One of the things I love about being a Virtual Assistant is the chance to work with people that I want to work with.
It’s not a job, it’s a business. And I have worked very hard over the years to be able to pick and choose my clientele now. I rarely seek out new clients, though … much of my business comes through referral from my other clients or people that I know.
It can be said that networking is everything when you are running any type of business, but networking doesn’t seal the deal. It gets you to where you need to be, but YOU are the reason that potential clients will want to work with you, or they won’t.
YOU = your personality, your work ethic, your style, your communication skills.
Many of my clients have been with me for many years. I don’t very often have a client ‘quit me’, and I don’t very often quit them. If that happens, it’s usually pretty early in the game. Once we have done any type of work together, we end up growing together, because the fit was right.
Oh, that’s not to say that I haven’t parted ways with clients over the years. That has definitely happened … but I am proud to say that in the last, probably, three years, that I still work with 90% of the clients that have come on board with me. That’s 9 out of 10, which is pretty good.
Take the time when you are having your preliminary meeting with your potential client, to really see how their personality and their style and their needs fit into your ‘work box’. If they don’t fit into your ideal client type, take a pass on them. It probably won’t work out long-term.
It’s like any relationship … you have to ‘fit’ to make it work.
