Ep. 072 The 4 Biggest Time Wasters New Virtual Assistants Face

 

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Do you feel like you’re spending way too much time getting your virtual assistant business set up when you could already be serving clients? 

Yes, it’s true that there are lots of things you need to do to set up the foundation of your business, and sometimes it can be hard to tell which things you absolutely need to be spending time on and which things are just wasting your valuable time. 

On today’s episode of The Support Squad, I’m sharing The 4 Biggest Time Wasters New Virtual Assistants Face.

Tune in to hear: 

  • How consuming too much content can lead to “analysis paralysis”
  • Why your networking efforts might not be working
  • Solutions to 2 of the biggest marketing time-sucks

#1 Content over-consumption

The great thing about the internet? There is so much information available for free as you’re building your business. With all of the podcasts, social media accounts, YouTube videos, and blogs you can access, it’s pretty easy to find all of the information you need to get started.

Where this turns bad is when you start consuming so much content that 1) it’s taking up all of your time and 2) you get stuck in “analysis paralysis” and are unable to move forward in your business.

It’s important to set limits to your content consumption. Set a goal to only follow a few trusted sources and to limit how much time you're watching and listening to business content each day. Trust me - everything is better in moderation. That’s why I make these podcast episodes so short! I want to give you bite size chunks of information each week so you have time to process and reflect.

#2 Networking without strategy

Networking in Facebook groups, on LinkedIn, or on Instagram are great ways to find clients as you’re starting your business, but if you’re spending hours a day networking without a solid strategy in place, you’re probably wasting your time.

You’ve got to make sure that you’ve chosen a platform where your ideal client hangs out, that you’ve optimized your profile on that platform, that you schedule daily networking time, and that you have a solid follow up plan. Without these elements, your networking strategy likely won’t yield great results. 

To learn more about creating a daily networking strategy that doesn’t take up all of your time, you can check out episode 058 of this podcast! 

#3 Website

I see wayyyy too many virtual assistants spending days, weeks, and months working on their websites. I want to tell you right now, a website can be a great tool in your marketing toolbox, but there are much more important revenue generating activities you should be focusing on when you’re starting your business. 

Your website really just needs 4 pages: a home page, an about me page, a services page, and a contact page. Keep it simple and clean and then move on to the next thing! Over time, you can begin to add more content, but in the early days of building your business, your website shouldn’t be your main focus. 

Also, sometimes building a website can take a long time for new virtual assistants because they’ve never done it before! If you aren’t an experienced web designer, you might want to consider outsourcing this piece.

#4 Graphics - Logo, social media, Facebook cover, etc.

 I completely get why new virtual assistants get so caught up on their graphics and logo. Creating this stuff is really fun and it makes our business come alive!

But spending hours upon hours trying to create a consistent brand in Canva, especially if you’re not an experienced designer, is keeping you from getting out there and finding clients.

There are a few ways we can speed up this process.

  1. You can simplify things - instead of obsessing over each graphic, just get it done and move on, knowing that your brand will evolve over time.
  2. You can outsource this piece - there are tons of experienced designers out there who can build a brand for you!
  3. You can use templates - this is where I am beyond thrilled to announce my brand new Virtual Assistant Brand Kits. Y’all these are coming TOMORROW! These brand kits include EVERYTHING you need for a beautiful and cohesive virtual assistant brand including a logo, client welcome packet, social media templates, a Facebook cover photo, a one-sheet, and more! These Canva templates are fully customizable and come with a video tutorial for using each design. If you’re ready to cross branding off of your business launch to-do kit stay tuned for the official launch email tomorrow!

As you’re working on building your business, I want you to become aware of the tasks you gravitate to that are taking up too much of your time. It’s common to lose ourselves in simple tasks because we’re feeling unsure or anxious about what to do next in our business. Setting time limits around our various activities and having a clear action plan will keep you from wasting your valuable time and keep you on track for bringing in income!

Thanks so much for joining me today. If you liked the episode, I’d love it if you’d leave me a review! And I’ll see you here next week when I’ll share “3 Simple Ways to Take Your Brand from Amateur to Pro”.

If you want to dive deeper into our thriving virtual assistant community, here’s what’s coming up in the membership this month:

Our theme is Streamlining & Scaling with SOPS, and I am featuring myself as the guest expert this month to show you the systems behind my success.

I’m also sharing The ACTUAL SOPs I Use to Manage The Support Squad Membership 

Members will also receive a Job Opp Template so that you can create an ad or social media post that will bring the right person to your business when you’re ready to outsource.

And of course, we’ll have 2 live group coaching calls and you’ll get access to all the past content in the membership area.

 Get instant access when you sign up for a free 14-day trial.

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