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12 Services to Offer as an Ecommerce Virtual Assistant

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Rose Odoemelam

Have you ever heard of an ecommerce virtual assistant?

If you are looking to expand your client base and grow your business, becoming an ecommerce virtual assistant might just be it.

Ecommerce business owners are in constant need of support to manage their online stores, handle customer inquiries, and drive sales.

A lot of ecommerce business owners know their onions when it comes to their niche, but don’t know much when it comes to running their business online. Selling to a walk-in customer is different from selling to an online customer. An online customer can easily be distracted by a dancing cat video or a toddler who just poured water on the bed. So things are different.

By offering specialized services tailored to the needs of ecommerce businesses, you can position yourself as a valuable asset and attract high-paying virtual assistant clients.

In this post, I’ll share 12 essential virtual assistant services that ecommerce business owners need help with, along with tips and strategies to help you land your dream ecommerce clients and build a thriving business.

Ready?

Here are 12 Services You Can Offer As An Ecommerce Virtual Assistant

1. Customer Service and Support

Have you ever thought about what happens when a customer lands on an ecommerce website, eager to make a purchase?

They may have questions about shipping, product details, etc.

This is where you, the ecommerce virtual assistant, can swoop in to save the day. Providing timely and friendly customer service is crucial for ecommerce businesses to build trust and loyalty with their customers.

As an ecommerce virtual assistant, you can handle customer inquiries, address concerns, process orders, and resolve issues via email, chat, or phone. By offering exceptional customer service, you’ll not only keep customers happy but also drive repeat business and referrals for your clients. That alone is a no brainer. Every business would want an asset like that.

2. Order Processing and Fulfillment

Although a virtual assistant works remotely, some ecommerce businesses might need help in this area. Order processing and fulfillment is what happens behind the scenes when a customer clicks “Buy Now” on an ecommerce website.

An ecommerce business owner can rely on you to manage the entire order processing and fulfillment process, from receiving orders to packaging products and coordinating shipments with logistics providers.

All that can be done online from the comfort of your home or under a tree. As long as you have access to the Internet. You can reach out to various teams who maybe working on-site to ensure things go well.

You’ll be behind the scenes, ensuring that orders are processed accurately and efficiently, and customers receive their purchases on time. With your help, ecommerce businesses can streamline their operations and deliver a seamless shopping experience to their customers.

3. Product Listing and Management

Almost everyone with a smartphone or electronic device has shopped online at least once in their life.

The products don’t magically appear online with photos and everything.

Ecommerce business owners need help with listing the product, uploading the product photos, and implementing SEO for each product to ensure it can be found when people randomly search online.

As an ecommerce virtual assistant, you’ll be responsible for ensuring that product listings are accurate, up-to-date, and optimized to attract potential buyers. By showcasing products in the best possible light, you’ll help ecommerce businesses drive traffic and increase sales.

4. Inventory Management

There are two types of ecommerce businesses. An ecommerce business may sell physical or digital products.

With digital products inventory management is not always required because the product isn’t tangible.

On the other hand, physical products require inventory. Imagine running a business without knowing how much stock you have on hand.

Imagine accepting payments for stuff you don’t have, from customers who need their products within an hour.

Chaos, right?

That’s where inventory management comes in.

As an ecommerce virtual assistant, you will track inventory levels, update stock counts, and even reorder products as needed. With your help, ecommerce businesses can avoid going out of stock, avoid overstocking, optimize inventory turnover, and improve cash flow.

By keeping a close eye on inventory levels and implementing efficient inventory management practices, you’ll help ecommerce businesses operate more effectively and profitably.

5. Website Maintenance and Updates

Like any type of website, your favorite ecommerce website isn’t just a static page – it’s a living, breathing entity that requires regular maintenance and updates to stay relevant and competitive.

Ecommerce business owners need help with updating website content, uploading new products, optimizing for search engines, and even troubleshooting technical issues.

As an ecommerce virtual assistant, you’ll be the manager of the website, ensuring that it runs smoothly, loads quickly, and provides a seamless shopping experience for customers. By keeping the website up-to-date, and l user-friendly, you’ll help ecommerce businesses attract and retain customers and stay ahead of the competition.

Is this already sounding like something you’d love to help ecommerce business owners with?

There’s more.

6. Social Media Management

Social media is a powerful tool for ecommerce businesses to connect with customers, showcase their products, and drive sales.

Ecommerce business owners need help with managing their social media accounts, creating engaging content, scheduling posts, connecting with their community and analyzing social media metrics.

As an ecommerce virtual assistant, you’ll be the voice behind the brand, engaging with followers, liking, commenting, responding to comments, and building relationships with customers.

By crafting compelling content and fostering meaningful interactions, you’ll help ecommerce businesses increase brand awareness, drive traffic, and generate leads.

7. Email Marketing

Email marketing brings high returns for ecommerce businesses. Show me a successful ecommerce business without an email list and I’ll send you a video of me moonwalking in the market.

It’s almost impossible. If you have email marketing skills you should consider offering email marketing services to ecommerce business owners.

They will need you to help them with tasks like creating and managing email campaigns, segmenting email lists, designing email templates, and analyzing campaign performance.

If you know anything about email marketing, you know how effective personalization and targeting can be. With email marketing you can reach their customers directly, promote products etc.. This will help them nurture leads, build relationships, and increase their bottom line.

8. Content Creation

Content is king in the world of ecommerce, and ecommerce business owners need help with creating high-quality content that resonates with their target audience. As a virtual assistant, you can write blog posts, product descriptions, and marketing copy, as well as create multimedia content such as videos, gifs and infographics.

By producing compelling and informative content, you’ll help ecommerce businesses attract and engage customers, drive traffic to their website, and increase conversions. Your creativity and storytelling skills will be instrumental in helping ecommerce businesses stand out in a crowded marketplace.

9. SEO Optimization

Have you ever wondered why some ecommerce websites appear at the top of search engine results when you’re searching for a product to buy?

It’s all thanks to the magic of search engine optimization (SEO). Ecommerce business owners need help with optimizing their website and product listings for search engines to improve visibility and attract organic traffic.

SEO for product listings is easy. A few tweaks here and there and Google will prefer showing their product over their competitors own.

As an ecommerce virtual assistant, you’ll conduct keyword research, optimize product listings, create SEO-friendly content, and implement on-page and off-page SEO strategies. This will drive organic traffic to their site, increase their online visibility and grow their customer base.

10. Data Analysis and Reporting

Numbers don’t lie – and ecommerce business owners rely on data analysis and reporting to track key performance indicators (KPIs) and make informed business decisions.

As a virtual assistant, you’ll generate reports, analyze data trends, and provide insights to help ecommerce businesses understand their customers, identify opportunities, and optimize their strategies.

By turning raw data into actionable insights, you’ll help ecommerce businesses improve performance, increase efficiency, and achieve their goals.

11. Market Research

Understanding the market landscape is essential for ecommerce businesses to identify trends, assess competition, and identify opportunities for growth.

