How to start a VA business on a shoestring budget

One of the many things I love about being a VA is that you don’t need to spend a lot to get started. You’re not a brick and mortar business so your overheads can be extremely low, and you can basically start a business on a shoestring budget.

Here’s what that could look like:

A laptop with an internet connection. Does it need to be the swankiest one out there? No. But you DO need something to do your client work on!
Register with the Information Commissioner’s Office if you’re a UK based VA. You’ll be processing data (eg. your client’s data at a minimum) so you absolutely need to do this. Cost: £40
A contract. No, it’s not essential (as in, you’re not breaking the law without one) but I cannot emphasise enough how vital it is you have one! Koffee Klatch have VA specific ones here. If you’re planning on being an Associate VA, the VA you sub-contract from will give you hers to sign.
Professional indemnity insurance (it might have a different name depending on where you are in the world). You don’t legally need this in the UK at least, but I strongly recommend that you do. You want to be protected in the rare case that something goes wrong with a client. I think I pay around £14 a month for mine through Policy Bee (my fave for VAs).
A professional email address. You can buy a domain name for circa £15 and often you’ll be offered a free email address linked to that domain too. If not, you can sign up to Google and link to your domain name. A professional email address isn’t legally required but I highly recommend it. If you were a client looking for a VA, would you rather they have helloamy@gmail.com or hello@amyrosegould.com? It’s a no brainer to me.

Things you might want to invest in:

A workflow tool like Dubsado so your whole client experience is automated. I’d only do this once you’re profitable and scaling. The added benefit is that you’ll become a Dubsado pro at the same time, and you can then offer that at a (higher) package rate.
A mentor or a coach. I’m a VA Mentor so of course I can see the huge value in working with a mentor specific to the VA industry, but it’s not essential. You can learn everything you need for free online (like you can do with practically anything you want to learn!), but working with a mentor 1:1 saves you an incredible amount of time and energy. The one thing I wish I did sooner when I started in 2016 was to hire a business coach because I had literally no idea what I was doing. I doubted everything I did, wasted months trying to piece a strategy together based on conflicting advice in FB groups and generally span my wheels instead of moving forward. Support and feedback unique to me would have been a dream come true.