Are you overwhelmed running your business? Are there not enough hours in the day? The more your business grows, the more administrative tasks you have; the more time you spend on administrative tasks, the less time you have to generate new business.
How much is your time really worth? YOUR time is most valuable because it is your responsibility to generate new revenue for your business. Doing small and often trivial administrative chores yourself does not really add value to your business and the sensible solution is to delegate those less profitable tasks by hiring someone more than capable of carrying them out, but whose hourly rate is somewhat less than your real financial worth. So what’s stopping you?
You may have a multitude of reasons that prevent you from hiring a full time personal assistant. You may not need a full time, or even part time employee but just require someone for occasional or limited secretarial services. Then there are the employers responsibilities, employees are entitled to sick pay, maternity leave and paid holiday and often seek generous benefits packages. It is estimated that the true cost of an employee is over double and often up to triple the cost of their annual salary in terms of benefits and liabilities.
Significant for some potential employers is also the loss of privacy and space - are you working from home or have limited office space? You may not want an employee working from your home or simply not have the room for an additional employee in your office or all the equipment they may need.
Wouldn't it be perfect if you had a business assistant that was always ready to work for you, but only when you need them? Providing secretarial services from their own home or office, using their own equipment? Meet the Virtual Assistant (VA), an invaluable new work force that provides a practical solution for small businesses owners. A VA frees up your valuable time so you can concentrate on the important things that only you can do in your business.
There is no need to share office space or even for your VA to live in the same town or city. Work assignments are communicated through email; telephone, fax or post and web-based tools such as instant messengers and online calendars and planners are also often used as a means of keeping in touch.
Because your VA is self-employed, and invoices you only for the actual hours worked or by tasks completed, and is dependent on referrals and steady work flow from existing clients, s/he can be the perfect solution for a busy small business or entrepreneur. When you hire a VA you get all the benefits of outsourcing - no employer liabilities, tax and benefits issues, coupled with the loyalty and steadiness of a company executive PA.
With a VA, you have someone to whom you can delegate. Your VA can return telephone calls, answer e-mails, and draft letters for you. They can run your diary, deal with your post, run your marketing campaign, design your next presentation, book your doctors appointment and even remind you of your spouses birthday and source the perfect gift if necessary! VA’s are already computer trained, and can assist with your specific needs from traditional office support services to highly specialised areas including web site design. You can also equip your VA to go beyond traditional secretarial support to client development and marketing support.
You can easily justify a virtual assistant in terms of your greater productivity and your greater efficiency. You need to be the leader in your business and your VA will insure that you focus on what is important, rather than urgent. Your VA can also lend "size" to your company, which will impress potential clients.
As more and more businesses move their marketing and communications to the Internet, VA’s are becoming the obvious solution to staffing issues. For an hourly fee often less than the cost of temps or the real cost of employees, businesses can take advantage of professional assistance and a variety of skills at the click of a mouse.
Need a Virtual Assistant? Then you’ve come to the right place. We have details of all the best virtual assistants and pa’s in the business so click on the link and start delegating! DIRECTORY OF UK VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS
Are you a Virtual Assistant? Do you want to establish your presence as a professional virtual assistant and become an accredited member of the UK Association of Virtual Assistants? For more information about membership criteria, our CODE OF CONDUCT and how to add yourself to our DIRECTORY OF UK VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS visit our JOIN US section.
Are You Interested?
As well as having the opportunity to speak about yourself and your business, it is equally important to show interest in your prospect and their business activities. You will create a great first impression if you listen carefully and ask questions. By doing this you will be able to find common points of [...]
Are You Interested?
As well as having the opportunity to speak about yourself and your business, it is equally important to show interest in your prospect and their business activities. You will create a great first impression if you listen carefully and ask questions. By doing this you will be able to find common points of connection as well as identify areas where you will be able to help them professionally.
Oozing Confidence?
Now you’re sure you look the part you can walk into any room with your head held high and confidence intact. Arrive in plenty of time for any appointment as you don’t want to be rushed. Stand up straight and tall and look the other person in the eye when introducing yourself, and don’t [...]
Oozing Confidence?
