Posts Tagged ‘virtual assistant’

Check out Sharon Williams interview about the Online International Virtual Assistants Convention with SBTV.

Interview from Becki Noles on Vimeo.

One of the most common complaints for most Virtual Assistants is that it’s hard to network, and get to know others in the same field. Maybe you stopped working in an office because there were too many stresses there, but now you find that working all day on your own can get kinda … lonely. Unless you have children or a pet, this is a condition we all share at some time or another.

Spending too much time on Friendster or MySpace can be kind of like taking crack — not very productive. You can get lost in chatting with others about weekend plans, but what good is it doing you? We prefer a social networking experience that serves two purposes. Blogging has been around since the early days of the Internet (you know, when Al Gore invented it), but has only recently become very popular. It seems that almost everybody has something to say, and as long as you have a platform, you can, too. Blogs serve the dual purposes of marketing your business, if you want to get the word out, and inviting others to comment on what you’ve said. In this way, you invent a “conversation” nearly every day you post. Soon, your sad and lonely blues will melt away as you meet new friends you never even knew you had.

Another great way to avoid the lonelies is to invest in a web cam. I know, it sounds kind of perverted, but these days, web cams are used to keep distant families together, by sharing images of children as they grow up across the country from their grandparents. Web cams can even be used to stay in touch with other VAs, or “talk” to your clients in other parts of the U.S. The personal connection can’t be beat when you’re trying to network. Logitech makes our favorite web cam.

We find that VoIP is another great way to have the feeling of staying in touch, without disrupting your work flow. VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a hardware/software combination that allows you to talk over the Internet. This saves on long-distance charges, because the call is conducted over your Internet connection. With this adapter from Hello Direct, you can use your own phone to start talking, without a lot of fuss. In just a few minutes, you could be chatting to those people you “chat” with all day long.

And the last, best way we know of to feel connected while working at home is to join a club or network. The Spiritual Cinema Club is one we adore. For $21 a month, we get four new films every month on DVD (the tapes don’t have to be returned). They might be shorts, features or documentaries, but they all share a certain spiritual quality. The films are not overbearing, or hell-bent on converting you to anything, just open-minded meditations on what it means to be conscious and human on this planet. And the best part of all is that the first month of membership is free if you click on the link below!

Now that you’re feeling a bit less isolated, get back to work!

About the Author
Patty McFeeney is part of the team at http://www.AssistantGirls.com She’s spent the past twelve years honing her graphic design skills at magazines such as Discover, SPIN, Blender, and Virtually Alternative, among others.

Virtual Assistants (or VAs) perform many different tasks for their clients. They do everything from proofreading to helping their clients provide great customer service to web site design and web site maintenance to setting up teleclasses and sending out newsletters to many more.

Since virtual assistants perform all these tasks from their own offices, a virtual assistant business is a perfect business to promote online. I have taught online marketing to many virtual assistants, and here are top 5 tips I have for you, whether you are just starting a new virtual assistant practice or you are a seasoned VA:

- Find A Target Market For Your Virtual Assistant Business. I have seen too many virtual assistants who are just starting their own businesses take on everyone as their target market. While it might be tempting to say that everyone is your target market, finding a smaller target market will help you create a better marketing message, get clients faster, and ultimately, succeed with your business.

- Have A Professional Web Site. Since you are offering professional virtual assistance services, it is only fitting that your web site has a professional image.

Make sure that your web site has a professional look and feel and creates a good first impression for your potential customers.

- Explain What You Do. Not everyone is familiar with the term virtual assistant. Make sure that you explain what it is, and what services you provide. Telling your prospective clients about your services will make it easier for them to understand what you do.

- Drive Traffic To Your Web Site Using Article Marketing. Article marketing is a great way to show your expertise and promote your virtual assistant business. When you publish articles, each one of your articles comes with a Resource Box. The Resource Box contains information about you and your business. However, the most important thing that the Resource Box contains is a link back to your web site. Web sites and blog owners who reprint your article include your Resource Box with a “live” link back to your web site. Thus, your articles help you generate a unidirectional (one-way) links to your web site. These unidirectional links are great for driving more traffic to your web site.

- Get a Blog and Start Blogging. A business blog is an excellent tool to toot your own horn, let the world know about your virtual assistance business, as well as your services, and tell your target customers why they should do business with you, rather than your competitor. A business blog is also a great tool for attracting potential customers to your blog and your web site.

