Enterprise Nation

Kate Bacon is a top VA. That stands for Virtual Assistant. Not only does she run her own successful VA business from home in Brighton, she advises others who want to earn a living by applying their professional skills and experience. Here Kate looks at finding your niche and marketing.

Time Out

I've always recommended taking time out from your business (at least once every six months) to take stock of where you are, how you've done, and to think about where you want to go from here.

This is the only way you can create a blueprint for your business from which you  take the necessary action to make the changes you wish to see.

Take a moment to ask yourself the following questions:

• Does my niche have different needs for which I can provide a solution?  (If you don't know it's a good time to ask your clients!)
• Looking at my experience, is there another niche that I can serve?
• How do I reach this potential new niche?
• What opportunities can I see emerging as a result of the changing economy?

Market, market, market!

If you've relied on referrals and repeat business in the past, NOW is the time to start marketing in earnest.  Sitting down waiting for clients to ring is a waste of your time...  YOU need to get out there and tell people you exist!

Rather than randomly going to networking meetings, or taking out ads (which should be the very last strand of your marketing plan), it's time to get clear with WHOM you want to work and HOW you wish to meet their administrative needs.

Once you are clear about this (and only then), you can work out how to make contact:

• either online (forums for your niche)
• offline (networking events and seminars that your niche attends, and publications that they read)
• and not forgetting your own business contacts built up over the years (both as a VA and as an employee)...it  is always easier to "sell" your services to those who already know, like and trust you.

Your differentiator...excellence!

Whether times are good or less so, your main differentiator will always be excellence.

• Kate Bacon, Pier to Peer Coaching