Achieving Goals – Page 3 – Virtual Assistant Success Strategies

Wil Hart on September 24, 2011

Go Get’em!

Remember this simple yet profound notion: If you are not where you want to be, you have not done what you need to do.

When you entertained the idea of running your own Virtual Assistance company, you likely enjoyed the dream of firing your boss, making your own schedule and getting paid what you actually deserve. You, of course had even grander hopes than the few things mentioned. My question to you is, have you reached your potential. As you reflect on the time that has passed from whence you entertained the thought of creating your own definition of success until TODAY, what type of results have you developed?

If you are not where you want to be, you have not done what you need to do. There are not enough excuses in the world that can negate that fact. Some roadblocks may have come up. But a roadblock does not have to be a deal breaker unless you allow it to crush your dreams. Track back to when you first began to dream big about starting your own successful Virtual Assistance company. If you have already created your business but have not yet reached your definition of success, do not give up.

Figure out the steps that you have not yet taken, and go to work on accomplishing those tasks. Armed with your goals, never stop pursuing them until you have reached them.

GO GET’EM!

Wil Hart on September 19, 2011

Are YOU Afraid of Success?

If your Virtual Assistance business is not yet successful, what is the reason? Think about how long you have been in business. What are your responses to the following:

1) I have been in business for ___ years (or months).

2) I (have/have not) reached the level of success that I envisioned when starting my business.

3) ______ is holding me back from reaching my definition of success.

When it comes to running your own business you either will or will not accomplish your goals. No matter the outcome it is really easy to track your level of accomplishment or lack thereof. So, whether you have reached your goal or not, determine what has prevented you and GO GET’EM!

FEAR of success might be a major factor for unsuccessful people. Here are a few reasons why many people are afraid of being successful:

1. It takes a lot of hard work. (Or, “I want success to be easy.”)

2. Some may be concerned about other people viewing their success negatively.

3. Fear of failure.

4. Fear of more responsibility.

5. They don’t feel comfortable being in the spotlight.

There is a plethora of reasons and excuses that people have for being afraid of having a successful business. If you are afraid of being successful, I challenge you to dig deep inside your mind and find the reasons.

Whatever you learn about yourself and your own mindset issues if perfectly fine. Believe me, it is okay! But, would you not rather know why you have such fear so that you can make the choice to either stay in a place of fear or actually conquer it?

The choice is yours. I wish you MUCH SUCCESS!

Wil Hart on September 2, 2011

What Activity is Most Important to YOUR Business?

The misuse of your time is probably the greatest disservice to your as a business owner. How do you manage yourself within the time that is afforded you? Just like me, you have 24 hours every single day. Time is just like money, the way you spend it proves what activities are important to you.

I am sure that you engage in different activities every day. But, are those activities your MOST important ones? Are your activities building the business of your dreams or tearing it down? I will put you to a time challenge and ask you to track the time that you spend every day. Keeping this simple log will show you exactly why your business is in its current condition. Now, I want to assist you a bit further in analyzing how you spend this precious commodity.

Subtract 9 Hours

Right off the top, I will shave off nine hours for your sleep. If you do not sleep well, it does not matter how you spend your time because you will not be able to put forth your best effort anyway. That leaves you with 15 hours.

Subtract 5 Hours

I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you are a person who loves to spend time with your family and friends. You also deserve some personal time each day so that you can reflect on your life as to what you have done and what matter you still need to care for. This time slot will also give you some time for personal care. You have 10 hours left.

Subtract 2 Hours

Likely you will need to run errands and care for other matters that pertain to your business or personal life. This is a giveaway of time that may be planned or unexpected. These two hours may or may not benefit your business but will certainly vary from day to day. Now, are you ready to get your business day started? You have 8 hours left.

Subtract 8 Hours – Time is UP!

In this very important time slot, you must decide how best to build your business. There are two very important activities that will boost your income. That is client work and marketing. There is so much that is involved with both of these activities. How are you spending your stipend of time? How many clients do you now have? How many of your hours each day are allotted to each client? After you have done the math on that, you need to wisely consider how you will shell out the remaining hours.

