When to push back on a client
You've got a client - yay! It's time to pop the champers and enjoy the first step towards your full roster of clients.
But what if things don't go as smoothly as you'd like? What if there comes a time when you need to push back a bit?
Well, first off let me say that there's nothing wrong with having to have tricky conversations. Things aren't always going to be perfect so it's absolutely not a reflection on your VA-ness (because you're ace).
But if and when you’re feeling that things aren’t quite right, it may be the time to push back. Here are 4 examples of when you might need to do just that:
It’s outside your area of expertise
Although we instinctively want to help and be the ‘all round’ support for our clients, don’t say yes to a piece of work unless you’re confident you can get it done. It’ll become stressful for you AND there’s potential for it not going the way you thought it would.
If this happens, be honest and say you can’t help but you can find someone you can, OR make it clear you need to learn the tool or process first before you can get the work done (while being paid for the time it takes you to learn)
It’s work you hate doing
You didn’t start a VA business to do work you hate. End of!
It needs to be done urgently
Unless you have an agreement to turn work around in a short timeframe, don’t let the pressure of someone else’s deadline stress you out. Work at the pace you’ve agreed to in your contract.
And speaking of contracts, you can also include an urgency clause where for urgent tasks requiring a short turnaround time your rate is x1.5 the normal fee (or whatever feels good to you)
They pay late
Your contract will play a helpful role here, as your payment terms will be stated clearly in writing. If your client repeatedly pays you late but still sends you work requests, push back with a simple message:
‘Sure, I’ll get right on that once you’ve paid this month’s invoice. Let me know if you need me to re-send it’
It’s perfectly ok to sack a client because they are a repeat offender btw. You’re running a business and they need to respect that!