You can help ecommerce businesses to research market trends, analyze competitor strategies, and gather customer feedback to help them stay ahead of the curve.

By providing valuable market insights and consumer behavior, you’ll help ecommerce businesses make informed decisions that will lead to profit.

12. Administrative Tasks

Last but certainly not least, ecommerce business owners have a myriad of administrative tasks that need to be managed on a daily basis. From email management and calendar management to data entry, virtual assistants play a crucial role in keeping ecommerce businesses running smoothly.

As an ecommerce virtual assistant, you’ll handle administrative tasks effectively in order to allow ecommerce business owners to focus on other growth opportunities. By providing reliable and proactive support, you’ll help ecommerce businesses operate more effectively and achieve their goals.

How to Land Ecommerce Business Owners as Clients

Now that you understand the essential virtual assistant services needed by ecommerce business owners, let’s explore some strategies to help you land your dream clients.

Ready?

i.) Create a Niche

Specialize in a specific area of virtual assistant services, such as social media management or email marketing, to differentiate yourself from the competition and attract clients looking for specialized expertise.

You don’t need to offer all these services to ecommerce business owners.

You can choose to offer only one service to ecommerce business owners and carve a niche for yourself there.

I used to offer only email marketing services to ecommerce business owners and it paid well.

ii.) Build a Strong Online Presence

Showcase your skills, experience, and portfolio on professional networking platforms such as LinkedIn and Upwork. Create a professional website or portfolio to highlight your services and attract potential clients.

iii.) Network Strategically

Join online communities, forums, and networking groups frequented by ecommerce business owners. Participate in discussions, share valuable insights, and build relationships with potential clients to increase your visibility and credibility.

iv.) Offer Free Resources

Create and share valuable resources, such as blog posts, webinars, or e-books, that address common challenges faced by ecommerce business owners. By providing free value upfront, you’ll demonstrate your expertise and attract potential clients to your services.

v.) Provide Exceptional Service

Deliver exceptional service and results to your existing clients to build a strong reputation and generate positive word-of-mouth referrals. Satisfied clients are more likely to recommend your services to other ecommerce business owners in their network.

Vi.) Attend Industry Events

Attend virtual conferences, trade shows, and industry events related to ecommerce to connect with potential clients and stay informed about industry trends and opportunities.

Vii.) Cold Outreach

Don’t be afraid to reach out directly to ecommerce business owners via email or LinkedIn. Personalize your outreach message, highlight your relevant experience and skills, and explain how you can help solve their specific pain points or challenges.

Viii.) Offer a Trial Period

Consider offering a trial period or pilot project to prospective clients to demonstrate the value of your services and build trust. This allows clients to experience firsthand the benefits of working with you before committing to a long-term engagement.

Must Have Skills For Ecommerce Virtual Assistants and Tools You Need To Master

Inbox management (Gmail, Outlook, etc.)
Calendar management (Google calendar)
Telemarketing
Data entry (Google sheets, Excel etc.)
Social media management (Instagram, Tiktok etc.)
Email marketing (Klaviyo, MailChimp etc.)
Search engine optimization
Store setup (woocommerce, Shopify, Zoho commerce etc.)
Website optimization
Website maintenance

If you’d like to learn these skills and offer them to ecommerce business owners (and clients in other industries), I’m inviting you to my membership platform where I teach most of these skills for almost free.

Final Words

By implementing these strategies and offering specialized virtual assistant services tailored to the needs of ecommerce business owners, you’ll position yourself as a valuable partner and attract high-paying clients to grow your business and achieve your goals.

How to Start Making Money Online as a New Mum

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Rose Odoemelam

Becoming a mum is a huge blessing. That blessing can be life changing for a lot of people. I never went back to full-time employment after having my first child in 2021. With my new mum status came the need to have a flexible schedule and I didn’t have child care.

My little family of three lived in a one bedroom apartment, and that made it difficult to bring in a live-in nanny for my daughter. I couldn’t get a trust-worthy live-out nanny anywhere and heard stories from parents who had only bad experiences. Now I have a bigger apartment, two kids and a live-in nanny but I still don’t trust her to care for my kids the way I would. I think all mums secretly feel this way. The only person I trust to care for my kids the way I would, is my mum.

I work from home but watch my nanny like a hawk and constantly have to remind myself that outsourcing doesn’t make me a bad mum.

Things might be the same or a little different for you. Maybe your pre-motherhood job was very demanding and you can’t bear to go back to it with a child in the picture.

As a new Mum, you want to find ways to make money that fits your schedule and gives you time to attend to your child. Between feeding, diaper changes and all, it may be tough to squeeze out time for anything else. But if you want to bring in extra income without going back to paid employment, there are remote jobs you can do. Needless to say, many employers in Nigeria do not want to hire mum with little kids as they tend to have too much on their plates.

That said, work from home opportunities gives a high level of flexibility and is the perfect opportunity for new mums to make money.

So if you are willing to put in some effort, and you have a phone or computer connected to the internet, there are ways to make money online as a new Mum.

6 Ways to Start Making Money Online as a New Mum With No or Very Low Capital

1.) Virtual Tutoring

This is a good way to create convenient schedules and use your expertise in various areas from the comfort of your home. The good thing is that this doesn’t require a teaching certification like regular jobs. Virtual tutors in Math and other Physical sciences are always in high demand. There is also a growing opportunity in teaching English and indigenous languages (French, Igbo, Yoruba, German etc) online. Teaching online is a good way to earn money to cover your personal expenses. You can charge money depending on the age, number of students and subject.

One mum of three that does it amazingly well is Chioma of Adaoma Igbo Language Services. Like me, Chioma is a medical laboratory scientist but quickly transitioned into online tutelage. She teaches Igbo language and has students from various continents. Chioma now earns in dollars, and even got a chance to refuse employment offers from medical laboratories she applied to when she hadn’t started virtual tutoring. Now she has the flexibility she needs to care for her kids and still contribute majorly to her family’s income.

I helped Chioma set up her virtual tutoring business in 2021, now she helps other language coaches set up their business, price, market, etc. If you’re looking to teach any Nigerian language online, contact Choma on Linkedin and be sure to tell her Rose of The Rosepreneur sent you. Her services are affordable and not free.

2.) Start a Blog

Starting your own blog is a great way to make money for new mums. You can blog about any area of interest from your Motherhood journey to Parenting, Fashion and Beauty. Once you gain followers, you can start monetizing your blog with affiliate marketing, ads or sponsored posts. That means you get paid to blog. This is not a fast way to make money and you’ll need to have SEO knowledge if you want to rank and grow fast. I only recommend this if you have a writing and or SEO background as well as a lot of time to explore before making money.

3.) Become a YouTube Creator

If you’re not a writer but love videos, then YouTube might be your jam. Starting a youtube account is free but you’ll need to invest in equipment like a microphone. You don’t need expensive gadgets. If your smartphone has a good resolution, you can start with it and grow from there.

