Outgrowing your clients is just a sign that it’s time to go shopping

13 Jan

Becoming an Online Business ManagerThis past August I began working with my first Online Business Manger client. The business owner was seeking a true OBM to manage her business since her husband was leaving the company.

I fell in love.

Finally I was working with a client that was a perfect match for the skills that I wanted to leverage and though YES I do, do VA work for this client, the majority of the tasks were management related.

I compared this client to my others and noticed these differences:

  • My OBM client is a successful business owner with a powerful formula for success that she is looking to finesse for more profit.
  • She is committed to her online business, which means this wasn’t a hobby or something she was dabbling in.
  • Nor had she jumped on the self-employed bandwagon and looking for help in figuring out what in the heck she was going to sell.
  • She had a coach.
  • Basically she wasn’t in startup mode and my day with her was challenging.

It was a shift from, “How do we start this, Raven, to “how can we improve this, how can we make this more efficient, effective, power and profitable?”

OH YEAH—MORE OF THIS PLEASE!

But how??? I wasn’t use to saying no to anyone. I was use to trying my hardest to accomplish the wishes of my clients even if I felt they weren’t achievable for whatever reason.

Cleaning out My Closet

Letting go of ClientsIt was at a live event that I heard: In business, what you say no to is more important that what you say yes to.

I realized that by not actively seeking what I wanted but accepting what came my way was preventing me from pushing forward. I sought my OBM client, learned that I love it and now I had to make room to seek more of that.

I finally was okay with saying I couldn’t please everybody. Nor was I meant to. In fact, I would be doing myself and my client a disservice by accepting their business when I truly didn’t want to.

I learned to say ‘No’ to anything that didn’t match what I wanted, all so I can say ‘YES!’ to the clients and activities that will enable me to do what I want, “Isn’t that why I went into business for myself to begin with? :)

When I finally understood this, I was able to announce to my non-deal clients that I was no longer the best person to service them. They received my news well and they congratulated me and we’ll still be great fans of each other’s work.

Now, I’m free to go shopping!

Actively searching for new clients

I will undoubtedly continue to transition my business and get clearer and clearer as I learn and implement from those mentors around me. That’s what makes this business ownership ‘thing’ so sweet.

My business is truly a growing baby…

  • As she gets older I must remove the clothing she has outgrown. Though we have had fond memories when she wore these clothes, it is time to let go and bravely KNOW there are better clothes out there that match her taste and the times of her life better.
  • Just as I put sooo much time, money, and planning into her birth and her first year, I must continue to push her to stretch her mind and seek and accept new challenges, trends and training. As they say “to stop learning is to stop growing!”

  • Lori

    This is perfect Raven! As we grow and develop, our business can sometimes take a shift. As long as the shift is following a path that is good for us then we need to allow the changes to happen to make this path less bumpy along the way! Even if we take a detour, we will learn from that detour and get back on the right path. That is just the way it’s meant to be…we all have lessons to learn and when we realize the lesson we can move on and enjoy every moment of simply being there!

    Lori

    • http://www.myvirtualsidekick.com Raven Howard

      Thank you for your comment, Lori! Yes an entrepreneurs, we have the ability to ‘course correct’ or ‘go with the flow’…which is the greatest perk of self-employment ;)

    • http://www.myvirtualsidekick.com Raven Howard

      Thank you for your comment, Lori! Yes an entrepreneurs, we have the ability to ‘course correct’ or ‘go with the flow’…which is the greatest perk of self-employment ;)

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