If you do not have a full practice of clients, it only makes sense to spend as much time as possible on marketing your business. Your marketing efforts today may not produce results until three or more months from now. Consistent marketing is imperative! You never know when your marketing efforts will yield results. The worst time to do marketing is when you are thirst for clients

I ask you, on what activities are you spending your TIME?

Wil Hart on August 12, 2011

Four Ways to Take Action NOW to Build a Successful Business

Once you setup your business and start moving out of “start-up” mode, you’ll want to turn your attention to “building” mode. Yes, you WANT a long-term sustainable business. You BELIEVE you can create success for years to come. Remember this quote: “There is something more important than believing; ACTION! The world is full of dreamers. Those who are successful will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to ACTUALIZE their vision” (- Unknown).

The first step in doing so is to define what success means for you. You want to get to that place and stay there. As an executive or admin assistant, you likely started out as a newbie in the corporate world. Over the years you found yourself going from supporting entry level personnel to C-Level executives. In that world, supporting the highest level executives may have been considered by you as “Success Status”. You want to reach that same level, but this time it will be created by you in your own business.

Building your business and growing it to support the lifestyle you want is the whole point of becoming an entrepreneur. In order to build your business, you will need to do a few things very well:

Market Consistently: In our recent article on marketing, you learned how to reach out to your warm market. That is the group of people who already know, like and trust you. They are your family, friends and former colleagues. Congratulations if you have received clients in this way! Now it is time to step up your marketing. You need to know who your target market is and who your ideal client is.

Your target market is the industry or profession on which you focus your marketing efforts. For instance, if you decided that you want to focus on working with fitness professionals. That would be your target market. Now you can focus all of your marketing attention on that specific group. You can easily find networking events where fitness professionals spend time. They will be at conferences that you can attend. Your marketing collateral will speak directly to this group. It will help them to see that you are the expert who can help them to solve their specific problems.

Your ideal client is the one type of person in that target market that you are best suited to work with. This person has traits that inspire you to do your best work. Being clear on your ideal client will assist you in ALL of the marketing that you do going forward. It will affect where you direct your speaking engagements, social media marketing, blog writing, networking and everything else.

Your marketing efforts will be focused, consistent and effective when you follow this sound piece of advice.

Set Up Systems: Installing systems in your business will allow you to dramatically build your business. It will save you time, energy and resources. Why? It is because you will know exactly what steps to take when you perform any task in your business. This includes billing and receiving payments, enrolling new clients, dumping less than ideal clients, working with sub-contractor VAs, managing business cards that you collect when networking, knowing what to say when following up with prospects, closing new deals and the list goes on and on. All repetitive activity in your business deserves to have a system set up to make your life and that of your clients much more enjoyable.
Upgrade Your Skill Set: What got you HERE, won’t get you THERE. No doubt you were a sharp corporate employee. The skills you possessed are what allowed you to create your business in the first place. Now that you are growing your business, your fee structure should be commensurate with your skill set and the solutions you offer to your clients. When you worked as an EA, you likely had a yearly review. Your manager expressed to you whether you met the expectations for the position or not. That meeting likely determined if you received a raise or not.

In your own business, you will need to keep growing in knowledge and skill. One of your clients may want to sell products from their website. One skill you may want to develop is setting up and managing a shopping cart. Some of your clients may need help with managing the distribution of their weekly email newsletter. Therefore, you will want to learn how to utilize a database such as iContact. Make it a priority to look at what services will make your client’s lives easier and then invest in learning the necessary skills to offer those services so that you can increase your value (and your fees).

Build Momentum: There are so many different services that you can provide as a Virtual Assistant. That is why this industry is exploding with opportunity. You have started your business and that is EXCELLENT. Great job! Now is the time to turn up the heat and make your mark as an entrepreneur. If you market your business consistently, set up systems and learn new skills, you will be poised for phenomenal growth. All of this is based on what your level of Success Status means for you. Set your course and shoot for the stars!

