Virtual Moxie - The Cure For The Common Virtual Assistance Practice

How long do you wait?

Rustie wrote to me to ask how long I thought she should wait for clients, when they have scheduled calls. She let me know that routinely, her clients no-show the calls, or call significantly later than the start-time they’d agreed on.

This is 100% a standards issue. If clients aren’t showing up as expected to, there’s either an underdeveloped standard, or a lack of communication about the standard so that expectations are able to be met, or a lack of caring about meeting the established expectation.

So, let’s say that you and your client Mary have a standing 9am status call on Mondays. Many times, Mary no shows. When she calls, she’s often 15 to 20 minutes late. She’s always apologetic, but it never gets better.

Is the issue that you’ve never told her that you expect her to be on time? Is it that when you interviewed you didn’t have a conversation about how you both see time (for instance, are you a person for whom 10a means 10a, but she’s a person who lives on what my mother used to call “ish” time….10ish, instead of 10a, being the norm), and therefore you have no explicit agreement, and she doesn’t even know you’re bothered by this?

The first step is to get clear on what time means to you. The second is to never assume you know why she's late or missing calls with you.

Then you need to have an honest conversation with the client to find out why she's late/no shows, and what time means to her. From there you can find out if there’s a way for you to both get clear on what showing up to meetings will mean moving forward. And, hopefully, you can find that path forward—assuming that you two are not incompatible in your valuing of time (and time, for what it’s worth, is one of those values about which a little incompatibility is usually a clue to complete incompatibility—people are generally on-timers, or ish-timers, and each frustrates the dickens out of the other!).

Lastly, create a standard for your practice—especially if you are an on-timer. It wouldn’t be too much to put something in your policies and procedures that spells out your expectation (“When we have an appointment, my expectation is that we will meet on time”). Be sure to also have a standard about how you’ll move on if someone is late, or no-shows. Will you not be available? Will there be a fee? Are there any circumstances under which you would understand lateness or a no-show?

My standard in my coaching practice is much the same as it was when my VA practice was off-the-hook successful: I expect people to be on time. Period. If they can’t be, they should let me know in advance, if at all possible (I mean, phones are everywhere). If they can’t, they should be in touch as soon as is humanly possible to let me know what happened and to reschedule (I do realize that sometimes, unavoidable stuff happens). I don’t wait for anyone, anywhere (unless I’ve been called and apprised of a late arrival) for more than ten minutes. If someone calls or shows after that, I don’t answer/am not there. And, I tell people that if I’m not on time, haven’t called, and don’t arrive within ten minutes of our agreed meeting time, to go on without me, because something has seriously detained me and prevented me from letting them know. When that happens, which is rare for me, I’m on it as my highest priority just as soon as I’m able.

I also expect, in cases of lateness or no-show, some other things:

1. That it’s not habit. I won’t work with people who are habitually late or missing.
2. A genuine apology. To me, anything else would be disrespectful of me and my time. I also always give the same, for the same reason.

And if a client keeps you waiting—whether or not there was a good reason for it, be sure to charge her for that time. It may have only been ten minutes, but it was ten minutes you allotted to her, and for which you deserve to be paid.

Bit O’Moxie: Having a strong standard for this or anything else makes it easy for you to know what to do on a regular basis, and even easier for you to know what to do when an uncommon thing happens. The higher your standard, the easier things get with your practice, because with higher standards come higher-quality clients, who will understand and appreciate you, and who won’t try to step over the way you do business.

Lastly (for today), remember: no matter how high your standards are, they can always be higher.

If you don’t want to be perceived as a commodity, don’t set your fees as if you can be bought in bulk

I’ve seen some Virtual Assistants who have a particular standard that simply doesn’t serve them. I feel certain they don’t know that, or they wouldn’t do it.

The standard is to have a multi-tiered retainer program. Some couch it simply as “options.” Others couch it in “jewels” (sapphire, ruby, diamond). Others still couch it in precious metals (bronze, silver, gold, platinum). Ultimately, the richer the level (platinum is “richer” than gold, for instance), the more hours are included in the retainer, for less money per hour.

This is what I call the Costco pricing model. If you buy more of something, it costs you less than if you buy less of it. It’s commodity-based thinking, and the sole reason why places like Costco exist is because it works…for some things.

