Google Alerts – Your Own Research Assistant

“Google Alerts” is one of the most powerful tools on the internet to stay on top of the information you need.

It  is a system that searches the Web, news sources, blogs, video sites and groups for new information related to any search term that you specify. Then, as the name suggests, this free tool “alerts” you via an automated email about new results.

Whether you are..

• just starting out and want more information about the VA industry or
• a savvy VA and want information to keep up to date with your clients or your competition,

Google Alerts can be your own personal research assistant to find the info you need and best of all….,

It’s free and really simple to set up.

Below are also 5 ideas how to use Google Alerts for yourself and your business. Read more »

Is a Virtual Assistant Career Right for You?

If you think about it, this can be a controversial question, right?

Some people will automatically say yes!

Others will waver a bit before they answer,

…..and a few will admit it is not!

At first glance, many people may think virtual assistance is a simple career to break into but unfortunately, reality often proves otherwise.

Although in theory anyone with the right technical and administrative skills can become a Virtual Assistant, in practice, only a few really run a successful Virtual Assistant business.

For many, Virtual Assistance is a dream comes true, but for others, this dream sometimes turns into a horrible nightmare.

So, what can you do to ensure your Virtual Assistant business IS in fact a dream career?

Well, to start with, here are a few important questions to ask yourself before starting your own virtual assistant business:

1. Can you work independently? In a 9-5 job, you know what is expected of you and someone else determines how much work you do and when you do it. As a Virtual Assistant, you’re the boss and the buck stops with you. Nobody tells you what to do, nobody motivates you and nobody determines your pace.

2. Do you understand the VA industry? Do you understand that a Virtual Assistant is an independent business owner and what it all entails? Do you know what services you will provide and do you understand how to effectively communicate with your clients and deliver your services when you are miles or even continents apart?

3. Do you understand what it takes to run a business and are you ready for that commitment? As independent business owners, VAs run their own businesses and as such have to consider things like …

• Deciding on a Business name
• Developing a Business Plan
• Developing a Marketing Plan and Finding their own clients
• Developing a Website
• Determining a suitable rate to charge for their services
• Having an effective bookkeeping system for invoicing and collecting payments
• Developing contracts to protect themselves and their clients
• Protecting their business via insurance and effective back-up plans

4. Do you have marketable skills? If you’ve had experience as an administrative assistant, you most likely have the skills needed to get started. But you may need to add new skills to really stand out from the crowd since the number of Virtual Assistants competing for jobs has increased tremendously. Thus, in order to be really successful it is necessary to have a unique, desirable skill set. In other words, skills that are in high demand and that are not freely available. Skills which can solve a client’s needs and skills that you can charge a premium price for.

5. Can you wait for your first client? In most cases, clients will not line up for your services the minute you open your doors for business.  Growing a business takes time and often you don’t find that first client for several months. Do you have enough financial resources as a back-up when you don’t find your first client soon? Do you have your plans in place to go out FIND your first client?

***

It is important to be patient and persevere during the start-up phase and to continue marketing your business on a daily basis. Face-to-face marketing to friends, family, colleagues and new potential clients and spreading the message via “Word of Mouth” is usually the easiest and most common method of finding your first solid client.

As I already said above, a Virtual Assistant career can be a dream comes true for many, but it can just as easily convert into a nightmare for those who are not sufficiently prepared for the challenges that will come their way.

If you cannot answer positively on the questions above, but it is still your passion to become a Virtual Assistant – don’t despair. There is a lot of information on the VA industry, what it takes to become a Virtual Assistant and how to have a successful Virtual Assistant career. Read as much as you can, join VA organisations, speak to existing VAs, start your business part-time, get a business coach if you want and develop your skill sets until you feel more comfortable.

Remember: Anything in life is possible – but only you can decide how to live your dream!!

At Be Virtual Assistant Wise, we are really passionate about helping you to succeed in your virtual assistant career.  We would also love to hear about the challenges you experience in starting your VA business . You can use the comment box below to tell us more about it.

The Most Important Question

(and answer) to grow your virtual assistant business

I believe more and more Virtual Assistants are trying to “make it out there”, but are they REALLY growing their businesses into viable, profitable enterprises?

The most important Question you have to ask yourself as a virtual assistant business owner is …

Do I have a website?

