Sometimes you have to laugh. I love working with my clients and for the most part, things go along smoothly. But just every now and then a hiccup happens and it is usually because I didn't know the background of something taking place in my client's life at the time. That's when we have to take some time to discuss things. We'll be in a pattern of getting regular activities taking place, we'll be setting up the next thing, whether it be a newsletter, new seminar listed on the website or … [Read more...]
You get what you pay for
Just been having a conversation with a client. I'm going through several worksheets of a spreadsheet of information they were given for a new mailing list. When I looked at the spreadsheet, whole addresses had been put into one column, not split up into street, suburb, state, postcode, country and on the last worksheet it had been spread over 4 rows, not columns, so I couldn't copy and paste the information into a new worksheet row by row. I had to print it off and retype it. I explained to … [Read more...]
Virtual Assistants – Plan Your Work For Them
As more business owners become aware of the world of Virtual Assistants and realise the potential for getting a wide range of things to be done, there is also the potential for getting confused about who a VA is and what they should be doing for a client. Many clients often realise at the last minute things that need to be done, or try to do something themselves and, in a panic, realising they can't, contact a virtual assistant for (urgent) help. They might even have a regular VA who is … [Read more...]
What Type of Logo Should You Have for Your Business?
I have guest poster Ben Johnson sharing on the importance of the type of logo for your business. Your logo really is the proverbial "calling card" for your business. A potential customer or client will make that all important first impression many times based on the appearance, style and design of your business logo. Understanding the importance of your business logo, you may be wondering what you actually should have, what you should include within the design of that logo. Through this … [Read more...]
Interview with Craig Cannings
You have seen several interviews of clients who use Virtual Assistants. This interview is about a man who saw a way to work with Virtual Assistants and assist them in their workplace training. Please tell my readers a bit about who you are and what you do. My name is Craig Cannings and I have had the privilege of working virtually as a Internet Marketing Consultant, Blogger and Entrepreneur since 2003. I actually have three young daughters who have never known their Dad to work "outside" the … [Read more...]
Virtual Assistant or Employee?
There are other adjectives I can think of but I won't use them here. I saw a post advertising for a Female Virtual Assistant/Content Writer that says, and I quote: You'll be writing about 3-4 250-350 articles per hour based on the keywords I will specify. I am going to expect you work full time (only for me and not anyone else) (my emphasis) You have to have experience in article writing. Amongst other things. The 'virtual assistant' had to be living in the Phillipines too. I left a comment … [Read more...]
Should a Virtual Assistant Network For a Client?
I saw an interesting article today titled "Take Advantage of Social Networking with a Virtual Assistant" so of course I went and read it straight away. I have very firm ideas about what a VA should and shouldn't do for a client and networking is one of those things I don't believe we should be doing. I agree we can set up profiles for clients and hold their hand and help them through the process of learning to use tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and others but I strongly believe we … [Read more...]
No. 9 Mistake VAs Make
Recently I became aware of a challenge a VA was having and it is something I've come across before but had forgotten about it. It's an ideal post for this category. Be clear about your quotes/rates when discussing a job with a client. This VA had quoted a rate which the client accepted but there was a problem. You see the client thought the quote was the total price for the job, whereas the VA was giving a quote... per hour! She had forgotten to add those very words 'per hour' and the end … [Read more...]
Networking is not ‘set and forget’
A recent conversation with a client set me thinking. In fact I'd had a similar discussion with another client not much earlier. They both wanted accounts set up at various social networking tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc and have everything automated (rss feed from blogs, automatic responses, etc) so that they could literally 'set and forget' the very tools they needed for networking. This isn't the first time this subject has been raised - I've had others ask too, thinking … [Read more...]
