Thanks Tess!! Thank you very much and good luck with your VA business . I believe in great work means gret referrals Sort of like pay it forward.

Tina ~

Thanks! I hope "Let Me Do It!" will catch on! In response to your question about becoming a REVA, I've decided against it as a niche because I don't want to box myself in. I am certainly advertising myself as a licensed realtor, with the experience that comes with it, but I want to accept other work, too.

If you're trying to market to realtors in the last few yrs., with the rotten real estate market we have in our country, I'm not surprised you've gotten a lukewarm reception. I hope I'm not sounding too negative here, but the majority of success in the real estate industry, like in most sales areas, is accomplished by a very small percentage of realtors; this in spite of the fact that there are so many realtors around. What that really means is that (sadly) most realtors are not very successful, and probably only have a few sales a year if that ~ most of them don't have the bucks to hire help. Even in the couple of yrs. I experienced great sales numbers myself (the boom years of 2000-2005), I did it completely from family/friends referrals & word-of-mouth. If you want to target realtors, I'd suggest you find out which are the very newest to the field and or the most successful in your area, and flood them with regular marketing contacts. If this is meant to be your niche, there's a way to make it work!

And Serena, I so agree ~ great work will generate great referrals, and "pay it forward" is a work ethic we should all aspire to!

__________________
Let Me Do It!
Tess Mickelsen

Tess,
Thank you for the your information on being a REVA. I know the market is slow and how it is really not a good time to get started in that area but in talking to different people I thought that being in a particular area would be more lucerative. But your thoughts on limiting yourself to one area is also very good thinking.
I really must do a business plan first and that is where I am really at a loss. Also, what is "pay it forward?"
Tina Longo

Hi again Tina,

It looks like I'm newer than you on this forum, but I'm seeing a split response from others on here about taking up a specific niche or not. There are several places on this forum that talk about specific niche markets, and one thread devoted completely to REVA's. I think it's a very personal decision. I'm going to leave myself open to adjusting my business as it goes along; at this point I am hoping to actually "open" my biz on 1/1/2010 to give myself plenty of time to figure it all out.

I'm spending a lot of time on the biz plan; there's a couple different places on this forum where this topic is being discussed in depth, and several blanks available for you to use. I'd suggest you pick one & start working on it ~ it's a great place to consolidate all your thoughts & ideas for your business, literally forcing you to make a plan of how you'll achieve success. If that looks too foreboding, try working out one of the two great To-Do Lists for VA's that we have posted on the "business development" thread. Whatever form you use, I agree you need a biz plan.

"Pay it Forward" is the concept of asking that a good turn be repaid by having it done to others instead ~ so what we're saying here is that by doing really good work for our clients, and asking them for referrals, hopefully they will want to refer us to others, and we will receive more work, so having done the original good work will come back around to us, and give us a great name in our industry!

Have a great weekend!

__________________
Let Me Do It!
Tess Mickelsen

Great interview. Serena is there one thing you would recommend a newbie to do before doing anything else?

I enjoy reading the posts and I am learning a lot.

thanks
Have a great day,

__________________
Tamera
“Let me manage the daily tasks for you.”

Thank you very much!! I recommend a newbie to do as much research as possible to keep themselves up to date and most of all pick a niche and target market. I know that when i started I had this fear that I didn't want to pick a niche or target market because I want to help everyone. Well this is not the right direction and just because you are picking a niche and target market does not mean that you can't help anyone that is not in that category. Your business is open to help anyone however have a niche and target market to advertise and market too will bring you much more success.

So here is my project for you and all you newbie's out there. To help determine your niche and target market.

Close your eyes and envision what your client looks like.

• Is it a man or woman?
• What color hair do they have?
• Are they wearing a suit or dressed casually?
• Depending if your target market is based on a certain ethnic group you can answer the following question: Are they White, Brown or Black. (I have a client that specializes in black entrepreneurial women and black celebrity women as a niche and we are building an online magazine for her target market).
• Do they own their own small business or medium sized business or corporate business?
• Do they have employees or do they work from home?
• Do they have an office?
• Are they established or just starting out?

These questions will help you determine what your niche is and what your target marketing is. My answer is as follows:

I specialize helping women entrepreneurs such as coaches, authors, speakers, va's, internet marketers and many of my clients specialize in supporting women entrepreneurs also. I have several male clients also however specialize in the above.

QUOTE=tharris158;98144]Great interview. Serena is there one thing you would recommend a newbie to do before doing anything else?

I enjoy reading the posts and I am learning a lot.

thanks
Have a great day,[/QUOTE]

Hi Tess,
Thank you again for your explanation of "pay it forward." Also, I am going to look into the "business development" thread.
You seem so organized and self-confident. I admire that.
Will be in touch.
Tina