If you're in business you should. Doesn't matter if your business is part-time or full-time. If you're operating a business of some sort then you should have a professional guiding you and helping you with your business. Yes, it costs to have an Accountant but those costs are a taxable expense. And if you don't have the structure set up properly you could be costing yourself a lot of money over the long run. For example, are you aware (particularly here in Australia but could well apply … [Read more...]
Archives for September 2012
Announcing 4th Annual Australian Virtual Assistant Conference
It doesn't seem that long since the last one but here we are, organising the next one. At the 3rd annual event we announced that AVAC 2013 will be held in Sydney and it didn't take long for a small committee of Sydney based VAs to be formed to assist Anita and I with the planning. They've been to do the site inspections of venues and have put the short list together. We've made a decision but just waiting on some final details from the venue before it's locked in place. But, we can tell you, … [Read more...]
Time to start thinking about cards… for Christmas
Dare I say it? Christmas is not that far away now! So time to start thinking about your Christmas lists. You know, not just family and friends, but loyal clients, colleagues, people you work with. And if you want to include that specialised touch you can use your own pictures or design a card completely of your own, and still use your handwriting without having to experience writer's cramp. Have you revisited Send Out Cards lately? It really is worth a visit. Regular readers will know I'm a … [Read more...]
As a Virtual Assistant, how did you get your first client?
This is a discussion I've seen at a couple of VA forums and I thought I'd bring it here to share with you. My first client came through my church in 1994. He needed some typing to be done. My second was through a lady I knew at the time - she was working with an NFP that needed admin support. From there more referrals came in and that's how much of my business was built pre-internet. I still believe in face-to-face networking very much today. A lot of referrals still come that way. And no, … [Read more...]
Got a listing with Hotfrog?
I was following a thread at a forum the other day and we were talking about our Google listings. Someone commented that Truelocal, Hotfrog and others will always bring up your listings first. They didn't for me, but that's not the point. At any rate I found a Hotfrog listing for my website much further down and thought I'd go see what was there. Very basic, listed my business name with a web link and my suburb. That's it. So I decided to claim the listing and proceeded to enter my details. I … [Read more...]
Tips for building your Virtual Assistant career
As long as you are confident with your current set of skills, then you have a starting point. You should (obviously) already have a good computer at home, reliable internet connection and the necessary hardware and software to complement those skills. Mixing and mingling with others via VA forums is a good thing to do. Networking away from VA forums, i.e. going out there and meeting local business people is a must. Not only will you learn things about running a business locally from other … [Read more...]
GoDaddy server down
I've been seeing messages at Facebook that people’s websites are down because GoDaddy’s server got hacked. There’s an article here about it. This is a worry, obviously, to anyone who has their sites hosted there. But then it doesn’t really matter where our sites are hosted, are they truly safe? For as long as the hackers don’t have their sights set on your host, your site will remain up. Something that is really important for anyone who owns a website is to make sure your site is backed up … [Read more...]