Q. How can I learn more about the IVAA and the benefits for joining?
Q. What membership options do you offer?
Q. Who is the Student Membership for? What are the benefits associated with a Student Membership?
Q. Who is the Trial Membership for? What are the benefits associated with this membership?
Q. Who is the Regular Membership for? What are the benefits of this membership?
Q. I'm convinced. How do I join the IVAA?
Q. I just joined the IVAA. Where do I start?
Q. I received an email stating my membership is going to expire in 30 days.
Q. I just got a "Renewal Reminder," where do I renew my membership with IVAA?
Q: How do I set up my membership auto renewal?
Q. How can I upgrade from a Trial membership to a Regular Membership?
Q. How do I change from monthly to annual payments?
Q: How do I cancel my membership auto renewal?

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Q. How can I learn more about the IVAA and the benefits for joining?

There is a video available on our home page that outlines all the member benefits available by joining IVAA. You can watch this video at your convenience. If you have any additional questions, please contact our membership department.

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Q. What membership options do you offer?

We have three main membership categories – Student, Trial and Regular. Student members (usually enrolled in continuing or higher education courses) have access to certain member benefits such as discounts, participation in online Coffee Chats, and access to the Forms Library. A Trial member has access to some member benefits and is someone who is looking to test out the IVAA and being a member. See our website for Regular Member benefits and a comparison chart of the different membership categories. You may upgrade your membership (see "Membership Upgrade"), and also take advantage of payment options for regular membership, offering the opportunity for less financial commitment up front than paying the annual fee all at once.

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Q. Who is the Student Membership for? What are the benefits associated with a Student Membership?

IVAA offers a student membership category. This category is for those people who are currently going to school, such as a college or university, in preparation for starting a business as a virtual assistant. This is a six-month membership that gives students access to a number of our member benefits, including educational activities, preferred partner discounts, and a student internship program. To join as a Student Member, please visit our Join Now page.

There is no student exam or student certification that is given by IVAA. However, IVAA does offer certification exams in different areas, such as Certified Virtual Assistant ® (CVA)*, EthicsCheck, and Certified Real Estate Support Specialist (CRESS). (Please note that it is not necessary to have certification in order to become a virtual assistant.)

*The Certified Virtual Assistant^® exam is only available to IVAA members.

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Q. Who is the Trial Membership for? What are the benefits associated with this membership?

Trial Membership is for those who want a chance to explore what IVAA has to offer before committing to an annual membership. For rates and specific details about the Trial Membership, visit the Join Now page of the site for a list of benefits and cost for Trial Members.

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Q. Who is the Regular Membership for? What are the benefits of this membership?

Regular Membership includes all the benefits of Student and Trial members, in addition to access to RFPs, a public Directory Listing, Mastermind groups, Mentoring, student intern assignments, Recordings Library, and website hosting. For a full listing of benefits and a comparison of benefits available to the different member types, please visit Join Now page.

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Q. I'm convinced. How do I join the IVAA?

Visit the JOIN NOW page to get started.

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Q. I just joined the IVAA. Where do I start?

We think that you will find the IVAA community to be very helpful. Below are a few things we would suggest you do upon joining:

• Attend one of our New Member Orientations
• You might want to think about attending our Monday Coffee Chats to get some information about the industry. These are held every Monday at 10:00 a.m. or 5:00 pm EST and are open to both members and non-members. They are very informal and the topics depend on whatever the group wants to talk about that evening. You can register by going to our website at www.ivaa.org and clicking on the calendar link on the right-hand side of the page.
• Our Live Summit is held yearly in the spring and is a great opportunity for you to network with your peers and get some great information about what it means to be a VA. You would also meet many people in various stages of their businesses. It is not necessary to be a member to attend the Summit, although members pay a lower registration fee.
• Our Online Summit is held once a year in the fall. This Summit is a great opportunity for those who are unable to attend the Live Summit but still want to reap the benefits of the networking as well as the training and resources offered from seasoned and knowledgeable speakers, helping you drive your business in the right direction.
• We highly recommend that you sign up for IVAANet Listserv, our Yahoo Group forum for IVAA members to discuss many topics relevant to the VA industry. This is consistently voted our #1 benefit. Not only are the current posts very helpful but the archived posts provide a lot of great information as well, especially for people just starting out. To sign up, go to the website (www.ivaa.org) and hover your cursor over "Member Services." In the dropdown list, select IVAANet Listserv and fill out the information on the page. You will be notified by email when you have been approved for the group.

For more questions related to getting started with IVAA, please visit our Getting Started FAQ.

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Q. I received an email stating my membership is going to expire in 30 days.

By default, all members are set to automatically renew their membership and payment will be charged to the payment method that you used to join IVAA. If you have disable the auto-renew, or are not sure, you can renew your membership by logging into the website and going to your profile. Then click on the Manage Profile link on the right side. Scroll down to Account History and click Membership. There you can click on the link to Securely renew your membership now.

If you do not wish to renew and have chosen auto-billing, you may disable the payment by going to Manage Profile > Account History (at bottom of page) > Membership. Click on the red "X" next to the auto-pay option to delete the transaction. Once no payment is received by the system on the expiration date, your membership will be automatically suspended.

If you do not wish to renew and do not have auto-billing activated, you don't need to do anything. Your membership will expire when noted in the email.

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Q. I just got a "Renewal Reminder," where do I renew my membership with IVAA?

By default, all members are set to automatically renew their membership and payment will be charged to the payment method that you used to join IVAA. If you have disable the auto-renew, or are not sure, you can renew your membership by logging into the website and going to your profile. Then click on the Manage Profile link on the right side. Scroll down to Account History and click Membership. There you can click on the link to Securely renew your membership now.

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Q: How do I set up my membership auto renewal?

If you have chosen the auto-bill option and would like to renew, you do not need to do anything at this time. Your credit card on file will be charged on the expiration date.

If you have not chosen auto-bill, you may renew by going to your profile to Manage Profile > Account History (at bottom of page) > Membership. Click on the link to "Securely renew your membership" and you will be taken through the renewal process.

If you do not wish to renew and have chosen auto-billing, you may disable the payment by going to Manage Profile > Account History (at bottom of page) > Membership. Click on the red "X" next to the auto-pay option to delete the transaction. Once no payment is received by the system on the expiration date, your membership will be automatically suspended.

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Q. How can I upgrade from a Trial Membership to a Regular Membership?

Log in to the website and click on Manage Profile in the right-hand column. Then, scroll down to Account History and click on Membership. Choose "securely renew your membership" and go through the process.

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Q. How do I change from monthly to annual payments?

To change to annual membership, log in to the website and go to your profile. Click on Manage Profile in the right-hand column. Then, scroll down to Account History and click on Membership. On the next page, you should see your dues transactions. Just click on the red "X" next to the auto-bill transaction to delete it. Refresh the page and you should then see a link to "securely renew your membership." Click on this and, as you go through the renewal process, you will be able to choose the annual payment option.

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Q: How do I cancel my membership auto renewal?

Should you wish to cancel your auto-bill, log in to www.ivaa.org. Click on Manage Profile in the right-hand column. Scroll down to Account History and click on Membership. Just click on the red "X" next to the transaction that says "Awaiting Auto-bill" and that will cancel the auto payment. Once your expiration date passes and no new payment is received, your account will be suspended. Once the system does not receive a payment for your membership, your account will be suspended. We hope you renew! Log back in and the system will take you right to a payment page so you can manually pay and reinstate your account.

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