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Hi Everyone, Happy Mother's Day weekend this weekend. While working on making some changes for my Webinar Production Agency. I pieced together a new mission statement. Let me know what you think. Our premier agency manages all aspects of our customer's webinars and podcasts to take the tasks off their plate so they a focus on sharing their message. We provide an event team to assist with event management, moderate chat rooms, marketing, video production/editing, and bookkeeping. We put you in the spotlight so that your message can shine.

I'm sorry, for some reason I didn't see this before now. Yes, I used Canva. I'm quite enjoying Canva, although I still think Photoshop is better. There are some things you just can't do in Canva.

Hello Danielle, Thank you, it works perfectly the way the video shows.

Thanks Tawyna and Danielle! She will only be running a few group coaching programs. Not a lot of products at all. She does have a wordpress site. I will definitely check these options out. Glad to be back in the community

Thank you for the welcome and the feedback! I truly appreciate the support. The amount of information and guidance I have already gotten from being here is absolutely astounding. Marie, thank you for introducing yourself and the support. Charlottesville is a beautiful area. I do hope you and Tawnya had a well deserve Mother's Day. (I Googled Mother's Day in Canada to make sure I was correct to include Tawnya) My decision "redesigning your career at this stage" in my life so far is a blessing in disguise. My wife and I recently (3 months ago) purchased our new home. Last month I lost my job of 7 years due to "seasonal downsizing". My wife and I took a hard look at our options. She is a career nurse that makes a relatively good income, but not necessarily enough to carry our current expenses alone. So, what to do? I have looked into getting another job, and there are a lot of postings in our area business administrators, executive assistants, administrative assistants, and small business owners are looking for personal assistants. One evening, while I was preparing a cover letter, my wife asked me if I knew how my previous employer was planning to distribute my workload? That one question coupled with what I was seeing for job postings was a EUREKA! moment. At that point, my cover letters became introduction letters for my services as a virtual assistant. Even though my previous employer was not posting an ad to refill my position, I knew he was going to need help, so I sent an email. My previous boss is now my first client! Tawnya, thank you for your response. It helped me in defining my why. I want financial freedom for my family! I will NOT be put in this position again! My plans and dreams for the future are HUGE, but that is fuel for my fire. I don't expect the journey to be easy, but it will be fun!!!

Hi Chuck, Welcome to our virtual assistant community. You are not the only male in this group. One of our admins in this group is Mark Hunter from Australia. And we have a supportive network here. I am from Charlottesville, Virginia. I am married. We have a 13-year old son. I started in 2017 with just an idea of being a virtual assistant. And with the help of Tawnya, Mark and so many wonderful people in the VA insiders group I am moving right along. Bravo for redesigning your career at this stage in your life. Our network is supportive and willing to help cheer you on. To your success. Cheers, Marie Mason PS. Happy Mother's day to your family. Also, my son's name is Charles.

I've always had issues exporting my videos in Camtasia on my Mac. I finally asked Camtasia how to fix the quality issues and here is the article they referred me to. It has fixed my issues so wanted to post it in here in case anyone has this issue. https://support.techsmith.com/hc/en-us/articles/115007279948-Camtasia-Mac-Exported-Video-Had-Faded-or-Incorrect-Color

Hello, I hate to admit this but I have been a VA insider since June and have yet to start my business. Part of the reason is that I stand in my own way and overthink things but the other part is feeling really lost on where to start. I cannot purchase the VAC program at this time which I know would help me. Where should I begin in VA insiders and VA networking to actually execute steps on starting my business?

I just recently joined the VA workforce. I'm interviewing for positions now. I am optimistic that I will land my first client soon and begin creating my portfolio of work! ______________________________________________________________________________________ Visit my site at - https://rhosecellahdasalla.wixsite.com/website

I am definitely backing away from this for now. I need to earn some real wages first. This is something I could come back to but honestly I really hate MLM type stuff. According to them I can earn a lot, as long as those I recruit don't surpass my level. I've never been very good at getting ahead w/stuff like that anyway. I'm going to reach out to some people I know. I also made some flyers to put up wherever I can. So hopefully I'll find some real clients/work soon. I'll be posting & writing new posts for my blog as well.

