Virtual Assistant – THE Blog About Our Industry

About the Virtual Assistant industry for VAs and for clients

Monthly Archives: January 2006

Putting an Accent (Emphasis) on Your Business

I read today a newsletter that’s just been published online for the VA industry. Had some great information in it – it’s obviously tax time in the US! Along with it was a very useful article about how seriously VAs should take their businesses and the survey done in 2004 by the Brenner Information Group. The article is on page 6 of the newsletter (thanks Ramona). Please note that the figures quoted throughout the article are in USD and I believe a large number of those surveyed would have been in the US. However, the information is still very relevant for VAs the world over.

How seriously do you take your business and the services you provide? Are you charging appropriately? Do you have confidence in what you do and how you charge for it? The reality is if you are undercharging, you are not only damaging your own business (and undervaluing your skills) you are also damaging the industry as a whole. Clients won’t take us seriously or appreciate what we do, if they think they only have to pay ‘hobby’ rates. And let’s face it, if you only see your business as a hobby you are not going to be charging appropriately.

Before the year gets too far underway a good exercise for you to do would be to set up a spreadsheet of your monthly outgoings, and what you would like your monthly income to be. Work out how many hours you plan to put into your business (be realistic and recognise that there will be chargeable hours to clients and hours you spend outside of that on your own admin needs), then divide the monthly income by the chargeable hours to get an hourly rate. How close does that come to what you are actually charging? Could be a scary exercise – and one that wakes you up! In the survey it is mentioned that some VAs are only charging $10USD per hour for work they’re doing. If they are charging out 30 hours a week, 120 hours a month, that is $1,200 a month. I don’t live in the US so do not have a good idea of monthly incomings and outgoings but that seems it could be low.

May I suggest you look at the big picture first? What you need annually or monthly and then work backwards from there to get a good idea of what you need to be charging. I have a complete formula on how to do this exercise in a couple of my books if you want to look into this further.

And just so you don’t feel too bad, it actually took me around 2 years in business before I began looking at my business in this way too – I just kept doing the work and wondering why the invoices at the end of the month didn’t seem to match the time I’d put in. Once I changed my emphasis and focus on my business I began to track weekly and daily what I was bringing in so I knew how things were going.

Sad Week For Our Community


It was a sad week for the Virtual Assistant community with the passing of one of our very active leaders and participants in the Virtual Assistant industry. That lady was Janet Jordan, who was very well known amongst most of the VA chat forums and to many other aspiring VAs as well. Janet founded a training organisation to assist new VAs in the development of their businesses and many, many owed Janet so much.

I never met Janet personally but had spoken to her via web conferencing (using microphones on the computer) so knew her voice and we had emailed each other back and forth. She was a very encouraging lady who seemed to give much of her time and shared much of her knowledge and experiences.

If interested in knowing how Janet affected so many people, you can read the posts at her memorial website here. On that site you’ll learn more about her involvement with the industry. KMT

What you think about!

A member of a VA chat forum mentioned that he was looking forward to going virtual fulltime and hoped it would happen by the end of this year (2006). His comment took me back about 14 or so years ago, to a mentor in my life who was also a doctor in psychosomatic medicine outside of our business connections. He taught me about the RAS.

The reticular activation system (RAS) states that our minds are drawn towards what we think about. Have you noticed how when something in particular is on your mind you see that thing wherever you go? Perhaps it’s a particular model of car or colour? Perhaps it’s because you desperately want a family that everywhere you look there are pregnant women or women pushing strollers. Or you’re thinking about a particular style of clothing and you see people everywhere in that style? Whatever it is, that’s the RAS in action.

It works in reverse to, i.e. in a negative manner. Ever tried teaching someone to drive and told them not to hit that… only to have them do that very thing?

My response to this VA was: “Keep thinking ‘virtual’ because as you do, opportunities will open up in front of you – they’ll always be there anyway, but unless your mind’s eye is open to them, you’ll be blind to them. Eventually it will seem that lots of doors have opened to you.”

I encourage you, too, to keep foremost in your mind what you want to happen. Carry with you a small affirmation card with a list of points or items relating to that thing – or have signs up on your wall in your office, or bathroom, or kitchen. Keep that thing in front of you and on your mind, and things will happen! KMT.

It is the World WIDE Web!

I often have to remind people I converse with via email and chat forums, or perhaps those who write articles that are meant to be read widely, that we are in the WORLD Wide Web and not the Country Wide Web. In fact, I’ve kind of made it my personal quest so I hope in reading this it prompts you too, to think about this.

What do I mean by that? Writers frequently forget that readers may be in a different country when they refer to a number of things such as currency, dates, temperatures, acronyms, and so on. I’ve even discovered this in a lot of business books written in just the past few years. It is worth reading through what you’ve written, if intended to be read by people outside of your country and then add in the missing bits (and if you belong to a chat forum or are posting something on the web, or publishing a book, then it’s worth remembering it is being posted and published for ALL to read and see).

For example, if talking currency such as $20 remember to add USD, AUD, or whatever. If talking dates remember that not all countries read it as 12/31/05 but as 31/12/05. So why not write it instead as 31st December or December 31st 2005? I know there are a lot of non-English speaking/writing countries, but this will at least help the English reading audience. Temperatures are in Farenheit in some countries and Celsius in others. So the difference between 40F and 40C is quite considerable and can conjour up vastly different images when reading an article or story. We’ve recently had over 40C heat here in Melbourne, Australia (104F) whereas I know that just outside of Chicago, US it had been 40F (4.4C).

For more articles along this line why not read, ‘Remember, It’s the WORLD WIDE Web’ by Marcia Yudkin which I published in my ezine in August 2003 and my follow up article in September 2003. They make for interesting and thought-provoking reading! I’m sure you can think of lots more instances where just adding a few letters or words it can make all the difference to the reader! KMT

Happy New Year for 2006

Well, I’ve spent several (quiet) days exploring the world of blogs and a little the wiser now. I’ve added more links to the right of this blog and I also welcome those who have recently subscribed – please do let me know if you have anything you’d like to know about being a VA or using a VA.

I’ve also started a family blog - for those of you who know me and/or members of my family. Or, perhaps you’re just a bit curious about my life outside of my business.

Anyway, I hope you’ve spent the holiday time you had, whether a few days or more than a week, as time for refreshing, learning, sharing, enjoying, and getting ready to start again for another year. I can’t say I have fully switched off, but I have enjoyed spending time with my husband, our girls, their boyfriend, fiance and husband (3 of the girls that is), and time with friends also.

Oh, and take note of the daily thought on this page! I’ve often found them to be exactly what I need to read and think about. K.