Why Virtual Assistants Need a Business Coach

This is going to be a self-serving post, but please bear with me.

I call myself a business coach. No formal certificates to go with the claim, just me and my accomplishments as an entrepreneur, and the knowledge gained from the online courses I paid hard-earned money for just so I could learn how to organize my thoughts and processes and put them together in a coherent order.

I started out as a Virtual Assistant, and I have since registered my VA service as a business. So I’m a taxpayer, and still running my business from the four corners of our humble home, together with my husband.

Being an autodidact helped, so it was not long before I was also offering services outside of virtual assistance, like web hosting, website set up, theme customization, and online shopping cart set up.

Virtual assistance is a lifestyle. Some days I plan how our family will spend the day according to my workload, and some days I plan my workload depending on our family activities. Same thing with house chores. Like I can forget about house chores when I have deadlines. Or I can do house chores all day when I know that items in my inbox are not due in the next twelve hours.

Then came the time that I decided to take up a hobby. Because really, working from home can be draining. I needed a reset. And there were thousands of pesos worth of yarns in the house that were untouched. So I decided to take up crochet. And I was hooked, pun intended.

But a hobby costs money.  And people who know me know that I’m big on financial management. I always make sure that I’m not spending more than we can afford. So I created another opportunity for me. I started selling my finished projects, and in a few months, I registered another business. So I now have a second TIN, ending in 001.

I’m known in the VA community because I’ve been conducting workshops on how to become a VA since 2013. So when I came out with my crafts business, people have been inquiring if I also have workshops on how to launch a crafts business. That’s how Hobbies to Business came to life.

I’m a results-oriented person, and after doing the classroom workshops for three years, I felt that I was not seeing my desired results, that of seeing my finishers soar in the VA niche.

Paying for a workshop in a classroom setting means an attendee gets what all the other attendees get. That is good up to a point where you get the general idea of what works and what does not. But when one factors in the circumstances of an individual, the general idea may not work anymore.

So I decided to switch to one-on-one coaching. I felt that creating a plan tailored fit for a particular person will give more bang for the buck.

But why coaching? Why not just mentor?

Uhmmmm… Because I also have a family to support. And creating a plan takes time. Time that I should put to use in putting food on the table, providing for the needs of our children, preparing for our retirement, and on a good day, resting.

Not to mention earning back the thousands of dollars that I spent (and still spending) on learning all the things that I could not learn for free.

And this is why my coaching is not free.  Of course, I still mentor when the coaching period is over.

The big question now is: Do you want need to be coached by me?

And why do you need a business coach anyway?

Here are eight reasons why.

You need help getting started.

You have the skills, the qualifications, and the time to be a VA, but you don’t know how to get yourself out there. You don’t know how to find clients, or better yet, you don’t know what type of clients will be the best fit for you. A business coach who has been there and done that can steer you to the right direction.

You need a push to the next level.

Most people I know launch into the virtual assistance niche and just stay there. Three, four years into the niche, and they are still chasing clients, instead of having clients chase them. A business coach can guide you how you can move up to the next level. Just let me know your goals, and I can help you create the steps to reach them.

You are stuck.

You can get to a point where you get antsy where you’re at. You’ll feel tired and may even feel like giving up and start on another path. Or you can be just bored with the repetitive motions you go through each day. A business coach is someone you can discuss your thoughts with and help you find clarity to get you moving forward.

You have a “shiny object syndrome.”

I know this because I’ve been there. I would see social media posts of what other virtual assistants are doing, and I’d think, hey, I want to do that, too. When this happens, I lose focus of where I’m at. That is a dangerous attitude to have, and fortunately, I caught it early and was able to avoid doing it again. As your business coach, I can help you steer clear of this issue.

You need to have more balance.

You may find yourself working more and more for the success of your business and neglecting your family, or it can be that you’re spending more time with family that you don’t have enough time to spend on your business to make it successful. An experienced business coach can help you achieve a lifestyle that will allow you to enjoy both family and business. And throw in a hobby into the mix, too!

You need to find your purpose.

If you got into the virtual assistance business without knowing your “why” yet, a good business coach can help you find at least three of them. Knowing why you’re doing what you’re doing will allow you to focus on your unique selling proposition and identify your target audience.

You need a sound action plan.

Every business needs one.  A business coach won’t make it for you, but they can help you narrow down what is essential and what is not, making your plan easy to implement. Because really, a great action plan is nothing if you cannot implement it.

You need accountability.

A virtual assistant is not an employee. A virtual assistant runs an independent business so there’s no one looking over your shoulder to see if what you’re doing matches your goals. Having someone to call you out when necessary is crucial to the success of a business.

You need a cheerleader and a friend.

That’s actually number 9, and I only said 8.  But who’s counting?  And yes, personal experience says we VAs need a friend.  Working from home can be lonely.  Lucky for me, I got to hire my husband, so I have an officemate to have coffee breaks with.  Or give me a massage.  And then there are days when I give my daughter a project, so I have someone to “bully” in the office.  But some of us don’t have the perks I have.

I told you this post is self-serving.  But only if you will hire me as your business coach.  If not, then this is just another one of those informative posts that I put out there for my readers.

All 8 of them.

And if today is your first time to visit my blog, I thank you and welcome you with open arms.  And I hope you’ll come back.

But seriously, if you’re interested in knowing more about my coaching service, just go to this page.  Or book a 15-minute call with me via Skype.

Remember, you can always DIY your way to success.  But what if you can cut your learning curve in half?

And that is what this post is about.

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