VA Industry Leaders: a conversation
What if you could eavesdrop on a conversation between a number of industry leaders as they join together to talk about where they’ve been and where they’re headed?
I’ve invited a number of leaders in the VA field to have a conversation here, with each other and with YOU.
Ask questions, share your own wisdom, and let’s make this a conversation for the ages!
Inspired by Liz Strauss of Successful and Outstanding Blog, we’ll model this conversation after Liz’s successful “open mic” approach. That means that you can:
- jump in anywhere, and talk about anything
- share links to sites and photos and your social media identities elsewhere
- ask questions directly to others in the conversation
What to say? Where to start?
Here are some ideas to get us going:
1. How did you get started in this business?
2. What advice were you given early in your VA career that really made a difference in your business.
3. Has your business focus or structure changed since you started?
4. Has chance ever played a part in your success?
5. How did you get such amazing page rank on Google?!
6. Will this be your last career?
7. Have you developed any offshoot businesses since you became a VA?
10. What outstanding new skills have you acquired during your years as an entrepreneur?
Comment // October 29th, 2008 // 1:34 pm
I am not so sure about this blogging thing. I do understand it has been an escalating craze for several years, but where do I find the time and is it going to be here today and gone tomorrow like an idea-of-the-month marketing plan?
In addition to not totally understanding the blogging craze, I am really stumped on how social networking could possibly help me market my services. I am in linked in and facebook but so far all I have been doing is adding names and it seems that I am overrun with requests to join groups that are not at all productive. I have also noticed an increase in spam, particularly since joining facebook.
However, being a “seasoned” VA, I will participate in this blog on a limited basis if I can help others
Comment // October 29th, 2008 // 3:23 pm
Marsha, I love that even though you aren’t convinced that blogs and SM are the place to be spending your valuable time, you are the first to get the conversation started.
I hear you on the weekly new invites to join new networks. I just don’t believe we can all be everywhere all of the time. What happens to focus and productivity???!
Let’s see what others have to say.
Comment // October 29th, 2008 // 6:36 pm
So many questions – and I can answer all or some, or just one. Perhaps I’ll start with how I got started?
I left the corporate world late 1993 and began my homebased secretarial business in March 1994 with the goal of just taking in typing and being home for my 5 daughters.
Little did I know that technology was about to take a major leap forward! I found out about the internet late 1995 and by early 1996 I was online with my first website. And it was then I had women contacting me asking how they could do what I was doing? I had a chat to my accountant and we decided setting up a network of homebased secretaries would be the best way to assist those asking for help. Suddenly my business was no longer just me but a small group of women which gradually grew over the next couple of years.
During that time I set up an online discussion forum via a service that no longer exists and we had to shift it around a few times and finally settled at yahoogroups. Also in the late 90s we began to hear the term ‘virtual assistant’ and although we weren’t keen on the name (it was hot on the tails of ‘virtual reality’ and we wanted people to know we were real) it seemed the name was taking hold. When we investigated what it meant we realised that the services we were providing fit into that category so adopted that term here in Australia.
So, I founded the first Virtual Assistant network in the southern hemisphere without realising what I was doing at the time! I just wanted to be home for my daughters.
Today, almost 15 years later, I run a fulltime VA business that provides client services and support, a network for VAs with members in 15 countries, VA training and coaching, website hosting and maintenance, a blog that teaches about the industry and I also write books and speak at conferences and events.
A long way from my small one person home based secretarial business in 1994, hey?
Comment // October 29th, 2008 // 7:53 pm
Good post. Katie. VA will become serious business.
Virtual Assistant firm BPOVIA was named as Finalists for the “Red Herring 100 Asia” Awards 2008. BPOVIA is the first virtual assistant service provider to ever be nominated for this prestigious award.
Yahoo covered this story here at http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20081029/bs_prweb/prweb1537424
Comment // October 30th, 2008 // 1:29 pm
Hi Marsha, I’m so glad you shared your concerns about blogging and the time required. I wrote in my own blog on this very subject earlier this week – http://www.virtualofficeservices.ca/blog I’ve been stopping and starting my own blog for several months now for various reasons and hopefully I now am “in the groove” and will be able to measure the results.
