He rang up late in the afternoon, 5.20pm to be exact. He was in his car and heading out away from some meeting when he said to me, 'do you know what I like about having a virtual assistant compared to a personal assistant?' He didn't wait for my answer. 'Because I know that the VA is still there when I suddenly realise I need something urgently for tomorrow. Do you mind? Can you manage this if I swung by in an hour to pick it up?' He told me what he needed and I was able to confirm I could … [Read more...]
Don’t Blow Yourself Out Of The Water!
When a new VA is starting out, there is the temptation to accept any job that comes along, just for the sake of having a client and work to do. But things can go awry very, very quickly, if you have no experience in that type of work, and if you don't know what you're doing. Some jobs may appear to be easy at the outset, but unless you truly have some idea of what's involved, probably best to let it pass to someone more experienced. Some of these will include: transcriptions (audio & … [Read more...]
Working Virtually – What Does That Mean?
I have on my VA website a Job Request form for prospective clients to fill out, asking them the questions that we need answers to, to know what kind of support they require. Two of those questions ask if they need local support and where the job is located if local support is required. However, not all answer those two questions and we end up with some interesting exercises to ensure that the right VA contacts them for their needs. For example: If a client is based in the US and indicates … [Read more...]
Taking Your Business Seriously
When setting up a business at home, I find that people tend to sort themselves into one of two different groups. One group takes their business seriously, putting in the groundwork to get it established, do the research, learn about their chosen industry, mix with the people who are already doing it and basically performing a 'monkey see, monkey do' type scenario. The second group put in the mouth work, i.e. they tell people they're setting up a business, but apart from having the equipment at … [Read more...]
Case Study #5
Cheryl is an artist, mainly oils and water paints, but does silks scarves and other items too. Her passion is cats and most of her paintings has a cat somewhere in the picture, and often she is too, depicted as a little girl with long blonde hair. Her father is the second case study I did and he introduced me to Cheryl years ago. Periodically I do mail lists and mailouts for her, presentations on her artwork, media releases, brochures for her art shows, and so on. In these latter years she's … [Read more...]
Networking – a life skill
I wrote recently about Robyn and networking - a client I really enjoyed working with. Tonight I had the privilege of meeting another great networker, and that is Ivan Misner, Founder of Business Network International (BNI). I was attending a "Meet the Founder" function in Melbourne, Australia, along with many other leaders of BNI here. It was a great evening, filled with information because we had a Q&A session where we could just fire questions at Ivan and he answered them. I took lots of … [Read more...]
Client Case Study #4
Robyn is a well known public speaker in Australia and her topic is Networking. For 2 or 3 years I was privileged to be her virtual assistant as she frequently travelled to my state and needed assistance whilst here. Over time we got to know each other well and I even supported her office when she was away overseas, handling some calls or emails on her behalf. How did our relationship begin? Her book 'Networking for Success' was the first business book I bought back in 1993 as I was preparing … [Read more...]
New VA Education & Coaching Program now available!
Well, it's here! I've been developing an education and coaching program for virtual assistants over the past few months, well, since before Christmas. It's been on the drawing board for around 3-4 years and has been one of those projects that just kept being put aside. But time moves on and I get many requests seeking advice, help, support, mentoring, coaching, etc these days so I decided it was time I did something about it. Whilst there are a number of VA education and coaching programs … [Read more...]
Welcome to the dark side!
There is lots written about the benefits of being a Virtual Assistant and particularly of working at home. You read articles, see photos of healthy looking people running on the beach, playing ball with their kids, driving a flashy car, or sitting under a tree with their laptop. The reality is very different - not unenjoyable, otherwise I wouldn't still be in a home office over 12 years down the track. But, I don't get the time to run on the beach, my kids grew up with mum at home, usually in … [Read more...]
