How Do I Make A Virtual Service I Am Providing A Full-Fledged Business?

Q: “I’m helping a few people online do things they don’t have time for, so I’ve been told this is basically being a Virtual Assistant. What would be the first steps I need to take to actually make this a business venture?”

A: Once you take care of the legalities of setting up your business in your locality, the first I’d suggest is setting up a web presence. Design it to cater to the market you are doing business with or want to in the future. By centering your website on a specific market, designing the site will be easier, but more importantly, it helps keep you focused.

Side Note: Here’s a useful guide on starting a virtual assistant business.

Be sure to showcase your services and skills through the use of testimonials from current clients. Encourage them to include as much detail as possible about the actual work performed and anything else that stands out about you and your services. When possible, request that clients include their full name, URL and picture. These things will help add credibility to the testimonials.

Creating a website is just one of the many things you should do to turn your current service into a business, but getting online is crucial if you hope to gain more virtual work and create a presence for yourself and your skills. It is also a great place for current client to refer others to you. That’s really how a service-based business can really take off through referrals from satisfied clients.

Another thing to be cautious of is that once many people open the doors to their service based business, the work starts to feel a lot like a J-O-B. This can happen, but only if you let it.

Yes, you are working for someone else, but remember you run the show and make the decisions. Keep that in mind as your business and your workload grows and you’ll find it easier to keep from feeling overwhelmed and dreading your work every day. Don’t hesitate to charge what your time is really worth and outsource certain tasks so that you run your business instead of it running you!