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 … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
Just getting started – what’s the best way to find clients?
This is a comment/question I see regularly via forums, and particularly at LinkedIn. People just starting out in the Virtual Assistant industry but not sure how to source clients and build their client base. This question can actually apply to anyone in business - not just the Virtual Assistant industry. But since I write for the industry, I'll focus on VAs for now. I began my business in March 1994, pre-internet. The way I found clients back then is still very much relevant today. The … [Read more...]
Starting off the new year
If you're like me, you may have been spending the past week still on a holiday break, knowing full well that work was just around the corner. So, now it's time to really take stock of what is ahead, or perhaps outstanding, to get the year started off right. Here are a few hints and tips on things that VAs, clients and other business owners can do, to start the new year off right. Your Outlook file. How big is it? Mine was nearly 2.5gb in size - too big! At the beginning of each year, I … [Read more...]
Australian VA Conference 2012
Have you caught up with the news yet? The 2012 Australian VA Conference will be held in Melbourne, Australia 4-5 May. We elected to shift to the May date because of problems with the March date we'd been having for the past couple of years. Proposals are in from speakers, we'll be announcing our program very soon but we can promise that there will be lots there for all VAs - newbies and experienced, alike, and those in between too. And, if you know someone who isn't a VA but does operate a … [Read more...]
Are you prepared for the responsibility?
I saw a question at answers.yahoo where a woman was asking about becoming a Virtual Assistant. She's keen to find work she can do at home and had been doing some research and discovered the term 'virtual assistant'. She wanted to know if she could become one and how to get started. I answered her query, gave some information and websites and then thought it was important to add this little bit of information: "It is important for you to know that being a VA means you are self-employed. So … [Read more...]
Punctuation and transcriptions
Do you have challenges with working out the punctuation in a transcription you're doing for a client? It's not always easy to know when you should be putting a semi-colon or a colon, a fullstop (period) or a comma and so on. I've heard the occasional person actually dictate when a fullstop should be used or comma, but not often. I guess if you're under 40 you might not have heard of the name Victor Borge but my husband and I were lying in bed this morning and something just got us thinking … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