Now you’re sure you look the part you can walk into any room with your head held high and confidence intact. Arrive in plenty of time for any appointment as you don’t want to be rushed. Stand up straight and tall and look the other person in the eye when introducing yourself, and don’t forget to shake hands firmly – no-one likes a limp lettuce handshake!
As the old saying goes, you only get one chance to create a good first impression. When you are running your own business, it’s imperative that within the first few seconds of meeting you or being introduced to your business, you create a great first impression. In the following series, we’ll give you some simple [...]
As the old saying goes, you only get one chance to create a good first impression. When you are running your own business, it’s imperative that within the first few seconds of meeting you or being introduced to your business, you create a great first impression. In the following series, we’ll give you some simple tips that will have the prospects that you meet being impressed by you, liking you and, critically, wanting to do business with you.
Looking Good?
Is your blouse ironed or are your shoes in need of a polish? It may sound immaterial but in the eyes of your potential client the care you take over your appearance symbolises the level of care and attention to detail you would take over their work. If you turn up with chipped nail polish and lipstick on your teeth they may wonder if you going to send out their letters with spelling mistakes or send emails to the wrong people. Make time to check your appearance before meeting your prospects.
For part one of this article, please see the post on 19th August.
When you have decided on your target market, or niche, think about how you can reach them. Do they belong to particular organisations, read certain publications or as is the case with one of my niches, do they all drink on a Thursday [...]
For part one of this article, please see the post on 19th August.
When you have decided on your target market, or niche, think about how you can reach them. Do they belong to particular organisations, read certain publications or as is the case with one of my niches, do they all drink on a Thursday afternoon in bars within a square mile of a certain point in London?
When you know where to find them, consider how you can get your message to them. While advertising in general is expensive and often pointless unless you can afford to take out a run, perhaps you could write an article for a trade publication, or give a presentation at an event your ‘suspects’ will attend. Think outside of the box for some interesting and inexpensive ideas that will have impact on your particular target market and keep you stimulated and motivated.
Above all, keep marketing as a continual process and recognise that although you may not get clients immediately from you efforts, in time your consistency will pay dividends.
About the author
Justine Curtis is the director of her own successful virtual assistant business My Virtual Assistant http://www.my-va.com and founder of The UK Association of Virtual Assistants (UKAVA) which offers free resources and information to its subscribers – sign up at http://www.ukava.co.uk. Justine is the author of Setting Yourself Up As A Virtual Assistant and is delighted to be able to pass on the benefits of her vast experience of the VA role to aspiring and progressive virtual PAs as a co-founder of the VA Success Group. If you are thinking about starting a virtual assistant business, visit http://vasuccessgroup.co.uk
When starting your virtual assistant business, after getting together all you equipment, getting excited over your business cards and web site, there comes the sudden realisation that here you are, all ready to go and there isn’t actually a queue of people knocking down your door to work with you. Yikes!
One of the questions I’m [...]
When starting your virtual assistant business, after getting together all you equipment, getting excited over your business cards and web site, there comes the sudden realisation that here you are, all ready to go and there isn’t actually a queue of people knocking down your door to work with you. Yikes!
One of the questions I’m asked most often is ‘Where do you get your clients’. Usually the question is asked by new start up virtual assistants, but more recently I’ve been asked by more established VA’s who have struggled during the recession. Newbies have generally spent lots of time putting together their business by purchasing equipment and organising their office, but have forgotten the fundamentals of putting together their marketing plan. Then when they are all set up and ready to go and have opened their virtual doors to the world they find that the phone isn’t ringing and the email Inbox isn’t full of enquiries. More established VA’s, once they have enough clients, put marketing on the back burner until such a time as they need to look for new clients again.
If either of these sounds like you, you need to develop a marketing plan, and fast. Firstly take a long hard look at your contacts and include everyone you’ve ever worked with, all your contacts through previous businesses if appropriate and family and friends. What contacts do you already have that you can ask for referrals? If you are already running a VA business, when did you last ask your clients for referrals? Don’t discount anyone because you think they wouldn’t need your services. They may well know someone who does.
