I remember heading to work each day, tears in my eyes, dreading heading into the office to work with toxic people. In winter in particular it would be dark as I got onto the train early in the morning, and then dark again in the evening when I finally got back home. It was insanely depressing. The local cafe sold an incredible pumpkin soup and to be honest, my day’s happiness depended entirely on whether or not they had made that soup or not.
It’s the end of the year. End of a decade really, and boy does it feel it. It’s been a massive year. For some it’s been a year of great highs and for some massive lows. I hope that for you, it’s been the former. For me it’s been a great year. It’s not been perfect, but I’m not living in a war zone, in poverty, or in danger - and for that I count my blessings. That, for me, means a great year.
How many times have you heard of clients being absolute, total arseholes? For me it’s a daily thing. Client sending short, abrupt and accusing emails to their contractors? Calling out of regular business hours? Expecting a return call straight away forgetting that other people have LIVES, and other commitments other than THEM? Clients taking forever to pay their bills? Constantly negotiating rates and questioning every minute spent on a task. I’m sick of it.
In business we have so many emotions and factors that drive us or slow us down from day to day or even minute to minute. Today I want to talk about a specific emotional driver – fear. Specifically, fear of failure. Some people are motivated by fear. It gets them moving, taking action, making changes. But for others, fear can stop them in their tracks.Fear of Failure is one of the most common reasons I hear from people who have hit a block in their business. Thinking about this recently inspired me to take stock on what fears I hold and how they’ve impacted my business journey.
I participate in a lot of Facebook groups which focus on mums in business. The Virtual Assistant Industry is one that is predominantly full of women who want to work from home – a lot of those around children. So the concept of working as a VA comes up a lot in these groups. ‘Want a new work from home business? Then be a VA!’ they say.
Having one VA or a team of VAs has the amazing benefit of saving you time and allowing you to focus on what you do best. We all know this. But what we also need to realise is that when you have a team – of one, two or more, you will need to step up and lead them.
Starting a new business has so many learning curves and feelings of uncertainty. There are some things we need to learn as we go and other things we need to stop and learn before we implement. So many service offerings in the VA world also sound a lot easier than they are. Especially when they are advertised offshore for $5 an hour. I mean how hard could they be?
You know I love social media and think it’s pretty great. But it’s social we can’t control, and it may not be forever.
Have you ever had one of those days where everything is telling you that you shouldn’t be working? Like a little rock that starts rolling down a hill, collecting dirt until it becomes a boulder and if you don’t stop – you’re going to hit something hard! That’s me today. After getting this blog written, I’m checking out. Here’s why.
Meeting and chatting to a client prospect can be a pretty intimidating or scary venture, and many VAs worry a lot about this part of business. That first meeting and the steps you take before, during and after it can make or break your business relationship. It’s important to know how you want your business to run. What your goals are, how you want to work, when you want to work and for how much money you want to work. Being clear on your objectives helps you work out the smartest and easiest strategies moving forward with finding, securing and maintaining clients – the right clients. Here are my 7 tips for starting off on the right foot with your clients:
