BECOMING A SUCCESSFUL VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
Learn the Business Side & Ditch 9 to 5
Melissa Smith, The PVA
Copyright © 2018 Melissa Smith
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations, embodied in reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This book is dedicated to my fellow admins and virtual assistants.
We’ve come a long way, and we have only just begun!
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
This book is a step-by-step guide to help you learn the business side of virtual assistance and ditch your 9 to 5 job successfully. Whether you are simply thinking about making the transition or have already left your job, this book will help you get to where you want to be in the least amount of time and by spending the least amount of money.
Reading this book is only the first step. You must take action. That is why I created a workbook for you. At the end of each chapter, you will complete the assignments and journal your thoughts and progress in the workbook. No matter where you are in the process of building your business, the workbook will ask the questions that will lead you to solving problems, ultimately helping you work with your ideal clients and growing your business in the right way.
The workbook is my complimentary gift to you. You will learn everything you need to know while reading this book. However, learning and taking actionable steps are not the same. To get the most out of this book and to create the most for your business, use the workbook. Download it now so you are ready to complete each section after you read each chapter.
After you download the workbook, you’ll also be added to my email list to be notified when clients are looking for virtual assistants just like you. You’ll also be the first to know about free promotions, upcoming events, and news that I share only with my VA community. Basically, you’ll be a part of my inner circle with plenty of access to me!
Download the workbook now and let’s get started!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
INTRODUCTION
My Dream
Let’s Start with the Basics
Proud to Be a Virtual Assistant and Why It Matters
Want to Know What Clients Really Want? Soft Skills and Professionalism.
How to Climb a Mountain in Business
CHAPTER 1
Step 1: Creating Your Ideal Client Avatar (and Knowing How to Use It!)
How Do You See Yourself as a Virtual Assistant?
Do You Know What Your Deal Breakers Are? They Matter.
CHAPTER 2
Step 2: Finding Your Niche and Monetizing
Do the One Thing That Matters Most
Are You Struggling to Figure Out Which VA Services to Offer?
Monetizing
CHAPTER 3
Step 3: The Nuts and Bolts of Your VA Business—Business Planning, Pricing, Sales, Negotiations, and Contracts
Pricing
How Do You Know if Your Pricing Is Valuable to Your Market?
How to Price Your Services
Packaging Your Services
Pricing Is Not a Competition
Collecting Payments
Sell is Not a Four-Letter Word
Goal Setting
Negotiations
Contracts
Three Ways to Gain Confidence as a Virtual Assistant
Is Your Business Worth Your Time?
CHAPTER 4
Step 4: Mastering the Consultation
Journaling
CHAPTER 5
Step 5: Networking and Targeting Your Ideal Client
Yes, You Need to Have an Elevator Pitch
Find a Networking Partner
Networking In Person
Networking Online
Networking in Online Groups
Referrals
Targeting Your Ideal Client
Get People Excited to Be Your Ideal Client
Don’t Criticize. Compliment.
What Not to Do
When Your Ideal Client Finds You First
CHAPTER 6
Step 6: Managing Yourself and the Client Relationship
Set Boundaries
Is Doing What You Love Killing You?
Did You Burn Yourself Out?
Why Vacations Are So Important
Are You in a Funk? Give Yourself a Hard Reset.
Managing the Client
Educating Your Clients Effectively
Should You Focus on Pleasing People or Serving People?
What Type of Experience Do Your Clients Want?
Why “Done” is the Most Powerful Word in Your Vocabulary
CHAPTER 7
Step 7: Growing Your Business
Are You Priming Your Business for Success?
All Answers Come from Questions
Client Referrals and Gifting
Don’t Duplicate Yourself. You Need to Complete the Puzzle.
When Is It Time to Hire Support? Watch for the Signs
Reevaluating Success
The First Time I Invested in a Business Coach, I Was Terrified
Marketing
Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone Doesn’t Have to Be Painful
Are You Taking Advice from the Right Person?
Outgrowing
How to Feed Your Faith and Starve Your Fears
CHAPTER 8
Step 8: Client Needs and Technology
Is Your Planning Coming at the Expense of Your Productivity?
BONUS—BEFORE YOU GO OUT ON YOUR OWN
What Is the Future of Executive Assistants?
Why All Admins Should Have Something on the Side
How to Intern Properly
How to Leverage Your Current Contacts
How to Ask Your Employer to Go Remote
Setting a New Work Schedule
Where Is Your Best Place to Work?
When Is It Time to Ditch Being Virtual?
CONCLUSION
How Do You Know When to Keep Going?
