Starting a Virtual Assistant Business in 90-Days

In August 2015 (before starting my virtual assistant business), I was laying on the couch in a deep depression wallowing in a can of self-pity and frankly kind of enjoying it. It was an excuse to identify as the victim of society, my illness, my circumstances, my… Yeah, pretty ugly, huh?

It was then that I gave myself two decisions. I could continue to sit and rot away OR create my own job. I chose the latter.

I’ve been told I was unemployable. I was out of work too long. I was too old (at 40+) and too fat. That last one isn’t so bad because it is true especially for the type of work. Being a file clerk is a very active position.

So, I created my own job and never looked back.

In honor of National Small Business Week and my 1-year anniversary, I’ll be sharing how I would start my virtual assistant freelance business if I could do it all over again.

If I could start this journey all over again, I’d give myself plenty of time to set up the business, hire a coach, build a website, and grow a community.

Here’s How I started:

• August 2015 - I started selling my Admin. on Fiverr
  I worked hard, long, and for little pay. I learned a lot of about myself and what I actually enjoy working on. This gave me time to experiment on projects I thought I’d love but in reality didn’t. I then flipped back and forth wanting to go independent but fearing the unknown path away from Fiverr.
• November 2016 - invested in a Virtual Assistant Group Coaching Program (the fire under my feet)
• January 207 - started mentoring with a great lady who understands being an introvert, an empath, and fear (but doing it anyway)
• February 2017 - invested in a group coaching program for Natural Affiliate Marketing (the fog has been lifted and now is a group class I teach)
• March 2017 - Distraction Challenge (getting myself off of Facebook)

I’ve broken it into a 90-day process with the first 30-days focused on training and setting up your business, the second 30-days is focused growing your community, and the last 30-days is focused on launching your blog and interviewing prospective clients.

Why Not Pin This Post For Later:

First 30 Days: Business Training and Set Up

The first thing I’d do without a doubt is to hire a coach. If you’re limited on funds, try group coaching like the one below.

1. NewVA Business Foundation Group Program

This is a 5-week program led by Alicia Jay, a work-at-home mom and business marketing coach to new virtual assistants. I hired Alicia in November 2016 and do not regret it.

“The program is designed to help you skip all the craziness and overwhelm that comes with starting a VA business, so you can get on with making your dreams a reality.”

Here’s What’s Included:
• 5 training calls with Alicia
• Mindset – shedding the employee mindset ebook; mindset and schedule checklist; (invaluable)
• Choosing Your services (this may take a while, but don’t get discouraged)
• Target Market (again, this may take a while, it’s okay for this to change)
• Configuring your rates (don’t get stuck on this one)
• What you need on your website
• Legal aspects of running a Virtual Assistant Business
• Policies and Terms on your Website
• Forms (contract/confidential)

I highly recommend her!

Additional Tools for V.A.s from Alicia of New VA:

• New Process Guide - onboarding your clients (with templates)
• Free 4-Steps to Starting a Virtual Assistant Business (via email)
• 5-day Activate Your Business Challenge to help you take action on the foundational steps to create your business.

2. VaNetworking Forum

Join the VaNetworking Forum for support and learning opportunities. If you have the money, invest in the VaInsidersClub so you can use the job board and access the training library. Tawnya trains new V.A.’s and hosts the VA Virtuoso Conference - a must attend event.

3. Small Business Administration Training

Write your Business Plan and get free online training.

4. Business Set Up

Tools and resources that are helpful for virtual assistants.

• Website - StudioPress Sites as it’s an all-in-one product. You get 12 child themes, the top performing Genesis framework and support, as well as their Hosting and automatic updates (Yay, no more updates). Learn more about StudioPress Sites here
• WhiteLabel Perks - I highly recommend using PLR or Done-for-You Content to start your blog and business. I’d purchase an all-in-one Lead Magnet package.
• Auto Web Law - 70 legal form templates alternatively you can invest in Legal Zoom
• Jill’s Office - a virtual call center or receptionist starting at $5
• Aweber - an autoresponder to build an email list from the start
• Social Warfare Plugin - one of my favorites because of the added stats and ability to add social images for Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook
• Grammarly - a necessity for proofreading your own work as well as clients
• Hootsuite - my favorite social management tool. You can manage all networks without ever having to visit your newsfeeds. A great time saver.
• QuickBooks + Taxes - manage your finances from the start. This lets you connect to your business bank account or Paypal, invoice customers, and calculate quarterly tax payments as well as file taxes using Turbo Tax. Here’s a great Guide to Taxes for the Self-Employed.
• Done for You Templates for Your Business from my friend and mentor Angela Wills of Laptop Lifestyle Business Club.
• Retweet Chores - if you’ll be doing chore threads this is a MUST. Time saver and you don’t overwhelm your followers with Retweets
• Tailwind or BoardBooster - for Pinterest scheduling and management (most clients who have you manage Pinterest will have one or the other)
• Freedcamp - this is a free project management system which will eliminate back and forth emails. It’s also a great place to keep your project/tasks on the calendar and manage documents and files.
• Stock Images - I bought mine from Suzi of Start a Mom Blog but there are many quality and affordable options
• ScreencastoMatic - a screen recording software which will become your best friend when showing how to do something
• Social and Graphics VA - 30 days of social images (and schedule my posts) so I can concentrate on interacting in groups and growing my page

Reminder: You don’t have to invest in everything as how you serve your clients will be different than how I serve mine. These are what I have found invaluable for my business.

Next 30 Days - Build my Community and Email List

Build my social community via Facebook and Twitter

Mark of Levels of Minimalism built his social community before he launched his blog. A smart move. Read this post for a step-by-step plan.

I’ll also build Twitter by participating in chats that my clients are likely to attend. This helps me connect with my people as well as grow my Twitter following and connections for future collaborations.

I’ll add my Aweber mailing list to my Facebook Page to grow my mailing list. I’d also have a landing page with an opt-in form.

During this time I’ll add content to my blog and messages to my autoresponder.

As Mark, suggests, I’ll review my top performing posts on Facebook (Twitter) and invest in Advertising to get more likes and sign ups.

I also recommend promoting your site. I did for a week and gained about 1000 followers. I kept writing and using inspirational quotes then chose the two with the most likes and promoted them over the next two weekends and grew my following to about 5000. Since then it has only grown to about 6000 but I know they are people that have an interest in my Topic. Total cost about $240.00

Final 30 Days - Launch the blog

Finally, it’s time to invite my email list, my Facebook community, and my Twitter followers to my newly launched blog.

I will now actively pursue clients to fill my calendar for the first 6-months to one-year.

New content will be added to my blog once a week with the best sent to my mailing list.

Do you have a virtual assistant business? What are your MUST HAVES now that you’ve been at it for a while?