Welcome New VA's! This thread is for you to post your need of a mentor.

Please let us know a little about you and what you would like to learn from your mentor.

Thank you!
Andrea

Hi Andrea, as you probably know my name is Stephanie Valentine and I just started my business a little over a month ago, Valentine VA Services. After reviewing some of the threads on the forum and speaking with you Andrea, I realized that I have a lot more to learn and a lot more to define when it comes to my business. Starting with my business name, logo, website, skills offered, speciality or niche, software and marketing. I jumped right in and hit the ground running with business cards, a quick website and thought I was ready to go. Well, as I learned thats not the case so I decided to take a few steps back and really truly learn about starting my business from scratch. Having a mentor would be a wonderful service for all the fellow VA's that are just starting out. It would be just what we need to get us started, off and running the right way!

Hi All, I would love to be mentored. I'm in the process of getting myself together to start my transcription business. I purchased my website, but I have not constructed it as of yet. That will take place this weekend. I would appreciate any suggestions on how to really get started right. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again and Be Blessed.

Hi Stephanie,

I would love to mentor you. So, write down all of your questions and lets set a date and time that we both can do. You already have my number so go ahead and call me: I am available Monday and Tuesdays from 9am-10am. If those times are not good for you let me know and I will let you know what else is available for me

I look forward to talking to you again

Andrea

Hi Sue,

I am available for mentoring. Please check out my VAF page, by clicking on my name and take a look to see if I am a good fit for you.

Thank you,
Andrea

P.S. That would leave 1 more spot available for me lol.

Andrea

Hello there,

I would love to be mentored. My name is Ivette Matos and I am inew to the VA busienss. I currently have a full time job and I am looking to start part-time asa va. I have over 25 years of executive adminstrative support and I have learned a few thinks along the way as it pertains to desktop publising, marketing, branding, fundraising and webinars. I am n the process of finalizing my website and putting content on the webiste. Please contact me for mentoring.

Thanks for this great help.

Ivette

Hi Ivette,

Take a look at my profile here on the VAF and if you think we are a good fit, then shoot me a PM.

Take care,
Andrea

I would like to be mentored also. My business began in June of this year due to the encouragement of several network partners. My website is set up (although it needs work), have business cards but no logo and haven't done enough to "brand" my business and niche. Marketing is my biggest challenge and need help to develop an ongoing marketing plan. Still doing research to develop a list of my ideal clients.

Janet
eBusinessOnlineSupport

Hi Janet,

Do you mind telling us what your niche is?

Thank you,
Andrea

PM sent to Ivette and Janet to see if they are interested in working with me.

Hi, I would love to be mentored. My name is Leslie Marshall and I began by VA business in Feb of this year. I recently finished my website and now am working on marketing myself (which is a challenge).

Thank you for having this group, it will really help myself and many newbies out there!

Hi, I would like to be mentored. My niche is bookkeeping. I am also interested in Real Estate and Property Management. I have a full time job but am currently on a medical leave of absence for my husband and really need some extra income. I figured now was a great time to learn and put my business plan into action. I am specifically interested in how to break into these markets as well as needing assistance with setting up a website. This forum is terrific!! Kathy

Good Evening!

First, let me say thank you for this offer. It is extremely kind and generous. I am very interested in receiving mentoring to start my business.

My specific issues are:

-Is a niche market REALLY necessary
-bootstrapping - I am not working right now, so money is tighter than tight.
-Creating a realistic business plan
-The best way to market when have limited funds
-what are my business tool must haves?

Thanks

Caroline

I am gathering momentum on my idea of being a VA and starting a business. However, there are some limits to what I know right now. I know there are somethings that I dont get. So I would like to learn from someone that could help me!

How do you know what to offer?
Is offering too many services detrimental to the business?
How do you start networking? I admit this could be a weakness!
Where can I find a free place to host a website? Does it have to be fancy?
I want to define a niche, but to be honest it seems I am a jack of all trades. For the last ten years I have worked for a company that I wore many different hats. I dont know where to begin.
Backup systems do they really have to be an external drive? I would say that a flash drive would be good to start with.

It seems that is just the whip cream on the cake. I hope someone could help guide me through this.

Thanks!

Hello,

I would like to sign up for a mentor. As mentioned in previous threads, I am new to the industry. I have experience doing admin work in corporate america. But launching your own business is a whole 'nother thing! I still work full-time so I would appreciate some guidance on marketing and maintaining your VA business with a limited amount of time.

Thanks In Advance

I would also like to sign up for a mentor. I have client forms, website, logo and have been engaging on social networks and have great insight from VAF. I offer general admin services and social media as full-time VA. My biz cards will be ready next week and I want to start local as well as online networking. I am struggling with setting up my service packages, handling my first interaction with clients, etc.

