One of my favourite sayings is “you’re the sum of the five people you spend the most time with”, so if the people around you are negative complainers who always find a reason why something can’t be done, they will eventually bring you down to their level and you’ll never reach your full potential. This is why you need a Mastermind or Accountability group.
Following a family bereavement, Lauren Moon took some time to evaluate and decided that life was way too short to be unhappy. Lauren wanted something that would fit around her two young children and she definitely wanted to see if she could ‘have her cake and eat it.’!
If you charge by the hour, at some point you’re going to reach an income plateau as there are only so many billable hours you can work in a day. You know you need to raise your rates as time goes on, but you’re also worried you might lose some of your clients if you do. Here’s how to up your prices like a pro along with a customisable email template.
Because Associate work is a great way to take on more work both when starting out and as you become more successful, I asked my VA Handbookers Facebook group to post up any questions they had on the subject and then I asked some volunteers who had experience of both sides to answer them. This is what they said:
If you’re a new Virtual Assistant or thinking of becoming one, I’m sure you’re worried about how you will get new clients. So to help you get an idea of who could be that elusive and exciting first client, I asked members of my VA Handbookers Facebook group a load of questions about their first one including how they got them and what tasks they needed help with.
Although you may really want to set up your own VA business, stepping into the unknown can be quite scary. Because I know that going freelance will change your life in so many fantastic ways, I asked members of my VA Handbookers Facebook group what the best thing about being a Virtual Assistant was. This is what they said:
Members of my VA Handbookers Facebook group often ask whether it’s worth writing a blog. On one hand they hear that it’s good for search engine optimisation (SEO), but they also don’t want to write one if they don’t really need it – plus they’re not really too sure what to write about even if they do decide to start one.
If you want to have a satisfying and fulfilling freelance career it’s really important to have clients that you enjoy working with – because there’s no point in leaving a (horribly unfulfilling, tedious but secure) full-time job to still be miserable at work! A great client is a rare and wonderful thing but not as hard to find as you might think.
Difficult clients can undermine your business, knock your confidence, feed your insecurity, make you doubt yourself and even make you start to hate freelancing – so it’s really important you know how to identify and manage all the different types. Remember that you work with your client, not for them so be proactive, steer the process and manage the relationship.
After seeing friends go through some serious life changing events, Sarah Liddle started to question what life was all about and where her own life was heading. Sarah also wanted to spend more time outside on her smallholding and with her family so she decided it was time to set up her own Virtual Assistant business.
