The Blog of Lisa Morosky

I’ve learned a lot in my short time as a web worker. When I first began doing virtual assistant work, I was still stuck in an employee mentality. Anything and everything anyone wanted me to do, I would do, and I would do it on their timeframe and without giving it a second thought. I answered emails immediately. I took every phone call. I did last minute requests with a smile on my face. I still thought that every move I made was a potential job-ending move.

It’s only been about a year, but I’ve already changed my mentality completely. Being the person I described above made me stressed out, unproductive, late on deadlines, and held my business and earning potential back. Once I realized all these things, I put some client boundaries in place.

I limit client phone calls as much as possible. And the phone calls I do have are scheduled in advance.

After having worked in the corporate world and seen how little gets done and how much time is wasted, I put this policy into action. In the beginning of VAforBloggers.com, I used to spend 25% of my working time each day on the phone with clients discussing projects and following up on things and taking new requests. Those phone calls never really got us anywhere and it took time away from when I could have been working on their projects. It’s just not a good use of time.

When you write an email, you’re forced to organize all of your thoughts ahead of time. You can proofread for clarity and direction. Not only that, emails can be easily referenced later. For web workers, it’s a much more effective way to work with clients.

I don’t chase clients.

There have been times where I’ve taken the time to send email upon email to, and leave voicemail upon voicemail for, a client to get information I need in order to move forward with a project or task.

I don’t do that anymore. I will send one clear and concise email, or I will leave one short voicemail. I don’t have the time to chase clients to get the information I need. It should be understood by clients who care about their projects that if I’m stalled and waiting on you for something, you need to contact me back, otherwise I’m not working on your project.

Again, it goes back to the fact that me chasing a client isn’t a good use of time.

I no longer feel obligated to continue working with clients who don’t pay consistently.

When you start out as a web worker, it can be real tempting to take every single client that’s thrown your way. Money is money. But when it becomes a huge hassle to get paid by your client, and you’re essentially working for free, it’s time to cut the strings. The time you spend chasing your money or doing work for this type of client, is time you could be spending with another client.

I don’t feel guilty if I can’t meet a client’s last-minute deadline.

A wise client of mine once said this to me, in reference to a project we were working on together: “Lack of preparation on his part, doesn’t equal an emergency on my part.” Those are such wise words.

If I’m given a project or task with little or no notice, or an extremely short deadline, I’m going to do my best to get it done because I value my clients and the work they do. But, there’s a good chance I might not meet their emergency deadline. I have other clients, another business, a family, and friends that all need my attention too.

It comes down to this: you need to set client boundaries that will help you succeed and be productive. Communicate clearly and effectively with your clients and be honest about the way you need to work.

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