“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.”

~ Albert Einstein ~

I am a firm believer that you need to learn from your mistakes and that if you keep coming to the same fork in the road it is time to take a step back and figure out how you can do things differently so you never end up at that fork again. I have always tried to implement this in my personal life, but it applies just as easily in business and especially in marketing.

When new Virtual Assistants start their business one of the questions I hear over and over is “why don’t I have any clients?” For many of them it is because they are simply sitting back waiting for the phone to ring (but that is a whole other post for another day). For some it is because they are trying the same things over and over and getting little to no results. I always, always encourage them to try something new.

If you are failing to build your business at the pace you want I suggest you take a step back and review what you are doing to market your business. If those marketing strategies are not getting you results then why are you continuing to focus your efforts there? Why not try something new?

I do want to take one step back and add a caveat to what I am saying here … give your marketing strategies time to work. Set a deadline and make it reasonable. Sending out one newsletter and then wondering why no one has forwarded it or contacted you because of it is an unrealistic expectation. I always suggest trying each strategy for at least a month or two before trying something new.

Remember the key … people buy from people they know, like and trust. It will take time to build the relationships, but if you put in the time and relationships are not being fostered like you expect them to be then don’t ever be afraid to move on and try something new.

“Those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” ~ Bernard M. Baruch

This quotation was one of the first quotations I heard when I started working with my business coach. What she was trying to get me to understand was the importance of being myself in business. So many of us are afraid to be ourselves because we don’t want to “offend” any potential clients.

I remember when I first started my business I was afraid to say that I had children. Rather than tell people the reason I wasn’t available on a Thursday afternoon was because I wanted to attend a play at my children’s school I would say that I was already scheduled to work with another client that afternoon. I’m not saying that you need to tell everyone exactly what you are doing in your personal life, but for me if a potential client doesn’t understand that my family comes first then they are not the client for me. For this reason I do not “hide” my children or my involvement with them any longer.

If someone minds that I have children then they are not the client for me. If they don’t mind that I have children then I make their needs matter in my business. For this reason I have found that I seem to attract other moms as my clients.

Finding out what matters to you and being honest and open about it can be very important in moving forward successfully as a business owner. Afterall we should never try to hide who we are if we truly want to be authentic in our business.