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Don’t Make this Mistake When Responding to Proposal Requests

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I recently posted a request for proposal on one of those on-line freelance sites to have a very large Word document with table information converted to an Excel spreadsheet.  Generally it’s a straightforward issue that I would have no problem completing myself.  However, this particular table had a trait that made it just a bit out of my league (I know bupkus about scripts) – but someone with more advanced Excel skills would have no problem with, which was confirmed by some of the responses I got for my request.

Now, on to what annoys me…

Do not make the person requesting the proposal look in different places to find your bidding information.  Please just respond to the proposal in the designated proposal area.  Don’t make me go to the stinkin’ private message board to see what you have to say.  I’ve got 50+ proposals to look through and I DON’T want to have to track down your response.  Needless to say, those who responded with “See my response in the PMB”, or even LESS professional “pls see pm” didn’t even get a second look – and barely got a first one.

I DID however, appreciate those who attached a sample of how they converted the sample page I attached to my proposal.  That showed me they actually looked at what I put out there and thought about what I needed.

The “canned” responses that had absolutely no reference to what I needed done in the first paragraph of their response also did not get a second look.

Be Careful What You Wish For

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To quote one of my favorite artists, Chris Daughtry … Be careful what you wish for, ’cause you just might get it all. You just might get it all, and then some you don’t want.

So, what am I talking about?  Success. Or, at least what I thought was success. We all want to have a full slate of clients.  Unfortunately, I didn’t anticipate getting so many clients in such a short amount of time.  While my bank account and my husband appreciate the influx of clients, my organizational abilities are stretched to the limits. I have the best intentions at being organized, but alas, it is something I definitely struggle with on a daily basis.

I am being forced to re-examine my daily routine now that my client base has expanded so rapidly and the demand on my time has increased exponentially from not only my clients, but my family as well (my husband is currently in training at the state Criminal Justice Academy and is only home from Friday evening until Sunday evening…leaving me do deal with a 2nd grader, a 23 month old and our 110 pound Lab by myself until January 2nd).

Could this stress have been avoided?  Probably.  In hind sight I should have implemented a more stringent routine months ago, setting aside a specific period of time each day for certain clients.  But, to be honest, I did try that once a few weeks ago. Unfortunately the day I tried to “map out my day” was a day that terribly wrong and a single client project ended up monopolizing my entire day even though I had alloted time for 4 different clients that day.  I shouldn’t have abandoned the idea of scheduling … I should have gotten right back on that horse the next day.

So, what this all boils down to is it doesn’t matter if you’re a virtual assistant or some other type of entrepreneur, find a schedule that works for you.  If it doesn’t work the first time, tweek it until it works.  Don’t wait until your client load is completely full to try to get yourself organized.  Trust me, the stress will take it’s toll.  And, as any good entrepreneur knows, if you work hard enough and long enough, the success will come – just try to be prepared for it.

Outsourcing Doesn’t Have to be a Dirty Word

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When the topic turns to outsourcing, many times thoughts immediately turn to outsourcing “overseas” and immediately dismiss the thought, thinking it takes jobs away from your country – forgetting about the option to outsource locally. The definition of outsource according to Merriam-Webster.com is:

to procure (as some goods or services needed by a business or organization) under contract with an outside supplier <decided to outsource some back-office operations>

Virtual Assistants do not need to be in the same geographic location as their clients, but sometimes clients like that little extra security of knowing their VA is close. So where do you find a Virtual Assistant that is “close to home”? Most VA’s do not advertise in the Yellow Pages, but there are still ways you can find a local VA. You can visit the directories for VAnetworking.com or the International Virtual Assistant Association and search your state (or province, country, etc.), or you could submit a request for proposal (RFP) on either of those two sites requesting your VA be in a particular geographic region.

But, again, it is not necessary for a VA to be in the same town, state, or time zone for the VA/Client relationship to work. Although I am in South Carolina, I have clients in Massachusetts, Maryland and California.

So, the next time you hear the term “outsource”, don’t immediately think it’s a dirty word – you can outsource locally!