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No one gives you a game plan for your VA business because it’s yours. #vatip 
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Having a game plan helps keep things into perspective. #vatip Gotta Tweet!
In Words:
There are so many things in life already set up for us with a plan. Things we don’t even realize, like school for example. There’s already a mapped game plan for school. You go to this grade, that grade. Get to college; you have a major. That major has set courses that go with it. You go to your class, the professor hands out a syllabus. The class has a set game plan. This is what we’ll be covering. This is when. These are, you know, what your chapters will be or assignments for the semester.
We get to work. The job has a game plan for us. Everybody in the company has a role. Each role has duties and responsibilities. You come into the office. You know what your thing is. The game plan was already set for you long before you started working for them. You know what it is. You come in. You do it, whatever the steps are. You just go. You flow with it because you know.
When it comes to your virtual assistant business, no one gives you a game plan for that because it’s yours.
You get a chance to create your own game plan. But have you ever been taught how to create a game plan? Have you ever even paid attention to the fact that everything around you has a set game plan?
Even in church there’s a game plan. You know what the layout of the worship gathering is. We sing this song. We pray. We do this, this, and that. You already know whether there’s a bulletin or communicator that’s handed out or not. You already know what the plan is. Someone created it at the beginning of that church. When it first started, someone created it, and as time goes on someone may modify it, but the plan was in place at the beginning.
If you’ve already started your business – time to create your plan.
It’s no big deal that you don’t have one and you’ve already started. When I started my VA business, it was a game. There was no plan. I enjoyed going on Elance and finding different projects and it was just interesting to see what all everybody wanted, and I was just excited that I could do something I enjoy and thought was fun, and in exchange get paid for it, and my client on the other end being just as excited as I was that it got done and they didn’t have to be the one to do it.
That was it. That was what I did. I didn’t have a set goal for how many proposals I wanted to send out. I had like a loose timeframe. At first I didn’t. It was, you know, let me go, I want to do it every single day. But I was working also, so I had to find a way to balance it with my job.
What’s your plan? Have you taken the time to map out a plan for your business?
Your plan will have steps for you to follow. I’m the type of person, I like one, two, three. One, two, three, you know, I like a set routine, and when there isn’t a set routine it’s like I’m chasing my tail. I’m going around in circles. But when I have a routine, I know one, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. Even the way I get dressed, it’s one, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three, you know.
This is so funny. When I was in college, you know those caddies that you could hang up in the shower? There was a set way that I would put everything in there, and I started to notice there was a set way that I would, you know, brush my teeth, wash my face, do this, do that. There was a set order every single day, and when I caught myself doing that I just had to laugh because it just made sense.
Things were orderly for me in that way, and I don’t know if it started in college or I always did it, but that’s when I started to notice it. Now, I realize everybody is not that way. There are some people that are just able to free flow and that’s great.
In your virtual assistant business you want to be flexible.
The game plan is your map. It gives you an idea of where to go, where we’re going, where to start. Yes, things change along the way, the road map changes. There are unexpected twists and turns. Yes. But the plan helps keep things into perspective.
If you’re expecting step six results and you’re on step two, that could be a problem. You could be frustrating yourself for no reason if you don’t realize you’re at step two and expecting step six results. But if you’re at step two you know, oh, okay, at this point this is what is expected based on what I have done at this level. Right? So then, you know, it helps you to be realistic about where you’re going, about what you’ve done, about your accomplishments, about your expectations. It just lays it all out for you.
Just like the school plan and the work plan and wherever else we go where there’s already a plan, you know what’s next, and that’s what you want for your virtual assistant business. You want to know what’s next. What do I have here?
This past week I started getting organized at home. I’m in the middle of it and in the process of doing this I can feel my mind clearing up and the desire to want to get all, you know, just all the junk and clutter out. The biggest thing that I needed was a plan and now I have a plan, step one, step two, step three. I’m at step three. I can tell you I’m at step three, and I’m excited about it because I completed step one. I knew what that looked like. I completed step two. I knew what that looked like, and now step three.
Again, keeping in mind that your plan is flexible, you know, things change. You’re not going to do it all at one time. You give yourself grace in that because you know you only have so many hours in the day for this particular thing.
If you’re trying to lose weight like myself – my husband and I just started this new nutrition plan. I’m very excited about it. We are regular exercisers. We’ve got the exercise down pat. He does his exercise routine. I teach three times a week at a local women’s gym. So the exercise is down, but the eating sucks. We do a lot of eating out, a lot of convenience things because of our schedule.
So now we’ve got a better plan. We’ve got some good nutrition that we can put in our bodies that fits our busy lifestyle, which I’m just jumping up and down in my mind. I won’t jump up and down while I’m recording this episode, but just know I’m excited about it because there’s a plan. It came with a plan, and because that’s me, I’m looking for it. Oh, here it is, one, two three. One, two, three. One, two, three.
Your virtual assistant business needs that as well, and it doesn’t have to be laid out to the tee because things happen. But what is your goal? If your goal this summer is to get more clients on your roster, then guess what, you’ve got to market. So what’s your marketing game plan?
If your goal is to improve on some of your skills, what are those skills? How are you going to do that? What’s your plan? What days will be your training days? How are you going to do it? Map out a plan for yourself.
If I were to start over today, I would go to Elance still today. Elance would be my starting point because that’s where you know for sure there are people looking for you and they’re telling you what they’re looking for. It’s all mapped out. It’s all right there.
I would select how many proposals I wanted to send a day. I’m sure I’ve said this in past episodes – five. Five is my number, five proposals a day. If you’re home and you have time every day, five times a day. Time every day means you’re not working. For whatever reason, you’re at home.
Now, if you’re working full-time outside of your home, then you will choose the days that work for you. Maybe it’s Thursday, Friday, Saturday. That’s your plan, five proposals, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
Everybody’s plan would look different. When you put a number on how many, you know what you’re reaching for. You won’t give up at one. You’ll go through them all because you’re like, okay, I want to get five.
You’ll feel accomplished if you go through all the different jobs, selecting the ones that are of interest to you, and doing your proposals.
Whether you end up with six or three, you’ll feel good about it because your number was five, and every single day there may not be five proposals that match your skills, your time, and what you’re able to do. But that’s the reach, right? Sometimes there will be more. Sometimes there will be less. But you’ve got that reach because that’s on your plan.
Time is just going by. Time is going by whether we are turning the clock or not. It doesn’t matter. We don’t have to show up for that. Time is going to happen. It’s going to go by, but let’s use it to our advantage by having a plan. You’ve got a plan everywhere else you go. Now it’s time to put a plan in place for your virtual assistant business. It’s yours! Whatever it looks like today, it’s yours, and you get a chance to mold and shape it to how you want it to be, and that starts with your game plan.
Get a game plan in place so you can be rocking and rolling all through the summer because you have a plan in place.
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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