We cover these topics in depth in the Successful VA 2.0 Mentoring Program. It is quite a hit with an excited, brand new group of 53 students. If you would like to join us, you still can, just visit www.SuccessfulVA.com to secure your spot and get instant access to the program materials. We look forward to welcoming you!

Wil Hart on July 15, 2011

How to Develop the Mindset for Success

Do you have a “CAN DO,” “WILL SUCCEED AT ALL COSTS” type of mindset? Is it natural for you to lead yourself towards your goals no matter what negative signals you receive from naysayers?

What is your response to those first two questions?

Your response could very we be the determining factor as to how quickly and easily you accomplish your goal of becoming a successful VA. Entrepreneurs are pioneers! We are willing to travel in unchartered territory. We blast through walls and fight against the odds.

This article is for the aspiring Successful Virtual Assistant. Let me define the word “aspiring.” If you would like to start your own Virtual Assistance company, that is an aspiration. If you are already a Virtual Assistant, but have not reached the success that you desire, that is an aspiration.

Might your mindset be holding you back? What type of conversations do you have with yourself? Every person goes through the process of convincing herself of success or failure, victory or defeat. The self-talk of some people will even tell them, “you don’t have to push too hard, we can coast right here in the middle.”

Mindset for Success

To be successful as an entrepreneur, you need to train your mind to speak in a positive way. When I started my company, I would not imagine anything but my version of success. My success meant the following:

Time freedom
Financial freedom
Working with ideal clients of my choice
Going on vacations when I wanted to

There was nothing that could prevent me from reaching that goal and continuing that journey. More than six years later, I’m still building the life of my dreams with two of my own companies. When I was a child, my parents told my brother and me to expunge the word “CAN’T” from our vocabularies. That lifelong lesson continues to serve me well.

What are you telling yourself? It is imperative that you analyze your internal conversations. That is the key to what is on your mind and how you feel about accomplishing your goals in life. You must train your mind to believe that you can accomplish whatever it is that you WANT in life. (In case you haven’t noticed by now, this topic is much bigger than running your own business – it’s about LIFE).

So, I ask again, do you want to build a successful Virtual Assistance company? Do you have the fortitude to overcome all obstacles and trials? If your answer is “YES”, then you are already on the right track. But, remember that your resilience will be tested constantly.

I do not know what type of mindset you already possess. I do know, however, the mindset that you need to develop and maintain in order to start and grow a sustainable business. You do not just want to “be in business”, but you want to THRIVE in business. You want the type of business that will allow you to create the lifestyle that reflects your definition of success.

Remember the words of Henry Ford:

“Whether you think you CAN or you can’t, YOU ARE RIGHT!

Wil Hart on July 8, 2011

5 Pillars to a Strong VA Business Foundation

Are you an Executive or Administrative Assistant who is looking to become your own boss? If so, this article is especially for you. Virtual Assistants who have already started working in their own business will benefit as well. If you haven’t quite reached the level of success you’ve been working towards, it would be good to “go back to basics” and make sure your foundation is as strong as it should be.

So, whether you are looking to start a new business or to become more successful in the business that you have already created, strap yourself in and enjoy the ride! There are 5 pillars or steps to becoming a Successful VA. How do we know this to be true? At EAtoVA.com, we have already completed the steps, mostly without any help. We want the hand you the blueprints that we worked so hard to develop on our own; so that you WON’T have to.

