Desire to Done Podcast for Virtual Assistants and Introverts

10 Ways to Find Clients for Your Virtual Assistant Business

February 04, 2022 Season 1 Episode 10
Desire to Done Podcast for Virtual Assistants and Introverts
10 Ways to Find Clients for Your Virtual Assistant Business
Show Notes Transcript

The thought of finding clients can be nerve-wracking for new Virtual Assistants or anyone just thinking about becoming a VA. And I can see why. I mean, no clients mean no money

In this episode, I’m sharing a few of my best tips for finding clients on your own.

Mentioned in this episode:

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10 Ways to Find Clients for Your Virtual Assistant Business


Well, hello! Welcome to the Desire to Done podcast! I’m your host, Billie Gardner.

 

The thought of finding clients can be nerve-wracking for new VAs or anyone just thinking about becoming a VA. And I can see why. I mean, no clients mean no money! And yeah, you could try someplace like Upwork to find work, but I’ve heard it can be difficult to get your profile accepted, that the jobs are low-paying, and that you don’t get to keep all the profit.

 

Well, today I’m sharing a few of my best tips for finding clients on your own. This means you can charge what you want and keep all the money yourself!

 

 

1. BETA TEST YOUR NEW SERVICES.

If you’re a new VA or if you want to try out a new service, you’ll want to consider beta testing. A beta test is when you give a sample of your service for low or no cost in return for feedback you can use to improve your services or add more value. But feedback is not the only benefit of testing out your services. There are many more, like building confidence in working with clients and getting testimonials.

 

If you’d like to learn more about beta testing, I did a whole podcast episode on it. I’ll link to it in this week’s episode description. 

 

2. SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS!

The quickest way to find clients is to tell everyone you know about your business. This isn’t the time to be shy! When you tell people about your exciting new business, ask them to help spread the word for you. Tell people in person, send an email, give someone a call, text them, announce on your personal Facebook page…you get the point! Think of everyone you can. You never know who needs your help or knows someone who could use your help.

 

3. EMAIL PEOPLE THAT YOU WANT TO WORK WITH.

An effective way of getting clients is to directly reach out to business owners and ask if they need help. This may sound scary and perhaps pushy, but it’s not! Promoting your business isn’t something that should feel “slimy” or “salesy”; it should feel like you’re helping your ideal client find you. They’re out there looking for you!

 

What should you say in the email? Tell them who you are and why you want to work with them. For instance, do you love reading their weekly newsletter or did you take one of their online courses and loved it? Then tell them how you can help them. That’s it! You might be surprised at the responses you get!

 

 

4. BE OF SERVICE AND OFFER A REVIEW OR CONSULT.

A great way to get your foot in the door is to offer your ideal client a free review or consultation. Your advice will be appreciated and might inspire this person to hire you to make the changes. This tactic works well for web designers, copywriters, and social media managers. You can share your review in a video, email, or over Zoom. You can offer this service as a freebie in Facebook groups and through email.

 

5. REACH OUT TO OTHER VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS.

Find virtual assistants who offer similar services and let them know that you have space for new clients. They might be fully booked, looking for someone to refer clients to or have clients that aren’t the right fit for them anymore. 

 

Also, connect with virtual assistants that offer different services. Introduce yourself and tell them who you help and what you do. Then ask if they’ll refer you if they come across anyone looking for your services and offer to do the same.

 

You can also tell them you’ll give them a referral gift like a $15 Amazon gift card to encourage them to refer you.

 

6. CONNECT WITH FREELANCERS WHO HAVE THE SAME IDEAL CLIENT.

Get to know other freelancers who work with people you want to work with. For example, if you offer blog writing services, you could connect with web designers and let them know you’re available to help any of their clients who need help writing and publishing their blog posts.

 

7. GET SOCIAL! HANG OUT WHERE YOUR IDEAL CLIENT DOES.

If your ideal client or target audience is executive or CEO material, LinkedIn is a good place to have a profile. If your ideal client is a mommy blogger, find out which Facebook groups she hangs out in and introduce yourself. If you specialize in an online tool or software, see if there’s a Facebook group for people who use those products. Sometimes you’ll find people who need help setting things up or using the tools. 

 

The idea is to get in front of more people but in a non-pushy way. 

 

 

8. JOIN THE INTROVERT VA CLUB

Inside my membership, the Introvert VA Club, we have a job opps section where we share job requests from professionals who fill out my Hire a VA form. In 2021 we had 71 jobs come through. A lot of times this is where new VAs find their first client! IVC also includes courses and trainings to help you succeed as a VA. You can go to introvertvaclub.com to learn more!

 

9. TRY “HIRE MY MOM”

Hire My Mom requires a membership but offers a free trial if you want to check them out first. The good thing about this job board is that they are well vetted. That means the jobs and the businesses posting the jobs are good quality and legitimate. 

 

10. REACH OUT TO PAST CLIENTS

If you’ve been doing VA work for a while, I’m sure you have a few past clients who would be happy to hear from you! Let them know that you currently have some space available if they need help with anything. You can also ask them to spread the word or refer you!   

 

 

Well, now you have lots of ideas for finding clients! Choose one and try it out a few times. If it works well, keep doing it. If it doesn’t work out, move on to another idea. No matter what, just keep putting yourself out there. Finding clients can be a numbers game. The more you put yourself out there, the more likely you’ll find your clients.

 

I hope you found this episode inspiring! If you’d like weekly tips like this delivered to your inbox, sign up for my newsletter! Go to desiretodone.com/newsletter

 

Tune in next week, where I’ll cover more info on what an ideal client is and why it’s important to know who yours is.

 

If you’re enjoying this podcast, please leave a review and be sure to subscribe!

 

Thanks for listening! I’ll talk to you next week! Byyyye!