Pam Bingham

:: Class 17 - August 17, 2010 ::

This week we submitted the last big project; our Welcome Packets. I felt so relieved to finally have this one under my belt. We just finished week 17, there are only two more classes before we tackle our final exam. I'm so excited! This has been a whirlwind of an experience for me; 20 weeks seemed so far away when we began, and now it's more than within reach!

This week has been difficult as I was out of commission due to illness. Therefore I spent the week thinking about my journey throughout the VTP, and what this process has meant for me. I'm now thinking of what comes after the completion of my training and what my first plan of action toward taking my business to the next level will be. I've learned that I must have a clear plan of action or I will find myself spinning my wheels accomplishing next to nothing.

So my focus will be on solidifying my marketing plan and efforts to ensure I am sending the right message out to my target market.

Thanks to all of my well wishers. My buddy Rachael, Dona, my classmates Susannah and Patti, my trainer and all of my other wonderful friends. The Fairytale Brownies helped a lot too :)

Yay, my business plan is completed and submitted. Whew! This was a very tough exercise but it also gave a "face" if you will of what my practice will look like once I re-launch. I now believe I've discovered the ideal client, and now have a plan of how to find these ideal clients. So despite all the hard work and all the stress, the business plan was and is an important tool for my virtual assistance business.

In approximately five weeks we will begin preparing for our final exam of the VTP. Just thinking about the journey so far and what we've covered to date in the program; I feel a sense of accomplishment in that I know that I am developing the foundational skills to run a successful virtual practice. The next few weeks are full steam ahead with the remaining lessons and I'm excited and also somewhat melancholy as I have built my life these past few months around the VTP. Hopefully, I will be so busy in my newly focused business that I won't even notice that I'm not dialing in for my weekly class.

I'm preparing to submit my final business plan which has literally been my life for the past few weeks. I can't believe that it's week 13 already in the program. I know I said that about week 12, but it's still unbelievable that we've already covered this much information in such a short time. Although 13 weeks doesn't seem like 13 days, but nonetheless it hasn't been very long since we began our class.

This week I'm so grateful that Lorri is our trainer. I'm sure all the VTPers feel this way about their trainer. Lorri is so easy to talk to and she does a good job of presenting the material in class each week. But what she also does is shares a lot of information about how she became a VA, and doesn't mind answering our questions about how she works with clients. For me, this type of information is priceless because it seems to bring the reality of having a viable virtual practice into view, hopefully for years to come.

I'm so excited that we just completed class 12 of the VTP. Envisioning the final exam is not so far off now. The first couple of weeks it just seemed so far away; but now week 20 is truly within reach.

We've learned that as a business owner sometimes you have to step outside of your comfort zone and participate in activities that perhaps you never thought would be possible. The ideal client is not just going to show up on your lap, we have to attract our ideal clients by marketing attractively. So considering that we mostly partner with clients offsite, you would think that you only have to apply online strategies, but our idea clients could be a local merchant. We have to be open to all types of marketing strategies, or at least be aware of multiple styles and choose what works best for us. It's cold calling to local merchants or speaking at local chambers, you shouldn't rule out anything just because you may not be completely comfortable. I know for me I'm open to almost all types of ways to market my VA practice. I look forward to getting out there and sharing with as many people as possible how I can partner with them or someone they may know.

In some ways meeting people face to face is easier than creating a YouTube video or something like that. I know what I can do one on one; but I can't see the expressions and won't be able to read the true reactions from marketing online.

I guess it's all about preferences and comfort zone.

I've made it to week 11 in the program and I'm amazed at how all the work that we've accomplished so far is starting to paint a picture. Initially it was unclear to me why we we're assigned certain reading assignments, or why we were asked to research specific vendors. But the groundwork is building the foundation for a viable virtual professional practice.

As I told my trainer this week, I had my "ah ha" moment when I realized that I no longer have to sell my services to potential clients; I will market myself attractively hopefully to the best prospect. I learned that I should want the best for my clients by partnering with them to solve their problems. In other words I will stand for my clients at all times.

So all the stories of how the VTP would change my way of doing business, or my thought process of being a virtual assistant is now becoming clear. I asked the same question of a few AssistU graduates, why did you choose this program? The answers were similar, the foundation or structure that is formed to have a successful practice or I changed my corporate mindset to that of a business owner. I couldn't visualize these changes in myself initially, but now I can.

We've begun to work on the concept of using the Law of Attraction for marketing. We've learned the differences in sales vs. marketing. We're also challenged to think about how we would deal with a client marketing his business while offering services he couldn't deliver. Thinking about this from a consumer's perspective, you certainly want business owners to be upfront with you and not be deceptive in the products or services that they offer. But as a VA supporting a business owner utilizing this type of practice, what is our responsibility.

