How To Prepare Your VA Business For The New Year

Posted on 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

 

Prepare VA Business 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 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:

before taking time 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.

6 Things To Automate In Your Virtual Assistant Business

Posted on 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 Manage Multiple Virtual Assistant Clients

Posted on 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.

How to set Healthy Boundaries with your Virtual Assistant Clients

Posted on 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

  1. 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. 

  1. 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.

  1. 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. 

Related: How to on-board clients as a virtual assistant

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

Related: Common mistakes virtual assistants make and how to avoid them

  1. 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.

Prospective Virtual Assistant Client Ghosting You?

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

Have you ever been ghosted by a prospective client?

Maybe someone signed up for a free discovery call. You had a wonderful conversation with the prospective client for 30 minutes or maybe even longer. They seemed like your ideal client and you immediately knew you could help them achieve their personal or professional goals.

You could tell that they were eager to get started and so you did your happy dance immediately the call ended.

Then along the line, they disappeared without a word.

If this has just happened to you, you’re probably wondering why are they not responding and how you get them to respond.

It may even be that the prospect was the one who contacted you and was eager to meet you but suddenly went missing in action.

This is called “ghosting” and it is more common than you know.

So why do these clients suddenly go dark? Why would a client call you, lead you on and start ignoring you later?

It sucks in the dating world and sucks just as much in the business world. There are several reasons why a prospective virtual assistant client might ghost you and isn’t usually about you.

In this post I will share 8 reasons why a prospective client might ghost you, steps to take when you find out you have been ghosted and how to avoid being ghosted in future. But first, in case you haven’t been ghosted, I’ll share my most recent personal experience just so you have a clear picture of what it looks like. This is important because even if I have been doing this for so long, I am not immune to ghosting.

Here’s How Ghosting Plays Out (My Most Recent Personal Experience)

Only last month I had someone reach out to me because she was interested in my services. The discovery call went very well and she said she was ready to move forward.

It was music to my ears. Her bill was about $1,000 so I was looking forward to not only helping her get the results she wanted, but hitting my income goal for the month by some extra zeros.

Everything was fine until I sent in the proposal, then she went silent. I followed up in my usual fashion and she responded saying she couldn’t afford the full amount in a single payment so we agreed on installments. It was safe because we divided the project into milestones. She was going to pay at the beginning of each milestone before I did any work.

She was excited and happy to start. I was happy and quickly filled in the blanks in my virtual assistant agreement template in minutes. Such a time saver!

I signed my part using signwell and sent it to her for signing. 

After some minutes, I got a notification that she had viewed the agreement. That is one feature I love about signwell. There’s no room for “I didn’t see your agreement”.

Days later, there was no response. I followed up twice and still got no response. It felt like she disappeared into thin air, ghosting me just before signing a contract. 

In my early years as a virtual assistant I would have been sad, confused, and maybe even angry that she wasted my time.

But from what I know now, that might just be looking at things from the wrong direction because ghosting is not personal..

Here Are 8 Possible Reasons Why A Prospective Client Might Ghost You

reasons why a prospective virtual assistant client is ghosting you

1.) They aren’t ready and are just doing it for research.

Some prospects reach out when they aren’t ready. No matter what you say or do at that point, they won’t buy in. They might work with you later. It may also be that their budget isn’t large enough for the service they need or they are spending money on something currently and can’t add more.  So rather than giving you the “not right now” answer, they just opt for avoidance.

2.) They didn’t hear from you immediately or lost enthusiasm. 

If a client doesn’t hear from you after your first conversation, they’ll probably move on. So make sure your client gets a follow-up call or email from you as soon as possible. I make sure I send a consultation recap email stating our discussions, conclusions, including what they can expect and when to expect it. This sets expectations and leaves a paper trail that might come in handy in future. It may also be that your pitch was interesting, the client was impressed on the phone or video but lost interest when they slept on it.

Read also: How to onboard new clients as a virtual assistant

3.) They are genuinely busy and/or overwhelmed. 

Prospective clients have their own lives too and may not always be available. 

People hire virtual assistants because they are busy. If they get too busy, they might take a couple of days (or even weeks to reply). 

Some years ago, a new virtual assistant I was coaching had a prospect who had gotten on a discovery call, agreed on price, deliverables, and other details very fast.

She was super excited and ready to start. Then the prospect went silent.

She would not reply to her calls or emails and she was left in the dark for a couple of days.

On the 3rd day, she sent her a long email giving her a piece of her mind and letting her know she wasn’t going to be at her beck and call.

When she still didn’t get a reply, she concluded that the prospect realised her services weren’t worth the 100k she asked for so she had bailed.

The prospect later reached out and explained that she was dealing with a family emergency.

The best part? Her tantrum email to the prospect was stuck in her outbox so she never received it. Thank God!

So if it appears they’re ghosting you, it’s possible they might be busy with something else or what you’re offering isn’t top of their priority list right now, so don’t give up. Your client may be interested in working with you but there may be other factors working against you. If  you realise this, don’t put more pressure for a while. If they value what you provide, they’ll respond when their schedule clears up.

Remember they haven’t signed a contract so technically, they aren’t your client yet. The best you can do is follow up 3-5 times in a very non-desperate way.

I ensure I inform the client from the get go that my proposals have an expiry date. Usually 30-60 days from when they receive it. This is to prevent prospects coming back months later after I have probably raised my rates hoping to pay the old rate.

This protects you as a virtual assistant and encourages prospective clients to reach out before the duration expires.  

4.) They aren’t interested but don’t know how to tell you.

It’s possible they don’t see the value, don’t have the money or think you’re too expensive. They may feel telling you will be unpleasant especially if they have a non-confrontational or avoidant personality. Because of this personality flaw, they don’t care enough to let you know they don’t see the value, don’t have the money or think you’re too expensive. This is not your fault. You aren’t oxygen so you can’t be right for everyone.

5.) They’re working with (or considering working with) your competitor.

Some prospective clients feel weird admitting that they’re working with your competitor. They may feel like they’re cheating on you or going behind your back. Most prospects like weighing their options so of course, your competitors are probably in talks with your prospective client. So if they suddenly go quiet for too long, know that they might have chosen your competitor. This is why you should have a unique selling point. If you have the exact same offer as the next virtual assistant and charge more, they might just have the upper hand. So if you charge more, make it a no brainer why your prospective client should pay more.

6.) Your solution doesn’t fit their needs. 

This doesn’t mean that what you’re offering isn’t good but it just doesn’t work for that particular prospect. So even if your pitch was so captivating that it attracted them at first, they’ll draw back when they realise it’s not what they’re looking for. 

7.) They are not your ideal client

If you attract the wrong people, you’ll never be able to make them see the value you provide or pay your rates. It’s either it will be too high or two low for them.

Or they might need someone who’d be available at specific times. If you’re like me and prefer to have a flexible schedule, then the relationship will never happen. 

8.) Your discovery call sucked

If you aren’t able to handle client objections during your discovery calls, they’ll find someone who can. And they might not have the heart to tell you they don’t want you, so they’ll enter the ghost mode.

