Planning For The Unplanned In Your Virtual Assistant Business
For those that follow my blog, you probably noticed that I have been “Missing in Action” for over a week! Well my life went into a temporary “tail spin” early last week as I needed to fly back to Canada to attend to an urgent matter. Needless to say, all my priorities and important business activities were shelved for the week!
Have you ever had one of those weeks, where you had a full plate of work priorities, tasks and deadlines only to have them to swept by the wayside as a result of an emergency or sickness?
Well, after this week, I realized that I have never really given a lot of thought to “Planning for the Unplanned”. As a Solopreneur, I have built my business around “me” and so when emergencies happen, work tends to not get done as I have not put in place the proper contingency plans!
So, the million dollar question…. How can you truly plan for those “unforseen events” in your life so that your virtual business stays on track?
Well, after processing this one a bit…. here are a few principles or ideas to consider when “Planning for the Unplanned”:
1. Find a “Delegation Buddy”.
For those of you that own a Virtual Assistance practice, it is good to align yourself with another virtual business owner who offers some similar services as yourself so that you can “scratch each other’s back” when those unplanned events surface in your lives. Yes, you might lose some earnings during that time, but the important thing is to continue to maintain a high quality service for your clients.
A “Delegation Buddy” might also come in handy during those fast-growth times in your business when your client base and projects are growing like crazy.
2. Define your Weekly Priorities.
A few weeks ago, we hosted an event with Freshbooks CEO, Mike McDerment titled, “Virtual Nirvana - How To Remain Inspired and Productive When You Work Alone“. In this webinar, Mike talked about the principle of laying out your weekly priorities on Sunday Evening before the week gets going. You want to clearly define what work activities are most important and MUST get done this week. I usually like to break my work tasks up into “Must Do” and “May Do” lists. The May Do would be great to get to, but not imperative that they get done that week.
Let’s say an emergency hits you on Monday (as it did with me last week)…By knowing those priorities that must get done, this helps you to know the minimum that you need to accomplish or possibly delegate to someone else. Of course, there will be times where this is not possible and you need to be honest with your clients that that the project deadlines just have to be pushed back temporarily.
3. Prep your “Emergency Email”.
Now, this might come across a bit “anal-retentive”, but you might want to go as far as prepping a “generic email” that basically says an “Urgent Matter” has arisen and that you will be out of the office for a specified period of time. Believe me, when a crisis or urgent matter hits you, it is hard to think and it is nice to have an email template in place to you can just copy and paste to your clients. Something to think about…
At the end of the day, emergencies and urgent matters will happen in your life, so you want to be prepared and ask yourself: “How would I keep my business moving in the right direction if I suddenly needed to step away for a week or so?”
These are things we just don’t think about until unforseen circumstances surface in our life.
Food for thought….
Is The “Virtual Assistant” Title Really That Important Anyways?
In a “reflective moment”, I was recently processing much of the dialogue spurred on by Erin Blaske’s thought provoking post last week:
The Future of the Virtual Assistance Industry - An Open Conversation
I think these kind of discussions are great for helping you to further evaluate how you want to be known in your business. Here are a few final thoughts for what it is worth….
I know there is much discussion pertaining to the “true” definition of a Virtual Assistant. But, is the Virtual Assistant title or ANY title for that matter really important to the overall success of your business - I would say NO!
I remember attending my Grad Reunion a number of years ago and fielding the common question, “What do you do?” The natural inclination for most of us might be to give your title: “I am the CEO of VAClassroom.com (Well my wife is actually:)) or I am an Internet Marketing Specialist. I think as humans, we feel the need to label ourselves as if it gives us a higher level of recognition or something. What I have come to realize on a personal level is that is does not matter what title I have in my career, but MORE importantly, what I accomplish, the integrity by which I run my business and ultimately how I positively impact others!
So, if you were to ask me what I do right now, I would not say I am the CEO of VAClassroom…. I would say that I help Virtual Assistants develop new skills to grow successful VA businesses. You see, I would rather not be known for the title or position I have held but rather for what I have done or accomplished that has helped or impacted others!