4.) Sell Digital Products

You can make money online as a new mum selling digital products like ebooks, workbooks etc. Consider writing an ebook on any topic you are knowledgeable on. Writing an ebook is not a difficult task. If you don’t want to start from scratch, you can enter prompts on chat gpt and get your complete ebook in one hour or less. Design your ebook using the free version of canva and sell on platforms like selar, paystack etc.

5.) Become an Affiliate Marketer

As an affiliate marketer you don’t have to create anything. All you need to do is to find products other people have already created and market them. Once you are able to sell anything, you’ll get a percentage of the sale. You’re going to need basic knowledge of digital marketing if you want to see results fast.

6.) Become a Virtual Assistant

This is top of the list of remote jobs you can do as a new mum. A virtual assistant performs remote tasks like handling emails, managing social media, writing and so much more in exchange for pay. All you need is being good in English and the ability to use a PC. The beauty of the job is that it can be done in your spare time and you determine how much work you want to do.

The first thing I recommend you do is to look for transitional skills. Many aspiring virtual assistants I talk to feel that they have no skills. Most of them are wrong. The average educated adult has some skills that will come in handy in a virtual assistant career. Some of the skills they use in their 9-5 employment or even undergraduate program are in-demand for virtual assistants.

5 Virtual Assistant Skills You Already Have That Can Help You Make Money Online As New Mum

i) If you’re good at writing, you could offer a wide variety of services like

Editing and Proofreading

Individuals and companies are always in need of editing and Proofreading services. So as a new mum, you can leverage on this. There are websites like upwork and indeed that you can sign up for that connect freelancers with clients. As you complete a project, you will get paid.

Content/Copy Writing

You can also get paid to write for blogs, websites or products/services for sale. This is another great way you can make money as a stay at home mum. You have the opportunity to work as much or as little as you want. You can just search for gigs that fit your schedule.

ii) If you’re good at designing, you could offer a service like;

Graphic design

If you have a creative background, then this is ideal for you. You can browse career websites for clients who need graphic designs like logos, business cards, webinar slides, e-books, etc. You can do your designs from home on your schedule.

iii.) If you have a background in customer service or executive assistance

You can offer services like executive inbox management, calendar management etc. This means you will be responsible for answering a client’s emails, managing their schedule, booking their flights etc.

iv) If you love social media

Then you can focus on just social media or even a single social media platform and grow from there. You’ll need to know how to create content – caption writing, graphic design, video editing for reels etc.

Wrapping up

Sometimes, you may have just been helping out friends and family with those skills you feel it is not a big deal. But you need to realize that what is pretty basic for you might be mind-blowing for a prospective client so don’t look down on yourself! And if you don’t have a laptop or access to a desktop, here are some services you can offer on your smartphone.

So you have a lot of options when it comes to making money online as a new mum. The above are just some of the ways to get started. You can pick the ones that work best for you. So don’t feel stuck at home with no income, there are many opportunities to earn extra income. Whichever you choose, just make sure you enjoy it and get creative.

If virtual assistance sounds like what you’d like to focus on, I can help. I’ll teach you digital skills as well as help you set up your own virtual assistant business. Click here to learn about how I can help you become a virtual assistant even if you don’t have any skills.

How To Prepare Your VA Business For The New Year

Posted on December 29, 2023 by Rose Odoemelam

The holidays are coming to an end in a couple of days. Now is a good time to take stock and prepare your VA business for the new year. While some virtual assistants are focusing on the festivities, others are tinkering about what the new year will bring to their business.

While none of this is bad, in my books, it is better to make concrete plans before partying. That way you’ll have a guilt-free celebration.

I’m a big fan of reviewing your year. Look at everything that worked well for you and note why it worked out.

Look at everything that did not work out for you and discover why it did not work. This also helps you celebrate your wins you might not have noticed. Especially those small steps you took that cascaded into a huge win.

In all this, remember that reviewing your year is only beneficial if you take steps to become better.

Planning is only half the journey. Implementing your plans is what makes the difference.

Once that is done, you’ll be ready to prepare your VA business for the new year.

As a virtual assistant myself, I understand the struggle. We spend all year working in client’s businesses and just want to take time off.

But let’s face it, your clients don’t need a VA this time of the year so it makes sense to use this time to prepare your business for the new year before they are ready to start work in the new year.

8 Steps To Prepare Your VA Business For The New Year

1.) Get a head start on your content creation

This is a perfect time to create content for your business. As VAs we get very busy working with clients and often forget to market our own business. That is a recipe for going from feast to famine. It is a mistake a lot of virtual assistants make. Now you have a down time, it is best to create in advance and use automation to your advantage.

Create social media content for different social media platforms (at least one month worth) and schedule them using a scheduler like zoho social.
Write some blog posts and schedule them on your website.
Write emails to your email list and schedule them to go out on specific dates

You can plan out your strategy for the entire year if you like. But if you don’t have it in you, a 90 day strategy is good enough. You can then check out special events and awareness dates to help you know the kind of content to create depending on your target audience.

2.) Access Your Tools And Systems

You need to take time to review the tools and systems you have in your business. Even if they work well they might be leaving a hole in your wallet. Are they better alternatives?

What will it take to use something else? Sometimes it might not even be tools you use in your own business. It might be tools you use to complete client work.

3.) Create a plan for reaching out to past and current clients

What’s your plan to get back in business once the festivities are out of the way?

This is the time to schedule personalized emails to your past and current clients pitching your ideas. You already know their business so it should be easy for you.

Sometimes they may not know that they need help with something.

Let them know your availability and show eagerness to help. It’s always a win-win.

4.) Plan on how to build your network

In November of 2023, a brand on LinkedIn mentioned one of my blog posts. That single post brought in more than 2,000 email subscribers in one month. Networking and collaborating can’t be overemphasized. Create a list of potential clients you’d like to work with as well as other virtual assistants/creators who also serve your target audience you’d like to collaborate with in the new year.

5.) Gather Social Proof

This is a good time to ask for strong testimonials from clients you have worked with. You can use those testimonials to market your business in the new year. You’ll find this testimonial request kit very helpful

6.) Create events on your calendar based on special events and awareness dates

You might want to take advantage of special dates like valentines, black Friday, fitness awareness month etc. While specific dates like breast cancer awareness month will not make sense for a lot of VAs, it will make sense for a VA for an NGO that promotes cancer awareness, Make sense?

By identifying these dates early on and putting them on your calendar, you can plan around them and ensure that nothing falls through the cracks.

7.) Sort out your finances

Take time to look through your business finances. What brings in the most money? Where is your money going?

What is your income goal for the year? Will your rates stay the same or change? Find out if your business expenses make sense for the income you bring in monthly.

8.) Update your website and social media

If you have the “how to work with me in 2023” post pinned on your Instagram profile, it’s time to update it.

Updating your website is also important. use the time to update your website and social profiles to make sure your business is prepared for the new year. Run a quick website audit to check your site’s health and make sure it’s working fine. Update things like: copyright info on your footer, site speed, links, content, images etc.