It works, for instance, for cans of corn. It does not work for services. I mean, it does work for services…if you want money to be the biggest factor that your clients consider. It does work for services…if you work in a call center in Bangalore. It does not work in an industry that tells clients that fit is the top criterion for choosing a VA.

If your fee is appropriately set, then THAT is your fee. And whether someone puts you on retainer for ten, 20, even 60 hours/month, your hourly rate needs to remain the same.

Someone asked me why it matters. Well, first of all, it matters because of what I just shared. But it also matters because in structuring your fees that way, you set yourself up to end up being haggled where you don’t want to be, and where you shouldn’t be.

For instance—let’s say that you have a $500 retainer that includes ten hours of your time, and a $675 retainer that includes 15 hours of your time. So that you don’t have to do the math, that makes the first retainer fee $50/hour, and the second $45/hour. So, your client Jack is on the $675 retainer. And one day Jack calls and says, “My business just skyrocketed. What’s the lowest fee you can give me if I want 25 hours/month?”

You think about it, and logically, based on your pricing model, it should be $875 (which would be $35/hour). But now you’re stuck, because you know you can’t afford to work for that. So you tell Jack that $45/hour is as low as you can go, and a 25 hour retainer would be $1125. Jack says, “How is that fair? You gave a discount when I went from ten hours to 15. How can there not be any other discount when I want to buy more of your time?”

Now, you certainly can say that that’s just the way it is. That’s your right. But Jack already sees you as a commodity—because that’s how you set yourself up in his eyes—and he is not going to understand. He may take his business elsewhere (probably a good idea, anyway, really!), or he may begrudgingly agree to your terms.

But why set things up in the beginning that could possibly cause you problems down the road? What’s the point of that, exactly?

Bit O’Moxie: There is no point. That’s the truth. Discounting your fees does nothing for you, and the only thing it does for the client is make him think of you in dollars and cents.

Set your fees appropriately. This means doing the hard work to figure out what they should be, and having them be exactly that. Then decide on retainer. Pick one. Just one. Make it ten hours, or 20, or 25—whatever you want it to be. And have that be the starting place for each client. Increase the retainer, at the same hourly rate, every quarter or so, based on the number of hours the client actually uses.

For instance, if you have a ten hour retainer ($500), and after three months, Jack is routinely using 16, move him to a retainer of $750 to include 15 hours (be round about it…an hour or two/month in overages won’t kill you). If Jack is using 19, move him to a retainer of  $1000 to include 20 hours (he’ll use the extra for sure!). Adjust it every quarter to make it appropriate for him (and to allow you an appropriate picture of how much work you've committed to), but never ever go below your minimum—whatever that is (in our example, 10 hours). And never offer a discount on your fee!

Let this be your mantra this week: What I offer has a value distinct from all others because I am distinct from all others. I am not a commodity!

Hey outsiders--that's just crap!

In the corporate world, admins are told what to do by bosses. What to do, where to sit, when to eat lunch, what to work on, when it’s ok to vacation (or be sick), etc. if it's a "W" word, chances are a boss dictates it. Companies like that. They crave it. They believe that if they don't tell employees what to do, employees would do nothing. If you've been an employee with any integrity, you know that if left to your own work, you'd do a LOT, and maybe more than you'd do with someone breathing down your neck and controlling your every move.

In the administrative profession (corporate), it's not enough that the companies are telling admins who they have to be while at work. They've even convinced the organizations supporting admins that this is the way it needs to be. And those organizations are propagating a lie in support of what the companies (who advertise and support said organizations) want admins to do and be. It goes a little something like this:

It's really no longer enough for you to be a kick-ass admin. Now, to be a kick-ass admin, you need to run faster and harder on that gerbil wheel you've been on forever. You need to do more work, in many cases doing even non-administrative stuff that you shouldn't have to do. Oh, and you're not going to get paid more for it, either. But if you do this....if you keep going, and running, and don't complain, and continue to not make waves, or say no, or have standards, one day....ONE DAY....you really will be respected by the people you work for.

