Welcome to another episode of the podcast that teaches you how to be a ridiculously good virtual assistant.
Today we are talking about struggles VAs face – and often don’t even talk about … part three!
Today’s Quote: Where there is no struggle, there is no strength. Oprah Winfrey
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Connect with Tracey D’Aviero, VA Coach and Trainer
Episode Notes:
We are back with part three of struggles VAs face, and how to fix them.
A quick recap if you haven’t listened to the other two episodes yet – a few years ago I hosted a VA conference in Calgary.
I asked the VAs in the room to privately share with me their biggest struggle in their VA business (they filled in a form at their table that got collected).
Usually the reason I ask for this at my live events is so that I can tailor the content of the event to help them the most.
This was eye-opening because most of the responses (seriously most of the 56 responses!) were not about getting clients.
To contrast this, when VAs answer the questions I ask to allow them into my FB group, or when I post in the group asking what their issue is, they say getting clients most of the time. Overwhelmingly actually.
I think the reason the answers were different at the conference was that it was confidential.
VAs struggle with a lot of stuff. And we don’t talk about it enough.
I think that’s why I got such awesome shares, because this was a confidential ask.
So I wanted to dedicate an episode or two of my podcast to helping you with the struggles you may be facing but not talking about.
When I know what you need help with, I can help.
Today I’m going to focus on 3 more things that VAs struggle with – that ARE NOT RELATED to finding clients or getting clients.
Today we are going to talk about:
- Stop spinning my wheels
- Finding an interesting name
- Selling my abilities
I love this list. It’s stuff that comes up in my conversations with VAs, but nothing that they ever pinpoint as one of their biggest issues when asked.
Stop Spinning Your Wheels
Repeat after me: done is better than perfect. VAs are famous for spinning their wheels.
Staying in one place.
Not advancing.
Not moving forward.
I tell them to take a step and they are scared.
There is so much to be scared of. Maybe not even scared, but nervous about.
We’re worried that we are going to do the wrong thing all the time.
But guess what?
Doing nothing is the wrong thing. Every time.
When you do nothing because you aren’t sure how to move forward, you are making a huge mistake.
You have to move forward to build, to grow, and to learn. And to succeed!
So how do we stop spinning our wheels?
We move. We take one step, we take another, and we keep going.
But what if we are nervous? Then we get advice.
You talk to someone and then you decide what to do.
The decision is the most important part.
If you can master decision making you will rock as a business owner,
You get to make all the decisions. At the same time you have to make all the decisions.
To make a decision, you need to gather the facts. Weigh the pros and cons. And then choose.
It’s not hard to do, but it still can leave us spinning those wheels.
Get good that that, and you’ll be good at business.
Finding An Interesting Name
I can assure you – no one cares about your business name. No one except you.
I know that sounds harsh, but if that’s something that is keeping you stuck where you are, then you are going to struggle in business.
Not that business names are lame, they aren’t.
If you have a company and you want to be known by that name, that’s great.
But I can 100% assure you that nobody will not do business with you because your name is good or bad.
This excuse is an excuse to stay stuck that a lot of VAs make.
They get stuck in the colours and the branding and the website and the fonts, and they lose sight of the whole idea that the business is about providing services to their clients. Helping them.
If you help people, they will work with you.
And they can’t work with you if they don’t know you exist.
If you are still not getting clients because you don’t know what to call yourself, then I want you to do this, right now.
Use your name. Add VA to the end of it if you want.
But use your name. It’s you. It’s unique. It’s memorable. It’s searchable. It’s got history.
VA Gal Friday might sound good to you, but clients often struggle to remember company names – but they don’t forget your name if they have made a connection with you.
It also makes it much easier to connect with people on social media – use your real name and they won’t have to remember what your company name is.
I’m not opposed to naming your company and branding and all that stuff. But if you are stuck here, you gotta move.
Use your own name until you figure it out. Don’t let it keep you from getting clients.
As far as I’m concerned, you’ll probably move to your own name at some point anyway (and you’ll buy the URL for sure). So do it from the start.
And get moving.
Selling My Abilities
Last struggle for today – I have trouble selling my abilities.
What does that mean? I’m not convinced that I can sell someone into using my services.
So let’s break this down.
I’m not convinced – you need to be the first one to believe that you can help your clients. If you don’t believe it then they definitely won’t.
This begins with offering services that you know how to do – inside and out.
I always tell you to do what you know best.