Have a good day!
Comment // October 30th, 2008 // 4:47 pm
Kathie,
It’s really interesting to read about your odyssey and realize that so much of where you are and what you are doing happened almost before you knew it. Do you know what I mean?? I think of you as a one woman dynamo and industrial captain and am quite amazed at what all you have been able to accomplish.
1994 must be some kind of magical, mystical year as I am continually bowled over by how many things started that year.
Tana,
Marketing professionals will be able to argue for measurements of success obtained via their blog traffic reports, but, personally, I don’t spend that much time quantifying the results. I view blogging as just another tool in the networking arsenal, and love meeting people this way. OTOH, I do NOT believe blogging is a good match for every person who has or wants a web presence.
Thank you for dropping by; I left a comment for you on YOUR blog as well.
Comment // October 30th, 2008 // 4:54 pm
You’re right there – it did happen without my realising what was happening. I look back now and am amazed at what occurred. But I’m so glad I was there in the midst of it all!
Comment // October 30th, 2008 // 4:57 pm
James,
Congratulations on that huge award! Can you talk a little about the evolution of your business and some keys to success?
Comment // October 31st, 2008 // 6:40 am
I have been inspired by Dave Lieber who was the keynote speaker at last year’s IVAA live Summit in Charlotte. I just received his new book about “watchdogging”. I think I want to start a blog that may attract some press on a personal issue.
I might even start a blog on another topic but will get my feet wet with my thoughts spurred by Dave.
I’ll have to look around for a place to post my blog.
Comment // October 31st, 2008 // 8:32 am
I started my business in August 1998, by accident. My aunt had recently died and I had a small inheritance that we were going to invest in finding another line of work for my husband (Chef/Restaurant Mgr.).
While we were both unhappy in our corporate jobs (I was a purchasing agent for a local fresh seafood distributor), I was the main breadwinner with all the benefits, so initially I was surfing the Web trying to find something my husband could do.
Everything I came up with he nixed, and the more I read, the more I realized that if he wanted his own business, HE needed to be doing the research. About that time I stumbled across Staffcentrix.com and IVAA.org – even though I had spent 15-years in sales, management, and purchasing, I had always been the person to handle the database, do the newsletters, and train the customer service staff, so it seemed logical, that I might fit into the VA industry by doing admin support, part-time from home.
Well, that was the thought anyway. As I continued to research this option, I was planning to start this part-time adventure in early 1999, but my corporate situation became unbearable, and one day after I got berated by one of the sales reps in front of a manager who did nothing to stop the situation, the words, “I QUIT” came out of my mouth before I knew who really said it…fortunately, my husband and daughter were very supportive, and within about 60-days of having quit, I opened Accurate Business Services. My husband quit his job and changed to something that provided us benefits (can you believe my luck?) allowing me to develop a full-time VA practice.
It has certainly been a heck of a ride. After 10-years I’m pretty proud of who I’ve become, the business I’ve developed, the industry I support, and even found the time to write a book and self-publish.
Quite a leap from where I came from. I didn’t have any family background in entrepreneurship, but am thrilled to be a part of an industry that is so welcoming and supportive. I wouldn’t be where I am today had it not been for people like…Nina Feldman, Heather Lee, Beth Quick Andrews, Kay Young, Sue Kramer, Katie Baird, Candy Beauchamps, Amber Drake, Kimberley Thomas Catanzaro, Linda Seldon, Kim Hughes, Electra Ford, and Kathie Thomas, just to mention a few, and the literally hundreds of VA entrepreneurs I’ve met along the journey.
I can’t thank you all enough for your insights and support in helping me to stay afloat these past 10-years. It has truly been an incredible journey, one I hope to continue for years and years to come.
Comment // October 31st, 2008 // 10:58 am
Dear Jeannine,
That is one powerful story. You deserve to feel tremendous pride in all you have accomplished and contributed. And, I see your modesty pevented you from mentioning that you are also a past president of IVAA.
