As I am just getting started, next week is my last week in a full time job (redundancy lumes). How long did it take you to become fully employed in your VA business.

Personally, I have one client I work with at his premises currently, trying to convert him to virtual but he is quite old fashioned. I will have 3 maybe 4 days to try and fill with new clients. I am looking for a part time job to fill in until my VA business takes off, but wondered how long it took you before you could rely on your VA business to support you.

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VA-Karen
www.elite-va.com

Not there yet! But I did want to bump this up for you. I started thinking about this in June of last year when I came over to England to visit a friend and helped her create a database/Pivot Table for all her contacts. (she is a Change Management Consultant in Oxford) She was so amazed at how I could manipulate her data with a Pivot and she started telling me I should hire myself out to other people to help them.

I came home and started thinking about it as I have been laid off for a year and not having much success with a regular, conventional position at my salary range. Here we are 8 months later and it is still not sustaining me full time but in the last month I have had about 8-9 inquiries, have been doing resumes for people and have my first "official" meeting with a local Chamber to help them with managing all their events. So, I feel like things are starting to come together.

The thing is, your question is a hard one to answer. You could be like me and dance around this for 6 months, slowing moving forward, but not aggressively out there marketing. I still don't have a website up although that should change in the next week or so. Or, you could tell everyone you know, walk into your local business's and leave a flyer and 2 weeks later you could have 6 clients. I think Virtual Assisting has come a long way in the last ten years but it is still looked at by most as "not a real job", or they don't believe they should pay you to work at home. Remember, we have stepped outside of the box, being innovative in how we choose to live our lives and make our money. The world is catching up, but it's not there yet! To be honest, I believe I will get most of my clients, not from people I know because they are the in the box type, but from the internet, social media and the contacts I make there. A lot of my inquiries have come from Linkedin. I do truly believe that 5 years from now this will be an accepted, common way of doing business. I plan to be way ahead of all the people that try to jump on then! Good Luck to you, me and all the other VA's out there!

Kathy

It's all in what you put into it. Because I'm still working FT I'm taking it slow but once you get your name out there it could take off like a rocket.

Things I've been told when starting. Figure out what lifestyle you want, figure out the a niche you love doing (someone will need it no matter how silly it may seem) and finally start networking. The final step is where you start to get your clients but the other two steps have to come first.

I was in an unusual situation when I started my business. Because the company I had been working for closed, I was full time from day one. A special state program allowed me to collect unemployment during those first few months and still make money from my business.
It took me about a month to get my first project client, 2 months before I signed my first retainer client. Within 5 months I was making enough to live on. That's not to say I haven't had some rough patches over the past 2 1/2 years, but I've considered myself really blessed that things moved rather quickly for me.
But then again, I was in a situation where it HAD to and sometimes that makes a huge difference.

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~Tina Marie Hilton of Clerical Advantage
& founder of VA Survival School

I think we all wish we could say to you that you'll have a full load of clients in X amount of time, but that's just not reality.

It really is what you put into, who you focus on etc...if you are looking to do work for people that don't really understand the concept then you've got to educate them, but if you approach people & companies that get the idea of working virtually then you shouldn't have an issue.

In the beginning I took on what I had to, to make ends meet. Whether that was a part-time job temporarily, temporary work through an agency, piece work from freelance sites, whatever I needed I did.

If it's what you truly want to do, and you put the time and effort in it will come around. Just talk and tell everyone you know what you do and do it.

It's a scary road initially and at times throughout but it does come together! Good luck and remember you've got this forum as a resource and support!

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Renee Shupe, Become a Techie Virtual Assistant
eMail Marketing & Aweber Training Starts May 15! - Save 50% using VAFAweber

Thank you all. I have mentioned to a few people I know what I am doing now, and they look at me as if I had just landed for Mars. Virtual Assistant ??? What is one of those. I am trying to educate them as best I can, hopefully if they don't need my services, they may know someone who does. I think having more time to market myself when my current job actually finishes might help me a long the way. I am not expecting an overnight success, just an average sort of guide, which I suppose, the more I think about it, is like asking how long is a piece of string.

Thank you for your help and guidance. More silly questions to come at some point soon.

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VA-Karen
www.elite-va.com

Sometimes rather than say you're a virtual assistant say you're an administrative consultant. I found this seemed to trigger something in them that helped to understand what you do.

It seems a little silly maybe, but most people understand the concept of a consultant and know what administrative means.....so it helps to open the door to a conversation I have found.

Then as they get more comfortable with the idea, you can start to use the term Virtual Assistant.

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Renee Shupe, Become a Techie Virtual Assistant
eMail Marketing & Aweber Training Starts May 15! - Save 50% using VAFAweber

Good tip Renee, consultant, I can see why that may make a difference.
I will give it a try.

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VA-Karen
www.elite-va.com

When telling others what you do, make sure you are telling them what you DO. Not what your title is. You should get VA the Series Book by Diana Ennen and Kelly Poelker. There is alot of information on there about being a virtual assistant. I actually have it here on my desk with the pages marked with post it tabs so that I can quickly find exactly what I am looking for. It's a terrific reference.
As for how long, it's all up to you and as Renee said, what you put into it. I just emailed out my first welcome packet and may be getting some business from there, and I have my press release going in the Sunday business section of my local paper. I have done little else these past 2 months except research and prepare myself for my launch date (which is Monday). I have put everything into this and believe I will see a return on my investment.

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Serita Diana, the List 2 Close Assistant
REVA Academy

Hi Karen,

When I started my VA business back in 2006, I immediately had 2 clients that quickly grew to 5 clients and I was full-time and able to support myself quite easily. However, that didn't last and I went through some long stretches with only 1 or 2 clients and nowhere near enough work. The feast or famine syndrome isn't that unusual when you're contracting out your services and I freely admit that I didn't market myself as aggressively as I could have.

Today, after almost 4 years as a VA, I am in a much more relaxed place. I have 3 regular clients and a continual stream of inquiries, some who become clients and some who don't.

The biggest difference isn't really who the clients are, but who I am. Like anything else you do in your life, after you've done it for awhile, you gain some confidence. I have no problem quoting my fees or increasing them, I can recognize problem clients from a mile away start and I still absolutely love what I do and what I can do for my clients!

If this is what you want to do, then go for it! But, it isn't easy and it doesn't happen overnight, but it really is a struggle worth making if you want it bad enough.

My best advice? Network. Network and network and keep networking. And when you're sick of networking, network some more, lol. And when I say network, do it in person. Attend your local Chamber of Commerce free events. Join your local meetup.com groups. Start your own VA group. Despite the fact that we're virtual, you will find the power of word of mouth to be phenomenal.

Perfect your elevator speech, educate people who look at you when you say Virtual Assistant by using examples of how they might use a VA for tasks they don't like to do. Make it about them. Do a business plan. And tell absolutely everyone you know what you are doing.

Mentoring or hiring a business coach is also a valuable investment. You may not think you can afford it, but it may well be the best investment in your business you can make. It will help you focus, help you recognize your weaknesses and help you avoid potential pitfalls others have undergone.

Hope that helps, all the best!

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Kate V. Kerans
Kerans Virtual Assistance