Virtual Assistant training

Virtual Assistant Training Course

The VATrainer.com course is on special at the moment up till 31st December. Ideal Christmas gift for someone you know who wants to learn about being a Virtual Assistant. Or perhaps you can gift it to yourself!

Normally $675 for the 10 week course, you can get it for $595 with some extras thrown in, including one year’s registration with the “A Clayton’s Secretary” VA Directory and also 1 year of webhosting with a domain thrown in. Now, even if you didn’t want those last 2 or 3 things, just getting the course at that price is a good thing.

Why not pay a visit now to VATrainer.com to take advantage of this Christmas special?

Kathie M Thomas

Training for a Virtual Assistant

When should a Virtual Assistant get training to be a VA? This is a question often on the mind of those who are either looking at joining the industry or have been in it for awhile and perhaps are wondering how they can get up to speed with others.

As with anything there are always a series of things to be considered as there is no clear yes or no answer.

Think about these things:

Do you have experience running any type of business?
Are you good at finding things out and solving problems?
Are you used to dealing with clients as opposed to employers?
Do you know the difference between being an employee and being a business owner?
Are you capable of taking control and running with the show, even when things seem to be going bad?
Do you know where to go get help if needed?
Do you know what services you wish to provide?
Do you know how to market your business?
Do you know what to do when a deadline is up but the work isn’t yet completed?
Do you have plans in place in case of sickness or having to be away from your business?
Do you know what you need to have in your business to keep it running?
Do you know what kind of web presence you need to have set up?
Are you prepared to say ‘the buck stops here’ and take total responsibility?

If the majority of your answers to the above questions are ‘no’ then I urge you to seriously consider getting training to run a Virtual Assistant business. Or, at the very least some coaching. (Note: your answer to the last question should be a resounding ‘yes’ otherwise you need to reconsider if you’re ready to run a business)

There are several options available out there and I encourage you to explore them to see what fits in with your time availability and budget.

I have two options on offer:

Sign up for my 10 week training program with VATrainer.com, or
Join my VA Coaching Club with monthly events and access to resources and materials to help you in your business.

If neither suit your budget, i.e. you have no money to invest at all in your business (and you should be considering whether you can actually afford to go into business) then join a VA chat forum instead. There you will get to mix and mingle with others and you’ll soon ascertain whether you need help or can manage on your own for awhile.

Kathie M Thomas

Who do you listen to?

I participate in many forums and see lots of ‘advice’ being given to newbies in the industry by others who have only been VAs themselves such a short time.

Some of that advice is good and helps to demonstrate the journey they, themselves, have been travelling, but I’ve seen some advice that was ill-founded although well-intentioned.

It is really important that VAs who are seeking advice, mentorship, coaching and training, check the backgrounds of those advising them, especially if they do get to a point of paying for advice, such as the coaching or training, or if they decide to act on the advice given them.

Simple things they can do is look at how long the ‘advisor’ has been a member of that forum (if on a board forum that shows that, or by searching message archives). Visit their website and see if it indicates how long that person has been in business. Compare their advice or suggestions with that of others.

This industry has been a fantastic one for VAs to support and encourage each other, but sometimes in their enthusiasm, a more vocal (newer) member can accidentally become seen as a leader when they have very little mileage behind them in the industry. That’s not to say they might not have good advice but I do encourage all to weigh up the advice given and seek out those who do have the walk behind their talk before taking action.

Kathie M Thomas

Can a Virtual Assistant make a good income?

On the weekend just gone there was an article published in a couple of major Australian newspapers in the My Career section about our industry and based on an interview I had with the journalist.

A comment was made on one of the forums I moderate that ‘it will take a long time and hard work to make money, if any at all’ and I want to address that comment here.

I agree that to establish a good VA business (or any business for that matter) it takes a lot of hard work and it does take time – the length of time really depends on that person and what they do to generate business. But I disagree that you won’t make any money unless you do nothing to get your business going. Nothing was ever said about ‘big money’ in the article but did give some idea of what clients might expect to pay for services here in Australia.

I’ve been in business for over 15 years and know many, many VAs who have also been in business for many years. I doubt very much they would continue with that business unless it was generating some kind of income. I know VAs who have bought houses and are paying mortgages, some whose husbands have left jobs and joined them in their home offices to work, some who have husbands who are ‘retired from a fulltime job and working part-time’, others who have been able to put their children into the schools they wanted because of the income they are generating from their home based businesses.

When people leave the corporate world to work from home two things are affected relating to the need for income:

1. They no longer have the same set of expenses incurred in going to a job such as travel, clothes for their ‘job’, meals to pay for while away from home, long childcare hours to be paid for, wear and tear on their vehicles and the list goes on.

2. They will be earning a lesser income until their business has been built up but they won’t have to distribute their income to those items listed above. Therefore the amount of income they need will change. And often they can work around the hours that their children are home with them therefore being available to their families when needed.

I found in my first year of business I worked while my children were at school and didn’t get a lot of work done while they were home and not in bed. There were often times I worked very late hours to get work completed. My marketing mainly consisted of networking – meeting people face to face at networking events and as the internet grew and changed I began networking online as well. I did try flyers in letterboxes but gave that away as not effective. I do advertise in the Yellow Pages and that has been worthwhile. I also advertise online and you may have found this article as a result of that advertising. Not all of my marketing efforts have required money to be paid but it has definitely required my time and my willingness to share my expertise and knowledge to help others.

Today I earn a fulltime income and have done so since the end of the first year of my business. However, I no longer work 7 days a week as I did when first establishing my business thanks to the guidance of my business coach and the years spent in developing this business. Not all VAs have that experience and it may take 2-3 years to build up a fulltime income – if that’s what a VA is seeking. However, not all VAs want that because of their circumstances and some are happy just to be working 5, 10 or even 15 hours a week. Do the sums and work out what your needs are financially and what time commitment you can make and you will find that the time and effort is very much worth it.

Kathie M Thomas

When someone wants to become a Virtual Assistant

I received an email via my contact form during the week from a lady who wants to become a virtual assistant. Rather than fill out the application form, she wrote to me first as she wasn’t sure if she had what it took. Her email was badly typed with misspellings, caps missing, and so on.

However, I recognised that she probably didn’t see this in the same way as she might writing a letter of application to an employer. This was my response to her:

To be truthful, if the typing you sent below is an example of your ability to type, then you will find it very hard to get work as a Virtual Assistant. Attention to detail, correct spelling, grammar and caps in the right places are most important.

Email is usually the first contact that clients will have with you and the way you present yourself online is very important.

However, lots do not realise that at first when they join our teams or our forum and they soon correct that once they realise the importance. Text chat on mobile phones haven’t helped in that regard.

May I suggest you join our chat forum that is listed on the front of our website at www.vadirectory.net? It is free and will give you the opportunity to mix and mingle with those who are already working from home and it will help you assess whether or not you can make this work for you. Some members work only 5 hours a week and some 40 hours a week with many others in between – depending on their personal situations.

We do have a virtual assistant training course that teaches you how to run a VA business but we do not teach you how to use software programs or how to type a letter in the correct way – these are things you’ll need to know already.

I hope this helps those who are seeking to join a VA team and work from home – your emails are just as important as letters of applications to prospective employers.

Kathie M Thomas