It seems wrong to say no to work, especially at the outset, but sometimes having the confidence to say no and stand your ground is better for both you and your business.

When I first started working, I did exactly what you suggest not to, I said yes to everything and everyone. Even the tasks I hated doing, just to get the work and also to get my name out there. It is very difficult in the beginning to develop yourself into an established VA.

I went through the process of working with not so nice clients, and had one particular client who I deliberately ignored the phone calls, she even made me cry! I dreaded the phone ringing and dreaded seeing her name in my inbox, it made me feel physically sick. I left my job because I knew I had the skills to become a successful business person and to run a successful business, this wasn’t the vision I had.

That day she made me cry, I sat back and said ‘no more’. I wrote my email saying that I had re-evaluated my business and as much as I valued her custom, her business wasn’t part of my long term goals and objectives.

Yes, I took a tumble in the wallet department, but do you know what, that made me stronger, I vowed only to work with clients I had faith in, clients who had a business that I truly believed in. Yes, sometimes they pay late, but that doesn’t matter, I know they value me and how I help them.

What matters most to me, is that I look forward to getting up and going to work, motivating yourself is hard enough as a VA, and you don’t need that groaning client dragging you down.

So do as I did, ditch that client and get more of the ones you like!

Alison

As you say, starting up as a Virtual Assistant is a very overwhelming and daunting experience. You provide some very useful ‘starting out’ tips. I also signed up to intelligentVA’s A to Z of Virtual Assistant tools and found it a very useful resource to keep at hand.

Alison

I look forward to another guest post from you later showing us how well you are doing.

It is also netiquette and in most cases using creative commons , if not all cases, mandatory to acknowledge the original source and owner.

Personally, I would either have the image linked to the original, have a alternative title listing the owners details, a section at the end of the post listing external sources as a reference, a mention in the post itself or a combination of these, making sure I also fulfil the terms.