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What Are You Apologizing For?

By Danielle Keister |
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I recently asked colleagues how they, their families, and their businesses were faring during these difficult, unprecedented times.

I offered that there may also be some increased opportunity in all this. In response, a few folks were concerned about how to market without seeming opportunistic.

It’s always interesting to me when people worry about “taking advantage of the situation.”

It hints at the apology women are always making for being in business, and the apology society in general makes for wanting to be paid for the helpful and valuable services they provide to those who need them.

But let me ask you this: If you are in this to help people, how is that taking advantage of them?

Are you lying? Are you cheating? Are you stealing?

I’m assuming your answer is no to all these.

Then why on earth are you apologizing for being in business and wanting to provide good, honest work that HELPS people?

This hints at the deep-seated money issues we have and the work we must continue to do around our money issues and professional self-esteem.

Because here is what I can tell you for sure:

  1. People who have always been running online businesses are the least impacted right now during this pandemic. For many/most, it is business as usual. They are still working with clients, creating output, and providing value. And those folks STILL want and need administrative support no matter what. Your support is the backbone of their business, the infrastructure that holds it together and keeps things humming along, running smoothly, and moving forward for them!
  2. There is an untold number of businesses RIGHT NOW who are looking to radically adapt to more online ways of working with clients and creating even more opportunities to help more people that don’t require face-to-face work and interaction (other than video conferencing perhaps). THEY NEED YOUR HELP AND INSIGHT NOW MORE THAN EVER!

It is not taking advantage by being ready and available to help those folks who are seeking support in these ways!

They are lost. They don’t necessarily know what they need or how to find or perhaps even articulate the kind of help they need. They may be overwhelmed with the situation right now and going in circles about where to even start.

This is an opportunity to be of service to them, a guiding light.

That is why it is always your job to know not only what they want, but what they need; to make yourself visible for them; to explain and illustrate some of the many ways you can help them; and to let them know you are out here, ready and poised to HELP them get through this and create an even better business than they had before.

You are not a taker by being in business. You are a giver!

Remember that and it will change your perspective and how you present what you have to offer.

Love to you all! This is not a bed of roses, but we WILL get through this and it is an opportunity for growth for all of us.

#inthistogether

Dear Danielle: Does This Business Allow for Expansion?

By Danielle Keister |
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Dear Danielle: Does This Business Allow for Expansion?

Dear Danielle:

I’m a student who has been assigned to research a startup business. As a business administration major, this is something that interests me, so it is more than assignment. Does a company such as this allow for expansion from being one person to expanding with several employees? Thank you for your time. —RT

Hi RT,

Thanks for the question.

A person can create any kind of business they wish. That should go without saying. However, Administrative Consulting is a solopreneur business model, not a “team” or “staffing” one. That’s because the primary value being imparted is the personal one-on-one relationship.

People running this kind of business are not interested in managing employees and all the attendant problems and responsibilities that come with that much less creating a company the size of which inherently requires employees.

Administrative Consulting is a deeply personal and collaborative one-to-one relationship with clients. It’s ideal for people who are interested in a boutique-sized solo business working directly in one-on-one relationships with just a handful of (ideally, well-paying) clients.

You don’t need employees to do that and it would actually make things more unnecessarily complicated, disjointed, and expensive while reducing profit margins.

This is not the kind of business for people who want to turn the work into an assembly line. That is completely opposite to the value that is created when working together in a long-term, ongoing, one-on-relationship with clients.

That said, I have always advocated the idea that being solo doesn’t mean you do literally everything yourself. It simply means that YOU are the product; it’s your unique combination of skills, talent, experience, insights, and know-how that your clients are “buying,” so to speak.

However, in the same way that clients partner with us for administrative support, an Administrative Consultant can and should have her own Administrative Consultant to support her behind the scenes as well, along with having relationships with her own accountant, bookkeeper, business attorney, web designer/programmer, etc.

Most of us also belong to networks of colleagues we can refer to on those occasions when we may need or want to bring in an extra hand or two. But those are incidental instances and provided by people who run their own independent businesses and are not employees.

This kind of business and relationship doesn’t need a lot of chefs dipping their fingers in and ruining the stew, if you understand my analogy. It just needs the leverage of a few key relationships to be successful.

I always say this as well: Anyone who can make it as a solopreneur is better poised to succeed in any larger future business incarnation. Because if you can’t do it as a solopreneur, being bigger is not going to help anything.

Are You Being Phoney-Baloney?

By Danielle Keister |
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Are You Being Phoney-Baloney?

It’s not necessary to be a phoney-baloney in your marketing to get clients.

If you’re a solo, don’t pretend you’re a bigger company.

When it comes down to it, that’s just plain dishonest, a lie.

