Episode 35: Setting Boundaries in Your Freelance/Virtual Assistant Business

Full Episode Transcription:

(00:07):
Hello everybody. Today’s episode of the Ditch the Classroom podcast is all about setting boundaries in your virtual assistant business. When you started this business or you’re thinking about starting it, you’re doing so probably because you want more time-freedom to spend with yourself and your family. If you don’t have clear boundaries with your clients and in your business, then that’s going to take away that time. So, it’s extremely important to set those clear boundaries from the beginning with your clients so that they know what they can expect from you and they don’t cross that line. Take this from somebody who did not set clear boundaries in the beginning and let some clients walk all over me. Please, please listen to this advice. I wanna save you from some potential hardships, potential tears, and I wanna save you just that energy.

(03:05):
You wanna give that energy to your family. You don’t wanna be drained by some clients who overstep those boundaries. So boundary number one is time. How quickly can your clients expect to get a response from you? You don’t wanna set the expectation that you’re gonna respond within five minutes of their message. Generally, I recommend having a clause in your contract and very clear outline that they can expect a response from you within 24 business hours. Now sometimes you’re going to get back to them faster, but you do wanna just have that in there just as a buffer in case, you know, they send you a message at 5:00 PM on Friday. Like they can’t expect you to respond that quickly. So 24 business hours is a good kind of buffer to have in your contract.

(04:09):
Another aspect of time is turnaround time with a project. So for example, if you’re doing social media management for a client, how quickly can they expect to get their social media posts done for the month? If they don’t get you their photos ’til late, they can’t expect you to have all those social media posts done 24 hours after they’ve submitted them. They need to have set deadline, okay? Your photos are due here. And then a week later, I’ll have your content ready from when your photos are sent to me. So they need to have a really clear outline of when those dates are, that they’re expected to get stuff to you so that you can get stuff back to them in a timely manner. Also, kind of already mentioned this, but just going a little deeper, what hours will you be available to answer questions and/or be available to meet them? So if you’re not gonna be working on the weekends, you need to have that be clear in your communication.

(05:11):
If you’re still teaching and you’re not gonna be available during the work day, then you need to have that laid out clearly as well. You’re not an employee for them. So, they can’t really expect you to have set hours that you are just focusing on their projects, but you need to be clear about this up front so that they know when they can expect responses from you. Boundary number two is communication. How do you want them to communicate with you best so that you can keep track of what they’re needing. So do you want them to just communicate via email? Do you want them to communicate with Voxer? If you don’t know what Voxer is, it’s just a free text messaging app that allows you to send texts or voice notes without having your actual phone number. DO NOT – I’m gonna repeat this again, DO NOT give out your personal phone number.

(06:09):
You wanna be able to turn off notifications from work and not having it come through when you’re spending time with your family. Use Voxer. Use Slack. Those are kind of the two most popular ones, or just use email. If you are good at checking and organizing and not losing emails. You also wanna set firm foundations of where can they not contact you with work related issues. So if they’ve added you on Facebook or they follow you on Instagram, make sure that they know they cannot message you on either of those platforms with work-related issues that you need to take care of, because those are likely to get lost. Needs to be sent in either the email, Voxer, whatever you’re using, not those platforms. And again, not your personal phone number. If you offer meetings with your clients, when will they take place?

(07:04):
Are they billed additionally for more meetings? So I do the Discovery Call is free. For my website design clients, I have a kickoff call where we strategize their whole entire website and what we’re gonna be doing. That’s included in the price they’ve already paid, and then anything extra I would charge for. So if you’re – definitely if you’re charging hourly, you should be including any meetings you have with your clients, that should be tracked towards your hours they paid for. So that should count as some of the time they’ve paid for. Also, how you wanna let them know how they can effectively utilize the communication platform you chose. So, if you are using Voxer, which has the ability for voice notes, you wanna make sure they’re not leaving you 10 minute long voice notes all the time. Voice notes should be only one to two minutes, if not less and not overwhelming.

(08:08):
If it needs to be more than two minutes, then it needs to be a typed out email or a meeting, basically. So you wanna make that clear too, right off the bat. And then also you don’t want them sending 20 million emails because that’s hard to keep track of. So you wanna be clear. Send me all your notes in one email so I can keep track and make sure that I’m being as effective in your business as possible and not wasting the time that you paid for trying to decipher what you’re needing through all these emails. So just being very, very clear up front. So some ways to implement what I’ve already mentioned with boundary number one, time boundary, number two, communication. As soon as they become a client, giving them a welcome email or a welcome packet, or a combination of both that states these boundaries.

(09:02):
So when are you available to work? When, how fast can they expect to hear a response from you? When are due dates each month for stuff they need to get to you, so you can get everything done that you need to? How can you communicate with each other if your using Voxer, give your username for that, or if your email give your email. Also, including in your contract, clauses about these things. So, 24 business hours before you respond, due dates must be met for clients getting the information to the service provider, if due dates are not met, then the project will be pushed back, things like that. Now, what do you do if a client oversteps your boundary? Maybe they just forgot. Maybe they’re a little pushier than they need to be. Maybe they see you as an employee. Maybe you’re their first freelancer they’ve hired and they don’t really know what the expectations are.

(10:06):
So, number one: do not give in. Do not give in to them overstepping that boundary. You need to be clear about what it is they overstepped and how they can expect you to handle that in the future. It’s important to refer to your contract or welcome email. So they know you’ve already mentioned this boundary before. It’s very strict. You’re not gonna overstep it. They’re not gonna overstep it. And just be clear that you they’ve already agreed to this. So you can say, “Per the contract, I communicate via Voxer as that’s the best way to make sure I don’t miss any communication with you. So please send me this message again, over on Voxer.” And you can close it at that. So again, do not, do not let clients overstep that boundary because it can be a very, very hard thing to turn around. Once you make one little exception, they’re gonna eventually start walking all over you.

(11:04):
Now, some clients won’t, but there’s a few that will. So you just wanna be very careful. Again, you started this business to save your time and your energy and give more time to your family and the ones that matter. So you don’t wanna have clients overstepping that all the time and taking that time away from you. Alright, I wanna close out this episode in a little prayer with you guys. God, I pray that you help these women create a business that sets their soul on fire, and that gives them the freedom and flexibility that they’re looking for. I pray that you help them set clear boundaries and hold true to them so that they can avoid burnout and can create a business around their life and family. Instead of the other way around God, I just pray that you bless these women, that you bring them clients that love them and cherish them and respect those boundaries. In Jesus’ name. Amen.