Use these five tips to take your virtual assistance business to the next level. Internet is a great place to promote your business and find clients – make sure your use Internet marketing techniques to promote your virtual assistant business.

About the Author
Biana Babinsky is the online business consultant, expert and author who teaches virtual assistants how to get more clients online and make more money. Learn how to make more money with your virtual assistant business by getting her free report, How To Get More Clients For Your Business Online at http://www.EffectiveOnlineMarketing.com/report.

We change the oil in our cars, filters in our furnance and batteries in our smoke detectors to maintain peak performance. What are you doing to maintain peak performance of your computer?

Because your computer is the key to running your business you want to make sure it is always operating at maximum speed. This ensures you are being as efficient as possible when performing tasks and translates to being able to over deliver resulting in happy clients. In this edition of Ask the Master we will explore the maintenance schedule required to keep our computers and our business running efficiently.

What things do I need to maintain on my computer?

There are basically two sections to maintaining your computer. There is the cleaning and removing of unnecessary files and data which slow down the speed of your computer and the updated of major software programs to ensure protection against vulnerabilities and improved operation. These include cleaning files, browser cache, cookies and temp files. Updating virus definitions, Windows and Office applications. Defragmenting your computer.

What What do I need to do weekly?

Update virus definitions at least weekly. Find out when and how often your virus software posts and updates their definitions. For instance if they only update them once a week on Wednesdays then you would want to make sure you run your updates every Thursday morning so you have maximum protection. This may be something you need to do daily as well so it’s important to know how your virus software company operates their updates.

Also consider running more than one antivirus software for maximum protection!
What do I need to do monthly?

This is the largest piece of the computer maintenance I do. I clear my browser cache (including history), cookies, temp and prefetch files (these are files Windows XP uses to start the program and applications and should be cleaned out regularly to avoid build-up), and empty my recycle bin using a free tool called Clean Up! (http://cleanup.stevengould.org/). You can do this manually through your browser under Tools then Internet Options and simply emptying your recycle bin.

Check for and update security and critical updates to your Windows program by going to your browser and clicking Tools and Windows Update. XP users can set it to automatically check and update these. Be wary of adding any and all updates to your computer focusing on just the critical and security issues for programs you use.

From the Windows Update page on your browser you can go to the Office Family page and run any required updates to your MS Office program.

Defragging your computer is an important task to your computer’s performance. As files are used, deleted and created, free space on your hard drive become split into smaller non-contiguous blocks or sectors. Eventually new files being created, or old files being extended, cannot be stored in a single contiguous block but become scattered. This degrades your computer’s performance as your computer must perform multiple seek operations to access a single fragmented file.

Defragmenting consolidates existing files and free space into a continuous group of sectors. Access speed is improved due to the reduced number of seek operations. To defragment your computer go to Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools and Disk Defragmenter.
What do I need to do yearly?

At least once a year clean out your data files and emails. Go in and look at old documents you have stored on your computer. Do you or your client still need or use them? Are they obsolete or outdated? Files I have for client’s I worked with 5 years ago could definitely be deleted to make more room and improve the speed of my computer. Do you have old jokes or pictures you have saved? An old version of a form or marketing item? Get rid of them! Clean your computer the same way you would clean a filing cabinet.

If you do not use or have the Auto Archive feature on your email program go in and clean out your emails as well from folders and sent files.
What else do I need to consider?

If you have ever gotten a virus that has slowed your computer down to a crawl you will recognize the importance of installing a firewall to further protect yourself from these situations. Trying to work on a limping computer is stressful in addition to inefficient.

Schedule regular back ups of your data files. If you encounter computer problems, viruses, system crashes, floods or anything that incapacitates your computer you don’t want to be spending time and energy recreating these files.

About the Author
Mary-Lou Ashon successfully launched her Virtual Assistant company in 1997 and holds expertise in organizing information, creation and implementation of administrative procedures and marketing. She has proven that dedication, communication, loyalty and a flare for marketing are keys to developing successful client relationships. Mary-Lou has a keen desire to promote awareness of VA\’s as a career option both internationally and at home in Canada and has developed a cost effective, convenient and high quality training program which you can locate at http://vatp.ca/.