March 2004

Beyond Paying Bills: 8 Keys for Taking Your Business to the Next Level

by Dawn Nichol

Congratulations, you've now been in business for six months to two years. You've established yourself, have a few or even several clients, and are making enough to pay the bills. It's been tough, but rewarding. You've heard that a lot of Virtual Assistants don't make it, so you feel pretty happy with where you are.

But there's a nagging feeling in the back of your mind. You love being self-employed, and certainly don't miss working for a big company, but you never realized it would take this much work just to pay the bills. You silently wonder if you'll ever make more than you did working for someone else. "What will it take?" you ask yourself.

You have to arrive at the point you're at to be ready to take the next step. You are now ready to take your business to the next level. Many Virtual Assistants are content just to pay the bills. But if you want to do more than just create a job for yourself, you'll need to look at your business a little differently from now on.

The good news? Taking these next steps will actually make being in business for yourself easier. You'll begin to systematize how you work. As a result, you won't be working as hard as you have up to this point.

The 8 keys for taking your business to the next level:

1. Eliminate Business Tolerations

What is a toleration? Anything that gets in your way, yet you find yourself working around it, ignoring it, or putting up with it. Do you have a filing cabinet on the other side of the room that causes you to get up and break your concentration several times a day? Or, is your Internet connection so slow that you avoid doing needed research?

Putting up with something almost always takes more energy than taking care of the problem. Most of us waste energy every time we notice the toleration, get frustrated, and file the problem away in our mind to be dealt with later.

2. Work ON Your Business, not Just IN it

What's the difference? Everything. Most of us get so caught up in the doing of our work that we forget to look at the big picture. Remember when you wrote a business plan to get your business launched? There was a reason for all that planning - it helps keep you on track.

Working ON your business means taking time to assess why you are doing the work you do, where you intend to go and how to get there. You'll work much harder if you only work IN your business because you won't have the perspective needed to know which are the right next steps. Need one more reason? If you only work IN your business, you've created a job for yourself, not a business.

3. Narrow Down Your Target Market

Now that your ideal client profile includes more than just that the client be "breathing" (for some of you, those days might just be ending), it's time to get specific about who you want to work with.

While having a specific target market is not a requirement, it makes packaging your services and marketing them much easier. When you know who you want to work with, you can focus on getting to know the industry, going to events where your target market will be, and only spend time marketing to your specific niche or specialty. Virtual Assistants who have narrowed their target market find they spend significantly less time marketing and attract more ideal clients.

4. Learn to Say NO to Business

Once you've narrowed down your target market, it should be very clear when a client is right for you. You're now at the point in your business when it is better for both you and your potential clients that you only say "yes" to the right business for you. You'll offer better service to them and you'll be much happier.

One of the rites of passage for a successful business person is the ability to say "no" to business that is not right for her. Instead of saying "yes" to all business, develop referral partnerships with Virtual Assistants in different niches and specialties to send prospective clients to. You'll discover that the more you say no, the more room you leave open for your ideal clients.

5. Systematize Your Marketing Efforts

The key to any good marketing strategy is to be consistent and persistent. In fact, Jay Conrad Levinson, author of Guerrilla Marketing states that nearly any marketing strategy will work if delivered with consistence and persistence. Most newer VAs often work much harder on their marketing than they have to. Going to a networking event here and sending out a direct mail piece there make it challenging for clients to notice you.

Since it takes between 7 to 21 impressions for a potential client to notice you, you are much better off picking just 3 marketing strategies and delivering them consistently. Better yet, pick 3 marketing strategies that would best reach your target market specifically and you'll generate a consistent flow of clients.

6. Change Your Relationship with Your Business

What's wrong with your relationship with your business? There's probably too much of you in it. Most of us identify with our businesses so fully, we actually hold it back. If you are afraid of marketing, no one will find out about your business. This keeps the business limited to your personal comfort zone. If a client chooses not to work with the business, we take it personally. But it's not about us, it's just business. What's the solution? Appoint yourself CEO of your business and run the business from the perspective of someone who was appointed to make the business succeed. CEOs care about the businesses they work for, but their identities remain separate. If the business isn't doing well, they simply try something else.

7. Establish Referral Partners and Business Alliances

Nearly every Virtual Assistant would prefer her business came through referrals, so she could focus on her actual work. You may well get to this point, but there are some foundation steps you'll need to take to get there.

1. Once you begin saying "no" to business, you'll need other Vas to refer potential clients to. Get to know other Vas who have different niches and specialties than you and make sure they know what your target market is. I always ask any business owner I meet, "how will I know if I've bumped into your ideal client?" They always follow suit and ask me the same question.

2. With a clear target market, it will be easy to identify other professionals who would make great business alliances. If you work with home-based business owners, you should have strategic alliances with a CPA, lawyer, marketing consultant and even the local print shop.

8. Diversify Your Income Sources

When you started your business, you probably dreamed of unlimited income, or at least much more than you were making in your last job. But when your product is a service, you are limited to the number of physical hours you can work. If you want to make more money, you have to work more hours. Not exactly every business-owner's dream.

There is another choice - diversify your offerings beyond active income. Active income requires your involvement. The alternative is passive income. Passive income can be earned even if you aren't directly involved. Having a book to sell is an example of passive income. Once you've written it, you no longer have to be actively involved for someone to buy the book (besides the marketing and distribution, that is).

What are some possible passive income ideas for Virtual Assistants? Instead of a book, you could write an ebook or booklet on your specific area of expertise. (Remember, not everyone is an expert on keeping organized or fully utilizing their email system, even though it seems so easy for you).You could also create a quick one-hour class, record it and sell the recording. What's great about creating products is that you can sell them to clients who might not otherwise be able to afford to work with you, and you earn the extra income.

While you may not get rich through passive income sources, it will supplement your earnings with very little effort on your part. Imagine going on vacation and still earning money while you are away…

About the Author

Dawn Nichol is a Small Business Coach who specializes in working with newer Solo-Entrepreneurs as they create profitable and sustainable businesses. She supports clients in "getting real" when it comes to starting a business and provides tools for clients to grow businesses headed for success.

Her web community, The Solopreneur Zone, offers support for Solopreneurs in the form of teleclasses, coaching, newsletter, and free programs and resources.

To learn more about her new cost-effective Coaching Membership program and to sign up for her free newsletter, visit http://www.solopreneurzone.com.