I read a lot of blogs, especially those relating to my industry as a Virtual Assistant. I am constantly amazed by the bad grammar, spelling and incorrect typing on blogs that are attached to business websites, some of which belong to VAs, or those who are talking about becoming a VA. I saw such a blog just recently, through a Technorati link on Virtual Assistants. This particular person was talking about work at home opportunities and she thought that becoming a VA would be the ideal choice … [Read more...]
Do You Need a Virtual Assistant?
I saw a post on a 'Start a Home Business Blog' today that indicated engaging a virtual assistant was an expensive option. He ended up hiring someone else but didn't explain what it was he wanted done or any indication of what he was looking to pay. It is true that there are VAs at the high end of the market and others in the low end so you can shop around. You could engage a high school student or a uni student at the low end rate and providing they have good computer skills, and know their … [Read more...]
Boy, am I slow!
So good to see all the links to my post about how starting a Virtual Assistant business is not for the 'cash poor', but what I didn't tell you about are some things I have available to help you become a Virtual Assistant if you are planning to do so. Of course, they are linked to the left side of this blog, but to make them more blatantly obvious, here they are. I have a coaching program which runs for 10 weeks and covers the following topics: Weeks 1 & 2 - Setting up your business Week 3 - … [Read more...]
You Gotta Laugh!
It almost reads like a comedy with a phishing story included. But it's not, it is, or was, reality. A client of mine has been registered with a free teleconferencing company that has a web based control panel which we'd been using for teleseminars. Late last year she got an email saying that she needed to renew her registration and they'd changed their number. She sent it to me and I said, ok, we'll need to update the web promotion - which we did for this year. We logged in yesterday after … [Read more...]
Not Cash Poor Nor Skills Poor
This time of year invariably brings up a couple of regular items for comment in news articles and blogs: New Year's Resolutions, and ideas for changing jobs or starting a business and so on. These days it seems that starting up a Virtual Assistant business is ideal for the 'cash poor' as I saw it promoted on more than one website, and these are usually written by those who do not work in the industry at all. So, I want to touch on this for all those who are interested in working at home and … [Read more...]
When Stats Matter
I use statcounter.com to track visits to my websites and my blogs - whilst each domain also has webstats attached to the web server, I find it useful having all of it in one place so I can do instant visual comparisons and see how each one is going. I started with a free account but soon invested in a paid account, because the information was worthwhile to me. Periodically I see links from emails or discussion forums that lead people to my websites or blogs. That doesn't mean I can see or read … [Read more...]
Help! Get Me Off the Roundabout!
I've been challenged recently to think about what I'm bringing with me from 2006 that I don't want to have in 2007. Interesting thought. Things like challenging clients, work you don't enjoy doing, debts that are outstanding, something we keep doing over and over again but know we shouldn't (bad habits) and so on. Sometimes life feels like a roundabout - we keep going through the same challenges and struggles in life and we wonder when we're going to learn the right lesson, so we can get off … [Read more...]
Back to Work or Work at Home?
At this time of year many are thinking about having to return to a job after a brief holiday break but would rather remain home. So they do searches online and in the Yellow Pages for ideas on what they can do. Some get an idea and then look to see if others are already doing it, others just search and search, trying to match their existing skills for what might be out there. But the biggest problem is determining what is real and what might be a scam? I know that often people are advised to … [Read more...]
Appreciating the Quiet Times
Christmas seems to come and go so quickly. We really start hearing about it September each year, decorations and wrappings on display in the shops, advertising material enticing you to buy everything under the sun as a gift for someone, and life seems to go into full speed as everyone tries to complete impossible projects before the brief Christmas break. It's almost like things HAVE to be done before Christmas and then suddenly, it's quiet. The quiet times used to unnerve me - being new in … [Read more...]
