Need More Clients? Think Like a Farmer

Think all a farmer has to do is wait until fall to harvest truckloads of delicious tomatoes or corn or squash? Think again! That farmer has worked hard all year long to prepare for that week or two of reward.

  • He prepared the ground following last year’s harvest.
  • He planted seeds in the spring.
  • He watered and fertilized and protected his fragile crops from pests and drought and poor weather.
  • And finally, after months of work, he enjoys the results.

Your VA business works the same way, and if you take a page from the farmer’s playbook, you’ll soon be reaping the rewards, too.

Preparing the Ground

This is your brand, your voice, your very presence in your market. If you’re just starting out—like that farmer after his harvest—you’ll spend your time simply becoming known.

Hang out with other VAs on Facebook / LinkedIn forums. Join networking forums where your ideal clients spend their time. Build a website or Facebook page. This is the prep work that will form the foundation of a solid business in the future.

Planting the Seeds

Your seeds are your content and services. With each comment or blog post you write, you’re planting a seed you can harvest later. But unlike the farmer, your seeds will produce over and over again, endlessly.

When you think about it that way, it’s easy to see that planting seeds is a critical part of every business.

Nurturing Your Crop

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just “set it and forget it”? Unfortunately, that style of business rarely works.

Instead, you must spend time nurturing.

  • Update old blog posts with new ideas
  • Study your stats to improve your traffic and conversions
  • Improve your service offerings

It doesn’t take much effort to update your blog posts or tweak your services, and the rewards can be fantastic.

Of course, being a farmer is a long-term investment. The work you do today may not pay off for weeks or months to come. But with a strong history of consistent “farming” in your business, you’ll soon see that those long-term rewards are paying off consistently as well.