At the moment I have a 4 year old at home. She will start school at the end of January. Scary..... my little girl is growing up so fast!
But then I will have the freedom to go to networking meetings/ lunches during school hours. I miss that at the moment. I can't take my 4 year old to a meeting. But since we are new to this country, I do not feel confident at the moment to leave her with a babysitter. I try to find opportunities on Saturdays and in the evening.

How and when did you start your business?

Regards,
Melissa

Hi Melissa, I started my business about five years ago while I was living and traveling in India - being a VA travels well so it's been great.

I now have a 2 year old and am grateful I was able to do the groundwork on my business long before she was even an idea I have a lot of respect for mamas who are making it happen from scratch with kids underfoot.

How about you? When and how did you start your business?

Hi Tess,

My story in short.
About 6 months ago we moved from The Netherlands to Australia. In The Netherlands I always worked for at least 24 hours (last years 32 hours) a week. But we had a lot of help from the grandmothers and grandfathers. When we moved to Australia, my husband and I agreed that it would be best for the kids and family, that I would be a stay at home mum. But to be honest, after a few months, I hated the house work and felt "empty". So I started to think about what to do and came across the Virtual Assistant world. The last few months I have been busy reading (tax and regulation too, because everything is new), thinking about services, rates, website, social media (I really enjoy this part) and so on.
My goal is to be running by the time my little girl goes to school.

So far, no clients yet, but preparing, researching and learning gives me a lot of energy. Energy I hope to use to attract clients and really start off my business.

Regards!
Melissa

I think it's great that you're doing what you need to do to be a happy and fulfilled person AND be there for your family - we do have the best of both worlds I think, as VAs and business owners.

I'm sending you lots of good energy for getting your business up and running sooner than later!

Melissa,
I started about 6 months ago. I was looking for alternatives after I was laid off from my IT position. Then I got pregnant. My Significant other and I decided thta I should be a Stay at home mom to our 6 year old and now 6 month old, but like you I felt hallow and just being a mom wasn't enough for me. That's when I decided to start working from home and stumbled upon this little business. It's going to be hard, but it can be very worth it.

I'm the same as Tess, started my business over 7 years ago, way before kids and also long before we emigrated to Australia. Having my own business has been fantastic - I could start work almost as soon as we arrived here and it's great to be able to work around the kids.

Yes Melissa, the tax etc. is quite daunting as it's very different over here but the research will give you a great head start

I completed my business plan in November 2010 and just started my business this month.

I researched becoming a VA for quite some time before realizing it would be a good fit for me and in today's market.....

Hi Tess!
Like Melissa, my Husband and I also Agreed after having our second son (15mos) that it would be best if I became a Stay-At-Home-Mom. We juggled the pros and cons around for quite a while with our first son (4yrs), but the childcare expenses for two kids was a deal breaker. It didn't make any sense to work a full-time job just to put our kids in daycare. After a year, I felt like I became a really boring person. I lost track of my hobbies and became consumed by the daily cooking and cleaning routine. I ended up looking into ways to make money from home, but every option seemed like a scam until I watched an old CBS News commercial on YouTube about Virtual Assistants. After doing some research, I became more excited every time I learned something new about this VA Industry. I started working on my business last November and Officially started marketing my new business the first of this year. No clients yet, but with tons of support from my family and friends I definitely see an awesome future with my new business!!

Hi Tess! I'm not officially out the door yet. I came home to be with my daughter over 8 years ago when she was sick. I did the standard taking calls thing for a while when I could which wasn't often. Then landed a great training job which I did for about a year. They went brick and mortar and we adopted my son so I was back out of work again. Now I'm ready to go full time again. I just figured out my company name so I'm going slowly but I'm coming.

Hi! I recently started my own business but have been a virtual assistant since the birth of my first son two years ago. I was very blessed to have a boss that let me do this and since I had another boy and want seek some projects for my spare time! As you can tell I like to work spending time with my babies is golden so I needed something flexible. I just started social networking and admire you all for your strength to start your own businesses!

Hi Melissa!
I just started my business last month. My son will be turning 1 next month so I will be very busy with that, but I am ecstatic that I get to spend time with my son while working from home.