Hi everyone! I'm very new here and to the idea of Virtual Assisting. But I'm 17 years old and about to go into my senior year of highschool. I've been thinking a lot about my future, and I'd really love to have a location independent career that allows me to do what I'd really love to do more of: travel! Ideally I'd like to develop a virtual assisting business that allows me to live for months at a time in foreign countries, and then different states in the United States when I get bored with the rest of the world. :P haha.

I have been using the internet since I was about 8 years old, and I built my first website when I was 9. I'm very comfortable with the internet and have some good knowledge of HTML. I've never used anything like Quickbooks or 1shopppingcart, but I think I'd be able to easily pick these things up.

I just have no idea how I'd go about gaining experience to start my own business. My local community college has a certificate program for Virtual Assisting, but I just don't know if it will teach me everything that I need to know. Would it be beneficial for me to work as an Administrative Assistant in an office for a few years? Or should I just go for it and start from the ground up as a Virtual Assistant? I just really wish there was some type of mentoring program for people with absolutely no experience in the Administrative Assistance field! :/ I'm feeling very lost here.

Thank you for all of your help.

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Alyssa Herbert
Aspiring Virtual Assistant

Alyssa,

Good for you for knowing what you want!
Now this is only my opinion, others may not agree.

I think getting an administrative assistant's job would be a good idea to start out. It will be the best way to "test the waters" and see if being a VA would be a good fit. Also, what's better than getting paid to learn ;-]

Once you get a chance to see if it works for you, you can jump in to taking classes online to learn some of the special things that a "virtual" assistant needs to know.

Good luck in achieving your goal of a 'location independent career'. It can be done!

Best,
~C

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~Christina|BD Mag|VOSTeam

I agree with Christina that looking for ways to gain experience and learn at the same time is a good place to start.

There have been various VA mentoring programs set up over the years, there was/is even a virtual assistant mentoring program here at VAF, but they eventually stop operating for the same reason - the VAs who are established enough to mentor are busy actually running their own businesses and working with clients.

There are of course VAs who coach and train new VAs, and there are also tons of products and classes out there that are more self-study.

There are also often university professors looking for admin interns or assistants, some high schools give credit in exchange for your service in the offices, etc.

There are many ways for you to start building the experience and the confidence you need to make this happen.

But the thing about being a business owner (virtual assistant or otherwise) is that you can't really 'wing it' - you either have what it takes to start and run a business or you don't. And that's only one piece of the puzzle - you also have to be able to deliver to par with your clients' needs expectations. So in that regard, getting some experience as an in-house admin could be a good way for you to go.

I will say that I don't believe your age precludes you from being a business owner or an entrepreneur - or even a VA for that matter. If you sit down and really think about what you CAN do, maybe you'll come to realize you do have some specialized skills after all and can build a service business around that. Not every VA knows how to use Quickbooks (I don't! )

Wishing you much success!

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Congratulations on knowing what you want - I certainly didn't so you are one step ahead of me!

Why don't you look at working as an admin assistant and getting some "hands on" experience, but that doesn't mean that you can't be building your business at the same time. Use your spare time to promote your business, as long as you are professional no one should care what your age is, and it may even work as an advantage!! Being seen as a confident, professional and forward thinking business owner are always positive!

Alyssa,

I believe working as an Administrative Assistant will provide you with a great base to build upon. You can build your VA business on a part-time basis as well. Keep us posted on your progress.

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Leslie Sansone Williams
LeslieSansoneWilliams.com

First off, good for you Alyssa! Your desire and ambition for developing your own VA business is very admirable! I do agree with the other comments though. Building up a resume with administrative work will help you and your business when the day comes to start it up. Clients will be looking for solid experience and someone with good references (in addition to the passion you have). After you get some good experience under your belt, you'll be in a good spot to start the process of building your business.

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Lauren & Melanie - VaVa Virtual Assistants www.VaVaVirtual.com

That's what I like to hear! People who get up and go for what they want. Do all that you can to gain experience in different fields of administration and discover what you would like to focus on for your own business if you want to do something other than general admin. Plus it will look realy good if you can get testimonials off the bat for your website once you get started. Check out courses and mentoring programs as well as a little knowledge about setting up and running your own business so that you're prepared.

Good luck!!

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Sabrina L. Williams
For a bird's eye view of your business

I agree with everyone here, that is how I started by doing administrative work and now I do mostly technical works. (Website, Facebook Pro page, Newsletter, Info Product, Webinars, etc...)

Good luck in your business

Wow, Alyssa, I have to tell you how impressed I am by your ambition, motivation and, well, gumption! You sound very sharp, very bright and very resourceful. I wish I had been so focused at your age!

I think you've gotten great advice from the ladies here about how to get started and I encourage you to continue with your plans.

Best of luck to you and congratulations on your senior year of high school!

~Lori

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Lori Hedgpeth
Author One Source

Pretty much going for the same positive qualities of an independent career. I have begun to market my business but have decided to take a local approach before venturing out in the virtual world.
Got license, business insurance, and now I have two main points that I focus on. Introducing the business to the local community and also going to school to help me learn more about being an administrative assistant. Going to paralegal studies programs is already a big help, but I have found that much of the experience required needs to be learned on my own.
A regular employee when hired in an office will get trained by the employer, even though I have to say that training is a rather loosely applied term, lol. Virtual assistants and independent contractors have to do that on their own.

Giving any advice is sort of funny because I am at the beginning of my venture too. But a couple of pointers is this: Attempt to keep business strategies apart from personal ventures. Meaning: business ventures can be copied and great ideas of yours can then be taken credit for by others.
Other pointers: learning as much as possible online. I think learning and marketing is pretty much the start. It is fun to see what skills are needed and where to get the information for it. Personally, I will offer a lot of different skills, office skills because just relying on one skill really pares down one's chance of success. Versatility is key in today's job market. To just rely on one or two skills would propably make it tougher to get the kind of work that one really wants. Starting out with a lot of skills first enables one to find out first which skills will be the ones that consumers need the most. And what consumers want is what we have to offer. If we want to get paid, of course, lol.

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SAS, Superior Administrative Services
Office Services, Typing Services