So my point here is that you may want to be known by your clients, not as a “Virtual Assistant”, but rather as:
“That person that helped them skillfully set-up and manage all their webinar and teleclasses”
“That person that coordinated all their business travel plans”
“That person that effectively managed all their outsourced projects.”
“That Person that helped them expand their business presence in the Social Networks”
The list goes on….
It is the skills that you bring to the table that will be mentioned and referred on by your clients to others. “Hey, I know a great person that can set-up and manage all your email auto-responder campaigns”. The important thing here is the excellence you bring to the services you provide and the integrity by which you do it! That is the hallmark of a successful “Virtual Assistant” or whatever you want to call yourself - it really doesn’t matter!
I also really like this “Personal Branding” expert`s commentary on the topic of a job title here:
Your Personal Brand Statement is NOT a Job Title.
Just a few random thoughts percolating in my brain today:)
Summize.com - A great tool for Finding New Virtual Assistant Clients!
I don’t know about you, but I love Web 2.0 and Social Media! There is never a shortage of cool social media applications and tools to simplify your life as a Virtual Assistant!
In the VAClassroom Forum, one of our members mentioned Summize, a cool new tool for searching the conversations in Twitter. I have to confess…. Initially it took me some time to warm up to Twitter - I initially thought it was a total time drag and would take time away from my pertinent business actvities. I thought, “Do people actually really care what I am doing right now?” It seemed kind of trivial, but as I have closely observed a number of Twitterers over the last while, I now see how Twitter can be used to share and view relevant content and connect the Twitter audience to your blog and website.
Summize has peaked my interest in Twitter even further as this social search engine allows you to search the Twitter conversations by specific keywords. My keyword specific searches in Summize pointed out a whole bunch of interesting Twitterers that would be worthwhile following.
Not only that, Summize can help you track new prospective VA Clients! For example; check out the below results from the search term “Virtual Assistant” :
Take a look at the 2nd, 5th and 6th twitter post - they are all related to hiring a Virtual Assistant. The last guy specifically says “Looking for a Virtual Assistant. Any suggestions are welcome”. I don’t know about you, but I would classify that as a HOT CLIENT LEAD!!
So, not only does Summize enhance your Internet research efforts, but also serves as a great resource for connecting with new VA Clients - how cool is that?
The Value of a Word Press Blog Site for Virtual Assistants
Here is another business challenge posted by one of our VAClassroom subscribers last week: “Ongoing difficulties in website maintenance and updates”
There are a few primary benefits for choosing a Word Press Blog over a standard site for your Virtual Assistant business:
- Google (and other major SEs) LOVE blogs as you will most definitely see faster exposure in the Search Engines then over a regular static site. Of course, it is essential to continually add new and relevant content to your blog site to keep your Search Engine listings strong.
- Blogs can position you as an authority and enable you to publish content in your areas of interest or expertise. For example, ou might write blog posts on productivity tips, time-saving business tools, or creating a stress-free work life. Internet Business Owners like myself might find these posts appealing. So, the key to a successful blog is to write content that appeals to the audience you target.
- Blog is an ideal avenue for connecting with prospective clients. The beauty of blogging is facilitating two-way communication with your audience as they share feedback and comments on your blog posts. That allows valuable dialogue and a natural way to connect with prospective clients who may be interested in your specific skills and services.
Also, there are now some very compelling and cool blog designs and formats to chose from. Check out this blog site design from the company that will actually be doing the design for VAClassroom Contest winner.
If you are “in the dark” regarding the VAClassroom Contest, just visit VAClassroom.com to sign-up and get all the details!
Is the future bleak for Virtual Assistants in North America?
I want to feature another business challenge put forth by one of our subscribers:
The growing challenge of offshore competition
This has become a topic of interest across a number of blogs, so I thought I would attempt to tackle this one myself!
