| A client of mine recently asked me, "Is there | | | | services. |
| enough work out there for mobile and virtual | | | | Now consider this: if I contacted even HALF of |
| administrative assistants?" | | | | those 3,492 businesses, there'd be roughly 1,700 |
| I answered yes, because I always have more | | | | potential clients out there for me. And it doesn't |
| work than I need. But then I started thinking | | | | matter if I'm a mobile administrative assistant, a |
| about that and wanted to be able to "prove it." | | | | mobile project assistant or a mobile bookkeeper! |
| And I found out something today that floored me. | | | | In fact, some companies might want to hire all |
| (It was a numbers thing, which always makes my | | | | three. |
| ears perk up.) | | | | Of course, at least half probably already have |
| This morning I sat down in front of my computer | | | | some sort of in-house help (like maybe their wife |
| and did a quick search on my local library's | | | | handles the bookkeeping). But we've still got |
| reference site. I used something called Reference | | | | roughly 850 potentials. Ok, maybe half of those |
| USA (a free service I can access by just plugging | | | | have either gone out of business, don't have |
| in my library card number). The service allowed | | | | enough work to hire a mobile assistant or simply |
| me to put in search criteria and creates a list of | | | | don't fit my definition of "ideal" clients. That STILL |
| all the businesses that fit my criteria. So, knowing | | | | leaves more than 400 businesses to contact. |
| my target audience (do you know yours?), I | | | | I think that number is definitely big enough to get |
| searched for all businesses within my geographic | | | | excited about! My metro area is close to a million |
| area (Charlotte, NC) with 1-4 employees. It turned | | | | strong. There are maybe half a dozen of us |
| up about 25,000 businesses! | | | | acting as virtual or mobile assistants in this area |
| Then I decided to get more specific. I tightened | | | | (that I can find). If each of us can comfortably |
| the criteria to include home-based businesses and | | | | handle between six and twelve clients, that leaves |
| broke them down according to sales volume. | | | | a bunch of potential clients for each of us to |
| Here's what I found: | | | | continue to market our services to. |
| 2,422 businesses are listed as making less than | | | | And that doesn't include businesses that didn't get |
| $500,000 | | | | picked up in the Reference USA directory (which I |
| 502 businesses are listed as making between | | | | estimate to be in the hundreds), clients you get |
| $500,000 - to $1 million | | | | via referral, and new businesses that are getting |
| 236 businesses are listed as making between $1 | | | | started each day. |
| million - $2.5 million | | | | The point of this is to show you that the |
| 29 businesses are listed as making between $2.5 | | | | home-based business market is strong. It's |
| million - $5 million | | | | growing. And there's a need for administrative, |
| 5 businesses are listed as making between $5 | | | | project and bookkeeping assistants for the |
| million - $10 million | | | | majority of these businesses. Small business |
| 3 businesses are listed as making between $10 - | | | | owners should not be spending their time on |
| $20 million | | | | administrative or bookkeeping tasks. Dollar for |
| 295 businesses are listed as UNKNOWN - meaning | | | | dollar, these tasks COST them money when they |
| they could be earning $10 per year or $10 million | | | | do it themselves. Instead, they should be out |
| per year | | | | "shaking the bushes" - looking for new clients to |
| (All totals are reported based on sales volume for | | | | grow their business and provide revenue! |
| 2007) | | | | Our job is to let them know we're here, let them |
| Of the 3,492 companies, 295 had "unknown | | | | know what we can do for them and most of all, |
| revenues." Almost 2,500 are making less than | | | | show them how we can save them time and |
| $500,000 a year and 775 are making MORE than | | | | money by freeing up small business owners to do |
| $500,000 a year. Suddenly, here's proof that | | | | what they do best. |
| there's a HUGE market out there for my | | | | |