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About the Virtual Assistant industry for VAs and for clients

Category Archives: Operating a VA Business

Are you an Aussie VA that runs events?

Came across a great site this week, when helping a client organise an event he was promoting. He wanted to take bookings online and make it as painless as possible. He’d been told of a couple of sites by associates and I tried one of them out for him yesterday when sending out a broadcast email.  Very easy to use and set up, you can customise the page after setting up the initial information.

The site is called Trybooking.com and this morning I logged back in to see if he’d gotten any bookings.  He had!  He probably receives notification at his email address but you can create a pdf or printed report when you log in.  The site allows you to allocate how many seats are available and even seating positions, so if you have a theatre to book out, or a room with numbered seating, this site is ideal for it.  It will handle your payments for you, or you can simply have a ‘free’ event – which my client is running.

How much does it all cost? Very little. This page gives you the info.

The site collects all the information for you and makes it easy for those booking for your event.

So, if you’re an Aussie VA running an event, no matter what size, for yourself or a client, this site is definitely worth using. Think I’ll be using this for future events – wish I’d known before promoting AVAC this year!

The importance of follow up

I often tell my team, particularly newer members, how important it is to follow up new clients after an enquiry has been made. Often the clients are either in overwhelm mode: too much to do, or panic mode: the work needed to be done yesterday.  Consequently when a message is left on their voicemail, or an email sent, the client might not see it, or might get distracted by something else, and good intentions have gone by the wayside.  They know they need help, but they’re so stuck in the middle of it, that trying find the time to return calls, or respond to emails, can sometimes be too overwhelming for the overloaded client. The VA who was hoping to help them with what was needed, has become virtually invisible.  They (the VAs), in turn, come to me to say they’ve not heard from the client, what should they do?  I tell them ‘follow up’.

Such an important thing to do – follow up. I believe in the ‘squeaky wheel’ principle. It’s the squeaky wheel that gets the most attention. Likewise, the person who follows up the most is more likely to catch the client at the right moment and get the job that needs to be done.  You need to make yourself known.

One of my clients, Stefan Kazakis, is a business coach. He also teaches his clients about the importance of follow up – particularly in the sales arena. And I feel that what he says also applies to the VA industry, and in fact, anyone at all who is in the business of selling their services, or even their own abilities (such as job hunting).  His two articles ‘Help People Buy From You‘ and ‘Follow Up & Follow Up Again‘ are worth reading.  Make sure you go read them and apply what he recommends, if it fits the bill for you.

What would I do if I were a new VA today?

Exactly the question asked on a VA forum sometime ago and here is my answer:

  • Find an accountant to get the advice that is needed regarding legal requirements for your business.
  • Apply for whatever licenses or register whatever you need to do legally regarding the tax dept for your region.
  • A business name can wait till you’ve gotten started – it’s not necessary and you can legally operate under your own name if you wish.
  • Get business cards made up – doesn’t have to be a real lot, even just a couple hundred, but so you have something to give out to people you meet face-to-face.
  • Set up a website – there are easy low cost options for doing this using blogger or wordpress or other systems out there.
  • Purchase a domain name – they are low cost and one that reflects your name is fine for now. If you later decide on a business name you can buy a new domain and get that pointing to your website as well.
  • Develop a signature block for online connection with people – that’s like your online business card.

I wouldn’t rush it when it comes to business names, logos or other things that could change 6 months down the track once you have a better idea of what you want to do and where you’re headed.

Start finding local business networks so you can meet local businesses in your area. This will have two particular reasons – 1, you can learn from others who have been in business in your area for awhile, and 2, you’ll meet potential clients. Most business owners need some sort of admin assistance.

You can also locate online business networks for the same reason. LinkedIn.com is a good avenue but there are many others.

After you’ve been in business for awhile you’ll get a feel for what you like doing and what you don’t and from there you might start deciding upon a niche or set of services you prefer to provide. At that point a business name may well come to you.

Phone access for clients

I’ve chosen not to use my mobile (cell) phone for my VA business. Why? Because I’m in my office 95% of the time anyway and they can get me via the landline and email – why do I need them calling on my mobile phone too?

I use the mobile phone for personal use only, i.e. family, friends, emergencies.  If I’m out of my office I can’t be doing work for clients anyway, as the majority of what I do is done on a computer.

And yet, it seems I’m in a minority and I think it shocks some clients when they ask for my mobile number and I won’t give it to them.  I know what will happen if I do. They’ll start using it to ring me all the time – instead of my landline number.

If I need to be hearing from them when I’m away from my office then I’ll simply divert my landline to my mobile phone to receive their calls. But chances are, that if I’m going to be away from my office for sometime (like several days or more) then I’m more likely to divert my landline to one of my VA team members to handle calls in my absence.

So, do you use your mobile phone for business, or are you like me, and reserve it for family and friends only?  Let’s face it, there’s little opportunity to be ‘disconnected’ from the office with all of today’s technologies.  I like to be able to switch off now and then – it’s good for the mind, body and soul.

As a new VA, I can’t afford a website

I’ve been corresponding with a couple of new Virtual Assistants over the past couple of weeks. They found me via different VA forums and started emailing me for advice.

One said she couldn’t afford a website yet and was asking me what she could do to promote her business online. This is my response to her:

“What makes you think you can’t afford a website?  The reality is you could get webhosting and a domain for a year for a very minimal amount of money (I provide this service and I know that other VA organisations do too).  And if the webhost provides WordPress (which is free software) you could have a site up in a couple of hours. There are tons of free templates out there, you don’t have to know web coding – the program works very much like Word in lots of ways and you can publish online straight away.  It would also mean you would have a domain address that is yours to keep, people could look you up and learn about what you do and you can update it anytime you want. www.wordpress.org has a free support forum and many of the VA discussion groups can help answer questions too.

I’m much more experienced with WordPress now but was a beginner around 6 or 7 years ago and I love the program.  I’ve learnt enough html to tweak the coding and make changes if I want to – but you don’t have to at all. You don’t have to have a business name – you could buy yourname.com if it was available or even yourname-va.com or similar.  I’m sure you’d come up with a few possibilities if you thought of it.”

So, if you’ve been struggling with the idea of whether you can afford a website or not, I hope the above helps dispel that problem for you.

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