Virtual Assistant – THE Blog About Our Industry

About the Virtual Assistant industry for VAs and for clients

Category Archives: Author’s musings

The end of another year… almost

Those of my readers who mix in the social media circles or forums to which I belong will know I had an accident on 12th December.  The rest of you probably don’t.   Rather than repeat it all here I encourage you to visit my photography blog to read all about it. Because, after all, I was out on a photowalk when it happened.  And if you subscribe (email) to that blog before end 31st December, you will go into a draw for a free print – I draw a prize each month at my photography blog.

The short story is I broke my leg in two places, had to have surgery and returned home after a week in hospital. I’m now on crutches (or a frame, depending on how I feel at the time) till end of January.  :-(   Not a good end to a year or a good start to a new one, hey?

So, how has this affected my business?  Hopefully, not a great deal. I had planned on taking leave over the Christmas/New Year break (I hate that word now) anyway, to spend time with my husband. We had planned on going on drives and walks, but that idea has been struck down.  Instead we both have long lie ins in the morning in bed and are rarely at the top end of the house (where the office is) till close to lunch time.  Graham is due to return to work 9th January, although he has been working at home for most of this year, recovering from his own accident back in April.  We’re hoping his employer will agree to him staying home till end of January as I expect to be back on my own two feet again then.

I notified my clients as quickly as I could and most were winding down for the year anyway.  I have a few small outstanding jobs to do which I plan to do today and then I can start afresh in the new year.

But what would you do if this happened to you? Do you have a team of VAs to refer to if you need backup support (I do).  Do you have one person you can divert your phone to in case of emergency? (thankfully I do).Are you able to contact clients quickly or do you have a contact list readily available for family, friends or colleagues to make contact on your behalf?  And would your clients be understanding if you need to have urgent time off?

These are things to think about in your business. No-one likes to take ill, or have an injury, but unplanned things do happen.  Make sure, when you set your goals and plans for the new year, you also include a plan of action in case something unexpectedly comes up.  You owe that to your business and your clients.

Have a Happy New Year!

Virtual Assistant blog now 6.5 years old

This blog was started in April 2005. I had no idea when I started writing it how long the blog would go for and yet here it is with almost 800 entries.

My most popular posts over those years have been:

5 Top Ways to Use a Virtual Assistant

My heartfelt thanks to the Virtual Assistant Community

My first business card

Virtual Assistant or Virtual Worker

15 years in business (of course it’s now well over 17 years for me)

If you’re a regular reader you might have a favourite post that isn’t listed above.  If so, please share below.

 

When flattery will get you nowhere (and cost you money)

When you have a presence online there will come a time when the thieves come out of the woods and make themselves known.  More like wolves in sheep’s clothing. They will butter you up and tell you how fantastic you are and convince you that you should part with your hard-earned money to invest in their project.  In this case a ‘who’s who directory of people’ from some unknown but impressive sounding company.

When you get approached by someone to list in a Who’s Who Directory it would be well worth your while to research that directory first.  And there are things you should be thinking about, like ‘why you?’ What have you done that is exceptional and to get yourself into the public eye?  Have you been the first to do something? Or have you got a big following in whatever you do?  Are you ‘famous’ in your industry or your part of the world for achieving something?  What is your exposure like online and in print?

If the reality is that you only occupy a very small section of your industry, you don’t write articles, haven’t made it in the newspapers or magazines, been seen publicly at events as a speaker or presenter, haven’t written a book, or anything else that is going to truly put you in the public eye, then chances are it’s a ‘con job’ and they just want to rip you off.

I can tell you I am listed in a Who’s Who and I’m not saying that to brag, but rather to tell you from personal experience I did not have to part with hard-earned money to get a listing in that book. It was because of things I’ve done and achieved that I had earned the privilege to be invited for entry. The invitation came by letter on really nice letterhead from a genuine company some years ago but I do have to admit I thought at first it was some kind of joke and not real. I had to do the research to make sure it was genuine.  And I have paid for a copy of the book and have it on my bookshelf.  I get invited to update my listing every year, by printed letter and I fill out the form and send it back by the due date.  The approach was not via email or website promotion and I was not asked to pay to be in the book at any time.

So, next time you get an approach that butters you up first before asking you for money, think carefully about it and do the research.  Have you earned the right to be listed in something like that?  It might be genuine, but then again, it might not.

Sick scam

I’ve been the victim of a very sick scam. I really don’t understand why or what.  But I wanted to share it with you so you can be wary, in case it happens to you.

