Virtual Assistant – THE Blog About Our Industry

About the Virtual Assistant industry for VAs and for clients

Monthly Archives: April 2009

VA Networks – a ready resource

When I was first growing my VA Network it soon became obvious to me that I had to find a way to put all the members in touch with each other, without having to pass on email addresses all the time or get them to remember to ‘reply all’.

It was around that time (late 1996) that I was invited to join an online forum for home based businesses at Boxplanet and I saw first-hand what I needed for my team to be able to chat to one another. So our forum was started and shifted to a few places before finally settling at yahoogroups a few years ago. It later went through a name change and is now known as “Virtual Assistant International Group” or VAIG as the short name is listed.

The VA forums that are available online (and there are many) are an excellent way for VAs to keep abreast in changes in technology and their industry at large.  For some it’s to learn from scratch as they enter a new field (new to them) and for others it’s a way of being able to get information without having to pay an ‘expert’ to come onsite to teach them something.  That was me early 1996 – I paid someone to come and teach me Frontpage so I could set up my first website.  But if the forums had been available back then I would have made use of those as I enjoy exploring and learning things and then ask questions when I can’t quite join up the dots.

If you’re a VA and you don’t yet belong to a forum, or perhaps you belong to only one, I invite you to come join VAIG so you can mix and mingle with those who are working their businesses, either part-time or fulltime, read through the archives to learn lots of things and make lots of friends in the process.  We look forward to seeing you there!

OIVAC is just around the corner!

Welcome to those guests who have been following the OIVAC blog hopping tour!

Seasoned VAs (or those that have been around for longer than 12 months) will know that the Online International Virtual Assistants Convention is gearing up for another fantastic event.

I was privileged to be a member of the steering committee for the first 3 years and really enjoyed the experience but (personal) events over the last 12 months have led to my stepping down.  I don’t believe this to be a bad thing – it was time for new people to get involved and I know they’re doing a great job.

3 days of online events with speakers, workshops, seminars, the International Virtual Assistants Day celebration and a trade show to boot as well.

If you haven’t attended this event and are unsure about it, please do take the plunge. You can participate from the comfort of your own office but bookings need to be made by midnight 12th May (DST).  As long as you have speakers on your computer you’ll be able to hear what’s being said and if you have a microphone attached you’ll also be able to participate in the Q&A sections. If not, then text chat is also available.

I just love that technology will allow hundreds of us to mix and mingle at an event from all over the world! And I enjoy the looks on people’s faces (particularly those in the corporate world) when they learn what ‘little’ home based businesses get up to online.

The links below will lead you to more information:

Seminar registration

Seminar lineup

Speakers

Use the ‘squeaky wheel’ principle

I often get asked by VAs what they should do if they’ve submitted a proposal to a client’s request and a few days have passed and they’ve heard nothing further.

I always advise them to use the ‘squeaky wheel’ principle.

What do you do when you have a squeaky wheel? You pay attention to it.

So the client needs the same prompting – you should be in regular contact (without making a nuisance of yourself) and follow up.  If they’ve heard from several Virtual Assistants and life is busy for them chances are making a decision and moving to the next step becomes all too hard. But if you’re the one that makes regular contact chances are you’re going to get them at a moment when they’re ready to hand it all over.

So make sure you contact them regularly, either via email or phone.  Don’t nag them, but rather just remind them that you’re there ready to assist them when they’re ready to make that move.  Or, if you know something about that client and their interests, you could pass on emails or articles of interest to them (that doesn’t mean forward all those forwarded emails to them otherwise you will be making a nuisance of yourself) with no reference at all to the work you’re waiting to hear about.

It’s a fine line, I know, but you don’t want them forgetting you exist either and I have known of many clients who have lost the bit of paper a number was written on or accidentally deleted that email they meant to keep or lost it amongst others.  Making regular contact will help keep you visible in front of them.

All work and no play…

… makes Jack (or Jill) a dull boy (girl).  Or so the saying goes.

I’m one who has been obsessed with my work – I love being a Virtual Assistant and I love being at my computer and in my office.  I look forward to being in the office every single day – even after 15 years.   But I do recognise the importance of getting away from the office and being refreshed.  It is so important.

Over the years I’ve tried picking up former hobbies of knitting, walking, gardening, etc and even joined several gyms in the hope it would get me out regularly. But we ended up setting up a gym at home instead as I often didn’t feel comfortable being the only female in a gym at times that were convenient to me.  And I found I got bored doing the other things.

Writing is a hobby I really enjoy but again it doesn’t get me out and about – and if I do leave home my laptop comes with me.

Last Christmas my husband decided to give me a new digital SLR camera for Christmas because I was complaining that my small ‘point and shoot’ couldn’t keep up with the action when he was participating in mountain bike races.

The camera was the answer to get me out and about!  Now every single week I plan an outing for photo opportunities and I’m spending time (several hours) in the fresh air and walking, enjoying nature and the scenery.

I wrote a post a couple of years ago about the importance of getting outside to get Vitamin D and it is something I’ve been conscious of and have made sure I do get out more often, however the new camera has ensured that my  30 mins a day now extends into a few hours a week.

Why not make sure you are doing something away from your computer and office and getting some fresh air and sunshine, and lots of vitamin D!

Honing new skills

Many VAs, particularly those new to the industry, are so keen to get clients that there are times when they will accept a job only to find they really don’t have the skillset or experience to carry out the role.  They then end up in a quandary – do they tell the client or try to find out quickly how to do that particular job?

The questions asked at VA forums often show a tendency for the latter, rather than the former, or perhaps they have already told their client, but are going ahead with the job too.

I encourage VAs not to bite off more than they can chew (rather than bite off too much and chew like hell!) and spend time developing new skills on their own time.

There have been times when clients have asked me to do something for them that I have no experience in – but this is with their knowledge and we already have an existing business relationship.  I remind them I know little of the subject but am willing to explore it for them and report back.

Sometimes I will take the job on after having experimented on a project of my own (which is how I got into blogging) but other times I have declined and offered to help them find the right VA for the job (through my own team of VAs).

So, when and how do you hone or develop these new skills?  On your own time – not the client’s.

If you think that running a VA business means you can set your own hours and then do nothing business related afterward, you are vastly mistaken.  You do set your own hours for client work but there’s a lot of ‘after hours’ work done too.  Your own admin, bookkeeping, website maintenance, marketing and promotion are just a few things  (if you’re not outsourcing some of these to another VA), that need to be done. But if you also want to keep up with technology and become familiar with the new tools out there (Twitter is a good example) then it’s important you set aside time to learn and ‘play’ to find out how these things work.

If, after a period of time, you find you really enjoy playing with these new tools and you are doing well with them, you now have a new service offering for clients – both existing and future. So exploring and practising is worth the effort – on your own time and without the pressure of time constraints for clients.

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