I recently had a new VA contact me, asking for advice about cold calling. She was quite nervous about it and whilst she could psych herself up at night and write out scripts, she just couldn't get herself to follow through the following day. So she contacted me for advice. This is my response: Hi, I'm so happy you contacted me. You should never have to do cold calling - I never have. I spend time networking and getting to know people - much, much easier. Always carry business cards with … [Read more...]
Ready To Share Your Expertise?
IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF A VA FORUM and not seen the following promoted, please share it with your members: Are you ready to share your expertise with your fellow VAs located around the globe? Then don't miss this opportunity to present at the upcoming Online International Virtual Assistants Convention, scheduled Thursday, May 15 through Saturday, May 17, 2008. Applications are being accepted through January 31, 2008 by completing the form located at: ttp://www.oivac.com/form-speaker.htm. If … [Read more...]
Responding to client enquiries
One of the forums I belong to has had a great discussion on response times for client enquiries. This is a good topic for all to have a think about. I know that I often get clients contacting me saying they had rung someone or emailed someone before me and had had no response. There had been no voicemail message, or no autoresponder, or no-one had returned the call or replied to their email. Their contact with me is sometimes several days or a week later. Virtual Assistants are business … [Read more...]
Getting Started as a VA
I recently had a lady write to me to ask about how I got started. She'd read that I started out doing word processing and data entry and did I go do a course or did I already know how to do those things? She was wondering what training she might need to do and where to do it. My answer to her was this: I never did a course to get started. When I began I was a homebased secretary and it was before the Virtual Assistant industry had begun. I already had 23 years corporate secretary experience … [Read more...]
Time to Work ON and IN Your Business
If you've been to any time management courses or seminars, or have experienced business coaching, you'll know that it's important to set aside time to work ON your business as opposed to working IN your business. When you first start out you probably spend 95% of your time working on your business, making plans, developing systems, trying things out, creating stationery, designing a business card and so on, and the other 5% on the small client base you've begun to grow. But, somewhere along … [Read more...]
Tips for Working with a VA
There is an interesting discussion going on at ZenHabits.net about using a VA and the differences between using a professional, versus someone who doesn't have the same experience or skills and therefore charges cheaper. If you're interested in joining in, why not go pay a visit? I recently joined a new yahoogroups forum (do I really need to belong to another one?) about the Four Hour Working Week. It's funny that this book is about a lot of things to help people make better use of their time … [Read more...]
Going on leave?
The VA I mean. Even we need to make preparations for looking after our businesses when we take some time off. So here are some suggestions to help you plan your break. Notify your clients at least a month out, earlier if possible, so they can get any important items to you, or so you have time to source another VA to support them whilst you are away. Remind your clients again 2 weeks out and then a week before via email - even then you'll still get last minute stuff the day before. But … [Read more...]
A 4-Hour Work Week Experiment
I came across an article a few weeks ago at SBInformer about someone who had read Tim Ferriss' book and he thought he'd try it out and get a VA of his own. Trouble with this is the majority of people who read this book don't do the research - they just read the book and go to the sources quoted without really understanding our industry or even realising that if they Googled 'Virtual Assistants' they would come across our industry associations and learn what a true VA is. They would also get a … [Read more...]
Looking for cheap or free…
On various VA forums I often see (newer) VAs seeking services for use in their business that are cheap or free. Whilst there are programs and services out there that don't cost a great deal to obtain, the reality is that a lot of what you source for your business is going to cost you money. Remember you are running a business. That any expenses you incur on behalf of clients should be billed accordingly. Or, if you purchase new software so you can service a particular client, look for ways to … [Read more...]
