Readers will know that I own and manage a Virtual Assistant network, as well as moderate two VA forums. We get new readers here every day so I just wanted to mention that before following with this post. Yesterday I received an email from a lady wanting to know how much work she would get if she signed up to join my VA team. This is not an unusual request and is probably one I get almost every week, sometimes more often. In this case it was for medical typing but sometimes it's for … [Read more...]
Need help with your Virtual Assistant Business?
I love to help VAs starting out in business, or those who are a bit further along but still need a helping hand. I have 4 different ways I can help VAs get their businesses rolling and perhaps one, two, three or all four are what you need! I will list them in the order they were created. Virtual Assistant Network. Operates under the name of "A Clayton's Secretary" and was formed in April 1996, making it one of the world's oldest VA networks in existence. Membership based, renewable … [Read more...]
The flexibility of being a Virtual Assistant
Recently, a member of our VA forum was highlighted in a national paper with respect to her 'sea change' and the work she does from home. The paper was highlighting the jobs that could be done at home. Being a Virtual Assistant has so many positives to it. Let me share with you some of those benefits: You choose the hours you want to work to fit around family schedules You choose the type of work you want to do, based on your skillset and personal interests You decide what your rate of pay … [Read more...]
How many clients do you need?
A chance comment at a VA forum made me realise that a new VA was using the scatter gun approach to finding new clients and was, therefore, trying to prevent travelling all over the countryside and use cold calling instead. Except she was unsure how to go about it. She'd obtained (legally) a directory for her target market and wanted to approach them all to introduce her business and was seeking advise about this. I'd made comment that face-to-face was more personal and why didn't she just go … [Read more...]
Don’t give up!
Recent discussions at a VA forum were about how overwhelmed one member was feeling, trying to keep up with everyone else, but knowing she didn't excel in a lot of the things that others do. End result was she felt like she was beginning to burn out. Starting up a business is no simple thing. There is a lot to do and as the business owner you are now suddenly responsible for marketing, setting systems in place, making sure the bookkeeping is done, and working out what services to provide and … [Read more...]
Operating a VA business – Adding to the equasion
When we first start building our Virtual Assistant businesses we tend to concentrate on what we know best and it nearly always relates to word-processing, data entry, transcription work, book-keeping or similar. As we become more confident we start to find things we really enjoy doing and that often we can teach our clients about those things. For me in the past it has meant adding blogging to my list of services, websites and eventually setting up social media profiles for Twitter, Facebook, … [Read more...]
VAs – Looking for long-term relationships
The excitement of getting that first client soon passes and you start to wonder how much work is going to come through and how often. If you're a new VA, or a client looking to engage a VA for the first-time, I encourage you to look at the relationship as something that is going to be for the long-term and not ad-hoc or one-off jobs. I know that some clients like to 'try us out' to see how things go. I expect some might do this with Accountants and Lawyers too, and perhaps tradespeople as … [Read more...]
Virtual Assistant Newsletters
I wrote a post some time ago about Free Resources Virtual Assistants love and Carla has left a comment asking about Virtual Assistant newsletters. She's looking for a list of them. If you write a Virtual Assistant newsletter then why not leave a link for it here in the comments so Carla (and others) can come have a look and subscribe if they like what they see? … [Read more...]
Planning to attend a conference, or …
Still coming back down to earth after our fantastic event, the Australian VA Conference (AVAC) a couple of days ago. It was great to meet face-to-face the names I've come to know so well over the internet for some years. And to meet new names, people I hadn't met online before but who are venturing into the Virtual Assistant world. However, there were many who did not come, for several reasons, and a couple who didn't turn up, although they had booked to come. I received emails of apologies … [Read more...]
