If you’re reading this, you’re ready to break the 5k ceiling. Woot, woot! Who doesn’t want to make 5k a month as a virtual assistant?
Or maybe you’re not quite ready yet – but you know that earning a full-time income is where you want to be eventually. The 5 things listed in this blog really are the foundation of propelling yourself to 5k months and much, much higher. I’ve seen first-hand that missing even one of these elements will set you up for disappointment and frustration.
Okay, are you ready? Let’s go!
#1: Target the right audience
You know that I’m a big advocate for honing in on an ideal client and target market, but I need you to take it one step further.
Here’s a really common mistake that new VA’s and done-for-you service providers make: They target small businesses or start-up businesses. One of the reasons for this is because it feels less “scary” to work with small businesses. We let imposter syndrome take the wheel and convince us that bigger clients and companies wouldn’t be interested in our services.
Targeting these small businesses typically presents a two-fold problem:
- They don’t have the cash flow to justify outsourcing any of their business tasks, and
- If they do hire you, it will likely be just a small portion of your monthly income goal.
In order to hit consistent 5k+ months, you will need several 5-figure clients. If your target audience isn’t in a position to spend that kind of money – it’s time to go back to the drawing board.
Bottom line: Your target audience needs to be 6 and 7 figure businesses.
#2: Niche down to a specialty
One of the mantras that I’m always repeating to my coaching clients is this: “Split focus = split results.” If you are still offering a smorgasbord of services, here’s your sign: STOP.
If your goal is to make 5k a month (or more!), you need a signature service or specialty. I know you’re tired of hearing that “you have to have a niche”, but there is a reason for that: Service providers that are fully niched down into a specialty make more money. Period.
If you haven’t fully niched down – and this usually requires a title change from “Virtual Assistant” to a more specialized title. It’s time to put pencil to paper and decide what that niche will look like.
Here are some specific questions to ask yourself:
- What services do I enjoy doing?
- What services does my target audience need?
- Will my target audience pay me premium prices (50+/hour) for this service?
You do NOT need to spend a fortune learning a new skill. Typically, offering a new specialty service WILL require some degree of self-education – but don’t overthink this. The resources (many of them free!) online are so vast that you can likely teach yourself a new skill just using YouTube, Google, and maybe even investing in a digital course.
Bottom line: Niching down on both your target audience AND your specialty service will allow you to charge more money for your services.
#3: Raising your prices for new and existing clients
It’s time to stop worrying about what your clients can afford and instead focus on what you need to be making in order to sustain your business.
This is why targeting the right audience and having a specialty service are so important. It would be a pretty hard sell to charge $50 an hour for inbox management. But when you are offering a specialized service, the game changes.
It’s easy to see how you could charge more for premium services, but what about existing clients? Breaking up with clients can be hard to do, but sometimes it’s necessary to free up the time in your schedule to take on better-paying clients.
Usually, this is a gradual process and not one that happens overnight. Here are three things you should consider when raising your rates:
- If you are charging hourly prices, change your pricing structure to package pricing for all new clients.
- Raise prices on existing clients and/or change them to the package pricing model.
- Be fully prepared to lose an existing client or two when you raise your prices and make sure you are financially ready for that.
Note: Although I’ve used hourly rate figures in this blog, I recommend using package-based pricing. Here’s a blog I wrote on this topic that will be helpful to you if you are restructuring your pricing.
Bottom line: You can only grow so far if you do not charge more money for your services. Consider this: If you work 40/hours a week and charge $30/hour, your monthly gross income comes in at UNDER 5k a month. And by the way, 40/hours a week on client work isn’t a sustainable business model. That leaves no time for you to work on YOUR business (see point #5 below!)
#4: Clarify your messaging
So far, I’ve only talked about the internal part of your business. We’ve covered some of the essential things you need to work on behind the scenes to create a foundation for those 5k+ months. Now it’s time to talk about the forward-facing part of your business.
Your messaging is the information you are putting out into the universe about your services. This information will show up on your website and your social media accounts. Clarifying your messaging just means that you need to have the following things presented in a way that is EASY to understand, is seen FIRST when visiting your pages, and gives a clear path for CONTACT:
- Who do you serve? (Ideal client and target market)
- What do you offer? (This is your signature specialty service)
- What is the transformation that this service provides?
- How can clients contact you to set up a phone call?
For a website, clear messaging means that all of the above information will be clearly visible on your home page, and have user-friendly menu options for easy navigation.
For social media accounts, it means having a positioning statement in your profile, header, or in a pinned post. Here’s a simple template for a positioning or “I help” statement: “I help (ideal client) by (service offered) so they can (transformation or problem you solve for them)”
When a visitor finds themselves on your website or social media, you have SECONDS to grab their attention, so YES, this step really is just as important than all the rest.
Bottom line: In addition to being crystal clear with your messaging, your online storefront(s) should always project that of a high-level service provider. This means keeping your fonts and colors consistent, proofreading carefully, and always, always projecting confidence. Here’s a great blog on how to elevate your online storefront.
#5: Prioritize marketing
Treat your business like you would your most important client. All too often, our own marketing efforts take a back-seat to service work. This is especially true when we are trying to hustle and have a large client workload.
Your own marketing should be the first priority in your business. Do that work FIRST. This is how you build a sustainable brand that will keep hot leads in your pipeline and allow you to replace clients with ease.
Here are some of the marketing strategies and tasks that should be completed regularly in your business. The actual frequency will depend on your goals, how close you are to your goals, and if you are actively looking for clients.
- Posting written content on social media
- Recording and posting videos on social media
- Engaging and nurturing your current audience
- Actively engaging ideal clients to bring them into your audience
- Sending and following up on warm emails
Bottom line: Marketing only works when it gets done. Attracting the right clients does not happen by accident – it happens very much on purpose. A clear, actionable marketing plan is an absolute must if you want to break the 5k ceiling.
There’s one more thing to remember…
One of the reasons that entrepreneurs fail in their quest for 5k months is a lack of consistency. It’s difficult to gain any momentum when you aren’t showing up like you should in your marketing efforts. If you only get 4 out of 5 of these things right – your results will take longer and may never come at all.
Here’s my advice on implementing what you’ve learned in this blog: Take consistent action. Every single day, do something that moves you closer to your goal of 5k months. Take these 5 things and break each step down into action steps that you can take for your business and then do them.
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