This is why it is important to take your discovery calls very seriously. Prepare for them and show up confidently.  The client discovery call workbook is a step by step guide to help you prepare for your discovery calls, show up confidently and ace the call and then make signing up easy for your prospective client afterwards. It also contains a consultation recap email template to ensure you don’t leave prospective clients hanging after the call.

4 Smart Steps To Take If A Prospective Virtual Assistant Client Ghosts You?

steps to take when you notice that prospective virtual assistant client ghosting you

If you have never been ghosted by a client, chances are that it will eventually happen. So here are 4 smart steps to take if you realise you have been ghosted. These steps have helped me win back at least 50% of clients who ghosted me in the past. I hope they bring you even better results.

Step 1: Ensure That There Was No Miscommunication

This is a no brainer. You have to make sure you weren’t caught up in a bubble during the call and heard “sure, let’s do this!” when they said “maybe” or “I need to think about things and ask my spouse”.

Additionally, you may feel a connection or vibe that wasn’t even mutual. Maybe the prospect didn’t enjoy the discovery call as much as you think they did.

Step 2: Follow Up Without Sounding Desperate

If there was no miscommunication, then you should reach out with concern. Don’t go from the place of “I need you to move on to the next step and pay me”.

Instead, ask how they are doing and state you are reaching out because you know they were excited about getting started but you understand that life gets in the way sometimes. That’s a good way to reestablish connection based on care.

They would know that you aren’t just reaching out because you want to take their money. But because you care about them and their goals. Then remind them of where they dropped off.

My favourite line is:  “Have you had a chance to review the proposal? Remember nothing’s carved in stone. So I’m happy to answer any questions you might have”. 

It always gets serious prospects to reconnect. By reminding them that nothing’s carved in stone, they get to open up if money is the problem or say something else they were looking forward to seeing but you weren’t offering.

One question I get asked a lot is “how often should I follow up?”

I usually say 3-5 times. However, it depends on the amount of feedback you are getting from the prospective client.

I’ve had prospective clients who were happy to jump on a quick call to iron out their concerns before signing up and others who replied to every single email.

Another thing you shouldn’t do is assume they can’t afford to pay your rates and then offer a discount. Don’t make any assumptions. Until they say they can’t afford it, they can. Don’t water down the value of your services. And if they say they can’t afford your rates, there are other ways to handle things without lowering your rates.

Step 3: Keep The Relationship Alive No Matter What

If you still don’t hear back after following up, send a final email letting them know that you have tried to reach out and gotten no response so that would be your last attempt to reach out concerning the project. 

If your proposal has an expiry date (it should!), remind them of the expiry date. Tell them you’d love to stay in touch regardless of if they work with you or not and would be happy to help them when they are ready.

I can hear you asking “How can I stay in touch? What would we talk about?”

Industry news is a good place to start.

A simple “Hey, I was just going through XYZ and saw this information on ABC I know your brand strongly advocates for and your audience would appreciate a heads up”. And if they are on social media or have an email list you can follow them or sign up for their list and when you see they are doing something interesting, let them know and clap for them. The goal is to stay top of mind so that when they are ready, you’ll be the first to know. If you play your cards right, they might even recommend you even if they don’t work with you.

Step 4: Move On And Focus Elsewhere

If the prospect still ghosts you, move on. 

That could just be a blessing in disguise and an indicator that they are not the kind of client you need. 

See it this way, the absence of a wrong client creates room for the right client to find you. This was very true, even for me. Days later, I signed up another client for a little above the same amount. The new client was eager to get started and we completed the onboarding process in days. If that client hadn’t ghosted me, I wouldn’t have had room to take on the new client.

Trust me, you want prospective clients who see the value you bring, are forthcoming and excited to get started even if they are nervous. You don’t want to have to chase them.

So save yourself the stress and don’t think it’s about you or you aren’t good enough. It’s mostly about them so don’t let it dampen your spirit. A person’s actions says more about them than you.

How To Avoid Prospective Virtual Assistant Clients Ghosting You

I’ll be the first to say you can’t completely avoid being ghosted by a prospective client. However, you can significantly reduce the chances of being ghosted by doing these three things.  

Avoid prospective virtual assistant client ghosting you

Tip 1: Attract Only Your Ideal Clients And Repel Everyone Else

In my books, doing this alone will reduce the chances of being ghosted by 50%. All your marketing materials -Social media, Website copy, Email content etc. should focus on speaking to the pain and pleasure points of your best fit clients.  

So when they come in contact with your content, they should already be sold before even getting on the discovery call. A prospects decision to sign up starts way before the discovery call so ensure you are doing this right to reduce the pressure you are putting on your discovery calls. Try to share your prices or at least give a price range of what it costs to work with you so prospects who can’t afford it or aren’t willing to pay your rates won’t bother booking a call.

Repelling everyone else might seem like a recipe to lose potential clients especially if you are a new virtual assistant or desperately looking for clients. But you’ll get more people who are serious about working with you when you are upfront about who you want to help, how much you want to charge and who would be better off with another virtual assistant.

Tip 2: Ace Your Discovery Calls

I realized quite early in my business that pre-qualifying prospects before getting on a discovery call with them is gold. It sets you up for  success and just weeds out unserious people.

Before the discovery call one thing you must do is set up a prospect prequalification form on your website or even free platforms like Google forms if you don’t have a website yet. Ask questions to assess if the prospect is a good fit or not. 

There are other important steps to take before, during and after the discovery questions including specific questions to ask in your prequalification form, ask during the call, things to not say and how to handle client objections. If you need all that information, you should get my discovery call workbook for virtual assistants. It will make your life easier.

Tip 3: Know That Not Every Prospective Virtual Assistant Client Will Become A Paying Client  Immediately or Ever

You need to make peace with the fact that not every prospective client will become a paying client. Some people might be interested but leave their dreams on the back burner. Others might move on to new ideas.

Someone might reach out because of shiny object syndrome perhaps to start an online business and need a VA but then lose the shine days later and stick with their job or start a brick and mortar business.

If you’re like me that does not work with clients who have brick and mortar businesses, that’s the end.

Other people need weeks or months to consider it and maybe save towards it. I’ve had people reach out and then sign up a month or two later. The sooner you accept that, the more easily you can avoid getting attached to any outcome.

Final words

That said, whether the prospect got swallowed by a whale, or lost at sea with no means of communication or “something came up,” you may never know. So don’t assume anything or take it personally.

Sometimes no matter what you do, a prospective virtual assistant client will still ghost you. Just make sure you do your part well to avoid attracting client who are likely to ghost you and then take the right steps if you realise you’ve been ghosted. At all times remember that it’s still possible your prospect is still interested. So don’t give up on them. Follow up before giving it a rest.

Have you ever been ghosted by a prospective client? How did you handle it and what did you learn from the experience?

How to Identify Online Job Scams as a Virtual Assistant

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

It is totally normal to feel a burst of excitement when you set up your virtual assistant business and are ready to start getting clients.

