The VA Lounge ®

I want to be a unicorn princess! That was a quote we weren't expecting at Coffee Club yesterday 🤣 One of our lovely members recently had the joy of being given that role by her grandchildren 🦄👸 #unicornprincessenvy We also talked about: 🦄 Suddenly being very cold as winter seems to have arrived 🦄 Going on unplanned trips with just a few weeks notice "because we can". We set our businesses up for a few reasons, one of them being to have the flexibility to live the life we want 🦄 LinkedIn ........... love it, hate it? We had quite a long discussion about which social platforms we prefer and why (we go where our potential clients are, but that doesn't mean we love or feel comfortable on the platform) 🦄 How much our businesses have changed from when we started out, and working with businesses we didn't see ourselves working with at the beginning (e.g. we didn't think they would work with a VA for instance) 🦄 Ethical marketing and ensuring that your products/offering is suitable for your potential clients. Do they need what you have to offer or do you point them elsewhere if you think there is someone/a business that is better suited to them? If you want a VA tribe of business owners to chew the fat with (the insights into each other's businesses, and the industry in general, are invaluable) you can check us out here: https://lnkd.in/eJw_Npik Drop us a DM if you have any questions. #VirtualAssistant #VirtualAssistance #VA #Networking Image description: Orange background, white text that says "I want to be a unicorn princess!" and a picture of a unicorn

Coffee Club FOMO, the new client brain drain, and cat puns 😻 A flavour of our wonderful Coffee Club yesterday: 👉 A member we hadn't seen in a while was getting so much FOMO from reading these posts that they had to come see us, and it was fantastic to see them 👉 That feeling when you take on a couple of new clients and feel like you are working more hours than you actually are (it takes a lot of brain space whilst you navigate the new client learning curve, and then when you times that by two 🤯) 👉 The challenge when your new client doesn't have the time to onboard you properly. Lots of fab advice provided. What advice would you give for this? 👉 Is it ok to ask your client lots of questions? Absolutely, it shows you are fully engaged and thinking about their business and how you can best help. Just make sure you are noting down the answers or drawing up some SOPs to refer back to, so you don't repeat yourself. 👉 Never ones to miss the opportunity for a good pun, the cat puns came out in force (one of our members does cat sitting as well as their VA business). The puns came out in relation to their business update ............ it was a very pawsitive update 😻😂 (cue a few eye rolls! Maybe we'll release a VA Lounge bad joke book at Christmas) If you could do with a super friendly VA tribe to provide support and advice you can check us out here: https://lnkd.in/eJw_Npik Drop us a DM if you have any questions. #VirtualAssistant #VirtualAssistance #VA #Networking Image description: Orange background, white text that says "Coffee Club FOMO" and a picture of a girl checking something out using binoculars.

When you need some accountability.................. You can't beat a Tuesday Coffee Club catch-up with your VA tribe. Motivation seems to be somewhat lacking during August due to holidays, and client work can also be quieter. In the Lounge we are always happy to provide accountability check-ins. Sometimes you just need to chat it through to get going again. And you often discover that you are not alone in how you are currently (and temporarily) feeling. 💡TOP TIP💡 Use that quieter time to go sit somewhere nice with a notepad and do some business planning. Set yourself some (monthly, weekly, daily) goals, sub-goals and to-dos. The image below shows what we have for our members during September. Join us for weekly Coffee Club, hold yourself accountable during our Coworking Session and join our Skills Session (which are all recorded and placed in the Skills Hub for our members to catch or rewatch). If you could do with a VA tribe to check in with and help yourself with accountability you can check us out here: https://lnkd.in/eJw_Npik Drop us a DM if you have any questions. #VirtualAssistant #VirtualAssistance #VA #Networking Image description: White text on orange background. Text describes what's on in The VA Lounge during September (Coffee Cub, Coworking and Skills Session).

