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Interview with Tina Marie Hilton of Clerical Advantage

Tina Marie Hilton is sole-proprietor of Clerical Advantage Virtual Online Technology Services. Her background in various professional industries, computer and internet experience and professional training combine to give clients knowledgeable and experienced administrative services. She opened Clerical Advantage in September 2007 and has successfully served clients across the country in fields varying from attorneys to non-profit organizations. In early 2009, Tina narrowed her focus to emphasize assistance with blog, social media and education marketing. She also began speaking locally to small groups, educating them on the subject of virtual assistance.

Tina is the author of two ebooks for the VA industry. Her first ebook; An Introduction to Virtual Assistance for Businesses was geared toward introducing curious businesses to what virtual assistance was and what a virtual assistant might be able to do for them. In her second eBook, The VA Survival Guide & Workbook, Tina shares her own hard-earned tips and hints to running a successful virtual assistant business along with a workbook including business templates Tina uses in her own business.

You can catch up with Tina at her business blog, on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and right here at VAF where she's an active member of the community.

Here, Tina shares her greatest hurdles, successes, and most important lessons-learned as a virtual business owner and entrepreneur.

How long have you been a virtual assistant and what drew you to start up your practice?

I’ve been a virtual assistant for 3 years. I started Clerical Advantage when I was laid off from my job as a real estate paralegal/title processor due to the real estate downturn.

What was the startup phase like for you? Please share your biggest triumphs/hurdles from this time.

The start up phase was definitely a learning experience, with lots and lots of trial and error. Marketing was probably my biggest hurdle at first, as I felt I needed to follow all of the ‘experts’. I wasted money on a mailing campaign of over 200 personalized letters to local attorneys and professional businesses that never got any response whatsoever. That hurt, since I was on unemployment at the time. I attended several Chamber of Commerce functions and handed out a ton of business cards with no response. It wasn’t until I realized that none of the SBA counselors, books or experts that I was talking to had ever launched a virtual business before.

That was when I decided that it was time to learn to market virtually. I started my business blog, discovered social media and contacted people I’d worked with as a title processor via e-mail. And it worked. It helped me to get my first retainer client within 12 weeks of opening for business. Is it possible for marketing to be both a hurdle and a triumph?

What is your specialty/niche and how have you established yourself as an expert or leader in your field?

My business continually evolves, but at this point in time I’ve narrowed my niche to online technology administration which I provide for attorneys and business creatives (writers, coaches, teachers, etc.).

Again, blogging and social media have been a large part of gaining respect and a reputation as an expert in my field. I’ve had many clients come to me and say “I chose you because you obviously know how to implement the things you offer to clients”.

By using social media to show my followers what I do, what I know and how I do business it has led to being asked to become involved in things that have not only increased my expert status, but have allowed me to continue to gain knowledge in my field. My involvement in Solo Practice University increased my credibility within the legal industry; Start Blogging Today increased my reach in blogging circles, etc.

What new special education or training have you pursued since starting your VA practice and how has it benefited your company/your clients?

Even before I started my own business, my favorite thing to do was learn new things. I’ve read books and taken classes & courses on everything from marketing to writing copy. Plus I work hard to stay on top of new tools and software.

Staying on top of new things and learning new skills adds value to my services, helps my business stay relevant and allows me to share these new ways of doing things with my clients in order to benefit their businesses as well. My most recent learning adventure was learning to create a membership site.

What do you plan to learn next and why?

I plan on learning more on using video as a marketing tool because I believe that video is becoming an important element for reaching my audience. I also want to learn how to create apps for mobile phones, again because I feel it’s going to be a must have for marketing for both me and my clients.

What’s on your to-do list today?

Client tasks on my to do list today are adding and polishing blog posts to a clients blog, invoicing members for a non-profit organization, adding products to a client’s shopping cart on their website, adding sign up forms for a client’s mailing list to their website and creating and installing custom graphics on another client site that I’m building.

Tasks for my own business today are sending follow-up emails to potential clients that have requested information, sending info packets out to new inquiries, writing a ‘script’ for a video to be placed on my website, writing several blog posts, creating a special offer mailing to go out to my mailing list and continue to work on new copy for my services section of my website.

What’s your definition of success?

Having the security both financially and personally to pursue my dreams, whatever they may be. I feel I’ve attained a certain degree of success as I’ve fulfilled and am living several of my dreams already.

What are the top five tools or resources you use on a regular basis in running your own business?

• E-mail (Outlook & Gmail combined)
• WordPress (with Headway Theme): both for building client sites and blogging for my business.
• Adobe Acrobat
• Paint.net (a free Photoshop type program for creating graphics)
• Twitter

What’s your number one source for new clients?

It’s a tie between client referrals and my business blog. Until recently my blog was number one, but it’s now pretty even between the two.

