Age + Skills = VA Client

Wow, it's already the end of October. I can't wait for Halloween to arrive and just getting dressed up with my daughter. She will be Princess Aurora this year while I may be Snow White.

So after "spring" cleaning during the fall season, I encountered some memos from a client awhile ago when I was eighteen years old. At this point in time, the virtual assistant business was more of a hobby and this was a referral I had from another family friend of mine.

The memo reads, "Due to your age and no educational experience in the college sector of any kind, we highly doubt you are capable of performingtasks at our request and standards. However, due to your excellence in computer skills, referral, Internet technology, and customer service experience - we will hire you on a one year trial basis. After one year, we will revise the contract until we our satisfied with your services"

Okay, so at (18) starting the administrative help as a hobby, I am thinking to myself, "Geez..does age really matter if I have the skills to do a job?" At the time, I needed extra income and knew what I could do best - only to find out I would be stepping into the world of virtual assisting.

Seven years later, as I finish with a Bachelor's in Finance, Minor in Psychology, and Master's in Human Resources - I look back at the memo and laugh. I actually had lunch with the client and he mentioned the memo to me. It is funny because to this day - I still have him as one of my continuing VA clients on a monthly basis =)

So for those of you who are worried about what others will say when you market yourself and you do not look an "adult" age to be in the virtual assistant business or do not have an educational background to support your particular field of expertise - hold your head up high. Skills and an excellent learning attitude will last you a long way!