Middle of July a new affiliate signed up. Nothing unusual about that. I get affiliates signing up with my site regularly.  However, this affiliate began generating a lot of sales quite quickly.  The first I knew of it was when I suddenly started getting orders for my book “Worth More Than Rubies”. I sell copies here and there, but never usually a lot in a short time period.  I checked the sales records online and found they were coming via this new affiliate so I contacted them to find out what they were doing. They advised they were promoting via Facebook and Twitter (actually they said they were spamming and I told them that’s not what they should be doing but I assumed they were joking).  I contacted several of the purchasers just to confirm the order – I wanted to make sure all was above board.  They each responded thank you and looking forward to getting my book.

This took place for a fortnight and I dutifully purchased postpaks, overseas postage (because most of the orders were overseas) and sent the books off. Then early last week a lady contacted me to find out why I’d sent her my book with a payment slip. She hadn’t ordered it at all and the email address on the slip was not hers.  I got contacted two days later by another with a similar story.   I contacted my payment gateway and the fraud dept of my merchant bank and they began to investigate. Yes, a number of the orders placed over the past fortnight were fraudulent.

I’m now going through the process of having to refund the fees I’ve received and asking for the books to be sent back, but I understand if people don’t want to do that.  I’m out of pocket for merchant fees, postpaks, overseas and local postage, plus the refund fees I now have to pay refunding everyone.  Because I can’t be sure that all the purchases in the past fortnight were fraudulent (I know some weren’t) I’ve written a letter to everyone outlining what has taken place and what they need to do. I’ve also requested they don’t get their bank to do a chargeback as I get charged $25.00 per chargeback for something I didn’t do.  That will double the amount of money I’ll have to pay back!

I know that everyone whose cards were used are victims in this – the cards were stolen, and I am also a victim in this. It seems a very mean thing to do.  And I don’t understand what the perpetrators get from it – ordering something they’re not going to receive using stolen credit cards? The fraud dept guy told me that they’re most likely testing the cards with small purchases before making larger ones for things they want to get.

Whatever’s going on, I’m not alone. I get my shopping delivered by Coles fortnightly and the delivery guy told me last week that they’ve had the same thing happening.  Someone placing orders with stolen credit cards and having them delivered to people who didn’t make the orders.

If you have a shopping cart on your site, monitor the orders coming through and if you start to get a lot of orders in a short time, and it seems unusual to you, investigate it and don’t send out the products in a hurry.  Better they’re sent late rather than ending up with the problem I currently have.

Avoiding the Office Blues

This is something I’ve written about in the past but it’s a good topic and it’s raised its head again, this time via Melbourne’s Newspaper The Age.

Working at home alone isn’t for everyone.  It’s not just the ‘running a business’ and keeping track of your finances, but more the day-to-day aloneness inside the four walls of your home, without others to keep you company during the day.

We all tackle it in different ways – well, not all. Some return to work simply because they crave the daily face-to-face contact with others, even if they don’t enjoy being back in the workforce.

What about those who do succeed in staying home long-term? How do they manage it?

Perhaps it takes a specific type of person to start with. Someone who enjoys being alone.  I, for one, do not miss the office politics and games that took place when I left the corporate world over 17 years ago. I did return to a short stint (3 months) to a corporate office when my business was having challenges but that was enough to cure me and to make sure I was back in my own office fairly quickly.

But for all that, I am not home alone day in, day out because there are things I do to ensure I get some balance.

I go to the post office every single day to check my mailbox. This stemmed from taking the kids to school in the early days – it became a habit. When I return I’m returning to my ‘office’ and not my home. Made for a good change in mindset for me. And it gives me opportunity to see other people at the start of my day; often helps to set the mood for the day.

I attend business networking events on a regular basis. I used to go to a couple a week – with various groups, but these days it’s mainly my weekly BNI meeting and then occasional local council business network events.  I get to meet different people, share ideas and learn that other business owners experience similar challenges to me.

I have a hobby – regular readers here will know it’s photography. In the past I’ve attended a gym, gone for walks, written books, read books, done the gardening. Anything that will get me out of my mindset of ‘business’ and doing other things, and partly sharing time with other people.  And my cats keep me company, as does the radio which is on all day long, listening to my favourite station.  And the VA forums I belong to are also a great way to mix and mingle with others on a daily basis.

Whatever you choose, it’s important to not be working without breaks, without contact with other people, to help keep you going strongly in your home office.  Read the article mentioned at the beginning of this post for more thoughts on this topic.

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