Last week I had a conversation with a Virtual Assistant who was struggling to get out of nickel and dime project work and find more reliable, consistent clients and income. She wasn’t new to the industry, but so far, she wasn’t having any success in making the leap to retained clients, which is what she wanted, and she simply couldn’t live off what little she earned doing project work.

A quick look at her website told me that part of the problem was that she wasn’t making it clear that’s the kind of work she did and the kind of clients she wanted. As the saying goes, you won’t get what you don’t ask for.

She was also having trouble wrapping her brain around the idea of narrowing her sights down to a specific target market. She couldn’t understand why you would want to do that. In her words, “All I want to do is work with anyone who needs administrative support.”

There isn’t anything wrong with wanting that. The problem is, as she is continuing to experience, you can’t be everywhere, talking to everyone, and make any kind of effective, expedient, compelling, unique impact. Today’s article in The Portable Business™ was inspired by this conversation…

Where Is Your Arrow Pointing?

Are you a small business owner trying to connect with people you can help? How do you know who you can help? What exactly do they need help with? Where can these people be found? And once you find them, how can you craft a unique and compelling message that will resonate with these folks?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, more than likely you’re trying to do business without any direction. The result is that getting clients is haphazard at best and the clients you do get are not particularly ideal for you. You expend an enormous amount of time and energy marketing and networking all over the place in the hopes that someone, anyone, (pretty please?!) will need your services. You’re shooting your arrows in all directions and not hitting much of anything in the process. Are you exhausted yet?

Fear is usually what keeps business owners from focusing on one specific market. New business owners are naturally eager to get clients and they fear restricting their options because they don’t want to miss any opportunities. It seems completely counter-intuitive, but getting clients can be so much easier by simply narrowing your trajectory.

Benefits of Pointing Your Arrows Toward a Target Market

• When you know who you’re concentrating on, it’s much easier to learn everything you can about a particular market and its common needs, pains and objectives.
• When you know who you’re talking to, you can create a message that will be music to their ears.
• You’ll be able to tailor much better, more attractive solutions just for them.
• It’s much easier to find your would-be clients online and off.
• When you have direction, it’s far easier to identify what actions to take and where.
• Instead of trying to be everywhere, talking to everyone, you can focus your best, most fruitful efforts mixing and mingling with your target market.
• In turn, you’ll have much more time and energy for actually working with clients once they start coming in the doors.
• It’s much easier to systemize and manage your business when you cater to a specific clientele.
• Your work also becomes much easier and your expertise in serving that market increases, allowing you to make more money.

So what’s not to love about having a target market? The only opportunities you’ll be missing out on are those that would have taken forever to come your way anyway. Take aim and start building your business more quickly today.