The 5 Successful VA Pillars (an overview):

MINDSET: Henry Ford stated, “Whether you think you CAN or you CAN’T, you’re right.” An Executive or Administrative assistant who wants to venture out on their own MUST first believe that they CAN succeed as a business owner. Even if you take steps in the direction of creating your own life through business ownership, doubt may creep in due to a setback. That is okay when it does happen. But, that thought process can only be temporary if you are to reach your goal. The stories that you constantly tell yourself and the belief system that you utilize in daily life will either hinder or HELP your goal of becoming a Successful VA.
INFRASTRUCTURE: The infrastructure and the other four pillars are all mechanical. Anyone with a desire to succeed can perform the tasks that are needed to get things done. What makes up the infrastructure of your company? Here are a few things to consider: 1) Insurances – health, life, disability, dental etc. 2) Technology – computers, phones, an online presence etc. 3) Operations – you must have operational systems in place such as accounting, tax filing, setting up new customers, processes for working with customers, etc. 4) Structure – will you set up an LLC or a Sole Proprietorship? 5) Finances – it takes money to make money. There are some other pieces to building your infrastructure. This will be discussed in a few weeks.
MARKETING: This is the bread and butter of your business. Those who do not market their company tend to find themselves out of business very soon. The best thing that you can do for your business is to know how to make money. You do not want to wait to figure this out. You can develop a marketing plan even before you have made your first dollar, taking advantage of the resources, relationships and opportunities already within your reach.
TRANSITION: Before leaving your current job, you will at some point say, “Oh my, I’m actually doing this!” There is nothing that you can do to avoid that feeling. As with any major step in life, we can allow those feelings to propel us toward accomplishing our goals. Having a PLAN around your transition will help you to make the leap from employee to entrepreneur smoothly.
BUILDING Your BUSINESS: When you work for someone else, that company does all of the heavy lifting for you as an employee. The company is responsible for building the business so that you will have a place to work each day. Now, you are responsible for whether you win or lose. Success is 100% in YOUR hands! You, therefore, have to perform all of the needed tasks to REMAIN in business. This includes continually upgrading your skill set, setting up systems, marketing consistently and more.

If you were at all nervous about how to get started in your virtual assistance care, now you can breathe a sigh of relief. We will relieve you of the confusion and stress of trying to figure things out all by yourself. This is the information that you have asked about. The first step for you is to pay attention to your email inbox for the next several weeks and read about the steps that will easily show you how to go from Executive Assistant to Virtual Assistant.

Your Action Plan For The Week:

Write down your top 10 reasons for wanting to start your own business. (this will help you to understand the mindset that you already have.)
Take inventory of the tools and skills that you already have in order to start your business.
Write down the names l0-20 people who would be excited to hear about you starting your own business.
Think deeply about how you will feel AFTER you fire your boss. (How will you celebrate? Why will you not regret leaving your job? Why are you so excited about the new chapter in your life)

Wil Hart on July 1, 2011

Break Through Discouragement and Get Back on Track

Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase, “Perception is reality.” And while it may mean different things to different people, today I want to focus on how our limiting beliefs, self-doubt and negative thoughts all play a part in creating a successful business. Even if you think these feelings are only tied to your personal life – think again. They can (and will) interfere with your business.

Why?

As a Virtual Assistant, your personal and business lives are often completely intertwined. It is important to recognize this potential problem because it could actually be holding you back in achieving the business success you are looking for. For example, let’s say you are just plain discouraged with your life right now.

Perhaps your personal life is less than stellar – maybe you haven’t had a date in awhile, or you and your significant other have been at odds with each other lately. Then, you start to focus on the things “wrong” with your life and you get discouraged with everything, including your business. You start to think that you can’t be as successful as you want to be because of your competition, lack of knowledge or lack of funds to take a continuing education course, or whatever.

Once you get “down in the dumps” about yourself and your business, that’s exactly what you project to everyone else. That in and of itself will limit your progress. That negative energy you are putting out into the world around you will only attract more negative energy.

So how do you fix this?

First acknowledge that you are discouraged and don’t beat yourself up over it. All of us can get discouraged now and again. But once you realize this is the case with you, make the decision to “turn the corner” and focus your attention on resolving the issues at hand.

Often we make situations more complicated than necessary because we over-think matters and ignore simple solutions. Don’t fall into this trap! Make the decision to view things differently. Give yourself the space to calmly and objectively think about the situation. Talk out your feelings with a trusted confidant to clear your mind. Decide on a resolution, take action and pat yourself on the back for doing so!

