Hey everyone! I think I might be the youngest member of this forum...I'm turning 17 in a few days. :] I currently live in Southern California, but I want to spend time living in various parts of the country and possibly the world in my life, which is part of the reason that becoming a VA is so appealing to me.

I love change and being challenged, and I think I'd go crazy working in a cubicle. I'd really love to be able to work from home and be my own boss, basically, so I could still fit in time for my hobbies and such. I'm very interested in sustainable living(growing your own food, living on a frugal budget, and living in a way that limits harm on the earth) and animals of all kinds(but particularly horses). I'd love to live on some land and work from home so that I can do what I really love doing but doesn't really generate income(in fact, it burns income. :P haha)

I think growing up in the internet era has really prepared me for this career. I made my first website when I was 9, and it was heavily HTML based. I'm a fast learner and everything on the internet is interesting to me! I love the idea of helping out soloprenuers advance their business and achieve their goals. I love meeting inspiring people, and I think being a soloprenuer(or two, or four)'s VA would be very intriguing to me.

I just don't really know what to do in order to start off in this field. I have a bit of a unique situation, since I'd be coming straight out of highschool with no administrative experience whatsoever. I've had a few jobs, but none of them have anything to do with Virtual Assisting, really. If anyone has any tips for me on how to start from scratch in this field, I'd appreciate it greatly!

I've been listening to the Virtual Assistant Podcast(not the one sponsored by this forum) and I've been turned on to Contemporary VA as a company that I'd really love to work for. They have some very cool systems in place that make everything run very smoothly, and have great training programs that interest me a lot!

Anyways, this is sort of long for an intro post, so I'll stop here. :] I really am looking forward to my time in this forum and I hope that I can learn more about whether or not I should become very serious in pursuing a career as a Virtual Assistant.

Welcome Alyssa!!! One of the reasons I became a VA is that I love to travel as well. You sound like you have all of the qualities to have a successful career.
Good Luck!!

Hi Alyssa, welcome to the community - and happy birthday

I would recommend starting by listing your existing skills and talents and try to brainstorm how those could translate into services you could offer virtually/online. In the meantime, think about getting an internship or job working in your school's office helping with filing, typing, etc. and learning more about what goes into an admin position. I know alot of schools take student volunteers in these kinds of positions, some even offer course credit for doing so. I know it's late in the school year, but I'm assuming you have another year left or will continue taking courses at a CC or university.

Another thing you could do is look around at the types of services other VAs are offering - specialty services like website development, real estate support, author support, etc. etc. and see what interests you - then find an online course or other opportunity to learn.

There are lots of tools out there to help you with the actual startup and set up of your VA business, that part is really just a matter of doing the work, step by step.

It sounds like you need to think more about just what kind of services you would enjoy offering and then take the next necessary steps.

Good luck!

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