You’re motivated and ready to put in the work so you go everywhere to find clients.

 With a brick and mortar business, you would walk into a place, interact with staff and then make a decision.

But since your business is virtual, at least 90% of your marketing is going to be online.

What you might not know is that there are bad people on the internet looking for unsuspecting virtual assistants like you, to scam.

You need to know how to identify online job scams as a virtual assistant and protect your business.

Because scammers are everywhere. They are in different job boards out there like Upwork, LinkedIn, Fiverr, Facebook groups, Indeed, etc.

They are on social media, and they can also email you.

So today, I’ll tell you how to identify online job scams as a virtual assistant.

Here are the online scams you should look out for as a virtual assistant

online job scams virtual assistant

#1.) Direct Offers From An Unknown Source For A Job You Didn’t Even Apply For

Some months ago, I received an email from a brand offering to pay $50/hr for my writing services.

I was very excited but found out the email said I  had to accept the offer within 5 days or lose it. The email was in my spam folder so I didn’t see it until it was already way past day 10 and that dampened my spirit. I talked to my husband about it and decided to just research the company.

A simple Google search revealed so much!

A lot of freelance writers were complaining about the company and some of them even wrote articles on how the scam company operated. I could relate to their experience with the company’s offer so I deleted the email and moved on. 

Be wary of unsolicited job offers. I see them a lot on Instagram and via email. Sometimes they want you to be an affiliate or influencer Now this should not be confused with legit offers from real brands. 

I can hear you asking “so how do I differentiate what’s legit and what is a scam?”

Keep reading. 

2.) They want you to pay to get started working.

Whatever they call it, it’s the same. Training fee, application fee, registration fee, pay for something and they’ll make a refund plus interest etc. You shouldn’t have to pay to get a job

3.) They want to send you a cheque, ask you to cash it, keep some of the money for yourself as payment, and then send them the rest. 

This money is likely being laundered and they want you to take the fall for it.

I heard a story about a car dealer who had some potential buyers in his lot. They took a car for a test drive, agreed on the price and told him they’d make a transfer the next day. True to their word, they made the transfer the next day and the car dealer was happy he had made the sale. Barely hours later, the buyer called to say he had an emergency and would be unable to go ahead with the purchase. They begged him to take 25% of the money for his troubles (which was a lot), and send them the balance. 

He happily did.

Only days later, the car dealer was arrested for links to kidnapping. Apparently, they had used the car dealer’s account to collect a ransom and there was nothing the car dealer could say because it looked like he took his share of the loot with the 25% he accepted.

You need to be careful. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

4.) You are offered the job immediately 

This is always a red flag. A good brand would always want to recruit the best talents. They’d want to vet you and even get on a discovery call with you.

If someone refuses to get on a live call with you where you can see their face, they are probably trying to hide their identity so you shouldn’t take such offers.

5.) When There’s Little To No Job Description Provided

This is usually an easy route to get into a work relationship where they’ll give you any job that comes to mind, at any time so you can’t call it scope creep.

You shouldn’t take a job that doesn’t clearly state what is expected of you from the onset. It always leaves room for abuse.

6.) The client doesn’t want to pay a deposit until the job is complete.

I always tell people to never trust anyone that says “money is not a problem, just do the job”.

If money isn’t a problem, then they should have no issue with paying a deposit.

You can’t trust people to keep their word if they can’t trust you to deliver the job if they pay a deposit. If a prospective virtual assistant client doesn’t want to pay before service, you’re better off without them.

7.) The prospect has an unprofessional email address

If their email address is name@domain.com, you can go check out their website and learn more about them through their website. If they don’t have a website yet and a gmail or yahoo account instead, then at least check them out on social media to make sure you are not talking to a scammer.

Scammers are not always very smart. One time I got a job offer from an email marketing company. They had a custom email address and sounded professional. On a closer look, I noticed that there were discrepancies everywhere.

The custom email address used read alex(at)scamcompany(dot)com, the prospect introduced himself as Henry but his email signature had Noah. Go figure!

8.) Grammatical errors in the job listing or offer. 

This is a MAJOR red flag. I don’t know why people fall for it. Most scammers are lazy people on the dark part of the internet. They are so lazy that they either don’t have time to proofread their content or just can’t read.

Your ideal client would want to put their best foot forward.

9.) When the pay is simply amazing for little effort on your part? 

In the first couple of months after I got my first phone, I received a text message from my internet provider at the time.

The message was to inform me I had won twenty eight million naira for being a loyal customer and I should call Mr Sam to claim the money.

I showed the message to my cousin and he was happy for me. It was too late into the night to call Mr Sam so we agreed to proceed early the next day.

That night, I couldn’t sleep. I thought about all the things I’ll buy and how my life was pretty solid. I felt like I would get robbed that night and they’d take my phone and claim my price. Slowly but surely, morning came and we swung into action. I called Mr Sam to inform him I was one of the lucky winners. Let’s just say it didn’t end well. Mr Sam was a scammer.

Another one happened two weeks after I completed my NYSC orientation and left camp. I received a message from a stranger who claimed he was a fellow corp member in my camp, he said he had a few spots to offer lucky corp members at Chevron (an oil and gas company that pays very well) and the salary was about 400K.

The scammer knew my name, state code, platoon, profession and other details. The Rose of 2008 would have been over the moon but I said “not today Satan” and replied to him saying I had a few spots at shell (another oil and gas company) to offer him too. He never replied.

I later found out lots of corp members got a similar message from the scammer.  This type of scammer tries to lure you in with the money. If you get greedy, you’ll fall for it and not see the red flags.

10) There’s something weird about the job

Call it whatever you choose. Gut feeling or intuition.

When you can’t shake off that weird feeling that something isn’t right, then don’t take on that project. Don’t be desperate

In the times when I have focused on the amount of money after doing my research instead of going with my gut feeling, I have regretted it even when the client wasn’t a scam. We just didn’t align and they stressed me a lot.

Always respect your gut feeling. If you feel like it’s a scam, it probably is. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Final Words

Desperation makes you vulnerable to scams. That is why I encourage virtual assistants at all levels to have a source of passive income to fall back on. When you are not desperate, you will easily identify online job scams as a virtual assistant.

Found this post helpful? Please share this post to help other virtual assistants to avoid scams and share your experience in the comments.

Top 10 Best Passive Income Ideas for Virtual Assistants in Nigeria

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

What happens if you lose one or two clients today?

What happens if you get sick or are otherwise unable to do your work as a virtual assistant?

How will it affect your business?

At the heat of the pandemic in 2020, I fell pregnant and had a very difficult first trimester.

As a result, I was unable to complete client work for three months and so I wasn’t making any money.

After the long break, I picked up what was left of my business and resumed work. I then went on to launch my first ebook. It was a lot of work upfront but it has helped me make passive income since.

Only last week, I paused work because I had a sick baby to care for.

After sending out a message to my clients letting them know I’d be unavailable, the thought that I would miss my income goal by some thousands flashed through my mind.

