Hello,

I am in the start-up phase of my VA business. I would appreciate it if the VA's who have been in business for a while, with established clients, could answer the following questions so I can gain a better understanding of operating my business.

1. What is the day-to-day life of a VA like?

2. What are the most important day-to-day skills necessary to be successful?

3. What are your daily work hours?

4. What are the three most important skills or knowledge areas that I must have to run my business successfully?

5. What do you enjoy most about your business?

6. What motivates you in your business?

7. What would you do differently if you could?

8. What are the most difficult challenges and tasks?

Thank you

cwilliams,

What a great set of questions. I cannot wait to see the others answers as well.

1. What is the day-to-day life of a VA like? Everyday is different. Monday and Thursday for me are rather crazy since everyone is regrouping from the weekend or getting ready to start the weekend. However, day to day changes based on clients needs and schedules.

It is wonderful because I am able to fit in everything I need to do on my own schedule. I try to plan outings on days where I know I will need to go to the post office, office supply store, printer etc. and the beauty is I get to plan. Some days are rather quiet but I live in the country so there is usually not a lot happening around me. I make it a point to go to an event or workshop at least once a week so that I am around other business professionals.

2. What are the most important day-to-day skills necessary to be successful? Organization and time management. It is very easy to get distracted if you don't have a plan for the day. I personally schedule my day and stick with it so that I don't let the day slip by me.

3. What are your daily work hours? My office hours are 8 am to 6 pm with breaks at lunch and when my son comes home from school. I try to not do client work in the evening and concentrate on My Office Assistant work then however there are times when a project comes up that will require this to change.

4. What are the three most important skills or knowledge areas that I must have to run my business successfully? A great marketing plan, a solid bookkeeping plan and organization would be my three choices.

5. What do you enjoy most about your business? Being my own boss!

6. What motivates you in your business? Being a successful business owner. I enjoy helping others be all that they can be so that is motivation enough for me.

7. What would you do differently if you could? Nothing, everything is a learning experience so I have no regrets on the mistakes that I have made.

8. What are the most difficult challenges and tasks? Setting boundaries. At first I did not and it seemed like I was only working on my business. I now set strict boundaries that keep me in check and prevent burnout.

__________________
Lee Drozak
My Office Assistant

Thanks Lee,

The questions are from a business feasibility workbook I received from a free workshop in Indiana, which was hosted by the Indiana Small Business Development Center. The title of the workbook is A Sound and Proven Path Towards Launching Your Own Business.

The workbook has 54 pages and walks you through steps to determine if your business is feasible. It has three phases:

Phase I - Identify your personal objectives, skills and resources

Phase II - Describe your business idea and requirements

Phase III - Pre-launch feasibility projection

I am on phase II.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer the questions, your answers gave me tremedous insight to operating my business. I look foward to seeing other responses.

Have a blessed day

Hi If you haven't read the Virtual Assistant Interviews section yet, I'd highly recommend it. You'll find lots of feedback related to your questions.
Here are my quick answers:

1. What is the day-to-day life of a VA like?
My day-to-day life as a VA has changed a lot since I gave birth to our daughter 13 months ago. (I used to sleep in as late as I wanted, LOL.) I work when it works for me to do so - with a toddler in the house she is definitely my priority so I find myself working when she's napping most often. It's great though because I never have to leave her or rush out of the house to be somewhere else. Like Lee said - the keyword is 'freedom'.

2. What are the most important day-to-day skills necessary to be successful?
Good time management, excellent client relations - empathy, good communication, respect, the ability to market yourself /sell yourself - confidence mainly, thoroughness, attention to detail, follow-through... this list of important qualities is endless really.

3. What are your daily work hours?
I usually work in the afternoons, weekdays. Never on the weekends. Often I will take a three day weekend. Sometimes I will work in the mornings if I can get away with it

4. What are the three most important skills or knowledge areas that I must have to run my business successfully?
Marketing, client relations, knowing when to outsource [ie - not trying to 'do it all' yourself. This could mean hiring an accountant, or a housekeeper, or both. or it could mean finding someone else to help with a client request that you're not qualified or don't have time for.]

5. What do you enjoy most about your business?
Freedom of lifestyle. And freedom in the fact that it's mine to develop in any direction I choose.

