I was reading one of Des Walsh's latest posts at Thinking Home Business and he was referring to a blog post he had read by Darlene McDaniel (blogging seems to do that - lead you from one to another!) and the question had been raised as to when people should quit their day job when establishing their own business? That's an interesting question and the answer can be very different for a number of people. The reality is that if you are depending on the income from your day job, that the time to … [Read more...]
5 Top Ways to Use a VA
All small business owners know how tough it can be, trying to wear every hat in their business and keep balance at the same time. That's why they need support and who better than a Virtual Assistant - their own personal support? 1. Screen, forward and action your email. A number of my clients have an admin email address for my use and a lot of their email, bookings and registrations, sales and enquiries are all sent to this address. I respond accordingly and forward what requires the client's … [Read more...]
New Buzz Word?
I was at a meeting with a new client today, well, actually 3 men who represent a group and the group will be my client - if that makes sense? Anyway one of the men had mentioned he'd never heard of Virtual Assistants before and thought that one of the others had made up another new technical term, as he was prone to do. The man who had introduced me to the group has been a client of mine for over 7 years and had mentioned that the Virtual Assistant who looked after him could look after this … [Read more...]
Have you registered yet for the OIVAC?
The Online International Virtual Assistants Convention is at the end of next week. I can't believe it's almost a year since our very first one! That time has passed so quickly. There is so much to learn and benefit from attending an event such as this and although it's for the VA industry, anyone with an interest in the technology and the subjects are welcome to book for the seminars. We have 23 speakers from several countries speaking and believe me, it was fun putting the line up together as … [Read more...]
Websites for Virtual Newbies
One of my new team members was asking about the process for setting up a website. I tried to outline it as simply as possible for her and then thought it would be good to share it here. Setting up your website - there are a few components to this: 1. Purchase a domain name - if you haven't got one already you can go to www.acsdomainservices.com for a domain. If you are in Australia I encourage you to go to https://www.domaincentral.com.au for probably the best priced domains that are .au … [Read more...]
Following on…
After the challenges I had this week with my computer, I thought I would share with you some of the things I could have done to make my life easier. I'm sharing them here because 'why learn from your own mistakes, when you can learn from others'?' I'm hoping the information here will assist you in your own operations in your business. I've had the occasional computer hiccup in the past 13+ years but nothing which upset the apple cart as much as this one. I was literally unable to do much … [Read more...]
Looking for the silver lining…
Today was one of those days I'd like to start all over again, but that's just not possible. The morning started out ok until I rebooted my computer as I hadn't done it the night before (my usual nightly ritual). That's when the day came unstuck. My computer got into an eternal loop trying to start back up again and got stuck consistently at the same spot and kept trying again. I've experienced similar before so decided to power down the computer and let it sit for awhile before starting it … [Read more...]
When the Client Doesn’t Understand
Not everyone understands how to use a Virtual Assistant or what a VA can do for them. I get asked regularly what kind of business I'm in and when I tell them I'm a Virtual Assistant I get asked the normal question 'what's that?' And then when I explain that for me, it means being like a personal assistant, only virtual, briefly their face shows their unspoken question which is soon voiced. They can't even begin to perceive how we (VAs) receive the work or get it back to the client if we don't … [Read more...]
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
We were having a discussion on our VA forum the other day and one of the newer VAs spoke of the challenge she was having in getting her business up and running. There were a lot of things demanding her attention and it was a busy time in her life but she was concerned that she might be losing focus and sought ideas from the group for things that she could be doing. Which was a good thing to do as many of us have 'been there' and were able to advise what we did to keep us moving forward. When … [Read more...]
