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Operating a VA Business

Being a Virtual Assistant means you are a business owner

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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, some do it full-time but it IS a business. And with businesses there are ALWAYS costs. Costs such as registering your business in your country, a domain name, web-hosting (although you could use free hosting to start with), a reliable computer, the right software for the services you are going to provide, a decent printer if you need it, and so on. And you should have an accountant. It’s not a hobby, it’s not some mickey mouse thing on the side, it’s a REAL business. And should be treated like one. Work out rates that are right for you – not just some cheap rate to get the client, any client. What about your expenses? Phone bills, internet connection, web hosting, business registration, business insurance, equipment insurance, stationery, printing accessories and the list goes on. Not to mention continued training as you should be educating yourself further too. If you’re in the corporate world you receive training – it doesn’t stop as a VA. Technology is always changing and so should you be too.
 
I don’t know why people have this thought that being a VA is a cheap way of earning a bit of extra income but it’s that kind of thinking that makes the public out there think they can get a VA for just $5 an hour instead of what a decent rate should be. Think about your cost of living. You need to cover those costs if you’re going to be a VA and if you’re going to use one, then accept they also need to cover their cost of living.
 
Why do I share this? Because I’ve been running a VA business for over 24 years in Australia. I have long-term clients who do pay my rate. I have an accountant I pay and a bookkeeper, plus insurances and taxes. Equipment that needs to be updated now and then, same with software. And continued education. I’ve also contributed towards my family household through my earnings. For me it’s not a part-time, something on the side type of job. It’s a business and I treat it like one.
Kathie Thomas

Kathie is the owner of VA Directory and is former past President of the Australian VA Association. She founded the Virtual Assistant industry in Australia in the mid 90s, having already been operating a home-based secretarial service. Today the VA industry covers a multitude of office-based services for clients worldwide.

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VA Certified – or Certificate?

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There’s a discussion going on amongst the ‘senior’ VA members of our industry currently. We’re concerned about the number of new VA courses popping up claiming to be ‘certified’. It’s important for you all to know that there is no industry standard (as yet) and therefore there is no industry certification.

Some of the VA Associations in different countries have talked about it from time to time, and I believe the time is coming when these associations will do something about ‘industry standards’. But until that time there is NO course that is industry certified. There’s a big difference between receiving a Certificate for doing a VA course versus being listed as ‘industry certified’.

Some years ago, when I was running the only VA network in Australia I did provide ASO = Australian Secretary Online, whereby applicants had to meet certain criteria to be listed as an ASO. This was based on a process I had studied and experienced through an industry association at the time (1990s). That included education, references, experience and so on. I had an external board of people who processed the applications and marked them – it wasn’t done by me as an individual. They had a range of business experience and marked according to the criteria that had been created. During those years there was also MVA = Master Virtual Assistant of which I was a recipient as well. I did have to pass criteria to receive it.  I later launched the first VA Course in Australia and the second in the world (to my knowledge at the time). The other one in the USA was launched the same month as mine – we later wondered if we should have collaborated but neither knew the other was working on the same thing. That person was Fred Gandee, who sadly is no longer with us. Fred, and his wife Shirley, founded the International Association of Virtual Office Assistants (IAVOA) in 1999.

However, today, because the industry has grown so much it seems that anyone can decide to set up a course, a pretty site and open their doors as a VA educator. I want to urge you to be aware that not all of these people have walked their talk or have the experience behind them. It is so important to check who is providing a course, their background experience and knowledge of the industry – not just what is being provided. We’ve all heard the stats about how a large percentage of businesses fail in the first 5 years.  While granted, more survive now, than some years ago, it’s still 50% that fail in the first five years.

[Quote: It’s often said that more than half of new businesses fail during the first year. According to the Small Business Association (SBA), this isn’t necessarily true. The SBA states that only 30% of new businesses fail during the first two years of being open, 50% during the first five years and 66% during the first 10. end quote]

How can someone who’s been a VA for only one or two years provide a course teaching you what is needed to grow a successful VA business? It would be wise to check that they have put in the hours to gain the relevant experience to teach you what you need to know to successfully build a VA business. It will be interesting to see if these courses and their owners are still in the industry in another 4-5 years’ time. Some may be, others won’t.

Kathie Thomas

Kathie is the owner of VA Directory and is former past President of the Australian VA Association. She founded the Virtual Assistant industry in Australia in the mid 90s, having already been operating a home-based secretarial service. Today the VA industry covers a multitude of office-based services for clients worldwide.

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Creating a website

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I see so many discussions on different VA and other business forums about how to create a website, what program or service to use, etc, etc.

I’ve put together my own thoughts on this, based on my own personal experience of having worked with websites for many years.

To give you my background – I built my very first website with MS Publisher in 1996. It was just a simple one page site with Microsoft clipart, a list of services and my contact details.

I then learnt MS FrontPage and built with that for a few years, probably till around 2001. I picked up a new project with a client – quite a big six month project that I shared with six other members of my VA team and learnt Dreamweaver during that time, converting 6,000 A4 pages of Word documents to html to upload to an intraweb for a hospital group. I still use Dreamweaver today, for editing coding and css style sheets. It’s also my preferred FTP option for downloading/uploading files to a web server too.