Next take stock of all the skills you have and the industries you have worked in or that interest you. Consider what services can you offer and to whom? If you have been a book keeper with an IT firm for many years, you are going to find it far easier to offer your virtual book keeping services to other IT firms as you know something about their market and their ‘language’. If you target an industry or sector you have experience of, you will be seen as the virtual assistant who is an expert in this field and have an advantage over any other VA.
Join us here for part two of this article on 24th August
You should allot a certain portion of your day to email and to regular mail. For example, allot one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon to handling all your written communications. Unless you dedicate specific time slots to the handling of email and post, you will soon find yourself on the [...]
You should allot a certain portion of your day to email and to regular mail. For example, allot one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon to handling all your written communications. Unless you dedicate specific time slots to the handling of email and post, you will soon find yourself on the downward slope of decreased productivity as you constantly check and respond to email to put off whatever you should be doing.
In a nutshell:
In the end, the success of your VA business is entirely and completely reliant upon you and the decisions that you make. Success is within your reach, if only you can stay focused on your goals. You must decide to reach for your goals, and then, you must have the discipline necessary to reach them.
Don’t permit your friends and extended family to put on you. Many people are under the misapprehension that if someone works from home then they are not actually working. They may believe that you are fair game for a social call during the day or that you may be able to run errands that would [...]
Don’t permit your friends and extended family to put on you. Many people are under the misapprehension that if someone works from home then they are not actually working. They may believe that you are fair game for a social call during the day or that you may be able to run errands that would otherwise mean them taking time off work.
It’s really important to set the ground rules early and then stand firm. You must make certain your friends and family understand that when you are working, then you ARE working and that when your time is interrupted, you will not be earning. You are the only one who can stand up for you. Your friends and family will seldom be able to appreciate your dedication to your business, unless you make the effort to make sure that they have the same respect for your business that you do.
When you are dealing with family in the course of your workday, it is important to schedule your activities as much as possible. With small children, you must take time when you need to, but you should also work hard to make sure you dedicate a specific number of hours to your workday.
For more advice [...]
When you are dealing with family in the course of your workday, it is important to schedule your activities as much as possible. With small children, you must take time when you need to, but you should also work hard to make sure you dedicate a specific number of hours to your workday.
Remember that owning your own business is not the same as being employed in a job. Some people go to work and coast along, playing games or enjoying online social networking (Facebook and co.), some socialise over the kettle or printer, and others, most often those who are paid in a commission or tip environment, [...]
Remember that owning your own business is not the same as being employed in a job. Some people go to work and coast along, playing games or enjoying online social networking (Facebook and co.), some socialise over the kettle or printer, and others, most often those who are paid in a commission or tip environment, go to work to work and to make money. When you work for yourself, what you make in terms of money is directly proportional to your productivity. Therefore, wouldn’t it make sense to stay focused on getting as much done in as short of a period as possible?
Go to work to work and to make money. Leave socialising for when your workday has ended.
As the owner of a Virtual Assistant business, you will find hundreds of distractions that vie for your time, energy and focus. Common distractions can include children, family and friends, neighbours, pets, constant telephone calls, mail and deliveries, household chores, television (Lorraine Kelly or Loose Women anyone?) and so many more.
As the owner of your [...]
As the owner of a Virtual Assistant business, you will find hundreds of distractions that vie for your time, energy and focus. Common distractions can include children, family and friends, neighbours, pets, constant telephone calls, mail and deliveries, household chores, television (Lorraine Kelly or Loose Women anyone?) and so many more.
As the owner of your own Virtual Assistant business, you must always remember your purpose in bringing your profession home. What was your reason for wanting to own your own home based business? Was your goal to work from home so that you can share more in the lives of your children? Was your goal to be out from under the rule of a dictatorial boss? Was your goal to have the freedom to work when it is convenient for you? Was your goal to reap the rewards of your efforts and make lots of money working for yourself?
Whatever your reasons for starting your VA business, the following series will give you a few tips that will help you stay focused:
1. Whatever your reason for going out on your own, you must keep your reason in the forefront of your mind. If you forget your reason for starting your own Virtual Assistant business, you will not be working for yourself for long. It is far too easy to let circumstance drive you and when circumstance is in the driver’s seat, you are more likely to crash and burn.