Final Words

It is important that you prepare your VA business for the new year. Do it now rather than later. You don’t have to figure out everything at once. Start with the first 90 days. Next year, don’t focus on only working on your client’s business. Create time to work on yours. Schedule and automate what you can to make sure your business is running while you are working with your clients.

3 Important Things To Do Before Taking Time Off Your VA Business

Posted on December 28, 2023 by Rose Odoemelam

The holidays are fast approaching. Your clients are preparing to take time off and maybe you too. This is probably your first time away from your business this year. There are important things you must do before taking time off your VA business.

Although you are your own boss now and can take time off whenever you want, you need to be professional about taking time off. So you’ll have a business to come back to when your vacation, leave etc. is done.

Here are 3 important things to do before taking time off your VA business:

1.) Hire A Subcontractor

You can make money while away from your VA business when you work with a subcontractor. Now this isn’t something you do at the snap of your fingers. You’d need to have reliable subcontractors before you need them.

This way, you can take time off your VA business and be rest assured that they can hold down the forte.

What this means is that you’d have to split your earnings with the subcontractor. So if your client pays you $1000 you will have to find a subcontractor and pay anywhere from $500 to carry out the project.

This is a good solution when you are on maternity leave, sick, caring for a sick relative or just need time to relax and unwind.

I recommend you add in your contract that you will be working with subcontractors from the get go. Even if you don’t have any subcontractors yet.

If you would love to work with a subcontractor or hire a VA to handle things in your business, here’s everything you must know about subcontracting.

2.) Inform Your Clients

If you offer services that don’t require contact with clients often, then you don’t have to inform your clients. As long as they get their projects completed in record time, all will be fine.

However, if you have regular meet-ups with your clients, then you should let them know you’d be taking some time off and who will handle things while you are away.

A simple “I’ll be away for x days and so xyz, who has been working closely with me and fully understands your business will be holding down the forte while I am away. Be sure to reach out to them if you have any questions or concerns”.

That way, your clients won’t feel abandoned. You should also give your clients at least 30 days notice before you take time off. If you also have things within your own business, e.g social media management, you can hire someone to do that for you.

3.) Take on more work than usual before taking time off

I do this a lot. Whenever I need a break I work a lot in advance. I let my clients know way before hand and then work in advance. I offer services like email marketing, website design and SEO blog so it is easy to write and schedule email and SEO blog posts in advance. And if my client needs a sales page or any website design work completed while I am away, I do it as well before taking time off.

My clients are always grateful for the head ups and can manage on their own while I am away.

If they desperately need help and I don’t have a subcontractor assigned to them, I step in. It’s usually for little tasks here and there maybe once a week.

Nothing major.

Depending on why you are taking time off your business, you may not be able to help out at all. So decide what works best for you and communicate with your client.

Final Words

Doing these things before taking time off your VA business is non-negotiable. Especially if you want to have a business to come back to.

Ready to become a virtual assistant, make money online and take time off your business whenever you want? You might want to sign up for my FREE course that teaches you the 5 steps to take. The course also share the people that are in need of VAs, the kind of services they need help with and how to get access to learn in-demand digital skills for free.

It’s perfect for you even if you don’t have any experience and are not a techy person.

Black Friday Ideas For Virtual Assistants

Posted on November 2, 2023 by Rose Odoemelam

If you need black Friday ideas for virtual assistants that actually bring in money…

Or have been wondering;

“Should virtual assistants have black Friday offers?”

“What kind of deals should I offer on black Friday?”

“How should I prepare my business for black Friday?”

This post will answer your burning questions and give you 5 black Friday ideas for virtual assistants.

Black Friday is one of the biggest sales events of every year.

It usually happens on the last Friday of November yearly.

Many businesses want to get noticed and make sales because people are usually ready to spend some money. Virtual assistants aren’t left out in this, so putting appropriate measures in place is necessary to achieve success.

There are two ways to profit from black Friday as a virtual assistant.

1.) Offer to help your clients and prospects prepare for black Friday.

This one starts even before black Friday. This is one thing a lot of VAs are not doing. Reach out to your clients, potential clients and even past clients and ask about their black Friday plans.

If they’d need the help, offer to help them do something depending on the kind of services you offer.

Customer support, sales page design, email copy, Instagram content scheduling, community management, launch tech, online shopping etc.

Over the years, I’ve realised that some clients want to do something for black Friday (or grab special black Friday deals for themselves) but are too busy to do it themselves.

Most of them procrastinate and do a last minute thing which does not bring in the results they need.

So if you are proactive enough to offer your services, the serious ones will jump at the offer.

You can even package it well and give it a fancy name.

For example, “get black Friday ready package for wedding photographers”.

As someone who offers email marketing, copywriting and website design services, I could offer to do all three things for wedding photographers to help them get ready for black Friday.

That’ll increase my income for the month but to the wedding photographers I’d work with, it means automated marketing, automated sales, systems that work. And zero stress.

They won’t have to do anything to get their calendar filled with wedding bookings for the foreseeable future.

It’s always a win-win.

2.) Create your own black Friday offer you’ll benefit from after Black Friday

Firstly, to prepare yourself as a virtual assistant, you have to find out if your client is also planning for black Friday so that your plan doesn’t clash with theirs. If your client is planning for black Friday, you should start ahead of your client to prepare your offer and your marketing strategy. When you are done with yours, you can then provide support for your client.

This is important because a lot of virtual assistants focus on client work and forget to do the boring work that keeps them in business.

To avoid feast to famine in your VA business you need to prepare for black Friday and leverage it as much as your client’s do.

Before we get into black Friday ideas for virtual assistants…

Here’s How to Prepare Your Virtual Assistant Business For Black Friday

1.) Take time to plan

Take out a notepad and pen and think of low hanging fruits you can leverage to get a piece of the Black Friday pie.

Come up with new and innovative ideas that you are yet to explore in your business. This is necessary to avoid repeating the same kind of sales promotion every year.

The goal is for each year’s black Friday offer to be juicier than the last. You also need to work out how many new clients you can handle – especially if you don’t have subcontractors.

Don’t be greedy or unrealistic. You will ruin your business if you take on more than you can handle.

If you do have subcontractors, you should check whether they are available to help out to ensure you are able to cope with the potential demand.

2.) Prepare your online channels.

After deciding on what your offer would be, you should prepare your online channels for the activity spike that is about to come.

Make your contents and calls to action idiot proof. Potential client’s shouldn’t have to wonder what they should do next.

Your website server should be prepared for the influx of web traffic that will come through once you launch your Black Friday offer. You may also need new additions like sales pages, policy pages, etc.

If you plan to include emails in your marketing, ensure you don’t send too many emails at once or you’ll piss off your subscribers. Also ensure that your black Friday sales promotion email doesn’t clash with any other emails, especially if you have automated email series set up. Segment your email list to ensure you are sending your offer to the right people.

