It's a common question I hear from those who are new Virtual Assistants just starting out. They're keen to get their first clients and think because they're new they should be charging low. The answer to this is no, no, and a resounding NO. Don't undervalue yourselves. Just because you're new to the industry doesn't mean your value is any less. What about all the experience you have behind you? And I'm assuming you do have experience otherwise you should not be starting up a VA … [Read more...]
Joining a Virtual Assistant Network makes sense
I use Google Alert a lot to keep me informed of the industry and also about things relating to my clients' businesses. One thing I often see are blogs about where to find a Virtual Assistant or comments on blogs from new VAs who are keen to find work, clients and learn more about the industry they've joined. What amazes me is that a simple Google search will direct people to the Virtual Assistant Networks that are out there and yet so many seem to miss this fact. Virtual Assistant Networks or … [Read more...]
What can a Virtual Assistant (VA) do for you?
Virtual Assistants look after a wide range of clients. My own core client base consists mainly of business coaches, professional speakers and authors, but I have a few others who do different things, such as a couple of nurses who run workshops for new parents, a lady who is a trained operatic singer and another who runs a dance school. Below is a list of services provided by myself and my team of VAs currently but there are sure to be other things too! Word processing Data entry Authors … [Read more...]
Special offers for Virtual Assistants and their clients
You may remember my mention recently of a 'sick scam' where an affiliate was processing orders using stolen credit cards on my shopping cart on this site. Not a nice thing to happen and I'm still getting things sorted and processing refunds as people contact me. I can say the bank hasn't been as helpful as I would have hoped, given that I'm not the perpetrator but a victim too, but that's another story. At any rate, I'm working hard to recoup lost funds, cover refunds and pay additional fees … [Read more...]
Virtual Assistants – use your own domain for email
Many emails are sent by business people, and particularly business owners, using free email accounts such as hotmail, yahoo, and others. Often these addresses don't appear professional and it's hard to know if the sender is genuine or not. If you want to provide a professional image, consider this: A domain name reflects your business name or your particular industry - why not use it as potential for telling people who you are and what you do? Because of number one above, it helps people to … [Read more...]
Want to set up a Virtual Assistant business?
Perhaps you're not sure where to start or how to go about it. Why not let me help you get started? With over 17 years in business, and having founded the industry in my country as it birthed around the world, I am well placed to guide you in setting up a VA practice and build a satisfying business. I spent the first 10 years in the industry mentoring other upcoming VAs till it occurred to me I really should develop something that was more structured. Enter VATrainer.com which was launched in … [Read more...]
How easy do you make it for your customers?
My husband is a ham radio operator. He was perusing websites recently looking for some equipment to further his hobby. He was looking at sites here in Australia as well as overseas. He found one based in Sydney that had what he wanted BUT, they had no shopping cart set up for their long list of accessories and once you were on the list, there was no link to get back to the site itself. The list was in a PDF format. Some Australian businesses are complaining about customers shopping overseas … [Read more...]
Who do you know?
Over the years I've become known as someone who knows someone when someone might be looking for someone. Are you still with me? ;-) I believe in networking - it has helped build my business and builds the business of countless others around the world. There are some really good business networks out there that really work, and BNI (www.bni.com(.au) is one of them. This morning while I was at a BNI meeting one of the members passed a referral on to our business coach and when she read out the … [Read more...]
When flattery will get you nowhere (and cost you money)
When you have a presence online there will come a time when the thieves come out of the woods and make themselves known. More like wolves in sheep's clothing. They will butter you up and tell you how fantastic you are and convince you that you should part with your hard-earned money to invest in their project. In this case a 'who's who directory of people' from some unknown but impressive sounding company. When you get approached by someone to list in a Who's Who Directory it would be well … [Read more...]
