Most people make resolutions and goals at the start of the year… and then break them within a few days! The start of the year is a great opportunity to make goals for your business and now that February is here, it is a perfect opportunity to review these goals to make 2010 your best year yet and have a really successful business.
But how can you make this happen? Why not set aside some time dedicated to you and your business only – no client work, just time to think about what you want your business to be by the end of 2010. Some things to think about:
How much money do you want to earn?
You need to think about what you want to earn as this will determine how many clients you need.
How many new clients do you want to attract?
Break it down into bite size pieces so that it is achievable – do you need 1 new client per week?
Are there any new services you want to provide?
Think about any other ways you could help your clients and team up with other professionals if necessary who have those skills.
What products could you create to compliment your business?
Everybody loves information and it is a great idea to give a free report in exchange for newsletter subscribers. What is your expertise that you could share with others?
These are just some things for you to think about as a starting point. Let your creative juices flow and don’t discount anything as too silly – brainstorm and set yourself goals to make yourself accountable.
The first thing is to identify what ‘success’ really means for you. It sounds simple but it is different for everyone. Do you want a six figure income, or do you simply want to replace your old full time salary and only work part time hours? Or do you even want to build a highly successful business that you can then sell on as a going concern and retire on the profits?
Once you’ve decided what you want to achieve, the next step is to decide how you will get there. You need to set out your objectives, define your marketing strategy, set your budget and organise your operational process to take it all into account.
You’ll also need to decide if you already have all the tools you need, or if you need some training or professional advice in order to achieve your goals. You may also need someone to hold you accountable as without it, it’s all too easy for the big goals to get lost in the minutiae of the day to day.
Some of the questions we get asked relates to blogs – the benefits of having one and how do you set it up. To answer these questions, we have created this 10 step guide to help you get your own blog set up.
Before we have children, our focus is on our careers and ourselves without worrying too much about our lifestyles. But once children come along, we are 100% responsible for them and our priorities completely change.
When it comes to making the decision to stay at home or return to work, there could be an element of guilt with whichever decision we make – go out to work and we miss seeing our children; stay at home and we don’t keep our skills up to date.
One thing that you can consider is running your own home based business to fit around your family commitments. This is a perfect solution for a lot of mums who want the best of both worlds without feeling guilty!
Emma is mum to 3 year old daughter Megan and has been running her business as a Virtual Assistant for over 4 years and absolutely loves it.
“I set up my business just before I was pregnant but once my daughter came along, I realised it was the perfect solution for me as I fit running my business around her. My daughter goes to nursery for 2 days a week to socialise her with other children and then I work when she naps (she still has up to 2 hours in the afternoon at the moment) or is in bed for the night on the other days.
Running my own business means I spend quality time with my daughter as I see her develop every day, but it also means I utilise the skills I spent over 10 years developing so they don’t go to waste and I am keeping up with technology.
I regularly get enquiries from other mums asking about starting their own Virtual Assistant business as people are realising the huge potential available. The Virtual Assistant industry is such a supportive community of supportive people and there are a large number of mums running their business to fit around their family."
Working as a Virtual Assistant can be a lonely business. You’re in the office all day on your own. There’s no-one to gossip with over the kettle or photocopier. We even resort to chatting online to our virtual assistant friends as they become our new work colleagues.
What if those new friends and colleagues were very successful and experienced virtual assistant business owners themselves? What would you ask them, if they would answer, about how they got where they did, what would they do differently if they were starting again now.
And how valuable would that interaction be if they not only gave you advice but helped you construct an action plan to get you on the road to success, and then helped you achieve the goals that you set yourself? What if they also held you accountable so you actually did what you set out to do?
Want to hear an honest and open interview where Justine and I answer some of the most common questions we get asked? Check out this great free interview now.
One of the main problems that all Virtual Assistants eventually face is hitting the limit on the number of hours that can be billed to clients … we only have 24 hours in every day and we do have to get some sleep! We also have to do the administration for our own business as well as continual marketing activities to ensure a steady stream of clients.
So how can you earn more money? One way is to bring on board associates to undertake some of the client work so that you can take on more work. There are 2 ways that this could work:
1. You act as Project Manager meaning all client requests come to you to delegate and then work carried out is returned to you to check before sending back to the client. This is a very hands on role and will take up a lot of time and won’t be billable.
2. Give your client direct access to the associate to communicate requests and receive completed work. This means that you can still undertake billable work without having to get too involved.
Once you make the decision to start working with associates, think about the people you can bring on board to compliment your skills and even offer new services. For example, think about social media management, book keeping, SEO, website design, IT helpdesk, telephone answering, copywriting, audio typing, shopping cart management and graphic design. The services you offer don’t have to be traditional Virtual Assistant services, think about what would be useful to your customers and act like a one stop shop for them so that you are earning money from it.
Want advice and support to help you start working with associates? Check out our popular mentoringpackagesavailable where we can guide you through the process.
We’d all like the opportunity to ask the people we admire ‘how did you do it’ or ‘what would you do in this situation’. But sadly we rarely get the chance.
When you are setting up and buidling your Virtual Assistant business you can suddenly realise there aren’t many people you can ask who have actually been there, done it and made a success out of their virtual assistant businesses. And of those that have, there aren’t many who will actually pass on their secrets.
Setting goals is a very important part of running a successful business as it makes you focus your time and energy to work on the things you want to achieve.
Remember, if you don’t know where you are going, how will you get there? This is where being SMART comes in:
S – Specific
Goals must be very clear to avoid any misunderstandings. When goals are specific, they tell you exactly what is expected, when, and how much. Because the goals are specific, you can easily measure your progress toward completion.
M – Measurable
What good is a goal that you can’t measure? If your goals are not measurable, you never know whether you are making progress toward successful completion. Not only that, but it’s tough for you to stay motivated to complete goals when you have no milestones to indicate progress.
A – Attainable
Goals must be realistic and attainable by you. The best goals require you to stretch a bit to achieve them, but they aren’t extreme. That is, the goals are neither out of reach nor below standard performance. Goals that are set too high or too low become meaningless, and you will naturally come to ignore them.
R – Relevant
Goals must be an important tool in the grand scheme of reaching your ultimate vision. You may have heard that 80% of productivity comes from only 20% of activities. You can guess where the other 80% of work activity ends up! This relationship comes from Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto’s 80/20 rule.
T – Time specific
Goals must have start points, end points, and fixed durations. Commitment to deadlines helps you to focus your efforts on completion of the goal on or before the due date. Goals without deadlines or schedules for completion tend to be over t aken by day-to-day crises that invariably arise when running your own business.
The key with most things is to keep it simple. We tend to overcomplicate goals; which ultimately means we don’t achieve them. Simply plan out your SMART goals for 12 months, 2 to 3 years and 5 years time so that you do achieve them and make sure you make use of your Financial Plan to create a solid strategy for your VA business.
