Going all in with Virtual Assistance

When I decided to go all in with my virtual assistance business, I called myself a solo entrepreneur who decided to push through all the negativity thrown at me. I had distanced myself from a lot of the temporary people in my life to give my new business the focus it needs for it to gain momentum and for it to eventually take off. I packed myself with a lot of faith and confidence with the thought  that my ten years in the corporate world has prepared me for this. I’ve built processes, I’ve analyzed business cases, I’ve dealt with impossible customers, and I’ve trained myself to think and follow the links for supply planning. All of these skills were picked up and honed  from my fast paced career.  And so,  I was highly convinced that I have what it takes to start this business!  

For the most part, I did get what I want with my VA work. It started out with one client, then two and suddenly I was fully booked. But given that I was new in the business, there were several things that happened but we're not included in my projections. Such things (frustrations) include: late payments, paused work, and client fall outs because of (insert any reason under the sun). Some examples for these instances are mentioned below. 

 A few reasons received for late payments:  

• I lost my credit card.
• I forgot it’s pay-day. 
• I received your invoice but I was at a wedding and I forgot.  

A few reasons received for paused work:  

• I have to fix the bugs of my website first.  
• There is a payment issue with your client. 
• Covid

A few reasons received for client  fall outs: 

• Your rate is $2 over my budget. You’re expensive. 
• I don’t have the time to run this business. I’m so busy with my full time job. 
• We decided to work with an agency.  

Undeniably, if you experienced these things, it could make you wish and opt to get back the typical employee set-up where salaries are fixed and paid on schedule, employee rights against termination, and other corporate perks. But no, I decided to push forward. I'm convinced that employment belongs in my past life.

All these things are just painful start-up struggles and that they’re not entirely show-stoppers. I figured my way out through these issues by listening to  podcasts, watching  Youtube videos, participating in webinars and joining relevant Facebook groups. I also up-skilled (and I continue to do so because the tech world is always changing and updates are constant.) to know the end to end parts of eCommerce and most importantly; Shopify.  Eventually,  I noticed that I was getting a steady flow for my business. And as I kept going;  I was able to attract different kinds of partners for my young business. 

Fast forward to today, I’m more than glad of going all-in with my VA business. There's a lot to look forward to such as; new services;  new teammates, and definitely new partners! :)    

My advice to beginner virtual assistants: just soldier on through these issues: No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.  - Tony Robbins