measure success

How Not to Fire a Virtual Assistant Client

This is an important subject. Pull up with a cup of tea and read it. How not to fire a client (or how to graciously be fired, as the case may be). I had a conversation with an entrepreneur this week about how she made some changes in her business, and decided to go a different route with support. That meant that she had to cut ties with a VA she had worked with for a number of years. It didn’t go well. It inspired me to write this article because this is a very important thing to GET RIGHT as a business owner. It’s never easy when you stop working with a client. Especially if it’s their decision. It’s… Read More »How Not to Fire a Virtual Assistant Client

What is the Secret to Being a Successful Virtual Assistant?

Ah the secret to success. Everyone wants to know it. We want the shortcut, the path of correct decisions that gets us the clients, the money, the lifestyle. The fact is that business is hard. There are so many things that you need to learn in order to do well in business. You have probably already come across many things that you have struggled with. But there is a secret to success – and I want to share it with you. The secret to building an AMAZING VA business is really a combination of three things: Decide what your best service offering is+Charge the right amount of money to provide it+Work with the people who need you the most=SUCCESS I’ve… Read More »What is the Secret to Being a Successful Virtual Assistant?

A Better Way to Measure Your Success as a VA

When I ask you if your VA business is successful, how do you measure that? Some of the common ways people measure success are: how much revenue they are bringing in, how profitable they are, how many clients they have. And we always talk about growing. Growth. Building our business. It can kind of be daunting to always talk about growing. That’s why when I learned something new this week, I wanted to make sure to share it with you. Dan Sullivan and Ben Hardy are the authors of a great book called The Gap and the Gain. We recently read it in my business book club. The concept is super simple, but so amazing. It’s this: when we talk… Read More »A Better Way to Measure Your Success as a VA

Is Your Virtual Assistant Business Profitable?

Is your VA business profitable? Sure, you may be making money because your clients are paying you, but are you keeping as much money as you should be? Profitability isn’t usually something that comes to mind when you are operating a service-based business. We always say we trade our time for dollars. And we do, as Virtual Assistants. Whether you are charging by the hour, by the task, by retainer or by the project, you are still doing work in return for money. Our rates are all based on how long it takes us to get something done. So we don’t think of our business in terms of profit. But we should! Your business should be profitable, like any other… Read More »Is Your Virtual Assistant Business Profitable?

Get 3 New Virtual Assistant Clients in 30 Days

Are you looking for new Virtual Assistant clients? In business, you should always be looking for new clients, even if you are at capacity. But if you are a VA and you don’t have enough clients, it is stressful. I’ve been there. Most of us have been there at some point. You can’t have a business if you don’t have clients. So what do you do when you feel like you are looking all day, every day, and still coming up short? You need to reassess your strategy. (It’s not working!) If you really think you are spending all day looking for clients, and you are not getting any, then there is something fundamentally wrong with what you are doing to… Read More »Get 3 New Virtual Assistant Clients in 30 Days

Are You Moving Forward in Your VA Business?

I came across a neat quote from Simon Sinek this week in the form of a social media image. “It’s better to go slow in the right direction that to go fast in the wrong direction.” I really like this thought because it’s really true in usiness. I often talk to VAs who feel that they aren’t moving fast enough to get where they are going. But I always reassure them that as long as they are moving forward, even in tiny steps, that they are still headed in the right direction. Those of you who have worked with me will know this is true! As we build and grow our businesses, sometimes we don’t get everything done that we expected. But… Read More »Are You Moving Forward in Your VA Business?

How to Make Your Numbers Work For You

Site visits, opt ins, email opens, click throughs … Since the first quarter of the year has gone by, I thought it might be a good idea to check in with you to see how your numbers are adding up. Do you look at your numbers on a regular basis? If you do, what kind of follow up do you do with them? If you don’t, why not? Checking things like your website visitors and your email opens is essential to make sure that your marketing efforts are working for you. Going through the motions is not going to help you build your business. Let’s look at a few key things you should be checking regularly: Website visitors How many… Read More »How to Make Your Numbers Work For You

If It’s Not Working, Change It

We often talk about the importance of measuring results in our business. This can come in many forms – maybe you want to measure how many people are visiting your website, or joining your Facebook page, or opening your newsletter – or signing on as clients. Whatever the case may be, when you have something that has a measurable result, make sure you measure it. If it’s not working, change it. Many small business owners go through the process of setting up a program – or even their website freebie – and then just leave it at that. In order to make sure that you are relevant and interesting to your audience, it’s important to measure your results regularly to… Read More »If It’s Not Working, Change It