Hey there! Welcome to VAnetworking.com --> The Social Network for Virtual Assistants. I am so excited that you have decided to join the friendliest social network on earth for Virtual Assistants. Let me give you a quick intro of who I am. I am Juli and I have not been in the Virtual Industry that long, (1 year) but by being your moderator, I can relate to some of your challenges that you might possibly face that I might have gone through. I was unemployed looking for way to pay off my student loan debt and how to make money at the same time. I saw an AD on my local TV explaining how to make money online, that educated me a bit on how to make money online but through one of those freelancing sites. I was still not satisfied with only working from that platform so I went on Google and found ways how I could make money online, and this is how I found the forum and joined. Fast forward a year later I have a business in place and I am about to launch my website. So I have gone through the path that you now are on. Enough about me and more about you! One way to get to know you better on the forum is through your first introduction to us. I will outline some tips on how to get you started on the forum. First you can do a quick introduction about yourself and this can be done by clicking here http://www.vanetwork...al-Busi-f4.html If you are like me and don’t like to talk much about yourself here is a breakdown to use as a guide to ease those introductions jitters: Your Name: Your Website URL (if applicable): Years in Business: Description of your Business, including any specialties: On a more personal note: What City/Town/State/Country are you from?: Are you married? How long?: Any kids and how old? Hobbies & Interests: How did you hear about us? We love to know how you heard about us so please let us know! i.e. Google search (what keywords did you search?), article in magazine (name of mag?), word of mouth (who?), etc. Please feel free to browse around and get to know others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to private message me or any of the other moderators here or contact us at our help desk Until then, can't wait to see your growth here and your accomplishments. Best wishes.

What do you think?

Thank you, Amber. It does help.

Site Builder is where my website is. And I really love it. So, while I can't use the images from there some place else, it suits me for now. The customization is amazing for free. I've got exactly what I need. I've done a lot of comparison. And some of the cheapest sites have poor customer service, some of the more high-end ones are too expensive, and I just can't stand WordPress. I know lots of people find it useful & simple. But I can't customize it the way that I want, not with the free version. So I've found what makes me comfortable. I need to be able to manage, maintain, and also not be frustrated w/the design. I can't be productive if I'm sitting for an hour trying to figure out how to get things to look the way I want them to. I don't like tons of time spent "troubleshooting". It's a serious drain on my energy.

Thank you Marco. But I find a big differences between the U.S. and Spanish markets.

Hey Brittany - great start on your site and congrats on having it live! Since your site is very white, I'd definitely 2 colors that you want to go with your brand and have those pop. Since you have pink in your logo, definitely go with that and then one more to really make things stand out. I think it will liven it up a bit. Since it looks like you are a solo VA, I would change some of the wording to "me" or "I". You kind of have both singular and plural and it can be confusing to users. So it's better to stick with one or the other. If you are the only person people will be dealing with, then just go with that. And lastly, I'd add a picture of you - it makes it more personable and people can relate more to someone they can "look in the eye". Good luck!

Thank you so much ladies for the great feedback! In regards to coding, I wanted to learn how to design and build websites so I could do that for others. I've done some searching though after I saw what you said, Tawnya. This is something I definitely don't need to know prior to getting my website live. I'll put that on the back burner for now. Thank you!

Hi Hannah, welcome to VAnetworking! I definitely think you could niche yourself and work in the medical field.

Thank you. A UPS Store mailbox is a very good idea.

Client onboarding is basically a phrase someone made up so they could sell you products surrounding that process. Onboarding a client is fairly simple and usually goes in this order: 1. Get them to pay your retainer upfront (usually online through Paypal). 2. Get them to sign your contract (I do this after I get their payment as once they pay it's easier to get them to sign as they want you to start working for them right away). 3. Talk to them on the phone to get pertinent contact information (contact info, passwords, etc.) to help you service them. 4. You can also send them a document stating your business protocols (hours you work, how you'll communicate with each other, how payments are made, holidays, sick-time, etc.) Each VA has different protocols. As you can see, there isn't much process to prepare to onboard a client. The hardest part is getting them to pay and sign that contract.

I am just starting my journey to start my Virtual Assistant Business. I am thinking of doing proofreading and editing. Right now I am in college perusing a Virtual Office Professional Certificate of Achievement. I have two years experience as an Administrative Assistant Intern. I need your advice on what step should I take next. It seems that people on Guru are wanting degrees and three to five years virtual assistant experience. What's your advice?

Hi all! I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Adele. I was a VA for years and then went back into working in corporate America after going through a divorce. Life circumstances at the time just called for that kind of change. I was only a VA on a part-time basis and needed to go back to full-time income -- and quickly! Anyhow, fast-forward to the present. I am now happily remarried and in a much better position. I have decided to take the plunge and delve back into my passion. I assist businesses with their HR, recruiting, and SMM needs. I also assist in a variety of other projects when time allows, such as event and meeting planning and trade show coordination.

