Priory Secretarial Services

Reflections on being a VA, why I left the sector (it’s all good!) and some advice if you are starting out

My last post is a year old (happy birthday!) and was about change, and here we are again, although this time the change has heralded in what I am confident will be a settled lifestyle for the foreseeable.

Decision time – how I came to leave the VA world

When my a part-time contract came to an end this time last year, I had a good pipeline of VA work for the rest of 2024 to keep me busy. One client was gearing up for a small international conference in Birmingham (UK) in the summer. I reached out to a couple of larger VA businesses to offer Associate work, but before anything came through, I was approached by a former boss to ask me for whatever other time I could spare until at least the autumn to support a team in his new organisation through a time of transition.

Autumn 2024 saw me the other side of a successful conference for the one client, and the successful onboarding of four new colleagues for the other bringing their team to full complement. As I looked ahead to plan for 2025, I came to the following conclusions:

• my current workload was set to dwindle significantly by Spring 2025;
• I was going to need to start hustling to build a pipeline of work, and the idea filled me with horror around the process itself rather than worrying about not achieving the pipeline;
• I had absolutely loved working as part of a team for the two clients mentioned above, both workloads having included in-person support, and this was a strong preference for me over working alone;
• my energy levels were settling down and it was clear that I was unlikely to be able to work more than three days per week if I was to have a life beyond work;
• working part-time plus doing VA work is not sustainable if I am also to fulfil other life goals including voluntary NED/Trustee work for a charity and creative writing;
• pushing into VA work would now require significant investment in terms of training and networking, but given there was a natural limit on how much paid time I would be able to offer and the stage of life I am at, it would be a long time until I saw the return on that investment;
• there were opportunities in Associate work, which would pay enough to keep the wolf from the door, but this could not be relied upon for obvious reasons;
• although I love what I do as an EA, burnout and the resulting loss of energy meant I did not have sufficient passion to run my own business, in other words, I had neither capacity nor sufficient motivation and entrepreneurial drive to really push into making it a success.

Finding a great alternative

In short, the benefits of VA work were not outweighing the benefits of part-time, permanent, employed work, so I planned to start looking for a conventional job from Spring 2025. Slightly ahead of my timescales, though, a job advert popped up at the local University to be a part-time EA role in ‘the team with a heart’ made up of ‘six happy humans’. Who could resist an advert like that? I decided to give it a go – after all, the outcome was not guaranteed – and landed the job.

Saying goodbye (not easy)

Telling my clients and preparing to say goodbye was a real wrench and did cause me heart-ache. I have read a lot about some of the challenges VAs have with some clients, but I was blessed not to experience those in my short time as a VA: each client has been a joy to work with and I am grateful that social media, if nothing else, will allow me to keep in touch with how they progress. I went beyond contractual obligations and gave them four weeks’ notice to make sure of a smooth transition and a good winding up of the work. At the start of November, I duly arrived in my new role and all is going very well as I write: interesting work within a fabulous team and working with and for great people – definitely no regrets.

Having finished off a couple of extra tasks for my existing clients, it is time to let Priory Secretarial Services go. The website will remain in place until Autumn 2025.

Thinking of becoming a VA?

It has been a real joy working as a VA and for anyone who is unsure I would encourage you definitely to give it a go. I have worked at it long enough to recover my set-up costs and it has definitely served an important purpose in terms of income-generation during a time of adjustment to a new lifestyle and long-term changes in my overall health. I have met some incredible people in the VA world and seen first-hand the wealth of resources available and how supportive the VA community is. It truly is a special sector to work in: everyone I have met is truly generous in sharing advise and giving support, and there is a beautiful balance between competition and collaboration. For anyone starting out, I would recommend the resources at VACT and The VA Handbook, and joining networks on LinkedIn and Facebook. The best way of marketing is through networking, and don’t be shy to follow up on contacts. In terms of initial outlay, you need decent kit (a proper home workstation), a website, quality contracts and policies (I got mine from Koffeeklatch), ICO registrations and well-taylored insurance (I got mine from Policybee). Good luck and enjoy!

Thinking of hiring a VA?

You will not regret your decision to bring in someone else to carry the burden of business support while you focus on the core work needed to make your organisation thrive. There is a wealth of talent around, from basic admin through to specialist support including marketing, social media, IT, website-building and so much more. Have a look and see what is out there and get in touch with the ones that look as if they will suit you best to find out more. The rates may look high but remember you are not carrying those heavy employment oncosts (workspace, paid leave, NI contributions, insurances, taxes etc.) and a VA’s time itself is 100% efficient while they are working for you. Be careful of making false economies by going for the lowest rate you can find – if your priority is to find the right fit for you in terms of skillset, personality, and capacity/working time parameters, you will reap the rewards and wonder how you ever did without their support.