You are all set up and ready to go: got all the equipment; sorted out your website; printed some business cards; even done some networking. Then it happens…you get your first prospect!
Oh, no! Panic! What information do you need to give them about you and your business and how it all works? What questions should [...]
You are all set up and ready to go: got all the equipment; sorted out your website; printed some business cards; even done some networking. Then it happens…you get your first prospect!
Oh, no! Panic! What information do you need to give them about you and your business and how it all works? What questions should you ask them? How do you cover yourself? What terms and conditions should you have? Contract… What contracts?
Relax; it’s all here in the New Client Document Templates Pack. Simply cut and paste in your business details and you are ready to go!
We all need to fill our marketing funnel with the contact details of potential clients and referrers of our business services. The following tips give you some ideas about how to collect contact details – and, in particular, email addresses – so that you can begin to build relationships with your prospects.
11. Collect business cards [...]
We all need to fill our marketing funnel with the contact details of potential clients and referrers of our business services. The following tips give you some ideas about how to collect contact details – and, in particular, email addresses – so that you can begin to build relationships with your prospects.
11. Collect business cards from people you meet, and then email each of them asking if you can add them to your newsletter list. Do not add them without their permission, as this will not win you any friends.
12. Host back copies of your newsletter on your website as an archive. At the foot of each article, include a link to your sign up page with a message to ‘sign up to our newsletter for more articles like these’.
13. When you have added previous newsletters to your website, Twitter the link to the article page. Make sure there is a link to ‘sign up for more articles like these’ at the bottom of the article page.
14. When you have added previous newsletters to your website, add the page address to your Facebook status. Make sure there is a link to ‘sign up for more articles like these’ at the bottom of the article page.
15. Include a link to your newsletter sign up page on your Facebook profile and from time to time include it in your status. The day that you have sent out your latest issue is a great time to do this.
There are a number of different services that you can add to your business to take it to the next level and provide a ‘one stop shop’.
Some of these include:
Telephone answering
This can be a really popular, but you must consider whether you want to provide the service yourself, or if it something you would [...]
There are a number of different services that you can add to your business to take it to the next level and provide a ‘one stop shop’.
Some of these include:
Telephoneanswering
This can be a really popular, but you must consider whether you want to provide the service yourself, or if it something you would prefer to pass on to a fellow VA with whom you have forged a partnership arrangement. I do offer the service, although, I do not do it myself as I am often out and about, so I cannot guarantee the quality of service that my clients deserve. However, I do have a VA partner who is more than happy to do this type of work.
If you do offer this service, it needs to be from 9am to 5pm as a minimum, so think hard whether it is something you want to do yourself before you start advertising the service.
Website design This is a specialist skill and something that is charged at a higher rate. Before offering this service, ask yourself if you possess the necessary skills, or whether you would need to outsource the work.
Another service you could offer is a maintenance retainer package, whereby your clients pay in advance for maintenance of their sites.
Legal Virtual Assistant A legal virtual assistant is someone who works with solicitors on either an ad hoc or regular basis, providing all the services of a legal secretary.
For part 1 of the article, please see the post on 18th August.
To give a great impression straight away, it is important to ask the right questions at the first meeting with your potential client, before they sign up. You need to ascertain where you can be most useful to them. What are their weak [...]
For part 1 of the article, please see the post on 18th August.
To give a great impression straight away, it is important to ask the right questions at the first meeting with your potential client, before they sign up. You need to ascertain where you can be most useful to them. What are their weak points? What work do they continually put off, either because there is no time or because they do not enjoy it? Find out what their plans are for their business. What do they want to achieve?
Once the client has come onboard, you need to maintain the momentum with scheduled meetings as an ongoing process. This applies to both regular and ad-hoc clients. By having detailed monthly ‘catch-up’ meetings, either in person or by telephone, you can identify how much of their forthcoming work you can help them with.
There are many ways that you can grow your VA business, from adding additional services to bringing other people on board to work with you.
Check out this great article about Growing Your Virtual Assistant Business.
Visit http://vasuccessgroup.co.uk/virtual-assistant-freebies/articles
There are many ways that you can grow your VA business, from adding additional services to bringing other people on board to work with you.
