Your Virtual Assistant Mindset Is Key To Managing Your Fears – Especially While Starting Out!

Your Virtual Assistant mindset can keep you stuck and even become a stumbling block. This is especially true for some of the specific topics I’ll be addressing today. Remember, fear is what stops most people from living their dreams and achieving their full potential. It’s about action, not perfection.

#1 – Mindset

Mindset affects every single thing that you do in life. Now, we’re going to focus on it from a business point of view. You have to realize, how you think, and what you think affects the overall success of your business. I think one of the biggest things for me is I’m an over-thinker. I can overthink anything.

Overthinking

It took me a while to figure out that overthinking was causing me to stay stuck because I kept thinking about things instead of doing them. Now, here’s the thing with overthinking, you’re not going to know if what you’re thinking is going to work until you push it out to the world and see what happens. Failure is not the end of the world, it means you’re trying. When you’re overthinking, you’re keeping yourself stuck.

Perfectionism

Be careful if you have perfectionist tendencies as well – they can stop you in your tracks. I am a recovering perfectionist-over thinker. So I have to really step back sometimes and look at, “Okay, am I just being a perfectionist? Am I overthinking this?” I need to remember good is good enough. Get it out there, get started, and then you could make tweaks as you go along.

You’re going to learn from pushing something out to the universe if you will just do it. Overthinking, perfectionist, procrastination, those three things are usually intertwined. Because you’re overthinking, you’re thinking it’s not good enough, then you procrastinate about actually putting it out. Those things sometimes work together.

#2 – Thinking Like An Employee

Now, this can be a hard one. If you’ve been an employee for most of your life, like I was, it’s very hard to stop thinking like one. One of the biggest things is you don’t have to ask for permission anymore. It’s your business, your choice. That’s my motto. You get to make the decisions on who you work with, how much you earn, and so much more.

It really makes a difference when you realize that if you’re waiting for the direction it might be time for you to put on your CEO hat and make those decisions yourself. Watch for your employee behavior and habits because it’s something that’s very easy to fall back into.

#3 – Self-Worth

If you have issues with charging what you’re worth or if you’re always undercutting your rates to try to land clients, you might want to look at your self-worth. If you don’t believe you’re worth it (whatever it might be) then nobody else is going to. This is one of the reasons I say “Don’t work for free”. You’re selling your expertise and your knowledge, don’t start off by giving it away for free. You need to charge for it! Value yourself and how your knowledge helps clients.

#4 – Confidence

Confidence comes with experience. But, most people start as a VA without experience like myself. You can’t get experience until you do something. Experience brings confidence. How can you get experience? Well, you can subcontract for another VA to get experience, or you can offer what I call a launch special.

A launch special where you offer a new service for a lower rate to get experience. The client gets a discounted rate while you get experience. It is NOT the same as learning on the job. You’re looking to get experience NOT learn a new skill. A launch special can help you get that while building your confidence. You’re going to have to put yourself out there to get experience as a VA, there’s no other way around it.

#5 – Deciding On A Business Name

Don’t overthink this. Just use your name because you are a personal brand. Your business name doesn’t need to include the word Virtual Assistant or VA. In fact, I encourage you to stay away from using either one because VA is not a title, it’s an industry.

Focus on something that resonates with you or, if this is keeping you stuck and you can’t move forward, then just choose your name. If your name is not available then use your middle initial in your name, use your maiden name. Come up with something that’s very simple because you can always rebrand. Don’t let this keep you stuck. Because, at the end of the day, your business name doesn’t tell people what you do. That’s what marketing is all about.

#6 – Marketing

I think some of the biggest “stuck points” have to do with marketing. You know your target market, ideal client, how to market, and where to find clients. These all lump together because it’s all about marketing.

Target Market

First off you need to define WHO you want to work with. Not everyone is your client. And saying that entrepreneurs or solopreneurs are your target market is way too broad. You really need to focus on targeting a specific profession or industry. What do I mean by that?

For example, coaching is an industry. But you can even go further and say, business coach, life coach, health coach, finance or money coach (down to a specific profession). Defining a target market and an ideal client is what helps you find and get clients. A target market is simply who you want to work with. So, start by narrowing it down to an industry or profession.

Ideal Client

Your ideal client, also known as a dream client – these are the people who you love working with. They have the traits that you enjoy working with.

They’re not somebody, for instance, who is a micromanager. I don’t work well with micromanagers or what I call a firefighter, which is somebody whose hair is always on fire and everything’s urgent and was supposed to be done yesterday. Those types of clients are not ideal for me because I don’t work well with them.

You start with your target market, an industry, or profession, and then you define it down into the traits that you’re looking to work with. Because not everybody in that industry or profession will be right for you. The big question now is where to find clients.

How To Get Clients

First remember, marketing is nothing more than sharing. But it’s NOT selling. Marketing and selling are two different things. Marketing is awareness. Selling is selling. When it comes to marketing, you want to create great content to get your market’s attention. It’s the perfect way to show people you actually know what you’re talking about.

It’s all about sharing your brilliance! Blog, create a checklist to give away as a freebie, share your expertise on social media, or create how-to videos or audios. There are so many different ways to share your expertise – go with what is most comfortable for you. They need to get to know you, to like you, and to trust you before they’re going to sign on the dotted line.

Have a look at my Ultimate VA Success Guide: 8 Tips On How To Get Clients As A VA if you feel like you need more help or watch my free Masterclass on Getting VA Clients.

#7 – In-Demand Services + Skills

First I will say that the VA Industry is changing. Clients want more than admin skills. They can do their own admin work but many can’t create systems or use the technology that runs and automates their business. Clients want help with systems and technology.

Now, I’m not saying that admin skills aren’t important, they’re just not an in-demand skill anymore. Systems and technology are the tools that clients want and need. Plus they pay on average twice as admin-based skills.

Check out my Ultimate VA Success Guide: 4 Truths About The Most In-Demand VA Services if you want to get more input related to this topic.

#8 – Have A Plan

Many people decide they want to start a VA business but don’t have any idea where to start or what to do. My advice is to create a plan first. A plan can help keep the overwhelm in check and keep you focused so you can leave your soul-sucking job or whatever your dream is.

Start with simply creating a schedule of when you’re going to do your research and stick to it. If you’re looking for a done-for-you plan that walks you through all the steps to setting up and launching a VA business be sure to check out my VA Biz Action Plan Bundle.

That’s it! Thank you for reading. I’d love to know if you found this information helpful – please share it below as a comment. All comments and questions are welcome.

Thanks for listening and reading – Susan