What those organizations ought to be doing is helping admins define for themselves who they want to be. They should be helping admins take control of their own profession, and tell the organizations what they'll do and not do. But that's never happened, and it's not happening now, and frankly, it would take someone of great vision, courage, and intestinal fortitude to stand up and make that level of change happen.

And many of you know that, intuitively if not consciously. It's what's led you here, to Virtual Assistance. It's what's called you forth to own your own business, and, at least on some level, to have control over your own life and work. You’ve become a VA because it allows you to use your great administrative skills to be successful in business on your own terms, defining yourself, rather than having a boss tell you who you are and what you need to be and do.

Currently afoot in our world is something as insidious as what's happening in the corporate world. IMO, it can only be called an invasion. The invaders are almost exclusively clients of VAs, IMO unable to afford professional support in certain areas, who are trying to get that support from VAs. And, when told by VAs that they don't provide that support, they tell VAs (and the world at large) that VAs should provide that support. They are saying that VAs, to be super successful, need to have certain skills, work in teams, be available whenever needed...I know you've heard/seen exactly what I have, and maybe much more.

Today's Bit O’Moxie has me saying what I’ve always said to anyone who claims that VAs need to have any particular set of skills—beyond terrific administrative assistance skills, or be available in any prescribed way: That’s just crap.

It’s crap for a number of reasons. Topping my list are these:

1. Clients (or people outside this industry) have no business telling VAs what they need to be doing in their businesses. I’m betting none of you have ever gone to the coaching profession, the real estate profession, or the speaking profession and told THEM who they need to be and WHAT they need to do to be successful, have you? Of course you haven’t—it’s flat out inappropriate. They define themselves, as should we all.

2. Clients who tell VAs what to do and how to do it are known by the IRS as...employers. If you want to own your own business, YOU have to call the shots and not let clients tell you who you are.

3. VAs who learn 500 new things every single day would still never know it all, or know how to do it all. So it stands to reason that, sooner or later, a VA is going to be asked to do something she's never been asked to do before and knows nothing about. Invaders would say that she should hustle and learn it so she can then provide it. IMO, the best VAs (and you all want to be the best you can be, I know) don't need to know it all or know how to do it all. Instead, they need to know how to get anything done—even if they don’t do “it” themselves. It follows, therefore, that there are no specific skills they must have in order to be successful. Of course VAs can do anything they want, BUT, they can also absolutely be successful without being able to do, or even update, web sites (or anything else, in particular!). To say they need to know how is....yeah... crap!

This invasion has become so prevalent that many VAs, especially those conditioned to being told by bosses what to do, are taking steps backwards...away from being business owners, and back toward buying in to what they're told by those whose opinions shouldn't count. Of course, invaders tell them that they "just want the best" for VAs. They offer their crap wrapped in the guise of helping the VAs be more successful. At the end of the day, however, they don't want to pay more for your upgraded skills, or the specialization you've developed, saying that those specialized skills should just be bundled in to the rest of your service offering.

Crap. Every word of it. As are their ebooks, classes, and programs that promise to lead you to the holy land for VA success. You don't need any of it. You know who you are. You know what attracted you to this profession. And I'm betting it's NOT what the outsiders (or the insiders who have bought into what the outsiders have said) are telling you.

You know what's the worst thing? If you buy into it, you are giving these people power you likely don't really want them to have. You are taking yourself right back to a place where you're on the gerbil wheel someone else is telling you to run on. Maybe if you want the illusion of being in control without really being in control that's ok for you... but I would ask you why, if that's what you're doing, you just don't go back and get a job.

I mean, like Neo in The Matrix, you took the pill that has led to a whole new life. But unlike him, you can go back to what you had before. And if you want to go, go. But if you want to stay? Consider how much you want this profession defined by people with absolutely no right to be defining it.

And I realize that I sit here and quite happily share my view of what you need to know/do/be and don't need to know/do/be. But I have standing in this profession. I have reason to say what I say--and it isn't to try to get you to believe you need to do work you don't have to do so I can get my business needs met for less money than I would pay otherwise to get it done. I have credibility--I formalized this profession in 1997, and I've helped hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of VAs be successful and call their own shots. You absolutely do have reason to be listening to what I say about this.

