Skype is frequently used by VAs the world over now to have discussions with clients, participate in seminars, partake of coaching and contact distant family members. Recently on one of the VA forums I belong to there was a question about Skype and how easy it was to use. A VA’s family member is going to be overseas for a period of time and they wanted to be assured of making contact regularly, easily and at low cost.
There are costs involved for some of the services but we’ve not as yet made use of them. The free facilities have been more than adequate for our needs. Here is my response at that forum.
We use it too but have never had to buy any time at all. Totally free. We have a daughter in Japan and we are in Melbourne, Australia. We talk regularly every week for up to 2 hours at a time, at no cost. Was really useful 2 days ago. The recent earthquake was very close to where she is living and working and we could not contact her by phone – the lines were either down or congested but thank God we could use Skype and were able to talk to her that way. She’d no idea how bad the quake was until I told her – she then looked online on the news sites and saw for herself all the damage.
9 people killed last time I heard. So, even with the phone system out, the internet was still working and we were able to speak to our daughter and be assured she was safe and ok.
I encourage you to explore it if you haven’t yet. It is a free download and very easy to install and set up. Just a username, password and your email address is all you need. After that you can add people to your contact list and search for others who might be listed with Skype. The thing I like watching is the number online at any given time – always in the millions! KMT
virtual assistant, Skype, Technology, VA networks
DeirdreS says
I discovered SKYPE a couple of weeks ago and I’ve already been able to talk by voice to a great friend who lives in Papau New Guinea, I live in the United States. We had not talked in over a year. I’ve also had the pleasure of chatting with my Virtual Assistant friends.
LindaF says
We use Skype for our Automotive Consulting business because we have a large customer base in Canada and partners in the UK.
Mchilly says
I used another messenger before but then when my friend introduced me to this kind of messenger I kinda like it…very user friendly layout and cute emoticons too lol 🙂
Cristina Favreau says
I’ve been using Skype for almost a year. I use it to IM, coach clients, host live seminars (called SkypeCast) and join networking events (although lately the reception hasn’t been clear). Oh, and did I mention all for free?
It still needs lots of work, but it’s a pretty neat little application that can be used to reach many people at once and keep in touch.