While the Virtual Assistant industry may sound like it's one for 'younger' people the reality is that those who are of a mature age with good administrative skills are well placed to be a Virtual Assistant. Perhaps you've been made redundant, had to leave your job due to ill-health, or you have elderly parents or a spouse that needs to be cared for. You have time on your hands, need to bring in more income and have good computer-based skills, good administrative skills, reasonable … [Read more...]
How much does a VA cost?
"How much does a VA cost* and is there normally a minimum number of hours? E.g. could you get someone to do an hour every now and then / as you can afford it?" This was asked at a forum I participate in recently and it is a common question. I thought I'd share my answer with you all. There is no set hard and fast rule with VAs. They originally came from the home-based secretarial field and have evolved from there. Some work with an hourly rate, some work with monthly retainers. Some … [Read more...]
VA Story – Lyn Prowse-Bishop
I began over 16 years ago when I discovered there was little likelihood of getting a full time daycare place for my baby on the way. I was on maternity leave from my full time job and had to get back to work six months early for financial reasons. I put together a proposal to my boss about how I would get the work done and meet KPIs two days a week on site (the only daycare I could secure) and three days off site. He didn't go for it so I left. Then I wondered why couldn't I work like this full … [Read more...]
Calling all NFPs
NFPs or Not-for-Profits are usually run by a group of volunteers who take on the role of committee members with an executive: President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary as well as a number of general committee members. Last time I looked at an Association Directory there were over 800,000 such groups here in Australia alone. There comes a time when some of these NFPs feel that managing the association gets too much for the volunteer committee and they have to bite the bullet and employ … [Read more...]
Beware of being ‘faceless’
I got an approach recently, from a company wanting me to outsource my VA work to them. They told me they wanted to partner with me. Naturally I went and visited their site and in particular, checked out their 'about page'. Pretty much a stock standard paragraph or two on the services they provide but nothing about who 'they' are, no names, nothing about their knowledge, experience, background, no photos (other than stock photos). In other words they were faceless and there was no way I could … [Read more...]
My Story
I was chatting to a member of my network today. We'd jointly gone for a meeting to see a potential sponsor for the Australian VA Conference which is being held next month (March 2015) in Melbourne. The owner of the printing business decided to share his story with us and the reasons why he supports some businesses and organisations over others. Basically his work life and goals are driven by what he believes God would have him do. He's built a very successful printing business although he, … [Read more...]
Learn about your client’s industry
There is good value in learning as much as you can about the industry/ies your clients work in. If your niche is a particular industry this is even more important. Each industry will have a number of things to help educate people in that industry: newsletters, magazines, trade shows, industry association events and the list goes on. It makes sense, that if you want to provide the best value you can to your client/s in a particular industry, then why not subscribe to their online newsletter? Or … [Read more...]
A day in the life of a senior VA
If you're a regular reader of my blog and visitor to my site, you'll know that I run a Virtual Assistant Network and also provide VA Training via a 10 week course delivered by email. Many may think I don't do much else, other than participate on forums and social media, but I thought I'd give you some insight to what I do. I still service my own clients. Why? Because it's part of my income stream but also because I enjoy the work I do. I currently provide Secretariat services for an NFP … [Read more...]
Are you planning to become a VA?
It's the time of year when people begin to plan what will take place in the new year, change of job, change of pace, start a new business, etc. If you are thinking of becoming a Virtual Assistant, or perhaps have already begun but not sure exactly what you should be doing, then perhaps the VA Trainer course is for you. Some of the things that will be covered in this 10 week course will: Guide you in setting up your business Get you started on your own website and using social media … [Read more...]