{"id":1779,"date":"2016-11-24T10:44:22","date_gmt":"2016-11-24T15:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/?p=1779"},"modified":"2023-03-07T14:47:34","modified_gmt":"2023-03-07T19:47:34","slug":"i-need-you-to-know-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/i-need-you-to-know-this\/","title":{"rendered":"I Need You To Know This"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, 'helvetica neue', helvetica, sans-serif;\">I do a lot of networking with virtual assistants.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Of course I have lots of colleagues, having done this type of work for almost two decades.<\/p>\n<p>But I also connect with VAs on social media and at in person events for Your VA Mentor and for the VA Associations.<\/p>\n<p>I like to think I am generous with my knowledge and I share what I can when I can.<\/p>\n<p>So I tend to spot patterns of issues that new or struggling VAs are facing fairly easily.<\/p>\n<p>This week I saw several posts, in several places, that are very common &#8230; and I decided that I have to tell you something this week.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You are in charge of your business.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You are the owner.<\/p>\n<p>You are the decision maker.<\/p>\n<p>Your clients retain you to work with them (in whatever way your agreement says they will work with you).<\/p>\n<p>But they don&#8217;t get to make decisions about how you do things.<\/p>\n<p><strong>They can&#8217;t tell you when to work.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>They can&#8217;t tell you how much you will charge.<\/p>\n<p>They can&#8217;t tell you the specific tasks you will take on for them.<\/p>\n<p>They can&#8217;t tell you who you can and can&#8217;t work with.<\/p>\n<p>They can&#8217;t tell you anything, because you are the only person\u00a0in charge of your own business.<\/p>\n<p>I talk often of wearing your CEO hat instead of your assistant hat.<\/p>\n<p>When we come from a support role, it can be very easy to be reactive and just do what they ask.<\/p>\n<p>And if that&#8217;s the way you operate your business, that&#8217;s totally fine if it&#8217;s working for you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>But to grow as a business owner and as a professional, you need to be okay saying NO when necessary.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You need to be able to set boundaries about when you work or lead time on tasks or even on what you will and will not do for them.<\/p>\n<p>And when you make these decisions, you need to stick with them.<\/p>\n<p>he VAs I know who specialize get really focused on what they LOVE to do for their clients, and they are happier as a result.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, 'helvetica neue', helvetica, sans-serif;\">It doesn&#8217;t mean you <em>have<\/em> to specialize &#8211; but you have to make the <em>decision<\/em> to do what you want. Not to do everything they need or ask.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>What I see in the forums is constant questions about &#8216;help! my client needs me to do &#8230;&#8217; or &#8216;how long do you wait when you are not being paid&#8217; or &#8216;starting out as a VA, I see I need to learn WordPress to get clients&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>These things frustrate me because they don&#8217;t make any sense to me.<\/p>\n<p>McDonald&#8217;s makes Big Macs because their customers love them. When you want a Big Mac, you know where to go to get one. (now I want one LOL!)<\/p>\n<p>It really is the same with your business. You do what you do, and the clients will pay you handsomely to work with you.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s all about connecting with the right people and acting like a business owner who is in charge and making decisions.<\/p>\n<p>You are in charge. Be in charge!<\/p>\n<p>You will be much happier in your business if you decide what you want to do and who you want to do it for.<\/p>\n<p>And you know what? Your clients will thank you for it too!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/make-a-decision\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/yourvamentor.us2.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u%3Dfaff951b20b0ef69a100915eb%26id%3D6095a809ea%26e%3D864a769dea&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1480433761092000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF6eMsePH6H_KaHYuMwidiNZMb9Fw\">Here are some tips on how to make a decision that you can keep!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I do a lot of networking with virtual assistants. Of course I have lots of colleagues, having done this type of work for almost two decades. But I also connect with VAs on social media and at in person events for Your VA Mentor and for the VA Associations. I like to think I am&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/i-need-you-to-know-this\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">I Need You To Know This<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[159,150,153],"class_list":["post-1779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-strategy-tips","tag-mindset","tag-virtual-assistant","tag-business-strategy-tips"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>I Need You To Know This<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You are in charge of your business. You are the owner. You are the decision maker. Your clients retain you to work with them. But they don&#039;t get to make decisions about how you do things.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/i-need-you-to-know-this\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Need You To Know This\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You are in charge of your business. You are the owner. You are the decision maker. Your clients retain you to work with them. But they don&#039;t get to make decisions about how you do things.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/i-need-you-to-know-this\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Learn to Be a Ridiculously Good Virtual Assistant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/yourvamentor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-11-24T15:44:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-07T19:47:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/yourvamentor-headshot.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"328\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"289\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tracey D&#039;Aviero\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@tracey_d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@tracey_d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tracey D&#039;Aviero\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/i-need-you-to-know-this\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/i-need-you-to-know-this\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tracey D'Aviero\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/abe20fc729af3323a907d3e58f3aacf5\"},\"headline\":\"I Need You To Know This\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-24T15:44:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-07T19:47:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/i-need-you-to-know-this\/\"},\"wordCount\":573,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"mindset\",\"virtual assistant\",\"virtual assistant business tips\"],\"articleSection\":[\"business strategy tips for vas\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/i-need-you-to-know-this\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/i-need-you-to-know-this\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/i-need-you-to-know-this\/\",\"name\":\"I Need You To Know This\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yourvamentor.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-24T15:44:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-07T19:47:34+00:00\",\"description\":\"You are in charge of your business. 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