A long term client recently asked me to set up a new website for him. He showed me examples of what he was looking for, sent me the copy for it, I researched royalty free images and set up the web hosting after registering the domain he requested. But when he started asking me when was I going to get the website up and timing was getting urgent I kept wondering why he couldn't see the site? I'd done the work, uploaded the new site and sent him the link. We went round in circles for a couple … [Read more...]
Start With What You Know
I was speaking to a prospective VA on the phone the other day. She had been researching the Virtual Assistant industry and my name kept popping up everywhere she looked. She is also an avid reader of my blog (hi Helen!). During the course of the conversation she said the same thing I often hear 'newbies' say and that is, they want to learn a number of things before they start their businesses. I decided to explore this further with her. Whilst it is true that VAs need to have a certain … [Read more...]
Include your currency when quoting
Recently a team member quoted a client for a job and she secured the work. However only a couple of days later another member advised she'd also quoted for the job but had been told that someone else had given a much lower quote and secured the work. She couldn't work out how someone could do the work for such a low fee. I began asking questions to see what had transpired to ensure that all was in order and it soon became apparent to me that the VA who quoted 'low' was in fact from another … [Read more...]
What does your voice say about you?
I'll probably get a bit of 'hate mail' for this one, but I'm going to say it here anyway. I received a phone call from a lady who had seen my advert in the Yellow Pages and she wanted to know how she could become one of the people on that list and do work from home too. Reasonable request and I often get calls like that. But this call was different. The lady was extremely hesitant on the phone and took quite some time to get out her questions and whilst I felt for her I also thought that if … [Read more...]
Self employed or employed?
Periodically on the Virtual Assistant forums we discuss items that relate to how the tax department would view us if certain scenarios arise. One of those is the number of clients we should have or the how much we're earning from clients. While the figures and percentages may differ from country to country, I believe it would be wise to make sure that you are not receiving the bulk of your income from one client only. In the early stages of your business this may be difficult to achieve but it … [Read more...]
How do I know it’s genuine?
Today Virtual Assistants are often approached by scammers to do things that relate to nothing more than money-laundering or passing on parcels that are illegal in one way or another. It means we need to keep our wits about us as we assess each approach individually. Many of us get the emails offering us 'jobs' whereby we process email or reports, receive payments, keep a portion and then send the rest on - this is a definite 'no no' and should be ignored, not responded to and totally left … [Read more...]
Should I be paying someone to get work?
This is a common question amongst VA forums and one that many new VAs ask. And somewhere along the line, the thought and responses have become slightly skewed with responses like 'you should never pay for getting work'. Whilst on first sight this appears to be a sound response, I believe you need to look at this much deeper before answering with a 'yes' or 'no'. For example, the site you've visited - is it a membership based site that offers many benefits to its members? If so, and the … [Read more...]
Make sure you have systems in place
Regular readers and many others know the family loss I've recently experienced. I want to highlight some things that I do and which you may need to think about as a Virtual Assistant/business operator for times when emergencies arise and you are unable to be present in your own business. Over three years ago, when my husband and I began taking overseas trips I started putting systems into place to ensure I could hand over the running of daily activities in my business. I set up a new … [Read more...]
VA Communities provide support
Today, on our forum at 'Virtual Assistants International Group', a member shared some challenges she was having in getting her business off the ground. This wasn't a rare comment, we've had others say similar before; they've come to seek help. What was really special, and important, is the way the community rallied round to support and encourage this new VA during her time of feeling fragile and unsure. That's what I love about our industry. The way everyone gets together to encourage, … [Read more...]
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