Answer:
It’s got to be tough working full-time while trying to start a business. On the other hand, that gives you an income you can count on while you work on building your business.

Since you have such a busy schedule, it’s important to make an appointment with yourself to make time to work on your business, write blog posts and market. Then keep your appointment as though you were meeting with a new client!

Here are some suggestions from the Action Guide, Building Blocks: Succeed as a Chief Virtual Officer:

• Write a “how-to” article or a “ten tips” article
• Answer questions you get from prospects and clients as a blog post (much like this one)
• Invite prospects to write guest blog posts.
• Write about a client’s success
• Post a list of relevant links with a short comment on why you found each valuable
• Share a recent experience you had

It’s very helpful as part of your marketing strategy to also visit other blogs and post comments there that will link back to your own blog.

More tips on blogging and marketing can be found in the Action Guide, Building Blocks: Succeed as a Chief Virtual Officer.

What topics do you write about on your blog?

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?

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

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!

• Provide clients with information about the industry
• Promote your products and services
• Invite people to an event
• Send out a monthly newsletter

When planning your email marketing strategies, you need to answer these basic questions:

• What is the purpose of your communication and who do you send it to?
• How often should I send out a communication?

The purpose of you communication could include:

• Driving traffic to your website
• Get clients to purchase a product
• Get new “likes” for your Facebook fan page

Once you’ve defined your goal, you’ll know who you want to send your communication to.

The most challenging part of creating a newsletter is creating valuable content. You want your message to be education-focused. This will help build trust, loyalty and retention. Don’t just sell – provide value. The content should be interesting and relevant to your readers. Ask yourself, “How will this information benefit my readers?” 

Communicating more often is not necessarily better. It is more beneficial to send quality content in a quarterly newsletter than a monthly newsletter with so-so content.

If you’d really like to know what you readers want from you and how often they’d like to hear from you, ask them. Ask, “What topics would you like to see addressed in the newsletter? How often would you like to receive it? Weekly, monthly, quarterly?”

Take time to plan your email marketing so it’s most effective. Remember – it’s not how many people you send it to that measures your success. It’s how many people who actually read it and take an action such as:

• Click through to your website
• Call you for an appointment
• Buy a product or service
• Share your content via social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn

Please share your most successful email planning tips. And get more great tips in our book and Action Guide.

Answer:
Some virtual assistants start their business working with clients they know and have had long-standing relationships with. Or they have developed trust with their existing clients and the issues of confidentiality and nondisclosure were just taken for granted. So what happens when a client, perhaps a large company that doesn know you, wants to hire you and wants a confidentiality agreement or NDA signed?

My first piece of advice is to add a standard confidentiality clause to your contract for any new clients. For existing clients, you may want to add an addendum to your contract. A confidentiality clause can be beneficial to both parties.

The confidentiality agreement does not need to be long and complicated. I use a simple two-page contract with a standard confidentiality clause included. You can review it below.

The confidentiality agreement, included in your contract, should address:

• the definition of what is considered confidential
• the time period covered
• be in line with State law

Some clients may want a more detailed non-disclosure. An example of one is below for your review. This may be appropriate if you are dealing with a Client’s proprietary software for example.

When preparing your contract and confidentiality clause, keep the needs of this specific client in mind. Be willing to adapt the clause for your individual client.

Standard Contract Clause: Confidentiality
During the term of this Agreement, Contractor shall act exclusively in the best interest of Client. Contractor acknowledges that it may have access to information which is non-public, confidential and proprietary in nature. Such confidential information may include, but is not limited to, trade secrets, business plans, copyrights, logos, trademarks, financial and operational information and membership lists. Contractor expressly agrees not to use or disclose such information in any manner or for any purpose at any time during or after the effective term of this Agreement, except as required by law or as required during the course of Contractor’s work for Client, unless authorized in writing by Client. Upon expiration or termination of this Agreement, Contractor shall return any such information to Client. Likewise, the Client agrees that it will not convey any Confidential information obtained about the Contractor to another party.

More detailed non-disclosure:
During the course of negotiations, training and consulting, The Contractor shall become aware of certain methods, practices and procedures with which Client conducts its business, including but not limited to: Tradeshow processes, blog and web content generation processes, sales and marketing processes, all of which Client and Contractor agree are proprietary information and as such are trade secrets.

Contractor will not at any time, either during negotiations or thereafter divulge, furnish, or make available, either directly or indirectly, to any person, firm, corporation or other entity any proprietary information used by Client. Contractor agrees that all such matters and information shall be kept strictly and absolutely confidential.

Contractor, upon the cessation of negotiations, irrespective of the time, manner or reason of termination, will immediately surrender and deliver to Client all lists, books, records, memoranda and data of every kind relating to all proprietary information and all property belonging to Client.

Contractor acknowledges that a breach of any of the provisions of this Agreement may result in continuing and irreparable damages to Client for which there may be no adequate remedy at law and that Client in addition to all other relief available to Client shall be entitled to the issuance of an injunction restraining Consultant from committing or continuing any breach of this Agreement.

What have you found most helpful to your client’s in preparing a confidentiality agreement?

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, higher 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.

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.

Are you writing at your blog regularly?

It may be time to hire a Blog Content Manager and Promoter.  Whether your goal is to attract new clients or increase traffic to your blog, a Blog Content Manager can assist. Maybe you’re an author and want to build an audience for book sales; perhaps you want to generate more traffic and increase ad sales. Whatever your goal is, a Blog Content Manager can help make sure your blog is regularly updated and promoted on social media networks.

Here’s what one client has to say:

Sue has been managing my blog content for over a year and her services have added tremendous value to my business. I’ve worked with a lot of contractors over the years, and Sue is one of the best. I greatly appreciate that I can count on her to deliver on her promises, and she always meets deadlines. Sue’s efforts have also given me more time to focus on growing my business, and the consistent addition of content has helped drive a tremendous amount of traffic to my site (http://BusinessInfoGuide.com). I would not hesitate to recommend Sue for blog content management and promotion. She is a true professional who will make your life a lot easier and help bring traffic to your website. – Stephanie Chandler, Business Info Guide

I explained, “That’s a common concern when starting a business. It’s important to put strategies into place now to start connecting with potential clients. Of utmost importance is sharing valuable information with prospects so they come to know you, like you, and trust you. Then they are more willing to want to do business with you and refer you to others as well.”

Then I encouraged her to read my blog post about getting your first client: http://chiefvirtualofficer.com/blog/2009/10/09/take-three-steps-to-get-your-first-client-2/

We then communicated further by email and I made her an offer for the Action Guide, Building Blocks: Succeed as a Chief Virtual Officer and the CD Client Communication Clinic. They were in the mail to her the next day. Further discussion led to finding out she needed her website done. So now Joel’s working on the website and tweaking her logo.

Have you had success using LinkedIn Groups and Questions?

Now neither I nor the accountant worked for this client any longer. However, the accountant connected with me on LinkedIn. I accepted the invitation to connect. We both thought, “you never know when we’ll need the other’s services“. It’s been nearly four years and I was just contacted by this accountant. She needs some work done and thought a virtual assistant could do this work. Who did she think of first? Someone she already had a relationship and connection with – me.

This reiterates the fact that building trusting relationships takes time. Don’t be in a hurry to sell your services to total strangers. Take time to get to know people, Connect on LinkedIn, ask some questions, comment on their blog. Once they get to know you, like you and trust you, you’ll have something to build a working relationship on.