Prepare your social media channels with social media posts, social media stories, ads, etc.

Write and schedule your content in advance.

Don’t just wake up on Black Friday morning and send out your offer. Ensure you have been talking about it leading up to the sale day. It’s okay to send a minimum of one email daily to your list during black Friday. People may unsubscribe, but that’s also a good thing.

You want a buying audience.

3.) Update your autoresponders.

You’ll have to update your online enquiry auto responders and change the expected response time. Set up autoresponder emails for enquiries that come through your website and social media channels during black Friday in order to manage customer expectations.

For example, if you offer a 48-72 hour response time, change it to 24 hours max.

People are with their cards in hand ready to buy. Don’t make them jump any hoops to do it.

You can easily send automated responses on Gmail. Don’t know how? My email management for VAs course teaches that and more.

5 Black Friday Ideas For Virtual Assistants

1.) Offer a simplified version of your service.

You can create a package that is a small sampling of your service. You can also create an exclusive bundle of your services by packaging your services in a limited-time special offer. This way, people who couldn’t get the full offer at premium price will get a taste and maybe start working with you full time.

2.) Offer an add-on in addition to an existing service to make a special offer

It is important that you work out the feasibility, time and even the cost implications of offering a discount before you do.

It’s great discounting an existing package, but you don’t want to get clients – only to discover that you discounted too heavily and are actually working for peanuts.

Be realistic.

Don’t give a discount just because the next VA is giving one.

Sometimes your business might not survive a discount sale and that’s okay.

You shouldn’t have to burn your business to the ground to join the black Friday sale.

Instead, don’t reduce your rates but offer an add-on to attract clients.

You can create a simple info product like templates, an eBook, a Masterclass etc.

Think about something that will help your target audience achieve something.

This way, you will only create it once but can offer it to everyone during black Friday (and then sell it after black Friday to everyone else if you want).

Pro Tip: If you decided to give a discount, you need to set how long clients have before they have to forfeit their money. You don’t want client’s coming whenever they like to give you tasks because they paid in advance 8 months ago. Whatever you do, be super clear in your offer details.

3.) Collaborate with other businesses that serve your target audience

Join forces with other businesses in your network who serve your target audience.

For example, a course launch VA can team up with a video editor, copywriter, graphic design and social media manager to create a single black Friday offer.

This way, they can promote it to their audiences via their independent platforms to give aspiring, new and established course creators all the support they need to launch their course in 30 days.

4.) Don’t limit your offer to new clients

Don’t promote your services to only potential new clients. Your past clients and existing clients already know how much you can help them. So be sure to offer them a promotion as well. It could be a discount, an add-on to their existing package. Etc.

Whatever it is, make sure they get an offer as well. After all, it is easier to sell to people who are already clients than brand new people.

5.) Promote your Affiliate links

As a virtual assistant, you use tools everyday to make your work easy. Most of these tools are also used by clients. So compile a list and share it as your Black Friday offer. It could be anything from software, courses or even gear your clients will benefit from.

For example, if you are a podcast virtual assistant and know a fantastic microphone that would make your clients audio quality better, you could sign up for their affiliate program and make money when your clients buy.

Why is that a Black Friday offer?

It is a good black Friday offer because companies will be selling at a discount so any client that gets your free list will be getting something that’ll help them save a lot of money on the tools and/or information they need to keep the lights on in their business. And you’ll get paid when they use your affiliate links.

Pro Tip: this can be a great time to purchase particular services / products for your own business.

Final words

If you’ve not been taking advantage of Black Friday or didn’t know what to do, I trust you’ll do better moving forward.

You can be booked out well into the first quarter of a new year from your black Friday offer. Found this post helpful? Share it with others.

6 Things To Automate In Your Virtual Assistant Business

Posted on August 19, 2023 by Rose Odoemelam

Running a Virtual Assistant business is no easy work. As a Virtual Assistant, you are tasked with time consuming work that requires you to pay close attention to details. You have to get things done for clients and do your personal business too. The huge workload can limit the number of clients you can handle at once since you only have as many hours in a day. But for you to succeed as a Virtual Assistant, you often need to take on and manage multiple clients. This means that you need to find ways of completing more tasks in less time. Thanks to automation, you can make this happen!

Automation can help you handle repetitive tasks and other time consuming manual processes. It also eliminates human error. If used properly, you can leverage it to take on more clients and offer value-added services that you couldn’t do otherwise. Your clients will be happy as well and your services will blow their minds. Exciting, isn’t it?

Here Are 6 Things You Could Automate In Your Virtual Assistant Business

1.) Email Marketing And Lead Generation

You have to constantly market your virtual assistant business even if you are fully booked. This is because you might need to fire a client or a client might let you go at any time. It is better to have a list of warm leads waiting for an opportunity to work with you.

Lead generation is a set and forget system that I love and use in my business. One smart idea is instead of handing prospective clients your services and pricing guide. You could use it as a lead magnet.

Potential clients only have to enter their name and email to get it. That way, you can follow up, nurture them and turn them to paying clients. Email marketing tools I love are use are: Sendfox and Brevo (formerly sendinblue).

2.) Email Management

If you aren’t already, email management is one thing you need to automate in your virtual assistant business. You can do this by setting up templates for quick responses and automating things like common question responses and forwarding of Email to appropriate clients.

By reducing Email management time, you can increase your workload capacity and still get this done. The email management tool I love and use is Gmail

3.) Bookings

You can use automated meeting and appointment scheduling systems to reduce this stress of scheduling appointments. To do this, you just have to configure your calendar based on your scheduling preferences including preferred times and location. This way, clients and prospective clients can schedule meetings with you without the need for back and forth emails to sync schedules.

This takes off the stress of manually adding meetings to your schedule and worrying about notifying participants of changes to scheduled appointments or meetings. This also allows either party to cancel or reschedule meetings without needless back and forth communication. Booking tools I love and use are Tidycal and calendly

4.) Invoicing

If your clients subscribe to a monthly package. You could create a monthly subscription payment page like this, to automatically collect payments on your behalf. This way, it will be easy to charge clients when due, follow up unpaid invoices and even charge late payment fees.

You can put much of your invoicing work on autopilot by turning to an invoicing automation solution. With automation, you can send more accurate and timely invoices to clients. You can also use the accounting automation tool to remind clients of overdue bills. Handing these accounting tasks to automation can help you focus on other tasks.

Some invoicing tools I use are Paystack, Zoho invoice, and Invoice.ng

5.) Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is another area you should automate in your virtual assistant business. All you have to do is pre-plan your content and create it in advance. Scheduling tools will publish as scheduled. Social media marketing tools like zoho social can do a lot more like publish already published posts, find the best hashtags, use AI to write engaging captions for your posts etc.

This can improve your posting consistency which is key to building a larger audience and improving engagement metrics. Some social media automation tools can also help you manage follower interactions on multiple social channel.

