I'm amazed by the amount of 'VA' spammers out there, who are desperate to get their comments posted on this blog. Regular spam is bad enough but VAs doing this? Your flattery and use of big words will not impress me, nor the html coding you leave in the comments either. However, if you add value to the article and simply leave your name and URL in the relevant fields, your comments will get published and people can visit your site if they wish. Spamming on a peer's site is not the way to get … [Read more...]
Engaging a VA?
Then it's important to remember: There is no 'standard' rate for engaging a VA. Their cost of living, location, currency, experience and skillset vary considerably. First you will have to weigh up whether you need to engage someone who is local to where you work, or whether virtual is what you need. We find that most work can be carried out 100% virtually, unless you need for that VA to be onsite (Minutes of Meetings for example) or to do research that requires local geographical … [Read more...]
16 years ago today…
It was 16 years ago today that I walked into a govt building in Melbourne to register my business name "A Clayton's Secretary". I was both scared and excited. Scared - would it work? Excited - New horizons. For a long time I felt like I was on holidays at home, getting to play with my computer. Don't get me wrong, I was working and earning, but it didn't feel like work because I was in charge, I was doing what I enjoyed, and I got to make the choices about how things would work. It did … [Read more...]
Who advocates for us?
Just heard on the news on the radio that ACTU wants the 1.4 million award wage earners to have a pay rise of $27 a week (in Australia). Made me wonder. Who gives us a pay rise when we deserve it, or find that we've been on the same rate for several years? We do. But do we? Probably worth looking at each year, when you plan your year and set goals (I hope you do that each year). Assessing what you're worth and how you're fairing is an important part of running your business and making sure … [Read more...]
Virtual Assistant Newsletters
I wrote a post some time ago about Free Resources Virtual Assistants love and Carla has left a comment asking about Virtual Assistant newsletters. She's looking for a list of them. If you write a Virtual Assistant newsletter then why not leave a link for it here in the comments so Carla (and others) can come have a look and subscribe if they like what they see? … [Read more...]
Planning to attend a conference, or …
Still coming back down to earth after our fantastic event, the Australian VA Conference (AVAC) a couple of days ago. It was great to meet face-to-face the names I've come to know so well over the internet for some years. And to meet new names, people I hadn't met online before but who are venturing into the Virtual Assistant world. However, there were many who did not come, for several reasons, and a couple who didn't turn up, although they had booked to come. I received emails of apologies … [Read more...]
AVAC – until next year
Well, by the verbal and written feeback I've heard/seen so far, it would seem that the AustralianVAConference (AVAC) has been a success and is definitely something the VA Community would like on the calendar as an annual event. There was a lot of buzz at the end of each day and it was great to see virtual friendships strengthed by face-to-face meetings and new friendships forged. A mix of brand new VAs (or those who haven't yet begun) right through to those who have many, many years of … [Read more...]
Australian VA Conference this week!
Well, it's almost here. Can't believe all the months of planning is now going to come to a halt with the event taking place on Friday and Saturday this week. If you are planning to come but haven't yet booked, it's not too late but the cut-off is Wednesday. So get your bookings in now. If you can't attend both days, you can elect to come for just one day. I'm hoping to see a lot more Melburnians attending - it's in your home state and you don't need to worry about airfares and accommodation … [Read more...]
How do you recruit clients?
This was a question asked on a VA forum. The new VA had suggested she might go cold calling and wanted suggestions on what to do. This is my answer to her. I would recommend, that rather go out and doing cold calling, you actually spend time meeting people and getting to know them. Networking is what you want to do, rather than recruiting. Networking is about meeting people, getting to know them and their needs, developing relationships. If you don't already know a number of business people you … [Read more...]
