We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Crystal Vinson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Crystal, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

After completing my Virtual Assistant course, I was ready to start booking clients and making money. In the Virtual Assistant world, there are two significant ways to get clients – either by attracting clients to you via social media or by applying to job postings.

I realized the process of attracting potential clients through social media might take a while, and filling out job applications is always so tedious, and truth be told – I didn’t have the patience. I wanted to take matters into my own hands and go after the clients that I truly wanted to work with.

The Virtual Assistant market is crowded, and it can take time to build your following, get testimonials, and stand out in the crowd. Instead of waiting around for clients to hopefully find me, I decided to cold pitch my dream clients. I created a pitching system that helped me identify the gaps in my dream clients’ businesses, and send pitches tailored to their needs. By doing this, I was able to land my very first client!

I remember running to tell my mom, and crying happy tears that my system worked! I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I didn’t know how. And I knew that my late father, who was a very successful entrepreneur himself, would be so proud of me. Not only was I excited to have my first client, but I also felt so empowered to have taken matters into my own hands, taking massive action to go get what I wanted.

I found that I truly enjoyed the process of pitching to potential clients, and as a result, completely booked out my business in less than 3 months. Although I’m accepting clients on a very limited basis currently, pitching is still my favorite way of landing new clients.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve always had a strong pull to be an entrepreneur. My late father was a very successful entrepreneur, so I’m pretty sure I got the drive from him. While working full-time as a Human Resource Manager at my dad’s company, I noticed the gaps where he could use some support as a CEO. Naturally, I began to try and implement systems and things where I could make his life easier and more organized, and I found that this was something I really enjoyed doing.

When my father suddenly passed in December 2019, I couldn’t imagine working in a company he built, without him – so I quit my job with no savings or plan. I didn’t know what I would do but I did know that I had a degree in Business Administration, I enjoyed being his right-hand woman at work, and my desire to start my own business was even stronger than before.

One day, I came across an advertisement to take a course teaching how to start your own Virtual Assistant business in less than 90 days. I had never taken an online course before, but this felt right to me, so I invested in the course and it changed my life. I learned what it takes to work online and invaluable social media skills which I’ve found I’m very good at.

What I loved most was that I was able to take my business degree and my experience working and traveling alongside my father, to really make this new venture my own. I’ve now been working full-time as an Online Content Manager and Executive Assistant for almost 3 years now and I’ve enjoyed each day of this journey.

Because I’ve gotten so many questions about how I was able to book out my Virtual Assistant business so quickly, I now find passion in helping others who are just starting out in the industry.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

My best and favorite source for getting new clients has been cold pitching, which I expanded on previously. My second best source has been referrals! I’ve worked with so many awesome clients thanks to referrals. I’ve been so grateful to have worked with clients who love what I do so much that they tell others and share my information, or we have such a relationship that I’m able to ask them if they know of any referrals if I have availability.

Once my clients get to know me, how I work, and how we work together and communicate, I’ve found that they’re actually great at screening who I would and would not enjoy working with. This makes things so much easier for me!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

What’s helped me build my reputation within the Virtual Assistant market is my work ethic and passion. I love organizing, protecting the time of business owners, and knowing that what I do is helping them grow and reach their goals. I care for my client’s businesses as if they were my own, so I always go above and beyond whenever I can.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.crystaldenisevirtual.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crystaldenisevirtual/

Image Credits
Image credit to FemForce of Tampa