Your virtual assistant business can slow down for many different reasons. Perhaps a client leaves and you haven’t found one to replace them yet. Or maybe your clients have cut back on hours temporarily because of the season or some other reason.
Regardless of the circumstance, if you find that your biz has slowed down a bit, don’t freak out! There are several things you can do to improve your business and make it stronger and healthier while waiting for things to pick back up. Most likely you’re just in a “quiet before the storm” situation and you’re about to get really busy soon!
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WHAT TO DO WHEN BUSINESS IS SLOW
1) Rest – I’m sure you could use a little R & R and self-care. Avoid burnout by taking some time for yourself. Finish a book, try some new recipes, start a new hobby, and get creative.
2) Learn new skills – Learning new things can have a positive impact on your hourly rate. You could also learn new skills to create new services (and get new clients). You can learn skills from Skillshare (get a free trial with my special link), YouTube, Udemy, ebooks, books, and courses.
3) Improve your website (or design one) – Spruce up your existing site or create your first one. I recommend Divi for creating customized sites on WordPress and Ivory Mix for beautiful images.
4) Create a freebie and email list – If you don’t have an email list yet, maybe it’s time to create one! Design a useful checklist, template, or worksheet for your ideal client and put an opt-in form on your website so they can sign up for it. Then set up automatic emails to funnel them to your services or products. I recommend ConvertKit or MailerLite for this.
5) Clean up your email list – It’s a good idea to delete cold subscribers every 6-12 months to increase conversions and keep your monthly payment down.
6) Organize and declutter your computer – Having organized files can make you more efficient because you’ll be able to find things easier!
7) Start a blog – If you don’t have a blog yet, why not start one now? Write posts that will attract your ideal client and direct them to your sales page.
8) Improve your blog – Go through old posts to update the info and add links to your other posts.
9) Create new content from your blog posts – Turn old blog posts into videos for YouTube, social media posts, or a podcast. Or create an audio version and add it to your posts.
10) Become an affiliate – Are there any programs or tools you can’t live without? See if they have an affiliate program and apply! Then you can share your affiliate link in your blog posts, resource page, emails, and social media.
11) Improve your processes – Do you have any processes that are driving you nuts? Take some time to streamline and write SOPs for them.
12) Create procedures – Are there any SOPs that you’ve been meaning to write or do you have some written down that you need to add to your G-drive?
13) Automate your biz – Are there any processes that you manually handle that can be automated? Think of things like social media scheduling, sending invoices, and creating canned email responses.
14) Start a new social media channel – Are there any social media platforms that you’ve been meaning to try? Learn about them and get on there!
15) Improve your social media profiles – Update your banner, create a social media plan, and create graphic templates to share on your social media platforms. I recommend Canva to create templates and graphics.
16) Utilize your client testimonials – Add them to your website. Then create cute graphics and share them on social media. Don’t have any testimonials? Ask your clients for them!
17) Create passive income products – Create and sell ebooks, templates, or courses to make some additional income. I recommend DPD for ebooks and Teachable for courses.
18) Try some new marketing ideas – Brainstorm and research new marketing ideas to try.
19) Set new and exciting goals – Take some time to figure out what you want your business to look like in 1 year, 2 years and 5 years. I recommend The Creative Boss Planner.
20) Collaborate with someone – Reach out to someone you know and ask them if they’d like to collaborate with you in some way. Maybe you can create a service or product together!
21) Do some market research – Get to know your ideal clients better and see if there’s something they need that you can provide. You’ll also learn the language they use to describe their problems, which you can use in your copywriting and marketing to attract more clients.
22) Improve your office space – Declutter and organize it, decorate it, add some plants, hang some pictures, or give it a fresh coat of paint.
23) Audit your personal and business expenses – Is there anything you can reduce or downgrade?
24) Do a business audit – Is there anything you want to stop doing? Anything you want to start doing? Maybe you want to spend less on education and more on hiring help or working with a coach. Do you want to save more money? Get more support? Find a group of like-minded entrepreneurs or a mastermind? Make a plan and then take action. I recommend the Introvert VA Club if you’d like support from other Virtual Assistants.
25) Do competitive research – How can you set yourself apart from others doing the same thing as you? How can you make your services or products better? Are there any unique services or products that you can create?
26) Reach out to past clients – See if they need any help or if they know anyone who does.
27) Batch and schedule – Write and schedule a bunch of blog posts, social media posts, or newsletters. Create a bunch of social media graphics. That way, when things get busy again you have content going out automatically!
28) SEO your website – If you haven’t done this yet, I highly recommend it! SEO’ing your website will bring your site more traffic from Google, which means more clients! (There’s a course on this inside the Introvert VA Club.)
29) Set up Google Analytics – If you want to learn more about where your traffic comes from, learn how to set up and use Google Analytics.
30) Network – You don’t have to go to awkward, in-person networking events to get to know other entrepreneurs. There are tons of Facebook groups and forums out there you can join. Connecting with others can bring some interesting opportunities your way!
31) Show your clients some love – Send a thoughtful thank you card to your current clients and show them how much you appreciate them.
Most importantly, stay positive! Getting stressed and depressed when business is slow won’t help matters.
Ups and downs are just a part of running a business. Make the most of this time to improve your business, increase your profits, and make some needed changes.
Before you know it, you’ll be looking back at this time fondly and feeling grateful that you had the space to do the things you did!
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