I see the word 'job' mentioned at so many VA forums and also blog posts about the VA industry. And also those who have used VAs to support their businesses the talk is very similar. There seems to be confusion about the role of where the Virtual Assistant sits. And often the new VAs are looking for work in the wrong places. My thoughts are: You want to be registered with a VA network - something that specialises in VA work only. Not only do you get introduced to clients, you'll learn about … [Read more...]
VA Story: Frances Lowe
This is the second of our series. Frances has been a long term member of our VA network - since 2002. My name is Frances Lowe and I have been a VA for the best part of 15 years. Started as a VA in 1998/99 and was working in recruitment. I was working freelance for an international procurement consultancy. I had previously worked in recruitment and had run my own agency back in the eighties. I started with Clayton's in or around 2002 and am still a proud member. I suppose the main reasons … [Read more...]
Do you suffer from Admin Overwhelm?
'Admin Overwhelm': So many business owners are overwhelmed with the amount of admin and paperwork that needs to be done to keep their businesses running. I regularly chat with other business owners via phone, email, online forums and also face-to-face networking who tell me they are drowning in paperwork and struggling to develop systems to manage the overload of administrative work that arises through the day-to-day activities of running a business. It seems to creep up on them and suddenly … [Read more...]
VA Story: Melissa Williscroft
I'm starting a series on VA stories - those VAs who have been around for awhile and how and why they got into the industry. The first is a long-term member of ACS and that is Melissa Williscroft. Melissa has been a member of the ACS Network since 2009. Below she shares her story. Starting my virtual administration business was the best decision that I ever made. My son was 18 months old and the pressure was on for me to return to work. I was staring down the barrel of having to return to … [Read more...]
What is a typical client for a VA?
A question that was asked at a forum I participate in recently. Good question and one that is important for both VAs and clients alike. The answer is, there is no typical client profile. It really depends on what the VA does and offer as to what a typical client might be for that one particular VA. And it can be based on service offerings or industry niches. For example, a VA may decide to specialise in one or more of the following services: digital transcription bookkeeping phone … [Read more...]
How do you know when a client is genuine?
I got asked this today, but admittedly, I've been asked other times too. While our industry attracts mainly good clients, we do get the occasional one that thinks they can use a VA for their own evil purposes - namely to launder money or trick someone into doing the wrong thing and therefore losing money. In the instance of today, there were many things in the emails sent to the VA that waved a red flag for me and I'll share them with you. This is a portion of my reply to her. The client had … [Read more...]
Points of Contact
Pull out your business card and have a look and see how many points of contact do you have on your card? One? Two? Three or more? It seems that many feel that because they have an email address or a website, they no longer need to add any further contact information on their business cards. I believe this is the wrong way to think and you need to make it easy on your prospective clients. As an avid networker I go out regularly to meet with other business people and what they put on their … [Read more...]
Do they know how to contact you?
I'm seeing an increasing trend of people creating brand new websites for their businesses but neglecting to put the most important information on their sites! Namely, how to contact you. Personally I don't like doing business with people who only have a contact form and no other form of contact on their site. Makes me wonder what they're trying to hide. I know, from personal experience, that many prospective clients like to pick up the phone and talk to me. Why wouldn't clients want to do the … [Read more...]
Beware of being ‘faceless’
I got an approach recently, from a company wanting me to outsource my VA work to them. They told me they wanted to partner with me. Naturally I went and visited their site and in particular, checked out their 'about page'. Pretty much a stock standard paragraph or two on the services they provide but nothing about who 'they' are, no names, nothing about their knowledge, experience, background, no photos (other than stock photos). In other words they were faceless and there was no way I could … [Read more...]
