Co0ntinuing our discussion from last week: Number Seven: Change Your Beliefs
We’ve already discussed the risks of starting your own business, but another thing that many times may hold you back from true success are your beliefs. If you believe that you can only make a meager living in this business, then you most likely will.
When I first started my business it was meant to be for ‘fun money’ – my husband and I enjoyed traveling so the money I made in my home-based business was earmarked for future travel. That worked beautifully for almost five years. That all changed when my husband was laid off his job.
Suddenly I was thrown back into being the main bread winner. I had a big decision to make. Either I step up the pace in my business to bring in a more significant income, shut the business down, or take it to part-time while I go back to the corporate workforce.
I decided to dig in my heels, and make enough of an income to support our family. Thankfully, I was able to increase my business beyond what I believed I could accomplish, and grow my business in several directions. If I hadn’t believed that I could, I know my ending would have been quite different.
If I didn’t believe I could do it, I know I wouldn’t be here today. Trust me, there were plenty of people, mostly friends and family, who didn’t believe I could take this type of a business to a level significant enough to support our family while my husband searched for something new, but I did, and in record time.
At one point my business was saturated, I was working all the hours I was able, and still have the time needed to market and grow the practice. I began telling prospects I had a full practice and began referring them to other VAs I knew.
But I was still not at a point where I was able to comfortably support the family and have reserves for the business, so I had to look deeper. What else could I do to continue to grow my business without taking on the exposure of an in-house staff person, whose expenses would have to be passed along to the client?
I decided to change the focus of having just me to do all the client work, to finding sub-contractors who could do the work for me while I continued to market and grow my practice. This worked in a number of ways and eventually allowed me to decide to handle only those projects I really loved to do, and make some hard and fast decisions about what constituted the right client for me.
This was a huge breakthrough for me. I believed that in order to succeed and grow, I had to take on business and projects with companies and people I didn’t enjoy working with. Now that my focus was on perfecting my talents and finding the best clients to fit my business profile, I had arranged my belief system to provide the best benefit to me, my business, and ultimately my family.
That may not be the right business model for you – but what would be? You need to do some soul searching and find out what your dreams and expectations are and model your belief system to meet those needs and expectations, on both a professional and personal level. You will find they go hand in hand.
If you believe you can be successful in your VA practice, you most assuredly will!
Jeannine Grich, owner of Accurate Business Services, a VA practice, is an author, writer, speaker and VA Business Coach, specializing in providing professional business coaching to established and start-up virtual assistants (VA’s). Visit: https://vabizcoach.com; or contact her at: https://vabizcoach.com/contact-us/.
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