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Archives for October 2008

Becoming an Online Business Manager Blog Tour

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As a virtual assistant myself for several years, I was very interested to see what Tina Forsyth had to bring to the table in her book, Becoming An Online Business Manager. Well, for me, this is the way I have been conducting business, however, didn’t realize to assign this title for the several duties I performed for my clients.

In Tina’s book, it really showcases the different areas to which a virtual assistant can expand their skill set and take it to a higher level -or as Tina calls it, “play a bigger game with your clients”. By providing a broader range of services and encompassing more responsibility within your realm, you can offer a sigh of relief and reduce stress for your clients.

As this book is suited for virtual assistants, it also allows business owners the opportunity to realize those areas a online business manager would be suited for in their business and hire an great addition to their team.

This post was part of a blog tour:
Yesterday the blog tour stopped at Tracy Lawton of Office Organization Success & Andy Wibbels of Andy Wibbels.com and author of Blog Wild
Tomorrow the blog tour continues with Teresa Morrow at Key Business Partners

Forsyth’s book, Becoming an Online Business Manager Playing a Bigger Game with your Clients (and Yourself), is available for purchase at http://www.becominganobm.com/

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Include your currency when quoting

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Recently a team member quoted a client for a job and she secured the work.  However only a couple of days later another member advised she’d also quoted for the job but had been told that someone else had given a much lower quote and secured the work. She couldn’t work out how someone could do the work for such a low fee.

I began asking questions to see what had transpired to ensure that all was in order and it soon became apparent to me that the VA who quoted ‘low’ was in fact from another country and the $$ she quoted was in a different currency to the other VA and also to the client. So then I had to make sure the client was aware what currency the quote had been in so there were no misunderstandings.

Being a Virtual Assistant means we are working with a global client base – not a national client base, and it’s really important that when we respond to job requests from clients that we make it clear what currency we’re quoting in and what timezone we’re working from, to ensure that time frames are suitably met and clients don’t get a rude shock finding the quote was very different to what they thought it was and that perhaps the work was going to arrive at a later time than they had expected.

I encourage VAs reading this post to start including their currency and timezones in quotes, particularly when the client is from another country – just so there are no misunderstandings. It’s hard to discuss or argue the point after the work has been completed – much better to get it sorted out prior to the work being started.

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What does your voice say about you?

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I’ll probably get a bit of ‘hate mail’ for this one, but I’m going to say it here anyway.

I received a phone call from a lady who had seen my advert in the Yellow Pages and she wanted to know how she could become one of the people on that list and do work from home too.  Reasonable request and I often get calls like that. But this call was different.  The lady was extremely hesitant on the phone and took quite some time to get out her questions and whilst I felt for her I also thought that if any of my potential clients were speaking with her on the phone they would lose all confidence in her ability to do work for them or represent them.

Sounds harsh?  Possibly.  And I know that people get nervous on the phone but the reality is that if you’re going to run a business (which is what VAs are doing) then you need to be able to articulate what you want clearly and project some confidence towards the person with whom you are having a conversation.  A good tip is to have bullet points written down in front of you before you make the phone call, and practice what you want to say.

If you are one of these people who can handle the computer and internet fine but find that speaking to people is something you struggle with, then I encourage you to start going out and networking locally more, or join a group like BNI, Rotary, Lions Club, Toastmasters or similar, where you’ll get the opportunity to practice telling others about yourself and what you do.

Virtual or not, we still need to use our voices and speak to people and unfortunately nerves and a real lack of confidence will show.  You can ‘fake it till you make it’ with enough practice in speaking to others.  Start practicing today!

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Self employed or employed?

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Periodically on the Virtual Assistant forums we discuss items that relate to how the tax department would view us if certain scenarios arise. One of those is the number of clients we should have or the how much we’re earning from clients.  While the figures and percentages may differ from country to country, I believe it would be wise to make sure that you are not receiving the bulk of your income from one client only.  In the early stages of your business this may be difficult to achieve but it should certainly be your goal.  Why?

  1. If a large percentage of your income was derived from one client you might be perceived as an employee by your tax department.  It is in both your interests and that of your client, to ensure this situation doesn’t arise otherwise your client might find themselves responsible for your taxes, insurances, sick leave, etc and you might find yourself in a totally different taxable position than what you envisaged.
  2. With the current economic climate it makes sense to spread your income sources so that if one source dries up or is no longer available, you still have other sources for income provision.

These are just two simple reasons and I’m sure there are a lot more, but it makes good sense to protect yourself, your business and your income, by ensuring you are not dependent on one source or one client.  Believe me I know as I did put myself in a similar position many years ago early in my business. Whilst I did have quite a few other clients, I had one client who was providing me with a large percentage of my income.  At that stage our industry was still fairly new and I hadn’t yet worked out the value of outsourcing to my colleagues to spread my workload.  When my major client and I parted ways I nearly lost my business too. It was a big chunk of income that suddenly went with the client and I had to scramble around to find new clients – I had a quite a few lean months till I filled that gap in – not with another client, but with several clients.

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P.S. If you’re looking for Virtual Assistant training I have a pre Christmas special available now.

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How do I know it’s genuine?

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Today Virtual Assistants are often approached by scammers to do things that relate to nothing more than money-laundering or passing on parcels that are illegal in one way or another. It means we need to keep our wits about us as we assess each approach individually.

Many of us get the emails offering us ‘jobs’ whereby we process email or reports, receive payments, keep a portion and then send the rest on – this is a definite ‘no no’ and should be ignored, not responded to and totally left alone.

Generally I tell VAs that ’employers’ don’t send out emails looking for candidates for their vacant positions. They advertise and wait for people to come to them – after all there are lots of people looking for jobs. Why would a genuine employer spend time collating email addresses to send out in the hope they will find the right employee? (not to mention that Virtual Assistants are self-employed – we are not employees).  Making use of the VA forums you belong to and asking questions helps a great deal too – others can tell of their experiences or knowledge to assist you to determine if the client request is real or not.

But what about when you are asked to receive mail on behalf of a client in your own country and then forward on to others in that country?  This kind of request probably needs to be looked at a bit further as it may well be genuine.  Particularly if their written language skills for your country is lacking which is why they are asking for your assistance.  Warning signs are the usual email addresses from places like hotmail, yahoo, and other generic type addresses.  And often the same phrasing is used in scam emails (it’s quite easy to Google the subject or a phrase to find examples of others online).  Genuine clients would usually give you their business names and other forms of contact as well and are happy to answer questions.

Here in Australia I periodically contact Austrade and ask for assistance if I want to verify the validity of an international business contact. And this has been worth doing as my team and I have picked up some interesting jobs for genuine overseas clients.  If you live in another country I urge you to check to see if there is a government dept which works towards building international business relationships between your country and others.  I’m sure you’ll find they are a worthwhile contact to have for your business and once they are aware you exist, they might even refer clients to you further down the track.

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