Time is running out! Only one week remains to order passes to the 35+ seminars being conduced during the 3rd annual OIVAC. This year, we've scheduled seminars covering topics everyone is asking questions about and discussing on list servs and forums. Here's an opportunity to "ask the experts" and obtain informative answers from experienced VAs as well as professionals outside the industry that walk the talk every day, and are willing to share their knowledge, experience and skills … [Read more...]
Do you want to succeed as a VA?
You probably look at many VA businesses and wonder how it is that some succeed and really develop and others seem to struggle to find clients and get the work. What is the difference? A number of things - but one of the major ones would be networking - constantly. Stats show that 80% of all business comes from networking and referrals. Is it any wonder that the successful VAs tell all the others 'network, network and network some more'? You don't have to have the gift of the gab and have an … [Read more...]
If my Virtual Assistant happens to quit…
I've noticed a very disturbing trend on the web lately via various blog posts about the Virtual Assistant industry. It seems there are many business owners out there in fear of losing their VAs because they might up and quit or something else might happen. It seems that many look at having a VA for the short-term only. Why is this? Virtual Assistants are not employees but many are talking about their VAs as though that's what they are and yet, on the other hand they talk about short-term … [Read more...]
Developing a niche in the Virtual Assistant world
I often see VAs talking about developing a niche for their practice. This is a good line of thought, however it's important to consider that it could be awhile before you even know what your niche is. Some know straight away and others have no idea. I was in the latter category when I started my business. All I knew was how to type and that meant I would do documents in Word or WordPerfect and I could do data entry into spreadsheets. That was the limit of what I thought I could do in my own … [Read more...]
What Dictionary Are You Using?
I saw a post recently by someone online who was discussing the differences in the meaning and spelling of a particular word - one of the variations had an 'e' on the end. They were saying the two words had two different meanings and I would have loved to leave a comment but the blog in question was closed to comments. I looked up the word in question and found that the word, both with an 'e' and without still had the same meaning - it just depended on which dictionary you checked and also … [Read more...]
Transcriptions – Get all the details II
When starting out it's often easy to get so excited when a new client comes along, that we forget to ask for all the information. Sometimes it's simply a case of not knowing what information we need - till we start the job, or perhaps until it's delivered, assumed finished. A discussion recently on my forum was about transcription work for a client. Some felt transcription was simply a typed copy of a voice recording, others felt it should have some formatting. Some talked about it being … [Read more...]
Transcriptions – Get all the details I
My next post will talk about getting all the details about the required format of a typed transcription but what about receiving the job in the first place? I often get people filling out a job request on my site or phoning me to find out about the cost of getting a transcription done. However they give me little other information initially and I have to ask questions. There are a number of things that needs to be known when organising a quote for transcription work: What format is the … [Read more...]
VAs Canvassing For Work
I get concerned when I learn that VAs are seeking work in areas that might not really be the right source for them. What am I talking about? One of my forum members advised that a new VA was contacting senior VAs from the forum canvassing for work. I suppose I can understand their mindset - that some VAs are probably so busy they have work to spare to hand over to someone else. But their thinking is all wrong and I'll tell you why. 1. Other VAs are not your prospective clients - they're … [Read more...]
Shifting Your Mindset
On so many of the forums I see new VAs wanting to get their businesses up and running as quickly as possible. And on these same forums I see promotions for this course, or that event, or lists to sign up with and so on. When we are in the corporate world we are so used to being told what we need to do, which courses we should attend, the events that would benefit the business the most and we're just automatically put on mailing lists for staff. But what about when we work for ourselves? How … [Read more...]
