Once you’ve built a solid virtual business, it’s natural to think about how you want it to grow and develop over the next few years. Some VAs are keen to develop their team and extend their customer base, whereas others want to work more efficiently and actually reduce their physical working hours per week – everyone has their own ideas of what their ‘perfect’ VA business looks like, and everyone should consider the following as opportunities for growth and development.
Associates – whether you want to increase the number of clients you can service or are looking to offload some of your work so that you can maintain your existing customers without working so intensively yourself, associates can help. Just make sure that your associates are skilled in the areas you require, are insured and that you can work effectively with them as they share your attitude towards work – for example, they have good attention to detail, a positive outlook and the same general business ethics that you have. This is key if you are looking for a long-lasting and successful associate relationship with one or more freelancers, as you need to be able to trust that your customers are in safe hands when you are not their first point of contact for work.
New Services – in our fast-changing virtual industry, there are always new software programmes being launched specifically for SMEs. Why not consider whether it might be good to invest in training in some of this software? It might be that you can charge a little more for particularly specialised work (thus earning similar from fewer hours) or add this service to your existing range of products.
Mentoring/Coaching – sometimes, it takes the perspective of an impartial advisor to determine simple changes that you could make to your business in order to work more productively, efficiently and effectively. A business mentor or coach can fulfil this role for you, as well as helping you to overcome any mental barriers that are in the way of you finding greater success with your business.
Networking – though I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, networking really is a great platform for growing and developing your business; when you are at events, it is possible to speak to potential customers and find out exactly what they are looking for help and assistance with, or what they value in a business support team. This feedback can be invaluable as you decide what services to continue offering in your business and how to market your business effectively to your target audience.
Whether you want to build a successful, multi-team member business or just spend more time with your friends and family, your business goals are perfectly respectable and a great end-point to work towards.
Don’t forget, we offer business coaching and mentoring if you’ve got a business dream and need help establishing whether it is reasonable and determining what you need to do in order to achieve it.
We also support our VA Mastermind members to grow their businesses in our monthly membership – you can get on our waitlist HERE.
Finally, our VIP VA Hub on Facebook is a great resource if you want to hear more from other professionals in your situation to find out what they are doing to achieve their goals.