Business is hard enough to get going – setting up, finding clients – and it makes it even harder on yourself to be trying to sell a service that you aren’t 100% confident in.
So when you do what you know, you don’t have to worry about that part. You have the confidence that you can help the client do xyz.
You are convinced that you can help them.
That’s part one.
Next part – that I can sell someone.
Eek! Don’t sell anyone anything they don’t need. Or want.
The word sales gets such a bad rap in business.
No one likes to be sold to. I think I said this exact sentence about 12 times already today, to VAs just like you.
No one likes to feel like they are being pressured into buying something they don’t need or want.
So just don’t do it.
I teach you to have sales conversations – but they are just that.
Conversations. A two way conversation with someone about business.
It’s a sales conversation because if you come to the end of it and you decide you want to do business together, then you make a sale.
But the objective of the call is not to make a sale. Not even close.
The objective of the call is to ask the client questions about what they need help with. And to determine if you can help them.
Do they need a website? Yes. Do you do websites? No. So you can’t help them.
Do they need client care help? Yes. Do you do client care help? Yes.
Great. How many clients do they have? How do they work with their clients? What kinds of communications do they send their clients? What kind of tracking do they need? What systems do they use? etc etc
Can you help them? Yes. Great, let’s talk budget.
That’s part two.
Third part is your abilities.
When we aren’t sure we can help someone, our self confidence can take a dive.
So let’s look at that. Why aren’t’ you sure about your abilities?
If you haven’t got experience, you better get some. Be your first client.
If you aren’t sure how to translate your skills from a job to a virtual role, you better learn that. YouTube is your best friend. So are your VA colleagues.
If you aren’t sure you are good enough, make a list of all the things you know how to do. Like really know. Find a solid community you can get support from. We do not need to work alone, and we shouldn’t.
We need to be talking out loud every day about how awesome we are.
We need others to go ‘ya, y’are!’
And we need to tell others how awesome they are.
If you aren’t confident in selling your abilities to clients, you need to do two things. Do the things you will do for them, and talk to others about what you do.
You will be surprised at how quickly your negative mindset turned to positive when you send out a Mailchimp newsletter (even just to yourself lol), or when you write up a procedure to publish a blog post for a client.
You know how to do the stuff. Even if you aren’t doing the stuff right now.
Learn to talk about it so that your clients will feel confident hiring you.
Imagine if you went to McDonalds and asked them if they could make you a Big Mac and they were like ‘uh, okay, well, maybe, what’s on it? how much is it? when do you need it?’
I’m joking, but when you go in there you say I’ll have a Big Mac, and they say sure, would you like the meal? And what would you like to drink? Would you like donuts or cookies? That’ll be 25 dollars. It’ll be ready in a minute.
That’s what makes you confident to order a Big Mac at McDonalds. They are good at it.
And you are too, you have to help yourself see that you are.
All right so there we go, 3 more struggles handled.
I’ll leave this series off for a bit now and come back to it, but if you are dealing with any of the 10 things I have covered, let’s hep you move through them.
You can do it. I have complete faith in you and I’m so proud of you!
Let’s circle back quickly to today’s quote. It’s Oprah. Speaking of confidence. Where there is no struggle there is no strength. You gain your strength from the things that you figure out. That you work through. That you research and learn from. And many times that means getting support to get through it.
Let’s find your strength!
What You Need to Do Next:
I am here to help. It’s the only reason I’m here at all, as you know. To help you become a ridiculously good VA.
I’ve helped hundreds of VAs through challenges just like yours, and got them on their way to growing their business and the lifestyle that they dream of. That you dream of.
I’d love to do the same for you.
Let’s work together privately to get you to your really big goal. It’s the fastest way to get results and we can start right away. Learn more about private coaching here.
The Virtual Circle (TVC) is a monthly mastermind group for Virtual Assistants just like you. We get together 3 times a month for group Zoom sessions to talk about what you are struggling with, working on, or celebrating. It’s a close knit community of your VA colleagues that provides the best kind of support for your VA business. Learn more about TVC here.
My self study program Getting Started as a VA can help you get your VA business started easily and quickly too. You can sign up right away and be on your way to getting clients by the end of the program, with all the right foundations in place. Check out the program here.
Reach out to me if you need to talk about where you are stuck and what the right option might be to get you moving. It’s literally all I’m here to do is help you get to where you want to go. Book a complimentary Cut to the Chase call with me here.