Also, get support from fellow VAs who can relate to your business challenges and personal circumstances. Consider teaming up with an accountability buddy, joining a mastermind group or hiring a coach to ensure you are making progress in your business. At the very least connect with others in the EAtoVA community by getting involved in our LinkedIn group. All of this “mental cleanup” and trusted support will help you get clarity in your personal and business life.

Once you’ve gained clarity, moved away from discouragement and start to take positive action, you will see your personal and business life flourish. Even in seemingly small ways.

Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think can or think you can’t you’re right!” So, you have to put yourself in a place to attract and receive success. Remember, the only way to do this is to break through the negative beliefs that you have. You’re not the only one; we ALL have them in one form or another. You’re not crazy. You’re not destined for “failure”. You are human.

How you choose to deal with the challenges will set you apart from those who “wish” they had it together and those that actually do. Your version of success is right in front of you, there for the taking. So, don’t stand in your own way and let it pass you by!

I’d love to know what you think about this week’s article and how we as a community can support you in achieving your goals. Stop by the blog to comment and share your thoughts!

Your Action Plan For The Week:

Watch for any tendencies to over think your problems. If you find yourself getting down in the dumps, acknowledge it and talk out your feelings with a trusted confidant or accountability partner.
Make a decision to think about things differently. Once you’ve given yourself space to gain clarity, focus on looking for simple solutions to your challenges.
Take action! The best way to break through a negative belief is to take ONE step toward your goals. Prove yourself wrong by taking action.
Get support from your community. Get involved in the EAtoVA LinkedIN group (it’s completely FR*EE!) so you have access to advice and support from people who understand what you’re going through.

Wil Hart on June 10, 2011

5 Ways to Manage Your Day and Increase Your Income

Time.

It’s the most precious resource we have and one of the very few that cannot be replaced. For Virtual Assistants looking to create a highly successful, lifestyle-focused business it is essential that we use the gift of time well so that we can achieve our goals. Continue Reading>>

Wil Hart on June 3, 2011

How to Break Through Your Challenges and Get Back in Gear

If you have felt “stuck” with where you’re at in your VA business, especially as it relates to accomplishing the goals you’ve set for yourself, I want to assure you that it is possible to get “un-stuck,” break through the challenges you’re facing and get back in gear.

How? Continue Reading>>

Wil Hart on May 13, 2011

5 Steps to Strengthen Your Business Foundation and Create More Profits

One of the most important lessons I learned in my business, early on, was how important it is to have and maintain a strong foundation in your business. In order to support your growth and efforts to achieve your goals, your business needs a solid infrastructure on which you can build. If this infrastructure is not in place, you could find yourself in a position where you are growing too fast too soon and not serving your clients nearly as well as you should be. This in turn will create unnecessary stress and frustration, which equals a not so happy Virtual Assistant who is working harder and making less money than she should.

So, it’s important to take stock of your business periodically and see how your foundation is holding up and what improvements you need to make. And if you’re just starting out, you’ll do yourself a HUGE favor by setting up a strong business foundation from day one. This is the perfect time of year to consider these points, as we are heading into summer. If you set aside time now to analyze your business operations and start making adjustments, you’ll be primed and ready for fall 2011, while most everyone else is still trying to come back from summer vacation.

