I sent this message to the two forums I manage but thought I’d share it here too – in case you don’t belong to one of the forums!

Hi everyone, well, it’s the end of the year of 2009.  For my family the year started off badly but has ended up quite well (if you ignore my computer challenges).  A new home in the country, a new grandson (our first) and a trip overseas which meant I met many VAs from the US and Canada face-to-face for the first time at the Forum on Virtual Assistance.  I was so thrilled to be invited by Barb Lang to speak at FoVA and it is an experience I would love to repeat.  Perhaps for IVAA or one of the other VA conferences at some stage.  I have spoken at OIVAC each year and enjoy that, but of course it’s not face-to-face!

Make I take this time to wish you all a joyous and prosperous 2010 and may all of your businesses grow to where you want them to go. For some that means a fulltime busy business and for others it means simply just a few hundred dollars a month to contribute to the existing household income. Whatever it means, don’t forget I (and many of the other experienced VAs) are here to help you in various ways.

Start making plans for the new year as to what you want to do.  Each year I spend a full day in January as a prayer and planning day and it’s amazing to see at the end of that year how many of my business and personal goals have been fulfilled.  I can tell you that one of my personal goals this year was to shift to the country and we’ve definitely done that.  Another was to take up photography more seriously and do a course and join a club – I did both those things.  I’ve even sold some of my photos which has been a bonus.  I’m hoping to do further courses this year and will be joining a club in Knox closer to my new home.

On a business level the previous year I’d set a goal to secure my first international speaking engagement and that certainly did happen with Graham and I spending a month away – 3 weeks in Canada and a week in Alaska June this year.  And we spent time with Tawnya Sutherland and Arnie – many of you will know Tawnya’s name from the VA industry as she owns a very large VA network and is very active in the community, as is Arnie.

Some of my goals weren’t fulfilled – I was hoping to publish another book but with the loss of our daughter Miriam late last year I must admit that my enthusiasm for some things wained and I just wasn’t in the mood for writing much till quite late this year.  I’m hoping also to build up a Cafe Press account with Australiana items (drawn from my photography) and establish a publishing arm to my business – perhaps 2010 is the year to do this.   As I have successfully self-published printed books and got them into bookstores as well as Amazon.com I am often asked for advice by others wanting to do the same.  I love that we can pursue things of interest when working at home and if those things happen to complement our VA businesses they then become another arm or wing to our VA practice.

Make a plan to improve yourselves professionally in 2010 – as you should for every year.  Working at home and for yourself does not mean you should not continue to do courses and improve your abilities.  In the corporate world the training was provided for you (whether you wanted it or not) but in the ‘business-owner world’ you have to take responsibility for this to ensure you keep up with both your industry and your clients.  How many of you have clients wanting to race ahead and get the latest….?  I know I do and I’m sure you do too. And as your client relationships grow they (the client) will look upon you (the VA) to advise them and point them in the right direction with respect to the Internet and related technologies.

On that point, in 2010 there will be three things you may like to consider taking part in – either all or one or two:

AVAC – Australian VA Conference which is being held 12/13 March in Melbourne, Australia.  Bookings will be open right up till Monday 8th March however early bird rates close tonight.  If you’re a Melbourne based VA and would like to host a VA in your home during that time please get in touch with me offlist – I think this will be a great way for more face-to-face contact and relationship-building.  For those wanting to book accommodation our travel agent, Kirra Moon-Curry is listed on the AVAC website – and Kirra is in the office as we (my husband and I) did hear from her yesterday relating to a family booking.  If I do get ‘hosted’ spots I’ll advise those who have booked.

VATrainer.com course is a 10 week course, i.e. the lessons are delivered weekly via email over a 10 week period. There is no set intake period so you can elect to sign up when you’re ready. You can send your homework weekly or wait till the end of the 10 weeks and send it all in together – it’s up to you.  The program list for the course can be seen at the site at www.vatrainer.com.  It is not about teaching you how to use software programs – you should know that already, but it is about teaching you how to run your VA practice, market it, and gain clients and look after them.  I’ve had excellent feedback from my students and the graduates list is growing.  I do have a Christmas special which again, ends tonight.