Everything You’re Looking for Is Right Around the Corner
What Will You Be Celebrating in a Year?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
INTRODUCTION
Congratulations on making the decision to change your life by becoming a virtual assistant! You might have seen ads or heard of someone who was working as a VA and wondered if you could do the same. I know I did. As I began looking into the options, the most appealing one was the option of creating my own VA business. I wrote this book to teach you all you need to know to start your own VA business. By sharing my own experiences and insights, you will save months or even years trying to figure everything out on your own!
I first became a virtual assistant while working remotely for my employer. After only a few months of being a VA, my employer sent out new contracts for the year. I had to make a decision then for the upcoming year. Suddenly my lifelong philosophy of “I will never own my own business” didn’t seem like such a bad idea. If I could do what I was doing for my employer, couldn’t I do it for myself?
With little thought, no business plan, no knowledge of how to run a business, and—crazy enough—no fear, I sent the contract back to my employer—unsigned.
I told my employer I felt this was my opportunity, and I had to take it. It was now or never
. He understood and was supportive. I finished out my contract and then I was officially on my own. There was one big problem. Where do I find my clients? The question virtual assistants ask the most, second only to “How do I get rid of this client?”
Sadly, not all VAs make it through the first year and some are never able to do more than keep it as a side gig ultimately working two jobs. Throughout this book I will answer the most asked questions, including the questions you don’t know you need to ask. I will take you from where you are now to owning a successful virtual assistant business in the least amount of time, spending the least amount of money, and get you to your first client quickly. You’ll learn how to grow, scale, and reach elite VA status generating income through several different sources all without being chained to a desk.
I never had a problem getting a job in my life. Somehow I thought gaining clients would be as simple. I would prove myself wrong. That one problem led to so many other questions that I couldn’t answer. And I quickly realized no one could help me. All the mentors, coaches, and guides didn’t understand where I was coming from. They had never been an administrative professional. They were not familiar with the mindset of an admin, so they didn’t know how to transition my skills to the virtual assistance world.
Through trial and error, I learned to weave business principles into the mindset and service-based world of virtual assistance. I figured out how to do what I do best, how to get paid what I’m worth, and how to enjoy the life of being a business owner. I ditched the traditional 9 to 5 job and made my own rules. Being a VA isn’t simply about doing the work of an assistant; it is understanding the business side of business.
Consider this book your roadmap. I wish someone had given me one! This roadmap will provide you a foundation on which to build your VA business. You will be able to take the principles and guides in this book and personalize them to your own business. While the process won’t be linear, each step will reveal another opportunity.
I’ll share what others won’t tell you. They can’t. They don’t know. I have the unique perspective of matching clients with VAs and consulting others, answering all their questions, listening to what they are looking for and what makes a good virtual assistant. Any VA can make the minimum. You’ll learn how to get the premium clients, how to work with the best of the best. Ultimately, you’ll be able to live out your wildest dreams.
My Dream
I reached my dream while walking through the Plasa de Mesina on a warm sunny day in May of 2016. All of a sudden, I started to get alerts on my phone. At first, I thought it was bad news. I was a little nervous. When I found a quiet place to check the messages, disbelief overwhelmed me and I cried tears of joy before celebrating. My book Hire the Right Virtual Assistant, which had been released earlier in the week, reached Amazon bestseller status.
Suddenly I had emails and connection requests not only from potential clients but from admins wanting to become VAs and VAs who were struggling to grow their businesses. They wanted to know what to do. How do they get clients? How could they survive on their own and quit their day jobs? Could it be done? I answered every single request, including conducting hundreds of meetings. When I kept getting the same questions over and over again, I was almost relieved I wasn’t alone. I was so happy to share what I knew.
Soon I had a VA consulting business. No one else was sharing the information I was. To help provide the best information from the best professionals in the business, I created the Admin to VA Summit and an online course called The Essential Business Model for VAs. This book is the step-by-step guide I’ve used on every call, consultation, and class. I know it works not just for me but for anyone who follows the steps.
Looking back, it didn’t take long to grow my business, but it was long enough for me to suffer plenty of sleepless nights, shed plenty of tears, stress myself out, and fear making the wrong decisions. I don’t want you to go through this!
I have worked with, consulted, and surveyed hundreds of people who have transitioned from admins to VAs. The result is what you’re reading—the most complete book on how to succeed in business as a VA, how to learn the business side of business and ditch the 9 to 5. Why would I take the time to write this book? Because it is my deep passion and desire to successfully help admins move through the challenging transition of becoming a virtual assistant. Like a Sherpa, I will guide you through a carefully mapped out process with a proven track record.