I waived it off as my daughter’s health is much more important

A day later, I stumbled on a notification that I had made NGN40,000 from one of my products.

The same ebook I created after my break in 2020.

I didn’t market it at all to my email list, didn’t run ads, nothing.

I just put it up for sale at the right place and the right people found it and paid for it.

Imagine doing absolutely nothing and just getting an extra 40K for something you made over a year ago?

If that sounds like something you’d like to have, then you want to pay close attention to all the passive income ideas for virtual assistants in Nigeria I’ll be sharing with you. 

That isn’t the only time my passive income sources have rescued me financially. Some months ago, I lost two clients in one week. That was 50% of my active income gone in a flash.

It felt like a film-trick but all the things I had put in place helped cushion the effect.

All I had to do was double down on marketing the things I already had.

That’s why this post is so important.

There are a lot of lucrative passive income ideas virtual assistants are not utilizing.

We don’t talk about the importance of passive income for Virtual Assistants enough.

And that’s one of the reasons why a lot of VAs go from feast to famine more often than not. Even if you are making enough money to foot your bills today, passive income is like insurance.

So if a client drops you suddenly (or you have to let a client go for any reason), you don’t go right back to square one desperately searching for a replacement.

Why? Because desperation clouds your judgment.

It is much safer to have something to cushion the effect until you find your ideal client. Instead of agreeing to work with the devils’ advocate just to make ends meet.

Before I get into passive income ideas for virtual assistants I’d like to state for the record that this isn’t EASY.

Especially when you are doing it the first time. If you already have a product or some experience, setting up your passive income will be much easier than if you are a complete newbie to everything about digital marketing or digital product creation.

Setting up your passive income source will require time to create, marketing to get word out, and even systems to sell on autopilot. If you have to be involved every time you want to make a sale, then it is not passive.

Since this is like an ultimate guide, I decided to start by telling you about the 3 types of income you could get as a Virtual Assistant.

Types of Income for Virtual Assistants

1.) Active Income:

This is the kind of income you make from working with clients. It is a direct exchange of money for your time. An example is work you complete as a social media manager or content writer.

2.) Passive Income:

This is the kind of income you get after creating something once. You’ll do the work once and reap the fruits without doing any work again. An example is when you create an ebook and sell it on autopilot. My VA toolkit is one ebook I sell without doing any work. I have set up automated emails go out to new subscribers and offer it to them in the first 5 days. Then other people find my blog posts by searching for a related topic on Google, read through and buy it. 

Some people even buy it on a tripwire page after downloading a content upgrade (freebie). 

I also put it on other digital product marketplaces and get a few dollars from it every month. So that’s just one product that I set multiple marketing channels for to generate income on autopilot. 

3.) Recurring Income:

This is the kind of income that comes regularly. It could be weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly. Recurring income may either be passive or active

An example is when you sign up to become an affiliate for a brand like kartra. They pay you 40% of what your referee pays them monthly or yearly, forever.

Here are the top 10 of the best passive income ideas for Virtual Assistants

passive income for virtual assistants

These ideas are categorized into two. 

  • Category A is income generated as a result of tapping into the finished work of others.
  • Category B is income generated from creating by yourself.

Take advantage of ready made products and services: Category A

1.) Affiliate Marketing

As an affiliate marketer, you’ll recommend other brands’ products or services. And when someone you refer, pays the brand, you’ll earn a percentage of the money. As mentioned earlier, this may be a recurring or a one time payment.

As a VA, you already use/know a lot of tools your clients’ also need.

You can sign up to become an affiliate to those brands so that whenever you recommend a tool to a client and help them set up, you’d not only get paid active income by the client, but also passive income because of the percentage the brand will send you for bringing a new client their way.

To do this is a very organized way, I recommend you create what I call a client recommendation guide.

Here’s How to Create a Client Recommendation Guide

A great way to share your affiliate links with clients in a non-salesy way is to create a client recommendation guide. Your clients will be very happy with you for being so professional and helpful.

You don’t need to make it fancy or colourful. Just mention a tool, add a logo (optional) and write a little info about why it’s the best tool for your client to get the results they desperately need. You should mention that you’ll be updating it from time to time so they know to check it regularly even after moving on from working with you.

I highly recommend making this a Google doc for three reasons.

  • So that you can always edit it as you sign up for more affiliate programs.
  • Even when a client moves on from you, you’ll still get paid whenever they click your link 
  • There’s a huge chance that they’ll share it with their colleagues which is more business for you. So you’ll always win.

Create A Page For Your Affiliate Links On Your Website

If you have a website, you could create a page and call it “recommended resources’ or “tools I love” and add your affiliate links so when someone clicks to learn more about the tools, the system remembers that you referred them. And if they eventually pay for the tool, you get a piece of the pie 

Additionally, you could write a blog post, make a video or any kind of content and spray your affiliate links everywhere.

If you’ve taken a course, bought a book, template, or anything, you could sign up to become an affiliate and share your link with your friends.

So many people want to make money working from home. When you stumble on valuable information like a courses or ebook you could easily make money while helping them. It’s always a win for all parties- The creator will be happy you brought business their way. So they’ll reward you with a percentage of the amount your friend pays. Not to mention, your friend will be grateful for the information.

This isn’t only limited courses or ebooks. A good number of the tools you use have affiliate programs you could benefit from.

Just by creating content once with your affiliate link, you’ll earn money every time someone clicks on your link even years later.

However, you should note that if someone clicks on your link, they have a specific period of time to buy the product. Some brands will only pay you if the person you refer buys within 30 to 90 days. I offer 90 days

After that, the system is set up to forget that you referred the client.

Other brands set up their system to never forget you. That’s when the income becomes recurring.

Some brands only pay through PayPal or a specific platform which is unavailable in Nigeria. 

A brand may choose to hold your earnings for up to 60 days (usually if they offer a money back guarantee) in case someone you refer decides to ask for their money back.

While others pay weekly or monthly.

A brand like appsumo pays in credits. So the money they pay can only be used to buy other products within their platform. If you need cash to spend outside appsumo, then becoming an appsumo affiliate isn’t for you. You should try to create one of the ideas in category B.

Be sure to check all the Terms and Conditions before you sign up to become an affiliate.

Read also: How to write a pillar blog post to share your affiliate links

2.) Start Subcontracting

Subcontracting is a source of passive income a lot of VAs don’t even realize they are missing out on.

When you hire other VAs to work as subcontractors, you earn more. For instance, if you charge NGN50K for a project, you could hire another VA who charges NGN35k and make a profit of NGN15K.

It is best to start working with subcontractors before you are desperate. If you build a rapport with them, you can easily outsource your work to people you trust to do great work for your clients. So that whenever you don’t have the time or are unavoidably absent and unable to review the job, your client will still get the best service.

If you wait till you’re down and out before searching for subcontractors, you might not get the best quality.

This is very important, that’s why I wrote all about subcontracting. The post covers important details like how much to pay them, what they can help you do, how to subcontract and even the kind of contract they should sign and where to find affordable ready to use subcontractor contract templates.