When you start out in business you will get very excited and, probably, target small- to medium-size businesses as your perfect VA clients. This is what most new business owners do. So, many people will be targeting exactly the same prospective clients as you, including other virtual assistants.
The key to a successful and thriving VA [...]
When you start out in business you will get very excited and, probably, target small- to medium-size businesses as your perfect VA clients. This is what most new business owners do. So, many people will be targeting exactly the same prospective clients as you, including other virtual assistants.
The key to a successful and thriving VA business is to be specific and narrow your target market, because ultimately it is easier to market a smaller prospective client base. Believe it or not, marketing to fewer people is easy, because you can target your approach, which will be much more cost-effective.
If you target your message to everyone, how can you make it relevant? If you are going to be working with people in different industries, they will have different issues, different problems, different jargon, different ways of doing things and different service needs. So, trying to create marketing material that is relevant to everyone is almost impossible.
By being selective about whom you help, and about the specialist services that you offer, you can target your marketing material accordingly.
To put this into context, let’s go over some numbers. There are hundreds of thousands of small businesses in the UK, and the number increases on a daily basis. So, ask yourself how many of these can you realistically have as clients. We are not superhuman, so I imagine you would agree that you could not work with all of them. But, if you narrow it down to a specific type of industry (maybe a few thousand companies), would you be able to work with one per cent of this market? Now the figure becomes far more manageable and achievable.
With a large number of virtual assistants to choose from these days, how can a potential client choose with which one they would like to work? How can you project a professional image and create synergy with someone you have never met? What can you do or say to make them think ‘I’ve got to [...]
With a large number of virtual assistants to choose from these days, how can a potential client choose with which one they would like to work? How can you project a professional image and create synergy with someone you have never met? What can you do or say to make them think ‘I’ve got to work with this person’?
When I first started out as a virtual assistant, more years ago than I care to remember, there were very few VAs around, which meant I had little competition. Nowadays, many of the clients I take on have worked with at least one other VA in the past. When I ask what differences they notice between our way of working and that of other VAs, with whom they have worked previously, they often say that what they like more than anything is that we work as a partnership with our clients. They say that we are proactive in their businesses and look for opportunities for them and suggest ideas, whereas, other VAs just wait for work to be delegated to them.
So, how do we achieve this distinction? Part of it has to do with the mindset. When you make the leap from being an employee to a sole trader, or business owner, you will quickly realise that if you sit around and wait for work to be delegated, you will not get very much of it. At that point you learn to make yourself an active member of your clients ‘team’ very quickly, or you will soon start to founder.
We all need to fill our marketing funnel with the contact details of potential clients and referrers of our business services. The following tips give you some ideas about how to collect contact details – and, in particular, email addresses – so that you can begin to build relationships with your prospects.
6. It is simple [...]
We all need to fill our marketing funnel with the contact details of potential clients and referrers of our business services. The following tips give you some ideas about how to collect contact details – and, in particular, email addresses – so that you can begin to build relationships with your prospects.
6. It is simple but effective to include an ‘opt-in’ form on every page of your website. It is also worth checking your web statistics to see where people leave your site. Check the last page they view before they leave and make sure there is a note asking them to sign up for your newsletter at the bottom of this page.
7. Consider a pop-up window, which appears when a visitor leaves your site. Ask for their email address so you can keep in touch – make sure it links to information telling them about your privacy policy, how to ‘opt out’ and how often you will contact them.
8. Include a ‘Forward to a Friend’ link in your newsletters, so that your readers can forward an article to anyone that you think might find it interesting. For this reason, also include a link to your sign-up page in each emailed newsletter.
9. Offer email-only discounts and tell visitors to your site that you do so. If they are interested in your services, they will sign up in the hope of getting a discount.
10. Ask telephone callers if you can add them to your newsletter list. If they have enquired about any of your products or services, they are prospects and will not mind your keeping in touch in this unobtrusive way.
You may want to consider some of the following questions when writing your own client consultations.
Contact information
You need to ask for telephone numbers and an email address before your scheduled consultation so that you can contact them if they don’t call.
Business type
What industry do they work in? What products/services do they provide? With what types [...]
You may want to consider some of the following questions when writing your own client consultations.
