The excitement of getting that first client soon passes and you start to wonder how much work is going to come through and how often. If you're a new VA, or a client looking to engage a VA for the first-time, I encourage you to look at the relationship as something that is going to be for the long-term and not ad-hoc or one-off jobs. I know that some clients like to 'try us out' to see how things go. I expect some might do this with Accountants and Lawyers too, and perhaps tradespeople as … [Read more...]
Archives for March 2010
Hiring a Virtual Assistant
Welcome to the readers of Sarah Wilson's blog where she recently explored engaging the services of a Virtual Assistant (VA). Below you will find an interview of one client in Australia using VAs for her business but if you check the Client Interview category you will find many other client interviews listed. We also have a Client Case Study category in the menu on the right and a list of some clients who have been using VA services for many years. Kathie Thomas … [Read more...]
Clients Using VAs Part 9
In another of this series, here is an interview I did some months ago with Wendy Moore. Please tell my readers a bit about who you are and what you do. With over 14 years experience in the IT industry, I understood the amazing potential available to women in business who knew how to use the internet. What astounded me was the absolute lack of knowledge amongst fellow business women about the internet. Basic fundamentals were just not understood by women and so many were missing golden … [Read more...]
Flattery won’t get you everywhere
I'm amazed by the amount of 'VA' spammers out there, who are desperate to get their comments posted on this blog. Regular spam is bad enough but VAs doing this? Your flattery and use of big words will not impress me, nor the html coding you leave in the comments either. However, if you add value to the article and simply leave your name and URL in the relevant fields, your comments will get published and people can visit your site if they wish. Spamming on a peer's site is not the way to get … [Read more...]
Engaging a VA?
Then it's important to remember: There is no 'standard' rate for engaging a VA. Their cost of living, location, currency, experience and skillset vary considerably. First you will have to weigh up whether you need to engage someone who is local to where you work, or whether virtual is what you need. We find that most work can be carried out 100% virtually, unless you need for that VA to be onsite (Minutes of Meetings for example) or to do research that requires local geographical … [Read more...]
16 years ago today…
It was 16 years ago today that I walked into a govt building in Melbourne to register my business name "A Clayton's Secretary". I was both scared and excited. Scared - would it work? Excited - New horizons. For a long time I felt like I was on holidays at home, getting to play with my computer. Don't get me wrong, I was working and earning, but it didn't feel like work because I was in charge, I was doing what I enjoyed, and I got to make the choices about how things would work. It did … [Read more...]
Who advocates for us?
Just heard on the news on the radio that ACTU wants the 1.4 million award wage earners to have a pay rise of $27 a week (in Australia). Made me wonder. Who gives us a pay rise when we deserve it, or find that we've been on the same rate for several years? We do. But do we? Probably worth looking at each year, when you plan your year and set goals (I hope you do that each year). Assessing what you're worth and how you're fairing is an important part of running your business and making sure … [Read more...]
Virtual Assistant Newsletters
I wrote a post some time ago about Free Resources Virtual Assistants love and Carla has left a comment asking about Virtual Assistant newsletters. She's looking for a list of them. If you write a Virtual Assistant newsletter then why not leave a link for it here in the comments so Carla (and others) can come have a look and subscribe if they like what they see? … [Read more...]
Planning to attend a conference, or …
Still coming back down to earth after our fantastic event, the Australian VA Conference (AVAC) a couple of days ago. It was great to meet face-to-face the names I've come to know so well over the internet for some years. And to meet new names, people I hadn't met online before but who are venturing into the Virtual Assistant world. However, there were many who did not come, for several reasons, and a couple who didn't turn up, although they had booked to come. I received emails of apologies … [Read more...]