I chose Oceanfront VA Services because that's where I'm hoping to be working from in the next few years!

Yes, it's a lot of going back and forth and switching between projects. I found I was wasting a lot of time with admin stuff and emails. I rather focus on a few larger clients. Have you figured out how many hours you could allocate to clients? That might help you out. Don't forget to set aside time for bookkeeping, marketing etc for your own business.

I'm a retired Quality Assurance Manager who started editing part time (I'm a writer as well) and it just grew into editing, copy editing, proofreading and virtual assistance. I'm only wanting to do this part time, as I am writing novels. But jobs and projects and clients have a way of blossoming! So I network with other freelancers to spread out the work I don't want or can't do. I feel like I have friends all over the world now. Good luck in your business! Pat www.editalley.com www.pathauldren.net www.remotegirlfriday.com

I have a client who's Quickbooks online is so messed up I have no clue how to fix it. When I first took over there was years of income that he has put in undeposited funds. I moved all that out into the proper place and now it seems even more messed up. One of his client looks like he has over 300K in credit and another looks like they are behind when they are not....HELP??!! Need an expert!!

Hello Everyone! I am a Virtual Assistant based in South Africa. My journey into this awesome "Virtual World" happen with the birth of my son and the company I was working for at the time didn't want to get a temp so I set myself up at home to do everything I did in the office and that is when the light bulb moment happened Set up an office at home resigned and have never looked back, nothing better than being your own boss, determining your income and getting to be there for your kids everyday. Excited about being a part of this community and look forward to getting to know fellow VA's.

Hi there!! I'm Nancy and I am a brand new VA. My previous profession was in social services and health education and I have incorporated my experience into my new business, specializing with healthcare businesses, non profits and disabled business owners and individuals. My business is heavy on the personal assistance services and from the knowledge I have gathered, noone is providing this type of service to the disabled. Of course, I am also offering business support as well. My website is www.avirtualhelpinghand.com I did it on wix.com which is a platform I am very familiar with and I didnt realize most VA's do their sites on wordpress. Hope it's ok. On a personal note, I am divorced with no children, live in Queens, NY and love meeting new people, travel, cooking, and all life has to offer. This new VA venture has been a strong learning curve for me as I had to learn alot of programs and how to do alot of stuff most VAs do. I am still preparing my contracts and planning to learn a few more programs before I officially launch in about a month...I did send out a few cold email pitches but didnt hear anything back..I will DEFINITELY be taking advantage of the free email templates in the stocking stuffer At the moment, I am feeling very overwhelmed, feeling like I need to "do it all" and am in awe of the skills so many VAs bring to the table. Any support and feedback would be helpful. Look forward to getting to know you all better and best wishes and blessings on your own VA journeys

Thank you so much! I will be attending the VAinsiders call today.

Hello everyone! I'm Chuck (Some call me Charles, that's okay too). I am just getting started in the virtual world of assisting as one of those rare males in this profession. I don't have a business URL yet, but I am working diligently to to get that up and going. I have spent the last 20 years helping businesses become better through leading up as an employee, informal business coaching, and advising on system/process implementation to improve different aspects of business. My business is general virtual assistance helping small, medium, and large businesses Maximize the BIG THREE Es of Business, Efficiency, Effectiveness , and Execution! My education is management information systems and psychology. This education coupled with my experience in the military and the business world helps me to assist others accomplish what needs to be done in a technological world where change is the number one crippling factor. I specialize in business systems, social media implementation, web design, and tech support. My wife and I currently live in Vero Beach, Florida. I am originally from Lenoir, North Carolina. We have been married for 26 years and have two kids away at university. Our daughter is studying veterinary medicine at the University of Louisville, and our son is in the masters program for classical vocals and composition at the Boston Conservatory. YES, we are extremely proud of them! Being the nerd that I am, I am actually turning my hobbies into a virtual assistant business. My hobbies are actually web design, social media profile initiation, and business coaching for friends, family, and associates. So, I figured since I do this stuff in my free time, why not go professional and get paid to do it! Like they say, "If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life." This does lead me to a question though. Has anyone else experienced burn out, or other pitfalls, from the psychological shift in doing something as a hobby but now having the responsibility of getting paid for it? I would love to hear your thought or experiences around this. Please leave a response, because I really don't want to get headed the wrong direction! Thank you all for being here. We can all work together to make one another better! Chuck Kanupp

Hi Chuck, welcome to VAnetworking! That is awesome that you were able to bring on a past employeer as your first client. Wahoo!

