A question that was asked at a forum I participate in recently. Good question and one that is important for both VAs and clients alike. The answer is, there is no typical client profile. It really depends on what the VA does and offer as to what a typical client might be for that one particular VA. And it can be based on service offerings or industry niches. For example, a VA may decide to specialise in one or more of the following services: digital transcription bookkeeping phone … [Read more...]
How do you know when a client is genuine?
I got asked this today, but admittedly, I've been asked other times too. While our industry attracts mainly good clients, we do get the occasional one that thinks they can use a VA for their own evil purposes - namely to launder money or trick someone into doing the wrong thing and therefore losing money. In the instance of today, there were many things in the emails sent to the VA that waved a red flag for me and I'll share them with you. This is a portion of my reply to her. The client had … [Read more...]
The importance of Networking online and offline
I'm a firm believer that networking should be done as much offline as it is done online. I belong to two regular networking groups - one weekly and one monthly, and then go to others periodically too. I find I pick up a lot of referrals this way from people who like to meet who they're going to be doing business with, or who they will be referring to. This is how I began doing business before the Internet and I still am actively networking on a local basis regularly, over 20 years down the … [Read more...]
Learn about your client’s industry
There is good value in learning as much as you can about the industry/ies your clients work in. If your niche is a particular industry this is even more important. Each industry will have a number of things to help educate people in that industry: newsletters, magazines, trade shows, industry association events and the list goes on. It makes sense, that if you want to provide the best value you can to your client/s in a particular industry, then why not subscribe to their online newsletter? Or … [Read more...]
Join Australia’s oldest VA Network today!
Not only Australia's oldest VA Network, but also the second oldest in the world. Established as a network in April 1996, "A Clayton's Secretary" has witnessed many changes and lots of growth in the Virtual Assistant industry during that time. Until 31st December, we have a special offer for 12 months' membership at the price of $99AUD. You can apply here and follow through with your resume and subscription payment to become a member of this team of Virtual Assistants, with members in many … [Read more...]
How is your terminology?
Two recent conversations have led to this particular post. One is a web client who had a need for a single web page to be set up for her business. She kept using terminology that made me think she wanted something else, i.e. a landing page, which is usually a call to action, with the same link or form several times, collecting people's contact information before leading them to the rest of the site. But what she wanted was quite different, although some aspects were the same. She was using … [Read more...]
Choosing to become a VA at the right time.
I had a lady ring me yesterday about becoming a Virtual Assistant. She wanted to know if she could join my network. We talked about what office-based experience she might have and it turned out she had very little and was studying at college currently. She also had a health problem which is why she was looking to work at home. I explained to her that VAs are business owners and, as such, are responsible for making decisions about how things are done for their clients. The buck stops with them. … [Read more...]
Home alone
Sounds like a movie title, doesn't it? :-) When you're working as a Virtual Assistant the reality is that you are working home alone, day in and day out. If you've been in a corporate office for some years you will be used to the social interaction of chatting to others, or just knowing that there are other people nearby. But when you're working for yourself, the reality is, there isn't usually anyone else around, unless you have children in the house or others you might be caring for. I've … [Read more...]
How to become a VA
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...]
