Stay organised by managing your virtual assistant business like a pro.
LEARN HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL VIRTUAL ASSISTANT
Own business tasks –
Being a virtual assistant, you spend most of your time completing tasks for other people. Sometimes your own business tasks can fall behind. Make sure you keep up by ensuring you are dedicating some time to nurture and grow your business. This means you need to set apart some time weekly or daily. I recommend using a project management app like Trello or Clickup to manage your to-do list according to priority. When it comes to how to run a virtual assistant business, there are many factors involved that ensure overall success.
Client tasks
Rule of thumb: If a client gives you a deadline, aim to have the task completed at least 48 hours in advance and schedule in time to make final checks before sending to the client.
You want to remain professional and maintain a good relationship with your clients by making sure you complete all tasks by the time that you agreed.
Marketing
Create a marketing plan. This should feature your targets and how often you will be working on your marketing plan. You can find more information on how to write a marketing plan for your virtual assistant business here.
Billing
As much as you enjoy your career, you still want to get the rewards on time. Setting up recurring billing with your clients should ease the hassle. This is a great site to get template letters for debt collection should it ever come to that.
Client Communication
You can agree with new clients when you take on work what method of marketing they prefer. Remember that it is your business, and if there is a method of contact that is not suitable, then stick to your policy and let them know an alternative instead. There is a section for client communication on the client consultation form. You can download this here for free.
Team communication
Having clear communication with other team members is key when relying on others to get things done. We use ClickUp to create team tasks and assign them to different members. Team members can add updates, add a new task, ask questions and change the status from either complete, information request, or stuck to alert management that there is an issue. This has saved so much time rather than making phone calls to each team member or sending individual emails back and forth. I also sometimes send information via our team WhatsApp group to reach the whole team at once.
Each team member either downloads the app to track their tasks, or they can sign in online.
Environment
Ideally, you want to work from a desk and keep it clutter-free. Keep paperwork to a minimum and have a place where you can store or file paperwork. There is only ever these items around me.
- Laptop
- Forms
- Marketing plan
- Diary with appointments etc. Time off / unavailable scheduled clearly
- Daily To-Do list
- Notebook
Try keeping only the tabs you need open. Having multiple tabs open at a time can cause you to lose track and waste time searching for the right one. As soon as I finish a task, I close the tab and only make sure I have tabs open which I definitely need.
It’s also important to note that you should make sure you are not receiving notifications for things that can potentially distract you. As well as ensuring the environment around you is quiet enough for you to concentrate.
Policies
Setting clear policies will ensure that you are working on your own terms. It’s easy to still think like an employee when you’re a virtual assistant, especially when working on other people’s businesses. Still, you are a business owner, just like the people you complete tasks for. Remember to stay true to yourself. If you have a policy of taking a 50% deposit upfront, then this is something you need to stick to. You are the creator of your business, so chances are there is a reason you put this in place, so be sure to enforce it. The same goes for ensuring a contract is created and signed. You can find virtual assistant contracts here.
Responsibilities
Most virtual assistants aim to try and secure retainer clients that purchase a block of hours each month. This gives a sense of security as to where your income will come from for the next few months. This also means that you need to be in it for the long haul. If a client has paid you to do a set amount of work each week, then you really need to go through with that and make sure you will be responsible enough to manage your time to fulfil this.
As well as time management, there are other responsibilities that you also need to consider, such as Tax deadlines etc.
Goals
You have a much better chance to become a successful virtual assistant if you set clear goals and targets for your business.
Enjoy
Remember to have fun.
This is your idea you are creating, and you want to ensure it is something that you will enjoy. You will need to invest your time and energy to get the best results, so you might as well enjoy it as you do it.
If you haven’t already enrolled in our FREE virtual assistant business management course you can do so here, we cover all these points in more detail and show you how to be a successful virtual assistant and manage your business like a pro.
VA Business Management Course
