VACOC Community Forum: Registration Form

Registration Instructions and Forum Rules

Hey there, Danielle here

This is an organization exclusively for Administrative Support Consultants. Are you an experienced, highly skilled administrative professional? Are you a craftsman at heart? Are you in pursuit of business and professional mastery? Then I invite you to join my community! I share a bit more of my mentoring and guidance here with business-minded Virtual Assistants looking for more success in their practices. It's where we all get together to brainstorm, vet ideas and learn best practices from each other in a supportive environment filled with camaraderie and collaboration, not competition. While I realize that many folks outside our industry find help and support in my information and resources, my particular passion is helping administrative professionals in solo practice deal with their unique challenges in earning well and creating successful practices. Thus, this forum is especially and exclusively for them.

WHO THIS COMMUNITY IS FOR:

• This is a community exclusively for solopreneurs who work directly in clients in one-on-one relationships. This is NOT a community for those running VA groups, virtual staffing agencies or any kind of multi/team VA business.
• This is a community exclusively for Administrative Support Providers/Experts. If your primary business focus is not ongoing administrative support, your account will be denied.
• You must be highly skilled and experienced with an administrative background of at least five years upper level experience. This is our minimum standard of qualification for the Virtual Assistants we represent and promote. Examples of upper-level experience include positions such as secretary, administrative/executive assistant, office manager, legal assistant/secretary, paralegal, real estate assistant, etc. Receptionist and clerical positions are not considered upper-level experience.
• You must already be in business. You don't need to have clients yet; you just need to be committed to being in business and serious about your success.
• You must have a business-ready website. That means, your website must be live and in a completed state (not under construction), and it must clearly represent that you are in the business of administrative support.
• You must be ready, willing and able to participate. The only cost in exchange for this free resource is your active participation. Be prepared to ask questions and contribute to discussions on a regular basis. Lurkers will be deactivated.

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Read this page thoroughly. Be sure you meet the criteria above before registering.
• Put your most professional foot forward. This is a forum for highly skilled and experienced administrative support professionals. Your website and communication skills are indications of your professional skill and ability. Reading thoroughly, following directions and paying attention (so as to respect the time of others) are important demonstrations of a Virtual Assistant's competence, qualification and professionalism. Those who don't demonstrate these qualities will not be admitted.
• Do not register if you are seeking "Virtual Assistant jobs." This is not a placement agency or virtual staffing/telecommuting firm.

ADVICE FOR THOSE WHO ARE ONLY EXPLORING THE INDUSTRY & NOT ACTUALLY IN BUSINESS YET:

• I encourage you to take advantage of these Virtual Assistant business resources.
• Subscribe to the The Gritty VA blog where you can also submit your Virtual Assistant business and marketing questions to me.
• Explore our main main site pages for free resources and information to help you understand this business and get started.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:

• Registrations are reviewed by a live human. It may take up to seven days for your registration to be reviewed. Log into the forum periodically to check your status.
• Once you are approved, you will see a post with instructions for completing your profile.
• If you are not approved, you will see a post explaining the reason for denial.
• We do not provide personal follow-up on the status of your registration; it is up to you to follow the steps and directions provided.

IMPORTANT NOTICES:

• No AOL, Hotmail or MS Office Live hosted email addresses. Do not register with an AOL, Hotmail or MS Office Live hosted email address or any email address that is forwarded to these. We are having extreme difficulty with these providers; if you want to ensure you receive our messages and notifications, please use an alternate email address (ideally, from your own domain).
• No emails with autoresponders. Do not register with any email address with which you use autoresponders. These fill up our IN box very quickly and we will have to delete your account.
• No SpamArrest or other spam filtering tools. Do not register with any email address with which you use SpamArrest or other spam filtering program. We will not respond to any verification notifications and the account will be deleted.
• We are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. Messages posted express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of the VACOC. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable may notify the forum administrators by clicking the "report" button and sending us a message.
• No inappropriate posts. Through your registration and use of our website, you agree that you will not use the forum to post any objectionable material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violates any laws.
• No infringement. You agree not to post any copyrighted or trademark material unless it belongs to you. The VACOC has a zero tolerance policy on any and all intellectual property theft, unlawful use and infringement. Violators will be banned--no excuses and no exceptions.

(To cancel this registration, simply hit the 'back' button on your browser.)