So often we hear the phrase “I can’t afford to attend the conference.” The actual truth is you can’t afford not to attend! If you are serious about the success of your Virtual Assistant business, you need to get out of the mindset that conferences are expenses and start seeing them as what they truly are; an investment.
Dictionary.com defines investment as “the investing of money or capital in order to gain profitable returns.” When you invest in a conference, there are 3 definite profitable returns to be gained:
Return #1 – Education
The primary goal of most conferences is to provide education and learning experiences for all attendees. It is so important as a business owner to gain every opportunity to further your education. As you learn new skills it increases your ability to service your clients more efficiently and effectively.
Return #2 – Contacts
In business it can be very easy to feel isolated and alone, especially for Virtual Assistants. Conferences provide you with an excellent opportunity to not only meet people that are going through the same challenges and triumphs in their business, but also provides an opportunity to develop opportunities for future joint ventures and referrals.
Return #3 – Ideas
Perhaps the most important return at any conference and the one that will benefit your Virtual Assistant business most is the “sparking” of new ideas and innovations. Just one idea implemented properly could provide a huge return on your initial investment in either new money earned or even money saved in decreased expenses.
For those of you that continue to see conferences as an expense and have yet to invest in yourself and your business take the following challenge:
Set up a new savings account strictly for conferences and deposit into it each month (you decide upon an amount that you can manage), once your account has grown enough to “afford” your first conference, attend. It is a sure fire guarantee that you will only need to “force” yourself to do this once and after attending your first conference you will definitely change your view as your investment comes back to you in huge returns and rewards for your business!
Contributed by: Yvonne Weld
P.S. Watch this video below to learn why you should attend conferences and webinars.