First published April 2003

I had great feedback from my last article, and was asked to write further on the subject; hence my title.

This month I’ll share on Email Etiquette in discussion groups. For those who are not yet aware, on the Internet there are hundreds of thousands of discussion groups available in any topic imaginable. The most popular group systems used are YahooGroups.com, Topica.com (no longer operating as this) and SmartGroups.com but there are others. Some web owners set up their own private groups too, via their website.

The idea behind these groups is that someone starts up or moderates a topic and people become members (at no cost) if they are interested. Some of these groups have closed memberships, i.e. you have to be involved in whatever that group is about and outsiders cannot join, whilst other groups are open to all and sundry.

With the whole world being open to membership for these groups cultural differences need to be considered and it is possible to easily upset a member and suddenly you have a heated argument with many others getting involved and the original meaning and context completely shoved aside! I’ve seen this happen in groups and it’s a shame, as it often just takes a little thought and consideration to realise that perhaps the writer didn’t fully understand the language, or hadn’t actually meant what may have sounded rather rude. There have been times when someone has written something I thought was offensive or wrong and rather than emailing back to the list via the group email address, I have chosen to email the writer direct instead. A much better way to handle a misunderstanding.

A good rule when handling/writing email for group discussions – read through it first and then check which address it is going to, before clicking ‘Send’.

The suggestion last month about using signature blocks really applies in this situation – how will people know who you are, or where you come from if you only sign off as ‘Kathie’?

Another suggestion – trim the message before sending it back to the group. What I mean by this is do not leave all the original discussion and replies at the tail end as this is unnecessary and makes it inconvenient for those who have chosen to receive a daily digest of messages (they keep reading the same things over and over otherwise) and difficult for those who are on limited bandwidth for email. But don’t delete the whole previous message – if you are responding to something, or adding to the discussion. There are often multiple discussions going on and it could prove difficult for the reader to understand what you’re saying, and in what context, if the whole previous message is deleted from your response. I have at times read something posted to a group and thought ‘huh?’ There is a happy medium here.

Discussion groups give you an opportunity to learn from others and share ideas, but more than that, it allows you to make friends on a global scale, and then the world really does seem to become smaller. And, if you are really knowledgeable in your field, it also helps enforce this to others and before you know it, you become a respected member that others seek to learn from and perhaps be mentored by. What a privilege that can be!

One word of warning – belonging to multiple groups can become time consuming and addictive! You could find yourself spending more time reading and responding to messages than getting your work done. So, if you work virtually like I, and my team do, that can become a real danger to your business. As in all things, moderation is the key, and you stand to learn many things and make lots of friends.

Next month I’ll cover Topic Changes and Read Receipts. KMT

discussion groups, forums, chat groups, email etiquette

Recently on the chat forum I moderate we were asked about a website relating to work being provided for VAs. I’d made comment about the lack of contact information, amongst other things, after I’d visited the site in question. I thought the following information would be useful for all VAs – both with a view to having their own website and also in relation to looking at other sites when thinking about connecting with the business operators of that site in some way.

Credibility is an important aspect of owning and operating a website as well as operating a business, so this information may assist many of you. I’ve been reading up on stuff like this so thought it would be good to do a ‘recap’ on what I’ve been reading.

Developing Website Credibility

• Display Contact Information – more than one form of contact should be readily available and visible
• Develop a branding with logos and/or business name – over time people will get to know your branding
• Use images or photos that look professional and not ‘home made’
• Have a site that looks professional – get help with it if need be
• Display a Privacy Policy – assure visitors that you won’t sell their contact information or share it

Contact Information

How easy is it for visitors to contact you? Do you have contact information readily available? Is it more than an email address? If you have no other contact information available, i.e. a phone number, or a fax number or address (postal or physical) then people are unlikely to do business with you – they need to feel comfortable about your existence. I’ve read that a physical address should be showing, but personally I don’t agree with this and feel that a postal box address should also be ok. After all, who wants to advertise their home address on the web? If someone wants to track you down at home, they will, but let’s not make it easy for them.

You should not be using a free email address such as yahoo or hotmail to advertise for your business. I always view emails from these type of addresses warily, and if I respond, am rarely surprised if they bounce back.

