Success in Sweatpants

To do the work, you’ve got to have the work. How and where does a vpreneur find the projects that build a 6-figure VSB?

The easy and not very useful answer is “wherever you can get it.” A slightly more useful answer is that the only limit to sources for work is your own imagination.

I’ve already talked a bit about online project boards as virtual business sources. These are so significant that I will spend a lot of blogspace talking about how to use them effectively.

There are other business sources to consider, though. To spur you on to think of ways you can pull in projects, here are some ideas for securing your first chunk of business:

• Your own contact list. If you have been working a job in a field that matches your services, you will likely have a network of business acquaintances that you can mine for jobs.
• Local professional associations. Yes, I know that you are a virtual business, but if you are an elbow-rubber by nature, attend meetings of local associations in the markets you want attract.
• Article writing. Submitting articles to article banks can be a great source of prospects, especially for a service business.  Write articles that pertain in some way to the services you provide, create a great byline that includes your web site address, and upload to the banks. The more the better. Google "article banks" or "ezine articles" and you should get a load of free places to make your articles available for others’ use (and free publicity for you!).
  
• Your web site. The topic of internet marketing is a big one with all kinds of moving parts (ezines, autoresponders, sales letters, Google Adsense, key words, and so on). There are books, courses, seminars, and other web sites galore about how to pull in business from your site.

The thing that few internet gurus want to admit about web sites is that bringing in 6-figure business through your site takes time and a lot of work.

Rather than pouring time and money into something extensive up front, I recommend going the “electronic brochure” route: A good explanation of who you are and what services you provide, samples of your work, testimonials from clients, and a way to contact you. You can expand on this when it makes business sense to do so (e.g., when you add infoproducts to your business).

Also, I suggest including something that requires people to sign up to receive (e.g. a newsletter or a special report) to create an email subscriber list that you can communicate with and market to. We will talk about using this list in more detail in posts to come.