Here are the 3 of the most common mistakes new VAs make when they start out. Avoiding these crippling mistakes will speed up your business success rate.

Mistake #1: Working without a plan

Let’s think about it differently. When you want to take a vacation, do you first

• Think about where you would like to spend your holiday;
• Look at the dates that will suite you and your family best;
• Set time aside to find the best accommodation and make the reservations up front;
• Fill the car with fuel or buy the plane tickets;
• Pack the right type of clothes?

Or do you just decide one day: I’m going on vacation right now. Gather everybody. Jump into your car and start driving without really knowing where you’re going?

Off course you don’t.

To prevent the holiday from turning into a disaster, you’ll probably do some planning upfront.

It’s the same with business. To ensure your business do not turn into a nightmare, it’s better to create a plan that will ensure you’ll reach the place where you want to be in future.

Creating a plan doesn’t need to be difficult. Your first plan simply needs to include

• What services you’ll focus on (and here the emphasis in on ‘focus’ because even though you might be able to do a whole lot of things, you cannot focus on all of them).
• Who needs those services the most? Who you would like to work with?
• How you will reach them?
• How much income do you want to generate on a monthly or annual basis (because that will tell you how many clients you need to enroll every month).

And when you make your plans, don’t just do it in your head – write it down. Put it on a piece of paper or somewhere on your PC where you can access it daily, so you won’t forget about it.

Mistake #2: Putting the cart before the horse

One of the biggest benefits of having a VA business is your ability to work remotely with clients. For this reason, many new VAs believe they first need to get their online presence in place.

Well, contradictory to this belief , the most important thing you need to do when you first start out is NOT getting a website online or setting up your social media presence or designing a logo for your business.

Although all of these things are important for the long term success of your business, don’t focus on them in the beginning… because if you do it’s like putting the cart before the horse and then your business won’t go anywhere fast.

The most important thing you need to do when you first start out is to get paying clients.

This will give a much better return on your time investment because when you enroll clients first (even when you don’t have a website, yet) you start earning an income. And when you have income, you have more options and can make better long-term decisions to benefit your business.

Mistake #3: Waiting for clients

As said in Mistake #2, many new VAs focus their start-up time and energy on getting online and using online marketing tactics to get clients.

This include things like creating a website, writing blog posts or doing guest blogging, completing profiles on online job boards, posting status updates on various social media platforms and online groups, and spending time in online forums.

Then they sit back and wait for potential clients to get in touch.

Well, although online marketing tactics and strategies are great for any business, it takes time for online strategies to produce great results – time that new VAs don’t have.

With online marketing, you do not have much control over who will get in touch, when they’ll get in touch and how many people will actually get in touch.

So, instead of relying on online tactics and strategies in those first critical months (where you have to wait for clients to get in touch), rather focus on marketing where you have more control over the potential results.

Have courage to go out, to meet people and to speak to them in person or over the phone. These direct marketing strategies put you in control of your results and often leads to many more clients in a shorter period of time.

Getting clients doesn’t have to be tough. It can be easy and fun if you follow the right processes and create marketing momentum in your business… right from the start!

To Your Success

In my opinion however, the absolute first thing you MUST do before you start your business is to really understand YOU.

We all like to think we know ourselves really well but I sometimes wonder if that is true. It’s like in the analogy from the movie Shrek, where Shrek talked to Donkey and said

Shrek: For your information, there’s a lot more to ogres than people think.
Donkey: Example?
Shrek: Example… uh… ogres are like onions!
Donkey: They stink?
Shrek: Yes… No!
Donkey: Oh, they make you cry?
Shrek: NO! Layers! Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. Onions have layers. You get it? We both have layers.

Like ogres, there’s a lot more to you than meets the eye.  You have layers!

How well do you know your layers? How well do you know:

• What you are really passionate about.
• What motivates you?
• What your values are?
• What your fears are?

Research has consistently shown that people, who truly understand these basic things about themselves, tend to be stronger performers and better leaders in their industries. It’s not just about knowing your strengths and weaknesses; it is also about understanding your personality and knowing what is important to you because that knowledge drives your behavior and the decisions you make.

It helps you make better decisions in terms of:

• The services you offer
• How you perform your work
• The type of clients you work with
• How you interact with clients
• How you manage your business and resources to progress faster

The truth is: Success in life starts with CLARITY.

So for me, knowing and understanding who you are, what you are willing to do, what you want in life and why you want it, is the STARTING POINT of creating a successful virtual assistant business, because only then you can direct your thoughts, plans and actions to achieve all the things you want.

