Recent posts at a VA forum has made me wonder just how much do Virtual Assistants (and other self-employed) value the importance of their own self education.  It is oh-so-easy just to quit and give up and move on to something else if it doesn’t work out.  When in reality, if people were just prepared to take the time to learn and listen from others who are more experienced, they may well succeed.

To quote one long-term VA from the forum:

A lot of VAs have started and quit early because they just don’t have what it takes to work for themselves. I believe you have to have the “I will not take no for an answer” attitude to want to work from home and be successful at it. By having this attitude, you will find the means to get what it takes to stay in your home-based business.

Another responded with:

I would have to agree with Linda. Being successful as a VA means you have to not only work on getting more clients but diversify and educate yourself to do more and improve.

Which prompted a further response from me because that last sentence hit the nail on the head.

Here!  Here!  I agree, which is why I’m always perplexed as to why there aren’t a lot more VAs attending conferences or events designed to help them improve and educate themselves for better businesses.

I’m running a conference here in Australia in March for the VA industry and although we do have bookings they are only half what I was expecting. Why is this I wonder? Does no-one value the importance of self-education?

And so I raise this question here.  For those who want to advance in this industry and learn from their peers, and learn about things they can do to grow their businesses, why don’t they take the opportunity to attend events when they are organised?  IVAA runs their Summit, OIVAC has an annual online convention and we have the Australian VA Conference in Melbourne next month.  And there are more held in the US and also an annual event in the UK.

I encourage all Virtual Assistants – new, intermediate and experienced, to consider that these events are put on to assist you in your businesses and give you the opportunity to learn from others in a condensed period of time. I guarantee you will go away enthused, encouraged, motivated and ready to move to the next level.

By the way, it’s not too late to book for the AustralianVAConference (AVAC) – which is being held on 12/13 March in Melbourne.

Addendum:  To clarify, AVAC has a great lineup of speakers and presenters and we do have a good number of bookings – but I am aware there are many VAs here in Australia who have asked for conferences over the years and/or others who have said they’re coming but I haven’t seen their bookings yet.  Would be great to have a really big turnout for our first event.