On the 20th October 2008 I registered my business name & symbolically hung out my shingle as a Virtual Assistant.
So in celebration of my 4th Business Birthday, here are the 4 most important things I’ve learned (that I can think of off the top of my head).
1. Bad customers aren’t worth the income.
If you don’t trust the client, you don’t believe in their work or you just plain don’t like them – it’s not worth sticking with them for the income you get. Let them go and you’ll get a better group of customers in. I have the best clients now. Some I do a lot of work for on a regular basis and some only contact me once or twice year. But they’re all businesses I believe in run by people who have a passion for what they do. It’s awesome!
2. Don’t provide services you don’t like.
When I first started I used to offer transcription as there’s always a demand for it, and I can do it and going from having an income to having to hunt for an income scared me A LOT. The thing is, I absolutely HATE doing it and I hated every minute I spent doing it. Even the easy stuff which I’d always liked in the past. So now I don’t offer it. It may still be on my website, it won’t be in the new version I’m working on at the moment. If you don’t like it, don’t do it – you can subcontract out to another VA, pass clients on to others, or just tell clients “that’s not a service I provide”. However you handle it, you’ll be a lot happier if you remember that you are in control of the services you provide.
3. Networking is essential.
But how you network is up to you. I tend to be shy, have real problems starting a conversation with people and I hate crowds. Networking functions are my worst nightmare, I’d prefer to speak in public than to approach a room of strangers and start “working the room”. So I go to things with an educational focus – that way I’ve got something to talk about. I put my hand up to help out with local groups like the chamber of commerce because it’s a lot easier to participate when you’re there for a reason. I type up participant lists from a local breakfast so even though I might not talk much, everyone gets a list with my details on it. As I’ve got more involved in local events and groups I’ve got to know more people, which in turn makes it easier to walk into a networking group – when it’s really just catching up with a heap of friends.
4. When it comes down to it, it’s YOUR business.
There’s an awful lot of information out there about starting a business and about operating a business and there are so many experts telling you that you just “must” have X or do X or buy their stuff. It all gets a bit overwhelming after a while. I definitely recommend taking in as much advice as you can and looking at how leaders in your field have done things – but, when it comes to actually running your business, do what works for you.
So those are probably my four biggest lessons, although I’ve learned a lot more both personally & professionally over the last four years. What are the best lessons you’ve learned? Or what do you wish someone had told you before you started? Me, I wish I’d known to trust my instincts more – but initially I thought that wasn’t appropriately professional. Let me know yours in the comments.