I am not sure if you have accounts at Elance or Guru, but it is a known fact that Western Virtual Assistants ( residing US, Canada, UK, Australia etc….) are competing against $2-$5/hour VAs in such countries as India and the Phillipines. It is also a known fact that more and more companies are starting to outsource internationally in order to cut costs and grow their profits. So in light of these trends, what is to become of Virtual Assistants in places like North America, UK and Australia - will they simply not be able to compete in this new global marketplace?
I am sure this concern has crossed the mind of many VAs especially if they are browsing Virtual Assistant profiles in Elance and Guru. Well, there is HOPE and let me tell you why…
The Virtual Assistant industry while technically founded in 1995 (by Christine Durst) is still a relatively new industry. Stats have estimated there are currently about 20,000 Virtual Assistants working worldwide. However, that is a very small number considering the increasing amounts of small and medium sized businesses seeking to hire Virtual Assistants over the next couple years. It is estimated that by 2009, 80% of all small and medium businesses will have a web-presence and be marketing online - that is over 20 million companies! Many of these companies will be building Virtual Teams in order to manage their business and online efforts. It is predicted that there won’t actually be enough Virtual Assistants to meet the demand!
Furthermore, based on my own experience in outsourcing internationally and in-country, there will always be certain tasks that are better suited to a western Virtual Assistant. For example; in a previous company I worked with, we had hired a Virtual Assistant to research, recruit and manage affiliate partner relationships. This individual was required to keep regular North American hours and converse on the phone with partners. We would not have outsourced this virtual position internationally. There are many more examples. The reality is that there will always be a certain part of the business population that prefers a more local virtual presence as opposed to offshore VAs. So, while outsourcing offshore is on the rise, so is the potential client base VAs can market to!
Secondly, there are oodles of opportunities for Virtual Assistants to establish in-demand niches and become specialists in such areas as Blogging, Social Media, Shopping Cart Set-up, Autoresponder management and so much more! I firmly believe that those Virtual Assistants who continue to adapt their business and tap into new “in-demand” niches will thrive even in the midst of growing offshore competition. Personally, I would much rather hire a “Specialist VA” at a higher hourly rate to accomplish a particular task as they will likely take less time and be more proficient.
Michael Russer, author of The Obsolete Employee, says “…To be consistently successful as a VA, one needs to specialize rather than run ragged trying to be everything to everyone.”
This is key - the important piece is to know what tasks are in demand and what to specialize in. There is a BIG market for VA Specialists - Blogger VAs, Social Media VAs, Online Event Planner VAs, Affilate Marketing VAs… the list goes on.
Finally, there is an unprecendented number of networking opportunities for Virtual Assistants to connect with their target audience through such sites as Linkedin.com, Facebook Groups, Ryze and so much more. This is networking on steroids! Those virtual assistants that consistently tap into these many targeted networking channels online and build a rapport with the small/medium business community will position themselves well for a steady stream of new clients and income opportunities.
Futhermore, it is essential that Virtual Assistants also educate local businesses on the immense value of hiring virtual staff. There is certainly good value in connecting with local business associations to raise awareness as well. I firmly believe that if you can market and network well, you will never have a shortage of work, irregardless of the offshore outsourcing trends.
This is a very interesting topic - please join the discussion! I would be interested to get your own personal take and feedback on the whole offshore Virtual Assistant trend.
The Intrinsic Qualities of a Successful Internet (Virtual) Business Owner
In my previous post, we talked about the wonderful freedoms of being a Virtual Business Owner. While we have certainly enjoyed many freedoms, there have also been a good share of challenges and “gut-check” moments that have stretched my skills and intestinal fortitude beyond what I thought was possible.
I am always fascinated by the rise and fall of Internet Start-up companies and why some succeeed and others fail. The same applies for Virtual Assistant Business Owners - why do some VAs seem to experience a continual dose of growth and success in their business where as other flounder and float along? Well, there are certainly many reasons for this, but today I want to specifically look at a few of the intrinsic qualities or elements that are commonly held by successful Internet (Virtual) Business Owners. (Again, there are ALWAYS exceptions to the rules, but this is what I have seen based on my own observations and experiences).
