(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...Really, really smart thinking by Admiral James Stockdale (tip of the hat to Perry Marshall for noting it):
“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end (which you can never afford to lose) with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Whew! What a hectic last two weeks it’s been. I am always energized when I get to talk with fellow Virtual Assistants and Administrative Consultants, but I tell ya, putting on live events is a LOT of time and work. My “Value-Based Pricing & Packaging” Biz Intensive went really well AND I was able to package it up as a self-study course even quicker than I imagined! (Of course, I’d been working on it since February but I hit a block and had to set it aside for awhile. Once I took it back up again, everything fell into place.)
For those who missed the live class, you can now purchase it as a self-study guide from the store (includes 23 page PDF guide of tools, info, exercises and samples and two MP4 presentation videos). Plus, I’m going to give you a HUGE discount for the next few hours only! There’s no special code or anything to enter. Just purchase the product and you’ll automatically get $50 off if you purchase by midnight, August 5 (that’s this Thursday).
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Here’s an article published this week in The Portable Business™, which you can subscribe to here.
It’s true to a certain extent that you may lose some prospects by not getting back to them right away. At the same time, you’d never get any work done if you answered every call the second the phone rang. It can be crazy-making to even try. As with most things, instituting smart policies and procedures in your business will help you improve your response times and communications. Here are a few tips:
Remember, in order to give great service you have to set foundations (policies, standards, protocols, workflows) in your business that enable you to do that consistently and sustainably.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...An Internet marketer recently announced (in the typical hypey fashion of Internet marketers) that she “shockingly” wasn’t going to do an ezine anymore.
My first thought was big deal. What’s so all-fired earth-shattering about that? If something isn’t working for ya, by all means, stop wasting the time and energy. And if you want to start charging for something that you previously gave away for free, just do it. No need to contrive any artifice as an excuse.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that maybe a thing that isn’t working could work if it were just done a different way.
Here’s what I know:
Ezines can be done well and they can be done not so well. They can be done simply or they can be done in way that makes them difficult, complicated, burdensome and unsustainable.
Having put out an ezine every Monday for, what, four years or so now, I can tell you that if done right, they can absolutely be a fantastic pipeline and additional marketing channel for your business.
I would also tell you (and the Internet marketer) that just because the feedback or participation isn’t readily apparent, that doesn’t mean it’s not working for you. I sometimes get frustrated with people’s timidity in our industry. But I have to remind myself that sometimes new thinking and ideas put forth are so completely different from the status quo, people don’t know what to make of it at first. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t paying attention. Because I can see very clearly, not just from my Aweber stats and reports, but also through all the times I hear that someone found me or connected with me via the ezine (or my blog, for that matter), that they are opening and reading and saving and forwarding it.
I wouldn’t abandon the idea of doing an ezine just because some Internet marketer dropped hers and now declares them dead for everyone. The key here is to really know your stuff as well as your target market. Because if you don’t, you’re not going to have much to say that is going to be of interest and value to them.
Ezines can be a great tool for growing the know-like-trust factor and nurturing relationships along. But for an ezine to be successful, there has to be some commitment on your part. You have to write about things your audience will find useful and interesting and you need to have a regular and consistent publishing schedule.
Another thing I think is really important is authenticity. So many ezines are following the most obvious 1-2-3 steps… they get so caught up in following the Internet marketer stock-in-trade formula (talk about your kids/pets, launch into self-promotion, feature article, resource) they end up losing their own voice. Hey, I’m sure your kids are great (just as I think mine is), but I’m really not interested in hearing about them week after freaking week. It’s just so obviously disingenuous and manipulative. Then again, maybe I’ve just got more of a nose for the bullshit factor than most people, LOL. (Anyone else feel me on this?).
Anyway, you want to keep it short and sweet so that a) it doesn’t become a drag, and b) you’re an easy read. There’s no point in doing an ezine (or anything for that matter) if you eventually hate doing it or it’s so long that it’s too much work for your audience to pay attention to. If you can remember who your audience is (that is, for God’s sake, stop writing for colleagues and focus on your clients and what they’re interested in instead) and keep it real so they can really connect with you as a person (and not simply as some Internet marketer trying to capture the money of the masses), an ezine can be a wickedly wonderful way to grow your list and nurture relationships. Of course, as with anything, an ezine isn’t the only way to do that.
You don’t have to do an ezine at all. Your business isn’t going take a nosedive just because you decide not to do an ezine. In fact, I would advise against it if you aren’t up the challenges outlined above. But then again, you never know unless you try it out. 
Bottom-line, there are good reasons for not doing an ezine. Ditching the idea just because it didn’t work for someone else isn’t one of them.