Social media automation tools I use and love are Zoho social, planoly and preview

6.) SEO Blogging

SEO blogging can be automated to help you get organic leads. All you have to do is write and optimise your content in advance and schedule them.

For example I am writing this post you are reading now in July and will schedule it in a few hours to be automatically published in a month’s time while I will be on maternity leave and nursing my son. This way, I can batch create content and schedule to automatically go out at a set date. So even while I am on maternity leave, my business will not close shop. My website will continue to provide help to new and aspiring virtual assistants while I am away.

Wrapping up…

Automation opportunities are not limited to these. But in all, it can help you grow your business and become more competitive. So I hope you start by automating these things today in your virtual assistant business.

How To Market Your Virtual Assistant Business And Get Clients

Posted on August 12, 2023 by Rose Odoemelam

“How can I market my virtual assistant business?”

“How can I attract clients instead of chasing them?”

“Can I market my virtual assistant business without a website?”

Ever asked any of these questions?

You’re not the only one. Most virtual assistants are usually puzzled with how they can market their business and attract quality clients. I decided to compile my list of 12 practical ways you can effectively market your virtual assistant business. A handful of these tips will work for your whether you are an introvert or extrovert.

12 Practical Ways To Market Your Virtual Assistant Business And Get Clients

1. Create professional business profiles on social media platforms

With the information you get from profiling your ideal client, create professional business profiles on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Consistent profiles across various social media platforms helps you establish your presence online and helps build your brand and markets you.

You shouldn’t just create social media profiles and call it a day. You have to intentionally market your services there. Creating content that positions you as knowledgeable, fun and easy to work with. Let your profile repel people you don’t want to work with and attract people you want to work with.

2. Create a Website And Take SEO Blogging Seriously

Set up a professional self-hosted WordPress website (not a free website) and a blog that will act as your portfolio.

On your website, make sure the services you offer and contact information are clearly visible for all to see. People don’t like cluttered websites that lack the information they seek. Your site should also contain links to your social media feeds. professional photos of you, etc.

Blogging is highly beneficial for SEO purposes and is a great way to showcase your knowledge and skills to your potential clients. Use carefully targeted SEO-friendly keywords when posting content on your blog. This way, people all over the world can easily find you when they search for services related to you.

Getting a basic website is not expensive. You can outsource it if you don’t know how to create a website or learn step-by-step how to create a website and do it yourself.

3. Leverage Email Marketing

Email marketing is essential for virtual assistants. It’s a good way to nurture leads into paying clients using lead magnets. Offering a lead magnet simply means offering them something in exchange for their email address like a freebie or Ebook.

Once they are on your list, you can nurture them with more helpful content, position yourself as an asset and introduce your paid services.

4. Leverage Content Repurposing

Content repurposing is a smart way to get your virtual assistant business in front of potential clients in various formats and on various platforms. You can use social media posts, infographics, YouTube videos, Podcasts, Webinars, Instagram, blog posts, etc. to teach potential clients about yourself and your services. You can also use this to show off a particular type of service and get them thinking how it could work for them. Share tips on frequently occurring topics related to the services you offer. Record live events and make them available for later viewing. The opportunities with content repurposing are endless. If you don’t know how to repurpose content for your business or your clients, you need to learn how in this easy course.

5. Market Your Business Offline

A lot of new and aspiring virtual assistants under-rate offline marketing activities. I’ve had family and friends, colleagues, and church members pay for my services and refer me to clients. So don’t be shy to advertise yourself to your family and friends, let them know the services you are offering. Even if they don’t have a business or need your services, they might know someone who will.

Sometimes your ideal client is hiding in plain sight.

It doesn’t always have to be social media or even your website. You can also market your virtual assistant business at physical networking events. Business cards are cool for physical events. Another subtle way to market your business is by wearing a statement tee-shirt to such events. They are good conversation starters.

6. Join A Strong Network Of Virtual Assistants

You can find strong and free virtual assistant platforms on Facebook, Linkedin etc. that can help each other gain clients. While in those groups you need to be useful. For example, you can refer admin jobs to a VA good at that if you are a tech VA for example and vice versa. This will also help you stay up to date with current trends and upskilling opportunities. It will also raise your profile and people you connect with may refer clients to you.

7. Get Strong Testimonials

Positive testimonials position you as someone who others are happy to work with and can get clients their desired results. Whether you like it or not, prospective clients will judge you based on what other people say about you. That is why you need good testimonials.

If you don’t know how to ask for testimonials or your clients are too busy to write or record testimonial videos for you, you can get my testimonial request kit to help you ask clients for testimonials and make them give you one even if they are too busy to write or don’t know the right words to use.

8. Ask For Referrals

You can leverage your relationship with one client into a client acquisition opportunity. Have you ever completed a project and asked your client for a referral? It doesn’t make you sound desperate. Closed mouths don’t get fed.

Asking for a referral is a no brainer when you know the referrer has a network of people that need your services. My referral request kit will help you ask for referrals professionally.

9. Showcase Your Past Work To Your Potential Clients In Your Portfolio

You need a virtual assistant portfolio whether you already have clients or are just starting out. If a client is happy with the work you display in your portfolio, they might hire you. Another thing you can do is to create a case study for clients you have successfully worked with. In your case studies, share where your client was, how you supported them and the results of the strategies you implemented.

10. Volunteer Strategically With No Expectations

When I started my VA business in 2019, I volunteered to design ebooks for an online community of bloggers. That no strings attached decision opened the doors to the business you’re seeing today. I got a couple of clients from that platform who needed ebooks once they saw what I could design.

When you volunteer to offer your services to your ideal client, it may end up in a paid work relationship if you play your cards right.

11. Use Paid Ads

You can advertise online by using paid advertising from Google AdWords to get higher ratings on search engines and social media ads. You can also advertise yourself on Facebook groups where your clients might be active and your social media circles.

Before you run any kind of Ads in your business, ensure you prepare your business for the traffic that’ll come your way.

12. Joint Venture (JV) Partnership

This simply means partnering with another service provider who has an active audience of your ideal clients on social media, their podcast, YouTube channel or even email list. Once you find a JV partner, your JV partner can introduce you to their audience via an exchange of resources.

For example, if you help realtors with admin work, you could find a coach for realtors to partner with. This way, you could share your knowledge with their community of realtors, telling them how a VA can help them with their admin work (and pitch your services of course).

In exchange, your JV partner will have provided their community with helpful information and can get introduced to your own leads as the go-to coach for realtors. You could help your JV partner with whatever admin tasks they are struggling with. JV partnerships are always a win for all parties.

Wrapping Up

Marketing your virtual assistant business is important to be successful. You may be the best virtual assistant alive and not get clients if you do nothing and wait for clients to come to you.

Hopefully, these tips can be helpful as you market your virtual assistant business and get clients. Found this post helpful? Let me know in the comments.

How to Manage Multiple Virtual Assistant Clients

Posted on August 5, 2023 by Rose Odoemelam

Learning how to manage multiple virtual assistant clients is a skill every serious new or aspiring VA must have.

