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Laura Nicole: 00:02

Welcome to Your Virtual Assistant Coach, the podcast for moms who want to make money from home on their own terms. I'm your host, Laura Nicole, a successful six-figure earning VA and coach who replaced my college professor salary in just five months back in 2020 after my daughter was born, and I have never looked back. I'm here to help you build a profitable, flexible VA business that fits into your family's lives so you no longer feel like you're living just to work. Let's dive in. 

Laura Nicole: 00:33

A hesitation that I hear from a lot of women when they think about the idea of becoming a virtual assistant is the thought of, I don't know any business owners personally, so how would I ever get clients? And I fully understand and recognize why that feels like a problem and why that feels like a hurdle if you're like, I don't even know any business owners. Like, who am I gonna work with? But it's actually not, okay, because you do not need to directly personally know business owners in order to become a virtual assistant. So in today's episode, I'm going to break down why that is actually a total myth and how people are finding clients every single day without knowing any business owners when they start. The myth that is out there is that you need like direct connections to get clients. The connection that I see women making a lot of times in conversations is they make this assumption that because they have no direct connections, they have no opportunity. And that belief alone by itself stops so many women from even starting. But you do not need to know business owners directly because the internet is your network. 

Laura Nicole: 01:48

Okay, the internet is full of millions of online business owners. And those online business owners are showing up on social media platforms, Instagram, Facebook groups, threads, TikTok, LinkedIn, online entrepreneurship communities. When you are starting as a VA, you are not limited to your local personal circle anymore. And I also want to make it very clear that a big part of networking actually is tapping into your personal network, even if they don't own businesses, because you don't know who everybody in your personal network knows. Maybe one of your good friends has a high school friend that they're still really close with, and her husband owns an online business and needs help, right? Like you don't you don't know just because you don't directly know the business owner, you don't know the connection that could be made. So you don't have to have a bunch of business owners in your immediate circle. What you need to do is be willing and able to go put yourself in the places online to meet the business owners. And I have a lot of other episodes and content on my platforms about what that networking actually looks like with these potential clients online. 

Laura Nicole: 03:08

But we're not cold pitching them, we're not spamming them with messages. It's not something that has to be awkward or feel salesy. You literally just have the ability to use the internet and use these social platforms to get out there, find potential clients, start conversations, create connection with them on a human level, and then show them how you can support them and show them how you can make their life and their business easier by taking tasks and the mental load off of their plate. And the real truth of it is that every single woman who decides to become a virtual assistant is starting from zero. Nobody is starting with a client list that's just handed to them. Every VA has a first conversation with somebody that they don't know, who they have found online and think, oh my gosh, I would love to support them. Everyone has that first conversation. Everyone goes through that first pitch. And the confidence will build as you actually do the networking. It comes after you start reaching out and having these conversations and building these connections with business owners. And so the only difference really between someone who decides to stay stuck in the mindset of, oh, I don't know any business owners, so this can't work for me, and someone who's out there networking and signing clients is choosing to take action, is choosing to start those conversations. 

Laura Nicole: 04:41

If you are letting yourself not do this because you've convinced yourself that you don't know anybody that you could work with, that is literally your brain making up an excuse and making up a reason to try to keep you from trying just to keep you safe. And I'm gonna call you out on it. And I want you to call yourself out on it and kind of pull back a little bit and look at it and say, okay, is that actually like a logical rationalization? Or am I making an excuse? Am I giving myself an out? Am I giving myself a reason that this won't work so that I don't have to try so that I don't have to worry about it failing? I promise you, you do not need a ton of direct connections right out the chute to business owners in your very close personal network. You need to go out and have conversations. The opportunities to work with clients will come from getting visible by creating those connections and by doing it consistently. The more that you show up, the more doors will open, the more opportunities there will be. And if the whole idea of networking in general kind of just has you like in a tizzy and you're like, Laura, I don't even know. Like, I agree with you, I hear you, I understand that that's a good method, but like I don't know how to implement it. 

Laura Nicole: 06:04

I don't know what to actually do or how to start, then you need to grab the client magnet method. There's a link for it in the show notes. This client magnet method walks you through very specifically how to figure out who your idol client even is, and then how to network and find those people on threads, on Instagram, on Facebook, how to leverage your personal network and also walks you through how to pitch to those people when the time comes, right? When you've created enough connection and you have a solution to bring to them, it walks you through how to actually pitch them as well. It's a phenomenal tool. It lays it out for you literally step by step, tells you how to search for the people, the best ways to interact, how to engage. There's a tracker that you can use, and I teach it to you in the format of my 15-minute networking method because doing all of this networking also is not a full-time job. You can do it successfully in 15, 30 minute pockets of time that you can really focus in and make a ton of connections in that timeframe while sitting on your couch. But side note, if you are in the Superstar Assistant Academy, you already have access to the client magnet method. It is a bonus that you got. It is in your course library. But if you are not a superstar assistant academy member yet and you want help with networking so that you can land clients. I mean, I guess you could just come join us in the academy too. But if you are just wanting to focus solely on finding those clients, the client magnet method is linked in the show notes for you. 

Laura Nicole: 07:40

Thanks for hanging out with me today on your virtual assistant coach. If you love this episode, be sure to share it with your best friend, your sister, or even your favorite coworker who you know wants to start making a flexible income. I'll see you all next time.