Imagine you had a client who consistently failed to delegate the tasks they needed you to complete each week. 

They couldn’t find the time to get you the content to prepare the webinar sign up page for their new project that’s supposed to go live next week. 

They were working too hard and completely forgot to put together the bullet points for you to pull together their powerpoint for the webinar. 

It wouldn’t take long before you sat them down for a serious talk about the future of your working relationship, as trying to support a client who doesn’t take the time to delegate is such a frustrating waste of time.  

Why, then, do you continue to accept these and other excuses from yourself? Why is your lack of business development allowed to continue, even when you know how important those tasks are to your future growth?  

Now, before you go thinking I’m being way too hard on you, know this: we all struggle with this very issue. We all put our clients, our family, our friends, and even the neighbour we barely know before ourselves.  Me included!

But I’m giving you permission right now to stop doing that, and start treating yourself as the VIP you really are.  To stop being the “Do’er” and to be the CEO of your business. 

It’s time to put your business growth ahead of that of your clients. Only by doing that will you be able to reach a larger audience, help more people, and achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself.  To build your business to have that freedom and flexibility you crave.

The simplest way to do this is to just make appointments with yourself.  

So I encourage you to use your time differently. That hour or two you have free on Thursday afternoon? Don’t book a client call into that spot. Book yourself.  Yes, make a date in your diary for your own professional development or business development activities.  Treat your business like it’s your most important client. 

Mark this time on your calendar, and treat it as an unbreakable appointment, just as you would an appointment with a client or your doctor or your accountant.  

Spend the time working on the things that are important to the continued growth of your business.  Be that learning a new skill or software to share with your clients. Creating a lead magnet and autoresponder series to start building a list. Writing a blog post or doing your accounts!

In short, do those things you tell your clients to do—the things your own coach is likely advising you to stay on top of. Don’t push them aside for “later” or “after your client work is done.” Elevate yourself to VIP client status and start putting yourself first. Your business will thank you for it.

All too oftern we say we will work “ON” our business on Friday afternoons, but you know that information you needed to write that webinar sign up page or those bullet points you needed for the clients presentation. I can guarantee they send them through urgently on Friday afternoon and you miss your own business time as the client needs you!   

Trust me – I have done this so many times. 

This ability to prioritise client activities over my own work was one of the reasons I introduced the weekly 90 mins co-working sessions for clients of the VA Mastery Course and VA Membership. We come together every Friday at 0930 for 90 mins to work “ON” our businesses and not “IN” our businesses.  The idea is that you do stuff that moves your business forwards.  There is no harm on pushing back to a client that you cannot do that activity right now – let me remind you, you do not need to be available 24/7 for the 10 hour a month retainer client!  

If you would like to be part of a community who gets the importance and value of professional development for Virtual Assistants, do come and check out The VA Membership.

The VA Membership is the only UK VA business accelerator that’s designed specifically to help you build and grow your VA business, to help you create recurring revenue and consistent growth through regular and consistent action.  With over 100+ hours of courses, weekly co-working sessions, weekly group coaching calls, a private support group and the ability to pay as you go – when you’re ready to grow or scale your business online come and join us in the VA Membership. 

The VA Membership has the option to upgrade to more one to one coaching and mentoring support – this is perfect if you are looking to really scale your business.  If you would like to see / learn more about our one to one coaching and mentoring then you need to check out the new One to One Mentoring page.