I had a colleague email me the other day. He'd been wanting to accept invitations sent to him to connect at LinkedIn, but every time he tried, LinkedIn was wanting to access his Gmail address book before he could go any further. So he would stop and not proceed. It's been a long time since I opened my account at LinkedIn but I know that you don't have to let LI access your address book. Once he sent me a snapshot of what he was getting, I was able to tell him what he could do, to open an … [Read more...]
Let them know your number!
Does anyone else find it annoying that business people just sign off their emails with their name and no contact details whatsoever? Just sometimes, I'd like to pick up the phone and I have to do a search through previous emails or a Google search to find it. My next pet hate are websites that have no phone numbers on them. Perhaps they don't know how to set up an email signature block, but if that's the case, why not ask someone to help them? An admin assistant or a VA can definitely … [Read more...]
Local networking is important
A question I see asked time and again on the VA and business forums are 'how do I find more clients?', or 'how do I get my name out there?' The answer is, and always has been 'networking'. Networking is one of the most important activities that is required of a business owner. You can do everything you can think of, set up great systems, design a fantastic website, have all your paperwork in place but if you don't actually spend time connecting with people, very few are going to find you. And … [Read more...]
New VAs seeking clients
I often see on VA forums new VAs despairing because they don't have an existing client base when they start their business. It's possible that some might, but that's a rarity. The reality is the majority of us don't have an existing client base - we're starting afresh. But we do have contacts. Any single person is a sphere of influence: family, friends, friends of friends, friends of family, members of any groups we belong to such as sport, church, hobbies and other activities. Then there's … [Read more...]
Building a VA business – takes more than a day…
I watch the VA forums online and love to participate and encourage all within the industry, particularly the newbies. But I do have a concern that there appears to be this misconception that they'll have a fully functional business within a month or two, and when they don't, they become very despondent and ready to give up. Where does this perception come from? Is it all the marketing online about overnight businesses, working just 4 hours a week or something else? Any business, no matter … [Read more...]
Do you have a Facebook profile?
If you have a Facebook account, and are in business, it would make sense to ensure that your business details are listed in your About tab. It amazes me that so many do not have their business websites linked in the About tab on their personal profiles at Facebook. If you have your privacy settings on, people won't be able to see your other details but they will be able to see what is in the About tab. So it makes sense to make use of that piece of real estate. If you're a member of a group … [Read more...]
Linkedin and Google ranking
One of the LinkedIn groups was discussing how you can check your *Google rank for your LinkedIn profile. Why were we checking our ranking? Because the person posting the original message had a theory that we would all be at the same rank for our profiles at LinkedIn. It was soon found that wasn't the case, although the majority at the discussion seemed to have a ranking of 3, there were some with 2 and 4 as well. I hadn't thought to do that before and so thought I'd play the game too. My … [Read more...]
The Faceless Ones in Social Networking
As many of you would know, I'm an active networker, both online and offline. I love connecting with people, learning things, sharing my own knowledge and experience and helping others move forward with their businesses. There are times when I come across people who don't really seem to get what networking is about. For some it's about how much business they can get, but they're missing the other half of the equation - developing relationships and building a list of resources for their own … [Read more...]
Too old to be a VA?
Don't you believe it! I had a lady email me via LinkedIn during the week. She was feeling despondent and depressed because she wanted to work, had been classed as 'disabled' in her country and had good administrative skills but unable to get work. She was just looking for something worthwhile to do and had been getting negatives from people around her and told me that being in the 50 plus age group had complicated things for her. This is my response to her. I'm so sorry all of this has … [Read more...]
