This is a question I get asked from time to time, via email, and I thought I'd answer it here. One of the very first things I notice when I get this request, is how the email is written. Some write the email well and professionally but others write to me like they might be writing to a family member or even similar to text speak on mobile phones. I can say that not writing the email professionally instils little confidence for me that the person writing is going to be able to manage a VA … [Read more...]
Personal time vs Work time
I raised this topic on my Facebook page and we've had some great discussion over it. Thought I would bring it here and encourage you to comment on my blog below. Has working at home blurred your boundaries when it comes to working on week days or weekends? I have noticed a number of seminars, conferences, webinars now being held on Saturdays and Sundays. While I know that AVAC is held on a Friday/Saturday, I wouldn't dream of encroaching on an entire weekend for a work related event. After … [Read more...]
Working at home alone
With many joining our industry daily, I thought I'd touch on this topic once again. Working at home can be wonderful and it certainly has been for me, and many other Virtual Assistants. However, it's important to understand that you will be home alone, day after day, and you might not have much face-to-face interaction with others. We do have online forums for VAs to chat with each other, learn how to do things, seek assurance in what they're doing, perhaps even share ideas and resources. But … [Read more...]
Building takes more than one night
A chance comment at a VA forum made me think about building in general. When you're building a house, there's a lot of planning and preparation put into place. The piece of land is checked by a survey engineer to ensure the land is sound and that the building planned will be structurally sound on that land. The architect goes to great lengths to ensure his plans are suitable for the owner's needs. The builder reads the plans, works out what materials are needed and costs involved, who he needs … [Read more...]
Finding your target market
This is a topic that applies to everyone in business. Some businesses have it easy. They have a service or product that people are seeking out every single day of the week. And so it would appear they don't have to do a lot to be found. The reality is they need to look at their 'real estate', i.e. where they are located physically for the foot traffic to pass by, or where they are located virtually, i.e. their domain name, keywords, etc to allow searches to find them. So there are costs … [Read more...]
Starting out as a VA
On one of the LinkedIn groups for VAs a new VA asked about getting started and landing her first client. Some had been giving her advice about her LinkedIn profile. Below is my (edited) response to her. At LinkedIn people prefer to see photos rather than an illustration. So you might want to consider changing your profile pic. Your LinkedIn profile definitely needs adding to. Have you tried Googling your name? If people knew about you and were looking for you, the results that come up should … [Read more...]
How do I become a Virtual Assistant (VA)?
This is a question I see asked at VA groups and forums from those who want to enter into the industry. It's quite easy really. You simply make a decision and then start acting like a VA. But to do that, there are some things you need to have set in place: You must have a good command of the skill set you want to offer as a service. No point in offering word-processing and data entry services if you can only type 20wpm. You would need to be much faster (at least 60wpm) and have around 98% … [Read more...]
Investing in your business
Business is so different to what it was say, 20 years ago. At that time we didn't have the Internet to promote our businesses and to buy a computer often required getting a loan if we didn't have that much cash available at the time. Not to mention purchasing a printer (colour was often out of reach), a fax machine, answer machine and a number of other items. They were all individual items and not like the multifunction items we have available to us today. However, with everything being so … [Read more...]
Start the year off as you intend to carry on
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year period, whether it be peaceful and relaxing, or exciting and adventurous! Whatever suits your style. My husband and I went on a cruise to New Zealand and had opportunity to just relax and sleep in, if we wanted, but some days were spent on going on tours onshore and exploring parts of New Zealand we'd not seen before. I think, for us, the highlight was visiting the Hobbiton Movie Set, which was a new tour made available … [Read more...]
