Fear-Based Decisions Are Bad for Business!
At one point, or another, every business owner will find him or herself in a worrying situation. Revenue is down. New clients are scarce. Profits are falling, and a peek at the financials is enough to bring on a full-fledged anxiety attack.
Unless you are Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates, chances are you’ve experienced that sinking feeling of a business that’s trending downward. But how you handle it can mean the difference between continued success and business-killing burnout.
Here’s where a lot of VAs get it wrong. They start to worry about money, and that worry leads to poor decisions that ultimately have a negative impact not just on finances, but—maybe more importantly—on morale, too. Maybe you know what I’m talking about?
You Take On The Wrong Client!
When business is down, it can be tough to keep your ideal client avatar in mind. Instead, you jump at the chance to work with anyone who comes along. The trouble with this scenario is you can find yourself with a roster full of clients who:
- Aren’t willing to delegate their workload
- Spend all their time telling you why your ideas and/or advice won’t work
- Drain your energy and make you dread your office
You Stop Looking for New Clients!
Who can blame you? With profits down, you feel you must pull back. You can’t afford to spend time and money networking and promoting your business.
Wrong, this is the perfect time to look for new clients!
What you can do instead…
Networking – A great way to get the word out about what you do is to go out and meet people. Even if these aren’t initially your target market, networking raises your profile in your local business community and people often refer clients to you later.
Look for local freelancing events and meetings! Being around other freelancers also provides a place to discuss issues that your non-freelancer friends won’t have and to get free techie advice.
Using LinkedIn – LinkedIn plays an important part when it comes to marketing your business. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date and highlights your skills and expertise that you can offer clients.
A good tip is to ask for an introduction. So, if one of your LinkedIn connections has a first-degree contact that fits your target market perfectly then ask them to introduce you explaining why you might both mutually benefit from knowing each other.
Run a Facebook Ad – You will need to you need to research your target niche and read up on how to run a campaign. As with all your marketing, you’re trying to get your info in front of the right people so know who they are and get a targeted ad for your business in their face.
Facebook ads are cheaper than AdWords and you can get your ad in front of some specific audiences.
There are numerous articles, blogs, etc. online on how you can improve your business – take a gander at Google, and you will be amazed at what you can learn.
Hold out for the Ideal Client!
While you’re waiting for your “people”, take what you’ve learned from your dip in business, and hone your skills! Do research as to what people are looking for in a Virtual Assistant, and make sure your skills are in line with the “ask”!
When you make business decisions based on fear, you will kill your business. Make your decisions based on knowledge and research and not on intuition! The majority of business owners fail to see the difference between resistance or ego from their intuition. Market research and then testing will tell you what you need to know.