Introducing our latest VA Star: Michelle of 1Click
This month we introduce you to yet another start up VA. One of the reasons we chose Michelle and her business is because she had a shaky start, trying to make a VA partnership work. Michelle will be posting over the next few weeks – enjoy!
Hi, I’m Michelle…I registered as a business in December 2010 and since then have been making my way through the various start up courses and building my websites. Originally I setup as an editor and proofreader, and have worked with authors already, my website for this is already up and running. At heart I’m a bookworm and have my own book review blog also, so that’s where my other interests are.
I’ve over 6 years’ admin experience and previous to setting up in business I was home educating our children, who are now in school. Last month I went through the motions of setting up a joint website with a startup VA. After teething problems and hiccups (read: total lack of communication) I’ve now took a side step and am almost done tweaking my own VA site. I decided to setup by myself, which in hind sight is what I should of done in the first place. I’m eager to get started and welcome any tips, help and advice you can give 🙂
This is very encouraging. I am still trying to penetrate into the Nigerian market knowing that this type of business is not common in Nigeria. I need help with getting started and would appreciate any free tips
Thanks
I was wondering if there are any referencing checks done on VA’s. One I know of stole the business and bank accounts from her business partner. It worries me that these people are free to mis represent themselves as virtual assistants and are privy to clients customer lists and often a lot of information and trust is given to them. Is there a regulatory body for VA’s?
Hi Carole
There’s not really – the closest thing to it is VAcertified.com which is a 360 degree review of your business and checks your qualifications/set up etc.
SVA also runs an Approved VA scheme which asks that members adhere to a code of conduct, and we remove anyone who we have a valid complaint made against. We have also banned members in the past for plagiarism too. Usually I ask anyone who has a complaint contacts me privately ([email protected]) and we investigate the claim.
Sadly there are some rogue VAs out there – and there’s not a lot we can do to stop them using the term “virtual assistant” to market themselves.
Having been unable to work for over 12 months due to various ‘inconvenient’ health problems I am in the process of setting up a Virtual Assistant business and have found your website incredibly useful and motivational, especially the reading list/book reviews. Any further help and advice would be very gratefully received.