Category B: Create your own digital products

3.) Create a course

Some people do not want to hire you to complete tasks for them. They want to learn how to do it for themselves. So think deeply about what you know how to do very well. Can you teach it?

You can create a course based on the service(s) you provide and earn passive income. An example is if you are a Canva graphic designer and decide to create a course teaching people how to design social media graphics with Canva.

Creating a course is not an easy task to undertake. If you want a robust platform and don’t want to pay or share your income with a platform like teachable, you’ll have to build your platform directly on your website, like me. I can help you set it up whenever you’re ready.

Alternatively, you can keep it simple by creating a paid email course.

4.) Write an Ebook 

One of the easiest ways to monetize your knowledge is by creating an ebook.

You could even create an ebook with the content you already have available on your blog or with PLR content.

Nowadays, you could write about anything and get paid for it. Even if it seems like you’re writing about something everyone already knows about. Chances are, you’re wrong.

What seems pretty basic to you, might be life-changing info to someone else and they’ll be willing to pay you good money to share it with them.

If you don’t see yourself creating a course or don’t have the tools to record videos etc. You could simply write your ebook, establish your authority as a thought leader in your niche, and make passive income.

Recommended reading: How to overcome impostor syndrome as a Virtual Assistant in Nigeria

5.) Create Templates 

If you offer a service that requires you to regularly recreate things, then you could just create templates. That will help you to not have the start from scratch with every new client.

And that will be very helpful to clients who want to do it themselves. 

Take a close look at the core frustrations of your ideal clients, what do they need regularly that you can create in advance to make their job a little easier?

If you offer email marketing services and regularly get clients who want you to write and set up their welcome email autoresponder, you could create welcome email templates for sale.

If you’re a social media manager, you could offer social media caption templates for sale.

You could also do this based on the industry you serve. If you work with nutrition coaches, you could create a meal planning template. You already know your client creates custom meal plans for their own clients.

So getting a template that only requires them to add their logo, colours and text every time they have a new client is a no brainer.

It’ll save them time and money because they won’t have to hire a designer everytime.

In my shop, I have templates for a good number of things new and aspiring virtual assistants in Nigeria need. I’ve got contracts for working with clients, working with subcontractors, breaking up with clients, getting more work from existing clients, requesting for testimonials, raising your rates etc.

If you haven’t, you should check it out.

6.) Create Private Label Rights (PLR) Content 

Hiring a writer is too expensive and some can’t afford to wait for the writer to deliver quality content at the speed they need them. So they invest in PLR content, edit it to suit their voice and share it as their own.

Before I became a virtual assistant, I had a PLR content shop. Now you know another thing I dabbed into in my bid to make money online. With a PLR shop you can sell the exact same content to more than one person. Some PLR providers sell to up to 250 people.

Anything from blog posts, email copy, ebook templates, ebooks, lead magnets etc can be PLR.

You could also bundle various forms of content. A good example for the nutrition coach we used above is 4 blog posts so they can post one per week, 4 social media graphics and captions to promote the posts, 1 workbook  to use as a content upgrade and an ebook they can use as a tripwire. That’s an entire funnel you can sell to as many people as you want.

The thing with PLR content is that it is affordable. If that entire bundle I descried above would cost NGN50K if you were to create it for one client. When you sell it as PLR content, it’d go for NGN20K or less. But since you can sell to as many people as you want, NGN20K times up to 250 people (or whatever number you choose), makes it worth it.

7.) Design Printables

Think about what you can create for your clients that they can print and write on. Then go and design it. If your client loves planning and staying organized, you could create a printable planner. If they enjoy writing down their affirmations, then create a notepad that gives them colorful pages to write their affirmations. 

Printables may also be workbooks, checklists, trackers, content calendars, budget, motivational quotes, inventory lists, planners, etc. Then you can sell them online with a free shop and make passive income.

8.) Royalty Free Stock Graphics, Images, Audio and Videos

This is a grossly untapped niche in Nigeria. If you know how to create photo, audio or video content that people can use on their social media, blogs, or products you could get very rich, very fast. 

It is the ultimate cash cow of passive income for VAs with photography, videography and/or instrumental playing skills.

Okay. Maybe it’s not a cash cow.

But it’s definitely a cash calf or goat.

A lot of the time, I need affordable royalty free photos and videos of Nigerians or Naira notes for my content and see next to nothing.

People are also willing to pay for graphics.

If you’re very good with creating graphics, you could create some for sale during Christmas and sell on autopilot so you can literally get money in your account while biting into your drumstick on christmas day.

Stock videos are in high demand these days, that’s why the likes of pexels are creating more video content.

Stock audio is in short supply. Recording some instrumentals that can be used in marketing videos is a great source of income.

9.) Create a YouTube Channel 

Share your life as a Virtual Assistant. Share a tutorial about how to use the tools you use and how clients can benefit from working with you. When you continuously create valuable and entertaining content, your audience will grow over time and you will start earning a livable wage only from Youtube.

10.) Start a Membership Platform 

I have always shied away from creating a membership platform. This is because you not only have to continuously promote it, but you have to constantly and consistently add new content.

However, a simple trick I found some membership site owners doing is that they are repurposing the content they already have. So you could take a course, blog post, printables, tutorials, ebook, template etc. that you have already created and share it with your members.

Then drip the content you already have so that each month, your members receive their content without you lifting a finger.

Other Ways To Make Money As a Virtual Assistant in Nigeria

In addition to actively working in your business and generating passive income, you might also want to look at sharing your knowledge in the three ways listed below to help you further increase your active income

1.) Offer VIP Implementation Days

This is when you set aside a day to focus on one clients’ work and get them from point A to point B or Z. An example is if you have a client who needs a sales funnel created for a particular product. You could set aside 5-8 hours for only one day working on the sales funnel. At the end of the day, the client would have achieved their goal. While you’d have a lot of money upfront for only one day’s work.

This is a great way to work less and earn more. Many VAs work only 4 days a month because you can charge a very large amount of money upfront with a VIP day.

Clients are usually willing to pay for this level of support because some of them are very busy and need something done quickly so they can review it and tick it off their to-do list. A VIP day gives them just that. They schedule it for a day when both the VA and the client will be available and work get complete fast.

I intend to write a blog post about VIP implementation days for VAs. If you’re on my email list, you’ll be the first to know when it is ready.

Recommended reading: How to double your virtual assistant income without a single new client

2.) Consulting

I started coaching new and aspiring VAs because of the tons of questions I get asked. If you are constantly asked about the service(s) you provide, you should charge for the information you give. 

This is a great way to make money because some people want to learn from the best and do it themselves. That’s why a discovery call is totally different from a consultation call. If you don’t know how to hold a discovery call, grab my discovery call workbook. I don’t want you to end up carrying out a free strategy session instead of a discovery call.

3.) Masterclasses and Online Classes 

Organize a class teaching what you know. During the class, make sure you record it. After the class, you can sell the replay and still make money. 