Is that really how you want to start your valued new client relationships?

And what kind of clients will you end up with based on false pretenses?

What happens to trust once they find out they’ve been snookered, manipulated?

Trust, credibility and rapport are established through honesty and by demonstrating your competence, professionalism and capabilities through your writing, the presentation of your website and other marketing collateral, and the polish and effectiveness of your policies, processes and protocols.

I get that people want to help clients see how skilled, competent and credible they are, and that some think the only way to do that is to portray themselves as bigger as if they have more people involved in their business than there actually are.

But dishonesty is never the answer.

Engaging in false presenses belies your own low professional self-esteem and the belief that you are not enough, that the way you operate your business as a solo is not enough.

It’s also presuming that prospective clients have any problem with it.

Imagine the better fitting clients you would get, client it would be more joyful to work with, simply by sharing honestly the size of your business and how you operate, and being the real you.

I have two categories on my blog here with posts that will help you learn how to instill trust and demonstrate your competence without being dishonest or unethical:

Trust & Credibility
Demonstrating Your Expertise

Check ’em out!

Are You a Small Business Owner or an Entrepreneur?

By Danielle Keister |
1 Comment

A colleague sent me a link to an article from Entrepreneur.com explaining the difference, and wanted to know if I agreed.

I do agree with the distinctions.

Technically, most of us are not entrepreneurs, even though in our common conversations we tend to use the terms interchangeably.

Ultimately, however, these aren’t articles or topics that hold any interest for me whatsoever. It’s right up there with “leadership.”

It’s all a bunch of navel-gazing.

I am a small business owner and proud of it. And while I am not an entrpreneur, I do think small business owners can and do think and operate entrepreneurially in many ways.

Though, I feel the word “small” is a misnomer.

People tend to equate “small” with “low income.” And granted, many (most?) small businesses are not profitable and only earn a subsistence income.

However, there are thousands upon thousands of solopreneur businesses earning well into six figures and more. Personally, I prefer the label “boutique.”

I’m not trying to be an entrepreneur, rule the world, be a leader or create some multi-million dollar enterprise.

I want a business that is profitable, adds meaning and purpose to my life using my talents while serving others, and allows me to have a life and live richly beyond the business.

That’s it.

And if I can help others create the same kind of business and lifestyle I’ve been able to, that’s really all I care about.

You DO Need a Certain Level of Income to Be Happy and Healthy

By Danielle Keister |
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I was listening to some radio program several weeks ago that referred to a study that supports the idea that you only truly need so much money in life to be happy. Past a certain point, more money doesn’t make you any happier.

So true!

I’m not interested in being a millionaire because I’m not interested in the lifestyle or work it would take to get there. I’m also not interested in the least in the KIND of business I would need to be in to make that kind of money.

And I LIKE having work and purpose in my life and things to strive for. I don’t want it all to come TOO easily, funny as that might sound.

That said, I DO think it’s important to have a six figure business. BUT, it’s important to clarify what kind of six figures we’re talking about.

There is a HUGE difference between a $100-200k biz and a $500k biz, let alone a $1 million biz, in terms of the work involved, what kind of business it is and what it needs to focus on. Very, very different models and machinations involved.

You can live a very happy, rich life (and I mean LIVING) with only a $75k income. That said, it’s important to understand that for you to personally earn $75k, your business generally needs to bring in a revenue of at least $100k.

This is always the kind of “6 Figure Business” I’m talking about in relation to our administrative support businesses.

And this is a VERY modest and completely doable goal that gives you a benchmark of financial ease, solvency, sustainability and profitability that encourages you to strive without making money the focus or driving force and without forcing you to have a completely different kind of business model and life.

There’s nothing to feel guilty about in earning well, no matter what your financial goals are, be they modest or grand.

But make no mistake, there is a minimum amount of money you do need to make in order to stay in business and be able to serve clients well.

You earning poorly, and merely surviving instead of thriving, does no one any good whatsoever.

I originally posted this musing on our Facebook page, but I thought it related wonderfully to what I’m always trying to help you do:  which is to earn more, working less and more strategically.

While $100k a year is an excellent financial goal to strive for, that doesn’t mean it will be easy to achieve working entirely one-on-one with clients.

And a bigger business (in order to achieve that goal) is not necessarily better. Bigger businesses come with more work, more administration, more costs, reduced profit, more people managing and more room for problems, communication issues and errors.

There IS, however, an alternative way to increase your revenues and that’s by leveraging your knowledge and turning it into DIY info products for your potential clients and site visitors.

Not only do these products allow you to demonstrate your expertise without requiring your personal one-on-one time, you’ll essentially get paid to market your business and grow that all important know, like and trust factor.

The crazy thing is almost NO ONE in our industry is doing this for their prospects and clients! You don’t have to be one of them.