For clients to feel confident you are a REAL business, they want to know:

• Your name – who you are
• Your phone number – which helps verify your locality in most cases, and your existence – please make sure there is voicemail or an answer machine attached for people to leave a message if you don’t answer – and make sure you return their calls
• A business email address – preferably your domain. I can’t understand why people don’t use their domain address for their email if they have a domain – and let’s face it, they’re not expensive to buy these days.
• An address to post items to or visit for an appointment if a physical address is provided.

I know that many new VAs might be nervous about putting their information on the web but the reality is if you have the information available on your business cards, on your letterhead, in Yellow Pages advertising or other forms of advertising, then it also needs to be on your website. Not having it on the web won’t stop people trying to find you if they really wanted to, but why put prospective customers off by not making it easy for them to contact you? Some people are not comfortable with email and would prefer to pick up the phone instead.

It is important that people view your business as a real one and realistically they should be able to find your contact information within one click of visiting your website. You could have it showing on every page but you don’t have to have your personal name showing everywhere – perhaps just on the ‘About Us’ page. You could set up a contact page also using a form if you prefer.

If you have a logo use it on everything, but if not, make your business name (or personal name) your branding and your logo. Perhaps by consistently using the same font and format with a particular colour or colours.

Don’t try to create your own logo if you don’t have the expertise – outsource it. And royalty free professional images and photos can easily be sourced online from sites like www.istockphoto.com or www.gettyimages.com.

Seek help in putting together your website if you find it beyond your current capabilities – you can learn how to maintain it over time, but don’t use programs such as Publisher or PowerPoint to produce your website – it smacks of being ‘home made’ and does not look professional.

Finally, assure people that if you collect contact information from visitors, that their information is not used for other purposes and not sold or given away for other lists.

Hope this is of help. KMT

website credibility, VA Business, virtual assistant, branding, free email, professionalism

I had an interesting chat with a public speaker recently. She is planning to get some typed transcriptions done of a series of teleseminars and had been told at a public speakers’ networking event about cheap transcriptionists to get the work done. So, although I do a lot of work for her, and she knows I have a whole team behind me, she won’t be bringing this particular job to us.

I was horrified that she didn’t even ask for advise first before making her decision and she told me she knew I would be. Transcription (audio and digital) is specialised work and unless you’re familiar with it, you can run into all sorts of trouble. For starters, one hour of recording does not equal one hour of typing – no matter what anyone might say or think (See When Is An Hour Not An Hour?). Unless the speaker is speaking as slowly as the typist types, but we all know that’s not the reality. Wikipedia suggests that the speed of speech can be between 150-175 wpm for a book on tape and that conversations between two people can often be 200wpm or higher. The majority of typists type less than 100wpm so there is the need to constantly pause the recording, catch up with the typing, sometimes rewind to catch a phrase or a word that wasn’t clear, and then get going again. After the recording is typed it then needs to be read through, often with the recording playing again, to ensure it’s all been captured, and then after that properly formatted and tidied up. So, as you can see, it’s not a simple job of just typing for one hour and the job’s done. And I know with the teleseminars, because there are usually two people (an interviewer and interviewee) involved, it means that it is in conversation mode (200wpm) and not ‘presentation’ mode which is usually a slower speed of speech.

One of the rates I viewed earlier today, after the speaker referred me to a site she’d been told about, indicated a charge of $40 per audio hour. One hour of recording can take between 3-6 hours to type. That means the transcriptionist is charging between $13.33 and $6.66 per typed hour for the work they’re producing. If they can literally type word for word at the speed of the recording then they must be a very fast typist, and if that’s the case, they are grossly undervaluing what they do. But I fear it might actually mean that the work being done is very basic, not formatted and the client is going to get what she’s paid for. A non-professional job that has probably taken the transcriptionist some time to do for little return. I guess that means I will still get some of the work – I’ll be tidying up the job and formatting it for the speaker’s use! KMT

transcriptions, audio, digital transcription, typist, transcriptionist, speed of speech

Knowing how much to charge for your services is something every new VA struggles with. And even those who have been operating for awhile. It often comes down to confidence in your own abilities and the confidence instilled in you by your clients as your business develops.