Thank you for the shoutout/endorsement, too. Let’s get some of your mentors over here talking!
Comment // October 31st, 2008 // 11:19 am
Interesting topics. I also have not put my toe in the blog pond yet. I just can’t imaging having enough to say, enough people to care about what I have to say, and the proper time to devote to making it work the right way. However, it is quite the phenomenon, isn’t it? Blogging, texting, etc. What comes next?
As far as starting my business, in late 2000 I moved a couple hours from my previous job and maintained contact with my former boss. I started to support him and thought, hey this is cool. My husband found an article about the IVAA so I joined. That was in 2001. I maintain, but I can always use more work. I am amazed at some of our members who have 6 figure incomes and a network of VAs who make it seem like big business.
I’ve spent time involved in IVAA, kept it at arms length, and occasionally actually have had something to contribute. IVAA has changed my life. I’ve made great friends, and I look forward to making more.
Comment // October 31st, 2008 // 11:23 am
Thanks, Katie -
I hope all of those folks stop by and share their stories, too. I’m sure they’re equally as compelling as mine!
As you know, I could have gone on for much longer and mentioned my past presidency at IVAA, I was trying to be brief! (LOL) Not one of my traits, as you know.
Comment // October 31st, 2008 // 11:35 am
Peg, I, too, am blown away by our colleagues who bring in six figures. Wow. Way out of my league. IVAA will always be at the heart of my professional life, as it sounds as though it is in yours.
Jeannine, double LOL!
Comment // October 31st, 2008 // 7:22 pm
I wonder if some of the hesitancy around starting a blog is the desire for it to be “perfect”. I know that was my worry and so I’d agonize over using just the right words and trying to convey a life-altering message. Now I look at it as merely giving potential clients and peers some insight into me….who is it behind the “storefront”, while still keeping it professional.
Have a great weekend!
Comment // November 1st, 2008 // 11:40 am
I started 2 blogs a few years ago when they first started gaining popularity but then added a new client that consumed a ton of my time so I forgot about them. A few months ago I visited them and was horrified to see that one of them had collected a bunch of spam and porn responses. Of course, these have all been deleted and I have changed the settings so that I have to approve responses.
I have an idea in my head for the new blog that, as I said earlier has been inspired by Dave Lieber but my tendency is to ruminate on ideas for a few days before I put them to “paper”.
While I’m ruminating I’ll need to find a place to actually do the blog.
Comment // November 2nd, 2008 // 1:17 pm
Marsha, when you say “find a place to actually do the blog,” do you mean you are trying to decide on blogger or typepad or wordpress or do you mean something else?
Everyone, one of my original questions on this post was wondering what role chance played in your business’s evolution. It seems as though that is a big part of EVERYone’s history.
Comment // November 2nd, 2008 // 2:37 pm
I have placed my new blog where my others were started and it is very easy for me to get to them. They are a part of Google. I wrote a new blog yesterday. It is at http://smallbusinesscautions.blogspot.com if anyone is interested.
I’m going to add a new post this afternoon.
As to “chance” in starting my VA Practice??? When I started Executive Secretarial Services in August of 1998 I had no idea that what I was doing was called virtual assistance. I was a partner in an alarm company that we sold. My partner was hired by the acquiring company and I was “put out to pasture”. I knew I didn’t want to return to corporate life and the acquiring company didn’t purchase any of my office assets or my talents.
I offered to be the Executive Director of the WB&FAA as I knew they were unhappy with their current provider and I had been an officer for over 10 years. So, I had my first client. I joined IVAA in December of 1998 when we were only 50 members. IVAA has come a long way in 10 years.
Comment // November 3rd, 2008 // 9:03 am
One of the questions I posed to get this conversation rocking and rolling was whether any of you have developed offshoot businesses.
Marsha, I took a look at your blog and I can see its niche developing into an offshoot business. Consumer alerts, scam warnings, and all kinds of tips can serve to protect the small business community from fraud and deceptive practices of all kinds.
Growing a blog and developing it into a revenue source is a lot of work, but I think your blog holds a lot of promise.