If you are on your computer several hours a day, for most days, you should know your computer reasonably well. To the extent that if it started doing something strange or out of the ordinary you would notice it. This helps to protect your system - don't trust that all those programs you have installed such as virus protection, spyware protection, firewalls, etc are infallible - things could still get through before updates are processed on your computer to combat new things being launched every … [Read more...]
Dual Business Names – What To Do?
I had a member of my team email me a few days ago. She was concerned because a name she had registered, seemed to have someone else operating under the same name in another state. She wanted to know what to do? Further they both appear to have purchased the same domain name (?). My response to her was this: Hi, always frustrating when this happens regarding business names, however, there is no reason why you can't continue to use it. Legally speaking (in Australia) you can register a … [Read more...]
Does Being a VA Mean 100% Virtual?
I was holding an online classroom session last night and two of the students voiced the same thought as they came to a sudden realisation. We'd been talking about advertising and marketing and I told them how important networking is. Networking locally. It was like a light suddenly went on for both of them. They had thought that by being a virtual assistant they had to get all of their work virtually and online. I told them that if they tried to do that, they were missing a potential client … [Read more...]
Maintaining Systems Saves You Time and Money
If you use your computer to make a living, how much do you do to look after it? By that I mean not only backing up your data (absolutely crucial) but also making sure your computer and its software is running well. You should be clearing out old files and the .tmp files on a regular basis, defrag, check for multiple copies of files (it can and does happen easily if saved in the wrong folder for example) and so on. Today though, I want to focus on your email program and in particular, Outlook. … [Read more...]
Speaking in Acronyms
Have you noticed how we all speak a different language these days? I don't mean cultural or regional languages but rather a language that relates to what we do on a daily basis? I mean, even VA or Virtual Assistant, is something that's common to those in the industry or those who use VAs, but what about those who don't yet know what that means? And then there's computer geek, smilies, emoticons, SMS language and so on. I sent my husband an SMS today letting him know that I won't be able to … [Read more...]
Setting Up Merchant Facilities
There will come a time when a client wants to pay by credit card, but you haven't got a merchant account set up. What do you do? The fastest thing to set up is a Paypal account which is used widely in many countries these days, and very safely - despite the occasional rumours that do the rounds. Why would eBay equate themselves with Paypal if they didn't trust their payment system? Takes about 3 days to open the account but they don't charge to it, but will enter a couple of things to your … [Read more...]
What’s in a Name?
It could be the difference between whether or not you get the client! I've lost count of the number of times that people spell my name incorrectly when responding to an email I've sent - either directly to them, or via a discussion forum. And many of these people are VAs - it makes me wonder how much care they take in their own business practices. People's names are so important to them and when someone cannot spell their name correctly (not just a typo but an outright incorrect spelling) it … [Read more...]
Subscription Not Working
It's often easy to forget the lessons you learn along the way that others may not yet have come across. The beauty of someone being just that bit further down the road than someone else beginning their journey. Recently a VA tried to subscribe to my new site VA-Announcements but her address was knocked back as potentially fake by the subscription service. I tried but had the same problem so contacted the people who run the service and they sorted the problem out. The VA in question emailed … [Read more...]
The Right Client Mix
Around a month ago I gained a new client - she is in a different country to me and working in an area that interested me. I'd been engaged to manage her email lists, monitor her website and eventually set up her shopping cart with a well known shopping cart system online. However, two things worked against us. My daughter's wedding took place shortly after we had connected and I had several days when I was unavailable online - she had been informed but it was very early in our new … [Read more...]