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Ever hear a client utter these words? It’s probably the most grating sentence in the Virtual Assistant world today.
But what if you knew exactly how to respond… what if you offered your services in a way that didn’t focus whatsoever on hourly rates? Wouldn’t that be a total game changer? It’s not so annoying when you actually begin to love responding to that kind of question (or when you don’t even get it in the first place).
…If you frequently encounter price resistance with clients and want to know what to do about it;
…If you have trouble getting clients to commit;
…If you struggle with articulating your value to clients, talking about your fees and feeling confident in them;
…If you find the whole topic of pricing difficult, I can help you!
Today is the last day to register for my Value-Based Pricing & Packaging Biz Intensive. I have just a few spots left. What I will teach you in this clinic will help you:
…all without discounting, negotiating or justifying your fees whatsoever!
Learn more and register by midnight tonight >>
I’d love to “see” you there!
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Starting a Virtual Assistant business, or any business for that matter, is going to be a journey. You won’t just open your doors overnight and bam! you’ve got clients, you’re making money and all goes perfectly, smoothly. It will not all fall into place and come together neatly with a bow on top without any glitches or stops and starts along the way.
You will grow in stages. Your learning and business evolution will be ongoing. What you know and understand now will be nothing compared to what you come to know and understand a year from now, two years from now, and so forth. After five years, you’ll look back and marvel at how much you didn’t know (but thought you did). You may even chuckle and feel a little sheepish about how you railed at and resisted the advice of those who have gone before and, as you realized later, actually knew what they were talking about.
Not that any of this is a bad thing. It’s all a normal part of the process. It’s also why these kind of conversations exist on blogs and forums and so forth and are beneficial to your growth. People naturally want to help others. So even though you are not going to know everything right off the bat–and no one expects you to–they will raise your business consciousness. You might never have seen a path otherwise without it having been brought up in a discussion. Or things might have taken you much longer in business than need be without hearing about the mistakes of others. Without these conversations and help from your colleagues, you might keep banging your head upside the same old walls. Likewise, some things might not make sense to you in the beginning, but you come to understand them more clearly later after you’ve gained some experience under your belt. You suddenly “get” it.
Part of what got me to thinking on this was some recent correspondence with a colleague I hadn’t heard from in awhile. She related how she was agonizing over perfecting things. She was also so busy that she’d finally gotten to the point where she was actively seeking her own VA. She lamented that a few recent prospective clients she had consultations with weren’t so ideal. And while another one was really great, she still wasn’t happy with her consultation process and felt she could have done better.
And while she was angsting over all this, I’m seeing nothing but marvelous stuff! She’s established a pipeline and is getting consultations! She’s also got a way better idea where she wants to head with them than she did a year ago. She’s fine-tuning things to suit her needs and she’s able to more quickly identify who is right for her and who isn’t. These are all signs of business maturation and growth!
So many people who play it safe, who are so afraid of failing or making a mistake they never try anything new, who never open their minds to advice that goes against the idiotic status quo, never, ever reach these stages. Which is really sad.
So you’ve got to remind yourself now and again that growing in your business isn’t necessarily always going to be comfortable. You are going to agonize and twist and turn as you hone your processes and try new things. You simply aren’t growing without some discomfort and mess. And you will make what you feel are mistakes and gaffes, but they really aren’t. They are merely learning processes.
And honing is something that will occur throughout the life of your business. That is, if you’re doing it right. You will never reach “perfection.” I think it’s entirely the wrong word to be associating with in the first place. I like to think of business as an artwork in progress. And “progress” is something that is always evolving, forwardly and upwardly.
So embrace these things! What you’re going through is absolutely normal. You’ve got to pat yourself on the back for stepping up and allowing yourself to make mistakes and feel uncomfortable! Be proud about where you are now compared to where you were when you started!
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...I’m really excited about my upcoming Pricing & Packaging Biz Intensive next week. We’ve got a great group of people signed up so far. There are a few more spots available; be sure and sign up by July 19. What you learn in this clinic will blow your mind and revolutionize your business. Plus, as a registrant, you’ll get a ton of hardcopy tools and information to begin you on your journey toward improved billing, marketing and consulting with clients!
