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We sharpen our skills each time we work with a new client. #vatip 
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You’ve got to put yourself out there. #vatipGotta Tweet!
If you are new and want to get started, get on a job board like Elance. #vatip Gotta Tweet!
In Words:
Hi guys. We are in a new season. It is springtime and I’ve just got one question for you. How long are you going to wait?
If you’ve been on the sidelines for a while trying to decide about becoming a virtual assistant, I challenge you to take the leap of faith this spring. Leap of faith, not being leave your job or anything like that, but leap of faith and jumping out there. Putting yourself out there to find your first client.
I love the feedback and emails that I’m getting. I’m hearing from you. A lot of you are in research mode or sideline mode, where you’re watching to see what’s going on, what’s happening. You’re researching, and what are you waiting for?
What are you looking for that will cause you to jump feet first and go ahead and get moving and get started and get that first client? The only way you will know that you have enough information, that you have everything you need to make a decision, is to make a decision.
Decide what you’re going to do.
I got an email last week and in the email the lady was sharing how she had went to this conference and every single speaker just about recommended that the people in the audience, and they were coaches, affiliate marketers, different people like that, but recommended that everyone in the audience get a virtual assistant.
She said that there were only three or four virtual assistants in the audience, and none of them had capacity for another client. None of them were open for new clients.
I’ve heard it time and time again where people are looking for virtual assistants and they don’t know where to find them, and this is something that I am really thinking about myself, like what can we do so people can find us?
Well, the first thing: you’ve got to put yourself out there.
Even if I knew what you did, what your specialty was, and I had a client looking for it, if you’ve never done it for anybody, that would be a huge problem because you need to have a client that you’ve worked with before.
It’s kind of like when you first graduate from college or you’re done with high school and you’re looking for your very first job and you’ve got your resume all together, and it seems like every single ad or job description, every single thing is wanting you to have job experience and it’s frustrating because you’re like, uh, I just got out of school. I don’t have job experience. I need you guys to hire me so I can have job experience.
It’s kind of that same thing. A lot of people who are just learning about virtual assistants, and not that it hasn’t been around, but people are slowly catching on to what it means and what that is beyond their neighbor or friend or sister who’s at home with their kids and could use a little extra money.
Slowly people are realizing that, no, there are professionals; there are business owners that provide this as a service to business owners like myself. So they’re looking for us and we’ve got to get out there and get some experience.
You guys know what I’m going to say. I don’t even want to say it because I don’t even want to see it in the show notes again, but I know if you’re listening for the very first time, I’m going to say it. Broken record, here I go.
If you are new and you want to get started, you want to try, you want that first client, get on a job board like Elance. That is the best place to go if you’re brand spanking new, never had a client.
Now, I’m going to talk to the experienced VA.
You’re doing this for a while. You’re rolling. You know exactly what you’re doing. How efficient is what you’re doing? Are you in a position where you feel great about what you’re doing? Are you at capacity or are you at the capacity you want to be?
We sharpen our skills each time we work with a new client, each time we add to our client roster, each time we add to our projects. We sharpen our skills when we’re able to go back and analyze the project, what we did great, what we could have done better, when we get that feedback, when we are really honest with ourselves about the work that we are providing for our clients.
That gets us to the point where we want to be, whether it is max capacity where you’re like, oh, I can’t take on any more clients, or you’re growing beyond yourself into the business owner that you want to be.
For those of you that have been waiting on the sides, this is the whisper, this is the shout, this is the big brick to say jump in. Jump in! Give it a try.
It would be a shame if you’ve done all this research, all this trying to figure out, to learn this wasn’t my thing, or to learn I love this. I am thriving. This is awesome. I want more, and then, you know, the ball starts rolling.
I’m just as guilty of over researching, over finding information, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The thing that can put you at a standstill is when you start thinking, you know, how do you know when you’ve got enough information about something in order to make a decision?
It’s hard to pinpoint because you don’t know all that you need to know because you haven’t experienced it, and I’m going to take a wild guess and just say that you’re at the point where you have enough information. It’s time to experience it.
Once you start on the experiencing, more questions will come and these questions come, information only comes, as a result of moving forward. Not forward in research, not forward in getting answers, but forward in working with a live, breathing client, you know, you can get some interaction started and get moving on that.
I just have to tell you today I am like really in my head. Like I’m introverted so I don’t get to sit around and think and dig and read as often as I want, or write as often as I want. So when I haven’t done that, sometimes it’s hard. I just feel full like I’ve got all this stuff in my head.
But today’s episode is really just, you know, I just want to encourage you. If you were here and we were having coffee and talking about it, I would be asking you how many jobs have you looked up? How many projects have you looked up? How many people know that you have a VA business or you’re interested in doing that? How many people know about it? Where have you shared about it, or is it kind of a secret that’s in the closet that you haven’t come out yet?
So, you know, I’d be curious about that. What else would I ask you? Oh, what services would you provide? Do you know what you want to provide? It’s okay if you don’t or you’ve got a long list of things. It’s good to have a long list of things that you want to provide and you’re not sure, but you know you can do all these things and then, you know, start from there. That’s a good starting point.
Nobody starts out specializing. Oh, I’m a specialty in sales funnels or blogs or social media. Most people don’t start out specializing in that. And then a lot of times you’ll find things overlap.
It’s best if you do have a long list of things you can do as a service for a client, and then as you gain experience working with an actual live, breathing client, you can start crossing things off that list that you don’t like. Things that you can do, but would prefer not to, and the way you stay away from that is you don’t offer it anymore. But you’ve got to get out there and try to do it from here.
So I don’t know what you’re waiting for, but I challenge you to jump in, get some experience, because so many business owners need you. So many people are looking for us and they have no idea where we are.
Let’s get moving guys. Let’s make it easy for them to find us.
Thanks so much for tuning in. If you like what you heard, stay tuned. We’ll be back. Tell me what’s going on with you. Come on over the Facebook page: facebook.com/tiffanyparsonbiz, or if you prefer a little shorter message, come on over to Twitter: @tiffanydparson.
See you next time.
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