I saw a blog post discussing the pros and cons of hiring a VA and the author asked a question but does not have comments switched on so there wasn’t any way for me to respond. Nor does he have any contact information available. So I’m linking to his post here and answering his question. He was asking about engaging a VA from another country and discussed that the time difference and economic value could be advantageous but if you needed phone contact with a VA that could be a disadvantage and what did readers think?

My immediate thought was ‘why not use Skype?’ I’m assuming he was thinking more of cost factor rather than time difference. Even if directly across the other side of the world a suitable time for phone discussions can be organised. I often attend meetings with people in the US and the time difference can be anywhere between 12 and 16 hours depending on which side of the country they are but we usually find something that works. We use online conferencing facilities if we need visuals and/or Skype for voice interaction and I know that many other VAs the world over also use similar programs.

If that is the only thing that stands in the way of engaging a VA outside of your own country then the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. It all boils down to what exactly the services are that you seek. I agree there are times when engaging a VA who is local to you is needed but many jobs can be done virtually with no face-to-face contact required. KMT

virtual assistants, local VA, time difference

I was having a discussion with a woman who has almost zero turnover of staff in her business. I told her a number of people will come through my network, and stay for less than six months and disappear again. Her response was that she also gets those type of people and she wasn’t counting them as ‘staff’ because they were never fully committed in the first place.  She starts them on a probation period and many just don’t go far beyond that time period.  I hadn’t thought of it that way, but perhaps it’s true – they come in and put their toes in the water but don’t get fully immersed in what virtual assistance is all about.

When setting up in business, any business, there is a need for commitment from the start. Commitment to the time involved, commitment to setting up systems, commitment to planning, to organising, to promotions and marketing, and many other things.

From time to time I survey those who join us for a while and then leave again and many times I would get responses like ‘I would check for job messages now and then but would miss out on contacting the client’. Other responses would relate to missing the interaction with others face-to-face, felt alone and isolated, ‘didn’t work for me’, and so on.

Anything new is going to take time to settle into and feel comfortable with. Joining in VA forums means you get to interact with others and learn from them, but local business networking will help to provide that face-to-face interaction, whilst getting to know prospective clients. It also means having patience and stickability – it’s rare for any business to be an overnight success, or even over a few months. Those who succeed are constantly researching, asking questions, reading, practicing and putting systems into place. When I was first learning databases I didn’t have a client to try things out with, so I developed a shopping database and printed off my shopping list every week. It was a good way to practice. Whenever I’ve put something new in place I’ve practiced and developed projects for myself, so that when the real thing in the form of a client came along, I was ready and prepared to offer that service.

There is a saying ‘if you fail to plan, you plan to fail’ and this is very true of those who come to give it a try – but don’t fully immerse or commit themselves. They aren’t prepared to commit, in case it doesn’t work, and end up proving themselves right in a self fulfilling prophecy.

But there are others who do commit from the very start and that becomes evident in all the questions they ask, how they jump in and get things happening quickly and are soon helping others newer than themselves – you always seem to learn quicker when teaching someone else.

I would love to help those who only stay a short time and am open to suggestions in what could be done to assist them. But I am pleased to say I have many on the team who have been with me for many years, with my longest member for almost 10 years and a considerable number between 4 and 9 years. Virtual Assistance as a vocation does work and you can be successful, but you need to be prepared to put the time in. Checking for job requests from clients now and then, or a couple of hours a day certainly doesn’t match up with the 8 hours a day you used to put in, in a job.  Just because you are now working at home does not mean you can sit back and do very little.  There is still work to be done.  KMT

My husband rides his bike to work every day – it’s just under 21km one way. He loves to ride, get the exercise and hates getting caught up in public transport systems that rarely seem to run on time these days and are overcrowded. If you live in Melbourne, Australia, you’ll have some idea of what I’m talking about – it’s a common theme in the news. Anyway, I digress.