I appreciate this incredible opportunity.
Thank you in advance.

Gennia

POTENTIAL MENTEES - To locate a mentor, go through the Volunteer Mentor's thread and pm any available mentor who sounds like a good fit. We are looking forward to helping you out!

I too am relatively new to the world of VA's. I recently made the mistake of working with one major client who hired me at a fixed rate for administrative services, however, because of my strong IT background, I ended up spending 30 hours per week at the shop. I put all my eggs in one basket and now have no clients in site. I dropped the ball big time with this client.

I do have business cards, and a website but feel I need to be doing much more and really could use some guidance.

Thanks so much,

Donna

Hello ~

I am in need of a mentor. I am just starting my va business. I do not even have a website for it yet.

* I need to learn what my niche IS
* Where to find them in Social Networking and Media
* How to setup up a great web pressence that will get me noticed
* I'm working on a name & logo ~ Not sure...

I would appreciate any and all help offered.

About Me:

I have over 20 years of experience with admin, customer service, phones & email. I also have great experience with word processing, data entry, job description creation, resume and application review, online recruitment and sourcing, email and social network marketing.

I work in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Frontpage, and I am now learning Photoshop. I love learning. I would like to learn real estate assisting, author assisting, and more about website and graphic design.

I am ambitious and a real go-getter. I also follow direction well.

I'm not sure what else to add, but if you have any questions, please PM me and I will answer whatever I can.

Thank you so much,

Bobbi

Good afternoon everyone! I am looking to open my VA business in January and would love to spend time speaking with a mentor! I am looking to primarily work with Real Estate as that is where my experience lies.

Hi everyone! My name is Kovabis and I am interested in having a mentor. I have been in business now for a year part-time. Currently I have a full time job and my goal is to be in a position where I can work my Virtual Administrative business full time and support my family. I have over 13 years of office/business administration experience as well as experience in real estate and marketing. I would love to have a mentor who could help me to navigate through this effort of making this my full time profession.

Thanks in advance for all of your help!

Much love......

Kovabis

Hello,
My name is Brandy and I started my VA Business in June 09. I have a website, logo, business cards etc. I have done some VA work for 2 clients but they were both friends of my husband's. I am really in the "getting clients" phase so I guess this is where I need help at the moment. Also, I am noticing that Socal Media is hot now and in-demand. I'm on LinkedIn and Facebook, but may need some assistance before I feel comfortable offering this as a service and any advice on getting a blog up and running would be appreciated.
I love VAF and was excited to find this group! I can wait to get my business up and running and successful in 2010!

Brandy

Good Afternoon!

My name is Amy and I am currently in the development phase for TAG Virtual Office and my goal is to open my virtual doors by the end of February. I have narrowed my list of services down and for now it mostly general administrative. In the future I plan to learn new software and tools that will eventually be added to my list of services. I am working on putting my information together for my website and the forms that I will utilize within my business. I have started on a business plan but have not completed it as of yet.

My needs are very general in regards to getting started. I do have a list of questions put together and I do look forward to speaking with a mentor. Thank you for creating this site and offering this opportunity.

Have a fabulous day!

Thank you so much for offering this service - I appreciate it! My name is Rachel and I've been contemplating the Virtual Assistance world for a few years now, ever since I became a stay at home mom. Before I became a mother, I worked full time as an office manager in the building/engineering/architecture field (over 10 years experience). For the past 2 years, I've been doing subcontract work mostly as a bookkeeper for a CPA - the tasks include doing payroll, paying bills, light filing, mailings, etc. A good chunk of this work is done remotely (but I do need to visit the client a few days a week). I really need to increase my income & the services that I offer.
I am not sure where to start or what else to offer. I've always enjoyed looking up information for people and also I'm pretty good at preparing reports and typing up letters. I like to be creative (ie. I just made an Evite for our client's event - but I'd need to take a quick course in graphics to be quicker about it). I also do remember a lot of the building industry terminology from my previous job, so that could be a niche. There are other industries that I'm passionate about (ie. health/nutrition/food, creative arts, etc.). I'm not sure what "me" as a Virtual Assistant will look like. Timewise, I have a few hours of uninterrupted time when my child is at preschool - and I try to work during naptime (so I'd like to maximize my time as much as possible!). I could also stand to brush up on some of the Office software (ie. Outlook, Excel) which would make me more marketable. I want to know what should I offer, what new skills do I need (which takes time & $$), and how do I get on the ground running in the most professional, confident, awesome manner so that I can be in demand, yet not get over my head?

Hi everyone! I am still looking for a mentor. I would like to discuss creating a workable marketing plan and if I am on the right track, my website, client best practices... I'd love to hear from anyone that could be of a help. My business is launching January 25th and I want to make sure I am doing OK as far as being prepared for the launch date goes.
Thanks