How do I become a Virtual Assistant is a question I'm often asked. And so I wrote the article below for the Australian Virtual Assistants Association of Australia (AVAA). Some of the content relates to setting up business in Australia. However, all of the content is suitable for anyone in any country and where Australian organisations are listed, please use this as a prompt to seek similar organisations in your own country, if not based in Australia. Things you need to get started: Good … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2014
What is a Virtual Assistant?
This question comes to light often these days because so many people (and countries) have variations on what they believe the term 'Virtual Assistant' means. It came about because a business coach named his assistant that title as she worked miles away from him (in the US) and he coined the phrase 'virtual assistant'. The coach was Thomas Leonard and the assistant, Stacey Brice. This was back in the mid 1990s and the term stuck and gradually the home-based secretarial industry adopted the phrase … [Read more...]
Advice on getting started as a VA
On a VA forum recently a new VA was asking for advice on getting started. She'd outlined her experience and then went on to say she didn't want to start her own business but work for someone else, building up enough experience to pick up jobs here and there. My immediate thought was that this lady didn't really understand the nature of being a Virtual Assistant. And this may well be as a result of articles online that continue to promote that VAs are employees of agencies. The reality is that … [Read more...]
Blog writing challenge
I was invited to participate in a writing blog challenge - because I love to write! Below are the questions I was asked, with my answers and under that the people I'm tagging to continue this on. And this is all about writing! 1) What am I working on? I’m always working on ideas for new posts to my Virtual Assistant blog. With over 900 articles written since 2005 I’m always looking for new angles, new ways to share information. 2) How does my work differ from others of its genre? I write … [Read more...]
Keeping your values as a VA
“We don’t go running away from our values. We go drifting away, and one day wake up in a place we never meant to be, drifting in a direction we would have never chosen.” John G. Blumberg VA Tip: Sometimes it's easy to let our values drop when a client wants us to do something for them that doesn't quite align with our own values. Or perhaps we get swept away with hype that someone has been promoting and others have been jumping on the bandwagon. Be careful not to cross this line. You need to … [Read more...]