On the 28th February 2020 I will have been in practice as a virtual assistant for 20 years. I began when my daughter was then about six or seven months old.
I want to share a few things I’ve learned while being in business: hopefully they’ll be of some help to you on your journey.
Remember being in business as a VA can sometimes be a slow burn – it generally doesn’t happen overnight but takes consistent work on your part to build your practice, your skills, your reputation, and client and referrer base.
Here’s my quick list of things learned over the past 20 years. I’m sure there are more but I wanted to keep it to 20! I will expand on each of these in shorter blogs in greater detail over the next 20 days – but if you can’t wait, head on over to my podcast – The Virtual Business Show where I talk about each one further.
- Being a VA is not a hobby or ‘side hustle’
- Not everyone can be a VA
- You must have partner/family support/buy-in
- Have an ‘I’m the boss’ mindset
- Don’t try to be all things to all people – find your niche
- But be flexible
- Advertising – be selective
- Training – check your trainer
- Network – on and offline
- Use your tribe
- Define your ideal client/target market
- Set boundaries
- Be authentic
- Be professional
- Don’t take on work you’re not qualified for
- You’re in a service industry
- Accept change
- Don’t sweat the small stuff
- Enjoy what you do
- Strive for work/life integration
Again, there are bound to be a stack more but I wanted to focus on the things that would be important if you’re starting out.
I hope these 20 lessons learned over two decades help you on your business journey! I’ll go into a bit more depth on each one over the course of the next 20 days so be sure to check back each day!