Stylus skipping at beginning of record

Records have a lip. It is not uncommon for the stylus to slide down that lip between grooves pick up speed and skip over a few. Cue inside the lip and you won't have a problem or use a mute control. I cue by finger lift and I hold the cartridge steady until the stylus grabs a groove. 

" I've adjusted my anti-skating to maximize the SQ of my records." If it wasn't doing it before you did your adjustments go back and start there. You have posted recently that you purchased the Valore with the OL Silver arm and seemed to be very happy with it. The love and hate for vinyl and it's playback borders on getting a feel for your setup and not being afraid to fine tune and adjust. By the way the Valore set up you have is a very nice table that after you dial it in should provide you with great music. Enjoy the music

As mijostyn and I have said, it is the stylus sliding down the lip that is the cause of the problem.  DO NOT adjust anti-skating for the purpose of resolving this issue because you will be setting it way too high for playing the rest of the record.  Set antiskating correctly and just adopt the practice of setting the stylus down a little further into the record.

I believe the problem is probably that the tracking force is too light. It’s presently under two grams. Problem is, I’m embarrassed to say, that I don’t know how to adjust it. Nothing is easy adjusting this Volare turntable. I’m calling the technician who set it up to find out.  
I don’t want to increase the antiskating because I have it dialed in for best sound.

When you do get help, maybe ask the guy to teach you how to set VTF, antiskate, VTA, etc, using your tonearm. As to VTF, most makers publish a range of acceptable values for each cartridge. Look that up. If you’re within the recommended range, I doubt VTF is the problem but if you’re in the low end of acceptable then maybe tweak it but don’t exceed the recommended range. This is assuming you are able to measure VTF.