Boundaries Help You Build a Better VA Business

“You teach people how to treat you.”

Boundaries are essential to any successful business.

There are boundaries that are necessary for many parts of your business, but in terms of client boundaries, you need to really think about many things, and you need to set your own policies or boundaries to manage the different personalities that will be working within your business.

It’s critical in a virtual business when you are working with more than one client, to be able to articulate how you work with your clients.

It’s true that you teach people how to treat you – by the way you set them up, by the way you interact with them, and by the way you react to every situation.

Here are a few things you should consider when we talk about setting boundaries in your business:

Set your business hours. In order for clients to understand when you will be available, you need to be sure they know when you are available to work. By setting your business hours and letting them know, you will build better communication from the start. Be clear about when you will be working and what your response times will be via email, phone, or other communication method and your clients will be grateful. Tip: Don’t make yourself available outside of your business hours – clients will quickly expect you to be around when you might not be.

Manage your communication. Lack of communication can kill any good relationship, but in the business world it can cost you money. If you are not good at communicating with your clients, you may end up spending more time on a project than necessary, or even losing money due to poorly executed work together. Tip: Be sure to set a policy or a plan to connect regularly – whether it’s by phone or email or IM (whatever works for both of you) – and then keep that appointment! It can go a long way in keeping things organized for your work together.

Manage your tasks. Project management is one of the key things about working virtually. You need to be sure you stay organized, but also can keep up with your client demands as well. Open communication is key here as well, to be sure that everyone’s priorities are the same. Tip: Whether you pick a project management service to work your ‘to do’ list, or whether you are a ‘pen and paper’ person, be sure that you have one way to manage what you are doing on a daily basis. It will go farther when your system works for you.

Create policies.  As a business person, it’s essential that you ‘map out’ everything that could happen in your business, and develop policies around all of it. From client intake, to project management, to bill payment, you should have policies in place for everything so that your clients have direction as to how to work with you. Tip: If you don’t have policies in place for all of the facets of your business at this stage … get them done. You can always tweak and revise as you see fit, but be sure to have a basic policy manual ready to refer to when your clients ask you questions (that way you’ll give all of them the same answer!)

Boundaries come in many shapes and forms – and when you consider that you are working with many different personalities who may not all ‘think’ the same way, it’s really important that you teach them how to treat you.

If you let someone cross your boundaries, they will be taught that it’s okay.

Set your boundaries, and then stick to them. You’ll run a better business, and your clients will appreciate it too!

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