Just got word that a big project we’d invested a lot of effort into isn’t going to happen. In the past, I would have pinned a lot of hopes on that money coming in, and been in a panic when it didn’t.

These days I know better. No project is certain until the money’s in the till.

So many metaphors come to mind. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, f’rinstance. It’s easy to say, look, we’ve got eggs, therefore, we’ll have chickens. Or, look, we’ve got hot prospects, therefore we’ve got a project.

Speaking of eggs, don’t put ‘em all in one basket. If you earn your living primarily from a single client, that client owns you. In reality, you’re en employee, not an entrepreneur. Have plenty of smaller eggs, not just one large one.

And more than one basket, if you can arrange it.

Twenty small streams of income is more stable than 2 large streams. Seems nothing is stable these days, so when you start juggling all those chickens and eggs and baskets, be prepared to lose a few.

If you’ve got spares, there’ll always be enough for that omelette.

Recently a personal interaction reminded me of an anecdote I read some years ago about tea. (I love tea, but this may be my first business lesson about it.)

When tea first arrived in England it was expensive. Not, a little bit pricey expensive, but prohibitive, only for the rich expensive. But it caught on quickly, because, well, it’s great.

One woman in the south took a full pound of her expensive cache and sent it to her sister in the north, telling her how marvelous it was. Her sister boiled it, dumped the black liquid off and served it like a vegetable. She wrote back about how terrible it was.

She’d prepared it like a vegetable, which she understood, instead of seeing it for what it was: something entirely new.

Some business folks hear about the ‘new marketing’ and assume it’s just more of the old marketing, except online. They still want instant results, measured in dollars return on dollars invested. They want ways to convince people to buy, no matter what they’re selling. They spend time and money bolting a website and blog and email autoresponders onto their old-school advertising.

They’re dumping the tea and eating the leaves, and then they wonder why it doesn’t work.

If you help your clients with their marketing efforts, you may, like the first woman in the story, assume that they’ll know how to brew a pot of social media marketing. Erm, tea. Whatever.

But, like the second woman, they don’t. They can’t. Because it’s so foreign to them, they have nothing to connect it to. Give information away, with no firm plan for monetising it? That don’t make no sense!

Had the first woman included some simple instructions along with her glowing praise, the story may have had a happier ending. Don’t leave anything to chance. Clients who are new to the new marketing will need a lot of hand-holding, a lot of encouragement and explanation and nudging.

Don’t assume they get it, unless you actually see them drinking the tea.

Are you still considering whether or not to become a Chief Virtual Officer (virtual assistant)? How can you determine if that’s your one true passion?

Or perhaps you are looking for your niche in the virtual world. How do you determine what it is you really want to focus on?

Now there’s a tool with practical exercises to help you discover your passion. Visit Business Heretics to learn more.

Ever been at a party and heard your name from across the room? Through all that noise, you heard a tiny bit of information which is, understandably, important to you.

Reticular Activating System

How is that possible? The same way you can even follow a conversation in a crowded room: it’s your reticular activating system. (It’s in that picture over there. Isn’t it lovely?)

Here’s another cocktail party game: remember that time the person you were stuck talking to was so boring you were considering pulling your own ears off, but instead, you started listening to the folks sitting behind you? Never took your eyes off the snoozing boor in front of you, and you could even still hear their voice if you chose to, but your attention was elsewhere. (Oh, come on; you’ve done it. Yes you have.)

Sometimes, there’s just so much going on that you jump back and forth, mentally, between two conversations—without moving a muscle. Just shift focus; over here, then over there.

So what on earth does your reticular activating system have to do with business?

Your clients have one, too.

Ask most small business operators who their target client is, and they’ll say “everyone!” Remember the cocktail party? When some random person across the room says “hey; wanna hear a joke?” you don’t even hear them, because your RAS doesn’t pick up stuff like that. It’s a focus tool, and you don’t focus on random.

Neither do your clients.

When your marketing materials speak directly to a specific narrow niche, you cut through the clutter, and they hear you. If you’re writing to ‘everyone’, guess who hears you? No one.

But if you’re writing to single moms with school age children trying to start a service business they can operate while the kids are in school, which the kids can help with during the summer—all of a sudden, when those folks read your blog or hear you speak at an event, they hear you loud and clear. Their RAS focuses them on your message, because it is obvious that you’re speaking to them, not to the room in general.

Specific narrow niche. Choose one, speak to it, get heard, and grow.

Do you have  a copy of our book The Commonsense Virtual Assistant? It’s over 200 pages of practical information which will make you more successful as a VA.

Let us show you how—take advantage of our free 30-minute coaching session. Bring your biggest business challenge, and we’ll show you how the commonsense principles of the book can help you overcome it.

(By the way, when we say ‘free’, we mean free. No obligation, no pitch—no kidding. If you’d like to talk to other VAs who’ve taken us up on the free offer, just ask and we’ll put you in touch with some.)