On Thursday, November 29, I’m conducting a class where I will show you all the ins and outs of creating info products and multi-layer revenue streams in your business. This is a brand new class that I’ve been “threatening” to do for several months and next month is finally it!

See the registration for more information and to secure your spot >>

I’ll see you there! 🙂

Dear Danielle: Should My Client Say I Am Part of His Team?

By Danielle Keister |
15 Comments

Dear Danielle:

A client of mine has just asked me if I would agree to put my name and picture to be published in a paper magazine as a member of his team. He is a solopreneur and apparently he wants his company to be included in a directory of the industry to be published in the magazine. He doesn’t want to show he works alone (in fact, he doesn’t as I collaborate with him) so he wants my picture and contact info (which is the email address I use with his company’s domain) to be included. Do you see any issues if I accept his request? Thank you in advance, Danielle! —Mirna Majraj, MB Asistencia Virtual

Hi Mirna 🙂

I know you’re in a different country, and I’m not sure what the laws are there, but in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Ireland and the U.K., and many of the European countries, the laws concerning the distinctions between employees and independent contractors (i.e., business owners) are all very similar.

And that is, essentially, no one is part of your business team unless they are an employee. If this is true in your country as well (you’ll want to consult with a lawyer to be clear), you want to avoid any appearance that you are one because there are legal consequences involved.

Here’s how I help people to understand this:  Are they going to include their attorney, their accountant, their designer and every other professional they are a client of in the listing as well? No? Then you shouldn’t be included either.

Your relationship with him is no different than the one he has with any other independent professional who is not an employee, but is a separate business.

If it doesn’t make sense to include them, it doesn’t make sense to include you in that manner either. It’s not the truth and it’s misrepresenting the correct nature of the relationship.

Here’s a blog post that talks a bit more about this (see the comments in particular): What You Need to Know About Subcontractors.

Some might be wondering what the big deal is.

Well, here’s the thing. Forget about legalities; it’s important and worth our while to maintain these boundaries because too often it becomes a “slippery slope” when we don’t.

Every time you allow clients to take liberties when it comes to your standards and boundaries, you’re chipping away at the integrity and foundation of the relationship.

These seemingly inconsequential concessions ultimately lead to detrimental effects in the relationship. Pretty soon, you’ve got a client who seems to think you’re his employee.

If you’re going to be successful and sustainable, for legal and practical reasons, you need to preserve those boundaries and not allow them to become muddied, blurred or misconstrued.

Plus, (and I’m sure he’s innocently not realizing this), it’s just dishonest to allow him to portray you like that.

There’s nothing to be ashamed of in being a solopreneur. In fact, you could be doing him a huge service by helping him see how he can promote that as a competitive advantage, that the fact that he IS a solopreneur who works with key strategic partners and experts allows him to be more agile, flexible and responsive in meeting his clients’ needs. (Suggest he even use that as a script if you want.)

There are an infinite number of ways it can be worded so that he can still include you, but with a more truthful, accurate depiction about who you are in relation to his business (i.e., his Administrative Consultant and one of his key independent experts).

Plus, I’m a firm believer that ideal clients, if they truly value you, are willing to help you as well. And it certainly doesn’t help you to dishonestly pretend that you are part of his “team.” If he thinks about it, he will probably see that he’s asking you to compromise your ethics. And it’s not polite to put you in that position.

That being the case, suggest to him that if he would like to include you in the article or listing, the best way he can help you and your business (and what you must insist upon since you are not an employee) is by including your full name, the name of your business, the link to your business website and/or your contact info.

You’ll be helping him stay in integrity (and maintaining your own) while giving him the opportunity to support your business at the same time.

PS: At the start of your relationship with any client, be sure there is discussion about the nature of the relationship so there is no misunderstanding moving forward. Also, inform clients how they should refer to you and introduce you to others:  as their Administrative Consultant or even simply Administrator. It’s not up to them what to call you and by informing them, you ensure they don’t come up on their own with something that you don’t prefer. The last thing you need is a client introducing you to others as his secretary or assistant.

How Your Biz Space Contributes to Your Success

By Danielle Keister |
4 Comments

How Your Biz Space Contributes to Your Success

I was conducting my productivity and business management class when a colleague who was attending mentioned that one challenge she faces is a very small office space (roughly 8.5 x 6.5 feet).

She explained that her area is very cramped and cluttered at the moment and that she intends to spend some time over the next month culling out materials, reorganizing and making room for new systems that work better for her.

I agreed that her plan was a fabulous idea because first and foremost, whenever you clear out the clutter and get rid of that which isn’t working for you, you make room for the new and better and more ideal to come into your life.

