A few weeks ago I had an interesting comment from someone who was looking for VA support. They said to me "I would have asked you but I know how busy you are and didn't think you had room for me". oops, is that how people really see me? It was too late to say I was interested in the role - they'd already engaged another VA. But it did make me realise that others may have this perception too. How are you promoting yourself? It's good to let people know you're busy but are you telling them … [Read more...]
You don’t have to have a lot of hours….
In speaking to various people or reading articles online, it's easy to understand why some have the perception that they need a lot of hours of regular work to be done to have a Virtual Assistant looking after them. In fact, that's not true at all. While many VAs do have packages where you can buy 5, 10 or more hours a month of work to be done, not all have that system in place. Many do ad-hoc work, others simply bill at the end of the month. One of my longest-term clients started off with … [Read more...]
Virtual Assistants for Photographers – niche
As you know, photography is a passion of mine.... and it occurs to me this would make another great niche for a Virtual Assistant. What kind of things would photographers need assistance with? Diary management of bookings Database management of existing and prospective clients Cataloguing of images Setting up and ordering photobooks Promotion and marketing through ezines, newsletters, blogs, Facebook, etc Assisting photographers with setting up Twitter and Linkedin profiles Maintaining … [Read more...]
Why I wouldn’t take this job
I got an email overnight with the subject: I am looking for an experienced article writer. The message said: Dear friend, I am impressed by your writings and the content you post on your blogs. I was also looking for a Quality Technical Writer who may provide me similar quality articles. I can provide you the content which you have to write in your words. I need an engineering manual written on Mechanical Engineering subjects for which I am willing to spend around $100 to get these 100 pages … [Read more...]
Virtual Assistants – Mind Your Language!
I had a conversation recently with someone relating to internet merchant facilities. During the course of the conversation he kept using in-house terminology which didn't really mean much to me at all. I had to remind him, more than once, that he's speaking a language that his industry might understand but the client wouldn't, and I am a client. He apologised and made an effort to use language I would understand. We finally came to an understanding of what I need to do to get something working … [Read more...]
Do they know you exist?
I was just saying to someone I met last week that often if it's not online then they lose a sale from us. Example: Graham and I frequently go away and stay at B&Bs. I can't be bothered going to travel agencies or RACV to find out what listings they have. I simply Google B&Bs in the area we're looking for and book online. If they're not online we don't know they exist. Same for a lot of services and products we buy these days. My husband and I do a lot of our purchasing … [Read more...]
The hours you do
I received an email recently from one of my VA team members which highlighted a problem they had been having with sub-contracting VAs but it is something that all VAs should be aware of when doing work for someone - whether another VA or the client direct. And this relates to your responsibility regarding the task charged to you and also the way you carry out the work and the time that is taken to do the job. The VA says: I just thought I would let you know that a couple of times this year I … [Read more...]
We are not ‘just secretaries’
Had an interesting conversation with a prospective client today. They were despairing that they couldn't find good telemarketers and had spent extensive time doing some research to find the right people. I spent some time asking questions. Seems they only want to pay sub-contractor's rates and not full rates. I explained to them that an agency might pay the rate they wanted to pay to one of their workers but they would charge the client considerably more. The client agreed on that point. I … [Read more...]
New to the VA industry and looking for a job…
odesk, guru, elance, craigslist, you name it. New VAs come to various VA forums and ask about these different sites and wonder if they really work. The latest one was this: I'm new to the VA world and just came across this American company xxx that offers jobs to VAs and hiring opportunities for employers. Is it reputable and has anyone used them? This was my answer to her which was well received: odesk, guru, elance, freelance, craigslist. There are quite a few sites out there that give … [Read more...]