A Joint Venture Opportunity

As a professional Virtual Assistant and website designer, I have the opportunity to work with other colleagues in my industry to form a joint venture (or JV) and offer a complete package of services that would include all of our expertises rolled up into one deal for small business owners. And I’m not just talking about two people here. We’re talking four individuals that have a lot of creative services that would round out what a client would need.

So not to let the cat out of the bag too early, I will tell you that I will be offering WordPress site packages, coupled with training services for the program. As the venture starts to shape up, I will share my experiences in how well it’s coming together. I believe that not only will it be a fun, collaborative effort, but it will also be an opportunity to make another source of income for our businesses. Really…it’s all about making multiple streams of income and this is just one of the many avenues that I will be focusing on this year.

Going Cheap is Not Always the Best Value

Discussing the topic of cheap services is nothing new to the Virtual Assistant or small business industry and I have actually wrote about this before, but thought it was necessary to re-educate the VA community on what seems to be the norm now more than ever.

I recently had a prospective client consultation and I really felt a synergy between myself and this “PC”, but what ended up being a great prospect turned out that this business owner wanted to hire a Virtual Assistant overseas where he was only paying a few dollars per hour for a large number of hours per month. Sound familiar? This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this. As a matter of fact, I am seeing it happen more and more because biz owners want to go “cheap” and hold on to every dollar they have. And it’s the fear of the recent sagging economy that is causing people to look for a better value for their money. But really, they are not getting a better value!

I know of a number of times that I have had prospective clients come to me that used the service of a company or a solo VA overseas, and they ended up having to discontinue the service due to miscommunication or a lack thereof. Sometimes getting through the language barrier becomes an issue between the VA and the client. When a client invests their money into a company that they end up canceling with, they have lost money and they have not gained a DIME of extra income.

Another observation that I discovered is when you work with a VA company or a solo VA abroad, you may only get someone that performs tasks and it not really be someone that can invest their time to help you build your business. And that is what a successful Virtual Assistant or an Online Business Manager should be able to do for you…they should be the right fit for your business model, having knowledge of your industry and your business processes.

Finding a Virtual Assistant that can be proactive in assisting you in areas of marketing, organization (setting up and implementing streamlined processes), or taking on a bigger role as your online business manager, can take some time to choose. But choose wisely. Do not sign up with the first VA company or VA professional that has the cheapest price. In my opinion, a rate of $5 – $10 per hour is way too low to partner with a VA. When you review the higher rate of a professional VA, consider the return of investment once you realize the money that the VA has brought to your business because they helped you promote your products or services. It’s well worth spending that extra money so that you can focus on what really matters to you…working on your business, growing your business to its highest level.

Can I Make Other Sources of Income in My Business?

The answer to that question is a resounding YES! If you are someone like me, a hard-at-work Virtual Assistant, then you can understand that biggest desire for my business is to bring in more income and work less hours. I’ve got to slowly step back from my business and bring back that time I need to spend with my family, now more than ever.

So how do I make this plan work? Do I increase my hourly rate to existing clients and prospective new clients? Then I could reduce my hours, but make about the same income each month. That is one solution, but it may not be accepted well with current clients that are really watching their spending dollar right now.

There are a number of ways you can bring in additional income without working more hours. It’s called “dollars for hours” instead of “hours for dollars”. It’s a phrase I picked up from my business coach, Suzanne Evans.

What I am noticing more and more is my VA and coach colleagues are finding ways to market their business through the use of teleseminars and products. Because more prospective clients are not willing to commit to your services on an ongoing basis, they are now turning more towards participating in workshops and purchasing products to help them in their business. They want to learn how to set up their own products and services and they are willing to spend the money to have someone teach or consult them in that process. They are arming themselves with the knowledge they need to set up their own administrative processes.

Having this knowledge of the small business industry, you should already be thinking of ways you can reach out to your market and promote yourself and what you can offer in the form of products or teleseminars. The possibilities are endless. You could create a survey and send it to your VA or coaching community and get their input on what they would like to learn and that could be basis of what you could put together and market for your business! So it’s not as difficult as it sounds. What can be challenging is actually putting the program together. You will need to invest more time in putting the program or product together, but once it’s done, it’s done! Other than you having to tweak or improve upon what you already have, you have a new stream of income potential for your business.

As a VA, I can also look at investing my time in learning from other VA’s that have managed to grow their business, using a mutiple stream of income model. And that’s the Six-Figure VA System. It is worth a look if you are a VA looking for ways to build your business, but not spend more time in doing so.

So if you have ideas you want to share on the subject, please feel free to comment or drop me a line at aletha(at)dcvirtualoffice(dot)com. I would love to hear your advice and stories on what you are doing to increase your bottom line, but not sacrificing your personal time with family and friends.