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...]
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...]
Client Request
As probably happens to many VAs (or for that matter, any business operator) whose websites are easily located, I get requests asking me if I would promote something, refer someone, or give work to someone. This morning's request was of the middle agenda and here is what was sent to me: My name is Joe (withheld) I am with a company called (withheld). We would like to do some business with your Consulting firm. Let me explain the help we need. 1. Your company and my company are always looking … [Read more...]
Just who is the expert?
One of the ACS team sent a message yesterday about an advert she saw. This is it: · Work from home listening and typing up lectures · Paid $15 per completed transcription Transcriptionist required to listen to recorded lectures and transcribe lectures in fields of either : 1. medicine OR 2. organic chemistry OR 3.physics and mechanics of solids Lectures run for no longer than 1hour in duration Can do as many lectures per week as desired but minimum of 6 required She sent an enquiry to … [Read more...]
Client Case Study #3
This particular client type came via one of my team members in 1997. She'd been offered a role but was unable to take it on and forwarded the details to me. I looked at the job spec and realised that this was something I would love to do and I'd been doing it already in managing a team of VAs. So I applied for the role, was interviewed (don't often get interviewed for looking after clients but in this case, was necessary) and accepted. The role? Association Management. Managing a membership … [Read more...]
Jeckyll & Hyde Clients
Periodically home based operators become targets for 'shady' clients, those who seem really nice and genuine, or perhaps helpless, but end up being something completely different. They will start off enquiring about services and will send a test sample of something to be done to see if you can carry out the work adequately. The trouble is they will do the same to about a half dozen operators, and end up getting their entire job done - for gratis, because there will be a reason why the test … [Read more...]
Client or Employer?
The team and I were having an interesting discussion yesterday about a job that had been posted via a vacancies list at a well known organisation, and also about approaches by email. There is concern these days about which ones are genuine and which ones are illegal. My response follows: "If it has anything to do with processing accounts, handling money on their behalf, being a finance officer or similar - STAY RIGHT AWAY FROM IT. In fact, any offer of a 'job', so to speak, by email, should … [Read more...]
Client Case Study #2
I met William a year after I started my business. He found me in the Yellow Pages after the secretarial service he'd been using moved out of the area. William was in his late 60s at the time and still a practising Export Trade Consultant with a government department. He ran his business from his home and would fax me his handwriting and I would fax back the typed document so he could fax it on to someone else. His handwriting was difficult to read but I got used to it and gradually, over time, … [Read more...]
Client Case Study #1
It was suggested to me via a recent comment posted that I should post some Case Studies and I think that an excellent idea - it will help demonstrate to both wanna-be VAs, and prospective clients, just how a client-VA relationship works. So, enter Lorraine, one of my longest-term clients. Lorraine is a Business Coach who specialises in showing people how to better organise their working and personal lives. Her business name is The Office Organiser and her catch phrase is "How to Have Less Mess, … [Read more...]
