Back in June 2006 when I officially started my business, I didn’t know half of what I thought I knew. Does that make sense? I had spent months researching the virtual assistance industry, and studying the way other VAs were marketing themselves.  I thought I knew all of the benefits that came with hiring a VA, but my first client quickly taught me that I didn’t.

One of the main reasons the real estate agent who became my first client wanted to contract my services was something I had never considered before, and I’ve forgotten about until we’re here in the middle of tax season!

While we were having our initial consultation, he told me that he really needed some legitimate business expenses, and my services would certainly provide that to him, while helping him to keep on top of things at the same time.

Have you had your taxes prepared yet? Did you have enough business expenses? We’re already practically at the end of April, so you might be looking for something to spend your money on to help you out for next year’s taxes. The services of a virtual assistant are not only a legitimate business expense, but by outsourcing your administrative duties - you know, the ones you hate doing so they rarely get done - you’ll free up time to do things that will help boost your income.

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I’ve had around the same number of billable hours each month for the last year. I’ve had clients hours fluctuate, I’ve lost some clients, gained some new ones, but it all seems to level out.

About two months ago, I was at a point where I was at the computer from 7 in the morning until 2 in the morning. I still only put in a few hours of billable time - the rest of that time was spent managing projects, staying on top of email, wrangling my children, etc. I was rapidly approaching the ‘burn-out zone’. While I was subcontracting some work, I was still spending way too much time on project management and other administrative things. I wasn’t able to market my business, follow up properly, or eat lunch without feeling guilty for being away from my computer.

So I took the plunge and retained the services of a VA to keep on top of that stuff for me. It’s the best investment I have ever made in my business, and more importantly, in myself.

For the last two months I have had my own dedicated VA. I’ve blogged about her before - Victoria is my lifesaver. I wonder…is this how my clients feel after they start delegating projects to me? It is a glorious feeling.

Victoria and I are in different time zones, so she starts managing my email when her work day begins, and that frees up so much time, you have no idea. I can actually focus on the day’s projects without being distracted by my email. That is saving me at least an hour or two every day.

I’m delegating more and more work that I don’t really have to do myself. My VAs are more than capable, and it prevents me from switching between projects a million times a day which is idle time I can’t charge for.

A strange thing happened this week. I kept feeling as though I was forgetting something. After dinner when the babes were fed and bathed and I would sit down at my computer to work, but my client work for the day was taken care of. Hmmmmm.

Honestly, it didn’t sink in for awhile. Why do I have free time in the evenings? Am I forgetting about certain projects? What’s happening?

Wait a minute. It’s my VA. What a light bulb moment. Now that I am on the ‘client’ side of the VA arrangement, I will be able to market my services much better because I am living the benefits.

When my workday is done (ya, it does have an end now!!!) I am able to follow up with old leads, work on personal projects and my own business development.

Now it’s Saturday and I have options! I can either get my stuff together to give to my bookkeeper so my taxes will get done on time, or work on a fictional story I’ve been wanting to get to forever. I can clean my house, play with my kids, go for a drive, or just read a book.

Who knew life could be this good for a busy entrepreneur?

If you are on the fence about hiring a VA - get off the fence and get yourself one. Preferably Mann Made Time, of course. Never before has my team been so efficient.

My tagline, “When there aren’t enough hours in the day…” has a whole new meaning for me now. When you find yourself feeling that way, give me a call. We really can add hours to your day.

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This month, I’ve decided to feature one of my local and most active clients - Maureen Kerr of Kerr Consulting “Your Marketing Mavens”.

Your Marketing Mavens helps its clients to spread their remarkable business ideas effectively and inexpensively. Maureen’s ideal clients have a remarkable idea or business and just need a bit of help spreading their message. Many of these people are either intimidated by technology or simply unaware of the different ways Internet marketing can really improve their marketing efforts.

Kerr Consulting offers a ton of services, including: SWOT analysis, business plan assistance, writing marketing plans, creating newsletters and presentations, copywriting, website creation, and so on and so forth.

It’s really a joy working with ‘Moe’, she is definitely an ideal client for me. She has a great business and she’s a wonderful, ethical person to work with.

She likes us here at Mann Made Time, too. She talks about me all the time, which I love. Here’s an official testimonial she’s written for my website:

“Living in a rural community on an island off of the east coast of Canada requires an entrepreneurial person to leverage as much as possible in order to have a successful business. Throw in the mix being a single mom and living in a 150 year old house – I need all the help I can get. Thanks to my virtual assistant, Jaime Lee Mann from www.mannmadetime.com I have been able to get my new marketing business off the ground by utilizing her huge arsenal of expertise. She also tells me to breathe sometimes and takes the edge off of being a solo-preneur by being there whenever I need her. I love my VA. Jaime has done everything from brainstorming sessions, to editing letters, to going to client’s offices to set up systems, mailing letters, did I mention all of the advice she gives? I have out-sourced projects to many professionals over the years and using a virtual assistant has been one of the best returns on investment that I have ever made.”

