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I began my VA journey with a focus on database management. One day, I was on this board looking for inspiration, and followed the profile of another member. That led me to her website, which contained a number of interviews with business owners. One of those interviews was about the transcription business, which I was only dimly aware of. My initial reaction to doing transcription was negative, but slowly changed over the coming days. It became a challenge to become accepted by a company. Not long after, I achieved my goal and happily got into the swing of things. Some projects are more enjoyable than others, but I generally learn something. That's the best part. Moral: be open-minded and flexible. You never know where it may lead you. Sheri

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, (3 years) 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 have launched 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.

I know most of us tend to market ourselves on Facebook or Linkedin but I'm noticing that as I build my Instagram profile it's leading new clients into my sales funnel. It's been a great way to build my list. 1. Here's a really cool FREE REPORT you can download on 21 powerful ways to get more clients on Instagram. 2. Go here and read my blog post as I tell/show you how I used many of the ideas in the report above with my own Instagram account. 3. Follow me on Instagram QUESTION: Are you using Instagram to get clients and/or market your business? If so share your Instagram profile with us so we can follow you and tell us what you are doing.

I have been reading up on taxes recently because I came across an app to download on my phone called Stride Tax. The app contained several articles including one that was the top 3 commonly missed deductions. Disclaimer, I did not write this article. I am sharing one section of it. I do hope this information helps someone. The article talks about deducting a portion of your cell phone. business related insurance, and meals for your business. The section I am going to provide for you is the one about meals. Let me know if you need either the cell phone or business-related insurance information and I will post it for you. Another disclaimer, I do not do booking keeping for a living. But I am the one that has been keeping track of the receipts for the last 15 years or an affiliate business that my husband and I do jointly for the last 15 years. Because of this tedious experience I have been figuring out the tax rules and regulations off and on and they are constantly changing. It's good to keep up with the information and be up to date. I know it's not my favorite subject either but until government stops making us pay taxes, yes I am dreaming on that one, it is good to be updated on all the rules and regulations. Hope this helps you. June 15th the quarterly taxes are due. Business-related meals When you’re getting a business off the ground, chances are you'll be networking often--and that can get expensive. You'll rack up a pretty big bill by meeting just 5 potential clients over coffee each week. If your food or drink expense has a business purpose, then it’s partially deductible. Meals are limited to a 50% deduction, so the $20 meal that you shared with a business contact will get you a $10 deduction! Careful! Meal expenses are a highly scrutinized item on your tax return. Be sure to keep diligent records of all of your business-related food and drink expenses! This means you've got to keep your receipts and should even jot down a few notes on the purpose of the meeting. The goal is to give an auditor no reason to second guess the legitimacy of your deduction.

Hello out there! Just joining the party. Been following Tawnya for years. Not sure why I didn't signed up for this before! I've been a VA since 2012. Always looking to up my game. I love to network. Open for discussions, questions, chit-chat. I'm also a MilSpouse so any other Military VAs out there, would LOVE to connect! You can find me online on FB (@OfficeMuse), Twitter (@Office_Muse), and website (www.OfficeMuse.com). Looking forward to meeting y'all!

Hi everyone, I am Rhonda and I live in Chicago, I am the mother to three kids (two boys 24, 26 and a girl 14) who as always I love and adore with all my heart (at times) and I am a newlywed to a wonderful man that gives me the world daily if I asked. I actually got into the VA business by accident. I was doing the back end office task for a friend in her 501(c) 3 anyway and had recently quit my full time job because I didn't feel wanted or appreciated anymore and thought that I would get another job right away (never do this). I like that I was able to help her and I started networking in my circles of people that knew me from Network Marketing and helped several individuals get setup with Facebook, clients, etc. I wanted to be more professional with the service so my VA service is called Fly High Virtual Services, http://flyhighvirtual.weebly.com I have been in business for one year (yea) and that name was chosen because once you were an unknown person on social media sites now you are flying high within that realm of endless possibilities. I focus my business on the administrative side of things for now, offering items such as calendar management, email management, social media setup and maintenance and maintenance of blogs I don't do setup as that takes it to another realm that I am working on and trying to figure out how to do. When I am not doing virtual service work I am watching television as I love the CSI franchise series. I just love how they solve murders and people never get away with anything along with the technology used to solve the crimes. I found this forum by searching on Facebook for Virtual Assistants when I needed to know what was the options that I could and could not do within the realm it is awesome and I have learned so much from the takeaway and freebies of the group. I look forward to interacting with everyone and hope that everyone has a great time on this forum.. My motto everyday that I open my eyes is Negative out, Positive in.

