6 Tips for Getting Yourself Out There...

 

Having worked with hundreds of virtual assistants, one question always stands out. “How can I get over the fear of putting myself out there?”.

First of all, I get it. Every entrepreneur goes through this, and I was no exception. Putting yourself out there and sharing your business with the world is scary… but if you never tell anyone, you simply won’t succeed.

Besides setting up your business (which you can learn with ease here), overcoming the fear of putting yourself out there is by far the hardest part of starting.

 

The good news is, the more you overcome your fears, the more your business grows.

 

Here are my top tips for getting over the fear and getting yourself out there:

 

1. Figure out what you’re really afraid of.

Ask yourself… What is the absolute worst that can happen if you put yourself out there? Do you lose a client? Does someone send you a nasty email? Do people laugh because you’ve stepped outside of the box? 

Once you’ve got your worst case scenario, think about what you would do if that actually happened.

Now, let’s look at things realistically. What are the chances of these things happening? My guess is that the chances aren’t very high… and even if they did happen, it probably wouldn’t be the end of the world and you’ve already figured out what you’d do about it anyway!

Puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?

If a friend of yours was in your position, would you encourage them to take the leap? To follow their dream? To start something new and just ‘try’? I certainly would, and you should too. 

2. Work in baby steps.

There’s no point trying to launch overnight. Starting a Virtual Assistant Business is not an overnight success (despite what some of those expensive courses try to tell you!). Instead, you need to take baby steps.

Starting your business can feel seriously overwhelming and sometimes a little lonely.

Set yourself goals and break them down. Keep going until the task can be achieved in 1 hour or less. These bite size chunks are then your daily tasks.

 You’ll be amazed how quickly they add up to success, and it wasn’t even that scary!

(We actually cover goal setting and how to break these down into 6 month, monthly, weekly and daily chunks to set you up for success in week 1 of our intro course!)

 

3. Change Your Mindset About Marketing.

Remember, when you approach a potential client, you are offering them value.

Reaching out to people can be scary, especially when you’re new. I know this because I've been there. My heart was racing, my hands were shaking and… well it turns out it’s just not that scary. 

Once I realised I was offering them a service to help them grow their business, not mine, I realised they needed me. Once this sunk in, I couldn’t stop approaching new potential clients.

You aren’t doing anything wrong by marketing yourself. You are sharing something of value.

(We actually provide our community with email templates to help them approach new potential clients with confidence alongside full training on where to find them!) 

4. Be Authentic.

Nobody wants to hire someone who is going to cause them more hassle than convenience, and hiring someone fake is always going to cause hassle.

As a Virtual Assistant you’re going to be working closely with founders and entrepreneurs. They’re people too. If you want to build lasting connections and find clients that value you, be yourself. It’s one of the most underrated marketing tools out there.

This carries over into how you market yourself. If recording videos and doing IG lives sounds terrifying - don’t do them. Start by writing blog posts and using linked in. Use methods that allow you to show who you are, without having to fake it.

 

5. Find Support.

When I started as a VA, I foolishly went it alone. Looking back, I think it stunted the growth of my business by almost 50%. It took me weeks to overcome problems, hours to draw up emails and there were (quite a few) times where I was lonely and wanted to quit. (There’s no ‘after office drinks’ when you’re at your kitchen table).

But once I found a community of other VAs, my business flourished. We shared tips and tools, helped each other overcome issues and I grew by over 200% in 6 months. This is why I’ve put the community at the centre of Pro Virtual Training. It’s the heart of what we do, and it’s the best place to accelerate your learning & business growth.

 

Lastly...

6. Know the Difference Between Fear vs. Intuition.

Just because something feels scary doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. It just means whatever you’re thinking about doing is out of your comfort zone. 

How can you tell the difference between fear and intuition and whether you should act on it or not? Does the thought feel expansive or constrictive? If it feels scary, yet expansive and exciting, it’s fear (and you should chase it). If it feels constrictive and not exciting at all, it’s your intuition telling you no.

Learning to understand these feelings will help you succeed as an entrepreneur.

If you’ve found this helpful (or if it provoked any questions), I’d love to hear from you! You can reach out to me personally at - [email protected] or on instagram.

 Lastly, you can sign up to my weekly newsletter here. I share free tips & tricks to help you achieve your business goals.