6 things you haven’t thought about when setting up as a virtual assistant

It’s easy to find out the things you have to do when setting up as a virtual assistant – from registering with HMRC to getting insurance and more – but what are the real additional considerations that only experienced VAs know? Here are 6 invaluable things to consider as you start your VA journey:

1 – Boundaries

If you’ve always worked in a corporate setting before, you might not have thought about setting boundaries for working at home, but this is vital if you want to preserve your working hours, and your sanity. 

You’ll be amazed how family and friends think it’s fine to pop in, ask for lifts and expect you to run errands just because you’re based at home. Stand firm from day one on this – otherwise you’ll find yourself getting frustrated with your nearest and dearest and working in your personal time to catch up.

2 – Creating an elevator pitch for social events

Forget your networking pitch for a second and create one for social events (that you can even remember after a couple glasses of wine!) If you can tell family and friends in a couple of clear sentences what you do and who you do it for, they’re likely to know someone who needs your services and will tell them all about you.

Referrals from family and friends are a really proven way to grow your client base, so next time you’re invited to a wedding or party, go prepared and see how a more subtle social pitch can really pay off.

3 – A love of variety

If you’re someone who loves repetitive, mundane tasks and every day to be the same, I’m sorry to break it to you but this industry isn’t for you. Working as a VA is never dull and two days are rarely the same, so it makes for a really varied and interesting work life.

Being adaptable, enjoying meeting new people, having a positive attitude and learning as you go are things you’ll need to love – if that sounds like you, you’ve already got the qualities you’ll need to succeed as a VA.

4 – Not needing as much as you think

If you’re holding back from starting your VA business as you think you’ll need to invest loads of money on equipment, think again. Most people already have a computer and phone, and nowadays you can even get away without having a printer!

Now don’t get me wrong, there are certain key things from a legal point of view you do have to do but you need very little else. In fact, you don’t even need an office – despite the growth of my businesses, I still work at my kitchen table as I’ve always done.

5 – Finding your balance

If you’ve left the corporate world, you’re probably used to fitting your personal life around your work life, yet now you can flip this so you’re fitting your work life around your personal commitments.

If you’re looking for a rigid schedule, life as a VA may not suit you that well. It’s a massive mindset shift – finding your own balance and appreciating the flexibility to choose your hours, while remembering you still need to keep your clients happy!

6 – Getting processes in place from day one

For some people it’s a given that they’ll create processes for their business from the start but for many, it doesn’t even occur to them that they might need someone to take over suddenly if they become ill or have an emergency.

If you need to, could you step out of your business tomorrow, safe in the knowledge that all your internal and client work could be covered in full? If not, you need to be creating processes that anyone can follow – I recommend this book as a great read to help you systemise your VA business.

Had you considered any of the above? If not, I hope that list proves useful as you create your own successful VA business. Let me know at sarah@myvabusiness.co.uk if you have any other tips you’d like to share!