For those of you who haven’t noticed, I am taking a break for a month or two.  My health conditions have been lacking lately, and it’s difficult for me to keep up with things as I once did.  Also losing my health insurance last year and now being basically “uninsurable” is taking its toll on my finances due to all of my medical conditions.

I do have a personal blog I’m updating for family and friends, so if you’d like to still keep up with me while I’m taking a break from here you can visit me at Heather’s Happenings.

I am also going back to work full time next week–not for the money, because I’m actually taking a pay cut.  But for the health insurance.  The company offers some coverage for some of my pre-existing conditions and it will cover anything new diagnosed.  So that’s better than nothing.

I encourage all of you working as virtual assistants to try to get on your spouse’s health insurance, because it appears that individual health insurance is no guarantee.  Meaning if you get more than they want to handle, they can and will drop you.  If you don’t have a spouse (like me), then you’re in a bit more of a bind with that as you have no other choices.

When I return from this latest bout of illnessnesses, I will work on re-adding new contracts to my VA Form Drawer as well as packaging up my Moving Toward Success Program lessons for sale individually or in groups.  I wish you all health, happiness, and prosperity.  Thank you for your understanding during this time for me.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Posted: August 5th, 2008 under Virtual Assistant.
Comments: none

One of the biggest mistakes I see from new virtual assistants once they have their shop set up is that they often claim to be able to do more than they are really able to do.  Most people figure they can figure things out easily on their own, so it will be no big deal to claim that they know how to do something that they don’t.

Unfortunately, this not only hurts the person claiming to do more than they can do, but it also hurts the virtual assistant industry due to the poor representation.  It is imperative that you are honest and up front with your clients and potential clients.  If you don’t understand online marketing, make sure you tell your client(s) that if they ask about it.

If they are asking you for tips or information on how to do something that you are not familiar with yourself (through success and experience not just heresay or from taking one course on the subject), do not offer them advice, tips, or information.  You can say, “I’ll share with you what I know, but I’m not experienced in this area.”

If you owned a store, you wouldn’t sell products that you didn’t have available or couldn’t source for your customers.  At least, you wouldn’t stay in business very long if you did that as a practice.  The same thing applies for your virtual assistant business, even though your products are service based.  It’s one thing to want to help your clients, and it’s another to misrepresent yourself at their expense.

Clients will appreciate your honesty more, and the other virtual assistants in our industry will be viewed with higher respect and integrity.  So make certain that you are representing yourself correctly, because you are, in a sense, representing us all!

Keep moving toward success!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Posted: June 24th, 2008 under Tips, Virtual Assistant.
Comments: none

Sometimes while working virtually, we run across obstacles that traditional offices don’t encounter.  This doesn’t mean we fold up shop and give up.  Instead, as a resourceful virtual assistant, which we should be known for being, we find solutions to the obstacles we come across during the course of doing business with our clients.

One of the first hurdles I ran up against was having a client who wanted something done on his/her computer or sometimes on software that I didn’t have on my computer (and couldn’t afford to purchase for just one client).

The solution?  There’s a fantastic service called, GoToMyPC where you can access your computer or your clients’ computers remotely.  I still use this for a couple of my clients to access their computers, and I have it set up for my own in the event I’m out and about with my laptop and need to access information on my desktop.

Your clients will need to setup and install this for you to access their computer, but once they do pick a time for you to login when they don’t need their computer.  And then you can access whatever it is they need you to do. 

It is a secure system,.  And if clients are worried about you poking around their computer–they can simply create another Windows login for you with only access to software and files they want you to have access to on their computer.

So try out GoToMyPC today with your clients to solve some of your obstacles.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Posted: June 12th, 2008 under Tips, Virtual Assistant.
Comments: none

Have you been interested in learning more about running a virtual assistant business from your home? Tired of scams wanting to you pay for job leads? Come learn the basics of what a virtual assistant is really about in this free monthly online chat.

Posted: June 3rd, 2008 under Events.
Comments: none

A big part of having a good working relationship with a client is having good communication skills.  But even more important than that, it’s using those communication skills in anticipation of problems and not in retrospect of them.

Are you using communication with your clients proactively or in hindsight?

If you find you are having a lot of clients say, “I didn’t know that,” “I didn’t know,” “You didn’t tell me,” “You never mentioned it before,” or anything similar, then odds are you are spending too much time explaining things in hindsight of problems or situations.

So if you haven’t yet, you need to create a business policy manual to hand out to all of your current and new clients.  This manual should contain everything from your office hours to your holiday schedules to your payment terms and turn around times and more.  Everything your client should know about how you run your business should be included in this manual.