Further, if you think that VAs, as professionals building a solid profession that will stand the test of time, need to be learning something specific...or doing something specific...or be defined in a certain way, or not defined at all, then you should join the conversation about it. It's going on all around you, including here with me. Pick a place and share your well-considered views. But do not let outsiders tell YOU what you should be doing to be successful, cause.... c'mon and say it with me... "That's just crap!"

Authenticity as a powerful business advantage.

Speaking of making strong statements….a couple weeks ago, Erin did a terrific webcast (you want the one from June 13) in which she said (paraphrased) that, with regard to being a business owner with a personal blog, she thought that if you had strong opinions, you would be smart to tone them down even if that meant being slightly less authentic, because then you wouldn't risk offending anyone.

Then, I read this article about the kinds of lifestyle things you can do to lose your job, and the thing that really grabbed me was a quotation by a professor in Kentucky, interviewed for the article. He said, "My general advice is, don't do anything on your own time that, if reported in the local paper, would reflect poorly on you or your employer.” I realize he was talking about employment, but many people believe that with regard to how you comport yourself in your own business, too.

Today’s Bit O’Moxie is what I say: Be yourself. Don’t, of course, go out of your way to shock someone with tales of your wild romps, but don’t hide yourself, either, and never, ever sacrifice who you are, and your strong opinions (or weak ones, for that matter). The world needs you and your thoughts.

Authenticity in business is now part of what people find infinitely and irresistibly attractive, and what they actively look for in people with whom they want to do business. Transparency—your willingness to put who you are out on the table, is so important in relationship building and marketing as to make it crazy to do anything else.

And if you are not authentic, you cannot attract ideal clients and opportunities. It’s just impossible because you’re hiding who you are. When people are being attracted to who you aren’t, that never bodes well for long-term successful relationships, because you can't keep up the charade forever, and when you drop it, and they see you...then what are you going to do?

I know this first hand. My mother tried to make me into who she thought I should be. If she were alive today, she’d tell me quite forcefully, despite my obvious success, that no one would want to work with me, or really accept me as a friend, because I have a tattoo and visible piercings (18 holes in my ears—16 in one, and two in the other--and a pierced nose). But no one (to my knowledge) has ever not worked with me or refused to be my friend because of them—in fact, I often get complimented about them and about how I’m willing to be different. My now good friend, Hedy Schleifer, was a new client I was doing some consulting with, when, at our first “business” meeting, she leaned over close to me and said, “May I please touch your ear…it’s gorgeous.” I was touched by the request and said she could. She lovingly ran her finger over the rings in my left ear, and I thought about how stunned my mother would be, and how accepting Hedy was.

And that is really my every experience with being fully me. When I am, people love and accept me more. They want to be with me more, they want to work with me more, and none of my "authentic" pieces get in the way. And that’s what I really wanted to share with you today.

There’s an old adage: “It’s better to be hated for who you are, than to be loved for who you aren’t.” If a client doesn’t want to work with you because of who you are, or something you believe in, or something you do on your own time, the heck with him! His loss! Good riddance! Don’t waste a second of your time feeling badly about it. Instead, look forward toward all the great people you’ll authentically attract, and who will think you’re genuinely terrific with all your quirks and differences!

More on what a VA does

In my last post, I made a strong statement about what, in my view, qualifies someone to call herself a VA. Joining the conversation in a comment (which I encourage all of you to do!), Mary wrote:

”For example, transcription is certainly administrative in
nature - and also a special skill that not all VAs can do.
So does that mean transcriptionists can't be VAs?”

Here’s the thing: transcription is certainly administrative in nature. So it’s something that a VA can, of course, offer to her clients.

But at the point where someone offers transcription at such a high level as to call it a specialty, and it becomes her ONLY service, she’s a transcriptionist and not a VA.

Now, let’s say you, a VA with a thriving practice, learn to do transcription. And you find, to your amazement, that you’re a cracker jack at it. You realize that you can create a specialty around it…but you really love being a VA and doing all the rest of the work you do with your clients too.

What I always coach a VA to do in a situation like that is to create two divisions of her business—one where she provides transcription services as a transcriptionist (not as a VA who does transcription—there’s a difference, and the former will allow her to set herself up as an expert and charge higher fees!), and one where she is a VA to clients.

