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What about your current financial means? Have you set aside funds for unexpected costs, or for expenses for new hardware, software, memberships, and registration fees? Even the pennies for everyday expenditures that pay the regular bills and put food in your fridge must be noted and tallied in a column of your proposed financial ledger.

What is your plan for your business? Who will you try to reach? What actually will you do? How will you do it? You must be better than those around you. Can you see yourself up till all hours late at night or early in the morning? Do you have the full support of your family, because initially your first efforts may seem to endlessly take you away from them?

Who do you know? As part of your plan, you’ll want to pursue ways to network and meet like-minded individuals. You may be known as a Solopreneur, or Independent Contractor if you will, but in reality you can’t do it alone and truly succeed. At home, seek out your local Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary, or other area business clubs. On the Internet, join Virtual Assistant (VA) organizations and message boards such as VAN http://www.VANetworking.com. Then set aside a good portion of your time to immerse yourself in reading those forums and the boards’ archives. Ask questions. Observe! And be like the largest sponge on the rack; absorb.

1. For what you intend to do, how much experience do you have? Do you REALLY have? Starting a VA business is more than assigning “lip service” to a credible idea, or getting up one day and deciding to say you’re a business owner. You’re really going to have to exert yourself. And then labor some more.
2. Karen McGreevey, one of the aspiring and successful virtual assistants on the VAN Forum, relates starting a business to the following:
3. Drive, determination, and experience: check.

Family support and financial set-asides: check.

As Tawnya Sutherland founder of VAN states, “It’s easier to believe in yourself when you are already a winner. To become successful as a VA, you've got to believe you are already holding the winning blue ribbon even though you are still standing on the starting line waiting for the gun to fire.”

Diana Ennen of Virtual Word Publishing http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com, the publicity rep for VAN states, “Motivation is the key to success in your business. At the VANetworking Forum I’ve seen so many aspire to become successful in their own business and then achieve it with the help of a forum that supports them. It’s a great winning combination.”

So stop dreaming and start achieving today. Take the steps necessary to become the success you want.