I saw a great quote recently that I thought I’d share with you that may help put things into perspective as you work out rates that are right for you.

From Harry Beckwith’s great book ‘Selling The Invisible.’

A woman was strolling along a street in Paris when she spotted Picasso sketching at a sidewalk café. Not so thrilled that she could not be slightly presumptuous, the woman asked Picasso if he might sketch her, and charge accordingly.

Picasso obliged.

In just minutes, there she was: an original Picasso.

“And what do I owe you?” she asked.
“Five thousand francs”, he answered.
“But it only took 3 minutes”, she politely reminded him.
“No”, Picasso said. “It took me all my life”.

MORAL: Don’t charge by the hour: Charge by the years.

Whilst it is important that we don’t overcharge for our services, it is equally important that we don’t undersell our services. Many (new) VAs lower their rates just to get the work and this particularly happens if they register with some of the freelance listings on the web. But this causes two problems: 1. clients get a false idea of what the service is really worth, and 2. it devalues our industry and causes strife for many VAs.

Don’t do it – don’t undervalue your work and your worth in your anxiety to get work. It will happen but you need to maintain a professionalism and keep your dignity. Raising your rates later because you realise that you’ve been charging too low is not an easy thing to do as you’ve established an expectation with every client who has already had contact with you. Further, if you later get so busy that you need to outsource to other VAs you’ll find this difficult to do as there is no margin to work with and it will be hard to find others who will agree to work at the rate you’d already set. KMT

setting rates, building a VA business, virtual assistant, outsourcing

When you operate a business online one of your most important assets is your computer – it’s where all your data is stored. Everything you’ve set up, your systems, client information, database of contacts, history of things that have taken place, everything, it’s a very important part of your business.

So, why would people risk this and not back up their systems on a regular basis? The absolute minimum should be weekly but I would recommend daily, especially if your computer is in use daily. And this would include all of your My Documents folder, any other folders outside that with client/business information, your accounting program, Outlook or whichever email program you use and so on.

I don’t mean back up your software – you should have the original disks for that anyway, and perhaps separate backup disks for that. But I do mean back up what changes regularly and do it religiously. DO NOT FORGET. Don’t let it be shoved aside. A good backup system is your insurance for your business – otherwise, if you lose it, you may as well pack up and go and do something else, because you can effectively lose your business. I’ve heard of some people who have taken a good 6 months to get back to where they were before, because they didn’t have a backup system and lost everything when they lost their computer.

There are many options available these days: CD burning, external drive systems, tape back up, online file storage – explore what’s available and select what best suits you. Even backing up to a second computer (perhaps a laptop) is better than no back up system at all.

Don’t risk it – back up! KMT

backup systems, computer systems, business insurance, file back ups, external drives, file storage

Some time ago I announced the coaching and training program I was developing for the industry. The program is now in place and we have our first set of students undergoing the course, currently in week 5. Lessons are delivered weekly via email over a 10 week period, and the students return their homework via email. We have fortnightly online classroom sessions where students can chat with each other, and ask questions of the past couple of weeks’ lessons, etc. We also have a student forum that has been set up for use by present and past students (as time passes) to discuss things they’ve learned and have fun exploring the industry in general. Those who would like to do the course can sign up anytime – they don’t have to wait for the ‘next intake’ as the next intake is when someone signs up. I decided to set it up this way so that those wanting to do VA training could do it when they were ready – not when the course was ready to take on more students. They can join in the fortnightly classroom sessions at any time and meet the other students.

Some might not feel they need to do a course to learn about being a VA, but perhaps they feel a need for a mentor or personal VA coach. This is also available and sessions can be run by email, phone, Skype or the online classroom, one-on-one.

Although I’ve been training and educating upcoming VAs for many years, I thought it was time I formalised what I was doing through developing this program and also recently became a member of the International Coaching Federation which has been great for two reasons: 1. it assists me to learn from other coaches so I can keep honing my coaching skills, and 2. it’s allowed me to show the coaches how VAs can help them. Some already know about VAs but most of them don’t and since two of my own major clients are business coaches, I’m in an excellent position to explain to them how we can help.

If you have any questions I would love to hear from you – either via the comments section on this blog, or via direct email. KMT