We work on making VA Business Policy manuals in my new Moving Toward Success Program as I provide you with a blank template for you to fill in the information you might not have thought to convey to your clients yet.  Join us today!

We are up to 10 members, so we are still small enough for you to get the individual attention that you need.

On another note, because my site was down some last week due to a lightning strike at the data center where my site is hosted, I’m offering a discount of 15% on all VA electronic documents including my VA Form Drawer as well as my coaching and website services.  Simply use coupon code SORRY1 at checkout from now until Monday, June 2.  If you wanted a website built or a blog set up or some of my great products and other services, now is the time to save 15%!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Posted: May 29th, 2008 under Specials, Tips, Virtual Assistant.
Comments: none

Most new virtual assistants don’t realize it, but they are often setting themselves up for failure with self-sabotage.

Perhaps that email you got inquiring about your services made you too nervous to respond?  Worried so much that you’ll write the wrong thing that you don’t even respond at all?

Or maybe there’s a voice mail that’s been waiting for you to return the call, and you’ve been putting it off until you feel “less nervous”.

This is self-sabotage.  And you can kill your budding VA business if you don’t get it under control from the beginning.

Take some slow deep breaths and remember what you are doing–you are running a business from home.

When you call a company about a product or service, don’t you want a return call?

Extend the same courtesy to potential callers, even if what they say in the voice mail or email doesn’t sound like it works for you.  Find out more!  There might be something you can do for them–and it could turn into the client of your dreams.

For more help getting over your fears and self-sabotaging actions, sign up for my individual coaching package.

Keep moving toward success!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Posted: May 15th, 2008 under Tips, Virtual Assistant.
Comments: none

…I would be crazy to leave a stable job and start my own virtual assistant business from home.

…my home virtual assistant business will fail.

…I will never make enough money to pay the bills.

…I need to stop being selfish and think about providing for my family like a responsible adult.

The list goes on and on with the things I’ve heard both first hand and from other VA’s that I’ve coached.  Sometimes when you start a virtual assistant business, those around you aren’t going to support you.  It’s not necessarily because they hate you or are jealous of you or hope you fail. 

Most of them are saying comments like those because they are afraid.  They would never be brave enough to make such a change in their lives, and they are afraid for you because you are showing signs of being that brave (or dumb as they might view it).

I find so many virtual assistants (even myself in the beginning) who are faced with having no emotional support as they make their transition from employee to virtual assistant.  It’s a sad reality, but it’s one you can overcome.

Here are some tips to help you and keep your relations on good terms:

1. Politely let your family member know that you understand they care for you and want the best for you and your family, and that’s why they need to accept (even if they don’t agree with) you starting your own virtual assistant business.
2. Share with your family the research you’ve done on starting and running a virtual assistant business, and even ask other VAs you already know on the internet if they would mind talking to your family member(s) or emailing them about the realities of the industry.  A little education goes a long way to alleviate fears.
3. Show your family your budget and financial plans for the next year to show how you will pay bills until you have a steady and recurring client base.  If they know your finances are already thought about and planned for at least the first six to twelve months of business, it will help them better adjust to your transition.
4. Sometimes, family members are actually jealous and wish they could take the same route as you but don’t feel brave enough.  So they lash out at you with negativity.  It’s really important that you respect these people for their feelings, but inform them that you are making this choice not only for a better life for you but for your family as you will be better able to balance your family and your work by becoming a virtual assistant.  Again, these people would be ideal to provide all your research to, because they may benefit from it as well and overcome their fears to make those first steps into professional freedom.

The most important rule is even if they are constantly nagging or driving you nuts that you just take it with a grain of salt.  Don’t let them upset you, and likewise do not hurt their feelings or cut them off from you because you cannot agree on this issue. 

It might be better to take a step back from the relationship until you’ve gained your first client or pick someone who supports you to talk to on a regular basis.  Having positive reinforcement behind you is so very important to the start of your business.  That’s why my Moving Toward Success program is important, because it can provide you with positive reinforcement from me as well as your other peers in the program with you.

Keep moving toward success!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Posted: May 14th, 2008 under Virtual Assistant.
Comments: none

From my experience and from what I hear from others, the hardest thing about starting a virtual assistant business is capturing clients without having any referrals or previous clients to refer them to. As a virtual assistant, you are a business and not an employee. So your resume means nothing to them. Most prospective clients prefer to talk to someone else who’s worked with you in the past so they can build a level of trust and comfort with you.

So it seems like a neverending circle that you can’t get out of, but I have some advice and tips that worked for me. And I hope they will help you get your “foot” in the door.

