Running a VA business isn't just about being good at the work you do for your clients.

There's a whole other side to it that nobody really prepares you for.

Putting yourself out there. Selling yourself. Making decisions. Charging for your skills. Dealing with the inevitable self-doubt. Wondering what other people think. Learning to trust yourself when there isn't a boss telling you what to do next.

And sometimes, it's not another strategy, course or shiny new system that makes the biggest difference.

Sometimes it's simply changing the way you're looking at something.

So here are 7 simple mindset shifts that can make a BIG difference to the way you build and grow your VA business. ❤️

1. From “I'm new” to “The title is new. The experience isn't.”

This is a BIG one, particularly if you've recently started your VA business.

You might be new to calling yourself a Virtual Assistant, but you're probably not new to the work you're offering.

If you've spent years managing diaries, organising projects, supporting customers, creating content, managing systems, doing bookkeeping, marketing, or whatever YOUR thing is, you don't suddenly lose all of that experience because you've decided to offer those skills as a VA.

The title is new. The experience isn't.

You're not starting again from zero. You're taking everything you've already learned, done and experienced and using it in a different way.

So don't let being a “new VA” convince you that you're a beginner at something you've actually been doing for years.

2. From “I need to be ready” to “I need to start”

Of course, there are things you need to have in place before you start working with clients.

You need to make sure your business is legally compliant and that you've got the essentials sorted. I'm not suggesting you set up an Instagram account on Monday and just wing absolutely everything from there 😂

But there's a BIG difference between getting the essentials in place and waiting until everything is perfect.

You don't need the perfect website.

You don't need every process figured out.

You don't need to have taken every course.

You don't need to have perfected your packages or know exactly what your business will look like 12 months from now.

Because the truth is, some of it WILL change.

You'll learn things from working with real clients that you couldn't possibly have learned while preparing for them.

Your services might change. Your prices will probably change. Your processes will improve. You might discover you love working with a type of client you'd never even considered.

At some point, you've got to stop getting ready to build the business and actually start building it.

3. From “What will people think?” to “It takes courage to build something of your own”

I think this holds SO many people back.

Because starting a business means putting yourself out there.

People you used to work with might see your posts.

Your friends might see you talking about your services.

Your family might not completely understand what you're doing.

You might write a post and immediately think, “Oh God, who do I think I am?” 😂

And sometimes it's easier to stay small than risk somebody having an opinion.

But here's the thing...

It takes courage to build something of your own.

To say I'm going to have a go at this.

To talk about what you're good at.

To charge for it.

To tell people what you're building before you know exactly how it's all going to turn out.

There will always be people who don't get it.

They don't need to.

It's not their business.

It's yours.

4. From “I'm just a VA” to “I'm a business owner”

Please remove the word JUST from the way you talk about what you do.

You're not just a VA.

And more importantly, if you're running your own VA business, you aren't only responsible for doing great client work.

You're responsible for finding those clients in the first place.

You're responsible for your pricing.

Your marketing.

Your finances.

Your systems.

Your client experience.

Your boundaries.

Your capacity.

Your profitability.

And ultimately, deciding where the bloody thing goes next.

Being brilliant at providing VA services is obviously important.

But that's only one part of building a successful VA business.

When you start seeing yourself as a business owner, you start asking different questions.

Not just:

“How do I do a brilliant job for my clients?”

But:

“How do I build a brilliant business too?”

5. From “Where is my next client coming from?” to “How can I create my next opportunity?”

We've probably ALL had the “Where the hell is my next client going to come from?” thought at some point.

But there's a big difference between waiting for opportunities and actively creating them.

Posting on social media and hoping somebody enquires isn't your only option.

Who could you follow up with?

Who could you reconnect with?

What networking event could you attend?

What conversation could you start?

Who already knows what you do and could potentially refer you?

What business could you genuinely help?

You can't control exactly when somebody will decide they need your support.

But you CAN control whether you're consistently doing things that create opportunities for those conversations to happen.

That's a very different place to operate from.

6. From “I need more clients” to “I need the RIGHT business”

When you're starting out, getting clients understandably feels like THE goal.

Then you get some.

And eventually you realise that more clients isn't always the answer.

You can be fully booked and still not be making enough money.

You can have a diary bursting at the seams and be absolutely exhausted.

You can have loads of clients but spend your entire week doing work you don't actually enjoy.

You can look incredibly successful from the outside while knowing the numbers don't really stack up behind the scenes.

At some point, the question needs to shift from:

“How can I get more clients?”

to:

“Is the business I'm building actually working for me?”

That might mean looking at your pricing.

Your profitability.

Your services.

Your client mix.

Your boundaries.

Your capacity.

Or eventually whether you want to grow beyond just you.

More isn't automatically better.

The goal is to build a business that actually works.

7. From “What should a successful VA business look like?” to “What do I want MY business to look like?”

There are a LOT of people online telling you what success should look like.

£10k months.

A waiting list.

An agency.

A team.

Passive income.

A massive audience.

A six-figure business.

And if that's what YOU want, brilliant. Go for it.

But you don't have to want any of those things.

Maybe success for you is three brilliant long-term clients and Fridays off.

Maybe it's earning enough to leave employment.

Maybe it's building your work around your children.

Maybe it's travelling while you work.

Maybe you DO want to build an agency and a team.

Maybe you want to build something bloody massive.

There isn't one correct version of a successful VA business.

And one of the best things about building your own business is that you get to decide what YOUR version looks like.

So stop measuring your business against somebody else's goals.

Ask yourself:

What do I actually want this business to give me?

And then build towards THAT.

A small shift can change the action you take next

None of these mindset shifts require you to completely reinvent your business.

They're simply different ways of looking at what you're already building.

Because so much of running a business is learning to get out of your own bloody way.

To stop waiting until you feel completely ready.

To stop worrying quite so much about what everyone else thinks.

To recognise the experience you already have.

To create opportunities rather than waiting for them.

And to start seeing yourself as the person actually in charge of where this thing goes next.

You won't get every decision right.

None of us do.

You'll learn. You'll change things. You'll figure things out as you go.

But you've got to give yourself the opportunity to do that in the first place.

Imperfect action beats perfect inaction every time. ❤️

Want more support as you build your VA business?

If you'd like somewhere to keep having these kinds of conversations, come and join us inside my free VA Business Growth Group. ❤️

It's a space for VAs at ALL stages, whether you're working towards your first client, already growing your business or you're fully booked and figuring out what comes next.

I share practical tips, real-life lessons from running my own VA agency and plenty of reminders to actually give YOUR business some attention too.

👉 Join The VA Business Growth Group here The VA Business Growth Group | Facebook