Virtual Assistants usually work with many clients at the same time. Once your business is established and you want your business to grow, you’ll need to have and manage many clients instead of working with just one or two clients. Juggling clients can be exciting, exhausting and overwhelming especially when you are first starting out. To manage multiple clients, there are things you need to do to make it work well for you and your clients. Everyone has techniques that work best for them, so I’ll be sharing 7 tips that have worked very well for me for almost 5 years.

7 Tips To Help You Manage Multiple Virtual Clients As A Virtual Assistant

1. Organise And Prioritise Tasks

It can be overwhelming if you are not organised and start working with multiple virtual assistant clients. It is important to make a list of tasks you are handling in order of urgency. Don’t just complete random tasks that are not urgent. Double check with your clients to find out when they need their project so you can adjust accordingly. You can organize and prioritize based on tasks or clients, it’s up to you. Take time to organize your workload, assess and plan out your day before you start any work. Make a schedule, not just for clients but for your own business too and avoid distractions. One mistake a lot of virtual assistants make is not scheduling time to work on their own business. That’s a recipe for going from feast to famine in no time.

2. Be Clear With Timelines And Deadlines

Let your clients know how much time you need for tasks and projects. As much as possible, hold them to the agreed timelines in order to honour the relationships you have with your clients. Last minute requests from a client can throw you off schedule for all of your other clients who may be respecting your deadlines. Set healthy boundaries for turnaround time, deadlines, work hours, day off, phone calls and whatever else and stick to them.

3. Automate As Much As You Can

Managing multiple virtual assistant clients and working in your own business will lead to overwhelm and burn out in a short time. Automation will save you time and energy.

There are numerous things you should automate in your VA business some of them are client bookings, invoicing, email and social media marketing etc.

This is important because automation essentially duplicates you in your business. Once you automate things to go out at specific times, you will be freed up to do other things and focus on client work. Even while working with clients, you need to automate things in their business.

4. Make Use Of Technology

Technology can help you with time management, communication and tasks on your task list. Find the technology that suits you and learn how to use it well. For example, you can sync up your calendar so you know what’s going on and who is doing what. There are time management and project management tools like asana that can help you keep track of everything. Your client can also see work progress from their end, you can assign tasks for your clients or team members etc without the need to call everyone individually.

I can hear you asking “assign tasks to clients?”

Yes. There are some tasks you might need to complete that require specific information from your client. For example, if I need to design an ebook for a client with content provided by the client, I’d need that content from the client. With a project management tool like asana, you can assign the task of providing the content directly. That way, clients can see if they are delaying the project.

5. Work At Your Best Hours

As a mum, virtual assistant and virtual assistant coach, I must pick my battles. I only work at the time of the day when I function best so that I can effectively get work done. For me, this is mostly at night when my family is asleep and I have some quiet and good internet. You can also work in sprints like 3-4 hours and then take time off or you can work mornings and then again in the evening.

If you have a virtual assistant business and a 9-5 job, you also need to schedule your best time to work. For you that might be weekends, evenings or 1-2 hours at night. Find out what works for you and complete client work.

6. Realise That Saying “NO” Is Necessary

Don’t fall into the temptation of taking on more clients than you can handle. Sometimes, you should say no to extra work from a client you already have or taking on another client if you feel you have enough work. You can hand off extra clients to another VA or get an associate or virtual assistant subcontractor in to help. This might feel like you’d be losing money but if you say yes to everyone, it will show in your work. Imagine disappointing multiple clients and delivering less than ideal projects. That’s a setup to lose all your clients.

If a client is reluctant to walk away when you are unavailable and willing to wait, a better way to deal with it is to start a client wait-list. That way you can always fill up available slots whenever you let an existing client go.

7. Be Proactive And Communicate Clearly

Communicate regularly with your clients for the ongoing task you have in your schedule for them. Work out details for upcoming tasks and find out if there are other things they need done. You can use this to get more work from clients and build a better client relationship. This way, you can make more money with the clients you already have.

Final Words

It’s not easy to manage multiple virtual assistant clients but if you follow the above tips, it will be a lot easier. Manage your time, get organised and prioritise based on what is urgent, communicate clearly, and automate as much as possible. All these will help you achieve a smooth schedule and you will be able to keep all your clients happy and glued to your business.

Benefits of Becoming a Virtual Assistant in Nigeria

Posted on July 29, 2023 by Rose Odoemelam

I have enjoyed the numerous benefits of becoming a virtual assistant in Nigeria for almost 5 years now. If you are considering the idea of starting your own VA business, you are in the right place.

A virtual assistant is basically someone who provides services to clients remotely. This means they can work from the comfort of their homes or anywhere.

A virtual assistant does this by working online to help people achieve their business and personal goals. In the current digital fast paced world we live in, virtual assistance is one of the most profitable ways of making money online. There are several services you can choose from to offer including ghost writing, web design, copywriting, graphic design, email management, etc.

Don’t have a desktop or laptop? You can choose to only offer virtual assistant services which can be done with your smartphone. Even if you’re unsure about the service you can provide, you’ll discover it as you progress.

Here Are 7 Benefits Of Becoming A Virtual Assistant In Nigeria In 2023

#1. It Offers A Flexible Schedule.

This is arguably one of the key benefits of becoming a virtual assistant. You don’t have to leave your house to work everyday nor at stipulated hours. You simply work from your convenience from any part of the world where you are. It allows you to work on days or at times of the day when you think you are most productive. So you don’t have to worry about being late to work or about traffic hassle.

You can work in transit and even when you are on vacation. You also have time to attend to personal matters that would be impossible with regular day jobs. It is that flexible! The most important thing is to deliver satisfactory work to your client and meet deadlines.

#2. You Can Earn As Much As You Want.

Regular jobs have stipulated pay determined by your employer but as a virtual assistant, you determine how much you want to earn and fix your own rates. This is because you can do multiple jobs, sell products, courses and earn hourly. You need to know how to price your services as a virtual assistant in Nigeria

Depending on the number and quality of clients you have, your skill level and how much you improve, you can earn thousands of dollars yearly. You may not earn so much at the start but as you keep delivering satisfactory jobs and retaining your clients, you can raise your rates.

Pro tip: Get the price increase notification template to help you raise your rates professionally.

#3. No Special Skill Or Degree Needed

All you need to become a virtual assistant is what you already have. You don’t need a University degree nor tech knowledge. So you can start right away and get paid. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t expand your skills later but it’s not a prerequisite.

If you already have digital skills, you don’t need more training. But if you don’t have any digital skills, you need to acquire one or two to get started.

#4. You Can Choose Your Clients And Work With Different Clients Across The Globe.

Unlike regular jobs, you can ditch a client who is unreliable or difficult to work with. So you are less likely to have a toxic working environment and this will boost your productivity.

Also, if you have multiple skills, you can cash in on them. But don’t try to “do it all” as this can affect your productivity. Also, you can work for foreign clients and subcontract jobs you can’t handle to other virtual assistants and get paid.

