We were lucky to catch up with Victoria Dickerson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Victoria , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s talk about keeping costs under control when growing. How have you managed to keep costs from getting out of control?
Most people in my industry and most industries assume that one of the first things to be done is to buy an office space. But I have found in my years of experience that lowering your business expenses in the beginning will save you a lot of money in the long run! For example, if you are a new business owner/entrepreneur and the first thing you do is go buy an office space. You are essentially starting at a $400-$800/month deficit before you earn your first dollar!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I am a fun, outgoing, loving person who enjoys helping other people! Most of my professional background involves marketing, branding, staffing, recruiting, management, executive assistance, operations management and human resources. I started off at a young age working a lot of different types of jobs in different industries to gain a plethora of experience in different areas and to see what I enjoyed the most! I realized I did not have to limit myself to just one area of work or one industry and that I could combine them all and maintain happiness. And that’s exactly what I did! I am the owner of Self-Made Services which includes virtual assistance, personal assistance, business and personal consulting, staffing, vending machine services, job placement services, social media management and more! I have always had knowledge in a lot of areas, and I have always loved helping people so why not combine the two? Most of the problems I solve for my clients is allowing them to use my company to declutter their life or business! For example, there are a lot of business owners who are pretty successful but are not able to maximize their full potential because they have too much on their plate. That is where I come in! They would hire me or someone in my company as their virtual or personal assistant to remove those tedious daily or weekly tasks that they have not gotten around to do! Another big problem that I solve is in the staffing industry, helping companies fill vacancies that they are having trouble closing. What makes me the proudest is being able to impact the lives of my customers every time they choose me for a service! Whether that be purchasing a vending machine to start a business for their child, getting their social media page more consistent or just simply handling the administrative tasks they haven’t been able to do!
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
The best source of new clients for me in my market has come from being a reliable person and providing my clients with great service! That turned into multiple referrals that allowed me to expand my business fairly quickly! When people are happy with what they are getting they want to tell people all about you!
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Not all business is the best business for you! My second ever paid client was someone with a business that required ALOT of attention and constant communication on the phone and online. At the time with me having a 9-5 and a big client I didn’t have the capacity to keep on their new client with their needs! It was an unfortunate learning experience for me to have to let that client go but, in the end, it was not only one of the best decisions I have ever made but it taught me what type of clientele I did and did not want to take. Which eventually inspired me to start my own virtual assistant agency because although I was not able to help that particular client… there are people out there in need of work who can!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.selfmadeservices.co
- Instagram: instagram.com/vickydickerson32 / instagram.com/selfmadeservices365
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084690304486&mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-dickerson-52b465162
Image Credits
Danny McCrea, Aaron Smalls, Micheal Dease