Here's a link on how I recommend VAs get clients quickly. Others do social network marketing too and find good results with that. I just find this type of marketing doesn't happen overnight like responding to an RFP. Some do their networking in person at local networking meetings (chamber of commerce, BNI, etc.)

Almost 90% of us here work independently. Check out some of the signatures in the posts and you will find us.

Im really excited about this new adventure. I have always been interested in cyber jobs and want to work from home. My jobs have been alright. In the long run working from home will be satisfying and better for my family and health.

I've done something similar with clients in the past. I bluntly asked them, how much could you afford monthly for a Virtual Assistant? Once they gave me the amount I wrote up the best services I'd offer them that would help their business the most that month (give them the best bang for their buck).

Why should I hire a VA instead of an on-site person?

Tawnya and I were talking and I mentioned that I was doing a webinar about "How to Make Sure you've Got a High Converting Website". She was really excited for me and asked me to post here about it since so many VA's need their websites to get more clients. It's free and there's a workbook attached so if you'd like to check it out, here's the link. https://markofapproval.com/offer/5-step-website-plan-webinar/ I'm also posting the replay for those who signup to the webinar, so if you can't make it, no worries. It starts at 8am EST on Friday 7th April.

Hi Danielle, I just saw your post on the VANetworking form asking if anyone has had experience working on Wix websites. Actually I have had experience. Of the drag and drop website builders I have used including WordPress, Wix has come a long way over the last few years since March 2014 when you posted about Wix and I haven't had any trouble with it. I have had compliments from others who have seen the websites I have designed and created in Wix. Most of them can't tell whether it is a Wix website or a Wordpress website. However, I am aware that most people aren't aware of the differences between Wordpress and Wix and some of the other website builders. It seems like it's all cosmetic -- as long as they think the website looks good, had images and colours, and provides the information they are looking for, they seem to be happy. I have also tried GoDaddy, eHost, Web, Hostway and some other different website builders which offer their own site builder and Wordpress as website building options. Some of these are not very versatile with too many limitations. Weebly and Squarespace are comparable with Wix. All have their own pros and cons. It depends on a person's preferences. I am actually looking for a Wordpress specialist to join my team in my own VA business. My business is My Essential Office Assistant. I would be open to your feedback. If you would like to partner with me or know someone who would be interested, please let me know.

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.

Hey Marcus, what do you mean exactly? Are you asking if you should include the ordering/printing or just do the designing. I think that comes down to how much you want to do. If your specialty is to JUST design marketing materials and that's what you are charging for, then leave it at that and let your client do the ordering and printing. Unless you come up with an agreement to do both, I'd stick to just the one. If you meant something else completely, sorry! Just explain a bit further. Thanks.

Hello everyone, I learnt about VANetworking during VAVS13 which was in June 2016. How I got the original email about VAVS, I have no idea. Life happened, as it always does, but I’m glad that I’m actively working on my business now. My name is Nai Douglass and my website is douglassvaoffice.com. I officially started my business in September 2016, but have had only one paying client so far, and only for a month. I love doing Administrative tasks for my friends and family, i.e.. The friends and family discount is FREE, but I'm getting a lot of experience. I love providing background support. I love working in Microsoft Word, Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint. I enjoy making travel arrangements and organizing trips for my family. I look forward to choosing a niche soon and narrowing down exactly who I would love to work with. I am from New York but look forward to living in Florida, thus the excitement to get my business off the ground and validate to my hubby that it’s okay for us to safely make the move to Florida. I used to be interested in a lot of television, but I thankfully realized that I could be working on my business instead. So I’ve now cut my television watching in half and increased my reading. I look forward to connecting with my fellow VAs.

I did actually. And it gave me the downloads for the home occupancy form amd the business license application. Thank you so much.

Hi I have also been following Tawnya for years and we me now being a full time VA and this being the year of pursuit for me I am jumping into this platform. I look forward to seeing you on the platform and chatting with you and others. Enjoy your day!