VACoachingClub – new club being launched at www.vacoachingclub.com.  We have a small number of members currently.  This is for those who want continued support and coaching or mentoring on a monthly basis as they develop their VA businesses.  We will have monthly teleseminars and Q&A sessions with a forum specifically for members where they can download recordings of past teleseminars, chat with members and ask questions relating to running their businesses. There will also be items available to them at discounted rates.

Well, that’s it from me for now.  Looking forward to hearing what 2010 brings you as time progresses.

Happy New Year!

Want to set up your business as a Virtual Assistant, get some training and get started? Or perhaps you are already operating a VA business but feel there is information missing and you want to fill in the gaps?

Why choose this program?

• Learn from an experienced Master Virtual Assistant (MVA) who has over 14 years’ knowledge of the industry
• Work out what skills you can use and the types of services you can provide
• Look at different niche markets you can target for your business
• Give your business a kick-start in the right direction!

Our Program:

• Will guide you in setting up your business
• Get you started on your own website
• Guide you in setting rates that are right for you
• Teach you how to deal with clients, what questions to ask and how to quote
• Will help you learn to network and market your business
• During the program you will be given access to materials that consist of books, software programs, hardware items and other things essential in assisting with the operation of your VA business.

This is a 10-week program designed to help those who already have good computer skills to develop or advance their Virtual Assistant business.

Take advantage of the Christmas special available to 31st December.

http://www.vatrainer.com/christmasspecial2009.htm

There is so much on the web these days about being a Virtual Assistant and for newcomers who have just discovered this industry it can indeed be a challenge working out where they should go for information, what they need to get started and how they find their clients?

Information:
May I say that it’s important to check the credentials of those giving ‘advice’?  Many may be well intentioned but not all have the experience or knowledge to point you in the right direction.  One good way to avoid this is to find out where experienced practicing VAs hang out and join them.  So you want to look for Virtual Assistant networks and forums.  There is value in learning from others who are already treading the same path and where we don’t view each other as competitors, but rather as valued allies and peers.  So for information, VA networks and forums are your best resource generally.

There are a number of books written about the Virtual Assistant industry but again, I encourage you to check the credentials of those who have written the books. Have they walked their talk? How long have they been in the industry, meaning have they actually run their own VA practice and had their own clients?   What do their clients have to say about them?  Are there testimonials on their site? What do their peers say about them?

It is important to do your research because money spent in the wrong quarters can become an expense rather than an investment.  Same applies to any training or coaching programs out there.  There are some very good programs available in different price brackets, depending on what you’re looking for. But these programs don’t teach you how to provide the service you want to provide for the most part, generally they teach you how to run a business, market yourself, service clients and so on.

Getting Started:
Next – what do you need to get started?

Skills are very important. If you do not have good typing skills, or have little knowledge of the software programs you intend using, then chances are you aren’t going to succeed or hang around long in this business.  So you need to know what kind of service you wish to offer and make sure you have the necessary skills.  People skills are also very important. If you’re not used to dealing with people (not bosses but clients) you’ll need to learn quickly how to handle them.

Equipment and software.  The newer your computer the better but it could be 3-4 years old and still be running adequately if the software is also about the same age.  The newer the software the newer the computer should be to keep up with the processing and memory needs, not to mention adequate disk space. I would recommend nothing older than Windows 2000 and Office 2000 but that is getting a bit old now.  I still use WinXP for my  operating system and Office 2003 but will be looking to upgrade very soon.  I don’t always upgrade as soon as a new piece of software or operating system is available and will often encourage my clients to wait too. Why? Because older pieces of software can often be rendered incompatible and if I upgrade my database for example it means the clients whose databases I look after and sync with also have to upgrade their software.  My bookkeeping program doesn’t take kindly to too many upgrades either so I have to make sure it’s compatible with a new operating system.  And so on.  But once you have your programs established you could realistically work with them for at least 5 years without having to upgrade – depending on the services you provide.