I wrote my first blog in 2003 using Blogger but after having about 90 posts there a couple of years later, recognised that if their site or server went down, I lost all of my articles. I chose to learn WordPress which was the best decision I ever made. I imported all those posts into WordPress on my own site (this very one this article is on) and now have well over 1,000 articles here on my site. And yes, the site is backed up regularly.  It was probably around mid 2000’s that I began using WordPress as the #1 tool for creating websites for myself and all my clients. I think there is only one site left that’s in html – waiting on the client to make a decision about a change to WordPress. All other sites I’ve built (somewhere between 2-300 I think – I’ve lost track) in WordPress.  Anyway, now you have this background, here is what I wanted to share with you.

Creating a website.

I see this question asked in so many groups and forums. What tool or program should be used, etc, etc. Here are my thoughts for you all.

A website is made up of three components: domain address + web hosting (where the site resides online) + the website design itself.

You can purchase all three things from the one source, or each from different sources.

1. Domain name – these are purchased usually through domain registries. There are tons out there are variable rates. And if you are not in the US, I do recommend you get one with your own country domain plus the .com if available so you have both.

2. Web hosting – again, there are many places out there that provide this. Some hosting services also sell domain names. I highly recommend you purchase hosting that includes the installation of WordPress which is, by far, the most popular tool for creating a website. It’s also very Google friendly and you truly own the content of your site. What I mean is, you can export your site from one hosting service and import it to another hosting service and be back up and running again in a short time. If you do a site through one of those builder type program sites you cannot shift your site elsewhere, and would have to start all over again.

3. Website design. You can learn to do this yourself or outsource it to someone else. Again, with WordPress, once someone else has designed it, you can still take it over to update it, change it, do whatever you wish. It is a fairly easy program to learn – I create many sites for clients and then give them access for them to update as they wish, write their blogposts, etc, etc. And it’s easy to give your site a brand new look with a different theme in just a couple of hours (or more, depending on how complex the theme is).

Hoping the above helps. An article I wrote back in March this year may also be useful for you, with respect to what to put on your site.

Kathie Thomas

Kathie is the owner of VA Directory and is former past President of the Australian VA Association. She founded the Virtual Assistant industry in Australia in the mid 90s, having already been operating a home-based secretarial service. Today the VA industry covers a multitude of office-based services for clients worldwide.

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Is self dialogue holding you back?

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Chatting with a new VA on a forum this week she expressed the need to find a mentor to help her with her business. When I asked her why she felt this need, she said she needed to get over her self-dialogue – presumably this dialogue was undermining her self-esteem.

I suggested that there might be other things that could help her also.  And this will also help you, if you’re new to the industry too. Such as reading books and listening to podcasts. We all have self dialogue – it’s about building belief in yourself and what you’re capable of. And surrounding yourself with others who can help build you up. Joining a local business networking group would probably help, or just having a small group of 3-4 who meet regularly over a cuppa to brainstorm and encourage each other too.

Another key is to make sure you only offer services in which you are well versed. If you take on work that you have no experience in, this is the quickest way to lose self-confidence. But if you are doing things you know well, then clients will be thrilled with how you can look after them and that’s so good for your self-esteem.

However, if you feel it’s important to get a coach or a mentor, remember this. Always important to check each possible mentor or coach – how long they’ve been in the business world or the VA industry. Mentors don’t need to be in our industry, nor do business coaches but a VA coach definitely should have a background of at least 5 years in our industry, preferably more, to feel assured that you will get the help and guidance you need.

Kathie Thomas

Kathie is the owner of VA Directory and is former past President of the Australian VA Association. She founded the Virtual Assistant industry in Australia in the mid 90s, having already been operating a home-based secretarial service. Today the VA industry covers a multitude of office-based services for clients worldwide.

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Struggling to find clients?

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This post applies to anyone in business, not just Virtual Assistants. But it is advice that I give to new VAs who are seeking to grow their client base for their businesses.

One such VA posted recently on a Facebook group that she was struggling to find clients who were as serious about business as she is for hers. Another VA suggested she look locally to see who there is and the response was she didn’t know how to start. That’s when I came in with some advice.  Have a read and if this is something that would help you, I’d love to hear from you as to how it has helped.

Look for local business networking groups. Check with your local shire to see if they have a directory of meetings and/or a business directory that you can list with. Ask other business owners if they meet with others on a regular basis? Look for groups like BNI, Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, etc. Wherever there is a community of people there are usually social and some business networks of some sort. Once you start looking you’ll be amazed at what you find.

And if there is nothing happening locally then invite a couple of business contacts to have a cuppa with you on a monthly basis and a chat. You’ll find out all sorts of things relating to local business, they’ll learn about you and others will hear about it and want to join in too.

Oh, and check on FaceBook if there is a local community chat group for your region. I bet there is! Just last week I posted in my own local community group asking if there was a local women’s business network and many responded saying they were looking for one too. End result was that 6 of us got together yesterday for 90 mins and had a wonderful time of exploration and learning. Was so worth it. We’re now going to meet monthly.

Once you have put on your thinking cap for ways to find and meet people, you’ll come across all sorts of opportunities. Have fun with it!

Kathie Thomas

Kathie is the owner of VA Directory and is former past President of the Australian VA Association. She founded the Virtual Assistant industry in Australia in the mid 90s, having already been operating a home-based secretarial service. Today the VA industry covers a multitude of office-based services for clients worldwide.

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