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?

If you’ve done all you can, it doesn’t matter if they are right or not. You will do more harm to your business keeping them as a client. As we state on page 39 in The Commonsense Virtual Assistant – Becoming an Entrepreneur, Not an Employee: ” If you decide that an ongoing relationship will do more harm than good to both of you, calmly, politely let them know that you’ve done all you can. Apologize that you haven’t been able to make them happy. Express a genuine hope that someone else who offers the same product or service will be able to do what you can’t. And that’s all.”

Have you had to let a client go? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Joel and I will be in the Vancouver area until August 23rd at least. We’d love to meet other local virtual assistants in person and chat with you about your business. If you were unable to attend the Client Communication Clinic and would like to receive the instructional materials, we’d love to meet with you and provide you all the materials for the same cost as the Clinic.

We will meet with you in person anywhere within the Vancouver area at a time convenient to you for up to 3 hours and provide:

1. Client Communication Clinic CD package ($100.00 Value) – over 5 hours audio and 7 Special Reports on the following topics:

• Identifying Your Ideal Client and Target Market
• Networking Creates Word of Mouth Referrals
• Converting Prospects to Clients
• Effectively Marketing With Your Newsletter
• Bonus Tips: Grow Your Business as a Chief Virtual Officer
• 7 Steps to Small Business Marketing Success by John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing

2. Building Blocks: Succeed as a Chief Virtual Officer, a 72-page action guide. ($19.95 Value) We use this action guide during the Clinic. You will also receive an Implementation Checklist to help you implement what you learn from the CD and Action Guide  in your business right away!

3. Personalized business advice and answers to your questions about your Virtual Assistant business.

All this for $100.

If you’d like to take advantage of this special offer, use our contact form and let us know where and when you’d like to meet and we’ll work out all the details.

Instead of approaching people at networking events with the idea of pushing your business, attend with the thought of getting to know other people and their business. You start to develop relationships that build to a point where you can know what the other person actually needs and if they need your services.

We’ll talk about this in greater detail in our group coaching calls in May. Learn more at the Chief Virtual Officer website.

The one drawback to having just one client is – what happens if you lose that client? You’ve just lost your entire business. So even if you are working 20-40 hours per week for one client, consider adding a couple of smaller clients to your client base.

You may think you can’t take on additional work when you’re already working 20-40 hours per week for your one client. This would be a good time to get to know another virtual assistant that would be willing to sub-contract for you. There are other advantages to building a relationship with another virtual assistant also and we’ll discuss that in a future post.

1. Business Plan
2. Marketing Plan and Calendar
3. Vision and Mission Statements
4. Client Contract detailing policies and procedures
5. Contract for Sub-Contractors, if you use them

You and your clients should have a clear understanding of what is expected from each party and what deadlines are required. Put it in writing and include your availability by phone and email.

What else do you think you need to have in writing as a virtual assistant?

Often, especially when a virtual assistant first starts their business, they may feel the need to work at all hours – late into the night and on weekends. Of course that’s the beauty of working for yourself – you can work those hours if you choose and take the more traditional hours to spend with your family.

However, do you want your clients thinking they can call you at 2 pm on a Saturday or email you at midnight and get a response at 6 am? Though you want your clients to feel that you are available, you need to set some guidelines as to when you are available and make sure all your clients are aware of this.

So I suggest you determine set hours that you are available for phone calls and make it clear when you will return emails. By clearly setting specific hours you work on client projects, your clients will know when you are available and appreciate that. And you won’t feel pressured to be up till midnight finishing a project since your clients know your work day ends at 5 pm.

One note of caution: as virtual assistants we may have clients in more than one time zone. Make it clear what hours you work in your time zone and be sure clients in different time zones are aware of the time difference.

Yes, let your clients know your available hours. Post your hours on your website and include it in your contract. Both you and your clients will appreciate it.

Think about your current and past clients. What do they have in common? Are the majority women business owners? Do you find the majority are life coaches or in another specific industry? What about your values and beliefs? What are they and do your clients share those values and beliefs?

Now you can begin to define your target market based on the types of clients you’ve already worked with. Look for prospects that share your values and beliefs.

How did you define your target market?

Let us help you define your target market. Contact us for a free 30-minute VA coaching call.

As my client base grew to two, three and more, it was still fairly easy to immediately handle an incoming task. Not only were clients impressed by the quick turn around time, they now had the expectation that anytime they called or emailed, their task would get done – immediately.

Now, I do want each of my clients to feel special and important. They need to know that when they send me a task it will get done in a timely manner. But is it realistic that each task will always be done immediately? Of course not! The expectations I set at the beginning of my business were not realistic and did not allow for the growth to 20 plus clients. Time management now became an issue. Imagine if even six clients called or emailed within a fifteen-minute period and requested a task and they each needed it within the hour! What if I was already in the middle of handling an urgent task needed within the hour? It just is not feasible to think that each client could get their task handled immediately.

As my business has grown, I’ve adjusted my work flow procedures and my client’s expectations. They still expect a timely response and quick turn around. It’s just a more realistic expectation. Instead of having to learn this the hard way for yourselves, here are suggestions, based on my experience, for effective time management and setting realistic expectations.

1. Decide early on what your working hours will be and include the information in your contract. Recently my clients were informed that my working hours are 10-12 am and 1-4 pm (PST) Monday through Thursday and that Fridays are for administrative tasks. This allows me one day to handling billing and bookkeeping and prepare the plan for the following week. This helps me be more productive.

2. Create an email policy and inform your clients. I just instituted a new email policy as follows: Another step in effectively managing my time is to respond to emails at 10 am, 1 pm and 3:30 pm. Should your matter require more immediate attention, please call my cell (XXX) xxx-xxxx. Thank you for your understanding.

3. Make sure you clearly inform your clients of your turn around time. My clients know I will respond within 24 hours to their request, excluding weekends. My response will indicate when I expect their project or task to be completed. If for any reason it becomes necessary to extend the timeframe, let the client know as soon as possible.

I recently informed my clients of my new work flow procedures and timely responses to emails and other requests. Each has responded in a positive manner, understanding the need for managing time effectively and still promptly handling their projects.  Some of their responses are:  ”Love the new schedule!  Thanks for letting me know.” “I certainly will honor your new schedule and hours.”

What have you done to manage your time effectively and how do you set realistic expectations?