Three weeks into my VA practice. Been attending networking meetings, updating skills and ready to create mail shot to local businesses. Slightly overwhelmed with amount of self admin involved in being a business owner. Currently tweeking business plan and sales forecast. Any tips for a newbie would be much appreciated.

Hello and welcome to the forums!

There IS a lot of work involved in setting up and running a VA business - but it's well worth the investment. Those non-billable hours do come as a bit of a shock to some though. One suggestion to try to get out from under the overwhelm would be to sit down and list out the tasks you know you need to do to run your business and then group them together according to the type of task (marketing, social networking/media, local networking, learning new skills, bookkeeping, etc. etc.)

Then, create a schedule for yourself, where you're working on certain aspects of your business for X hours on a specific day each week. Then stick to it.

As you come across new ideas for marketing your business (for example) - add it to your list of marketing tasks and work on it on the scheduled day(s).

I know it can feel crazy when you have a list a mile long and it grows by the day as you get new ideas and come across new information, but compartmentalizing those tasks into chunks and then scheduling them can really help you feel more focused and less scattered.

As to general advice on business development and growth: the very best advice I can give is to jump into the forums and read, take notes, ask and answer questions, and get involved. You'll learn so much just by interacting with the virtual assistant community-at-large. Fellow VAs are an awesome resource of information and support!

P.S. Please set up your signature with your name and business name so we know who we're chatting with!

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Many thanks for your feedback Tess. As a single/work at home mum of 3 it has been challenging to plan for business whilst doing the school run and other child related activities.

I will certainly take on board your suggestions as soon as the kids are settled tonight.

I have dipped in and out of the forum for a while but am now beginning to realise what a valuable resource this is.

Thanks again.

PS. I have updated my signature (hopefully).

Just in case: Ann Murphy @ ATM Virtual Assistant (ATM Business Services Ltd)

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Ann Murphy
ATM Business Services Ltd

Congrats on getting going. As Tess said, make a list of your needs and schedule your time. Just keep in mind that flexibility is important! There are lots of resources here to help you with the necessary tasks (and a list of what they are). We're here to help!

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Lily Chambers, The Virtual Office Goddess, LLC
Author "How to Do Your Own Small Business Bookkeeping"