Author Archive
What is a VA, anyway?
Because we have decided to build this blog to help educate potential clients of VAs on the ins and outs of working with a virtual professional, this seems a logical starting place.
What is a Virtual Assistant (VA)?
Perhaps you’ve heard about virtual assistants in the media, through an article or a press release. Maybe you heard [...]
Understanding how a VA operates
Most people who are searching for a VA have just heard of the industry and are overwhelmed when they find themselves faced with the task of hiring someone.
By understanding a few basics about Virtual Assistants, the entire process should be easier for you.
The first thing you should realize is that a Virtual Assistant is not [...]
Common Policies and Procedures of Virtual Assistants
There are a few key things to look out for when you initiate the process of working with a Virtual Assistant.
First of all, the VA should provide you with a contract or client agreement to sign before you start working together. This should outline his/her hours of operation, your rate, different policies and procedures which [...]
What to Look For in a VA’s Proposal
When you decide to partner with a VA, it can be overwhelming. It’s a very big decision because you will be working very closely with this person and you want to make sure you choose the best VA for you that you possibly can.
I’d like to address a couple things you should keep in mind [...]
How Important are Testimonials?
As you browse through Virtual Assistant websites you will find that many of them will feature testimonials received from satisfied clients. That can make it easy for you to make a decision if you are having trouble deciding between the VAs who have made your short list. But, what if someone you’re interested [...]
The Importance of Personality
Far more important than rates and almost equally important as skill when selecting a Virtual Assistant, is personality.
If you need website updates, assistance with your Internet marketing efforts and database management, you can find handfuls of VAs that provide those services and most will fall within the same price range.
How do you choose after you’ve [...]
VAs and Training
It shouldn’t be up to you to train your VA. The VA you choose to work with should already be experienced in the work you want them to do. That’s one of the big benefits of partnering with a Virtual Assistant.
If you find someone great who hasn’t any experience in the services you need, if [...]
Please don’t paint us all with the same brush!
Because Virtual Assistants are a relatively new concept to many people with this industry being so young, there are a lot of challenges we face on a pretty regular basis. Let me share a story with you.
I attended a small tradeshow about a year ago which was sponsored by a local business women’s group. I [...]
What did you waste energy on today?
I’m willing to bet you did at least one thing today that you either rolled your eyes over or had to take a deep breath to get through. Could have been faxing an email, organizing your receipts, typing up a letter or coming up with content for a newsletter. Maybe you’re the type that hates [...]
Make a plan before working with a Virtual Assistant
When you think you’re ready to choose a Virtual Assistant to start taking care of your administrative headaches, there are some things you should do on your end to make things a bit easier for everyone.
The most important thing you can do before you get into a contact with a VA is to clearly lay [...]
What’s the worst question you can ask a Virtual Assistant?
Easy…
“Can you send me a resume?”
Even though people ask this question to VAs all the time, as a general group, we don’t like it.
I think it’s because it means we’re being thought of as employees. Remember, administrative assistants don’t get paid very well and often have to take a lot of orders and abuse [...]
Get dozens of skills with one Virtual Assistant
There are so many benefits to working with a Virtual Assistant. One of those is that in most cases you get a lot more brains than one!
No, Virtual Asstants aren’t two-headed creatures, but most are very well connected through the VA networking forums they frequent.
Let me explain.
If you wanted to hire one employee who could [...]
The easiest administrative task to delegate…
For anyone looking to add more time to their days (who isn’t?!), partnering with a Virtual Assistant is definitely the way to go.
Before this process starts, the potential client (that would be you) often has a ton of questions about how it all works. There is a lot of information about this in the blog [...]
Quick Tip - Looking for a legitimate business expense?
The bad thing about making boat loads of money as an entrepreneur is that you have to pay for it at tax time. Even though the economy is in rough shape right now, you still need to have some legitimate business expenses to help even things out next spring.
It’s wise to watch your spending on [...]
How’s your hive buzzing?
I posted this piece to my own blog back in June and never had one comment on it! I was disappointed cause I thought it was a pretty good little post. I would like to share it here because I believe it’s a great analogy.
Enjoy!
Let’s, for a moment, imagine that your business is a beehive [...]
How big is your bowl?
Yesterday I exhibited at a local business expo and shared booth space with a client of mine who has a similar target market. It made lots of sense and we were glad we were sharing when we realized how poorly the show was attended by members of our target market. Anyway…my client emailed me to [...]
Ho-ho-ho! The holidays are coming!
It’s Halloween - you know what that means. Monday we’ll be seeing Christmas trees and holiday displays everywhere. It might seem early for that, but it’s not too early to start thinking about how you can make the holidays easier on yourself this year.
Did you realize that when you work with a Virtual Assistant, you [...]
Outsource your higher learning?
By ‘outsourcing your higher learning’, I don’t mean you should delegate your university education or your college assignments. That wouldn’t be ethical. But how many times have you thought something like…
“I’m ready to put a shopping cart on my website, I should really learn how to do that.”
“I know I should be putting out a [...]
StartupNation thinks we’re number 1!
Yes, VAnetworking.com received top ranks in StartupNation’s annual Home Based 100 competition, under the category of Boomers Back in Business!
While this alone might not be enough to excite you as someone interested in (or currently) working with a Virtual Assistant, check out what the judges (who included Adam Lowry, co-founder of Method Products, Howard Behar, [...]
Outsourcing won’t make you less of an entrepreneur!
I was thinking today about a conversation I had a year ago with a potential client. He said he was finally going to let go of the mindset that so many entrepeneurs have. That was, thinking that he wouldn’t be successful unless he did everything himself so his business remained his business.
We had a lot [...]
Facebook, Twitter and Plaxo - Oh my!
If you’re an entrepreneur interested in growing your business (which is normally the goal of all entrepreneurs!) you really should be spending a good bit of time on your social networking.
The problem is, you’re too busy for that. When you’re working in your business you don’t have time to spend on things like “twittering“! Do [...]
