3 Things I Would Do Differently If I Was Starting My VA Business Over (& a couple things I wouldn't change)
When I started my VA business back in 2022, I truly wasn’t sure how to do much of anything lol. Sure, I had some knowledge of social media because of a previous business but after I realized social media management wasn’t really for me and I wanted to focus on being in more of a behind-the-scenes kind of role as a virtual assistant, I didn’t exactly know what that looked like.
I actually had a VA in my previous business so I had an idea of what it could look like but I didn’t want to be a VA in the same niche; so the services she offered weren’t the same kind of services I wanted to offer, and so I just started doing my research and Googling and figuring things out along the way.
About 2.5 years later, I am now an operations manager & integrator for several clients (my role is a lot different than a VA, basically I come in and set up the systems and processes for clients and then we hand them off to their VA or one they are going to hire!) and I have taught almost 300 women how to start their own business as a VA and looking back there are def things that I wish I would have done differently when I started out which is what I want to share in today’s episode!
01. Would not have taken any hourly positions
When I started my business I did start with hourly retainers. This means that clients can reserve “x amount of hours per month” at my hourly rate, which at the time was $30/hour OR I did have a couple of clients at flat packages. What I didn’t want to do was get paid hourly in a traditional sense. Where I would track my time and then get paid after the work. There are a lot of reasons around this but a lot of it has to do with the fact that it can be really inconsistent when it comes to income projection.
But there were a couple of clients in the very beginning that I was really excited to work with and they wanted to pay that way so I bent the rules a bit and thought it would be fine.
Well, spoiler alert, it was a bit of a headache. In fact, I had one truly amazing client and I love her and her business, but her previous assistant had been clocking in 15-25 hours per week and I think it was a $25/rate. When I got in there, I was completing the same amount of work with the same if not better quality, in 5-8 hours a week. So I was getting paid less than expected and I was giving myself a pay cut by being efficient. And that is an issue with hourly pay – it’s a direct exchange for time for money. So as you get faster and better at what you are doing, you start making less. This can still happen when you are doing it as a retainer, however, it leaves a little more wiggle room because you can let your clients know how much time they have left for the month and they may have more work they want to give you to fulfill those hours! And for you, you got paid for those hours regardless!
Ultimately, moving to packages as quickly as you can is definitely the way to go and what I will always recommend but in the beginning, starting out as a retainer to really see how long things will take you and get a feel for what it’s like to work with is sometimes necessary and just gives you good experience.
02. Gotten organized sooner
This is a big one. I didn’t know how to organize my schedule, business, and tasks in a way that made sense. This is why I always talk about getting a CRM like Honeybook, which is my favorite CRM out there for VA’s to send their invoices, and contracts, do your call scheduling, etc., and a project/task management tool (I would ClickUp and if I ever move away from it I’ll be shocked to be honest lol. I love it and highly recommend as well). These two things have kept me SANE when it comes to my client tasks and when I didn’t have these set up, I always felt like I was forgetting something or like I was working around the clock because things weren’t organized.
Part of getting organized was figuring out my schedule too. Like really defining when I was working and during that work time, what was I actually doing? That way when I sat down at my computer, I knew EXACTLY what I’d accomplish so I wasn’t wasting any time which is important especially when your work time is limited as mine has always been whether it’s been working during naptimes only or even having part-time childcare. I don’t have any time to waste, and chances are neither do you!
03. Found a mentor
One thing about me is I am pretty stubborn and at the time of starting my business, I was bound and determined to not invest any more than I “had to” to get started. So I was looking at all the free resources that were out there on “Google University”. And while there is so much free content out there about starting your business as a VA (I mean hello – this blog itself has a ton!) it took a lot of time and puzzle-piecing things together to make it all work the way I wanted it to. But even then, a lot of the learning that ended up happening happened when I started working with clients and getting my hands dirty so to speak! I learned things that I never even heard people talk about before and started coming up with my own systems and solutions to problems I came across.
When I started having people ask me how to start their businesses as VA’s, I was bound and determined to create a program that would ~actually~ help people. A program that had everything you needed to know, including the things that I didn’t even learn myself until having experience working with clients!
Our program has been live now for almost two years and I have continued to make changes to it based on the continued growth of myself and my business, the experiences the graduates of our program have gone through, trends I see in the industry, etc. It’s always getting updated because as someone who is still working with clients myself and has a very wide network of business owners looking for VA’s, I have a really good pulse on how things are going and I want to make sure the gals who invest in our program have the best of the best!
One of the biggest reasons I wish I would have found a mentor (and also the right mentor) when I started my business is because of how much time it would have saved me. Now I am grateful for the lessons I had to learn on my own because I think that it makes me a better coach and mentor, but my goal is to help shorten that gap for you so that you can get started booking clients and making money faster and more sustainability than I did!
That is truly the value of having a mentor or a coach – it’s someone who can help take you where you are now to where you want to be faster and with less resistance. Think about sports – if you are a golfer, you could totally YouTube and Google how to hit your driver better and you’ll start to see results and you might get to like 70-80% of your potential, but it’ll take you a while because you have to do the research and you have to trial some different tips and ideas and see what works and what doesn't!
But when you hire a golf coach, they are not only able to give you tips and advice and share their experience and expertise – but they can look at your swing, your stance, your grip, and your mechanics and COACH YOU based on what they see. The lens they are looking through is a completely different perspective and they will see things that you could never because you are looking through a different lens.
That’s why I love doing what I do – mentoring and coaching gals through our Beginner to Booked VA program and my 1:1 coaching.
Speaking of, doors are opening to the public for our B2B VA program again from August 1st - 9th and I would love to see you inside! You can sign up for the waitlist and you’ll get an email with even more details!
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Doors open for Beginner to Booked VA™ (formerly known as 30 Day VA) on August 1st & I don't want you to miss it!
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