Graham’s been doing this trek since around October last year, so it’s a good 9 months he’s been making this trip. I guess I can’t complain that he needed to ring me to rescue him from a breakdown. He was about 2/3 of the way into work and the traffic was heavy when he rang me, but I still made reasonable time getting to him. We talked about what he would have done if I’d not been around – he expects he probably would have had to call a taxi. His derailer had disintegrated and the chain broke, and he was still too far from his office to walk the rest of the way in his cycling shoes.

It is at times like these that I am reminded of how good it is that I’m free to just hop in the car and run to rescue a member of my family. I don’t have to ask for permission to go, I shot off an email to a client to let her know I wouldn’t be around for our weekly phone call but I’ll catch up with her later in the day, and I was on the road within 5 mins of getting his phone call. This is one of those ‘hidden benefits‘ I’ve written about in the past. The ability for flexibility and being available to family as they have the need. This is why I started working from home all those years ago – to be here for family. KMT

Seems I’ve just been tagged by Darlene at Interview Chatter. The idea seems to be to write 7 random facts about myself and tie them into my blog somehow. Mmmm. Now what to share?

1. As a young girl I’d always dreamed of running my own business, I just didn’t know what or how.
2. Twenty years later I finally realised that whilst I was waiting for that business opportunity to come along I had developed the very skills I would need for a business.
3. In 1993 I won ‘Secretary of the Year’ and Microsoft very kindly sponsored the award, gifting me the Office 2.1 package.
4. I couldn’t use the Office 2.1 package at work as they already had their own software so it gave me a great excuse to buy my first PC.
5. I already owned an Atari and had been learning to develop a database with it and do various things – seems I was already developing my skills in technology
6. Once I had my first PC I told my husband all I needed was a printer and I could work at home!
7. On March 24, 1994 (National Secretaries Day in Australia) I registered my business name and officially opened for business.

There, I think that qualifies for this meme. Now, who can I tag to carry it on?

For the benefit of those reading this:

Here are the rules:

Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to then report this on their own blog with their 7 random facts as well as these rules. They then need to tag 7 others and list their names on their blog. They are also asked to leave a comment for each of the tagged, letting them know they have been tagged and to read the blog.

Here are 7 of my favorite blogs and or people:

1. Lorraine Pirihi, The Office Organiser
2. Des Walsh,Thinking Home Business
3. Meg, Blogpond
4. Alister Cameron
5. Craig Harper, Motivational Speaker
6. Paddy Spruce
7. Stuart Robinson, Gardening Tips ‘n’ Ideas

I was watching Sunrise whilst putting in a bit of time on the treadmill this morning and it highlighted a recent news article that I heard over the weekend but hadn’t really thought about. They had an expert talking about the importance of getting sunshine on a regular basis to prevent Vitamin D deficiency. They mentioned people most at risk are those who are constantly covered up (perhaps due to cultural or religious reasons) and the long-term sick, or the aged who stay indoors all the time.

As soon as they said that last one I immediately thought of us in the VA industry. How many of us are inside day after day, not venturing out? The health of a VA has been mentioned via various forums and we’ve often covered the increase of weight, the bad eating habits, lack of exercise (hence the reason for a treadmill at home) but we’ve not touched on this aspect at all.

I had to do a mental think about how much natural daylight I go out in at the moment. The report showed for the eastern side of Australia (sorry, it didn’t cover the other areas) that between May – August we should get 2-3 hours a week and in the summer only 7-8 minutes per day – and not at the hottest part of the day. We are, after all, the skin cancer capital of the world so it’s important to protect our skin but we also need that balance of fresh air and natural sunlight on our skin.

I do go out every day to pick up the mail from the post office, run errands, and so on so I’m out there for at least a half hour daily, sometimes longer, but now I’m conscious of the Vitamin D deficiency problem I’ll make a conscious effort of getting outside more during the day too, particularly if there is some sunshine.   We all need a break from our computers and home offices anyway so this is a good reason to make sure I do that.  KMT

I did a post on a newspaper article about our industry yesterday and then heard that another newspaper had published the same article. So I did a Google search to see who else had and was amazed to see my blogpost on the first page of Google in 4th position less than 3 hours after I published it. Now that was fast.