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Help SVA

We’re currently looking for more contributors to the blog.  We’re looking for:

  • Business book reviews
  • Stories about how you set up your VA business
  • Reviews of products/services you regard as essential in your VA business
  • Marketing advice
  • Work:life balance stories
  • Products you would like to promote to virtual assistants
  • Books you think would be interesting to virtual assistants
  • And much more…

If you would like to contribute or submit a product/service for review please email [email protected]

See also  What's your day look like?

1 Comment

  1. Joanne Higgs on 11 March, 2018 at 7:55 am

    I ‘fell’ into the Virtual Assistant world in 2003 when my boss at the time moved to Wales and wanted me to continue working for her as her PA.

    Between then and 2009 I had just three regular clients (but only ever one at a time) and offered services which included: coordinating a regional accreditation programme, database maintenance, coordinating training and consultancy events, design of publicity materials, providing monthly financial information to company accountant and general PA/office management type roles.

    Although I was registered with HMRC as self-employed, that was pretty much it as far as my ‘business’ went. I had no insurance, no contracts, no social media presence and homemade business cards. I didn’t know any other VAs and my family and friends didn’t really understand what a ‘virtual’ PA did and thought I simply sat around watching daytime TV whilst typing up the odd brochure here and there! I did, however, have a fab home office aka spare room which was my own little haven! When I started as a VA in 2003 I had two small children and when I finished in 2009 I had 3 and all were at school. It was the perfect fit for me whilst juggling a job I loved with raising a young family (on my own for the last three years!).

    In 2009 I returned to salaried employment with my current client at that time. Between then and now I’ve coordinated a parenting programme across the county, managing a voluntary team of facilitators and my current job (for the past 6 years) has involved providing administrative support to the CEO and board of directors, project coordination, managing all office systems and procedures, arranging meetings and events both in the UK and overseas, database management and maintaining SAGE/budget management.

    Last year I had a baby (an older mummy this time around!) and during my maternity leave I started thinking that I’d like to return to VA work. But I had a bit of a shock when I stumbled across a VA Facebook group and discovered just how far things had developed. And it all overwhelmed me. And I panicked. And so, in November, I returned to my salaried job instead. By the middle of January I was craving flexibility. I wanted to be my own boss again, to decide what I did and who I worked with, to realise my own self-worth again. And so I started putting down my ideas and ‘stuff to think about’ on a Trello board and met up with another VA to talk things through. Within a week I decided on my business name, purchased the domain name, built my very own (albeit simple) website and Facebook page, ordered some business cards and spent a lot of time on LinkedIn improving my profile and doing some ‘gentle’ networking. I’m still employed at the moment but as soon as I have enough client work I will commit 100% to being a VA again.

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