The number one question we receive from Virtual Assistants is "How do I find clients?" and we’re actually tackling that challenge head on in our "3 Clients in 30 Days" Program right now! Finding clients is one part of the puzzle when it comes to building your VA business…. yet it is just as important to make sure that potential clients fit the description of your Ideal Client.

How would you describe your ideal client? Can you tell within the first 10-15 minutes of meeting with a potential client (either by phone or in person) whether they fit the description of your ideal client?

After talking to literally hundreds of business owners looking for a VA, we’ve come up with a set of criteria that allows us to know - within a quick 10-15 minute chat - whether a business owner fits the description of our ideal target market.

So to help you out - we’ve created - tada! The Ideal Client Comparison Chart for you. With the number of potential new clients out there you really should not be working with anyone other than those that you really want to work with!

The point of this chart is to help you quickly identify who is ready to work with you, who is a great match for you and those who aren’t (you know, the ones that give you that ‘pit in your stomach’ feeling.)

Use this tool to help build relationships with the RIGHT kind of clients for you. Enjoy! Click here for PDF.

Got a burning need or desire for a tool you’d like to see created, for the benefit of the Virtual Assistant industry and yourself? Just hit reply to put in your request.

© 2009 Virtually Successful.com. Adapted from the book "Virtually Successful: 8 Simple Ways to Find (and Keep) Clients" by Cindy Greenway. Reproduction permitted with full attribution.

It’s one thing to find a new client, it’s another thing to keep them right? 

This may be familiar scenario - you find a potential new client, make a great connection, they sign up to work with you, and after a project or two the works dries up … and you are basically left at square one looking for another new client. Very frustrating! And an all too common story …

One tip for retaining clients is to find something you can do for them on an ongoing basis - instead of one-time tasks or projects, look for areas in your clients business that require someone to ‘do the work’ each month.

A great example is a membership program … many online business owners either a) have a membership program already or b) would love to set one up.

If they don’t have one already they will need help getting one setup of course, but that is only half the battle. Once the membership program is setup, they will need someone to manage it each month. This is where many membership programs fall apart - they don’t have a VA in place as Membership Manager to ensure that the membership is taken care of each month (new classes, new contact, etc.).

Without this the membership will fall flat, members will cancel and it can even get to the point where the membership is cancelled all together. Not what the business owner was hoping for of course!

Enter you, the super-star VA who is ready, willing and able to take on the role of Membership Manager. With your help, members are getting great content, support and value each month in the membership, which results in:

• Happy members who stay in the membership
• Happy business owner who has a thriving membership
• Happy VA who has ongoing retainer based work as a Membership Manager

Be it as a Membership Manager or otherwise, we encourage you to look for ways to provide ongoing support to your clients. You may need to put your marketing mindset to work here a bit, don’t be afraid to make suggestions to your client and explore areas that they may not have considered yet.

And if you are interested in providing Membership Management services, we have a brand new program that starts on Monday…

## Membership Management for VAs - starts June 8th ##
http://www.HotSkillsVATraining.com/membership

This program will teach you everything from how to set-up a new membership site for your clients using Wishlist Member (THE tool to use for membership sites) to how to manage their membership program ongoing .. a double whammy skillset for your VA biz!

Super hot stuff - we start on Monday, join us?
http://www.HotSkillsVATraining.com/membership

According to the American Small Business Administration there are 22 million small businesses in the United States alone, 9 million of which are women-owned.

This is a vibrant market that - especially in today’s climate (see the Future of Virtual Assistance call recording, below) - continues to grow and has only started to be tapped into by virtual professionals.

The below checklist is designed to help potential small business clients see the benefit of working with you as part of their virtual team. The point is to make you look great, s’ave you time, and more effortlessly attract the right clients to you. Precisely the kind of tool we love to create for YOU in this newsletter. Enjoy, use it well and stay tuned for more like this.

Got idea for something you’d like us to make? Just send us an email to put in your request.

What’s going on with you and your business?

Take this quiz to find out.

Instructions: Circle the number of the statements that are true. If more than 5 statements are true, working with a virtual assistant specializing in small business may be the perfect solution.

1. I am working long hours each day and still can’t get caught up.
2. I’m working mostly in my business instead of on my business.
3. If I wasn’t here, the place would fall apart within a month.
4. I want to delegate more so I have time to pursue new revenue streams.
5. I’m doing tasks that I do not like or am not very good at.
6. Sometimes I wonder if I’m spending too much money doing everything myself. 
7. Our customers aren’t getting quality service and we’re losing money as a re’sult.
8. I have family members helping in my business and they are unhappy about it.
9. I want to take more time off with family without guilt or str’ess.
10. Unnecessary chaos in the company makes it hard to build a team.
11. I have ideas for growing the business but I just don’t have time to pursue them.
12. Paperwork and organization often fall behind and costs money in penalties or fees.
13. The joy of owning a business is eclipsed by the str’ess of running it.
14. I can’t turn my business brain off and my sleep and health are suffering as a re’sult. 
15. Profitability isn’t where it could be.
16. I miss or drop opport’unities to partner with others to expand the business.
17. The technology that could streamline my business overwhelms me so I tend to ignore it.
18. The business lags behind in online marketing which I’m sure means lost business.
19. I’m uncertain where my expenses are and if they can be streamlined to s’ave money.
20. I find myself missing or being late for appointments more than once a week.

For a copy of this checklist that you can print out and use cleanly with your clients, use the pdf format: Small Business Owner’s Sanity Checklist | click for pdf

© 2009 Virtually Successful.com inspired by and based on the Entrepreneurs RealityCheck by the School of Small Business Coaching at CoachVille.com. Reproduction permitted with full attribution.