Operating a VA Business | VA Directory

Interview with Jan King

Many Virtual Assistants are seeing a relationship between the services they offer and the needs that authors have. There's a direct connection or perfect marriage between the two industries. I am privileged to share with you an interview with Jan King on this topic. 1. What gave you the idea to teach VAs to work with authors? I ran a mid-sized publishing company in Santa Monica, California in the US until we sold the company in 1998. We did 200 titles a year and were quite well known for … [Read more...]

Use the ‘squeaky wheel’ principle

I often get asked by VAs what they should do if they've submitted a proposal to a client's request and a few days have passed and they've heard nothing further. I always advise them to use the 'squeaky wheel' principle. What do you do when you have a squeaky wheel? You pay attention to it. So the client needs the same prompting - you should be in regular contact (without making a nuisance of yourself) and follow up. If they've heard from several Virtual Assistants and life is busy for them … [Read more...]

Honing new skills

Many VAs, particularly those new to the industry, are so keen to get clients that there are times when they will accept a job only to find they really don't have the skillset or experience to carry out the role. They then end up in a quandary - do they tell the client or try to find out quickly how to do that particular job? The questions asked at VA forums often show a tendency for the latter, rather than the former, or perhaps they have already told their client, but are going ahead with the … [Read more...]

Getting back to basics – Becoming a VA

I've seen many posts recently via Twitter and forums where people are asking about how to become a Virtual Assistant. As I haven't written on that for awhile I thought I'd give an update here. Providing you have good computer skills and experience in using the web for sharing files, downloading and receiving information and so on, then chances are you are eligible to become a Virtual Assistant. A Virtual Assistant is someone who provides assistance to others on a virtual basis, be it the … [Read more...]

What you feed grows, what you starve dies

I was just climbing out of my car after visiting my business coach when I heard the final sentence of something on the radio and it caught my attention. The guy was saying 'remember, what you feed grows, what you starve dies'. This is such a profound statement and hit me straight away. It was very relevant to the plans for my Virtual Assistant business and where I want to take it next, after having been with Stuart for the past hour. We'd been talking about the progress of my Virtual … [Read more...]

Is there room for me in your network?

I recently met a copywriter at a business breakfast I was speaking at and she was keen to talk to me after the event. She was looking for more ways to get clients and was wondering if I accepted copywriters into my Virtual Assistant network. I told her I would send her some suggestions that would help her with her business and then I realised that it might help some who read this blog as well. We met at the breakfast last Tuesday and you were wondering if my Virtual Assistant network would be … [Read more...]

6 Degrees of Separation… or less

I have a story I tell at conferences and other events when speaking about how my business became international. I talk about my first international client - a lawyer who lived in Picardy, France in 1997. Imagine my surprise at a recent event when a gentleman with a South African accent came up to me to tell me that a lady he lived next door to in New York for 11 years knew this very same client. He was her landlord. That's the first time I've ever had anyone come up to me to say they knew … [Read more...]

Spend your govt bonus on an Aussie VA!

Watching the news on TV there was an article about the Australian Govt bonus that will be soon made available to those eligible in Australia. They were recommending that in order to help boost the Australian economy the bonus should be spent on services in Australia, rather than pay existing bills or purchase goods where a percentage of the monies will go to businesses outside of our country. That includes whitegoods. As soon as they mentioned 'services' my ears pricked up. They did mention … [Read more...]

I’m a new Virtual Assistant, do I need a website?

This was a question posted at a VA forum very recently and it is something often asked by those entering our industry. She wanted to know if creating a flyer for now would do as she didn't want to spend money on a website till she had work coming in. What did I advise them? If you're not going to have a website then I encourage you to join one or more of the VA networks that provide an online listing for you so you have a presence online and you can use that as your web page address for … [Read more...]