Do any of you active VAs have another business (or more than one)? Not that you probably need one, time-wise, I'm sure you're all busy as you can be. But the very nature--and a great deal of the appeal for me--of VA work is the flexibility and autonomy, and the freedom to manage my time as I wish and/or need to. Which leads me to believe that, with proper time and project management, I could do the VA business concurrently with running my bookstore, i.e. work on VA projects on closed days/hours and/or during down times in the store.

Just wondering if anyone else has additional business(es) -- how it's working out?

Thanks!

It all depends on how you structure it, what type of services you provide to clients, and your schedule. For example, some VAs need to be in the office to answer client's phone or clients may want immediate service whenever they have a program launch or running a teleseminar.

I put a lot of thought into the business earlier this year and wanted more freedom because I felt chained to my desk. So I cut back to two clients and run ecoaching programs and niche affiliate sites to make up the income.

So I don't see any reason why you couldn't structure your VA business to accommodate another business...That's the beauty of being a VA - you can design your life however you want.

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Lisa Wells~Online Biz Manager
Free Marketing Tips, Resources, and Reports for your VA Biz

Funny you should ask I work a 9-5, own The Virtual Office Goddess (VA bookkeeping business), own TVE Magazine (ezine for virtual entrepreneurs) and am a co-owner of the Virtual Academy of Education (online skills training for VAs). So, yes! It is VERY possible to own/operate multiple businesses.

The primary skill required to handle multiple businesses is time management. I have specific set schedules for which business venture I am working on at any given time. You will find quite a few VAs on VAF that work a 9-5 as well as growing their own VA businesses and you may find the threads devoted to that process help you to plan and organize your own multiple ventures.

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