An important tip to remember when structuring and building your home service business.
Would you consider it be unprofessional conduct if you went to a job interview and immediately asked your potential employer: How much money can I make?
Of course it would. In fact, if you acted in this manner there is little chance you would get the job.
So if the average person understands and abides by this behavior in their consumer life, why do they ask the question: How much money can I make? when thinking about starting their own business? Is it because they have been educated by television advertisements that promise to make them wealthy overnight? I personally do not know for sure.
However, lets examine this issue in a little more detail. There are TWO different types of workers: (1) Independent Contractors, and (2) Employed personnel. If you work as an employee, upon the date of hire, the company will tell you how many hours you are expected to work and the amount of money you will be paid. But Independent Contractors (like virtual assistants) are their own employer. That means it is up to YOU to determine how much money you will make. Then you work toward that goal with your skills and knowledge.
Also, there are also TWO different types of customers: (1) Customers who employ Independent Contractors to do jobs on an as needed basis, and (2) Customers who employee a company and that company will employ you to do the job. The company you work for takes the largest profit and pays you a lower wage.
As an Independent Contractor your customers are the people you do work for. For example: in the virtual bankruptcy assistant field, the attorneys you work for are your customers. When the attorney first hires you to work for him or her virtually, it would be very unwise to ask the attorney how much money you are going to make. Only you can answer that question by the level of skills and services that you provide. Besides, you would not be able to answer this question sufficiently until after you had worked with the attorney for a period of time and averaged out the money you earned during that time period.
As a service business (virtual assistant), you should always devote a great deal of time to training and building your skills. Even if you have good skills and customers are paying you well for your services, you still need to devote time to training. Why? Because you will never know it all. There are new ideas being born every second. New technologies; and new methods of doing things. It is extremely important to keep in touch and tuned into the world that you provide services for. You will find that the more you improve your service business skills, the larger your income will grow.
Remember: Concentrate on improving your skills and talent and the dollars will come without effort.
AUTHOR BIO:
Victoria Ring is a Certified Paralegal and Bankruptcy Specialist. She has developed an entire line of training products to teach others the skill of drafting bankruptcy petitions and working nationwide for attorneys. For more information, visit her website at http://www.713training.com
