5 MISTAKES I MADE IN MY FIRST YEAR OF BUSINESS
In 2019, I began working from home as a Virtual Assistant and Social Media Manager. I had worked for years before this as a freelance editor, but that was more one-off projects that came up sporadically. This was the first time I felt like a legit entrepreneur, because I had real, ongoing clients and consistent income. It was also completely new territory for me, which meant a lot of trial and error…and a LOT of mistakes.
Here are five common mistakes I made in my first year of business, to hopefully help you not to do the same thing!
Side Note: All of my current clients are amazing and have never tried to manipulate me or my time. I establish these best practices to protect us both, but I’ve never had an issue with my clients I have now. So if you’re a current client reading this, I love you and you’re awesome. Thanks for making it easy to work well with you!
1. Putting my clients before my family
This is such a tricky one as a work-from-home mom! It's so easy to keep working post-naptime, or run off to my room to whip a few more things out as soon as my husband gets home and can take over parenting duties. It's easy to read a notification from a client asking me to do something on my day off and think, "Oh, I'll just get this done real quick so I don't have to think about it." It's not worth it! Everything can wait until your established office hours (which you should have, by the way), so don't let yourself work outside of them, especially when it sacrifices the needs of your little ones and your spouse.
(p.s. - working on your phone while in the same room does not qualify as quality time. Turn it off.)
What I Do Now:
I work before my boys are awake for the day and during nap time. If I need the extra time, I work pre-naps while my boys have independent playtime together (but I'm still in the room with them). I also do this all with my computer unplugged - if the battery gets too low, it means I've been overworking and it's time for a break!
2. Not establishing clear boundaries
When you work from home, just like it's easy to let work take priority over family, it's extremely natural to not create professional boundaries with clients. One of the biggest mistakes I made early on was giving out my personal phone number to clients. This made it possible for clients to easily contact me on my days off, call or text me late into the evening, and generally feel like they had permission to invade my life whenever was convenient for them. It basically threw office hours out the window, because even if I didn’t respond I would still see the texts or calls, and it was hard to not feel rude ignoring them until Monday.
Another boundary I wish I had early on was not turning on notifications for client social media accounts. Some people use Instagram like a texting app, which means a lot of notifications for DMs I’m not part of. This has even led to me seeing some very personal stuff my clients have DM’d about that I don’t think they would have used Instagram for if they realized I could see it.
What I Do Now:
I don't give out my personal number! I don’t think any of my current clients have it (if they do, they don’t ever use it - thanks, guys!) I have social media notifications turned off on my phone and instead have set times throughout the day when I review each clients' account for any comments or messages I need to respond to. I also deleted my work email from my phone so I don't see it at all during my off times.
3. Working Outside of Agreed Scope
I had a hard time refusing to work outside of the agreed scope of my work. If you're working hourly, this isn't such an issue because you'll get paid for every minute of work you do regardless. Most of the time as Virtual Assistants and Social Media Strategists, however, we work at a fixed rate for an explicit set of tasks.
I did a pretty broad variety of tasks for one of my first clients, and all at a fixed monthly rate. It took me a while to recognize that I was giving way too much of my time to her business for what I was being paid. If you're working 20-30 hours a week when your pay is equivalent to 5-10, you're working way too much!
What I Do Now:
I have explicit terms in my contracts as far as the scope of my work for each client. This either means an hours cap that I won't go over in a given month or, in most cases, a list of established tasks that are my responsibility. I don't take tasks outside of that list unless we negotiate new terms (and a new rate), and I make sure I am comfortable with the maximum potential time it will take me to perform the tasks each month compared to the rate.
Additionally - and more importantly - I learned to say no when I don’t have the time or mental energy to take on more.
4. Invoicing at the end of the month
If you invoice for work after you've already done it, you make it very easy for clients to ghost you when they don't feel like paying. I had one of my earlier clients end up six months late on paying an invoice, and she probably would never have paid it if I wasn't emailing her multiple times a week to remind her to! After that, I changed my billing cycle to be at the beginning of the month, if only for my own sanity.
What I Do Now:
Bill clients on the first of the month! Trust me, most legitimate clients will be fine with this, especially once you've established a good rapport with them. Just be sure you follow through and do the work they pay you for. I also have a caveat in my contracts that stipulates late fees for invoices that go unpaid for two weeks or more. I do have one client I bill later in the month due to specific circumstances on their end, but we picked a specific day each month that they know they can fulfill my invoice on and they’ve never been late!
5. Not establishing clear contract terms
When I took on my first few clients, I didn't have any contracts with them. This was possibly the worst mistake I made because it gave me no protection with any of the other issues I described earlier.
What I Do Now:
Everything I've said above should be covered in your contract in some way! Have your responsibilities, pay, office hours, and any other boundaries you need clearly established in your contract. That way, when an issue comes up, all you have to do is direct the client to your contract that they agreed to and signed.
ADVOCATE, ADVOCATE, ADVOCATE
There's a common thread through all of these that I want to make sure you don't miss: advocate for yourself. Your client is important and making sure you're doing good work for them is a must - but ultimately you are the only person who is going to advocate for your time and needs. There’s no HR department in entrepreneurship. You have to set boundaries and expectations yourself, and if you can do it with each client right from the start you'll avoid some really awkward and difficult conversations later on!
