Virtual Assistant – THE Blog About Our Industry

About the Virtual Assistant industry for VAs and for clients

Monthly Archives: March 2010

16 years ago today…

It was 16 years ago today that I walked into a govt building in Melbourne to register my business name “A Clayton’s Secretary”.  I was both scared and excited.  Scared – would it work?  Excited – New horizons.

For a long time I felt like I was on holidays at home, getting to play with my computer.  Don’t get me wrong, I was working and earning, but it didn’t feel like work because I was in charge, I was doing what I enjoyed, and I got to make the choices about how things would work.

It did take me considerable time to set up systems, realise that I need to track things properly through a bookkeeping system and set up habits – good ones.

Even today I’m still refining and defining as things change, as clients change, as technology continues to leap forward.

Would I do it all over again?  You betcha!  Would I change anything?  Probably.  I’d set up systems faster, spend a lot more time networking, and probably would have promoted more rather than just let things evolve.

On the whole, I’m happy, my daughters got to grow up and through their teen years with mum at home, and although they no longer need me to be home for them as they’re adults leading their own lives (for the most part) I still love being home and wouldn’t change it for anything.

Have you checked out my anniversary competition yet? It ends on 31st March.

Who advocates for us?

Just heard on the news on the radio that ACTU wants the 1.4 million award wage earners to have a pay rise of $27 a week (in Australia).

Made me wonder.  Who gives us a pay rise when we deserve it, or find that we’ve been on the same rate for several years? We do.

But do we?

Probably worth looking at each year, when you plan your year and set goals (I hope you do that each year).  Assessing what you’re worth and how you’re fairing is an important part of running your business and making sure you are covering your expenses and having a bit left over for you.

Planning to attend a conference, or …

Still coming back down to earth after our fantastic event, the Australian VA Conference (AVAC) a couple of days ago.  It was great to meet face-to-face the names I’ve come to know so well over the internet for some years.  And to meet new names, people I hadn’t met online before but who are venturing into the Virtual Assistant world.

However, there were many who did not come, for several reasons, and a couple who didn’t turn up, although they had booked to come.  I received emails of apologies as well.  I thought I would try to address some things here that might help them with successfully attending next year.

I know personally how hard it is to get away from your office and your business. After all, it’s your baby, and you don’t want to leave or desert it.  However it is most important you do plan to take some time out for yourself and your business, to get recharged, renewed, pick up new ideas, get rest.  We need to do this through making sure we get breaks, like a holiday and we can also do it through attending events put on that will help enhance our businesses.

How do I get away? Many know that I’ve had several holidays lasting from 2-4 weeks over the past 7 or 8 years.  The last one being in Canada in 2009 to speak at FoVA and then take a trip.  Like others, I have clients who won’t necessarily want to take a break when I do and they need to be looked after in my absence.  Here is what I’ve learnt to do, in order to prepare for time away from the office:

  1. Put the dates in my diary – they’re not negotiable!
  2. Make sure you block 2 days before and 2 days after the event in your diary to allow you packing time before event and unpacking and going through emails, etc after the event.
  3. Start putting some funds away in a separate account so I can pay for the trip or cover bills during the time I’m gone.
  4. Seek out someone who can look after my home and my pets in my absence.
  5. Advise clients about 2 months out that I will be taking a break for xx amount of days and I’ll be in touch soon to find out if they will need support in my absence.
  6. Contact the clients again 1 month before and find out what deadlines they might have or projects coming up that will need to be maintained while I’m away.
  7. Contact other VAs I know (very handy having a network to tap into) to find out who can carry out the needs of my clients during that short period of time.  It is important to note here that you shouldn’t overload any one VA with several of your clients. They have their own to look after too. I find it better to assign one VA per client so there’s no confusion over what needs to be done for each client and so there is no sudden overload or overwhelm for the VA.
  8. Report back to each client advising them who will be looking after them while I’m away and give them the VA’s contact details.
  9. Give the VA templates, copies of anything that is needed, client contact information and so on.  Ask the VA to go through what you’ve sent them so they can ask questions now – not when you’re just about to go out the door.
  10. Remind the client a few days before you leave that you’ll be gone from xx to xx and that {name} will look after them well.
  11. Now it’s time to make sure you have everything you need to ensure a successful trip/time away from your office.
  12. Enjoy!

Will a client suddenly send you something the day before you’re due to leave? Some do. I just gently remind them that I’m going to be away, as advised previously and that I can either pass the work to {name} who will be looking after them, or I can do the work on my return.  Sometimes the client decides it’s not urgent and is happy to wait for my return.

I hope this helps with your planning to come to AVAC next year, or any other event or holiday you’d like to take part in.

AVAC – until next year

Well, by the verbal and written feeback I’ve heard/seen so far, it would seem that the AustralianVAConference (AVAC) has been a success and is definitely something the VA Community would like on the calendar as an annual event.

There was a lot of buzz at the end of each day and it was great to see virtual friendships strengthed by face-to-face meetings and new friendships forged.  A mix of brand new VAs (or those who haven’t yet begun) right through to those who have many, many years of experience behind them; there was something there for all.

The mixture of presentations covered everything from webhosting, and other website services, to SEO, Social Media, benefits of business coaching, electronic marketing, mixing family with business and looking at some niche streams for VA practices such as copywriting, resume writing and bookkeeping. We even discussed do we need niches and what are some of the types of niches out there – and whether they should be service related (wordprocessing, transcriptions) or industry related (real estate, medical) and so on.

Our keynote speaker Shelley Taylor-Smith kicked off the event and set the pace for a fantastic two days.  Our two MCs (Warwick Merry [what a showman!] on Friday and Camille Valvo on Saturday) were just what we needed to keep the day moving and we had lots of entertainment from them as well as our presenters.

Who could not be affected by the infectious enthusiasm presented by Sam Mutimer?  And what about those seat pushups demonstrated by Leanne Sklavenitis? I’ll have to make sure I’m not using my office chair on wheels for that one!  Oh, and I must bring my fit ball into the office!

And for those who have attended OIVAC for the past almost five years (has it been that long already???) we got to meet Rob Anderson from the Green Room in person!  Rob had a surprise guest for us when he demonstrated a live linkup with Sharon Williams from the US who spoke to us about OIVAC.

I was very grateful to our many, sponsors who helped make this event possible and if you visit the AVAC site you’ll see them all listed there.

Next year we look forward to our US and Canadian colleagues joining us for this event and perhaps some from the UK, France, New Zealand and elsewhere too.

I am producing a conference photobook (printed) for those in attendance who would like a copy.  Not too late to order!  But here’s just a glimpse of the event for those who weren’t there – click on the image below.