Contact information You need to ask for telephone numbers and an email address before your scheduled consultation so that you can contact them if they don’t call.
Business type What industry do they work in? What products/services do they provide? With what types of clients do they work?
What are their goals/vision? What are their goals for the next five years? This is a good question as you can tell them how you could help them to achieve their goals.
What are they struggling to complete in their businesses? Some prospective clients may have an idea of areas in which they need some help. After I have ended the consultation, I ask all prospective clients to keep a list of all the tasks they have insufficient time to complete, or that they do not like doing, over the course of a week. I then schedule a follow-up call for a week later to go through the list to see where I can help them.
Describe a typical day for you This will reveal some details about their personality and work style, which should tell you whether you want to work with them.
Have you worked with a PA or virtual assistant before? This is an important question as, if the answer is yes, you can ask supplementary questions to see whether the relationship worked or not.
What information should you reveal about yourself? What information should your prospective clients be told about you? Do you want to tell them you work full-time, fit your work around children, or work only during term-time? Establish now what information you want to share, so that you do not forget during the call.
For the first three tips in this series, please see the post from 4th August.
Tip Four – Press Releases
Press releases are useful for generating a buzz about your virtual assistant business. The business editor at your local newspaper will always be on the lookout for a good business story to fill the paper’s business news [...]
For the first three tips in this series, please see the post from 4th August.
Tip Four – Press Releases
Press releases are useful for generating a buzz about your virtual assistant business. The business editor at your local newspaper will always be on the lookout for a good business story to fill the paper’s business news section.
Of course, the business editor understands the economics of running a paper, and is more inclined to run your story if you buy advertising space, but will still print stories for special events and openings. Think of an angle. Could you offer a competition prize? Could you help a local charity?
The important thing to remember about press releases is that they must be constructed in the form of a news story. Even if you are a sole trader, quotes from you should be written in the third person – Joe Bloggs says: "Your quote here."
When writing a press release, put the important information at the beginning of the copy and supplementary details towards the end.
You should always provide the reporter who gets the task a simple and easy way for him/her to contact you directly. Often the reporter will want to contact you to get details that will enhance their take on your story.
Tip Five – Online Presence
It goes without saying that, as a virtual assistant, you needs a website. But have you really thought about the best way to use it? Some visitors will arrive at your site as result of your telling them about it, or seeing the URL on your business card or marketing material.
What you really want, though, are visitors to arrive at your site because they are actually searching for a virtual assistant. These are not just visitors; they are also prospects. They have actually gone to the trouble of going to a search engine and entering a relevant term into the search bar and are busy looking through the results to find someone with whom they want to work. So, how do you make sure your site is the one they choose?
Well, search engine optimisation (SEO) companies charge a small fortune for ‘optimising’ your site in an attempt to make it appear at the top of search engines results, and, with good reason. The search engines constantly change their indexing criteria to keep out the ‘spammers’. So, the SEO companies have to consistently keep one step ahead. If you do not have the budget to compete with the big players, the best thing you can do is be listed on their websites. Visitors will then see your information and click through to your site.
There are several directories advertising virtual assistants and their services in the UK. The UK Association of Virtual Assistants consistently appears on the first page of Google and can be found at www.ukava.co.uk
Tip Six – Test Everything
Whenever possible, you should test your advertising and marketing efforts. It is natural to want to ‘jump in’ and try various ideas and formats, and that’s admirable. But, try to keep a record of where each enquiry comes from, and which enquiries you convert into paying customers.
With this data to hand, you can then look at what has been cost effective and what has not. For example, if you paid £500 to join a networking group, and attended 50 breakfast meetings, costing £10 each, over the course of a year, and, as a result, you got one new client, that client would have cost you £1000 to source. If you put an advert in the UKAVA Directory for £49.95, from which you gain five new clients, each client has cost you less than £10 to source. In this scenario, you may decide to drop the networking group and advertise in the directory more frequently.
The important point is that you cannot improve on what you do not evaluate the situation. If you do not know what is working for you, and what is not, how can you expect to improve your results in the future?
Sometimes, you may find that the lower-cost advertising and marketing strategies are the ones that bring you the most business.
