Still in the building stage of my VA business.

I was looking online (it even has a link on this site in regards to IVAA), and I saw that some VAs have certification stamps on their websites. Some may even make mention of this on their resumes.

Is this necessary? Would having these certification possibly increase your customer base? I just went on the IVAA website, and their one-year membership is around $37/6 months (students), $37/3 months (emerging) and $137/year for college rep. Some reasonably sound prices, but I don't want to jump into it if it's only going to look pretty on paper and will be of null value.

Thanks!

Hi Nadia,

If you plug in 'certification' in the forum search feature, you will get a number of threads that have dealt with this very issue. That being said, I think the general consensus is that certification is great for furthering your skills and abilities but most VAs don't feel they are a necessity in their business, myself included. The problem with VA certifications is they aren't necessarily going to mean anything to potential clients.

Regarding IVAA, I would always recommend joining as a member. They have a great many benefits as part of your membership including access to RFPs as well as getting to know a wonderful community of amazing VA's (much like the ones here).

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Kate V. Kerans
Kerans Virtual Assistance