Getting Started as a VA or Virtual Assistant… Wow, this is a topic which has been on my mind non-stop for the past couple of months!
Being a Virtual Assistant has appealed to me for the last few years, however up until now I did not maybe have the time, and I think most importantly the commitment. However, just after Christmas I saw this training course coming up, advertised in one of the many Virtual Assistant groups I was part of, and it kind of spoke to me – “How to Start, Market and Grow your Virtual Assistant Business”, and I thought yes, this is my chance, I must give this a go. The only issue was that the course cost $300 and I wasn’t in the best financial situation where I have money to throw anywhere, however, I discussed it with my husband who was very supportive and so decided to just take the plunge and do it!
So, what came up next…. Fear! Fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of not being able to persist and give up, and mostly fear of looking like a failure in front of everyone I knew. In the meantime, I continued making my research, continued joining groups, reading other people’s questions, and I realized that I am not alone, this kind of fear is very common amongst everyone who is starting their own business, that I am not less able than anyone else because I am feeling like this!
How will I get started?
That was my next question… Ok so by this time, my brain is just a jumble of information. I have so much I need to do, so many things I need to think about, and fortunately again in the same Facebook group as before, I came across a 5-day challenge to launching your business. I enrolled, and that was it – first thing I had to do was getting out there, telling people that I was a virtual assistant (this was, of course, my biggest fear), but by talking to a couple of people I trust, and believing in myself, and not really giving too much importance of having others judge me, I did it, I started my blog about my journey to becoming a Virtual Assistant. I can assure you that after my first post, my anxiety was sky high, but I was finally out there, I went public with what my plans are.
This, together with the online training which I was doing gave me some focus as to the steps which I need to take:
- See what kind of virtual assistant I want to be (general, social media pro, writer)
- Branding myself which meant I had to think hard how I could sell myself to prospective clients, how will my work benefit their business.
- Start putting my profile together, work on my pitch
- Work on building a website, create a Facebook page, Instagram feed to promote myself in every way possible.
Yes, it is a lot of work, and I still have not accomplished all the above, but finally working my way through it, and although I have not managed to find my first client yet, I am persisting as I still have a lot to do to be completely out there. I am currently working on building my website, so one that is done, it’s another milestone which I would have reached.