Virtual Assistant Blog

When It's Not Worth It: How to Fire a Client

3/25/2019

By Laura Renner

At some point in every business, conflict or issues arise with a client. The goal is to have these instances occur rarely and learn from them. Sometimes the best answer to the conflict or issues is firing the client--severing the business relationship. There is no need to stay on when you will not be giving 100% to this client due to the difficulty and thus bring down your business all the while. Many articles about the decision to fire a client list steps to take to fix a relationship first. If you want it to be a learning experience, go ahead and try those.

Pay It Forward: Support & Build Up Other Small Businesses

3/18/2019

By Laura Renner

As a small business owner, you know first hand the struggles every small business owner faces. Because of that it’s very important to support each other. Doing so not only promotes small business, but it also fosters community.

Freedom Makers Accepted into Veterans in Residence Program

3/11/2019

By Laura Renner

Freedom Makers has been admitted to the newest San Francisco cohort of WeWork Veterans in Residence powered by Bunker Labs. We are excited for this opportunity to help improve and grow our business, so that we can continue to support small business owners while also creating portable work opportunities for military spouses. Through our participation in this program, we aim to improve our operations and scalability, ensuring we give our clients and Freedom Makers even better experiences with us.

After just the first day last week, we came away with new marketing ideas and opportunities, met partners who can help us streamline operations, started to get to know each other, and learned about our membership with WeWork. We even met Todd Connor, the founder of Bunker Labs. The first day was inspiring and motivating. We are excited for what is in store!

Spend Time ON Your Business So That You Can Spend Time IN Your Business

3/4/2019

By Laura Renner

Have you ever used the phrase, “feast or famine,” when talking about your business? Solo business owners oftentimes face this issue.

You go out and build your sales funnel, Then suddenly you are so busy doing the work for the clients you closed that you no longer have time to add to the funnel. Once you finish that work, you start over and go and build your sales funnel again. That gap between finishing the work and getting your next client is stressful. Cycling through feast or famine makes running a business even harder. You cannot predict your income and, during famine time, you worry about covering your bills. The uncertainty and unpredictability adds another level of stress to an already stressful situation.

Is Your Business Growing or Scaling?

2/22/2019

By Laura Renner

Scaling means you are growing your business with minimal increase in cost. It also means you work less while making more money. Consider these scenarios below. Which category do you fit in?

Two business owners provide a similar service. One creates a custom package for each client. She has a large team and while her business has grown, her costs have increased with her sales. The other business owner has 3 packages clients choose from. Her discovery call and onboarding are automated. She has a small team, keeping her costs low while sales have grown. She is scaling her business.
Another two business owners who also provide a similar service. One charges by the hour for the work he does. He works about 50-60 hours per week and has started to subcontract work when he cannot or does not want to take it on. He pays his subcontractor half of what he charges and pockets the rest. The other business owner charges flat monthly rates. He raises his rates as he gets too busy, but does not track how much time he spends per client. Of course, the best clients are the low maintenance ones but he loves what he does and likes to support the high maintenance ones too.

We all know what it means to grow a business. But growing sales does not necessarily mean you are growing your business. Your costs may be growing equally as fast. One major risk in this approach to growth is that your additional sales could dry up quickly, but it’s harder to offload costs. So when your business takes a dip, you may struggle to recover in time.

What Have You Done for Your Clients Lately?

2/18/2019

By Kati Galvin, Freedom Makers Success Manager

Every quarter at Freedom Makers, we have a staff meeting to discuss a myriad of items. One item that Laura asks us to prep for the meeting is a ranking of what we think is most important for the company in the upcoming quarter. Her list includes 7 areas ranging from ‘Operations and Efficiencies’ to ‘Client Experience.’ As the newest member to the Freedom Makers team and as the Success Manager who works with both clients and Freedom Makers, I always find myself placing Client Experience at the top of my list.

Cash is King: The Importance of Sales

2/11/2019

By Laura Renner

I feel like I won’t have a real business until I have office space.

I once said the above statement to my mentor, David. His reply back was, "That's just ego." David then told me a story about how he used to have a big office that included a conference room for his company. Everyone had been working out of the spare room in his home, but his ego led him to get an office. When the father of one of his key employees became ill, the employee requested to work remotely so he could move back home to care for him. David said yes and worked out a plan to make that work. Over time as they saw it working, other employees began to ask if they could work from home too. Soon it was just David and his assistant working in the big office space. He then got rid of the office that was costing him $5,000 a month in rent!

Recognizing a Fad from a Trend in Your Business

2/4/2019

By Laura Renner

As a consumer, we see fads all the time. They go as fast as they come. But as a small business owner, how do you recognize if your actions are part of a fad or more lasting trend? I see this most often in marketing tactics small business owners use. You probably see this a lot amongst your networking groups (in person or online) and your business owner friends:

“You should be doing XYZ to grow your business.”
“So and So said they got a ton of business doing XYZ.”
“I feel like I need to be doing XYZ to grow my business.”

Measuring the True Success of Your Business

1/28/2019

By Laura Renner

I have been reading the book, Lean Startup, by Eric Ries. Though it is focused on tech startups, it is useful for small business as well. Particularly, Ries’ focus on metrics is applicable. He highlights the difference between Vanity Metrics and Actionable Metrics. It turns out those concepts also apply to the small business world.

Maintaining a Strong Social Media Presence While You Sit at the Beach

1/22/2019

By Jenny Boyles

If you are a small business owner today, social media may be important to your business. Some sort of presence may be necessary to stay relevant and move your business forward. Social media helps you build brand awareness, grow your customer/client base, and connect with both current and potential customers. One benefit for smaller businesses with social media is that you can really engage with your community more. Unlike larger corporations, you know your client intimately and can shape your social media to local events and happenings.

Social media tends to be one of the biggest struggles for business owners because it needs to be maintained and active. It can be such a pain to stay on top of it. In fact, Freedom Makers is receiving more and more requests for social media management. Small business owners know that they must have a social media presence, but have a love/hate relationship with it. And Freedom Makers is answering this call by finding virtual assistants to step in and help these business owners. With Freedom Makers, you can spend your time doing other things like sitting on a beach somewhere and not worry about your daily posts.

<<Previous

When It's Not Worth It: How to Fire a Client

Pay It Forward: Support & Build Up Other Small Businesses

Freedom Makers Accepted into Veterans in Residence Program

Spend Time ON Your Business So That You Can Spend Time IN Your Business

Is Your Business Growing or Scaling?

What Have You Done for Your Clients Lately?

Cash is King: The Importance of Sales

Recognizing a Fad from a Trend in Your Business

Measuring the True Success of Your Business

Maintaining a Strong Social Media Presence While You Sit at the Beach

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