Response to Covid-19 Crisis
Firstly, I wanted to stress that every VA I’ve spoken to this week has lost work because of this crisis. We are all feeling the pinch. Covid-19 is not only a health crisis, but also an economic one.
You haven’t done anything wrong, you aren’t a “bad VA” if you’ve lost clients, it is just economic pressure on the gig economy as a whole. This is not the time for “fake it till you make it” – ask for help if you are struggling.
Those with retainer clients have been hit hardest because they are a fixed cost. Those who have one specialist niche or only a couple of clients are most vulnerable.
Today we heard from a number of VAs who have lost 50% of their business in the last week. It’s a sobering thought.
But the good news is, as VAs we are flexible. We offer a solution to clients who perhaps have had to downsize their admin staff. If you can hang in there for a few months until the Covid-19 threat has passed, you’ll be well placed.
We don’t think there will be much government help for us, but I’ve put the advice line numbers and some other useful links in a document available on the private FB group.
More good news: We also have the skills necessary to enable those businesses working from home for the first time to operate – switching events to virtual events, hosting online meetings, advising on security, workflows and set ups. People are interested in what we do right now, so there are media opportunities too… I spoke with a journo this morning.
We’ve put together a download for you which contains all the links we spoke about on the webinar, which you can access via the private SVA Facebook Group.
If you cannot access the group, please email info@societyofvirtualassistants.co.uk with the email you use for your Facebook account and we will add you in.