Why do you want to become a VA? Maybe you were laid off or your company went out of business. Maybe you hate your job or the commute. Or maybe you’ve retired from the daily grind, but you still want to use your skills in a profitable way. Even if you’re at the top of your game, it all boils down to one word: Choice.
When you become a VA, the choices are all yours. It’s more than freedom and flexibility, more than unlimited earning potential, more than spending your time when and how you’d like. As a virtual assistant, you get to choose the life you want to have while at the same time doing the work you love.
As a full-time employee, I was tired of choosing. I was tired of feeling guilty (even though no one made me feel that way) when I took a vacation. I was tired of choosing what to choose. My final choice was to choose me and to go out on my own.
I had no idea where the next few years would take me. One day I was given the opportunity to be location independent, allowing me to travel to 16 countries in 12 months. Again, I chose myself, my business.
This book is for those who are ready to take the step and go from an admin to a VA. Whether you are excited, nervous, scared, worried, or feel alone, I’m here to walk you through the process. I’ve known all those feelings intimately. I went from struggling to make ends meet to being able to travel the world. If I can conquer an almost lifetime fear of flying, 15 years of anxiety, and swearing I would never own my own business, you can certainly have whatever you dream about too!
The purpose of this book is also to give back to the administrative field and the virtual assistant profession which has given me so much. I love it dearly and consider it my duty to help those who come after me the same way the road was paved before me, to help others achieve the same freedom and flexibility I enjoy, and to help others no longer have to make the difficult choices regarding work.
Throughout this book, I will answer the most asked questions about starting your own VA business, including the questions you don’t even know to ask. I will take you from where you are now to owning a successful virtual assistant business in the least amount of time and by spending the least amount of money. I’ll also explain how to find your first client quickly. You’ll learn how to grow, scale, and reach elite VA status, generating income through several different sources—all without being chained to a desk. Owning your own VA business means you can do what you love, create the life you want, and get paid what you’re worth. Let’s get started!
Let’s Start with the Basics
Depending on how long you’ve been an executive assistant, your idea of what an EA does will vary. I remember watching the movie 9 to 5 as a young girl and then Working Girl when I was a bit older. To say times have changed would be an understatement!
I remember when I left Georgia and moved back home to California. I was working in the Bay Area just over the Bay Bridge from San Francisco. I met admins who specialized in the world of tech and start-ups, a field I was extremely unfamiliar with. I decided to do what any good admin does—I joined an admin group, OrgOrg, to learn more. My fascination grew as I was finding out about the latest and greatest technologies and software. It was exhilarating to learn about the new fields of technology start-up companies.
When I went to my first OfficeNinjas event and met a virtual assistant, my mind was blown. Virtual assistants did everything remotely. They got to choose the work they performed and the hours they worked. It sounded like a dream! Except I already had my dream job with a nice salary. The other option of owning my own business wasn’t allu
ring at the time. With no reason to leave my job and become a virtual assistant, I stayed and loved my work. Until one day I had to move back to Georgia.
As I went to my boss in tears (I really loved my job and the company and didn’t want to move again) to give my notice, he switched things up on me and asked how they could keep me. Immediately I said, “I can do most of what I do virtually. I don’t have to actually be in the office.”
His response, “Okay, then. Let’s do that.”
Working remotely drastically changed my life. I was on the opposite side of the country working seamlessly for my employer. Turns out without all the interruptions and chats over coffee, I completed my work in less than half the time! I considered myself to be extremely efficient in the office. I had no idea I would be more productive working remotely.
With more time on my hands, I began to wonder if there was something to owning my own company. After a lifetime of saying I would never own my own business, something inside me changed. I grew up in a family that was in the restaurant business. I thought owning a business would mean I was shackled to it like my family was chained to its restaurant business. But virtual assistance seemed completely different.
Only a few months later when contracts for the next year needed to be signed for my employer, I made the decision to go out on my own. I finished out my contract and then officially became a full-time business owner.
Virtual assistants are not employees. We are business owners. Even thinking of yourself in the full-time or part-time sense is damaging to how much revenue you can bring in. Somehow working part-time translates into our minds as making less. This is simply not true.
This wasn’t the only issue I faced as I made the transition from EA to VA. Because I was transitioning from an executive assistant to a virtual assistant, I decided to position myself as an executive virtual assistant. Seemed pretty straight forward to me, but it wasn’t to those I needed to understand it—potential clients. It was almost as if everything I had done to be successful as an EA was actually holding me back as a VA. How was this possible? How could I change what I had trained to do for so many years? Who doesn’t want a great executive assistant? Don’t they know we’re worth our weight in gold? The answer I got was a big fat “NO!”
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