Referrals for Virtual Assistants
In the last two weeks I have helped one of my clients find another VA to undertake regular work - a direct referral from me with no payment in any direction. I have stopped worrying about this as I know that a good part of my business comes from other Virtual Assistants who refer me to their clients for enquiries they cannot handle - and this has just happened again. I am negotiating a large piece of on-going work with a company referred to me by another VA. I may not get the work, but then that is never a guarantee.
Your competitors are your greatest source for work after your existing clients. It is easier to sell on than find a new client - about 8 times easier. When you have other VAs who respect the work you do you have a whole new group of 'jobfinders' and you respond by doing the same for them. It is based on trust and in my case it is not subcontracting but completely handing over the work.
Subcontracting in France has no benefit to me as I cannot deduct the subcontractors cost from my turnover for tax purposes. In other countries it can put your turnover into the range of VAT and other local taxes which makes you more expensive. It also involves you in extra work which is often hard to charge back to the client unless you increase your rates - again making you less cost effective. All this involves trust - but then trust gets you more referrals...
Working on the new website
Hopefully the new website for aspiring and new Virtual Assistants will go up today. It is very much in the Beta state and the complimentary resource pages are not complete but I need to get it up as you can 'fiddle' with things and in the end it is better to get them up and see what others think, so I will post here again when the site is up.
Long weekend?
If you are lucky enough to get a May-day public holiday I hope you have a good extended weekend and the sun shines. It has warmed up here finally but I saw my first hornet today so I KNOW the warmer weather is on its way and I just want to stay inside with the shutters closed, me paranoid - YES...
Di Chapman