The following are my top five tips for assessing your business and strengthening your foundation:

Review and revise your business plan – Many times business owners create a business plan when they are first starting out, get excited about it, but then file it away and never look at it again. Sometimes new entrepreneurs don’t even take the time to develop a simple business plan. This is a BIG mistake! Going through the steps to create a business plan is a terrific way to get all of your ideas down on paper and to create a roadmap to follow to grow your business. It’s easy to think one can keep all of their ideas, goals and strategies locked safely in their memory. But there are two things wrong with that. 1) You absolutely can’t remember all of the details and 2) you’ll have a more difficult time working towards them because you haven’t committed your thoughts to paper. So schedule time on your calendar NOW to review and revise your business plan. Think about all that you’ve accomplished thus far in 2011 and map out your goals for the rest of the year and then how you’ll achieve them.
Take stock of your financial situation – For some this can be the least “exciting” part of running a business – having to deal with all of the “number stuff.” But, most of us start our companies to make a profit and support our families – not to unintentionally be running a non-profit organization where we work for free. You won’t know which category you fall into if you aren’t clear on the financial state of your business. If you are not already doing so, ask your accountant or bookkeeper to start running monthly reports of your expenses and income so you can see how profitable you REALLY are. You may be surprised to find out which of your services are actually most profitable and then start focusing more attention on those. Also, you’ll see clearly how your expenses are affecting your bottom line and what adjustments need to be made.
Review your business standards to see if they are still working for you – One of the things my coach helped me to do when I was first starting out was to create a set of standards for my business. This included the hours I would work, my fee structure, how I would handle different clients, different situations, illness/vacation, etc. – basically ALL of the details of how I would run my business. I highly recommend that you take the time to outline your standards as well. It’s your business, so the way you work and operate your business should be reflective of and work for you. After doing this you’ll be clear about your boundaries and can then easily (and tactfully) share them with your clients to ensure that you are supported and protected to do your best work.
Fine tune your marketing systems – Some Virtual Assistants have a bad habit of only marketing their business when they need a new client. That is a big no-no! As a business owner, you should only be spending your time on two things – 1) serving your clients and 2) marketing your business. If you don’t have a marketing system in place – meaning a strategic plan for how to consistently present your services/solutions to your ideal clients and enroll them in your practice, then now is the time to implement one. You should be regularly attending networking events where your ideal clients hang out, following up on leads, engaging in social media and pursuing other effective marketing strategies. Map out a plan of how you will market your business for the remainder of 2011 and then commit blocks of time on your calendar to work on your marketing efforts. Marketing your business will be a lot easier (and much more effective) if you consistently and comfortable share what you have to offer instead of operating from panic mode because you need a new client.
Start implementing systems in your business – You likely do some of the same tasks over and over again in serving your clients. At the very least, each week/month you’re doing bookkeeping, marketing, reporting to your clients on project progress, etc. As such you should be developing systems for every aspect of your business. A system is simply a list of guidelines or instructions about how to handle a particular task or project. It’s a way for you to implement quality control into your Virtual Assistant practice so that you consistently deliver high quality results for yourself and your clients. It’s a way to save time, because you won’t have to think about or try and remember how to handle a particular project. And it’s a way to make more money. “How so?”, you may ask. Because you can easily delegate certain tasks to someone else, freeing up your time and mental energy to pursue your high-payoff activities. The more you systematize your business the more organized and profitable you will be. So, start today in outlining the steps you take to operate your business and serve your clients. Compile the instructions into one central document or binder and create your own operations manual. As you continue to grow you’ll have all of the information you need to run your business right at your fingertips.

Likely, you set out to be a Virtual Assistant because you wanted to pursue a career that would give you more control over your schedule and earning potential. So make it easier on yourself to achieve your goals, by taking steps to tighten up your foundation and get clear on your goals. Running a successful business obviously takes effort and dedication. And having a strong infrastructure and a solid plan to follow will ensure that you are spending your time and energy on the activities that will get you the results you want!

YOUR ACTION PLAN FOR THIS WEEK:

Pull out your business plan and schedule time to review and revise it by June 1st.. (If you’re just starting out, set aside time to create your plan by the same date).
Pull year-to-date reports on your financial situation and review them with your bookkeeper or accountant to see what adjustments may need to be made.
Outline the details of how you will run your business so that it is working for YOU, not the other way around.
Review the strategies that have been most effective in marketing your business and then create a plan around how you will consistently implement these tactics to attract new business.
Start creating systems for EVERYTHING you do in your business and compile the information in one central location.

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