There is a responsibility to your client as a VA as you have been contracted to perform certain tasks, and your clients are relying on your services to help run their businesses. But as a business owner yourself, there is a much higher level of responsibility with regard to the products or services that we as virtual professionals help to promote. It is my duty to not knowingly promote or market products or services that promise to perform and they don't. I must show the highest level of integrity as possible, and surely that's why clients will choose to work with me. I know that I only want to work with clients who also share that same philosophy.

This week we focused on boundaries and what type of relationship we want to have with our clients. This particular exercise was especially important as we delve deeper into our training and prepare to create our own policies and procedures.

We also continued our work toward creating good elevator speeches.

It's so different when writing about what you do as a VA, and speaking to others about your business. Given that in most circumstances we have only seconds to explain ourselves to potential clients, we learned that it's very important to focus on getting the prospects attention. The goal of course is to have the potential client to want to know more about you and your business.

This is and probably will be for some time a work in progress.

This week we practiced our elevator speeches in class.
We initially focused on the flow and the ability to sound natural in our delivery. Delivering a natural, relaxed speech is not easy and although this was only a dry run; I felt as nervous as I would in front of a crowd.

We wrapped up our elevator speeches critiquing our content which was very helpful. You write out your thoughts of what you think will register with potential clients, but you're really not sure until you bounce it off others who have your best interest at heart.

It's true, by the end of class I felt more comfortable, and the knot in my stomach had disappeared. I know that I need to consistently practice with others, in front of the mirror, and any chance I get to ensure I deliver an authentic message to my potential clients.

After having suffered through two weeks of the flu and dehydryation, I was happy to rejoin my classmates and delve back into my VTP. This weeks class focused on the ever so important elevator speech. I know that I find myself often tongue tied when explaining to others what I do, so I was really excited to learn of speciic strategies in helping to be confident in sharing with others about virtual assistance.

I have started practicing with my friends and will have another opportunity to practice before a live audience early next week at a networking event.

We've just wrapped up our 5th class of the VTP and we learned about creating reserves. We need to create reserves not only within our practices but also our personal lives. I've found myself taking on too much; volunteering, not saying no enough and generally over committing myself. I have made a commitment to myself that I will no longer participate in the overcommitted lifestyle. I need to add more "me" time to my schedule and stick with it.

This week we are turning everything around, or backwards; at least in the way we think when it comes to our views of working. We acknowledged that the traditional thought process is to build your life around your work or job. We're now learning that we no longer live by those rules when we become micro business owners. We set standards and boundaries; as a VA I choose the type of client, work, and industries that I want to build strong relationships with.

This class was so empowering as we learn how to define who our ideal client will be. This is such a great journey.

This week's class focused on various business structures.

It becomes not just a possibility but more a reality when you discuss the various types of structures of which to form your business. I'm also surprised but happy that our instructor Lorri also included the possibility of Multi-VA Teams as a possible structure. As I have worked on a couple of VA teams, I was able to give a little bit of insight into this subject.

We also discussed authenticity and its impact on us as business owners. For me authenticity is a new term that I just became aware of in the past few months. The idea of being your authentic self has made a huge impact on me and how I now approach my future as a virtual assistant. I've always thought that if someone else is successful doing "this", then that's what I should concentrate on. But the real truth is that I should find my own or create my own passions and build on those. It seems so simplistic, but it's a struggle for me to unleash my own passions. So one of my goals is to find my authentic self.

Good luck to me.

Note to self: You're not that great of a writer". Reading our writing book truly puts grammar into perspective. At this point when I write anything from a short email, to an essay I am quite ambivalent about my skill level and ability to utilize proper grammar and sentence structure. The good news is I do have this fantastic book, this reference tool to help me become a better writer.

Also adding to my arsenal of tools would be my most important support team. I know that I have no legal knowledge therefore I must obtain the services of an attorney. I already have a great accountant and computer technician. I'm really excited however to work with a coach, I think a coach will do wonders in keeping me focused and holding me accountable to reach my goals.

There is so much to learn during these next few months but I'm open and eager to soak in as much as possible.

After a wonderful Orientation, the fieldwork began. I tackled my assignments with enthusiasm. Now that I'm officially part of the community, at least as a student, I'm learning more about the Assist culture and all the great tools and benefits available to newbies like myself.

I am now conscious of my email etiquette and I'm also a little intimidated by the rules. I never knew of the preferred way of replying to emails. Now that I've read The 10 Commandments of Email, I think and definitely review my emails more carefully before hitting that send button.

We also learned about what will be expected in our Business Plan; I'm excited about completing this project in particular. My classmates agreed that by actually putting our plan down on paper brings validity to our mindsets as business owners.

Just finished orientation with my trainer Lorri Morrin; talk about information overload! I am so excited about my VTP, my classmates and my trainer. As Lorri cautioned us, stick with the schedule and do the assignments as they are assigned. I'm so glad she warned us because I know I can get too excited and want to take in more than I'm ready for.

My enthusiasm for this journey is big, I'm both nervous and anxious at the same time. I know at the end of the 20 weeks I will be a different person, have a different outlook on my business and my decision to make Virtual Assistance apart of my life. Here we go...