TornadoWilkes
05-30-2002, 08:25 PM
Just like many find out the hard way when trying to start a business, VA's need customers to suceed. I offer here the keys to success, the recipe that if followed will result in untold fame and VA glory.
1. Manage a good team
Without a group of skilled enthusiasts, you are doomed to fail. Each must possess individual but complimentary skill sets that when combined form the whole picture of a professional VA. Just like a knife and fork are completely different, they both come together as a useful set. Your team must likewise be different but complimentary.
2. Your mission vision
Draw a picture in your minds eye of exactly what you're going to create, write it down, communicate it with your team, test its likely appeal with a select group of VA pilots, but above all else, when your vision becomes so real that you can all taste it, stick to it.
3. Put the customer first
Forget the fact that this is your hobby, the customers arent going to come because YOU'RE enjoying YOURSELF. Find out what they want, ask them, dont presume unless you've first asked. Love complaints, they tell you what you need to alter to become successful.
4. Be a Leader
Set up events, timetables, communicate them out regularly so that everyone knows what the future holds. Assume the mantle of control however be like a father who loves his children, rather than a Tyrant who despises his people. Be approachable, honest in ALL things, benevolent, meek and do not rise to anger.
5. Create the environment, dont try to control the people in it.
Just as the best parties are the ones where the atmosphere is created by the host, he hires the room, provides the food and allows his CD player to be used, it is actually the guest who decides where they'll sit, what food they will eat and which CDs get played. Host a "VA environment," setting up the location for the guests to enter, but allow them to decide how they inhabit that space. When they complain that they need more "chairs" YOU decide whether that will help or harm your "atmosphere", however if you agree, dont ry and tell them where to sit!
6. The key to success is recruitment
High churn of pilots will result in empty flights, therefore plan to recruit in every conceivable way and encourage existing pilots to recommend you to others. You may not trust a stranger, but you likely trust you friends. Similarly, neither do the simmers who you are tying to attract. Therefore think of ways in which you could encourage your pilots to recruit their friends on your behalf, and watch the floodgates open.
7. Finally................
Be patient. 12 months is the normal bed in time for any new business. Highs and lows will surely come. You may feel alone, and only your desire to succeed will overcome very real negative emotions. Keep that vision firmly in front of your eyes, never let go and that sparkle will eventually inspire a thousand people.
Good luck ;-)
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3cb0b64c5d480adb.jpg
1. Manage a good team
Without a group of skilled enthusiasts, you are doomed to fail. Each must possess individual but complimentary skill sets that when combined form the whole picture of a professional VA. Just like a knife and fork are completely different, they both come together as a useful set. Your team must likewise be different but complimentary.
2. Your mission vision
Draw a picture in your minds eye of exactly what you're going to create, write it down, communicate it with your team, test its likely appeal with a select group of VA pilots, but above all else, when your vision becomes so real that you can all taste it, stick to it.
3. Put the customer first
Forget the fact that this is your hobby, the customers arent going to come because YOU'RE enjoying YOURSELF. Find out what they want, ask them, dont presume unless you've first asked. Love complaints, they tell you what you need to alter to become successful.
4. Be a Leader
Set up events, timetables, communicate them out regularly so that everyone knows what the future holds. Assume the mantle of control however be like a father who loves his children, rather than a Tyrant who despises his people. Be approachable, honest in ALL things, benevolent, meek and do not rise to anger.
5. Create the environment, dont try to control the people in it.
Just as the best parties are the ones where the atmosphere is created by the host, he hires the room, provides the food and allows his CD player to be used, it is actually the guest who decides where they'll sit, what food they will eat and which CDs get played. Host a "VA environment," setting up the location for the guests to enter, but allow them to decide how they inhabit that space. When they complain that they need more "chairs" YOU decide whether that will help or harm your "atmosphere", however if you agree, dont ry and tell them where to sit!
6. The key to success is recruitment
High churn of pilots will result in empty flights, therefore plan to recruit in every conceivable way and encourage existing pilots to recommend you to others. You may not trust a stranger, but you likely trust you friends. Similarly, neither do the simmers who you are tying to attract. Therefore think of ways in which you could encourage your pilots to recruit their friends on your behalf, and watch the floodgates open.
7. Finally................
Be patient. 12 months is the normal bed in time for any new business. Highs and lows will surely come. You may feel alone, and only your desire to succeed will overcome very real negative emotions. Keep that vision firmly in front of your eyes, never let go and that sparkle will eventually inspire a thousand people.
Good luck ;-)
http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/User_files/3cb0b64c5d480adb.jpg