Putting your prices up, offboarding, and a fish and chips train! Yesterday at Coffee Club we talked (or were asked) about: 👉 How motivation to get things done can drop when your business is quieter and how it's ok to take your foot off the pedal sometimes, whilst also planning what you will do when you've had a breather 👉 How valuable it is to have offboarding in mind when you onboard clients. Have GDPR in mind from the beginning. We have a GDPR Skills Session (with the wonderful @KoffeeKlatch - Contracts and GDPR support) available for members to watch in our Skills Hub 👉 How often we all put our prices up (the consensus was that it depends on a number of considerations) We also have a "Pricing your services" Skills Session in the Skills Hub that includes a pricing/profit calculator 👉 A scenic train trip in Wales that stops at a fish and chips van (you take them on the train for the return journey) 😋 If we sound like your kind of tribe you can check us out here: https://lnkd.in/eJw_Npik Drop us a DM if you have any questions. #VirtualAssistant #VirtualAssistance #VA #Networking Image description: White text on orange background. Coffee Club questions .... How often do you put your prices up?

Imposter syndrome, referrals, and we just can't help it 😂 Yesterday at Coffee Club we were discussing the fear that we can feel when we take on something we know about but are not yet an expert in. And the frustration felt sometimes whilst figuring things out (because none of us know everything, but VAs are pretty good at working things out). We are also a very collaborative industry and usually know another VA we can ask for advice. We continue to have work being referred within the group. Since Hayley founded The VA Lounge, quite a bit of work has been passed within the group🥳. The connections you make networking with other VAs are so valuable on many levels. 💡TOP TIP💡 Build yourself a network of VAs with different skills so that you can go to them when your client wants something you can't do. It's great to be able to offer a solution by saying that's not something I do but I know someone who can help us with that project. Other topics from yesterday: 👉 Once you become a VA you just can't help seeing what improvements could be made in other businesses you visit! We talked about approaching those businesses to offer your services 👉 There's been lots of onboarding of new clients, as well as letting the odd client go as you are not the right match for each other 👉 Oh, and we also learnt that a sloth is slower than a snail! You're welcome 😂 Think we sound like your kind of tribe? Check us out here: 👇 https://lnkd.in/eJw_Npik Drop us a DM if you have any questions. #VirtualAssistant #VirtualAssistance #VA #Networking Image description: Loungers waving to founder Hayley Hudson who is on holiday

Want valuable input and support to help you with your VA business? Get yourself to our Tuesday Coffee Club. One of the huge benefits of being part of a community of VAs is that there's a wealth of experience in the group, and everyone is happy to provide advice when you need it, whether it's during Coffee Club or responding to a post that has been popped in our LinkedIn Community Group. You never have to do it all alone! We had two big discussions yesterday, one around making your offer super clear to make you easier to find, and the other responding to a question about how many networking groups to belong to and what is too much? 💡TOP TIP💡 Networking input from the group was that what's right is unique to each individual and can change as your business peaks and troughs. When you first start out you have a lot more time for networking and can try various groups before settling on the ones that you think are currently the best place to be, after weighing up cost, time spent, and the return on that time/cost investment. Why not join and check us out for a month, and come along to this Thursday's Skills Session when our Founder Hayley Hudson will be hosting an interactive session around how much time you actually have for client work. Figuring that out helps you dedicate your time, work out pricing, and also decide how many clients you can take on and when. Skills Sessions are recorded and placed in the Skills Hub for our members (currently 19 recorded sessions on different topics in there!). Check us out here: 👇 https://lnkd.in/eJw_Npik #VirtualAssistant #VirtualAssistance #VA #Networking Image description: Orange background with Hayley Hudson picture on it and text "Skills Session. How much time do you actually have for client work? Hayley Hudson. Thursday 8th August 12pm-12:30pm (UK).

We talk about everything at Coffee Club. Yesterday's topics of conversation centred around: 👉 The dilemma of "a good existing client wants you to do a new service for them, you like and want to keep this client, and it's something you can do, but it's not something you like to do and therefore not a service you offer" 👉 Popping in for a chat having had such a rough week due to what is going on outside of their business 👉 Lots to do for the business (e.g. website to build) 👉 Changing food and exercise habits 👉 The school holidays juggle struggle 🤪 💡TOP TIP💡 When you have those bigger projects write out each step you need to take/task you need to do and chunk it down into small daily (or even weekly) tasks. You'll be amazed how quickly you make real progress. If you want to know more about The VA Lounge community then drop us a DM and try us free for 30 days or why not join us for one of our August sessions listed below 👇 https://lnkd.in/eJw_Npik #VirtualAssistant #VirtualAssistance #VA #Networking Image description: Orange background, teacup spilling coffee beans, white text with list of what's happening in The VA Lounge during August (Coffee Club every Tuesday at 12pm, Skills Session (How much time do you actually have for client work?) and Coworking Session.

