For a long time I was an advocate for the desktop, and only took my laptop to client meetings (very occasionally) or when my husband and I would go away on holidays. Not so I could do work, but so I could store photos that I take during our time away. Outside of work I'm a keen photographer. I was very conscious of the need to be ergonomically set up for good posture and health in my office, probably because I spend even more time there than I would have in a corporate office. But times are … [Read more...]
How much business are you getting from business groups?
I saw a question relating to this at a (non-VA) forum that I belong to but felt that the question is also relevant to Virtual Assistants. The person in question felt that joining this group and that one and another was costing him a lot of money and he wasn't sure he was getting any benefit from it. I felt perhaps he wasn't clear on why he was joining groups, other than the hope of generating business. This is my answer to him: I think you need to do your homework and visit as a guest to each, … [Read more...]
Take Ownership of your Business
There are many joining our ranks on a daily basis, and the same could be said for many industries. The desire for being in control of one's future, the work they do, and who they work for, plus being able to choose their working hours are a driving force for people making that decision. I know that when I made this decision nearly 19 years ago, I desperately wanted to be home for my children and hated all that wasted time on the road or on a train every single day. I hated not being home if a … [Read more...]
What’s in a forum?
There are quite a few VA forums on the web these days. Which indicates that the industry is healthy and growing and there's a need for VAs to seek assistance, advice and support, as they build and develop their VA practices. For a long time I've been a fan of the email based forums, mainly because I don't have to remember they exist, the emails arrive in my inbox and I can go read them at a time that suits me. However, it does mean that you receive every single piece of email that is … [Read more...]
Top FAQs for Clients II
Last week I shared on the top 4 questions (as asked of me) from clients seeking to engage the services of a Virtual Assistant. Here are more questions asked, not necessarily on my site, sometimes on forums. Where can I find a Virtual Assistant? This question always amazes me because it's very simple to put into a search engine 'Virtual Assistant' and thousands of references will come up. But perhaps there lies the problem - thousands. Perhaps the question should be how do I know I'm going to … [Read more...]
Top FAQs for Virtual Assistant Clients
Do you have an FAQ page on your Virtual Assistant website? Have you considered the possible questions that might be asked of you about how working with a VA would work for a potential client? Because I manage a network for VAs as well as provide a service for clients from my site I have a mixture of questions that relate to both VAs and Clients. But let's just focus on clients for today. Below are lengthy explanations but you can shorten them somewhat for your own purposes. Possibly the … [Read more...]
Saying No to a Client
I received a newsletter during the week from a coach who was talking about the very topic of this blog post. It raised an important aspect and that is not all clients are a good fit for us as Virtual Assistants. I know if cash flow is slow, our businesses are new or going through a slump, that we want to say yes to every client that makes contact, but that's not always a good thing to do. Particularly if the client has had a bad experience with a previous VA - they can often react to us in … [Read more...]
Building relationships at LinkedIn
I was participating in a discussion at the Women in Photography group at LinkedIn recently as many of us are connecting to each other. We had a discussion about the importance of letting people know where they came from, rather than just send the standard invitation that LinkedIn provides. Here is my commentary on that subject: Checking the box does show up on the invite when received via email but isn't that obvious - the message that is sent says: I'd like to add you to my professional … [Read more...]
7 Questions to consider before hiring a Virtual Assistant
The Virtual Assistant industry has grown so much in the past 10 years that it's easy to understand that clients might get confused about where to find a Virtual Assistant and how to know if they've got a good one. There are some things you can do to put your mind at ease. Firstly, did you find them online or have they been referred to you? This will make a difference as to how you might feel about the working relationship. Receiving a recommendation or referral from someone you trust will … [Read more...]
