I've been feeling a bit down of late. A couple of pieces of sad news had come my way and things have been going somewhat crazy in my own life and business. I haven't been feeling as much in control of my time as I usually like to be and also had to take over a project for a fellow VA who has had an unexpected life change take place. This added to the 'stress' of what was already happening but, as a Network owner, I have to accept that sometimes that's the way it is and I'm here to support my … [Read more...]
Celebrating 25 years in business
Next Sunday, 24 March 2019, marks 25 years in business for me. My husband is going to take me out to celebrate. Have I made millions a year? No, although I can say it's been a healthy amount over that period of time. Enough to help support and feed our family, pay for office equipment, stationery, put our kids through various activities and clubs, contributed towards holidays, contributed toward our beloved garden at home, buy gifts for my husband and daughters, and pay for the various … [Read more...]
Being a Virtual Assistant means you are a business owner
This post is a bit of a rant, but I see so many misnomers on discussion groups about people wanting to become a VA but not put in the commitment it requires. Below is a recent post I made. I want to clear something up. There's a fallacy that it costs nothing to become a Virtual Assistant. But I need to tell you there are costs. Being a Virtual Assistant means you are running a business. It's not something you do on the side to earn a bit of pocket money. It's a business. Some do it part-time, … [Read more...]
VA Story: Janet Camilleri
I have another VA story for you, this time from Janet Camilleri. Here are her words. Three years ago, completely out of the blue, my government position was made redundant. I was devastated. Although I wasn't totally happy in my job, it was local, I'd been there for many years, and working just 4 days a week, it gave me some flexibility which is important to a working mum (no matter how old your kids are!). People kept telling me that at the two year point I would look back on it as one of … [Read more...]
VA Story – Lyn Prowse-Bishop
I began over 16 years ago when I discovered there was little likelihood of getting a full time daycare place for my baby on the way. I was on maternity leave from my full time job and had to get back to work six months early for financial reasons. I put together a proposal to my boss about how I would get the work done and meet KPIs two days a week on site (the only daycare I could secure) and three days off site. He didn't go for it so I left. Then I wondered why couldn't I work like this full … [Read more...]
VA Story – Gai Hook
My story with ACS goes back to 2009 I believe Kathie? It all seems so long ago now but being part of the VA Directory in conjunction with face to face networking definitely set me on my way to building my own business. I had been managing sales teams since the 70’s for corporate, government and small to medium businesses and wanted something different in my life. I began managing large scale trade shows for organisers such as Reed Exhibitions and Expertise Events prior to setting up Virtual … [Read more...]
VA Story: Glynis Moland
Another in our series on VA Stories. My name is Glynis Moland and I’ve been a VA for the past 8 years. My businesses are Secretarial Service of WA and Diamond Planning. I do not work from home but I have an office in a beautiful old mall called London Court based in the heart of Perth’s beautiful CBD. Whilst in Perth on holiday around 1998 I visited London Court and was very surprised to see a Secretarial Service in the heart of the City – in a very unusual setting based on an old London … [Read more...]
VA Story: Frances Lowe
This is the second of our series. Frances has been a long term member of our VA network - since 2002. My name is Frances Lowe and I have been a VA for the best part of 15 years. Started as a VA in 1998/99 and was working in recruitment. I was working freelance for an international procurement consultancy. I had previously worked in recruitment and had run my own agency back in the eighties. I started with Clayton's in or around 2002 and am still a proud member. I suppose the main reasons … [Read more...]
VA Story: Melissa Williscroft
I'm starting a series on VA stories - those VAs who have been around for awhile and how and why they got into the industry. The first is a long-term member of ACS and that is Melissa Williscroft. Melissa has been a member of the ACS Network since 2009. Below she shares her story. Starting my virtual administration business was the best decision that I ever made. My son was 18 months old and the pressure was on for me to return to work. I was staring down the barrel of having to return to … [Read more...]