How to start a Virtual Assistant Business

 

 

The Virtual Assistant industry has become so popular because it helps women become entrepreneurs yet also achieve a work/life balance. Business trends forecast an increase in service demands, start-up costs are minimal and the profit potential is good.

Before packing up the office cubicle and giving notice to your boss, know that becoming a virtual assistant isn't an easy job that just anyone can do. "To become successful, you need a good marketing strategy in addition to that you will need a phone, PC and Internet connection." Many virtual assistants work between 14 and 18 hours a day during the startup phase. Even after establishing solid practices, one-third of these business owners admit to working nontraditional hours, including weekends and holidays.

Virtual assistants are independent entrepreneurs who work remotely and use technology to deliver services to clients globally. Most work from their home offices and receive their project instructions by phone, e-mail or even instant message. Although many virtual assistants offer secretarial services, as more people with diverse backgrounds and skills enter the ranks, virtual assistants who specialize in such areas as marketing, graphic and Web design, IT support or even translations are becoming more common.

Clients are most likely to hire virtual assistants to save money or because they need help with a temporary project.  Virtual assistants pay for their own equipment, taxes, training, healthcare and insurance.  Industries most often hiring virtual assistants include the real estate, coaching, financial services, accounting and legal.

If you're wondering how to start a business as a virtual assistant, here are some tips:

·        Decide just what type of services you want to offer, and analyze your background to ensure you have adequate experience.

·        Determine your business niche-consider specializing in just two to three services.

·        Determine how much time and energy you have to commit to your venture. Do you want to work part or full time ?

·        Conduct thorough industry research to determine a need for your services in your local area.

·        Outline who your clients are, where they are and how to access them.

·        Do a market analysis. Find out the needs for your niche and focus on how you'll apply that to your business.

·        Know your budgetary constraints-projected expenses, expected income and how long you can "float" until your business is running successfully.

·        Prepare a business plan and review it often to manage growth and change.

·        Examine your equipment, software and work space to ensure they meet client needs.

·        Make sure you have an agreement in place for clients along with rates before securing your first client.

·        Market your services 24/7.  Just because you've built a Web site or placed an ad in the Yellow Pages doesn't mean clients will come knocking on your door.

You might want to consider joining a professional organization or networking group. This will give you the opportunity to network and build relationships.

 

Toni Baptista

http://www.tonibaptista.com/

Change your thoughts and you can change your world

To change your life you have to change yourself and in order to change yourself you have to change your mindset, this is a concept that so many people just can’t grasp and just continue on their negative paths complaining and failing to get out of the situations they find themselves in.

Creating a success mindset is the first necessary step to everything. It can either limit your potential or power your success. The way you think influences your self-esteem, your confidence, your creativity, your world-view and your resilience in the face of challenges. Quite often the thoughts you think are the only thing that separate success from failure. The right mindset can fire up your creativity, skyrocket your productivity, motivate and inspire you when the world doubts you. It can literally change your results in an instant.

Very few of us know how to create a mindset for success so in this post I’m going to share a few ways to help you master your mind and change your life.

1.  Surround yourself with successful and positive people.
The influence other people have on our personal energies is amazing. Moods and attitudes spread easily—just think about how much a positive comment from a total stranger can make your day.

2.  Create your own positive affirmations.
Repeating positive affirmations has been shown to get people through tough times and helps you truly believe in what you’re saying.

3.  Catch negative thoughts before they consume you
Negative thoughts and emotions derail and prevent us from achieving our dreams. It happens to everyone, but once you notice a negative thought, hop back up to strategy #2 and immediately convert it into positive affirmation. The art and craft of catching negative thoughts takes practice, so be patient with yourself.

4.  Set goals and intentions; then, be willing to let them go.
The law of attraction says that we attract what we focus on the most. Set yourself goals and intentions, but be willing to let them go. A certain amount of faith in yourself, a higher power, and the law of attraction is necessary.
Creating a vision board with all the things you want also works very well.

5.  Always be grateful.
Gratitude is perhaps the single most powerful tool for success. Consider keeping a gratitude journal and make a practice of entering into it daily. Sometimes I’ll find scrap paper and scribble down notes of gratitude, not as an exercise to keep and treasure, but to simply take a moment and be appreciative. When you’re grateful for all of the wonderful things and people in your life, challenges become infinitely easier to deal with.

Success is within your reach and with the right attitude you can accomplish anything you set your mind to  ! At the end of the day only you can change your life …. But the choice is yours !

DON’T FORGET TO BE AWESOME !

You always have a choice

We all make choices everyday, some good & some bad at the end of the day whatever choice you make is your responsibility.  How your life changes  will depend on the choice you make today.  So many times we make the wrong choice and go down the wrong path and it's easy to blame someone else and although someone might contribute to you making the incorrect choice again at the end of the day YOU made the choice and so YOU have to must take ownership for whatever choice you have made. 

If you keep making bad choices in your life things will never change so in order for things to change YOU need to change and YOU are the only one who can make that choice !
Despite me saying this to so many people, I always hear the thousands of reasons why they cant change things or why things in their lives are going bad.  I've learnt that people are experts at coming up with excuses & bad ones at that !  

If you want something bad enough then make a choice to make it happen.  You are the master of your own destiny, what you think is what you will become & who you hang around with will influence where you going. 

So you see, like Harvey Spectra say's "You always have a choice".