Now you know the best passive income ideas for virtual assistants, which one are you going to pursue? Let me know in the comments

My advice is this- start with one or two and then build from there. Don’t spend all your time making only active income because passive income will serve you when the chips are down.

Having multiple sources of passive income should always be your goal.

Photo credit: freepik.com

How to become a Virtual Assistant Subcontractor (everything you need to know)

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam

Some VAs are constantly booked solid and can’t work with all the awesome clients they get.

How to use their good fortune to your advantage?

Five words

Become a virtual assistant subcontractor!

In this post I share everything you need to know about becoming a sort after VA subcontractor. You’ll find info about how much to charge, where to find clients, how it works, answers to FAQs about VA subcontracting etc.

It is the only guide you need to start subcontracting and making money without overwhelm.

What is A Virtual Assistant Subcontractor?  

A virtual assistant subcontractor (which is also known as an associate), is a type of VA that works under more established VAs. They don’t bother finding clients or any of the business side of things. They just wait for the VAs they work with to find the clients for them while they focus on providing the best possible service they were hired for.

So as a Virtual Assistant Subcontractor, you do not work directly with clients and won’t have any contract with them. Instead, you’ll have a contract with the VA you work with.

Virtual Assistants who work with subcontractors usually have more work than they can complete on their own. So outsourcing some of their work helps them take on more clients, and make more money.

3 Amazing Reasons Why You Should Consider Becoming a Virtual Assistant Subcontractor

reasons to consider becoming a virtual assistant subcontractor
Photo credit: freepik.com

1.) Gain Priceless Experience

Working as a Virtual Assistant Subcontractor allows you access to more established VAs. The VA you work with will provide you with the tools and systems you need to complete your job instead of having to figure out everything on your own.

Any subcontractor I work with has the freedom to ask me anything about their business or the VA industry generally. Others have to get answers to their questions by booking a VA power hour with me.

So when you become a VA subcontractor, it allows you to learn from established VAs for free. That said. If you’re a new VA looking to build your confidence and not able to get your own clients yet, and would benefit from expert advice, you should become a Virtual Assistant Subcontractor

2.) Escape The Backend Work Completely

A lot of work goes into running a Virtual Assistant business. Tasks like content marketing, getting clients, handling discovery calls, on-boarding clients, answering their questions, dealing with difficult clients etc. You won’t get paid for working in your own business.

It falls under what is called ‘non-billable hours’. Non billable hours is the time you spend working in your own business. Not working in your own business is one of the most common mistakes virtual assistants make.

If you don’t want to do all that backend work, consider becoming a virtual assistant subcontractor. A lot of new VAs take this path because dealing with all the moving backend work might be overwhelming. It might feel like you are working but it doesn’t count for anything because it is not spent on client work and no one pays you for working in your business.

So it makes sense to have someone else do all the back end work and bring the best clients they can find to you.

3.) Great Option When You Only Need Part-Time Work

Do you already have a 9-5 job?

Are you a stay at home mum?

Or you are very busy with little time to invest in your business?

Consider becoming a Virtual Assistant Subcontractor.

It will help you avoid the backend work I mentioned in point 2 above. You’ll avoid all the draining part of running a business and make maximum use of your precious time completing clients’ work

These are the 3 primary reasons why a lot of people choose to become Virtual Assistant Subcontractors. So if any of them sounds like something you need, you should take the opportunity to become one.

What To Expect As A Virtual Assistant Subcontractor

Have realistic expectations from the get go so you don’t get disappointed when you get in. You are not guaranteed consistent work from a VA because you are an independent contractor, so plan accordingly. Every subcontracting job you get will be different depending on the type of service(s) you’ll be providing. and if you are working with a VA or an agency.

When working with a VA, you might be required to:

  • Get on weekly, biweekly or monthly calls with the VA you’re working with for progress reports and strategy for growth
  • Read/watch stand operating procedures (SOPs) on how to complete tasks inn a clients’ business or how to use tools you are required to work with.
  • Use an email address provided by the VA for your communication with clients. I provide an email address for subcontractors I want to have direct access to my clients. It is usually something like subcontractor’s name [at] the rosepreneur [dot] com
  • Check the VA’s project management system for upcoming projects, tasks to complete etc.

When working with an agency, you might be:

  • Assigned to a particular client
  • Be required to create an account on their platform
  • Be required to hold 1-on-1 discovery calls with clients to get clear on what they need
  • Have to track your time within their platform or with a browser extension if they work hourly

That said, all VAs and agencies are not the same. So their processes will differ. The points I gave above are just to give you an idea. The more organized the contractor (VA or agency) is, the better.

How Much Should You Charge As A Virtual Assistant Subcontractor?

Aha.

Finally!

You’ve been waiting for this part, right?

Maybe you even scrolled to find this part while researching how much to charge per hour as a virtual assistant subcontractor.

Well, you’re in luck because I am a benevolent queen and I do not disappoint.

The short answer is this:

It depends on how much you charge for your services.

There’s no universally accepted rate I can tell you.

You have no know how to price your virtual assistant services first. When you know that. Then you can know how much to charge for your work as a VA subcontractor.

Because the amount you charge as a subcontractor is about 50% to 80% what you normally charge.

If you want to charge per hour, use my free hourly rate calculator to know your hourly rate.

Done?

Perfect.

So if you normally charge $25 per hour, as a VA subcontractor, you’re looking at $12 to $20 per hour.

If you charge $200 for social media management for one month, that means anywhere from $100 to $160 per month.

On the other hand, what the VA earns might also come to play. If you decide to partner with a VA who charges $10 per hour, the 50% to 80% can still be used.

So 50% to 80% of $10 is $5 to $8 per hour. In this case if you want to charge higher, then go for VAs or agencies who charge premium rates.

20% to 50% for the VA is only fair because they bear all the risks and do all the backend work required to get and keep clients. While you just focus on working.

As a rule of thumb, try to avoid VAs who want to pay less than 50% and only accept 50% if you won’t hate yourself. A good baseline is 30%.

Where to Find Work as a Virtual Assistant Subcontractor

It is not enough to know you want to subcontract and know how much to charge. If you don’t know where to find clients, your subcontracting dreams will never come true. So here are some places you can find work as a Virtual Assistant Subcontractor.

1.) Research online to find busy and booked-out Virtual Assistants

Research for VA websites that offer the same type of service you’re looking to provide. Or at least a complimentary service.

This can work to your advantage in two ways because, sometimes these VAs might NOT need you to work as a subcontractor. They might need you to be their own virtual assistant. More on that later.

I’ll explain this with examples to make it easy.

Let’s assume you provide canva design services. You can research for virtual assistants that are social media managers or course launch VAs.

A social media virtual assistant will need canva graphics to do their job.

A course launch VA might only be focused on building the learning management system. So if you pitch your graphic design skills, they’d offer it as an add-on to clients to design the slides they need for their course. It’s a win-win

To carry out an organized research use the following steps:

1.) Make a list of all VAs you’d like to partner with.