Thank you for pointing where to start! The link is of great help as I am also just starting to build a career as a Virtual Assistant. I've set up a test website for my VA business and the free resources on the link will surely guide me to find clients and grow my business. Looking forward to more learnings and earnings!

You can promote your website through on-site and off-site links. Posting on forums and answering questions on Yahoo Answers or Quora will help promote your off-site links. This will boost your SEO because search engine algorithms are looking for external sites that link to your page. Every time you make a post on a forum, for example, search engines recognize that as an external link. It's important to remember that some external links are more valuable than others. Linking to sites with more external links themselves will help boost your page. Good luck!

I have been following up with two emails instead of three. I am unsure how to remove my emails from potential clients spam folders. I do not think I have an email campaign as I am responding to RFPs. I hope this is making sense

This is what I use and have never had a virus: 1. Windows Defender which comes FREE with Windows 10 (kept updated) 2. SuperAntiSpyware - I have the paid version so it runs in the background but the free version works too as long as you regularly keep it updated. 3. Malwarebytes - I also run this which might be overkill

Hi Jullian, You will love our little family of virtual assistants. This is the best positive group to be part of. Thought I would answer your questions. Your Name: Marie Mason Your Website URL: www.cmvirtualassistantagency.org Years in Business: 1 Year Description of your Business, including any specialties: Our premier agency serves coaches and speakers by providing an event team to manage your webinar so you can focus on sharing your message. Services for your event include management, marketing, video production, and bookkeeping. On a more personal note: What City/Town/State/Country are you from?: Charlottesville, VA., USA Are you married? How long?: Married 16 years to my best friend. Any kids and how old? I have one son age 13 years old, and he is a boy. He is smart, funny and a gifted and talented young man. Can you tell he is my pride and joy? Hobbies & Interests: Baking, especially beg for more brownies. dancing gardening knitting Playing TCG games like Pokemon cards How did you hear about us? Kathy Goughenour in January/February 2018.

I'm Susie the newbie. No clients yet, only a website. An email from Tawyna said to go through the 'find your niche' training, however, I cannot locate it. Help, please. Thanks! So overwhelmed.

Looks great Melissa!

Hi Everyone, I wanted to very briefly introduce myself and my services. I am from London (UK) and recently moved to the sunny island of Barbados where I will be working in a virtual/remote capacity. I have in excess of 15 years' experience in administration, event management and logistics, acquired in London, Europe and the Caribbean. I have worked as an Administrator, Personal Assistant, Project Support, Event Manager, Marketing Coordinator and Logistics Manager, in a number of sectors, to include; Investment Banking (10 years), Agency, Retail and Real Estate. I am offering services as a VA and also Virtual Property Management for vacation rental homes. I am new to the VA scene, but have been working as a Virtual Property Manager for 10+ years, as a sideline. On the property management side, I have a few clients, but of course welcome more . On the VA side, I am starting from ground zero. It seems like quite a long and tough process to get going in the VA world, and I am particularly finding that there is a strong bias for people who are based in the USA and that anyone considering a VA outside of the US is looking for cheap labor in Asia. So, I have taken everyone's advice and started reaching out to previous business contacts to spread the word about my services. Thanks for taking the time to read my post and I wish all the VAs in this group every success. Keisha KW Empire Limited www.kw-empire.weebly.com

Thank you Tawnya.

Hello everyone My name is Afshan Ahmad and I'm a full time mummy. I have previously worked in a solicitor's office and for a bank for 4 years. After being full time stay at home mum for 4 years I now want to get back into working and focusing on my career alongside my family. Therefore, im interested in setting up my VA business from home and using my previous skills and experiences to get started. I would love if you could share your experience of being a VA please especially mummies. How do you manage with children especially during school holidays or your child is off for some other reason and you have work, meetings etc scheduled.. Thank you very much. Afshan

I am thinking about choosing a name for my VA business. So far I have come up with RetroVAssist, GenVA, or BarkerVAsolutions. What do you think?

Sounds good and this is my service list I have as of right now; Administrative Services Appointment Setting with Reminder Services Answering Client Inquiries Client Invoicing Document Creation Spreadsheet Creation Slide Show Creation CRM Management Email Management Online Research Business Advertising/Promoting Services Creation of Advertising Materials Distribution of Advertising Materials Tracking Advertising Campaign Social Media Management Those are all I have right now. What do you think?

