This Is Why VAs Have Trouble Finding Clients

Before I get started, be aware that this article will probably turn into a rant against Virtual Assistants.

Feel free to stop reading if you don’t like what I’m saying!

It’s not meant to be mean-spirited or accusatory, simply telling you how things are for successful VAs versus the unsuccessful ones.

Recently, one of my clients needed a task completed that I don’t normally do for her.

It was a very simple PDF update, and we needed someone to use full version Adobe to do the changes.

The project was not complicated – her branding had to be updated. We had a new logo for the cover page. We had a few headings that needed a font color change, and we needed a program name change anywhere it occurred – which was mainly in the footers.

So, not terribly complicated.

We tried unsuccessfully to have the work done by her regular team on Odesk (none use the software so we passed on their offers to help).

By Thursday we were in a bind, and needed the work done quickly.

I appealed to a Virtual Assistant group that belonged to. I got several replies for people who said they thought they could help, to send the doc along and they would try.

After some bumpy communication with a couple, I finally settled on one and sent it over.

Here’s what happened.

I explained the nature of our needs, that we needed the first doc immediately and we would have 5 more to follow. They all needed to be completed if possible by end of day Friday (it was a holiday for many, so we found someone who said they were available. Great!)

First doc was sent Thursday afternoon, expected back Friday morning. On Friday morning we received an invoice and the VA’s contract but no PDF.

She stated that the work was done but she had a few questions. No problem. She went on to describe how she had to ‘fix’ the footer for some reason, and therefore it took 2 hours to work to the first doc. She estimated 1.5 for the remaining docs.

BLINK. BLINK.  Two hours???? Almost $100?

She did work we didn’t ask for – and expected us to pay for it.

In any case, the PDF was not delivered with that morning email. I sent three increasingly urgent emails asking for the PDF to be sent, but 1 pm came and went and there was no communication from the VA, and no PDF delivered.

How is this being available that day? She was AWOL, along with our project.

So here is my rant. 

The details about the job were clear. The availability issue was clear. 

It was a simple task (keep reading and I’ll explain how simple) and anyone who does that type of document formatting on a regular basis should have easily been able to complete it quickly and get it back to us.

Here are the issues:

The work that needed to be done was altered – by the VA, at her discretion (and with no knowledge of the client) – and the invoice was 4x more than we expected it to be.

There was zero communication the day that the work was to be delivered – and the day that the VA had said she would be available to work with more documents.

The initial work was not even delivered so we could approve and send more as necessary.

Now here’s how I know it was simple to do:

After not hearing back from this VA for many hours on Friday, I went to the Adobe website myself and I downloaded the free trial of the full version of the software. I have never used it before.

I completed the requested changes to the document in 16 minutes.16 minutes!! And I’ve never used the software before.

And MORE than that, I did the other documents myself too – and they took a TOTAL of 21 minutes to edit. That’s for all 5. So the total job for 6 document edits was 37 minutes for me – someone who has never used the program before.

So how in HELL does it take someone who claims to do this type of work all the time 2 hours to do something that took me, a brand new user, 16 minutes?

THIS is why VAs have trouble finding clients.
THIS is why clients do not TRUST VAs.
THIS is how VAs get a reputation of being too expensive to use by many potential clients.

Clients need to know that you have their back. 

They need to know that they are spending their money and getting value for what they pay for. They need to be able to trust that you know what you are doing and will only provide services that you know how to provide.

This was a stomach-turning experience for me. It was extremely stressful and totally unnecessary.

I am a very big advocate of the VA industry. 

I whole-heartedly believe that anyone who wants to run a successful Virtual Assistant business should be able to.

It takes some training to do it right, but I honestly believe that if you want to do it, you can do it.

I don’t know why this VA took 2 hours to do something that took me 16 minutes. I really don’t.

But I can’t fathom changing the scope of work for any reason without getting it clarified first.

I can’t imagine handling the details of any job the way I feel that this VA handled this one.

And don’t get me wrong – this is not to accuse anyone of wrongdoing, but surely this person didn’t actually know what she was doing to have taken 2 HOURS to do this simple job?

This is not the first time I have encountered someone who has laboured over something that should have been simple. Trust me on that. This one just stressed me out because we were on a deadline … the fact that I ended up completing it myself in such a short amount of time is the cause of this rant.

For all VAs, time is money. Our time, the client’s money. We need to work efficiently and only do work that we are really good at, so that we don’t waste our time OR their money.

So the rant is over. 

My message is this: Do what you know. Charge appropriately for it. Be clear on what the client wants. And communicate with them the whole way.

It’s the way the successful Virtual Assistants do things. It’s the way the clients will learn to respect us and grow with us.

That’s all. Thanks for listening! And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming. 😉

Do You Need Help?

If you are ready to implement some simple changes to your VA business that will help you work more productively and really blow your client’s expectations out of the water, that’s where I come in. I am here for one reason – to help you become a ridiculously good VA.

I have helped hundreds of VAs who are stuck get moving through private coaching, group coaching, and live and self study trainings. If you want to talk about how we can work together, let’s connect.

‌What You Need to Do Next:

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.

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.

Click here for more tips to help you with your productivity and time management in your Virtual Assistant business.

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.