When I began my accounting practice in 2017, I set myself some clear guidelines. In truth, I didn’t set out to start an accounting practice: I had a greater goal of living and working from virtually anywhere, with no set hours, and generating enough profit to secure my retirement and current lifestyle. It wasn’t an easy transition but I made it work. And with the right mindset and guidelines, you can too.
Running a truly virtual business is not the same as running a brick and mortar or other traditional business. I’ve had other online businesses before, but I was still tied to a specific location. While I was getting most of my clients online, I had a co-working space and often met local clients face-to-face. If you are truly committed to being only virtual there are some final steps you have to take to solidify the transition.
For me, the final push to being fully virtual was helped along by the 2020 Covid pandemic. I didn’t have a choice to meet people in person, use a co-working space, or even do local networking. So, I used the tips below to achieve the goals I set for my business and myself.
Tip 1: Remove unwanted options
There have been many situations in business and life where I had an easier solution, like using a co-working space instead of working from home. But the easier option wasn’t the one I wanted. From a psychological perspective, when I remove the easy unwanted solutions, my brain finds a novel way to solve the problem. Just because an option is easy and might solve the problem doesn’t mean it’s the right fit for your business.
Tip 2: Have an online presence
It’s very disconcerting to hire someone online with no prior reviews or information about them. I always found that that first client was the hardest to get. To boost your ability to land more clients you have to be searchable online—you must be visible. I don’t advertise or market online; I experimented, but the ROI wasn’t high enough. I still maintain a strong online presence, however, so when a client is considering hiring my firm, they can get to know what I’m all about.
Tip 3: Ask for reviews
When I started my accounting practice, I had the benefit of prior experience managing an online business so I understood the power of reviews. From the start, I asked some prior clients to leave reviews about my work, which allowed me to immediately land new clients. If you are just starting out, asking for reviews from each client is paramount to your success.
Tip 4: Streamline referrals
Referrals are essential to growing a new business. Many businesses, virtual or not, don’t have a streamline process for asking and receiving referrals. Once you are ready for tremendous growth, make sure you pick the lowest hanging fruit first by developing a streamlined referral pipeline. It doesn’t have to be complicated; even a simple email to clients asking for referrals, and a follow up thanking them, will put you ahead of your competition.
Tip 5: Get a coach
If you are like me and procrastinate, then a coach can help you stay on track. I use Commit Action to help me identify my important, instead of urgent, goals and tackle them one week at a time. When you don’t have someone to keep you on track, it can be easy to put off what’s important because you get overwhelmed with the urgent. When you run a business, one eye must be on the larger goals—a coach can help keep you on track.
Each business is different so there is not an all-in-one solution to starting and building a virtual business. There are a plethora of business books that can help you develop specific solutions and strategies to grow your business. The trick is to make sure you pick the ideas and solutions that will provide a framework to help you develop and execute on those ideas.
I’m still in what I call the first stage of developing my business. The tips above have helped me get to the point where I can work from anywhere and mostly set my own schedule. Although my prior experience has made it a seemingly easy journey, it took a lot of coordination, careful execution, and consistent monitoring to make it achievable. In the post–2020 pandemic world, a virtual business is not just a buzzword but a way to efficiently make money.
This article originally appeared on Forbes