Can you share a link to the ad on Linkedin?

Greetings All!! Thank you so much for including me in your community. I have bookmarked it and intend to visit regularly. A little about me. I am 45 years young. I am a mother to two amazing daughters 28 and 24. I had worked as a server then bartender for 20 years. When my youngest graduated from college two years ago it was time for me to try. I have been in school 2 years now. I'm working on a Bachelors which will be in Tourism Development and Management with a Minor in Event Planning, from Arizona State University. About 6 months ago I quit bartending I can't take it anymore. I have freelanced found a way to bring some kinds of money in while going to school. I sell on Poshmark, I have ads on Fiverr and Thumbtack and have been sending out proposals on Upwork and Freelancer. I've ran ads on Craigslist and applied for virtual positions through Indeed. Some of these have gotten me jobs but nothing too consistent or profitable. But getting me by none the less. I recently found a woman who has a very detailed class in becoming a VA that I am going through now. This class has me very inspired and excited but watching it alone I want to reach out to people who are doing it. Which brings me to where I am now. I want to start being part of the community to I can ask the people doing it. I have general office skills I know all of the Office Suites but I especially love PowerPoint. And, turns out I'm pretty good at it as well. I am wondering if there is a Niche market out there for people who create great PPT? Are any of you specialized in that or know of people who are? Thanks for taking the time to read my introduction. I'm gonna spend some more time poking around the page. Hope to get to know you all soon!! Shannon

Welcome, Heidi! So happy you are here and glad that you have never looked back! All the best to you.

Do I need to have a license to work as virtual assistant in Kentucky, USA?

Thank you both for responding.

Hi TJ and welcome! So looking forward to getting to know you and seeing your business grow in the future. Enjoy the archives and if you have any questions, just ask

Hi Theresa, welcome to the forum! There are some amazingly helpful people and resources here - I'm sure you'll learn everything you need to know as long as you have the time to take it all in. It can be overwhelming at first, but I promise it's not only fun it's worth it. ------------------------------------- When you ask about other ways to network, are there ways you have tried already or are you completely new to networking? I'm guessing you've told at least one friend or family member you're going to start a business and work from home...so you did network with at least one person. Unless your business is a secret (I've seen it happen) in which case you may not have networked at all. The best way to start networking is to work out what you will say when people ask you: What do you do?With this question, what you want to communicate is some of your services. Try to figure out what the other person does before they ask you this and you can tailor your answer to the needs of that person. If you have never networked before you may want to put together an elevator speech. You can find more about elevator speeches in this thread (including a super-helpful fill in word document from Candy B.) What are your rates? Right after you talk about what you do there are some people that want to dive right into the rate discussion. Don't let them. Tell them your rates or packages vary depending on the services required and that you'd love to set up a time to talk further so you can see if you can help them and then you'd be happy to provide them a rate. Unless you have time to educate the potential client about rates and how $30 is not expensive right there at the networking event, you're going to want to save the discussion for a later time. How long have you been in business?Especially for new business owners, you do not want to answer this with a perky, "I've been in business a week and a half!" That doesn't build trust or make the potential client feel all warm and snuggly. Respond that you have been in the secretarial industry for x number of years and it was a natural transition to do it for yourself rather than someone else. This showcases your experience, not when you applied for your business license. Can you do X for me? Sometimes people will ask you on the spot if you know how to do something. Be careful, because you want to make sure you aren't getting sucked into giving free advice they can then go home and tell a cousin, friend, or mom and have them do the work instead of you. Be friendly and helpful, but don't give away the farm. Oh, and if you don't know how to do what they're asking, never just say "No." That shuts down the relationship. Tell them you don't take care of that but you know someone that does and you'd be happy to provide a referral. Then they will see it as a favor and it gives you a chance to follow up with them to see if they need your services. (If you don't know someone to refer them to, come to VANA and ask around, we have people that can do just about anything between all 8,500+ of us!) While these may be the most popular questions that pop up at networking events, they are certainly not the only questions that arise. As you become more confident talking about your business you will get so that you know what people are asking for and be able to answer, but the only way to get to that point of comfort is through practice. Lots of practice. As for the car wrap, I've never met anyone that got a client from car wrap...people just don't make split decisions about outsourcing secretarial work when they're driving down the road and stop at a red light. At least, not in my experience. If anyone has experienced anything different I'm sure they'll let you know!! Hope this helps. Also check out the links in my signature line to get some helpful starter tips on how to use the forum! You're going to have a blast here, just get ready and hang on for the ride!