Not long ago we had a discussion in the VA Directory Facebook Group about how we go about finding clients. It was a lively discussion and I see this question being asked in many groups, mainly by VAs but also by all other business owners. Overwhelmingly the consensus was word of mouth or referrals. This is awesome and becomes easier down the track when you’ve been a VA or a business owner for a while and you have established your business with a number of clients ... ... but what about when … [Read more...]
The importance of Networking online and offline
I'm a firm believer that networking should be done as much offline as it is done online. I belong to two regular networking groups - one weekly and one monthly, and then go to others periodically too. I find I pick up a lot of referrals this way from people who like to meet who they're going to be doing business with, or who they will be referring to. This is how I began doing business before the Internet and I still am actively networking on a local basis regularly, over 20 years down the … [Read more...]
Why would you join BNI?
There's been a discussion on a VA forum recently about the value of joining BNI as a Virtual Assistant. If you don't know what BNI is it stands for Business Network International and can be found at www.bni.com internationally or here in Australia, bni.com.au. I belong to the Melbourne East region. I joined when it first came to Melbourne around 10 or 11 years ago and was a member for over 5 years. Things changed for me on the business front and I decided to leave BNI for a time. My husband … [Read more...]