Read more:

Become a Virtual Assistant in South Africa

How to Start a Virtual Assistant Business

For me, working as a services professional for the past 5 years, the benefits of working at home far outweigh the concerns and I cannot imagine ever going back to a corporate office again.

However, there are also a couple of things that are not as glamorous. There are many challenges that you have to deal with on a daily basis working as a Virtual Assistant. So, here is a list of some of the top challenges and some ways to solve each.

No fixed income

It’s true that you are in control of your financial destiny when you work at home. That destiny can be very rosy, but unfortunately it can also be (for some) disastrous. Working from home inevitably means that you do not have a fixed pay-cheque every month. Your income varies from month to month and especially in the beginning, it is difficult to earn the same you’ve earned while working in corporate.

When you start out, evaluate your situation. Are you the sole provider for your family? Do you have a spouse that can take care of your day-to-day living costs for an indefinite period until your business is sustainable and profitable? If not, do not quit your job immediately – start your business part-time because you need to live first. It’s quite stressful living off your savings and seeing it reach a point where you are forced to take up employment again.

Separating work from family life

One of the main advantages of working at home is to be closer to the family. But, this can be one of the biggest challenges too. The daily routine in the house could get in the way of getting your work done: children demanding your attention, hubby returning home early from work and wants to chat about his workday while you know there’s still a ton of work to do.

The easiest to separate work from family life is to set some rules and to have specific working hours as the first wave of defense. Do it in such a way that it fit your lifestyle. For me, I work in the mornings and then the afternoons are usually occupied by the children and playing mom’s taxi. So I rarely get to do some work during the afternoons. But, at night when everybody goes to bed and the house is quite, I return to my office and put in another 3-4 hours of working time.

Struggling with self-discipline or self-management

It is much harder to stay on task in a home office when there is no one watching over your shoulder. It is also easy to get distracted – even if you have the best laid out plans and intentions. A friend can show up unexpected, or you need to run to the shop for bread and milk, or there is a party coming and you need a new outfit or the washing is piling up and you need to attend to it. There are so many things that can test your self-discipline at home.

One of the best solutions that really help with this is to set specific working hours and rules – mostly for yourself. Show up at your “office” at the same time each morning. Block out the times that you will work and then stay focused on the tasks at hand. When in your office, you work. Schedule breaks for times when you need to do the washing, and limit trips to town for weekends and afterhours when your “work day” is over.

You’re “always” at work

I must admit, this is the one challenge that I struggle with the most. I often allow the temptation to work too much sneak into the picture. It is easy to quickly check some email while cooking dinner or run to the computer when you have a few minutes or take work with you everywhere you go. The technology beast humankind created even allows me to take my work on vacation (much to the frustration of my family).

But, you need to create some balance. Apart from setting work hours and rules for yourself, it is also important to “be in the moment”. When you work, you work fully, but when you are with your family, you are fully with them. This is sometimes easier said than done. Something that works for me is to involve my daughter in my work. At times when I have a deadline looming and cannot give my attention to her fully, I ask her to assist me with things like writing my goals on colourful paper and decorating it with picture or drawings. That not only keeps her busy but helps her to understand what I do, makes her feel part of my work and when we achieve that goal she feels part of the success as well.

Staying professional

As Virtual Assistants we work with many different clients and clients do not enjoy (or understand) background noises when speaking to you on the phone or on Skype. Things like children playing and shouting in the background, the dog barking outside the window, the TV or radio playing in the background are all diminishing the professional image you want to portray to clients.

To be more productive and to feel professional when working, it is best to have a dedicated workspace and preferably in a room with a door that you can close to block out background noises. If space is a problem, be creative to find somewhere you can put a desk away from the noisiest areas of the house.

While these are not the only challenges Virtual Assistants face, they are some of the most common ones. Everybody will not face the same challenges, but we all have some to deal with daily. Luckily we are by nature entrepreneurs and when we face challenges, we will find a solution for it!

Share with us below what are the challenges of working at home that you face in your business.

There are many reasons that motivate and inspire people to take action. Here’s just a snapshot of some of the more logical and somewhat crazy (but valid) reasons for becoming a Virtual Assistant.

10 Logical Reasons For Becoming a VA

1. Having your own profitable business (from home)
2. Not spending an arm and a leg on starting a business. Start-up costs relatively low – you probably have the most essential equipment already.
3. Using your existing skills and experience to earn a good income.
4. Having control over your income – no more waiting for a pay raise or promotion before you can increase your income.
5. Creating your own job happiness – working with the clients you want and doing the work you like.
6. Determining your own hours and work schedule – priceless
7. Have the freedom to start small and the option to grow and expand your business as big as you want it to be.
8. Being your own boss. Setting your own rules, goals, and objectives to fit your lifestyle and your needs.
9. Creating job security – No more worrying about being redundant or being let go when a company is downsizing.
10. Saving on transportation costs – no commuting to an office halfway across the city.