I'm of the mindset that if it works good for the user it will for Google I feel that having everything on one page is good if you can make it flow nicely and be readable. Single page websites are becoming more popular nowadays because of mobile access. It would be ok for primary keywords but it may dilute relevancy for other keywords which might rank better on pages by themselves. Another area of concern might be authority with all the inbound links pointing to one URL. Muliple pages gives more credibility I would think. As for content, I'd break up each section with H1 tags to show each separate section. Again I think if it is good for the user then Google will love it

I usually get my clients organically or through referrals. My very first client (on Fiverr) was actually from a Tweet I posted. Not a "fiverr gif" tweet, but one that shared my expertise. I've also had people contact me via Instagram - I post "Your Blogger Assistant can help with..." type of posts every so often and it's how I got 2 clients. Other clients contact me via FB - organically - as I don't promote on my personal profile. The clients who connect with me there are usually Group members and have followed me and interacted with me for some time. For quick clients who know what they want I'm with Tawnya, RFP. (there is an ebook from a member on how best to do this.)

I'm working independently, most of my clients i get from mouth to mouth but i also got a few from my website. Also i post in some groups on facebook.

Hi, I just wanted to say hello to you all. My name is Louisa and I officially launched Workflow Virtual Assistant in June of this year. My website address is www.workflowva.com and I can be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I have over 15 years admin and PA experience and becoming a VA seemed like a natural progression to achieving a work life balance, especially as I had my son last September. I originally thought of becoming a VA back in 2007 when I was made redundant from a role but the timing wasn't right. In terms of the other questions... What City/Town/State/Country are you from?: I grew up in Lancashire but now live in Northampton, England. Are you married? How long?: Yes I am married, we got married on Christmas Eve Eve in 2014. Any kids and how old? My son will be 10 months old on Sunday. Hobbies & Interests: These days it's about spending time with family and friends. How did you hear about us? I remember coming across this site quite some time ago, most likely from Google! I look forward to getting involved in different discussions with you all and getting to know more about you.

Hi Elizabeth, Welcome to this fantastic site! You have come to the right place for encouragement, advice and VA resources. As a VA matchmaker, I can tell you that the QB Online Pro adviser certification is going to be so valuable for you! I receive bookkeeping requests consistently and QB Online Pro is in great demand. When you are certified, do send me an email as I will connect you with another VA who needs this service on her team. In the meantime, I encourage you to start slowly with marketing your business. Do what is most comfortable. Are you on FB? if so, create a FB business page and start posting there. Use the icon in your signature and draw people in with value-centered posts. Also, here on VA Networking there are people who need advice in bookkeeping so do peruse the site and help others out. I found that just being helpful opened up new relationships that helped to grow my business. Post back here with questions. Tawnya and her fabulous VA, Danielle offer great direction and focus. Check out Tawyna's programs here. She offers great free videos to help you get started. I look forward to hearing about your journey and chatting with you again. Best, Janine

What's everyone's take on writer's block? There were some years where I struggled to make the words come. I would sit at my computer, staring aimlessly at a blank screen and end up on Fackbook browsing my news feed. Some familiar? I'm not sure if I believe in blocks though, because I can usually dig myself out of it. Here are some causes that stops me from writing or blogging: Too many options and not enough focus when it comes to topic Fear that my writing will be criticised and that it has to be perfect Editing as I write Just not feeling like putting fingers to the keyboard Feeling uninspired and chaotic But what I found was working with structure, frameworks and outlines can really keep the flow. Reading others work and studying headlines can get you inspired. What is your secret to getting in the flow? How do you overcome this "block". PS Writing online should also have a purpose. And this post is no exception. More on that soon ...

Heather, When I get potentials like that I let them know go right ahead, they aren't my ideal client anyway (I don't tell them the last part). There are plenty of ways and places for VAs to get clients that are in their ideal range and that will respect what they are requesting in payment - this forum is one of those places!

Hi everyone, I'm currently going through another course. I've found a refreshing new perspective to pricing. The mentor talks about shifting your mindset from what should I charge to how can I help people. But the next part of the equation really opened my eyes: He said, if somebody dumped x amount of dollars into your bank, would could you offer them from the list of things they need help with. So rather than choosing your services or packages, then sticking a price on them, he's flipped it to start with a figure. He also stated that, if the client cannot afford, this is where you start removing components as opposed to lowering price. Really got me thinking ...