Originally Posted by Office Goddess

Repeat posting BTW just signed my 4th client, have a meeting wed. about my potential 5th! I, too, still work a "9-5" job while getting my VA business going strong enough to support my household. I devote 6am-8am and 8pm-9pm M-F and 8am-noon on Saturdays to "The Virtual Office Goddess, LLC"; it's understood at home that I am "working" those hours and not to be disturbed. I also check emails/posts at lunch time and on breaks during the day. This makes for a long week but, that's what it takes to run your own business in the beginning! I have been "officially virtual" for approx 7 months and am (hopefully) going to sign up my 4th client next week. Each of my clients is only 4-8 hours/month of billable work so I devote the rest of my "Goddess" time to marketing, networking, etc. while maintaining my 40-hour full-time job so that my hubby and I can continue to eat. Once I am up to 20 hours/week on top of my 9-5, I will go full-time virtual and offer 25-30 hours/week to my current employer as a VA (that way, if they decline, I'm not TOTALLY dead in the water for finances ) I anticipate working 60+ hours/week for at least the next 3 years if I want to get my practice solid and develop "Goddess" into a good living. I hope to find a part-time assistant at that point to take over the "drudge work" and let me go back to working 40 hours/week and still be able to live comfortably. Let me know if you have any questions about working full-time while building your practice; I'll answer what I can...

Wow, Lily:

That sounds like a good challenge and I've often wondered how that would pan out. I'm interested to know when you do the switch from being a FTE and then switching to FT VA work. Keep me posted.

Best wishes always,

Kathya
'VA in training!'

FYI - I celebrate 3 yrs in business come June - won't be going full time VA for a while now though, since we moved my 92-yr-old father-in-law in with us last December. Certainly changed the dynamics in my household!

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Lily Chambers, The Virtual Office Goddess, LLC
Author "How to Do Your Own Small Business Bookkeeping"

Thanks for all the info. I will also be working full-time while trying to establish my business. I know that it is gonna be a challenge, but it will be worth it, when I can say goodbye to the 9-5.

It is comforting to see that other VA's still have a full time job while working on their business. I plan on working at my full-time job for another 2 or 3 years, during that time I will methodically grow my va business so when the time comes, I can do my virtual assitant full time!

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Shante'

I am also working a FT job while starting to build my virtual assistance business. Since I'm in the process of starting my business, I'm mostly researching and working on my business plan etc. during lunch and in the evening. It can certainly make for a long day, but it will be worth it in the end. I'm already working with a graphic designer on a website and logo. Can anyone suggest a good, reliable hosting vendor ?

I work with GoDaddy.com. I have found that they are very helpful with any questions that you have, and it is fairly easy to set up a website with them, and less expensive then other sites that I have looked though- check out my website, to get an idea of what you can do with www.godaddy.com: www.onlineassistant2go.com

Hope this helps you! Let me know if you have any questions!

~ Rhonda

I would like to go completely full time VA within a year. Has anyone made it that quickly?

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Kathy Martin
http://www.katsbusinessservices.com/

Thats a good question..I actually started my website a year ago in May; and I designed my business cards and whatnot, but then i started working 2 jobs, a full-time one, and a part-time one outside of my home, and wasn't very "gung-ho" on my virtual assistant business; so it went by the wayside, now I am more then determined then ever, to finally get the ball rolling! Hence, why my presence has been here the last few days!! I re-discovered this website that I had signed up for last October, and now, that I have decided I should finally get my butt in gear and market, market, market, and find clients- hopefully it won't take me long to find at least one or two, or just enough to let me quit my full-time job, and just keep my part-time job (I only work noon until 5 on monday, tuesday, thursday, and friday at my part-time job), so if anyone has any other ideas or advice, on how to market, or any other websites that will allow you to find clients, because frankly, waiting for clients to come to to, doesn't work for me very well!!

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend!

~ Rhonda

Txfarmgirl,

Have you to bring a laptop and such with you to the games and practices? It seems that most times, the work is PC related and you can work on small things while there is down time with games and such. That is how I got through school with my boys and all the events. If it is something where you need to be online, you can opt for a wireless internet card through some phone companies. It doesn't have to be all the time but can help when you have deadlines and such. Hope this helps. :-)

Hi everyone

What a relief to hear of others in the same boat as myself. I work full time and I am in the process of setting up as a va. I was stressing on how I was going to manage all this, but thanks to eveyone comments I am slightly relieved. Good luck slimthick2001. I'll be watching yr posts to see how u manage.

At my FT job I keep having some co-worker issues but it really pushes me to get my VA business up and running FT. I thank the Lord I didn't quit my day job quite yet though. I keep thinking it will just give me thicker skin.

If you have "home town" clients right now that is great. But, you may want to market to overseas as well. While they are on a different time zone this allows you to work evenings which would be day time to them and visa versa. Just my 2 cents Good Luck. Andrea

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Action Jackson Virtual Assistant|

Hi everyone! I enjoyed reading this thread. I am always interested in learning how other people organize their days, exp. when they are devoted to a full time job. I don't have a full time job but I am a mommy and a wife to a shift worker (2nd) so our days are very flipped compared to most people. I have made my office hours from 7:30pm-12:00am. This gives me time when our son is asleep and my husband is at work to focus without any (or little )distractions. I do believe that you don't really need to tell your clients when your "office hours" are, esp. if you can be reached on your cell and you can at least check voice messages. I don't mind being honest with them if they asked and I also think that it might work out for some clients (ex: entrepreneur starting own business but still works ft...).
Some would say that you guys might need a va to get done all that you do in one day! I continue to be impressed with all of the smart successful people I have been lucky to come in contact with during my short time as a member of this forum. To all of you still working a "day" job (and those of you not )... "You are never given a dream without also being given the power to achieve it"
Good luck, and I am very much looking forward to learning from you ALL!!!
Liz

I work full time and love what I do but have grown to loathe the company. They're so disorganized, neglectful and chaotic I doubt they could run a lemonade stand, which makes people like us totally nutz! So I'm looking around for something better. For a number of years I've not marketed, just done project by project. Working with clients locally I can go meet them at lunchtime or after hours. I answer email quickly and return telephone calls within 3 hours (pick up messages remotely).

Now I'm really getting down to expanding the VA side of things I reckon that, for me, adjustments will have to be made as it grows, such as hiring some outside help to free up a little of my time, i.e. a dog walker to take wolfie for his daily run at the bark park, perhaps a cleaning lady occasionally - I love the bark park but I hate cleaning!

Everyone has different demands on their time and I guess we just have to find a way to work around it all. It takes time, but you can do it!

Originally Posted by Office Goddess

FYI - I celebrate 3 yrs in business come June - won't be going full time VA for a while now though, since we moved my 92-yr-old father-in-law in with us last December. Certainly changed the dynamics in my household!

Ouch - I just read the updates to this thread and need to correct myself. I celebrate TWO years in business as of June 25. Sorry about the typo!

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Lily Chambers, The Virtual Office Goddess, LLC
Author "How to Do Your Own Small Business Bookkeeping"