When I was first growing my VA Network it soon became obvious to me that I had to find a way to put all the members in touch with each other, without having to pass on email addresses all the time or get them to remember to 'reply all'. It was around that time (late 1996) that I was invited to join an online forum for home based businesses at Boxplanet and I saw first-hand what I needed for my team to be able to chat to one another. So our forum was started and shifted to a few places before … [Read more...]
What you feed grows, what you starve dies
I was just climbing out of my car after visiting my business coach when I heard the final sentence of something on the radio and it caught my attention. The guy was saying 'remember, what you feed grows, what you starve dies'. This is such a profound statement and hit me straight away. It was very relevant to the plans for my Virtual Assistant business and where I want to take it next, after having been with Stuart for the past hour. We'd been talking about the progress of my Virtual … [Read more...]
Networking for business
On one of the forums I participate a member was asking how to market their VA business and get work. I joined in the conversation and highlighted the importance of networking. My response is below. Networking is a key to developing business and a big part of it. I believe you should be networking both online and offline. I started with offline networking in the early days of my business because there was no Internet then but online networking today is just as important - you need a mixture … [Read more...]
What were you doing 15 years ago today?
It was 24th March 1994 and I had been attending the National Secretaries Day breakfast in the city. After the breakfast I headed for the Govt Dept so I could register the business name I'd decided on for my brand new business. I was so excited about my business name but didn't want to tell anyone what it would be till I had it registered. I was also excited about unknown possibilities and the fact that I could finally be home for my children. Two clients were already lined up with a possible … [Read more...]
6 Degrees of Separation… or less
I have a story I tell at conferences and other events when speaking about how my business became international. I talk about my first international client - a lawyer who lived in Picardy, France in 1997. Imagine my surprise at a recent event when a gentleman with a South African accent came up to me to tell me that a lady he lived next door to in New York for 11 years knew this very same client. He was her landlord. That's the first time I've ever had anyone come up to me to say they knew … [Read more...]
I’m sick, should I tell my clients?
Interesting discussion arose recently on one of the VA forums and I thought I'd bring the topic here. How do you handle things if you're not well and have client work to be done? I guess the answer really depends on the timing for that work and the relationship you have with your clients. Also, just how sick you might be? If I've had a day where I've felt a bit 'off' but not needing to be in bed, I will work at half capacity, completing anything that might have had a deadline for that day and … [Read more...]
I’m a new Virtual Assistant, do I need a website?
This was a question posted at a VA forum very recently and it is something often asked by those entering our industry. She wanted to know if creating a flyer for now would do as she didn't want to spend money on a website till she had work coming in. What did I advise them? If you're not going to have a website then I encourage you to join one or more of the VA networks that provide an online listing for you so you have a presence online and you can use that as your web page address for … [Read more...]
Everyone wants to be a transcriptionist!
Over the past few months we've seen an increasing number of new virtual assistants coming to join our chat forum and many of them start asking about transcription work - they want to know about the software to use, how much to charge, and how can they get experience? I wonder what the fascination is for doing transcription? Perhaps they enjoy typing and see it as an easy way to get work - just sitting in their home office, headphones on their head and typing merrily away. Unfortunately it … [Read more...]
1,000th Member Joins the ACS Team!
Well, it finally happened, our 1000th member has joined the ACS team! I can't reveal who they are yet, until they've received and acknowledged the notification. But just to remind you what they will receive. The gifts will be their choice of the following items (and they may choose more than one item - if they don’t yet have that item then they are welcome to it): 1 year’s membership to the “A Clayton’s Secretary” team valued at $187AUD (the amount will be refunded to the lucky new member or … [Read more...]
