Periodically home based operators become targets for ‘shady’ clients, those who seem really nice and genuine, or perhaps helpless, but end up being something completely different. They will start off enquiring about services and will send a test sample of something to be done to see if you can carry out the work adequately. The trouble is they will do the same to about a half dozen operators, and end up getting their entire job done – for gratis, because there will be a reason why the test didn’t work out. Or, perhaps they indicate they have a lot of work to be done, but there is an urgent timeframe and it needs to be split up amongst a group of people to be completed on time. At the end they make lots of complaints about the work (after they’ve received it), or excuses about personal problems, and do not hand over any monies, although there are frequently promises it will come.

For those of you who are new to being a VA, and for those who are experienced too, it is most important you protect yourself and your business and treat each new client the same way – irrespective of their circumstance, irrespective of feeling sorry for them, if they have some serious personal problems. A process needs to be put in place to ensure that payment is made when work is completed, or if a large job, a contract entered into, and a down payment made prior to the job being started. Clients who have established a payment record with you deserve to be allowed to pay on a 7 day account or later, but those who are new and not yet ‘proven’ need to prove themselves first and pay on delivery, or upfront.

If you’ve elected to manage a team of VAs for a project, keep in touch with them and ask them to keep you informed of direct contact they have with the client so that you’re kept in the full picture.

And if you are asked to log into a website to download lectures or other information to transcribe, you need to make sure you are allowed to do this legally. Read the fine print on the website and/or ask for a separate username and login for your own use to carry out the work. This is particularly important when it comes to Uni students – who are usually bound by Uni IT policies not to disclose their username and password to anyone – even if they want work typed up for them. KMT

virtual assistant, VAs, clients, home based operators

I knew this day is celebrated the world over, but I didn’t know it was actually an official public holiday. Perhaps we need to look at this in Australia too . I’ve just seen an article that indicates it is actually a national holiday and that the country comes to a standstill. Perhaps, one day in the future, the new International Virtual Assistants Day will be seen in the same light!

Click on the article title below to read about it.

What a day; we need to celebrate KMT

It’s always good when another blogger makes reference to what you’ve been doing and on this occasion, I’ve been interviewed by Donna Hamer of WealthyOnlineWomen. Why not drop over to her blog and see what she has to say? Like me, Donna is an Australian Woman Blogger and we found each other via another Australian blog site that was talking about the top Australian blogs – we’d both noted the lack of Australian women mentioned. But that’s another story…

The Virtual Assistant Industry is coming of age, and with it a celebration of the industry and all that being a part of it entails! If you are a Virtual Assistant, or perhaps planning to be one, or maybe you are wanting to learn more about how the industry can help you in your business, then the Online International Virtual Assistants Convention is just for you! You’ll see the logo/link to the right of this screen – just click on that and it will take you direct to the event, where you can book to attend any of the presentations, visit trade booths, ask questions, do business, purchase items and so on. Just like any of the trade expos you’ve been to in person – only you don’t need to leave your computer!

This event is a world first event for the industry, but more than that, it’s using leading edge technology for something that doesn’t require you to book flights and accommodation and will allow you to choose times that suit you to visit the trade booths and look around, all the time never leaving your office or your home and therefore sleeping in your own bed and being with your family!

I was amazed to find out also, that the company that is providing this technology is almost on my doorstep – at least, they are only 40 mins drive from my own home office, here in Victoria, Australia – but their team are indeed global, just as the Virtual Assistant Industry is, so it’s fitting that they should be providing the support for our first international event.

I welcome your comments and look forward to seeing you there! KMT

virtual assistants, virtual assistants convention, OIVAC

The team and I were having an interesting discussion yesterday about a job that had been posted via a vacancies list at a well known organisation, and also about approaches by email. There is concern these days about which ones are genuine and which ones are illegal. My response follows:

“If it has anything to do with processing accounts, handling money on their behalf, being a finance officer or similar – STAY RIGHT AWAY FROM IT.

In fact, any offer of a ‘job’, so to speak, by email, should be viewed suspiciously.

Clients look for VAs… Employers advertise for employees – distinct difference. Employers generally do not approach employees individually – unless they go through a head hunting organisation.

I’d stay well away from it – I get a number of those myself and just block them in my spam filter.”

Why would an employer waste time (or money) collecting/purchasing email addresses to email people about a job when they can advertise through career sites or newspapers and have people apply to them? And yet, because so many are keen to get work at home, they just do not think this one through.

But all the same, even when you do find a role advertised through any of the employment / vacancy sites these days, you still need to be careful. At no time should you be asked to process payments on behalf of the employer, and then keep a percentage for yourself. Think about it. Who in their right mind would entrust a stranger (or new employee) with their hard-earned monies? KMT

I belong to a number of chat forums, some relate to the VA industry, some are other business related, some software, and a few more that are connected to personal interests.

What disturbs me the most is that on any of the chat forums that are business related in some way, people continue to post to the forums just like they sending an SMS to a friend or carrying on a phone conversation with a family member. They forget they are in a business forum.

Things I recommend you do when posting:

1. Ensure your username and email address are suitable for a business forum – something like jonniesmum@…, or loveme@… just do not conjure up confident feelings about the poster in a business sense but are ok for personal interest chat forums.
2. Leave a portion of the email you are responding to in your post so that there is some continuity there for the other members of the forum.
3. Use a signature block – it’s a great opportunity to blatantly tell people who you are and what you do but keep it to a 6 line maximum. It doesn’t need to be a big long advertisement but rather a way for people to get to know who you are by clicking on your web address, or by emailing you direct, and/or putting your business name into a search engine so they can look you up.
4. Don’t post things that amount to personal conversation between 2 or 3 people – take it offlist and email each other. This includes sending messages which are no more than gratuitous replies to replies.
5. Be aware that most forums are global, i.e. they don’t belong to one country. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve posted to a forum to remind someone who made a post that their country isn’t the only one represented. For that reason, people shouldn’t be picked on for incorrect spellings or grammatical errors if there’s a possibility that they’re not native English speaking and/or might spell something differently in their country. BUT, that doesn’t give an excuse for not taking care in typing your post properly – your business is on display through your posts.

I would like to draw your attention to the following link RFC and would advise reading Section 3.0 in its entirety. This is not something that is compulsory but would give you a good understanding of the general practices and guidelines that apply to most online communities. KMT

Technorati tags: professionalism, business forum, chat forums