Virtual Assistant – THE Blog About Our Industry

About the Virtual Assistant industry for VAs and for clients

Monthly Archives: March 2009

Networking is not ‘set and forget’

A recent conversation with a client set me thinking.  In fact I’d had a similar discussion with another client not much earlier.  They both wanted accounts set up at various social networking tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc and have everything automated (rss feed from blogs, automatic responses, etc) so that they could literally ‘set and forget’ the very tools they needed for networking. This isn’t the first time this subject has been raised – I’ve had others ask too, thinking that engaging a Virtual Assistant to set things up for them and do occasional maintenance was all that is needed.  I don’t agree – I believe they have to be involved in the networking aspect of using these tools – I’m just setting up the mechanics to make it easier for them to use.

It made me realise that these clients don’t understand the reason why these networking sites exist.  They’re not for automatic promotion of business services and products to generate quick sales, but rather to facilitate networking, build relationships and over time, may generate business. I can affirm business will follow but only after people feel they’ve gotten to know you, trust you or see that there are others they admire who trust you and do business with you.  Why would they when there are many to choose from and some of those may be their competitors who are in there building relationships.

In this day and age of instant gratification and quick responses, people tend to forget that some things need to be nurtured and carefully grown over time.  And networking is one of those things, irrespective of what vehicle or tool is used. What do you think?

Networking for business

On one of the forums I participate a member was asking how to market their VA business and get work.  I joined in the conversation and highlighted the importance of networking.  My response is below.

Networking is a key to developing business and a big part of it.  I believe you should be networking both online and offline.  I started with offline networking in the early days of my business because there was no Internet then but online networking today is just as important – you need a mixture of both.

Check to see what business groups meet locally to where you live and go and attend some of their meetings and meet other business owners.  As you get to know them (it takes time and won’t happen instantly) you’ll get to know of their needs and they’ll get to know how you can assist them.  Same with online networks. If you have some idea of who your target market is then search yahoogroups for networks that relate to that group of people. But if you don’t have a target market, then start with your own interests.  For example I joined a writers forum because I love to write. I ended up supporting authors with research and document formatting because they needed help.  Locally I joined a speakers groups because I wanted to learn more about public speaking and today, I and my team in Australia, support many professional speakers – just through that one network. I didn’t know that was going to happen when I went to my first meeting.

For the most part the networking I do costs me time and very little money but it does depend on the groups you go along to. I was a member of BNI (Business Network International – www.bni.com) for 5 years and that did cost money but I did recoup my costs as well and today still service people I met and still have access to all the resources I met (Accountant, travel agent, printer, etc).

There are some excellent books out there that will assist you such as “Masters of Networking”, “Seven Second Marketing”, “Networking Magic” and so on – many of these will give you great hints and tips in how to market yourself and your business and connect with others.  I believe that networking is an important element of your marketing and through continued connections with others you’ll find ways of promoting your business that works for you and is succinct in getting the message across.

Hope this helps.

What were you doing 15 years ago today?

It was 24th March 1994 and I had been attending the National Secretaries Day breakfast in the city. After the breakfast I headed for the Govt Dept so I could register the business name I’d decided on for my brand new business.  I was so excited about my business name but didn’t want to tell anyone what it would be till I had it registered.

I was also excited about unknown possibilities and the fact that I could finally be home for my children. Two clients were already lined up with a possible third.  Nervous is probably a good word for describing how I was feeling. Who was I to tell people how things should be done or take on their work, not even sure if I had sufficient skills or knowledge to assist them? Did I know enough to even make a business work? And yet I knew I had to make this work, I just did not want to go back to a job and out of my home away from my daughters.  They needed their mother in the home.

If anyone had told me they could see into the future and that I would not only still be running a business from my home this far down the track but that it would no longer be just me but also hundreds more like me from all around the world, I would not have believed them.  Let alone writing on something called the web, publishing books, speaking at events, and pursuing interests that have become a part of my business and what I do professionally.

For those of you out there who are just thinking about starting out, or perhaps you’re a couple of years further on, be assured that you can reach this milestone too.  It all boils down to commitment, perseverance and not giving up.  Keeping your eyes on your goals and move towards them, rather than looking back at the things that have troubled you.  You can only reach your goals if you continuously look forward – few ever reached them by looking backwards.

Is there room for me in your network?

I recently met a copywriter at a business breakfast I was speaking at and she was keen to talk to me after the event.  She was looking for more ways to get clients and was wondering if I accepted copywriters into my Virtual Assistant network.  I told her I would send her some suggestions that would help her with her business and then I realised that it might help some who read this blog as well.

