Friday Finds

More of what I’ve found and read this week. If you are visiting blogs and not yet subscribed to blogs, then I encourage you to consider using Google Reader. I was subscribed to a number via email but once I understood how RSS worked, have changed most of my subscriptions to RSS so I can view all of the blogs in one screen (if you cannot visualise this, don’t worry – just do it and all will become clear). The reason why I chose this reader is because I don’t have to be at my own computer, I can login from any computer to view my subscriptions.

Are you a control freak? If so, perhaps the jobs listed here might confirm if you’re in the right place! Although they didn’t list Virtual Assistants, Secretaries, PAs and EAs – all of the same ilk pretty much and I know what I am! How about you?

Boosting the links for your blog – if you’re a blogger, these tips will be of interest to you.

Google gives tips on fresher searches.

Photography blogs are growing popular.

And a very clever use of music, media, images found listed at Aussie Bloggers.

Has anyone worked with a Virtual Assistant? Part 1

This is the first in a series of client case studies, in answer to the many blogs and forums I’ve seen that ask the above question. There is a great deal of interest in VAs but not everyone is aware of the VA Industry. There are a multitude of places you can seek a Virtual Assistant, but sometimes people still don’t know where to go.

Often asked: Virtual Assistants – I do not know much about them, how they work, where to find them and what they charge. Anyone here have more info?

So, I thought I’d provide the answers here from clients who do use VAs to support them in their business or personal lives. The first interview is with Lorraine Pirihi, a long-term client of mine. I asked her a series of questions and these are her answers.

Q. Please tell my readers a bit about who you are and what you do.

lp0003-160 I’m a Productivity Expert, speaker and author, and specialise in helping small business owners and entrepreneurs organise their time, their systems and their marketing so they make more money and also have a life.

Q. When did you realise you needed admin support for your business?

Once my business started to grow. I wanted to free my time to work on my business and only do activities that I enjoyed. Bookkeeping and basic administration are definitely not what I wanted to do.

Q. What type of support did you originally obtain?

Bookkeeping, database set-up, general typing – on an irregular basis.

Q. Is the support you receive today the same as then or has that changed and if so, how?

It is now constant. You are a permanent member of my team.I now have database management, PowerPoint design for my presentations, product creation ie. e-books, e-courses etc. Website maintenance. E-zine set-up, broadcast emails.
Q. Do you have more than one VA supporting you, and if so, perhaps you’d like to give a brief idea what the difference is?

I now have 2 VA’s. Yourself who does the bulk of my work around 15 hours a week and Charmaine Simpson who has recently been added to my team. Charmaine’s key role is submitting my articles to on and off-line publications, special projects and additional work when you’re overloaded.

Q. How did you find out about this type of support?

I found you myself. I attended a networking breakfast years ago and saw your business card so grabbed a copy and phoned you to find out what you do.

Q. How long have you had your current VA? (Feel free to name who they are)

You – 12 years.
Charmaine Simpson – 3 months approximately.

Q. Anything else you’d like to share?

My business would never be where it is today without the support of my VA. You cannot run a profitable and thriving business without support . If you’re doing everything yourself, you’re crazy. You need to free up your time to concentrate on business development and improvement, not keep busy on $20+ an hour tasks.

Note from Kathie:

I should add that Lorraine, as a productivity expert, teaches her clients the value of outsourcing so they can concentrate on the real things that make them money. So she definitely walks her talk and practices what she preaches. I’ve seen her business grow over the years and together we’ve learnt and shared a real lot.

Thank you Lorraine for sharing your experience with my readers.

Seeking a Virtual Assistant?

It’s interesting to see the number of blog posts written by people who have been seeking a Virtual Assistant and their experience and lack of success in doing so.

It concerns me that often they are looking in the wrong places simply because they might have read about the term via a book or another blog that hasn’t been well researched. A simple Google search will reveal many VA sites and also the professional VA networks – rather than freelancing sites where you can get quite a mixture of people offering all sorts of services. (It should be noted, that at the time I did the search linked above, there were three of the top professional VA networks listed on the first page and several links to blogs and other professional VAs on that first page. There were even more listed in the paid links.) The Wikipedia reference (also in that Google search) refers to the amount of experience required for people to become VAs.

The VA networks which offer VA searches or handle Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and Jobleads usually screen their members and can assure the prospective client of professionals who will handle the job well. They are experienced in their particular skillset and always willing to learn new skills and advance their knowledge.

An argument was made that if someone engaged a ‘cheap’ virtual assistant (as opposed to a professional Virtual Assistant) they could spend time training up that va to do whatever was needed and yet we still see so many lamenting that they tried but the va didn’t stay with them, or it was a lost cause, or the work wasn’t to the standard they had hoped and so on.

Whilst it is unfortunate that many virtual or remote workers have elected to adopt the same term used by the industry, the fact remains that there will always be a wide gap between those who are professionally trained and experienced compared to those who have set up simply because they have a computer and some keyboarding skills. All we can do is to help educate the client as they start to explore our industry and continue to make ourselves readily available when they do make contact.

virtual assistant, professional VA, VA certification, VA network

Friday Finds

Here are some of the ‘finds’ from my Google Reader this week. I hope you enjoy them!

Social Media and Networking with Blogging for Dollars

Best Backup and Syncronizing Software with Blogging Sueblimely

Naming your blog with Chris Garrett

Turn your writing into speaking with CLASServices

25 pieces of writing software you should know about with Daily Writing Tips (I’d not heard of some of these)

Enjoy reading this blog? Then let us know by filling out the comments link below – we’d love to hear from you!

Taking Your Business To New Places

As your Virtual Assistant business grows and develops a routine you will begin to wonder where else to take it. You will be feeling confident in what you are doing and looking for opportunities to add to it.

I have done this over the years. They might not always look like opportunities at the time, and occasionally had the appearance of nuisance value. But because I wanted to please the clients I had, because I enjoyed the majority of their work, I would take on the extra duties they gave me and explored what needed to be done. Many times this helped me to develop new skills and add to my services. Sometimes it just proved that I wasn’t capable in a particular area and I would find someone I could refer my clients to, for that particular need.

Whilst there has been a large focus on developing a niche for VA businesses I do believe it’s important you don’t close your eyes to possibilities. That doesn’t mean to say you should take on something that is well outside your skillset, but it does mean you should be willing to explore and try something out and let your client know whether of not it’s something you can continue long-term. If you don’t enjoy it, don’t continue it. If you don’t do well at it, don’t continue with it. But if you find that it’s something you are enjoying and improving at, then it’s worth persevering and getting it right and practicing that skill on your own time – not their’s. It is a worthwhile investment – your time. I’ve learnt many new things that I’ve been able to add to my business offering, but more than that, I’ve been able to develop myself as an ‘expert’ in various areas, because of my willingness to experiment and practice a new skill or service.

Be prepared to give it time – one week or one month may not be long enough for many things and so it’s important that not all your time is taken up with client work and activity, some of it should be reserved for learning, practicing, developing, experimenting. R&D or research and development is an important aspect of growing businesses. And it is through this R&D that you can take your business to new places.