I am feeling a lot of angst this year. My husband and I just purchased a new home and I need and want to supplement my income that I would normally make if I were commuting into the city as an executive assistant. I want this New Year to be it! I want my business to take off. Slow but steady we would be a blessing for me and my family. My husband is also self employed and is very encouraging when I get depressed, or my positive energy depletes.

I would love to hear stories from those of you who are successful. How and where did you find your first client? What is your income per client estimate. What geographic area do you live in? What is your strongest marketing pitch?

Thanks & Happy New Year!

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Tina

Girl we could be twins!

We also just purchased a new home and I too am looking to supplement my income. I do currently have a part time-work from home gig, I guess my first client, but I really want to get things going more which is why I have decided to take the leap like you! My first was a friend and she approached me on the position.

I'm sorry I don't have much way to answer your question, but I hope you know that you are not alone! Think positive and keep striving. Give yourself time to develop your business and things will fall into place!

Best of luck to you in the new year~

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Kristina ~Success Office Solutions
Our Solutions Equal Your Success!

Originally Posted by SassyVA2009

I am feeling a lot of angst this year. My husband and I just purchased a new home and I need and want to supplement my income that I would normally make if I were commuting into the city as an executive assistant. I want this New Year to be it! I want my business to take off. Slow but steady we would be a blessing for me and my family. My husband is also self employed and is very encouraging when I get depressed, or my positive energy depletes. I would love to hear stories from those of you who are successful. How and where did you find your first client? What is your income per client estimate. What geographic area do you live in? What is your strongest marketing pitch? Thanks & Happy New Year!

Congrats on your new home and welcome to this virtual world. I would consider myself pretty successful in this. I have gotten my best and most lucrative clients from local networking and replying to requests for proposals. Networking got me the clients the fastest and allowed me to position myself for strategic partnerships that have increased my client base.

Not sure what yo mean by income per client estimate. All think we all employ similar but different pricing strategies. The one that has worked the best for me is allowing my clients to purchase 5 hour blocks of time to be used however they want -- this helps them to feel in control of their budget and allows them to use the time however they wish.

I live in the Washington, DC metro area.

I can't say that I have a strongest marketing pitch. I think what we do pretty much sells itself. Just talk about it.

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Tamika R. Johnson, MBA, Principal
administrative partners, llc
www.administrativepartners.net | http://adminpartners.blogspot.com

I understand where you are coming from! We would love to purchase our first home and I'm just starting out with my business. I am lucky to have two clients but they are small and certainly won't supplement my income. How did I find my first client? To be honest I found my first one on Craigslist. She was looking for a Creative writer for her website, I answered and everything went from there. The second I found on Odesk. I helped him with his project and we took our relationship off of Odesk (which is like Elance) and he is now one of my current and ongoing clients.

I too am looking for ways to find new clients..i'm interested to hear other stories!

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Caroline Pigott
VIP Assistant Solutions

My very first client was a business associate of my husband. This year though my client base has tripled. How have I done it? Networking! I attend at least 2 networking events every month. In one group of nearly 200 members I have nearly a dozen clients.

Once you get a client go way beyond what they expect both in service and turn around time. That gives them a reason to refer you. Then offer an hour of free service for each referral that signs up to use your services.

My husband speaks and writes about customer-centric thinking and his words of wisdom have definitely helped me grow my business this last year. Check out his site at www.commonsenseentrepreneur.com.

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Sue L Canfield
AwesomeAssistant.info
My Blog

My first client was the company I was working for on-site...they asked me to start working from home because they were closing the office and starting to work from their home also. So, we worked out a deal and they became my fist client. My second client came from an RFP I responded to. Third was a referral from my 1st. Next was a referral from my 2nd. Then another referral and a couple more RFP responses.

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Sherra Scott

Wow!!! I how exciting. My mother is also self-employed and she has a small medical billing business. She has been in business for herself for five years now after retiring as a nurse. I am very proud of her but can't wait until I have the success she currently has and even more.

Awesome Asst: Question for you, everyone speaks of going to networking events but what type do you go to. Are the specific to the industry you work in? VA meeting events? Insurance indstry events? What types of clients are they. I know that we must network but specifically where for example? I network everyday, the grocery store, hair salon, my mommy group at playdates but still no client. Am I making sense?

Thanks!

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Tina

Hi and to the VAF!

This is a fantastic place to meet like-minded people and share ideas! I am sure you will feel at home very soon!

I'm a newbie and so far have had two wonderful customers!

Not being entirely sure on who my "target" clients are I have advertised my services in Old peoples homes and Universities (obviously changing the emphasis to suit).

On a walk around the Uni campus I noticed that their Print Shop had a Typing Service. I found their email address on the Uni's website and was quoted a reasonable price for doing copy typing. I was told that the service is not used that often so not to hold my breath! A couple of weeks later I got a phone call saying that they had an urgent job and was I free to do it! The manager of Print Shop arranged to meet me with the manuscript and I typed it up that evening and emailed it back to him. He was very pleased with my work and said he would use me again.

For the second client she read one of my posters on a free community noticeboard in one of the local indoor markets we have in Devon. This was to type up her CV as she was moving abroad. It proves that people do actually read noticeboards! Also it is great that it came through free advertising! I also make sure that I carry various posters, postcards and business cards as I am never sure where I will have an opportunity to advertise!

My advice is to try anything and everything and to be persistent!

Avocet

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Secretarial Service with a Smile!

Hi Tamika:

I tried to send you a pm through the forums but I haven't met the quota required to post pms to other members. At anyrate I wanted to send you an email and didn't want to send it through your website as I feel that portal should be left to your prospective clients. How can I contact you?

Also I wanted to congratulate you on your success! I took sometime to review your website and I am quite impressed to say the least.

Happy New Year!
Tina

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Tina

These are all great ideas, but how many of you were found via "word of mouth"? I've found most of my clients that way...but 2009 is looking a little bit different

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Your Marketing, Research and SEO assistant www.buckeyeva.com