We met at the breakfast last Tuesday and you were wondering if my Virtual Assistant network would be suitable for a Copywriter.  It is in some ways but we don’t get a lot of requests for that kind of work. More secretarial but a small number of my team do provide copywriting services when the opportunity comes along. We do get people needing briefs, blogs and websites written for them.

But I want to suggest to you options that are open to you. Do you spend much time on the Internet?  Because I feel it’s important you do.

I believe there are 2 major audiences out there these days – those you meet face to face, as in the breakfast last week, and those you meet online and probably will never see face to face.

You have a website but it really doesn’t demonstrate your ongoing commitment to writing.  I would encourage you to start writing a blog explaining the benefits of having a copywriter and sharing case study stories of clients you’ve assisted or know other copywriters have assisted.  You don’t have a newsletter either – how do you build a list of subscribers or a database?  If you had a blog though you wouldn’t really need to worry about a newsletter as the blog would be effective.

Another way to gain attention online is to join some discussion forums. You don’t have to chat in them every day but it’s important that you are mixing and mingling with two types of people – your peers, and your target audience.

If you go to www.yahoogroups.com and do a keyword search for ‘copywriter’ you should find discussion forums where others like you have discussions about how to run a business like yours, find clients, and what’s happening globally in your industry. And then start seeking out your target audience.  Who are they? Who have you serviced before? Check to see if those type of people also have discussion forums and join them and get to know the members but don’t blatantly do promotions, rather just offer advice as it is sought.

I belong to over 30 discussion forums, 20 of which are via yahoogroups and others are board type forums through ning.com or other avenues.  www.linkedin.com is the world’s largest business database to my knowledge and would be worth joining – if you go to my blog at www.soho-life.com and search on linkedin you’ll find hints and tips on how to set up an account and make use of this system.  www.twitter.com and www.facebook.com are more possible avenues for finding clients and associates – my links are below and I encourage you to look at what I’ve done and how I use them.

I hope this gives you the reader, some worthwhile food for thought as I’m sure it gave the lady I was sending this information to.

Hobbies – do you have one?

I was thinking about a client of mine today and recent conversations we’ve had. I worry that their focus is always on business and nothing else. Even on weekends.  I know that many who think they know me probably think that’s all I have on my mind too, but the reality is that while I can quickly change into ‘business’ mode no matter where I am, or who I am speaking to, I do spend time doing other things.

My family is important to me and when we lost our daughter Miriam late last year it made me even more aware of how precious time is with our other daughters.  We are in constant contact with each of them every week, whether by phone, txt/sms, email, Skype, Facebook and face-to-face.  We want to be always aware when they have needs and Graham and I have always spent time talking about the girls for years but somehow it now seems to have more importance placed on those conversations.

But I digress. I was speaking about not working all the time and wonder if you have a hobby?  Not something you think you should do for the sake and benefit of your own health or family (such as keeping fit, attending a gym or doing family activities) but something you don’t have to do but like doing and so make time to do.

My husband is a keen cyclist and loves it. He doesn’t have to cycle to work every day but much prefers it to the train and other forms of transport.  He started out to keep fit but now really misses the cycling if he doesn’t get his daily dose. He’s even out on weekends in the hills and mountains, mountain biking – this weekend he has a race at Mt Beauty.

I have two things I really enjoy doing – writing is one which is why I blog a lot.  But photography is another.  As our girls were growing up I was always taking family snaps on outings, birthdays and other events and hubby says if it wasn’t for me, we wouldn’t have many family photos.  Suppose that is true. But now they are grown and away from home my focus has been on photography itself, learning how to use my camera properly, starting to learn the terminology like aperture, white balance, RAW and all those other things that photographer speak includes.  I’ve even joined a photography club.

Graham gave me a Nikon D90 with a zoom lens and other accessories for Christmas.  I felt totally spoilt and so I should be – I know it cost him quite a few $$.  So I’ve been using it a lot to make sure he know just how much I appreciate his wonderful gift to me.

Recently I shifted my amateur photoblog at Blogger to something that looks more professional in a great new template in WordPress and I now have it hosted on my server.  I thought I’d share it with you and you can view the pics at http://www.kathiesphotos.com.

Over time I hope you will see for yourself an improvement in my photos and how I present them.  The photography club has competitions so I’m looking forward to participating.  And naturally at Graham’s mountain bike races I tag along and act as the team’s official photographer doing videos and stills of their events.

When you pop over to my photoblog you will see evidence of those pics overtime but you’ll see that I also couldn’t resist doing something that has a business touch to it and I’ve set up a Cafepress store with some of my Australian imagery available on caps, tshirts, mugs, clocks and other items.  You didn’t think I’d completely forget did you?

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