We have truly partnered together and are improving each others businesses. It’s a match made in Heaven, really.

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I was pondering something last night while I was watching American Idol (and wondering why in the world that first guy sang a WHAM song) that I thought would make great blog material.

I had this dilemma when I was starting my business. I was brand new and had lots of administrative experience, but I was trying so hard to find that first client, and I felt like all of the more experienced VAs were getting all the work. I had a case of the self-doubts and wondered why anyone would want to work with me when I had no actual ‘virtual’ experience.

First of all, what didn’t strike me right away was that nobody needs to know how many clients you have. I didn’t write my website content stating “Newbie VA offers her services”. I used testimonials from past employers, tried to demonstrate my areas of experience, and whipped up a ‘corporate resume’ so in the event of a potential employer questioning my work history, I would be prepared. Interestingly enough, to this day nobody has asked to see a resume. I pushed those doubts aside, and worked with what I did have that the more experienced VAs might not. Time. I marketed the bejeezus out of my business. And it worked.

Second of all, it could be an interesting feature to play off of, if you’re bold. Why not advertise that you’re brand new in business. Offer a deal - your first client will receive 10% off your services for their first year - or something. A new business owner is full of energy. Full of motivation and momentum. A new business owner is a force to be reckoned with.

Sometimes, after being in business for a while, you get lots of referral business, you let your marketing efforts get stale, you feel confident that you’re going to continue to do alright. You’re busy, your systems might be getting a little old, you might have lost a bit of that entrepreneurial spark you had when you were just getting out of the gate.

Of course, with experience comes knowledge, expertise and trust.

I was thinking about this, in particular, when it comes to real estate agents. There is always someone new popping up. They come, they go. Some stay for a long time.

A seasoned ‘top producer’ has a lot going for her. A great database full of contacts, name recognition in her market area. Lots of word of mouth referrals, etc.

Does that mean there’s no hope for a new agent starting out in that area? Not at all.

A new agent is coming on to the scene full of new ideas, a drive to become successful and catch up with the big guys.

I was perusing Active Rain and found a new agent in Charlottetown that has a great blog over there. Good for her. She was the only agent I saw in this area that didn’t just plug in an RSS feed for ‘PEI’ . I feel that’s cheating. It’s not really blogging. This agent actually wrote an interesting and useful post. She took the time to share something with her readers, and in turn, her blog has much more to offer than local news, weather reports, and other mundane information that doesn’t belong on Active Rain.

I am going to keep my eye on this person. I’ve seen her name in a lot of places, and I think she is going to be one of the ‘top producers’ in a couple of years time.

So what do you think?

When you’re in need of a service, would you rather work with someone that’s brand new - full of energy and drive?

Or would you tend to work with a seasoned pro. Someone who’s name has been around for awhile?

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I have spent many hours in February entering business cards into a spreadsheet for one of my clients. The stack of cards was several inches high, and since data entry doesn’t take all that much mental focus, I did a lot of thinking.

This wasn’t the first time I’ve had this type of project, but this time the caliber of cards was really interesting to me. I think it’s because the longer I’ve been in business, the more it puzzles me why people even bother to print off some of the cards I come across.
I saw several cards with those perforated edges that were printed at home, on a very lightweight stock that I wouldn’t even call cardstock. I would estimate more than half did not use the back side of the card, which is just crazy to me. Why not use half of the real estate of your business card to include a marketing message, service list or something. Anything. Wait, I take that back. One of these cards really made me lose focus - to the point that I had to pause my timer.

The card was a plain white perforated one and had no mention of a business name. Just a woman’s name, phone number, email address and website address. On the back of the card (which I was checking for additional notes to enter in the spreadsheet) was written “the red head”. In all small letters, and it was actually part of the card, it wasn’t a note my client had made.

Now…it’s really hard not to make a judgment when you see something like that. I’m sure your first thought was probably the same as mine was. I knew there was more to it, though, knowing my happily married client. The site belonged to a business brokerage (I had to check out the site of someone that would print that on the back of their business cards) which kind of shocked me.

I believe the description on the back of the card was meant to be cheeky, and that woman wanted people to remember her as ‘the red head’ they met with. Red heads are rare, right? Lucy, Sally Jessie, Nicole Kidman. I can only name a handful of famous red heads. Putting “the brunette” on the back of my cards wouldn’t mean much, right? Chances are, at a networking event, people might only meet with one red head among all the brunettes and towheads. So I understand the intention, I just don’t think it worked in this case. Maybe if the card was a bit more professional, or if there was at least a business name or description.

Anyway, what do you think about this? Do any of my readers use a tool like this to make people remember you in your networking efforts?

You know what? That red head may be a genius. I will probably never forget her name, website address or what she does. Hmmm. Something to ponder.

I would love to hear your comments.

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