Furniture. Make sure you have a decent work desk – not something small in a corner, and a suitable ergonomic chair to sit on. You are going to spend many, many hours at your desk and on your chair so look after your body properly by providing it the right furniture to be in and at.

Internet connection. Dial up isn’t preferable these days but if that’s all that’s available to you, be sure you plan to dial in on a regular basis and download to keep in touch with clients and others.   Broadband or ADSL – something that can be permanently connected online would be the best preference. Clients can get in touch at any time of day or night.  Don’t let your email build up on the mail server as it will produce bounced messages to those trying to contact you. Not a good image for your business.

Web presence.  You don’t have to have your own website but you do need some kind of online presence.  Being a member of one or two VA networks (at least) will give you a listing in their online directories so clients can find you.  Make sure also that your email address isn’t a hotmail or yahoo address. Sorry, but they just don’t cut it for business these days and too many spammers use them. If you don’t own your own domain (and why not?  They are quite cheap now) then use gmail or similar to give a more professional appearance for your business.

Finding Clients:
I’ve already mentioned VA networks. Many of these provide a service to clients to find a VA to support them. Which is one of the many reasons why you should join a VA network. Yes, it usually involves a membership fee but consider this:  most pay for advertising which you benefit from. Most provide a web page listing for individual members which you benefit from.  Most provide backup support so if you need a more experienced VA to assist, or perhaps you need to sub-contract to other VAs, then the facilities to do this are available.  There are many other benefits too.

Other ways to find clients are:  set up your own website and get it listed with the search engines; advertise with Google Adwords; place your business cards where they can be left in shops, post offices, newsagencies, supermarkets, libraries and other places.  Join business networking groups to meet other business owners who aren’t your VA peers. Many of these do need your support and will engage you once they’ve gotten to know you.  Carry business cards on your person everywhere and give them away. They’re no good stuck in a drawer or on a shelf somewhere.

The above should help get you looking in the right direction and get you started.  There is more that can be done but then if I continued here, you’d have a book on the subject.

Do you know it’s less than 3 months till AVAC?  The dates are 12/13 March and once Christmas and the New Year has passed, that time will go very quickly.

Why not gift yourself a booking or gift someone else?

Take advantage of our early bird tickets at only $140 which includes a choice of sessions, morning and afternoon refreshments, a networking lunch and the opportunity to mingle with sponsors and speakers.

Our lineup of speakers is impressive and there are more being added soon.

Book now while it’s on your mind!

This time of year normally sees a quieter work period. For some it might be busy as rush jobs come in before Christmas but generally it is much quieter.  So what do you do during this time?

I find it an ideal time to review things and update things, or tie up loose ends.

This year I’ll be looking at updating/revamping a couple of my websites, going through papers that have been sitting on my desk for a couple of months or more and think about plans for the new year.

As we will have family coming home for the season too I’ll be making sure I take some time off to enjoy their company and our surroundings at our new home.

What will you be doing during this season?

At this time of year (Christmas/New Year) scams will be on the rise and so will phishing emails with promises of all sorts of things through bogus promotions.

One of the VAs from my team posted a warning about a phishing email supposedly from her bank the other day.  A day prior a client forwarded to me an email she got from Paypal (supposedly) but I was soon able to detect that it was not a genuine email.

Here are some ideas to get you looking.

1. Usually not personally addressed. Banks rarely email us but Paypal and other similar groups do and it’s usually addressed to Dear and whatever your user name is.  It’s NEVER addressed to ‘Dear member’, ‘Dear user’ or similar.

2. Check the address it comes from. Often it’s a variation on the real address but not accurate. e.g. I’ve seen no-replay@paypal.com used.

3. Hold your mouse over the hyperlink of the supposed bank web address and you’ll see the reference is very different although if you clicked on it, it might look like the normal website. (I recommend you definitely DON’T click on it though)

4. Check the spelling – it’s usually full of errors and written by those who don’t have a good grasp of the English language.