1. A Significant Purpose
For those embarking on the volatile journey of starting an Internet Business (Virtual Assistant Business), I believe there has be a highly significant purpose, motivation or expected outcome for starting this new business. Without a clear purpose or motivation driving the Internet Entrepreneur, I believe that when the “storms hit”, they will be more likely to crumble, then the entrepreneur that has a clear purpose that defines what they are doing.
For example; your purpose might be tied to the new found freedoms and opportunities a Virtual Assistant Business might have for you and and family. You might see this Internet opportunity as providing some financial stability in your current situation. A significant purpose whatever that might be will give you what you need to successfully navigate the stormy waters that often comes with new Internet Businesses. Again, with no significant purpose, I think the endeavor is more likely to falter. (IMHO!)
Now, here’s an interesting debate…..Is the desire to be filthy rich and famous a significant purpose that drives the succesful Internet Entepreneur? While I am sure that some Internet Business Owners have been driven to success solely by their ambition for wealth and fame, no doubt…. I personally don’t classify the ambition for wealth as a significant purpose. Furthermore, I think that many Internet Entrepreneurs with that sole focus of making money may not effectively handle the stormy waters when they come, as they won’t have any significant purpose that propels them to rise above their adversity. Again, people might disagree with me on this, but that is my perspective and experience.
2. An Extraordinary Portion of “Sticktuitiveness”.
Now, this certainly can be tied to #1, but from my own experiences, I believe the successful Internet Entrepreneur has an extra measure of perseverence (sticktuitiveness) to overcome the obstacles that can often come with starting a new virtual business. “I give up” is not really apart of their vocabulary and they seem to actually have the ability to increase their focus and intensity when the going gets tough.
I am an avid sport fan and love watching athletes that have the rare ability to elevate their game to new heights when faced with adversity. If you have ever watched Tiger Woods go into the 4th round behind at a major PGA event, you will see a mental toughness and focus like very few people have as he single handedly propels himself to the winner circle. Similarly, I believe that successful Internet Entrepreneurs have an extra measure of mental toughness and focus to effectively manage the set-backs, disappointments and everyday adversity they experience in their businesses.
3. Clear Recognition that Pitfalls are a part of the Journey.
A successful Internet Business Owner does not have a “pie in the sky” mentality, but is realistic about the inevitable pitfalls that will come along the journey. For many, their ability to overcome some of the big pitfalls or setbacks has served as a springboard, catipulting them towards great success. I know from my own experience, the set-backs we have overcame in early days of our first Internet Business were real milestones and “defining moments” in our journey.
It is important to keep clear mental notes of the little and big victories you experience in the early months and years of your Virtual Business as they will help to sustain you during future set-backs and disappointments.
4. Ability to Adapt on the fly.
A successful Internet Business Owner needs to be pliable like clay and easily adapt to new challenges, changes and opportunites in a rapidly evolving Internet Landscape. This rings true for the Virtual Assistant industry as the needs of your Internet Clients continue to evolve at rapids rates and you need to continually learn new skills in order to remain competitive!
5. Adopting a Internet Business Champion
So, what do I mean by that? Well, from my own perspective, I believe that Virtual Business Owner needs at least one person that champions their business endeavor. This person will be their #1 encourager, supporter and regular supplier of “reality checks.” For myself, this person is my wife. I certainly have a share of family and friends that have been hugely supportive, but my wife has been the stabilizing force and champion for our business endeavors especially during a few of the dark days. While some entrepreneurs maybe so independent they don’t require a “Champion”, I think the average person needs a sounding board or individual they trust that will give the encouragement and support they need to endure some of the difficult times. I can honestly say that without my “Internet Business Champion”, I am not sure I would have been able to overcome a few of the obstacles we experienced!
So, those are just a few of the Intrinsic elements that make up a successful Internet Business Owner. I am sure there are many more and I would love to hear from you as to some of the other qualities and characteristics that should be added to this list.
The Freedoms of Virtual Business
Check out our video on some of the freedoms we are currently enjoying in our Virtual Business. Send us your thoughts!
