It's that time of year again when people take stock of what's transpired for the past almost twelve months and reflect on what could have been versus on what has been. Has it been a good year for you? Did you set goals and achieve them? Did you set goals and not achieve them? Perhaps the job you currently have has you disillusioned and you're looking for something else? Perhaps you've come to realise that the job you have isn't as secure as you once thought. I know those feelings although the … [Read more...]
New milestone pending!
As my regular readers will know, I've been in this industry for quite some time. In fact, my 20th anniversary in business will be in March 2014. Not that far away. It was in April 1996 that I began the network, initially for home-based secretaries, and then we changed our titles to Virtual Assistants as that term became popular around the world. Seems such a long time ago now. What is the new milestone pending? The 1400th VA to join the "A Clayton's Secretary" network. We're only a few off … [Read more...]
Should a new VA get training?
This is a question asked at a VA forum recently. I feel it really depends on the individual. You may be well experienced at providing the service you wish to provide (transcription, data entry, word-processing, etc) but what about actually being a business operator? It may well depend on what the course has to offer. I do believe that most VA courses are about being a VA, setting up a business, setting rates that are right for you, developing an online presence, finding clients, etc. They're … [Read more...]
Let them know your number!
Does anyone else find it annoying that business people just sign off their emails with their name and no contact details whatsoever? Just sometimes, I'd like to pick up the phone and I have to do a search through previous emails or a Google search to find it. My next pet hate are websites that have no phone numbers on them. Perhaps they don't know how to set up an email signature block, but if that's the case, why not ask someone to help them? An admin assistant or a VA can definitely … [Read more...]
Local networking is important
A question I see asked time and again on the VA and business forums are 'how do I find more clients?', or 'how do I get my name out there?' The answer is, and always has been 'networking'. Networking is one of the most important activities that is required of a business owner. You can do everything you can think of, set up great systems, design a fantastic website, have all your paperwork in place but if you don't actually spend time connecting with people, very few are going to find you. And … [Read more...]
New VAs seeking clients
I often see on VA forums new VAs despairing because they don't have an existing client base when they start their business. It's possible that some might, but that's a rarity. The reality is the majority of us don't have an existing client base - we're starting afresh. But we do have contacts. Any single person is a sphere of influence: family, friends, friends of friends, friends of family, members of any groups we belong to such as sport, church, hobbies and other activities. Then there's … [Read more...]
Building a VA business – takes more than a day…
I watch the VA forums online and love to participate and encourage all within the industry, particularly the newbies. But I do have a concern that there appears to be this misconception that they'll have a fully functional business within a month or two, and when they don't, they become very despondent and ready to give up. Where does this perception come from? Is it all the marketing online about overnight businesses, working just 4 hours a week or something else? Any business, no matter … [Read more...]
Too old to be a VA?
Don't you believe it! I had a lady email me via LinkedIn during the week. She was feeling despondent and depressed because she wanted to work, had been classed as 'disabled' in her country and had good administrative skills but unable to get work. She was just looking for something worthwhile to do and had been getting negatives from people around her and told me that being in the 50 plus age group had complicated things for her. This is my response to her. I'm so sorry all of this has … [Read more...]
Referrals, Testimonials and Professional Ratings
There appears to be a new trend of asking people, via LinkedIn, to give you a testimonial, recommendation or professional rating. Now, that would be OK if the person asking had actually done some work for me, or worked with me on a project, and I had personal experience of their work-style and ability. But, increasingly, I'm getting people asking me who I've never worked with. How could I possibly know what their work ethic is like or how they achieve things? When participating in an online … [Read more...]
