Have you taken the leap and started your own Virtual Assistant business? You have, that’s great congratulations! It can be a very daunting process especially if VA work is your only source of income. I thought I’d try and share some insight into my business that has now been running for over 3 years.
For me after not being able to find flexible employment so I could spend time with my daughter, I did a bit of research and stumbled upon Virtual Assistants, I decided that I would give it a go especially with my admin background. It doesn’t happen for everyone but after 1 month I signed up my first client and a couple of months after that my second (whom to this day I still work with). I currently have over 15 regular clients and have worked with many more over the years.
I see some people not only VAs struggle trying to find clients and they get disheartened when they can’t find work. You’ve probably heard it a lot ‘find your niche’ well I didn’t really know what my niche was when I first started I only knew how to do admin work there wasn’t anything specific that I thought I was good at. Finding your niche does take time and you will probably be able to define it more once you develop new skills. For me it was social media, animated videos & affordable WordPress Websites.
I’ve been to a few networking events now and all I have to do is introduce myself and I get called the ‘social media girl’ so it’s good to be known for something in particular.
Ok so how did I start, with a website. It wasn’t the most glamorous of sites, but it served its purpose. If you don’t have a website I believe you are doing yourself an injustice. Your clients want to know you are a credible business and you have the info to back it up.
Secondly as a must I made sure that I had a Facebook account and a LinkedIn profile, I do have a Twitter and Google+ account but as a start up business they are not essential it depends on what you are going to use them for. Google+ is great if you have a website and you will be blogging as anything that you share to Google+ will help your website rankings.
Social Media is a powerful channel all on it’s own but team that up with your website and you are bound to get more traffic directed to your website where you can show people what you do. Posting to your Facebook & LinkedIn accounts will not only help you to be found online but will also help build a following and bring in potential customers.
Thirdly, place an advertisement on all the free sites. There are so many out there but here are just a few.
- Gumtree
- Truelocal
- HotFrog
- Locanto
- IBizProfile Australia
- YellowPages
What you need to do now is utilize the Business groups on Facebook, there are heaps. All you need to do is either type the suburb and the word business or just business and you will find a long list of them that you can join. Create a unique advertisement, create a schedule and then share regularly to the groups to build brand awareness. You can just share your Facebook page and add some wording, but you will more than likely have a better response with an image/advertisement. Don’t forget you are trying to build your brand.
And lastly network, network, network. Your potential clients want to meet you. Yes, you may be a Virtual Assistant but that doesn’t mean you are stuck behind a desk isolated from the world. Join your local chamber of commerce search through meetup to find some groups but most of all just get out there. You will meet a variety of business owners and not all will be interested in your services however by planting that seed in their mind especially if they have not heard of a virtual assistant this can help you in the future. They may not need your services today, but they might 6 months down the track.
