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Make a Decision – And Stick to It

I was recently at a conference and had an ‘a-ha’ moment. I realized that one of my business downfalls is sticking to decisions I make. It’s easy enough to make a decision about something, but then the follow through for that is really the more important part of keeping the decision. For instance, if you decide to do a certain marketing initiative in your business, what are your next steps? Do you write it down? Tell someone? Set up a strategy? Who holds you accountable to getting it done? Making the decision is usually the part that feels most challenging, but it’s the rest of it that often makes things not work. Here are my tips for how to make… Read More »Make a Decision – And Stick to It

How to Get 100 Virtual Assistant Clients

One of my clients gives some profound advice in her first book. It’s about getting clients. She talks about numbers being so important in business. I agree with her … you know I talk about the numbers (and math!) all the time. But she does things on a much larger scale than I do. So when I came across this gem from her, I realized I hadn’t thought of it in the same terms before, even though I talk about the same concept (keep doing what works!) The quote reads: If you can get one client, you can get ten. If you can get ten clients, you can get 100. – Odette Laurie I read that and I realized the… Read More »How to Get 100 Virtual Assistant Clients

Do Less To Be More Productive in Your Virtual Assistant Business

Sounds kind of funny, doesn’t it – stop doing anything to make yourself more productive? But it really is true. In order to be your best self in your business, you need to shut down the business stuff and take time to recharge. Often. In effect, do less. For many years now, I have operated my business during standard business hours. I am basically in my office from 9 to 4 each day. And I shut it down after that. Occasionally I’ll need to do some catch up, but for the most part I only take on as much work as I can do during my regular business week. It didn’t used to be that way. Like many of you,… Read More »Do Less To Be More Productive in Your Virtual Assistant Business

When Is It Time To Fire A Client?

We work so hard to bring on clients, that we hate to part ways, don’t we? But sometimes … it’s necessary. I have let go of many clients over the years. Have you? I know it sounds harsh to say you ‘fire’ a client, but that’s really what it is. For various reasons, sometimes people just aren’t the right fit. Maybe they need too much support. Maybe they do too many things last-minute. Maybe your personalities just don’t jive. Maybe it’s a little bit of all three of those things! Whatever the reason, you should regularly look at your current roster of clients and assess who is a great client, and who is not. Recently I had to make a… Read More »When Is It Time To Fire A Client?

Finding Clients for Your VA Business

What’s the number one question I get asked? Hands down …. it’s “How do I find clients?” We build the business, we determine the rates and services, we finish the website, we network … and yet we still don’t know where to find clients. I’m not talking about one or two clients. I’m talking about a steady flow of clients. When many of us started our business, we said Yes to whoever asked us to work with them. Money in the door is the key thing to get your business off the ground, that’s for sure. But as the business builds you want to know where you can find your clients all the time. This is something a lot of… Read More »Finding Clients for Your VA Business

Want Different Results? Change Your Actions

Look at your business. Is it running the way you want it to? Are you making the money you want? Are you doing the things you love to do every day? Are you balancing your work and family properly? Are you happy? If not, it’s time to do an assessment … and make some changes. Assessing your business regularly – and the things you do in your business – is an essential piece of being a great business owner. Making sure that the things you do every day are working to build your business is essential, but making changes to those things when they aren’t working is one of the most important skills you can learn to master. Let’s look… Read More »Want Different Results? Change Your Actions

Taming the Email Monster

Last year I switched my email from Outlook Express (that downloaded onto my computer) to webmail. I had started to travel more and it made sense for me to have access to my stuff anywhere I was. But one problem occurred – I found that I didn’t keep a handle on how much email was actually in my inbox, simply because it wasn’t taking up space on my computer anymore. I used to delete mass amounts of email at the end of every month when I used Outlook Express. Well, occasionally I still do that with my webmail, but not often enough. I find it frustrating to search through my email to find stuff I need when there is just… Read More »Taming the Email Monster

One Thing To Do Now To Improve Your VA Business Marketing

I have been doing a lot of business planning lately, and I always come back to the same piece of advice – for myself and for other small business owners. Do you know what that one thing is? Planning! Planning is the most important part of any goal or strategy. In fact, if you can plan what you want to do, you will improve your marketing in various ways. You’ll improve: your overall message your clarity and focus your methods of communication and even just your habit and schedule Planning things doesn’t have to mean that you are structured and not able to be creative. On the contrary, actually. You can actually increase your creativity when you give yourself a… Read More »One Thing To Do Now To Improve Your VA Business Marketing