How to Define Your Ideal Client

One of the top questions I am asked on a weekly, if not daily basis, is “how do I find clients?” I usually respond back with another question. Who is your ideal client? The response is usually crickets. 

Listen, I totally get it. I didn’t even know what the term ideal client meant when I was starting my virtual assistant business three years ago. 

I learned the hard way what happens when you don’t define your ideal client when you first start your biz. 

I was willing to work with anyone and everyone, which meant I ended up working with clients who were not ideal and not paying me enough to make it worth my time. 

That led to me offering services that I hated doing and would procrastinate to the very last minute. It was stressful and I was getting frustrated. 

Which led to me burning it all to the ground and completely rebuilding my business from the ground up six months later. 

By then I knew what an ideal client was and I had clearly defined who MY ideal client was. 

This led to me being able to get really specific on the services I offered and services that my ideal client needed. I was so happy to provide these services because I truly loved doing them. Bye stress and frustration! 

This led to me being able to raise my prices because I was only offering services that I was an expert in and was super confident- and guess what? It showed! 

Which led to long term clients who I still work with to this day who have become my second family.

Ok! So how do we do this? 

STEP 1

Grab a notebook or the app on your phone and brain dump a list of all the character traits you value in someone and the types of people who you have enjoyed working with.

STEP 2

Start with a broader ideal client avatar based on step 1. Example: My ideal client is a successful female business owner who is a mom and needs help handling the back end and administrative side of her business.

STEP 3

Grab that notebook again and brain dump all of the services you want to offer. No more than 3-5! Go back and make sure that the services you are offering are services that your ideal client actually needs.

Not too hard, right?! I think that so many times we overcomplicate this when it doesn’t have to be that way. I also want you to know that you are never locked into it and your ideal client can evolve and change. As you work with different clients and gain more and more experience, you are going to know very clearly who you enjoy working with the most. Don’t stress about trying to niche down to a super specific ideal client right from the get go. 

Alright, get to brainstorming! For more resources when it comes to your virtual assistant business, be sure to check out how we can work together here!