It's always such a joy to watch each other's journeys and growth, and to be able to help each other along the way. We currently have members who are............ ⭐ Smashing exams to qualify to be able to work with certain types of businesses ⭐ Winning inspirational awards ⭐ Taking what, for some of us, can be the hard step of putting their rates up ⭐ Learning new skills when clients are asking them to use new systems (we love learning new things don't we) ⭐ Finding themselves at capacity 🥳 💡TOP TIP💡 Surround yourself with a solid and supportive VA network. These are people who will champion you, who you can turn to for advice (whilst always making your own decision in the end), support you when you are having a rough time, and be those missing work colleagues. Community is as important in our business lives as it is in our personal. Like the sound of our lovely community? Check us out here: https://lnkd.in/eJw_Npik Or if you have questions then drop us a DM #VirtualAssistant #VirtualAssistance #VA #Networking Image description: Yesterday's lovely Loungers 👇

The PA Forum West Midlands PA Awards shenanigans, that feeling when you solve the tech puzzle, and techy rabbit holes! Coffee Club yesterday was dominated by the PA Forum West Midlands PA Awards, where one of our members was a finalist (congratulations Vicki Wilson 🥳) and our super Founder Hayley Hudson came away with "Highly Commended VA Business of the Year"! The team at The PA Forum do an awesome job of cheerleading the PA/EA/VA/Admin industry and we thank them for it 🙏 We also talked about the amazing feeling you get when you solve a techy issue for a client. It feels like you won something 😂, and when you are researching different pieces of tech to see whether they can connect to each other in some way 👀 (rabbit hole anyone?). There was also a long discussion about VAs and AML registration.............🤯 We love a good tech discussion in The VA Lounge 🧡 Today Hayley is speaking about "Essential Software for the Assistant of the Future" at The PA Show PA Summer Summit in London. Do say hi if you are there. On Thursday we have our Coworking Session where our members can join Hayley to spend 2 super-focused hours getting whatever to-dos done that they need to get off their plates. Check out membership here: https://lnkd.in/eJw_Npik Or if you have questions then drop us a DM #VirtualAssistant #VirtualAssistance #VA #Networking Image description: Hayley Hudson, Vicki Wilson and Rachael Botfield looking glamorous at The PA Forum West Midlands PA Awards

Remembering your why, losing your mojo, and an SEO Skills Session Yesterday at Coffee Club was a very mixed bag, which is super reflective of what it's like to be a business owner too! We have our ups (busy with great clients) and our downs (losing our mojo from time to time, losing clients, firing clients, struggles to find clients, doing such a fantastic job that our client doesn't need us as much!). Not to mention any personal stuff we have to deal with. It's not always an easy ride. The beauty of The VA Lounge is that we talk about it all. Everyone knows they are not the only one if they are going through a rough time for any reason, business or personal. And the offers of support that flow between members is such a joy to see. It's so much easier when you are part of a tribe who have your back. 💡TOP TIP💡 When things get hard remember why you started your business, reach out to other business owners for a chat, get out in nature to restore that mental balance. Do whatever you know will help you regain your equilibrium or get you through. If you are struggling with confidence look at how far you've come, either in your business or in your life. Look for that evidence of how capable you are, and remember it's just a blip. You will always come out the other side. And ultimately, always do what feels right for you. This Thursday 11th July 12pm - 1pm we will be joined by Stuart Wilson of Bottle Green Websites for an SEO 101 (what it is, and the key features you should look for and manage on your website). Our members can catch these sessions in our Skills Hub if they can't make it live. If you want to join this amazing group of individuals you can check us out here: https://lnkd.in/eJw_Npik or if you have got questions then drop us a DM #VirtualAssistant #VirtualAssistance #VA #Networking