Those of you who receive my newsletter or visit my website regularly will by now have seen our new look website. This blog will be undergoing a similar change very soon so stay tuned. The new look has been several months in the pipeline and this is partly due to research regarding membership software. I wanted my Virtual Assistant team to be able to login and update their own profiles as they wished and as has often been requested. Time to move on with current trends for membership sites. Do … [Read more...]
Who advocates for us?
Just heard on the news on the radio that ACTU wants the 1.4 million award wage earners to have a pay rise of $27 a week (in Australia). Made me wonder. Who gives us a pay rise when we deserve it, or find that we've been on the same rate for several years? We do. But do we? Probably worth looking at each year, when you plan your year and set goals (I hope you do that each year). Assessing what you're worth and how you're fairing is an important part of running your business and making sure … [Read more...]
Marketing – make sure you’re ethical
On a VA forum recently one of the members mentioned she'd discovered that another VA business was using the name of her business in their Google Adwords. She has requested they take them down immediately and several other members came back with messages of support. While I do also support the concern of this VA I wanted to let her know how I had inadvertently done a similar thing only a couple of years ago. Here is my story: That's not good but it can happen accidentally too, believe it or … [Read more...]
Using networking tools for VAs
At one of the VA forums I belong to a member asked if someone could explain how a small home transcription business can grow their business using Facebook, Linked-in or Twitter or is it more for the merchant business? My answer was brief - there's a lot to cover for each of these tools, but hopefully this will help answer it for others thinking the same thing. Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter work quite differently but often with similar results. I'll try to explain briefly here: Facebook helps … [Read more...]
Start up costs for a Virtual Assistant
Periodically I see discussions at VA forums that are really good topics for this blog. In particular these questions are often asked: How much was your start-up cost? How long before you started with your 1st client? My answer is this: How long is a piece of string? Kind of depends on a number of things for both questions. Re start up costs, if you already have the computer and printer you need, and the software you want to use for providing services, then additional things would be … [Read more...]
Start the year off right
Christmas/New Year, in Australia at least, is generally a time for taking a break. Many companies close down for 10 days, 2 weeks or more or they have a skeleton staff operating during that period. It is a time to just relax, let go, recover from the previous year and start to plan or look ahead to the following year. Sometimes it's just really hard getting going again. Depends on where you've been at on a mental level and a physical level. It is traditionally a time to set new year … [Read more...]
Getting Started as a Virtual Assistant
It is clear to me through the various VA forums that the industry is continuing to grow. That's a good thing. And we see continued requests for VA support as well. But it is also obvious to me that there's not enough information out there for budding VAs in how to set up their businesses - or perhaps they just don't know where to look. I see the same questions being asked constantly at the forums and also get individual emails with similar requests. And it's probably been awhile since I've … [Read more...]
Message for those wanting to be a VA
I often get requests via email from people who want to become a Virtual Assistant. Sometimes via my VA forum, sometimes via my website contact form, sometimes by email and sometimes by phone. It's generally the written requests that concern me. Some write in ALL CAPS. This is not polite and considered yelling. It also makes me wonder if they really do know how to type or whether they're hiding the fact that they can't. Many do not proof read what they write before hitting send. Their written … [Read more...]
The importance of follow up
We read often the importance of follow up when networking and meeting people for the first time but what about when they've already begun using your service or product? How many of you follow up afterward to see how things are going? A couple of years ago I decided to set up an autoresponder series for follow up after clients fill out the job request form on my website. I hadn't realised how valuable this simple action would be. Over that time I've received really valuable feedback as well … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- …
- 51
- Next Page »
