I'm just starting out investigating the VA industry and I wanted to understand some of the challenges that I would be likely to face. What are some of the biggest challenges that folks are facing running your VA business?

-Mark

Welcome Mark.

I'm new to this too but one of the biggest challenges so far has been the belief that I can make a success of this. Another one is where the clients are going to come from.

I'm sure some of the more experienced VAs will offer further advice for you.

Good luck with your venture

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Tracy
Eternal VA

I'm no longer running a VA business but I did for over three years and I still serve VAs as clients and customers.

I would say my biggest challenge by far was having a mindset that I had to do it all myself. If you try to do everything yourself AND grow your business at the same time you will eventually hit a WALL. If you're like me (and many other VAs) you'll try to push through that wall as hard as you can. The wall won't move, but you'll end up quite burnt out because you took on more clients than you could handle and you tried to squeeze in more hours than were realistic.

To overcome this challenge it's a really good idea to look at your business like a real business.

Ask questions like:

Where can you hire team members? How can you be most effective with your time? How can you avoid taking on the wrong clients (the ones who won't respect boundaries and billing for emails/phone calls)?

It's very rewarding when you get a good team together and you don't have to feel overwhelmed and rushed in your business all the time.

Hope that helps!

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WordPress Website Design Course for Virtual Assistants and Small Businesses

Thanks so much for the input, Angela. i'm a new VA and your response above has been an eye-opener.

Mark,

I would say the biggest challenge for most is moving from employee mindset to business owner mindset. You are responsible for it all so you need to learn when to make the decision to outsource help or take it on above client work.

Most newbies (in any business) do not realize that it is you who are responsible for marketing, accounting, development and continuing education to make your business work and grow it. Often times, because funds are tight, we skip using the other experts such as accountants, web designers and marketers. We often do not take our own advice and hand-off tasks that are time consuming and revenue stalwarts.

I would begin by building your network now. Through my networking I have found a great graphic artist, publicity expert, business consult and lawyer. These people are often my go-to for something that I need done or a great sounding board when I hit the wall. By building these relationships I not only have a great support team in the wings but a wonderful referral network too.

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Lee Drozak
My Office Assistant

Thank you all for your responses. I'm a newbie as well adn this has helped me to see some things that I hadn't thought of yet.

Getting clients. All my clients have come from referrals, but you have to network, meet people & establish relationships. I'm kind of an introvert & don't really like doing that, but since I am the marketing department, it's on me.

Also, just because you score a client doesn't mean you can rest. I had a client doing about $500 a month in business for several months & then, in one month she went down to $150 & hasn't gone much above that. It's not like getting a paycheck every month, where you know exactly how much you're going to get.

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Lezly Harrison
Laserdog Productions - Code that Doesn't Bite

I agree with Lee. Changing your mindset is really difficult, but absolutely necessary.

And, you have to realize that you can't do it all yourself. The maxim 'you have to spend money to make money' is never more true than with an entrepreneur. If you are spending all of your time and energy RUNNING your business, you won't have the time and energy to BUILD your business.

Be sensible and understand your limitations. If you are really good at the admin stuff but marketing is beyond you, hire someone to help with the marketing. If you are great at web design but bookkeeping makes your head hurt, hire a p-t bookkeeper. In other words, focus on what you are good at and hire others to shore up your weak spots.

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

Sometimes it is overwhelming having to (as leedrozak mentioned) keep up with marketing, continuing education, accounting, development, etc. And as the seasoned VAs have stressed, you have to take your own advice and NETWORK. Networking with local non-profits has been invaluable because it is through this channel that I get most of my clients and support team.

I agree 100% with the moving from employee to business owner mindset. It is a very big jump. One that I just recently decided to take myself. It has taken me a week and a half to draft, tweak and then finalize the agreement that I am going to use. I just finished it last night, that was a big task for me, knowing that it was mine and seeing my name there, I now have the weight of MY business on my shoulders. But I feel great and feel like this is really mine. The last place I worked for was not a friendly environment, I did agreements and such all the time, so really this one should not have mattered, but it did, because it was mine and not some other person or company's. The mind set thing I really have to say for me anyway, you guys just hit right on the nail. I guess for me, there was a negativity blockage making me second guess whether or not I could do this. My advice, coming from my new found knowledge. If you are second guessing yourself, find out why and where it stems from, because this can affect your mindset. Just my two cents..haha..thanks for the realization all!

Originally Posted by leedrozak

Mark, Most newbies (in any business) do not realize that it is you who are responsible for marketing, accounting, development and continuing education to make your business work and grow it. Often times, because funds are tight, we skip using the other experts such as accountants, web designers and marketers. We often do not take our own advice and hand-off tasks that are time consuming and revenue stalwarts.

Can a virtual assistant realistically have the time to be responsible for all the areas you've listed above (and more) and complete projects for the clients? I can kind of see why VAs may get burned out quickly if they're not prepared for the seemingly incredibly high demands of the business.

I am in the development stage of my business and really want to know how deep the water really is before I jump in.

Thanks

Originally Posted by lisacduffy

I am in the development stage of my business and really want to know how deep the water really is before I jump in.

It's pretty deep, but as evidenced here on VAF, highly do-able. Just be prepared to spend ridiculous hours and be overwhelmed and tired for at least the first 6 months while you get your business set up and all your systems in place. After that, you can set a more reasonable schedule to handle your client's needs, marketing, accounting, social media, etc.

I am a part-time VA and average a little over 20 hours/week on top of my 9-5 job. I have calculated that once I go full-time VA, I can work a 40 hour week (30 hours billable and 10 hours admin) but being part-time allows me to grow my business with a 'support net' income from my 9-5.

As I mentioned above, don't expect to be able to do it all yourself. I do my own bookkeeping (see'ins how I AM a bookkeeper ) and my own marketing. I have someone helping me maintain my website and social media (other than forums) since those are not my strong suits.

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

This is good information I hadn't thought about. I must do some more planning!

Thanks Office Goddess,

Yeah, I have put lots of time in developing. Is there a forum that discusses the necessary contracts to have before opening my doors? Also, just HOW important is it to register for a business license (since its not a traditional store-front business)?

My marketing plans are HUGE and since I have lots of contacts, I'm hoping to land my first client before the holidays.

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Lisa Duffy
www.24HourVP.com

Check out THIS section of VAF to answer your contract questions. You should find answers to most (if not all) of your questions in here!

I opted to file for a llc with my secretary of state but I know there are lots of folks on VAF who operate as sole-props. I think it is mostly a personal preference. You WILL need to get the necessary tax id accounts set up for Federal and State. I suggest you check out THIS section for tax info.

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