First, talk to people from companies you’ve worked for in the past. They don’t have to be immediate supervisors, but people you built a rapport with that you know really liked your work and liked working with you. Explain to them what you’re doing and ask if you can use them as a reference for your work ethic.

Then when a prospective client asks for references, you don’t have to go into the detail of “I’ve never had a VA client before,” unless they point blank ask (never lie!). But you can word your references as, “Here is a list of my references who can vouch for my work ethics and/or my skills and knowledge.”

You will be delighted to find this works very well to appease those who want to hear about you from others, and it will often be the difference between getting your foot in the door or getting a toe broken in it as it closes.

Also, when in doubt and the situation feels like it’s drowning, explain to the person that you don’t have virtual references yet. You are a new business, but you are determined to stay in business long-term and have the ambition and initiative that it takes to work independently from home. Give them some examples of independent assignments, tasks, or projects that you’ve had to take on in the corporate world where no one was there to oversee you each step.

Also give examples of things you’ve done that involved research or discovering out the information on your own, because this carries a lot of weight with people looking for virtual assistants. They want you to find out the answers and not always bug them with questions you can find the answers for on your own. So now go get ‘em!

Keep moving toward success!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Posted: May 5th, 2008 under Virtual Assistant.
Comments: none

I’m so excited!  I have been working so hard on preparing the content for these new courses for May and into June.  It’s going to be a fantastic summer for aspiring virtual assistants, because you’re not going to find this information offered by anyone else for less money!  I must be crazy! 

Well, yeah.  But seriously, I just want you to not have the excuse of the downturned economy as a reason to cut back on information you need to run your virtual assistant business.  I’ve been there, done that.  And it’s no fun to grope around in the dark.  So here’s a big old flashlight–my upcoming courses.

Online Courses
The Ins and Outs of Outsourcing	Aren’t Typing Skills Enough?
eCourses
Free VA eCourse	Dreamweaver CS3 Basics eCourse
Telecourses
Four Easy Ways to Tell if Being a Virtual Assistant Is for You	Admin Work from Home: 6 Easy Ways to Identify a Scam!
The Website that Attracts: 3 Key Elements to Have in Your VA Website
Home Study Courses
Finding Your Niche	VA Startup Software

Some of these are free and the rest are low cost.  So sign up today before spaces fill!

See there and keep moving toward success!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Posted: May 1st, 2008 under Specials, Virtual Assistant.
Comments: none

Once you get established with a few clients, it’s easy to find your schedule either keeping you insanely busy or insanely bored. There doesn’t seem to be much in the midde, which is your ideal. So this month I’m offering tips on how to schedule your workload out.

First of all, never go over 30 hours a week with scheduling your clients. So make sure you account for that in creating your hourly rate. Why? Well, two reasons. One, this allows you the opportunity to be flexible with your ongoing current clients if they need more from you one week than they do normally. They will appreciate that and their loyalty to you will increase.

Also, it allows you time for one time projects that might drop in sporadically (and with minimum charges on those they usually turn out to be very profitable). This also gives you time to handle some of your own business administrative functions (billing, record keeping, etc.) during normal business hours so you are not up late at night or weekends when you should be spending time with family.

Next, make sure your contracts all state that normal business requests must be scheduled 48 hours in advance. This way, when someone calls and says, “Heather, are you available to work with me on a project on Friday?” on a Wednesday, you can open your calendar and schedule appropriately.

Many clients will try to treat you like an employee–requesting same day if not immediate turn arounds. This is your time to remind them that while you do try to process same day requests, you do require a 48 hour notice for all normal business requests and that rush fees can apply if they need things done sooner.

Now, I’m pretty flexible with most of my clients, because I understand that things DO come up as a surprise now and again. So most of the time I don’t charge a rush fee for doing work the same day or in less than 48 hours from request unless they either are abusing this by constantly wanting things done same day or I’m really that busy that I can’t process their requests same day unless I work until midnight. Those two times, I will actually tell them that if I do their work I will require a rush fee in addition to normal hourly rates.

Always keep an electronic and a paper copy of your calendar. Technology is great, but you never know when it will decide not to function anymore! Even if I know a phone call or project will only take 30 minutes or so, I go ahead and block an hour in my schedule just in case something goes wrong or the client requests changes afterward.

This is a good rule of thumb to keep yourself out of a quandry and it gives you the opportunity to get up and stretch your legs or get some fresh air or a cup of coffee between projects. Believe it or not, these little “breaks” even if just for a minute or two will help keep your mind fresh all day.

Keep moving toward success!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Posted: April 28th, 2008 under Small Businesses, Virtual Assistant.
Comments: none