6. What motivates you in your business?
I wake up every single day and thank the universe for my lifestyle, for the closeness of my little family [my husband is my business partner so we're all three here together every day - it's fun!]. Every minute I spend working is for my family, literally. There is no better motivation. Originally, when I started my business I was traveling abroad and the motivator then was the ability to be portable, to move to any country where I could find a decent internet connection, to experience the world while building a career. That's STILL a major motivator as we plan to travel again as soon as our baby girl is about four or so.

7. What would you do differently if you could?
Not much... honestly - I think even the tough stuff is important because some of my most stressful or difficult situations in business are the events that taught me the most. If it's all easy all the time then you're not really learning.

8. What are the most difficult challenges and tasks?
For the longest time the hardest thing for me was talking about money, but I got comfortable with it, for the most part. There were also issues for me very early on with boundaries. I was so excited to be doing what I was doing that I worked all the time and answered emails and requests at really odd hours, giving my clients the impression that I was available 24/7 which of course I came to resent. No one's fault but my own - and I quickly remedied that!

__________________

Tess,

Thanks for your feedback. I will also check out the VA interviews.

God bless you

cwilliams ~ thanks for a wonderful set of questions!

Lee & Tess ~ thanks for your responses!

I am also a newbie here, hoping to finish my VA business plan this week, so these responses really are very helpful. I will also check out the VA interviews.

Have a good day everyone!

__________________
Let Me Do It!
Tess Mickelsen

Hi Fellow VAs!

I thought that even though I'm new to all this VA start up business, I certainly have invested a fair amount of my time and thought you might like some feedback from the perspective of a VA who's trying to accomplish this part time until I can fly solo. Below are my responses:

1. What is the day-to-day life of a VA like? Since I work full time, I spend about 1.5 to 2.0 hours in the evening ramping up my business. During those hours, I try to have a plan in place and set some goals such as finalizing my brochures, getting more business cards ordered, etc. I also spend about 45 minutes perusing VAF--afterall, you cannot get better advice from professionals and experts who have made a successful career out of this type of work who are willing to share their knowledge freely!

2. What are the most important day-to-day skills necessary to be successful? I found this question interesting as I had asked this in a round-about way as well early on. I think that the most important day-to-day skills are going to be very personal to you. I still need to do this, but I plan on sitting down with pen and paper--wait!--I'm virtual, so make that a computer!--and write down everything I really WANT to provide as a service to prospective clients. For example, I lean more toward the creative side of this business, so I think my niche is going to be business card design, brochure design, posters, postcards, newsletters, etc. So, with that, I need to make sure I have all tools in place to make sure I can stay competitive, whether it be learning about new software, new skills associated with design, what the latest trends are, etc.

3. What are your daily work hours? As stated before, I spend about an hour or so in the evenings and I do work on an occasional weekend to help with ramping up my business. I'm sure that once I gain a client (or two!), those hours will change.

4. What are the three most important skills or knowledge areas that I must have to run my business successfully? I agree with the others on this one...time management, organization and excellent communication skills.

5. What do you enjoy most about your business? Excitement of being free to do what I choose to do, not what others want me to do.

6. What motivates you in your business? The freedom to spend more time doing what I love--spending time with my family and being creative!

7. What would you do differently if you could? I would have started off FIRST with a solid business plan. That truly helps organize your thoughts and helps build a timeline on when you need to start doing certain tasks. I also would most certainly book a one hour session with Tess and jot down some general questions you have about your business that you are seeking assistance on. She's a terrific mentor and offers solid business advice. You can't go wrong there!

8. What are the most difficult challenges and tasks? Since I'm in the marketing stages, I would say this is the toughest for me at this point. I'm going to a networking event in Seattle this month which is geared toward women and I can't wait to see what it's like. I'll post a new thread on this after I attend.

Nice set of questions. Keep us posted on your progress!

__________________
Kathya Kalinine
http://www.emeraldvirtual.com

Tess Mickelsen and Kathya,

Thanks for your comments.

Kathya, I appreciate you sharing your experience as a new VA. I too, currently work full-time while I am planning my VA business. I especially like your comment about setting goals and spending 1.5 to 2 hours in the evening working on your business. I have learned that it is critical to have specific goals and stick to each goal until it is completed.

I will keep you all updated on my progress. Planning my own business is a dream come true.

Have a blessed night

cwilliams

All of these responses are quite useful - I beleive time-management and taking breaks are probably the most important ones for me.

This is a great thread. The responses are interesting and gives me something to think about.

Thanks,

toni