In the meantime, I want to invite you to ask me any questions you might have. For example, maybe you aren’t sure what I mean when I ask “Are you selling hours instead of expertise?” Or after watching my quick video below, you want to know more about why selling hours is debilitating your business, limiting your income and scaring away prospective clients. Ask me anything! I’ll post the good ones here for everyone and I will automatically keep your name and information confidential.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Dear Gritty VA:
I submit final draft of my business plan to my mentor soon (I can’t thank you enough for the Virtual Assistant Business Plan template you have included in your packages). My question is for the financial aspect of the business plan… calculating the income taxes. There are so many websites out there and not one that offers suggestions of what a Virtual Assistant/ home-based business could file. I mean, you have state, federal, etc. Is it just the same when you are taking an owner’s withdrawal vs. salary? I really want to check all of my resources before I pay an accountant for the same thing I can find myself. –MK
I love to see how you are doing your actual homework! I can’t stress enough to new business owners the importance of not being penny wise and pound foolish. What I mean by that is I think every business owner should do this homework to make sure they have a good grasp of these things. That way, when they do talk with an accountant and/or business attorney, the information makes more sense; they understand it at a more cellular level. But even after doing your own homework, it is more than wise to still consult with an accountant and/or business attorney.
The reason you can’t find all this info spelled out for you is because… it all depends. Your business formation will be relevant. If you are in the U.S., besides federal obligations, different states and localities will have their own varying requirements. Every person’s situation and circumstances are different. Therefore, there’s just no way around simply going to all the pertinent agencies in your own location, talking to them and getting the low-down on exactly what your particular tax, licensing and reporting obligations are. And don’t expect one agency to know the particulars of another. It’s not their place and relying on wrong info they might give can cost you. You need to talk with each one.
As far as figures go, you can figure on 15.3% right off the bat to Uncle Sam. Technically, it’s 12.4% for Social Security up to $106,800 and 2.9% for Medicare. After $106,800, you only have to pay for the Medicare portion of the self-employment taxes. However, things can get more confusing depending on individual circumstances, like for example, if you have a job in addition to running a business. Personally, I don’t worry about cut-offs and just keep setting the same amounts aside. Anything extra can go into the fund for future payments or turned over to savings. (And realistically, it’s not likely that you would even hit the $100,000 mark, if at all, until several years in business. Not that’s it’s not possible; it’s just that most VAs don’t know how to work with clients or run their businesses in a way that allows them to reach that potential.)
But 15.3% isn’t all that you want to set aside for taxes from your business income…
As far as your state goes, you want to find out if there is an income tax or not (some states have one while others don’t). How much is it? When do you need to pay it? Does your state require a business license? How much is that? How often must it be renewed? What are your reporting obligations?
Your city, even your county, may also have their own business licensing and tax requirements as well. You’ll need to find all of this out.
As you can see, there’s no one-size fits all answer. It all depends. And this is exactly why it is always in your best interests to work with an accountant and/or business attorney. Even if you think you understand things or have covered all your bases. Because unless you are an accountant or attorney, you simply don’t always know what you don’t know. And they can literally save your butt from making potentially costly errors, giving you the right advise based on your own particular set of circumstances and business formation and saving you all kinds of time, energy and money trying to figure all that stuff out on your own.
PS: No, an owner’s draw is not the same thing as a salary. Just one of the myriad bits of knowledge you must know about in order to do your own bookkeeping.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...YOU have to decide–specifically and clearly–what you’re in business to do.
If you fall to pieces and think you have to start over the second one uninformed client doesn’t get it or looks at you cross-eyed…
If you blow with the wind every time a client thinks you should be doing this and doing that, you’re never going to get anywhere, and your life and business will be anything but your own.
You can’t please everyone. Not everyone is going to get it. And you can’t be in business to do everything that everyone wants.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...You might be asking yourself, “Why would I pay someone else to do administrative work I can do myself? It seems like it would be easier and cheaper to do it myself.” The operative word here is “seems.” Because in all honesty, trying to do everything yourself actually exacts a heavy price in your business, far more than you realize. Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. So let me tell you why you would want to work with an Administrative Consultant.
The bottom-line is that you squander more than you save by trying to do it all yourself. What you gain in time, energy, ease and progress will always be greater than any fees you pay for a competent, expert Administrative Consultant.
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Posts to this blog are the intellectual property of Danielle Keister. However, you are authorized to make certain use of them pursuant to a Creative Commons License. Under the terms of that license, you can copy or republish any post, for any non-commercial purpose, so long as you attribute the post to this blog.
NOTE: The terms "Gritty VA," "Gritty Virtual Assistant," and "Saucy business savvy for clients and colleagues from a Virtual Assistant industry veteran" did not exist in the public domain when this blog was launched August 2005. The author claims exclusive right to use those terms as identifying marks for this weblog and other written, digitized or electronic use, pursuant to U.S. and International copyright and trademark laws.
This weblog is published by Danielle Keister, The Relief Virtual Assistance and Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce. If you would like permission to reprint any of my published columns, please contact me at word@grittyva.com. At all times you may provide the link to these copyrighted columns when referencing them in any form.
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