This can be on a note book if you like planning on paper like me, or on a spread sheet. On the sheet create 7 columns for their:

  • Name
  • Website URL 
  • Primary social media handle
  • Service(s) you are looking to provide
  • Benefits of working with you
  • Something personal you want to mention so they know it is not a generic pitch
  • Other relevant info.

2.) Once you have all the info you need, it’s time to subtly call their attention to yourself.

Some VAs do not trust you to have their best interest when you work with their clients. So they’d be more comfortable working with you if they know you a little before receiving a pitch. You can move to the front of the line really fast by:

  • Visiting their websites to know more about them, their goals and why they started
  • Reading their blogs and leaving thoughtful comments
  • Joining their email list and replying when they ask a question or something
  • Interacting with their posts on social media etc.

3.) After you have made your move to the front of the line, it’s time to make your big ask

  • Don’t call them out of the blues and ask to get hired.
  • Send a custom email instead. See how I made the word ‘custom’ bold? Because I get pitches from subcontractors (and even guest post pitches) that are very generic and sometimes automated. I once got an email were the person introduced himself with one name, signed off with another name and the custom email address he used also had a different name. Those types of emails go straight to the trash folder never to be read again. So don’t send the same generic email to all the VAs you are pitching to. Make it personal and let the VA feel like you wrote it just for them.
  • Do not send too many pitches at once. If you send out 100 pitches and 15 say yes. Would you be able to handle subcontracting for 15 VAs at once? Even if you gathered 100 prospects during your research, batch your pitches. You can always go back to your master list if you need to.
  • Follow up with the VA at least 3 times. Sometimes life gets in the way. Reply the first pitch with a follow up email and make your emails a thread. Don’t send a fresh pitch. This will call the VAs attention to your emails.

Don’t stop interacting with the VA if they say they are not ready to have you onboard.

  • If you stay top-of-mind, you’ll be the first person they call whenever they are ready.

2.) Research for Valuable VA Groups on Social Media

There are a lot of VA groups on Facebook and LinkedIn. Research for valuable groups, read their guidelines and join.

Some groups do not want you pitch your services as a VA or subcontractor, they only want clients and VAs looking for subcontractors to pitch. So follow rules or you’ll be kicked out.

When you’re inside the group be sure to connect and make yourself useful. If someone asks a question you know the answer to, help out. It just takes helping someone out or sharing your experience to get someone who needs that expertise (and likes your vibe) to hire you.

3.) Apply at a Virtual Assistant Agency

This is the third route you can follow. Try this if points 1 and 2 don’t yield the results you want. Before you apply find out if they have a preferred method of application. And if they need VAs in a specific location, with specific skills, etc.                  

Frequently Asked Questions about Working as a Virtual Assistant

Photo credit: freepik

Now you know what a virtual assistant subcontractor is.

Reasons why you should consider become a subcontracting, as well as how much you should charge and where to find VAs to work with.

What next?

More research?

A lot of people get excited when they discover all the awesome benefits of working as a virtual assistant subcontractor and just keep clicking on links and reading stuff.

They sign up for freebie after freebie and never really achieve anything because on the other side of all that research lies information overload.

Analysis paralysis kicks in and before you know it, that initial excitement is replaced by overwhelm and zero action.

That’s why I decided to share some frequently asked questions about working as a VA subcontractor to make sure you have all the info you need and don’t keep Googling “how to work as a virtual assistant subcontractor” when you finish reading this post.

Let’s get to it

1.) Can I still have my own VA clients while subcontracting for another VA or agency?

Absolutely. You can also have your own Virtual Assistant Clients while you subcontract. If you have the capacity to work with 5 clients at once and only have 2 clients, you could become a subcontractor for another VA and still hit your income goal. It will give you more experience because you’ll be learning from what’s working for them and what’s not. You’ll get a front row sit on how a successful VA business works.

2.) Can I use work I completed while subcontracting on my resume/portfolio?

It depends. I used to have this question early on in my career and couldn’t find a clear answer online. I had to get a lawyer’s perspective and this was her advice.

Follow what your contract with the VA says. “But what if the contract didn’t mention anything about resume/portfolio use?”

Then ask the VA. If you get the green light, write it in this format “Work I did” for “Clients’ Brand” in partnership with “VA brand”

So if you worked with me on a project for Microsoft, you’d say Website Designer For Microsoft LLC in partnership with The Rosepreneur LTD.

Don’t ever list a client on your portfolio or resume if you don’t have the contact details of the client (or someone on their team) who a potential client could call. And even if you have their contact details, make sure they know you enough to say nice things about working with you.

She went ahead to share an experience where a lady applied to work with a really established brand. She had the skills they needed and work experience to match. During the verification process they called a brand she claimed to have worked with and no one knew her or had even heard of her. She had only worked as a subcontractor for another agency. Needless to say she didn’t get in because she was not completely honest from the beginning.

3.) What if a contractor doesn’t want me to work with competitors: Virtual Assistants that provide the same kind of services they provide or work with the same kind of clients they work with?

This is a dicey situation. Do not sign a contract until you have had a lawyer vet it. Some contracts might be too broad and to your disadvantage. If a VA is in a broad niche like health and doesn’t want you to work with competitors, they have to be specific. Health is comprised on fitness, food mental health etc. So using the word “health” is too rigid.

4.) Should I sign a non-disclosure agreement?

Yes. As long as you are comfortable with the terms.

5.) Should I present the VA with a contract? Is it the VA’s responsibility?

It I usually the job of the VA to draft the contract. But in the event that the VA doesn’t (which is very rare), the onus falls on you. It is better to draft a contract than get into a work relationship without a contract. To get an ironclad Virtual Assistant Subcontractor Agreement/Contract, go here.

6.) How much money do Virtual Assistant Subcontractors make?

Firstly, it depends on the services you provide and how much work you’re able to complete. A VA subcontractor who provides website design services will earn more than a VA who provides data entry services.

Secondly, it depends on the VA you work with. Like I mentioned earlier on, VAs pay 50% to 80% what they charge their clients. So if you work with VAs who pay the lower end of the range, you’ll earn less than a subcontractor at the higher end.

Thirdly, it depends on how much a VA charges their clients. If the charge low, 50-80% of what they charge might be very low. So to reach your income goal, you’d have to work more or find VAs who charge higher rates.

7.) How long does it take to get VAs to partner with?

Some subcontractors get work from their very first pitch, some get offers from VAs who are building their teams and some take a long time to find a VA.

I reached out to the very first subcontractor I worked with. She had stayed top of mind (but never pitched). When I got a client that needed the service, she was the first person I thought of.

So have it at the back of your mind that some subcontractors get their first gig almost immediately and then wait months to get more work. While it takes ages for some to get VAs to partner with but after that initial lag phase, they get a steady stream of partners.

8.) What do I need to set up and how much does it cost to start?

Again, it depends. You can find all the information you need about basic tools you need and the cost implications in this blog post.