Who is your ideal client? Has your ideal client profile changed at all since you first started your business?

My ideal client profile was way too vague when I first started. I remember writing it as "home office small businesses", then it was "solo or small firm attorneys and business creatives" now it is:

A legal or creative professional, working from a home office, aged between 35 and 60, who either have children or are empty nesters. They will have an above average interest and understanding of computers and the Internet and will be open to using it and its resources to better their lives and their businesses. They understand the true value of their time and see the value in my knowledge and skills, willingly paying my rates without pause and are able to communicate clearly and concisely.

What is your most important business policy and how did it come to be a part of your operations?

I’d say it’s a combination of my contract and deposit policy. For the protection of both myself and my client, I require a contract, either a services agreement for project based work or a retainer contract. In my contract it states that the contract must be signed and received by me before any work begins.

The contract has always been a part of my business, but the deposit is something I didn’t integrate until I’d been in business for a year. My decision to add it came after I had a client that ‘disappeared’ after I’d already put a ton of hours into a project. I was a bit worried when I first made the decision thinking that it might discourage clients from signing with me. But I’ve found that implementing it has actually been a help to clients as it actually feels like installments to them, with a smaller one at the beginning and a larger one at the end of the project.

What was the most recent local networking event you attended and how did it go?

About a year ago I attended a "Women Empowering Women in Networking" meeting which I loved! I actually gained a client who took my card there, visited my site and realized after reading my blog that I was the answer to getting their blog up and running.

What is the one thing you ‘wish you’d known’ when you first started out?

I think the most important thing I’ve learned is not to under-estimate my value. I made the mistake in the beginning of thinking that I needed to stay ‘affordable’ to clients rather than looking at the skills I was bringing to the table. I also came to the sudden realization that I didn’t want clients that could afford me, but that I wanted clients that couldn’t afford to be without my services.

Clients who hire you based on price are fickle and will abandon you as soon as they see someone that is cheaper. Clients who work with you based on what you can do and how you do it are loyal, and not only stick around but spread the word about how great you are.

Looking ahead, what’s your five year plan?

My long range goal is to bring my daughter into the business to focus on much of the mainstream client work which will allow me to expand the teaching aspect of my business, increase my speaking engagements and help educate the masses about virtual assistance. I’d love to be an integral part of seeing a time when working with a virtual assistant is as commonplace as working with any type of office personnel.

What do you love most about being a virtual assistant /self employed businesswoman?

I love that not only to I get paid for doing techno geek stuff I love, but also that it gives me an outlet for two other things close to my heart, writing and teaching others. Also the flexibility to take my business in whatever direction I want to is priceless.

What’s your best advice for aspiring VAs thinking of starting a new practice?

In the words of one of my favorite marketing gurus, Naomi Dunford of Itty Biz:

Being an entrepreneur, at least at the beginning, is going to kick your ass.
There is really no way around it. You’re going to work longer hours than you would as an employee, and sometimes with less pay. You’re going to deal with clients who are way more demanding than any retail customer could possibly hope to be. There will be weeks when you work 80-100 hours and make no money at all, and that’s going to suck.

My addition to that statement is this. If you know and understand the above and still love what you do and wouldn’t trade being your own boss for anything then you probably have what it takes to make it. It requires patience, determination, a belief in yourself and your abilities and blind faith.

What’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made in your business and how did you fix it?

When my first laptop gave up the ghost I had backed up all of my client files, but failed to back up the e-mail. Well of course, there was info there that I needed. I bit the bullet, explained the situation to my clients, apologized for the oversight and asked them to resend the needed info. It taught me that backing up my e-mail is just as important as the client files.

Please take us on a tour of your home office – can you describe how you have it set up and what you love about it?

Since my son is still living with me, my two bedroom condo requires that I set up my office in a corner of my living room. Thankfully it’s a big room. I have my laptop hooked up to my removable hard drive, my printer/scanner/copier and of course, my coffee. Nothing fancy, but it’s where all the magic happens. (and obviously the headaches too, as I see I captured the giant bottle of Ibuprofen in the pictures. ) I love that its right next to the windows, and that I can pick up the laptop and make my ‘office’ anywhere I want to.

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How many hours a week do you work? What is your schedule like?

Usually it’s somewhere between 50 and 60 hours a week, 30 to 35 hours of that is client tasks, the rest is spent on Clerical Advantage.

What question do you get asked most often about your business and how do you answer?

The number one question is “So what is it that you do as a virtual assistant?” And I’ve just recently started answering by saying, “You know how every office has that one person that always knows how to deal with the computers, software and internet applications? The office geek? Well I’m the office geek for people without offices. “

How do you educate the general public about the VA profession?

My blog is the main avenue of educating the general public at the moment, although I’ve also done a couple of presentations/speaking engagements and written e-books. I’m working hard at getting over my video shyness in order to start using video as well.