Episode 260: Virtual Assistant Permission Slips – 3 Things I Do in My Virtual Assistant Business That You Can Do Too

Full Episode Transcription:

[00:00:00] Y’all, did you hear the news? We have a free workshop coming up here soon on January 11th, teaching you the five Ps of becoming a successful virtual assistant. We’re going to be covering your positioning, your packaging, your pricing, your portfolio, getting your name out there, all the different things, teaching you where to find those clients. It seriously got so much value and it’s absolutely free. You can check out all the details about the workshop and get registered for it at ariannavernier.com/free-workshop and even if the time doesn’t work for you, as long as you register, you will get a link for that replay sent to your email after the workshop.

[00:00:56] So go check it out at ariannavernier.com/free-workshop or find the link in the show notes. All right, y’all. Today’s episode, I want to talk about three different virtual assistant permission slips. These are three things that I do in my virtual assistant business that you can absolutely do, too. Number one is to set firm boundaries. I don’t want you working all the time. Honestly, you should be working your virtual assistant business 20 hours or less a week if you’re holding your boundaries firm. Now, this means… Turning off work when you’re supposed to and actually spending the time with your family that you said you were going to. Not letting your clients get in touch with you anytime they have a whim of something they need. Having a game plan with your clients for when you’re going to be working, what you’re going to be working on, how you’re going to meet all your deadlines on your schedule and on your time frame. You have to have those boundaries set so firm from the get go. And the ways to do this are to have a welcome email that makes those boundaries clear as soon as they become a client. And the same thing with the contract. Your contract should have your firm working hours, boundaries, how clients can connect with you, what happens if they miss a payment, what the late fees are, all the things. Have those boundaries in place so that when they do potentially start to overstep a little, you can refer back to that email or that contract and just give them a firm but gentle reminder of how they can expect to work with you. I don’t want you to find yourself working 40 plus hours a week again with your virtual assistant business because that’s not going to allow you to give the time to your babies that you want to give. So set those boundaries in place and hold to them.

[00:02:49] All right, the second permission slip I have for you is to raise your prices often. I think a lot of times we just wait for this, I don’t even know how to phrase it, this moment where we’re going to feel confident to raise our prices, or we’re going to feel like, oh, I’ve actually up leveled in my skills, now I can raise my prices. Well, you might not feel that because we all are way too hard on ourselves. So, I just encourage you to pick a number that sounds scary to you and go for that number. Don’t keep comparing all of your pricing to all the other people offering the same service as you because you’re going to get such a wide range, you’re not even going to know what to pick. Just pick that dream number and start chasing that dream number that you want to charge. You don’t have to raise it all the way up to that dream number right away, but start increasing the amount you charge. I don’t know, once a month, twice a month, once every two months. Whatever sounds scary to you, but not like too overwhelming, do that.

[00:03:52] The third permission slip I have for you is to make time to grow your own business, not just your clients. It’s really easy when you get a full plate of clients to just focus on growing their business, but then you might not Find that your business starts to get overlooked. And then if you ever lose any of those clients, it’s going to take you more time to get a new client to replace them because you’ve been slacking on doing what you need to do to maintain and grow your own business. So make that time. Maybe it’s one day a week or just a couple hours a week where you get to focus on the tasks that actually. Grow your business. Just make sure you make that time real quick. Let me recap those three permission slips things I do in my virtual assistant business that you can do in yours.

[00:04:41] Number one is set firm boundaries. Number two is raise your prices often. And number three is to make time to grow your own business, not just your clients businesses. All right, y’all, if you have any questions about any of this or anything at all, I always encourage you to come into our free Facebook community, it’s at facebook.com/groups/virtualassistantmama, drop your questions in there. You can go to the quick tip Thursday post and put your questions there, or just do a new post in the group, whatever works for you. I would love to answer your questions and make sure you’re getting the guidance and support that you need. I love y’all so, so much, and I will see you in the next episode.