Wrapping Up

Becoming a Virtual Assistant Subcontractor might be your chance to comfortably earn a living working from home. You can gain the much needed experience and confidence you need before sourcing for your own clients. I hope you found this post helpful.

Still got questions? Leave them in the comment section below and I’ll be happy to update the post with more information.

Featured image: freepik.com

Virtual Assistant Contract For VAs in Nigeria (why you need it and what to include)

Posted on by Rose Odoemelam
virtual assistant contract

An iron clad Virtual Assistant Contract is one of the must haves for every VA business. Regardless of if you’ve been in business for 100 years or you’re still in the start-up phase. This is so important that I made it a one day lesson in my free email course for virtual assistants in Nigeria.

When I started my business, I didn’t know I needed a contract and I regret not having one from day one.

And when I eventually got a contract, I felt like it was too rigid and would scare potential clients away. So I left it on my laptop until it gathered virtual dust.

I fell into the hands of wrong clients until I finally decided it was time to get a Virtual Assistant contract.

But I couldn’t afford one because all the great templates were too expensive for a new Virtual Assistant in Nigeria (exchange rate sucks).

So I settled for a free copy online and used it for some months.

And I was happy with it.

Until I showed it to a lawyer who was also helping out with my business CAC registration. The loop holes in my contract were too many.

That’s the thing with free stuff.

That’s why I decided to write this post.

So you’d know why you need a Virtual Assistant Contract as a VA in Nigeria, the things to include and how to get an affordable iron clad contract.

Why You Need a Virtual Assistant Contract As A VA in Nigeria

Your strategy to get clients to cooperate should NOT be to call them out on social media. In fact, it’s best to avoid them altogether with a contract instead of chasing them down for payments. The moment you start your VA business, you become a business owner.

As boring as a virtual assistant contract might sound to you, it is a very essential part of your business setup. It protects your interest at all times (even after you move on from the client). It also gives your clients peace of mind knowing that you are legally bond to not share their information among other things.

Asides protecting your interest, a virtual assistant contact will help manage expectations, set boundaries. And give your client the feeling that they are dealing with a professional.

10 Non-Negotiable Things to Include In Your Virtual Assistant Contract

#1: Names of both parties     

For obvious reasons you need the name of your client on your contract.

#2: Date the agreement commences     

The exact date your work relationship commences so that both parties know when they become legally bond.

#3: Outline of services to be provided:

This largely depends on the way you price your services. If you charge per hour, you need to set a time limit to how they’ll use their hours. Decide if un-used hours will roll over to the next month or expire. This sets expectations and a client doesn’t pay for 10 hours and goes without using it until after 6 months.

On the other hand, if you work with packages, things are a little different. You have to clearly state the service(s) you will provide at X amount of money to avoid the dreaded scope creep. Scope creep is what happens when a client ask you to do other things that were not originally agreed on. Without wanting to pay more. These things may be small but will add up in the end. Your virtual assistant contract should explicitly state that you’ll be charging for them separately.

#4: Payment terms And Processes

Are you going to invoice weekly, at the beginning of a project, at the end of a project, monthly, at the beginning and end of a project or it’s recurring so they’ll be charged automatically?

You need to state how you will receive payments, how you will invoice and when payments are due.

Will you accept direct bank transfer or use payment gateways like PayStack and Flutterwave?

Another important thing you must add is what will happen if a client pays late or refuses to pay. If you use the payment gateways above, you can send automated payment reminders to them.

If you want them to pay a late fee, then you’ll find the getting paid kit for VAs helpful. It contains templates to communicate this professionally.

#5: Termination/Cancellation policy:

Things don’t always go as planned so your termination policy helps you break up with a client that isn’t a good fit. You need to state who can terminate the contract, for what reason(s) and even what is expected of each party after the termination. You’ll find the breaking up with client kit useful

#6: Confidentiality Agreement

Your client needs to know their sensitive information is safe. They’ll give you access to their trade secrets, including their passwords and other private information. You need to outline how you will treat this information.

#7: Rush Job Policy

What happens if a client wants you to do something over the weekend or just needs something in a hurry. You’ll need to put away other client work or even your rest time to deliver. So you should charge more for it. Decide what timeframe fits into a rush job and how much you will charge. I use 48 business hours or less.

#8: Independent contractor agreement

Outline the kind of relationship you have. You are not your client’s employee so you must state that you are an independent contractor, along with some of the things that differentiates you from an in house employee

#9: Non solicitation agreement

Your Virtual Assistant Contract must clearly state that you are not there to steal your client’s clients when they give you access to sensitive information like their client’s contact.

#10: Contingency plan

You need to outline what happens when you are sick, or otherwise unable to complete your work as a result of circumstances beyond your control. This is essential so that you are not held liable for breach of contract if you miss a deadline.

You might also need time away like when I was on maternity leave. Clearly state when and how your client will be notified.

These are only a few of the terms that must be clearly outlined in your virtual assistant contract. A lot of free virtual assistant contracts do not have some of the things mentioned that’s why you need to move past freebies and get an iron clad contract that protects you and doesn’t leave a hole in your purse.

Where To Get Affordable Virtual Assistant Contract Specially Made For VAs In Nigeria?

To get a good virtual assistant contract template online costs from NGN 48,500 ($97). Some even go as high as NGN 225,000 ($450).

Getting one offline isn’t any better because Lawyers in Nigeria are required to put their seal on every document they create for you. You can’t afford to hire a lawyer to write a new contract every time you have a new client.

That’s where rinse and use templates come in. Together with a lawyer, I have prepared an iron clad virtual assistant contract for VAs in Nigeria. It is the contract I wish I had when I first started. You can use it to work with clients locally and internationally.

It’s tailored to Nigerian laws so it’s the perfect document. You just have to plug in your client’s detail every time you have a new client and send it to them to sign online. The best part? You’ll get all future updates for free.

Easy peasy!

Whenever, you’re ready, grab your virtual assistant contract for VAs in Nigeria.

How To Sign Your Virtual Assistant Contract Online     

There are a couple of free tools you can use to sign your contract online. The tool I love using is smallPDF. All I do is upload the PDF version of my contract, sign it and email it to my client to sign too. Once the client signs it, I am automatically notified and we can both download our copies.

What If Your Client Doesn’t Want To Sign A Contract?

Red flag!       

As long as your terms are reasonable, a good client will have no problem with signing it. In fact, clients will commend you for being very professional when you have a contract because it shows that you take your business (and their business) seriously.

Some clients may have a few good questions before they sign your virtual assistant contract which shows they actually read the thing. You should answer their questions as clearly as possible because they need the information to decide if signing will be to their detriment. Wise people understand a contract before they sign.

However, if a client doesn’t want to sign any contract. And wants you trust them or do their work in a hurry because they don’t have time to sign a contract, run very, very, far from them.

Recommended reading: Become a virtual assistant in Nigeria (use these exact steps)

Wrapping Up

I hope you now know why a virtual assistant contract is important, what you should include in your contract and how to get one at an affordable rate as a virtual assistant in Nigeria. Do you use a contract for your services?

Photo credit: freepik.com