Once upon a time…
…there was a very overwhelmed and slightly exhausted aspiring Virtual Assistant who thought, in her own words, that running a Virtual Assistant business was a ‘pipe dream’.
Introducing, Anna.
When Anna came to me she lacked self-belief, lacked motivation, and spent many a day talking herself out of moving forward with her VA business due to her supposed lack of skills.
Her fear of people stopping, mid-coffee, to collapse in a hysterical heap unable to control their laughter upon hearing the news of her new venture, was so significant that she couldn’t even bring herself to officially start the business, let alone actually – gasp – tell people.
Imposter Syndrome had her in its ghastly grasp and she scurried away from VA forums and Facebook groups at the mere mention of CRMs, retainers or invoices.
Something had to change
Despite having managed much of the initial setup herself, Anna had reached a standstill and decided that, in order to actually make this dream a reality, she needed support.
She put her money where her lip balm-adorned mouth was, and signed up to my 1-1 coaching programme – Virtual Assistant: Amplified.
It was clear to me from the offset that this underconfident, overly worried VA newbie had the skills, personality and drive to not only succeed in the VA world, but be an absolute asset to it. She just couldn’t see it.
And therein, dear reader, lay our first hurdle.
The VA journey
My plan of attack was to first get Anna believing in her ability. There is no way that you can confidently persuade savvy business owners to part with their hard-earned pennies if you don’t believe in your core that you are worth that investment.
To kick off, we set about putting together a service suite that would make the gold member club lounge at British Airways look like an ASDA carpark. By the time we’d finished, it was comprehensive, clear and, crucially, included in-demand services that Anna felt at least a degree of confidence offering – baby steps!
Next, we immediately hurled ourselves into some mindset work. The first step towards addressing any kind of mindset block is recognising its presence. Once that box is ticked, (us VA’s bloody love a structured list), you can take steps to compensate for your default thinking patterns, and even counteract them. Anna and I smashed through this and more.
Enter…clients!
It was at this point, just 2 sessions down, that all my carefully laid plans were hurled out the window when Anna got enquiries from not one, but two potential clients!
Of course, we ran with it, (metaphorically obviously…you won’t catch me actually running. Ever.), and Anna successfully onboarded said two clients before the programme was even halfway through.
This was a real confidence breakthrough. It took her starting to do the work, see the success and hear the positive feedback, for Anna to truly believe she could do it. It’s as easy, (or not), as A, B, C. In order to start believing in yourself, you have to first take Action. This will lead to the Belief that you can do it, which in turn gives you the Confidence to take the next step. It all starts with action.
We spent the rest of the sessions working on nailing discovery calls, sorting out a smooth onboarding process, (retrospectively - gahhh!), tackling tools of the trade, smashing social media and encouraging Anna to let her personality shine.
We also spent a decent amount of time looking at how to find, (and importantly, attract), ideal clients – which must have worked because shortly after completing the programme she signed yet another client,
along with getting several other enquiries.
Where is she now?
Thankfully this touching tale doesn’t end with a spectacular fall from grace, a plot twist or a cliff-hanger involving a long-lost acquaintance turning up, out of the blue, announcing that they shot Phil Mitchell (yeh I know. I can’t remember what I ate for breakfast this morning but I can remember this 20+ year old Eastenders episode like it was yesterday).
Anna is now the proud CEO of her very own Virtual Assistant business and is successfully running it alongside her employed role.
It seems appropriate to leave the final words to the VA Superstar herself:
“I mean, look at me! Running a bona fide business that I love with actual clients that I feel like I am making a difference for, getting out there on social media with (fairly) regular posts, and just being me and being confident about it. I think you encouraging me to just be me has really made the biggest difference (even though I am probably a little weird!).
Oh, and I have a business bank account now. with actual money in it!!”
Whether you’re an aspiring Virtual Assistant, a newbie or a veteran, come and join my wonderful Facebook community – The Virtual Assistant Power Academy – to meet like-minded people and get a tonne of free support!