Becoming a Booked Out Virtual Assistant

digital nomad starting a va business va virtual assistant work from home working with clients Oct 30, 2024

One of the best feelings from building The ROCKET VA™ Academy and supporting new Virtual Assistants is when we get to witness our alumni book their first clients. It’s a mix of emotions for us and them. Knowing that the academy truly works, seeing our VAs match with their dream clients, and sharing in their growth is a real privilege.

Taking on your first clients is super exciting…well any client you onboard is super exciting! And if you’re looking to book that first client or scale your business, here are our top tips for becoming a booked out Virtual Assistant.

What does booked out mean?

It means you’ve reached a point where your services are in high demand, and you have a full roster of clients, providing you with consistent income and increased job security. Essentially, you’ve reached your capacity for the amount of hours you work, number of clients you have, and/or income you make. This differs for everyone, so it is important to know what your capacity looks like in the season that you’re in. It’s also a great idea to define your version of success and job satisfaction.

But how do you get there? Gaining more clients boils down to a key component: marketing.

The good news is marketing takes many forms. It’s not just plastering yourself on flyers or billboards; it’s about attracting clients in a meaningful way.

Note: some of this may feel uncomfortable at first, but the more you do it, the better you’ll get at it.

Confidently define your skills

When someone asks what you do, do you have a succinct, clear answer? Think elevator pitch style.

Being able to confidently convey what it is you’re doing will go a long way. So it is worth deciding if you’d like to niche down or offer more general services - both are great by the way! Whichever you decide, you can then begin to market accordingly.

Create an action plan

Step 1: make time

This sounds obvious, doesn’t it? In reality, especially when supporting other people’s businesses, ours can be pushed to the side. If you read the previous blog on Boosting Productivity, you may be familiar with time blocking. Time block your own business needs! Yep, schedule at least 1 hour a day for marketing your own business.

Because if we don’t have clients, we don’t have an income. Again obvious; we know. But so much time is spent on a slick website, branding, creating, etc. which is all good, but if you’re not talking to people or purposefully letting people know about your services, then potential clients won’t know you’re there to help!

Step 2: network and connect

This follows on from Step 1 - if people don’t know about you and your services, they can’t possibly become clients. Step 2 is also where we mentioned it might start to feel uncomfortable, and that’s okay. Progress over perfection here.

We share quite openly about Debbie’s experience with Network Marketing (@rocketva_, @debbie_rocket), both the good and the not so good. One thing that did stick with Debbie though is the importance of leveraging your network.

Speak to family and friends about what you’re doing, chat with your hair stylist, beautician, etc, get involved in those Facebook Groups that you’re a part of. Make a list of all the ‘circles’ that you operate in and get talking.

Step 3: leverage your portfolio

If you are working with clients already, and looking to scale, then make sure you’ve done this. Ask for testimonials and feedback. These are great ways to build credibility, boost your confidence, and let others know that you’re a brilliant VA!

Don’t be afraid to ask. Collect videos and written testimonials so that you can cross-purpose these to use on your social media and/or your website.

Step 4: the business proposal

Okay picture this. That one hour of marketing a day pays off, and a potential client needs support. Now what? What does your proposal phase look like?

Truth bomb: anyone can create a sleek proposal on Canva now. We love Canva and love it for our businesses, but when creating something for a potential new client, it’s important to not just pop your logo on a template and change the text. It can appear a bit lifeless.

What you can do is make it personal, research your client, and show the true value of what you have to offer them.

Ways to make it personal

Send a personal email and include what excites you about working together - it might be their industry or product. What connects you and the client? Maybe you’ve always wanted to visit where they live or you have a mutual colleague friend. Include something that ties you two together.

Know your client

Don’t go into a business meeting blind. Read through their website, their ‘About Me’ section, check out the type of social media posts they create, and trends they follow. This can quickly spark areas you know you can best support them with. This is especially useful if the potential client is coming from a recommendation or you’ve met them at an event, rather than a job posting where more information might already be given. Getting to know them will help you to better tailor your written proposal.

Added value

This one is sort of going the extra mile, if you have capacity to do so. Think about if there is anything you can show this client before you actually start working together. You’ll have your portfolio, your business proposal tailored to them, and a nice email to tie it all together, but what if you could add just that little bit extra?!

Here’s what we mean: your client is asking for help with content creation, so you build a posting schedule complete with 5 initial post ideas.

Or, they are launching a newsletter for the first time so you draft an initial newsletter and create a template in their branding.

This action doesn’t need to take you an extra 5 hours, but if there is something you can piece together that shows you’ve put in a lot of thought and care into them and their business…well we know that would stand out for us!