Over the weekend I attended my first Australian Virtual Assistant Conference (AVAC), thanks to the International Virtual Assistants Association (who was also a bronze sponsor of the event).
Run by Kathie Thomas and Anita Kilkenny, this was the AVAC’s fourth event, which this year attracted over 50 attendees from around Australia.
I approached the conference with some trepidation: while Hobart is hardly remote, sometimes it can feel that way when the majority of your industry colleagues are in Sydney or Brisbane! I was relieved to find that the Virtual Assistant community in Australia was alive and well, and full of amazing business women.
From Nick Bowditch explaining how to effectively use Facebook, to Phil O’Brien providing tips on personal risk assessment, the topics were wide and varied, but all relevant to today’s Virtual Assistant.
I wrote over 20 pages of notes, but wanted to share with you my top five learnings from the event.
If you’re not reaching your audience, your content isn’t good enough.
It’s hard not to take it personally when Nick Bowditch says “If you’re not getting high reach, it’s not because we think your content is shit, we know it’s shit”, but he has a point.
Let’s be honest: Facebook is there to make a profit, and there is no doubt that the algorithm is designed to enhance the need for advertising, it’s also pretty good at hiding updates that you don’t find relevant. It does this by tracking what you “like” or interact with, and then hiding the types of posts that you don’t.
In order to be smart about your posting schedule, you need to find out what your audience wants and tailor to their needs. This means posting a variety of content (links, text, photos, video, events, etc) and seeing how your audience reacts. Or, a novel suggestion: just ask them outright!
If someone doesn’t understand what you are saying, it’s not their problem: it’s yours.
I have learned this lesson so many times: from when I did call centre work through to when I worked in IT support. It’s your responsibility to make sure you are understood. If the person still doesn’t understand what you’re saying, don’t just repeat yourself; say it in a different way.
The law of requisite variety says “Those with the most flexibility in their communication will control the situation.” You don’t have to look far to see an example of this: our own Prime Minister, Julia Gillard (love her or not), was able to form a majority government only thanks to her ability to communicate alone.
Set the intention for your day or task.
I really loved this discussion by Christine McKee. To manage my own stress and anxiety, I practise mindfulness often, and setting your intention feels like a perfect follow on to this.
Christine says you can only retrain your brain by being specific. You should set your intentions in the morning, and again before you complete a task. For example, Christine’s daily intention is:
I intend to have a fun and happy day where I serve my clients to the best of my ability
And she will then set intentions for particular tasks, for example:
I will complete one hour of non-distracted social media.
Set your intention to be achievable and realistic. You need to believe it is possible for your brain to follow through, and in time it will become second nature.
Stop charging by the hour.
Seriously, stop it. I’ve struggled with this one for quite a while – it is so hard to tell yourself you are worth it, no doubt something many business women feel!
One amazing testimonial from the audience was that when she charged by the hour, she only had an 11% profit margin. After moving to a value-based structure, not only did her profit margin increase to 47%, but she lost the penny pinching customers: those that weren’t willing to pay for her true value, yet took up most of her time.
If that doesn’t convince you to move to value based packages, I don’t know what will!
The Australian VA community is amazing.
Since taking over The Virtual Assistant business, I’ve been ‘head down bum up’ implementing changes, working with customers and generating leads for my licensees. I haven’t had much time to pay attention to what the rest of the VA community was doing, nor connect with any of them.
It can be daunting walking into a room of your “competitors” – who knows what they’re like? But I was so relieved to find that I was in a room full of amazing, talented and supportive women (and, er, one man). It was fantastic to meet so many people, share stories, frustrations and tips and have some fun while we were at it!
If you ever have the opportunity to attend an event or meetup: go. You won’t regret it.
I was gifted with a ticket to the AVAC courtesy of the IVAA. I was not required to write this blog post, nor did I receive any assistance with travel or accommodation.
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