#5. High Service Demand.

To keep up with the pace of today’s fast paced world, most businesses are online and have to hire virtual assistants to avoid getting outdone by competitors. They need Virtual assistants to manage and post on their social media, design graphics, manage emails, etc. It is also cost effective for them since they don’t have to hire physical staff and get office spaces because virtual assistants work remotely.

A lot of people need virtual assistants so you can offer them your services and get paid.

#6. Earn In Dollars

As at the time of writing this, the naira to dollar exchange rate is at almost NGN900 per US dollar. So we all know the exchange rate isn’t smiling. However, you can be smiling to the bank every month as a virtual assistant when you get clients who pay in dollars.

#7. Skip The Commute And Avoid Traffic

In recent times the price of petrol has more than tripled. This has affected the prices of virtually everything, especially the cost of transportation. So one benefit of becoming a virtual assistant is the option of working from home without spending a dime on transportation or spending precious time in traffic. If you live in a traffic prone city like Port Harcourt or Lagos, you understand this better.

Final Words

The benefits of becoming a virtual assistant in Nigeria are numerous. You have a lot to gain and nothing to lose. This opportunity is open to everyone. You don’t need a laptop. You can start with your smartphone. Need a side hustle that can compliment your income from your 9-5 job? You can start and manage your VA business while in fulltime employment and make as much money as you want to. the Ready to become a virtual assistant? Here’s a step by step process to start.

How to set Healthy Boundaries with your Virtual Assistant Clients

Posted on July 22, 2023 by Rose Odoemelam

Having boundaries and clearly communicating them is so important for you as a Virtual Assistant. It reduces the likelihood of burnout, frustration and helps build trust. It will eliminate the chances of you getting a text from a client by 9pm asking you about a task or giving you a new job. Although the term “boundaries” sounds restrictive, it actually provides so much freedom for the parties involved and creates a healthy working relationship. It lets your clients know exactly what to expect from you. It also protects you from overbearing and over demanding clients. If a client flouts the limits, you instantly have a red flag that it might not be a good long term working relationship.

Note however that the keyword is healthy. That is, healthy for both you and your client. So it isn’t about building rigid walls that drive a wedge between you and your clients. You have to determine your firm boundaries, flex boundaries and know when to compromise.

That said..

Here’s How To Set Healthy Boundaries With Your Virtual Assistant Clients

Establish Your Personal Boundaries

Before you set boundaries with your clients, set them with yourself first. Set a reasonable work schedule for yourself that will boost your productivity. How many hours are you going to work in a week? This can be 20-40 hours. Divide these hours by the number of days you plan to work in a week and space the hours. Also decide if you prefer to work in the morning, afternoon, evening or late at night. Set a schedule for when you work best and stick to it except in a compromise scenario. You should also decide what tasks you won’t be doing due to lack of interest or skill. This is very important if you have a 9-5 job and want to succeed as a virtual assistant on the side.

Set The Standard From The Beginning

It is important to set healthy boundaries with your virtual assistant clients from the very beginning and give them a sustainable framework. Don’t start what you cannot finish. If you are 24/7 available to a client at the start of your working relationship, the client will expect you to always be at their disposal and this is not realistically sustainable. Most importantly, never apologise for not being reachable during your non-working hours. As much as you want to support your clients, you started your business because of the flexibility it allows. So if you keep apologising for not being reachable at 2:00am over the weekend, clients will have unrealistic expectations about your availability.

On-board Your Clients The Right Way

During your on-boarding process, let your clients know what to expect. This is the clearest way to establish healthy boundaries with your virtual assistant clients. It will let them know how you work, what hours you work, how they can reach you, etc.

Communicate your working hours to your virtual assistant clients so they’ll know when you can be reached and when you can schedule meetings to talk through projects. Also communicate your response time, that is, let your clients know how long it will take you to respond to a message. This will tell your clients when to expect to hear from you.

Also during the on-boarding process, let them know your vacation time or days off. If there are times you might agree to work outside your normal hours for a rush fee, also let them know.

Have Dedicated Lines Of Communication

This should also be part of your on-boarding message. Figure out the platform where you can communicate with your clients and stick to it for all work-related matters. Let them know if it’s through Whatsapp, email, Asana, etc. Use the chosen platform to communicate with your client if you are taking time off for whatsoever reason. Once you’ve informed them, you’re not obligated to respond to their messages during this time even if they come in. Remember this is about consistency. If your client sees how consistent you are, they’ll trust you more. Nobody will respect your boundaries if you don’t respect them yourself.

Set Healthy Boundaries Around Rush Jobs

If a client occasionally needs you to do a job outside your normal timescale, you can choose to accept the job or recommend someone. If you choose to do the job, apply a rush fee to your invoice. Let the client know before you carry on with the job. It doesn’t matter if you had no work scheduled for that period. This is necessary for you to manage other client work as well. Sometimes a client doesn’t really need a project completed in a hurry but might urge you to abandon everything and complete it. I’ve found that once you let them know that you are happy to do it at an extra fee for the short turn-around time, they magically realise it’s not very urgent.

It is important that you do this the very first time a client gives you a rush job. I typically charge 1.5 or 1.2 X (regular fee) for rush jobs.

This means if I normally charge $100 for a project, I’d charge 1.5 x $100 = $150 or 1.2 x $100 = 120 for the same project if I have to deliver it in a short turn-around time.

I can hear you asking “so how much time qualifies as a rush job?”.

I’d normally say 48 hours or less. But this can vary from service to service.

For example, asking for a 5-page website in 5 days is a rush job but asking for a 1,000 word blog post with a 5 day turn-around time is not.

Note also that these 48 hours do not include weekends and bank/public holidays. Weekends and public holidays are not your business days so even if a weekend is followed by three consecutive bank holidays, any job that must be completed within that period is classified as a rush job.

Rush fees make the client respect your time as much as you respect theirs.

Set Healthy Boundaries Around Dealing Late Payment

You need to have a fixed amount or percentage you apply to an invoice for every week/month your client pays your invoice late. These fees should be clearly stated in your virtual assistant agreement and signed during the on-boarding process. This will help set expectations and make clients respect your time.

I have a kit I call the getting paid kit for virtual assistants. It contains the templates I use to ask my clients to pay me in a professional way. It also contains a notice of intended court proceedings template.

From experience, I have found that sending one or two of the templates in this kit always gets clients paying. I’ve never had to send a notice of intended court proceedings. With these templates so any slimy client who wants to reap you off will know you are a real business and not paying is not an option. You should get a copy.

Wrapping Up

So in conclusion, it is good to set healthy boundaries with your virtual assistant clients but when these boundaries no longer serve you, your clients or your business goal, it’s best to scrap it. Flexibility is important here. Boundaries will build mutual respect between you and clients, lay the foundation of trust and keep you clear of burn outs. So take some time to consider your boundaries, communicate them to your client and start reaping the benefits.