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#1 (permalink)   04-04-2008 DianeB New Member   Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: In Paradise - South Florida! Posts: 27 Hello from sunny Southwest Florida! I am just starting my VA business - Your Professional Assistant, and stumbled upon this website - which I am thrilled about, because I'm hoping to find all kinds of good information here to help get me started on the right foot and become successful. In my previous life, I was an Executive Assistant for 20 years and thoroughly enjoyed it. Currently, I am a real estate broker-associate, but as we all know, the Florida real estate market is a bit slow right now. So, I am hoping that my VA business will take off like gang-busters, and I'll be able to assist small business owners and Realtors in my area, as well as other parts of the country/world, with their administrative needs. I look forward to being a part of this Virtual Assistant Forum community and hope to make many "virtual friends" here! Diane

#2 (permalink)   04-04-2008 White Rose Active Member Company name: Brevos   Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Michigan Posts: 871 Re: Hello from sunny Southwest Florida! Oh Diane, it's so great to have you part of the community! Welcome aboard. You will find SO MUCH weathly information here on the forum to help you with whatever you need. Whereabout in Florida do you live? I have families who lives there there that I visit often. I do like your VA business name by the way!

#3 (permalink)   04-04-2008 DianeB New Member   Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: In Paradise - South Florida! Posts: 27 Re: Hello from sunny Southwest Florida! Thank you, Rose. I'm a little nervous about starting this new business, because I'm not sure how much work I'll get. But I'm willing to give it a try. I love being my own boss and the freedome it affords me, and will do whatever I need to, so I don't have to sit in someone else's office 8 hours a day! I live on the Gulf Coast, just south of Sarasota, in a little town called Englewood. Where is your family? That would be awesome if we could meet sometime when you're down here if it's not too far away.

#4 (permalink)   04-04-2008 Tess Senior Member Company name: Codehead, LLP Latest blog post: SEO Q&A   Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 8,935 Blog Entries: 3 Re: Hello from sunny Southwest Florida! Hi Diane, welcome Funny, we were just down in your general direction a few months ago and had the first-time treat to have met two of our forum members in person (one of whom is named Dawn and calls her practice A Virtual Assistant in Paradise , the other Jackie, is winslowgirlva ) Check the Member MeetUps section and see if someone has posted a local meetup already for your area, if not - feel free to post one! It can be a great way to network locally with other VAs. Your business will thrive and grow as long as you remain dedicated to helping it develop and truly work to make it happen over the long haul - that's the crucial difference we so often see here is VAs who come in with loads of great ideas and energy but give up too quickly. So, stick with it and do use the forums to your advantage. Looking forward to hearing from you! __________________ Stuck in startup? Stop dreaming. Start DOING! Get the Become a Virtual Assistant eBook for just $29

#5 (permalink)   04-04-2008 Bette C Junior Member Company name: ASH Business Services ASH Business Services: We have Moved! My latest Twitter: BetteCreek: @livingwlindsay I've been looking...   Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: London, Ontario Posts: 299 Re: Hello from sunny Southwest Florida! welcome Diane!! Looking forward to getting to know you. __________________ Bette Creek http://bettecreek.blogspot.com/ www.ashbusinessservices.com

#6 (permalink)   04-04-2008 Kirkpatrickva New Member   Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Maryland Posts: 37 Re: Hello from sunny Southwest Florida! You've launched in the right page!! I am new here this week as well. There is so much resources here Wish you a GREAT success on your business!! Jennifer

#7 (permalink)   04-04-2008 Delady Junior Member   Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Chicago, IL (USA) Posts: 276 Re: Hello from sunny Southwest Florida! Diane, Thank you for joining us. Be sure to look around and check out all of the great discussions we've had and jump in with any that we may have missed! What's great about this community is that everyone is great with sharing information and resources that has helped them to build a successful business, so as you participate, you will definitely find information that will prove to be useful as you develop your business! We're looking forward to hearing more of your journey to building your Practice! __________________ Perfecting Assistance Services www.perfectingassistance.com Allowing you time to PERFECT your Business!

#8 (permalink)   04-04-2008 Modern Marketing Support Resident Member Company name: Modern Marketing Support My latest Twitter: RT @TheGrok: 5 Tips to Be a Lean, Agile Inbound Ma...   Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,250 Re: Hello from sunny Southwest Florida! Welcome to the forums Diane! It's nice to meet you. __________________ Shari Sultana Online Business Manager (marketing for retail ecommerce)

#9 (permalink)   04-07-2008 tbauer296 Guest Company name: Click here to learn how to add your Company Name! Latest blog post: Click here to learn how to add your blog feed! My latest Twitter: Click here to learn how to set up your Tweets!   Posts: n/a Re: Hello from sunny Southwest Florida! Congrats on starting your new business! I am just now starting out as well and wish you the best of luck!

#10 (permalink)   04-07-2008 vainparadise Resident Member Company name: A Virtual Assistant in Paradise My latest Twitter: A Moment of Clarity in the Pursuit of Happiness ht...   Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Florida Posts: 1,853 Blog Entries: 1 Re: Hello from sunny Southwest Florida! Welcome Diane! How are things going with your business? __________________ Dawn Riley A Virtual Assistant in Paradise Our business is about making yours better

#11 (permalink)   04-07-2008 Yvonne Weld New Member   Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 14 Re: Hello from sunny Southwest Florida! Hi Diane and welcome!! I look forward to getting to know you and your business.

#12 (permalink)   04-07-2008 TNMEventz Guest Company name: Click here to learn how to add your Company Name! Latest blog post: Click here to learn how to add your blog feed! My latest Twitter: Click here to learn how to set up your Tweets!   Posts: n/a Re: Hello from sunny Southwest Florida! Welcome, Diane! We are neighbors, I am in Cape Coral. I am just starting up my own event planning business. Looking forward to growing with the group. I completely understand about the market here in FL. Good Luck with your new endeavor. Tanya Torres TNM Eventz

#13 (permalink)   04-08-2008 JKVirtualOffice Resident Member Company name: JK Virtual Office Resources Facebook Marketing Magic: Facebook Announces Video Chat in Partnership with ... My latest Twitter: Singularity University: Which Way Next? My discuss...   Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Oregon Posts: 1,313 Blog Entries: 5 Re: Hello from sunny Southwest Florida! Welcome to the forum. I wish I was from someplace sunny right now...we currently only seem to be having liquid sunshine these days. Enjoy looking around! Kimberly

#14 (permalink)   04-08-2008 VAofSWFL Contributing Member   Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Cape Coral FL Posts: 66 Re: Hello from sunny Southwest Florida! Hi Diane, Welcome - I am in SWFL as well. I live in Cape Coral and am just starting out as well. I've not come up with a name yet but I'm working on it. I can't wait to get things up and running and to start helping others in their businesses! I know Dawn is in Venice - not far from you at all and I just saw a post from someone in Naples. This is soooo exciting!! Laurie - VAofSWFL

#15 (permalink)   04-08-2008 DianeB New Member   Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: In Paradise - South Florida! Posts: 27 Re: Hello from sunny Southwest Florida! Thank you SOOO much, everyone, for the warm welcome and best wishes. I am looking forward to getting to know all of you, virtually, and some of you - Laurie, Dawn & Tanya, hopefully, in person one of these days. I'm going to need lots of help and advice from all of you to help get my business off the ground and keep it growing and successful. There's so much information in this forum, it's a little overwhelming to know where to begin. But, I'm looking forward to jumping in and learning from all of you. I'm so excited to begin this new journey in my life! I'll be seeing you in the Forums and on the boards!