuming than just haphazardly posting something on a social network every day.

Joining local small business groups and attending monthly mixers are effective marketing strategies. Get to know the people, what their needs are, how you can refer them to others. It’s important to build relationships with these people before you ever try to “sell” them your services. There’s a whole section in our book, The Commonsense Virtual Assistant – Becoming an Entrepreneur, Not an Employee, that has lots of great information on marketing. You can purchase a copy on the website.

The Commonsense Virtual Assistant
The Commonsense Virtual Assistant

I believe doing your own marketing is most effective. However, hiring someone to market your services for you is also a viable option. After all, isn’t that what many of our clients hire us to do for them? You can hire someone to help promote your services – online, via mailings, follow-up phone calls, and even by attending in-person events.

Another great marketing strategy is article writing. It establishes you as an expert and always links back to your website. Check out my articles at Ezine Articles.

You can read more about proactive marketing at another blog post of mine.

I’d love to hear your comments!

Your Questions Answered: Raising Client Rates

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

Question: Do you have any suggestions on how to raise a long-time client’s rate? Would it be best to let them go and keep adding new clients at my new, rateshigher rate?

I still have my original clients and they take up a good amount of my time, yet are only paying a third of the rate my new clients are. I don’t want to help them any less. Yet when I can make three times as much in the same amount of time with new clients, it becomes a tough balancing act.

Answer:
This is a dilemma virtual assistants who have been in business for a while face. When I first started back in 2005, my starting rate was $25 per hour. Today, seven years later, it’s $50 per hour. Does that mean that my original client still pays $25 per hour? No.

As in any business, clients understand the need for rates to go up periodically. Of course the way we handle raising rates will make the difference between keeping a mutually beneficial relationship and losing a client.

My first suggestion is to add a paragraph to your contract that states something like “Rates are subject to annual review. Client will be given 60-days notice when rates increase.” That way your clients will know up front that there is a possibility of a rate increase annually. They will also know they will be given plenty of notice so they can budget for the increase.

Review your rates around October 1st each year and see if a rate increase is called for. Review each client’s rate to see what would be appropriate for them. Then by November 1 give each client a notice of any rate increase to be effective January 1 of the new year.

What if your client decides they don’t want to pay the higher rate? Not all is necessarily lost. If they really want to find another virtual assistant at a lower rate and you really want to stick to your rate, then this may be the time to let them go. In fact I’ve intentionally let challenging clients opt-out of my rate increase as a way of letting them go without hurt feelings.

But it may be that a particular client is one you really love and they ask you if you’re willing to negotiate another rate. Why not consider doing just that? If the work is something you love and the client is great, but they just can’t afford the higher rate, you may be able to compromise. I have a favorite client that I just recently did this with. We discussed her needs as well as mine and agreed to a compromise. We met in the middle and are both happy. She’s paying less than new clients but I’m still getting a decent rate, love the work, and have a great client who refers me to new clients – and who pay the higher rate!

When you do decide to let a client know you’re raising their rates, don’t think you can say to a $25/hour client, “By the way, next month the rate jumps to $50/hour”. You cannot double your price in one swoop like that. You can say something more like, “It’s that time of year when I review my rates. My rates are increasing across the board. New clients will be paying $50/hour. However, since you’ve been a long-time client and I love working with you, this year I’m only increasing your rate by 25%. The new rates goes into effect 60 days from today. I’d be happy to discuss any questions you have.”

You could let them know that you expect their rate to increase by that same percentage next year as well. When you set the expectation, it’s not a surprise or cause for concern when it happens.

If you and your clients value yourself and your services, you deserve asking for a decent rate from your clients. Read another post I wrote about this subject here.

Remember these rules about raising rates:

  • Create clear expectations; include a paragraph about rate increases in your contract
  • Give your client plenty of notice – at least 60 days – of any rate increase
  • Be reasonable and flexible
  • Value yourself and your services

I’d love to hear your feedback and experiences you’ve had of raising client rates.

Questions and Answers: A New Blog Series for Virtual Assistants

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

Sue L Canfield, Chief Virtual OfficerMany virtual assistants are starting the new year with questions about their business. I’ve decided to start a new blog series here for those virtual assistants who want answers to their questions. This Questions and Answers series is your opportunity to ask any questions about your virtual assistant business. I’ll then compose a reply via my blog so that all can benefit.

Use the contact form to send me your questions. I’ll post one each Friday and send you the link. Your feedback is very much appreciated.

Read the first in the series about how to raise an existing client’s rate here.