As a Virtual Assistant looking after a number of clients, it is really important to diarise items that need following up. With the increased number of emails, phone calls, and information to read and take in, it is very easy to get in overload mode and not realise that someone didn't respond to your email or phone call till several days later, or even weeks later. I usually do make a note to follow up on behalf of clients but often forget to do this for my own personal things. I mean, you … [Read more...]
I love surprises!
This year has been a very different year for me as I've made some shifts in what I've been doing in my business. Moving some clients onto other VAs as I made room for increased writing activity and public speaking. I have a passion for helping women who want to work at home and be there for their families, just as I have been blessed to do for the past 13+ years. All the same, I felt bad for 'abandoning' those clients - although I know that's not the reality. They have very capable people … [Read more...]
Virtual Assistant or Virtual Worker?
As the VA industry evolves and more people become aware of this excellent way of working, it is only natural that there are going to be companies developing who have a staff of virtual workers. We've been seeing this in India for sometime but now it's expanding to other parts of the world, with at least one that I know of in the US and I became aware of another in the Philippines recently. I'm sure there are others too. And that's not to mention the agencies that tap into the VA market - there … [Read more...]
Can A Virtual Assistant Be An Employee?
I saw this question posted at a forum I participate in and thought I'd share my answer here for readers too. Virtual Assistants are self-employed operators, they are not employees. The VA industry has evolved with the growth of Networks (which are not employer companies) - networks of virtual assistant members who benefit through web site (directory) listings, referrals or job leads from clients, members benefit from existing advertising already in place (many of the networks are well placed in … [Read more...]
Virtual Assistant Needed
I like to keep watch on various things posted online, as many of us do and it never ceases to amaze me to see someone seeking a 'virtual assistant' and then putting the price on what they want to pay. It frequently doesn't match up - the rate the client wants to pay versus the work they want done. Do they think that VAs are monkeys? Because it seems all they want to pay is peanuts a lot of the time. I recently saw a job post at DoMyStuff.com where someone was advertising for a VA to assist … [Read more...]
Question: I am trying to work from home. How did you get started communicating online and getting assignments. Thank you.
The above was recently posted by a new member of my VA forum and I decided it would be good to share my answer here as well. Hi, this is something everyone goes through when starting out and many new VAs do not realise that getting work online is not the only way to get work. We make the mistake of thinking we're operating 'virtually' so the only way to get work is by promoting online - but that is not the case. Most of my own clients I have met personally, or have been referred to me by people … [Read more...]
Can Men Be VAs?
I was recently asked this question. The person asking wants to become a VA but wasn't sure if there were other men doing this and whether it would be more difficult for them to break into it. I know of a few men who are VAs, not many but there shouldn't be any reason why a man can't be a VA. In fact, I have a small number of men on my team and it is slowly growing. And I know that VANA have a number of men on their list as well. I think because traditionally women are in the secretarial role … [Read more...]
Are You Crossing the Line?
When setting up a new business, many VAs continue in their full-time or part-time jobs until such time they feel they can leave and work in their own business full-time. However, this means there are occasions when they feel they need to respond to email, answer calls or go out during their regular business hours to attend to something relating to their new growing business. In doing so, however, does this mean they are crossing the line? They certainly could be and ethics plays a strong part … [Read more...]
Are You Setting Yourself Up For Failure?
I was having a discussion with a woman who has almost zero turnover of staff in her business. I told her a number of people will come through my network, and stay for less than six months and disappear again. Her response was that she also gets those type of people and she wasn't counting them as 'staff' because they were never fully committed in the first place. She starts them on a probation period and many just don't go far beyond that time period. I hadn't thought of it that way, but … [Read more...]