Plus, besides facilitating happier, more productive workflows and energies, the care and love you put into your space permeates your business overall and translates into the care and respect and love you give to your work and clients.

I love my business. It’s enriched my life so much. It’s what has allowed me to live the life I want to live, and it’s contributed to my personal growth and happiness in huge and unexpected ways.

And so, besides creating a space that I enjoy being in, that nurtures my creativity and productivity (because let’s face it, we spend a large part of our lives engaged in our work), giving it the care and attention it deserves is a reflection of the love, care, seriousness, respect and gratitude I have for my business, my art (my work) and my clients.

Your space doesn’t need to be huge. No matter what space you have available, even if right now it’s a corner in the bedroom or part of the kitchen table, the important thing… the thing that will contribute to your overall happiness and success… is to dedicate it to the business. Don’t make it share or compete with anyone or anything else.

Carve out your little corner and dress it up so that it makes your heart smile being in it.

Organize it so that your movements can be fluid and flowing.

Put as much tender loving care into your space as you want your business and clients to give back to you!

 

Saying Thank You

By Danielle Keister |
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One of the things I love about etsy are the clever, inventive ways the vendors come up with in saying thank you. This is obviously something that is cultivated as part of the etsy culture. From beautiful uses of natural materials to creative packaging to (like today) an adorable little bundle of extra beads with “Thank you” attached.

Sure, some may think it’s “just” a thank you, but that stuff is not lost on clients and customers. It’s delightful and memorable and there is obvious effort and style involved, which is what makes it more meaningful.

This kind of effort can make even more of an impact on the clients of services (where our “product” is a service which is basically invisible). I am not a fan of automating “thank you’s.” I detest it, in fact. Because the message is, you are not worth me putting myself out enough to make an effort. And it’s the personal attention and effort that is the secret sauce and makes the meaning.

What clever, creative, inventive ways can you dream up and instititute as part of your brand culture to say “thank you” to your clients for their (continued) business?

Two Roads

By Danielle Keister |
1 Comment

There are two roads you can take: to be a “mill” or to be a boutique. We focus on the latter here.

If you’re looking to create a “mill” of your business, I can’t help you (and don’t want to).

The ACA is about administrative support for clients as an art and personal relationship.

Bigger Isn’t Necessarily Better

By Danielle Keister |
10 Comments

Why do some folks think bigger is necessarily better when it comes to business?

Some of the absolute worst quality and service comes from big companies.

Bigger can mean less service, less personal attention, less devotion to detail, less care and love for the work, and clients being treated like numbers instead of human beings where each is viewed as a transaction instead of an opportunity to serve and deliver with craftsmanship and pride.

Bigger also very often means more difficulty and complexity in managing, with less effectiveness and control over the quality of the end result or work product, and the need for greater profit margins just to break even.

So why do so many solopreneurs (including those in our own industry) try to sound bigger than they are? Why do many put on airs and try to pretend they have a “team” when all they’re doing is referring clients or subcontracting work out to colleagues? What do they hope sounding “bigger” will achieve for them?

After pondering this, I’ve concluded that they think it will make them come across as more capable, more legitimate. That somehow “sounding bigger” will imbue them with credibility.

But listen, you aren’t going to fool anyone. What happens when you do get a client on the phone and they realize that you truly are a solopreneur or small business? Big or small is irrelevant when it comes to expertise. But you’ve just started a new relationship being less than truthful. And now the client knows you are willing to “fudge” things. You think that’s a good thing? How do you think that might affect their trust and confidence in you? And what if your absolute best, most ideal clients are completely passing you by because they’re looking for personal service, not big and impersonal?

Stop trying to manipulate and seduce and trick people. It doesn’t work (and the world is a less trustful place because of those behaviors).

You don’t have to be dishonest in order to convey credibility. Credibility comes from expertise, authenticity and truthfulness, regardless of how many people are in the business. Projecting credibility comes from demonstration and accomplishment.

If you’re not educated, educate yourself. If you want to be a business person, study business by any means you have available to you (even if that’s simply checking business books out from the library). Become well-read. Speak like an educated, knowledgeable person. Focus on and emphasize your expertise without any false modesty.

Have a professional looking website. Have professionally crafted marketing collateral. Run your business like a business, not a hobby.

Don’t hide who or where you are (like your photo or your address/location). Putting your face on the business is the very best way to establish rapport and give prospective clients someone to relate to as people.

Dispense truth and education. Write your content in way that shows prospects that you know what you’re talking about, understand their problems and obstacles, and have the chops to help them.

Put people and your craft first; the money will come. And when it comes to money, charge like a professional who honors and values their craft and represents truly helpful and solution-full expertise and service.

Every one of those things and more, in whole or in part, will project the credibility you’re looking for. And none of them is dependent upon lying.

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