This can be done by creating an umbrella company with two divisions. It can also be done by creating two completely separate companies. What’s smartest depends largely on an individual’s situation, and I urge anyone considering what I’m sharing today to seek the advice of a legal and/or financial team member about the best way to go about setting this “division” thing up.

Whatever you decide, you need two of everything…for instance, TWO web presences, TWO sets of business cards, TWO sets of standards, and TWO rates—one for the transcription side of the business, and one for the VA side of it.

See…anything you do at such a high level such that you can offer it as a specialty deserves to have its own rate associated with it. So it doesn’t make any sense for you to offer it at your regular hourly rate for VA services**

Also, by creating two distinct offerings, you have created two revenue streams for yourself (always a smart thing!). You can market yourself in two ways, reach two distinct groups of people, and at the same time, straddle both (because they are, in fact, likely to be complementary).

Complementary, how? Well, using our current example, say that you have a client who asks you to transcribe something. You can say, “I’d be absolutely happy to help you with that, Jane! As you may know, I have another side to my business (or “another business” if you have, in fact, created a separate business entity), where I provide transcription services. Let me tell you how that would work for us, because I price transcription differently than the work I usually do for you.” Then you’d go on to tell Jane what your fee for transcription is. And like anything else, Jane is free to have you do it, or ask you to find her someone else. Chances are she’s going to have YOU do it—she already has a relationship with you and trusts you!

Likewise, say you’re at a networking event, and Harry approaches you and says, “Jon just told me that you do fabulous transcription, and man, do I need your help.” You would, of course, have whatever conversation you would have about that, and share about your transcription services. Let’s say that during that conversation Harry says, “Hey… I also need help with my office kinds of things… I’m forever behind in email, am not doing a good job of managing my customer relationships because I’m so behind, and I’m finding that I get more behind because I’m so often out working directly with my clients instead of managing my office stuff.”

Your ears, of course, would perk up, because you know, having been in this conversation with him for a bit, that the solution he needs is to work with a VA. You could then say, “Harry, you’re really in luck today, because in addition to my transcription service, I also am a terrific Virtual Assistant, and I help my clients with just the sort of office “stuff” you were talking with. Would you like to hear more about what I might be able to do for you?”

And Harry, already jazzed about your transcription services, is going to be predisposed to wanting your help with everything. He’s in pain, and you’re just the medicine he’s been looking for.

Complementary—got it? :)

And this model works regardless of what “specialty” you want to offer. Have mad web-design skills? Call yourself a web-designer, create a different division (or company) for it and start marketing it. Make mean graphics? Call yourself a graphic designer, create a different division (or company) for it, and get busy marketing. Know Internet marketing inside and out? Call yourself an Internet marketer and move forward.

I can hear some of you asking, “Why bother? Why not just offer it within the confines of my VA practice?” There is just one reason—it’s smarter to do what I just suggested.

Think about it. If you decided you also wanted to become a golf-pro, a business coach, or a realtor, or..well, pretty much anything else, you would never do it under the guise of your current VA business. It would be too confusing for others, and, ultimately, for you. This is really no different. If you want to do something “special” it deserves to be its own thing. And in reality, it matters in your own head. It changes the conversation you have with yourself (and therefore the conversation you have with others) about what you do and what you offer. And that’s another good reason to do it.

Lastly, it allows you to be appropriately compensated for something you do at a very high level, without the need for lengthy explanations as to why you don’t charge the same amount for your specialty as you do for the rest of the work you do for a client. Nothing creates resentment more often and more quickly than when a VA backs herself into a corner, having to do something at a high level for a client when she knows that it’s worth more than whatever the client’s paying her.

So todays Bit O’Moxie is really, again, just about having a high standard about how you run your business(es). Multiple revenue streams, multiple client groups, multiple fee structures—all appropriate to WIITYD, will always trump dumping everything you do into one “container,” if you will, and muddying things for yourself, everyone else you come in contact with, and our profession as a whole.

**The only caveat to that would be if your rate for your VA services is higher than whatever rate you’d set for the other thing you’re doing (in our example, transcription). Then you’d offer to do it at the same rate at which you offer your VA services, just billed separately to keep things clean.