A question I’m asked all of the time - “How did you become a Virtual Assistant?”
I’m going to let you in on a little secret… Before becoming a Virtual Assistant, I had never even heard of a VA! Truth be told, I didn’t know what one did let alone how to actually be one!
But what I did know? I knew our family needed me to have more of a work-life balance.
With a (then) toddler, juggling full time work with an hour commute each way life was a little hectic, to say the least. It’s a juggle that is no secret to any parent (we’ve all been there!). We knew we wanted to add more children to our family (which for us was a journey filled with lots of Dr appointments, and in turn the good ‘ol boss guilt). I craved a life where I could simply pick my daughter up from school each day (that’s not too much to ask right?).
So when a good friend said she needed a hand with her business - I simply said: “Oh I can give it a go”.
And that’s how I became a Virtual Assistant!
Those simple little words... Oh, I’ll give it a go!
Now, I’m not going to lie. It wasn’t *really* that simple (obviously!) but I had been handed a massive opportunity to have a dream work-life/mum life balance. And let me tell you, I wasn’t going to let it slip away.
So what experience did I have?
After working in retail administration for over 10 years, I knew my way around the odd spreadsheet. I had some basic customer service experience as well as sales experience.
Really general experience that a lot of people have. Nothing fancy!
I had a love of social media and let’s face it, I was slightly addicted to online shopping. So basically, I was my first client’s target audience, their ideal customer.. so I understood quite quickly who they were selling their product to.
Did I invest money in my business?
Honestly? I didn’t invest a cent for quite a while. Every podcast I could find, I listened to. Every blog I came across, I read it. Google was my best friend. Soaking in as much information as I possibly could. I guess you would say, I was a sponge!
The first money I invested, was almost 12 months into my side hustle. I invested in a mentor course with Karen Viverelli. Karen helped me set up all of the tools I needed for my business. Up until that point, I had been running on word of mouth - no website and very basic social media.
If I had my time over, truth be told - I’d do this step first. By the time I came to working with Karen, I already had my first clients so I was working backwards a little before going forwards.
So after hustling my full time job along with my part time Virtual Assistant business for about 12 months…
I made the leap!
The big scary leap into making my Virtual Assistant business my full time job. Was it scary? Heck yeah! Was I a bundle of nerves? I’d be crazy if I wasn’t.
But you know what? It was THE BEST decision I made.
I knew quick smart my business needed to replace my full time income, so basically there was no dilly-dallying around. It was head down, bum up. I built my website from scratch, I was social on social media until I could social no more, I networked. Basically, once I left the corporate world, there was no way I was going back.
I invested in my business at this point, I did a copywriting course with Jay Crisp Copy and I joined the Founders Team. Surrounding myself with like-minded business owners was such a valuable experience.
So the answer to the question, how do I become a Virtual Assistant?
Anyone can do it! You just need to put your mind to it but at the end of the day, YOU will only get back from your business, what YOU put in.
And here I am.. Almost three years down the track after saying “I’ll give it a go!”. With a little one on the way at the end of the year, I’m now planning for just where my business can take me next.
I’d love for you to follow my journey! Come and say hey - you’ll find my hanging out most on the ‘gram you’ll find me @kirsty_whybrow_va
If you have any questions on becoming a Virtual Assistant yourself, you can book a Power Hour Session with me! A 60 min Zoom call to ask *all* of the questions!
