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, Linkedin and so on.  These services have been very well suited to business coaches and professional speakers as well as other industry groups.

In some cases I actually do most of the work for the clients, i.e. setting the systems up and then operating them for them, with the client giving me the data that they need imparted to their audience. For others, I’ll set them up and then show them how to use the systems so they themselves can have some control.

I’ve loved that working on my computer and via the internet has opened up many possibilities, choices and opportunities and, as a result, I often get people contacting me wanting me to try out this system, try out that one, testing software programs and using them in the hope that I’ll promote it to my own audience of clients and VAs.  Not all of these things I take up – I could be busy a lot of the time just trying out something for someone.  While I’m flattered that  they appreciate my feedback and ultimate promotion, realistically I can’t do it for everyone.

However, now and then I do come across something that I believe would be a great additional arm to my business and so I get involved.  Hence, on my website and here at my blog you’ll find links to different services I feel are beneficial to either the VA industry, our clients or both.

This time it’s a service that allows you to send cards in writing that could be close to your own handwriting and saves you the time involved in shopping for the right card, or going to the post office or simply saving face because you forgot about someone’s special date and online late at night you can find a suitable card and get it sent to them very quickly.  I’m talking about Send Out Cards.   I’ve set up the service so I can assist clients to remember special dates, say ‘thank you’ to their client base (and import their database into the system), create personalised cards (I love photography so this is ideal for my own photos) and all sorts of other things.

I know that many VAs have been approached about  Send Out Cards and might be wondering how they can add this to their business. Have a look at the link above to give you some ideas.  I’m sure that many clients also will be able to use this system in their own businesses but they might feel they don’t have the time to set it up properly and use it. Enter their VA who can do this for them. When you check out what I’ve set up, feel free to try the gift account to see how it works.

I love that the Virtual Assistant industry is so flexible that as new ideas come along and new forms of technology are developed, we are often in the right place to adopt these things and add them as a new arm to our businesses.  It means that life as a VA is never dull and boring, it is always changing and developing.