10 Crazy (but perfectly valid) Reasons For Becoming a VA

1. Taking the kids to after-school sporting practice…or to the dentist – anytime you want.
2. Being available for important “first’s” – that first word or the first step, the first day at school, the first sport event, the first excitement about a new girlfriend/ boyfriend.
3. No more feeling guilty to take time off work to wait for maintenance people coming to your house.
4. Having complete control over the design of your workspace.
5. Taking a break anytime to do some exercise – even doing it next to your desk.
6. No more sharing of toilets and wet hand towels!
7. No more rushing to get yourself, kids and hubby ready and out the door in the mornings
8. Less chaotic evenings for cooking a wholesome dinner.
9. Saving on wardrobe costs – no need for expensive office clothes.
10. Contributing to a “Greener” environment. No daily commuting; no emissions being released from your vehicle; less pollution and less traffic. Nice. Being a VA even means doing your part to decongest traffic on the roads and contributing to be “green” : )

What other reasons can you can think off that makes working from home so much fun. Share it with us in the comment box below.

Some people will automatically say yes!

Others will waver a bit before they answer,

…..and a few will admit it is not!

At first glance, many people may think virtual assistance is a simple career to break into but unfortunately, reality often proves otherwise.

Although in theory anyone with the right technical and administrative skills can become a Virtual Assistant, in practice, only a few really run a successful Virtual Assistant business.

For many, Virtual Assistance is a dream comes true, but for others, this dream sometimes turns into a horrible nightmare.

So, what can you do to ensure your Virtual Assistant business IS in fact a dream career?

Well, to start with, here are a few important questions to ask yourself before starting your own virtual assistant business:

1. Can you work independently? In a 9-5 job, you know what is expected of you and someone else determines how much work you do and when you do it. As a Virtual Assistant, you’re the boss and the buck stops with you. Nobody tells you what to do, nobody motivates you and nobody determines your pace.

2. Do you understand the VA industry? Do you understand that a Virtual Assistant is an independent business owner and what it all entails? Do you know what services you will provide and do you understand how to effectively communicate with your clients and deliver your services when you are miles or even continents apart?

3. Do you understand what it takes to run a business and are you ready for that commitment? As independent business owners, VAs run their own businesses and as such have to consider things like …

• Deciding on a Business name
• Developing a Business Plan
• Developing a Marketing Plan and Finding their own clients
• Developing a Website
• Determining a suitable rate to charge for their services
• Having an effective bookkeeping system for invoicing and collecting payments
• Developing contracts to protect themselves and their clients
• Protecting their business via insurance and effective back-up plans

4. Do you have marketable skills? If you’ve had experience as an administrative assistant, you most likely have the skills needed to get started. But you may need to add new skills to really stand out from the crowd since the number of Virtual Assistants competing for jobs has increased tremendously. Thus, in order to be really successful it is necessary to have a unique, desirable skill set. In other words, skills that are in high demand and that are not freely available. Skills which can solve a client’s needs and skills that you can charge a premium price for.

5. Can you wait for your first client? In most cases, clients will not line up for your services the minute you open your doors for business.  Growing a business takes time and often you don’t find that first client for several months. Do you have enough financial resources as a back-up when you don’t find your first client soon? Do you have your plans in place to go out FIND your first client?

***

It is important to be patient and persevere during the start-up phase and to continue marketing your business on a daily basis. Face-to-face marketing to friends, family, colleagues and new potential clients and spreading the message via “Word of Mouth” is usually the easiest and most common method of finding your first solid client.

As I already said above, a Virtual Assistant career can be a dream comes true for many, but it can just as easily convert into a nightmare for those who are not sufficiently prepared for the challenges that will come their way.

If you cannot answer positively on the questions above, but it is still your passion to become a Virtual Assistant – don’t despair. There is a lot of information on the VA industry, what it takes to become a Virtual Assistant and how to have a successful Virtual Assistant career. Read as much as you can, join VA organisations, speak to existing VAs, start your business part-time, get a business coach if you want and develop your skill sets until you feel more comfortable.

Remember: Anything in life is possible – but only you can decide how to live your dream!!

At Be Virtual Assistant Wise, we are really passionate about helping you to succeed in your virtual assistant career.  We would also love to hear about the challenges you experience in starting your VA business . You can use the comment box below to tell us more about it.