Sorry....may rant a little here.

I am still in the early days of my business (so far only sent out some letters to local businesses - 100 letters = 1 reply). A follow up letter going out as soon as I can afford it. I am on facebook, linkedin and twitter but again targeting is difficult.

My dilemma is, I am a single mum who has two primary school age children and a FT job while trying to build my PT VA business. How can I attract clients within my target market when I can't get out there and interact with them?

Most don't have websites and email addresses aren't readily available in their listings. My options seem to be further mailouts and/or cold calling (which I hate). I hate getting random calls from companies so am loathe to do it plus I'm not comfortable with that kind of unsolicited contact.

Any advice is or stories on how you have overcome this would be great!

Cheers

Fiona

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Samurai Office Services - Cutting your office time in half.
www.samuraiofficeservices.com. au

Fiona, your concerns are so normal with all the tugs on your time. Here are a couple of suggestions:
Make a list of what you want to do and assign time to each. Prioritize the list and begin implementation of those tactics.
Carry your business cards with you and leave them with businesses you frequent...or ask to leave several for other customers to take.
Set aside one night a week to attend a networking event to market your business to those you meet. Take their business cards and ask to put them on your mailing list.

In general, focus on what you CAN do rather than what you can't. Just chip away at the list you've made, even if it's one thing a week. The sense of confidence will really help you overcome the concern about not having enough time.

I sure do sympathize with you, especially with the little ones to care for. But the fact that you have the website and the social marketing tools demonstrates your ability to take the next steps. BTW, how did the 1 reply go for you? You must have done something right to get that response.

Others will probably have even better ideas, so I am looking forward to reading more.
Trish

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Trish Hallmark
www.thvaonline.com

Hi Fiona -

You have pretty much sumed up my life...I am trying to balance out everything so that I don't stress too much and/or strain myself and hurt my business before even starting. Word of mouth is a great marketing tool. Make sure you tell everybody you know and who will listen that you have opened your doors and give them cards and flyers. Go through your phonebook and your e-mail contacts find your business friends (other people who own businesses or work in client oriented locations such as the mall, wireless stores those places are bursting with potential clients so if you know people who work in those types of places make sure they have your marketing material in hand.) Little things like that can go a long way. Even though you will be hitting more than your target market it is easier to weed out what is not for you in a basket full as opposed to holding an empty basket.

Trish has given some good advice which I appreciate greatly. I believe slow and steady is the way to go.

Fiona,

I volunteer at my son's school and it never seems to affect my client work at all. I wrote a blog about volunteering here.

At the end of the school year, a volunteer breakfast was held along with business partners who contribute money toward student programs. Most schools have this because of so many cuts to school budgets that it has become impossible to pay for music, arts and after school program without businesses purchasing the instruments, uniforms and snacks.

Anyway, when I least expected it...I met many business owners at the breakfast and exchanged business cards. In fact, even on the evenings when I volunteered at the school book fair, I handed out cards to parents who were business owners (if they asked).

My point being...you can still network even with small children and a full-time job. Consider every event you attend with them to be an opportunity to let people know what you do. Now, I'm not saying to make that the point of conversation because people don't like the 'salesy stuff' but when it comes up in conversation (and it will!), be ready with your elevator speech and business card. In fact hand out a few.

When school starts, there is typically an open-house. Ask if you can leave your flyers at the door. Offer to volunteer; even if you can work from home to help out a church or a school. It's a great way to network with people.

I know you have a FT job but many of these events are held in the evenings and weekends to accommodate working parents. Churches or synagogues need help on the weekends and often have child care available.

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Janine Gregor, Your Virtual Wizard Sign-up Wizard'z Wordz, A Charming Newsletter

Thanks for all your tips.

Yes I already do some volunteer work for a local special school and will be participating in their golf day with flyers etc out.

I will endeavour to be more diligent on my action lists. It is difficult to maintain direct marketing output when there is no money coming into the business.

I will have to find some local networking events that I can attend of an evening.

Cheers

Fiona

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Samurai Office Services - Cutting your office time in half.
www.samuraiofficeservices.com. au

Another thought, which is passive advertising is to consider using some type of advertisement on your car or on a tee-shirt (homemade is fine).

When I attended sports games in the past, I always 'read' people's tee-shirts if something caught my eye.

Sometimes when I go to the supermarket, there is a car that is parked in the lot that advertises pet grooming with a little picture of a poodle. Now I know that may be a bit outlandish but I have to say that I jotted down that website address. In speaking with some of my friends, everyone has seen this car.

Can your friends help you? Do they have websites? Perhaps they would consider posting a banner ad that is clickable back to your site?

Janine

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Janine Gregor, Your Virtual Wizard Sign-up Wizard'z Wordz, A Charming Newsletter

Hello Fiona,

You seem to have a really good foundation to build your business. Beautiful logo and website; catchy tagline... I don't have much in the way of advice, but hang in there

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Melissa Rahko
www.offsitesecretary.com

Thanks Melissa and Janine

Just needed some support I suppose. Alot of stuff going on at home so I must admit I have lost some of my focus in the last couple of weeks. I had thought of the car advertising but have had to hold off as its a little expensive. But I really like the T-Shirt idea.

Cheers

Fiona

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Samurai Office Services - Cutting your office time in half.
www.samuraiofficeservices.com. au

That magnet idea is a good one. And I know that Vista offers one for free and you only have to pay for shipping.

Don't forget online networking, too. I am involved with bookkeeping groups, entrepreneur groups, etc. here, on linked-in, startup nation, etc., etc., etc.

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Lily E. Chambers, CPS, CQU The Virtual Office Goddess, llc
TVE Magazine - "Do Your Own Bookkeeping" class