The word virtual says it all.  The synonyms for virtual are:  practical, fundamental, near, effective and essential.

To be a virtual assistant means that you are not physically present in your client’s location, but you are virtually present which imply that you are almost present, effectively reachable and nearby.

In my eyes “virtually present” means that you are “present on line” and to be present on line you NEED to have a website!  Full stop. 

And if I may be particular, not only “just a website” but a professional looking one.  With a professional website, your business is open to the World 24/7, 365 days a year. 

A website is your online brochure where you are going to establish client confidence and rapport and to a great extent improve your overall business image.

When internet savvy clients are looking for virtual assistants in a VA-directory, odds are that they will be looking for website links and if you don’t have one, they will nine out of ten times move to your opposition’s listing, click on their link and never even return to yours.

Having a website means that you are not that local little business anymore.  It means that you have crossed all geographical borders and are an internationally recognized virtual assistant business.

 Can you really afford not to have a website of your own?

 And the answer is ….

…  NO!

The biggest event ever…

… on South African Soil. 

Yes, I am talking about the FIFA 2010 soccer world cup that kicks off in less than 70 hours in Johannesburg, South Africa.

It almost feels unreal to realize that it IS going to happen.  The announcement on 15 May 2004, that South Africa is to host the next World Cup in 2010, made me so proud but also filled me with fear that we are not going to be up to it. 

BUT  for Danny Jordaan there was no fear in the announcement.  His journey began 10 years prior to the announcement when he started working on SA’s first bid for the 2006 World Cup.  Although we’ve lost that bid in 2000 to Germany by one vote, he did not give up and started again only to taste the reward of his beliefs and hard work in 2004.

Today, 2216 days after the announcement Jordaan’s dream is finally coming to fruition as we are looking forward to the kick off on Friday the 11^th. 

Are you also proud?  Did everything that goes with the preparations etcetera also surpass your wildest expectations?

Yes?

But you know what.  It did not happen overnight.  It took years of pre-planning to get the bid and it took more than 6 years of planning, dedication and hard work after the bid for this majestic dream to come true.

 Starting your own virtual assistant business works the same.  You might not reap results overnight, but if you have a dream you’re halfway there.   The secret is to belief in your dream, to do everything in you power (pre-planning) to make your dream come true (founding your business) and then act on the planning to reap the rewards of the Biggest Event Ever you’ve dreamed about.

When Danny Jordaan was asked in 2004 how excited he was about the World Cup he said:  “Excitement is something that lasts for 90 minutes in football.  This is an engagement that lasts five years.”    Use these words to build your business and surpass your wildest expectations.

Be Virtual Assistant Wise is a proud supporter of …Enjoy the World Cup!

Experience a Powerful Client Connection

Working virtually means that you might never see eye to eye with you clients and it is up to you to make sure you understand your clients’ message and know exactly what their needs and expectations are. 

Virtual communication is in my eyes a bit different from eye to eye communication because you cannot see or interpret the body language of your clients. That’s why virtual assistants should not only communicate with their clients, they should connect with them.

I don’t know  if  you still remember those black, roundish sweets called nickerballs.  They consisted of several layers and were so hard you could not just bite them; you had to suck through the hard black liquorice shell and the different coloured layers to eventually reach the core of the nickerball.

Communication is like a nickerball.  You have to figuratively suck through the hard shell and the different coloured layers to eventually reach the core essentials of what is needed to connect with your clients.

But …

You cannot connect with your clients if you do not listen to them.  Active listening is the most important ingredient of effective communication and an essential part of the virtual assistance puzzle.  Make it your motto to:

1.      Listen with concentration

 Listening is the key ingredient of effective communication and it is imperative to improve this skill.  When your clients talk to you, listen and concentrate to make sure you hear what they are saying.  Good listeners are not passive and they do not drift away with thoughts of their own, they concentrate on what is being said.

2.      Listen without interruption

 The purpose of listening is to understand the message.  Although you might think you know and understand what your clients want to say, avoid the urge to interrupt or finish their sentences.  Be polite, listen carefully and always “put your brain into gear before you put your mouth into motion”.

3.     Listen with the mindset to discuss

 Effective listening is not a one way street.  Make notes of what is being said, ask questions and discuss the facts with your clients to make sure you leave no room for misunderstandings.   The secret weapon to effective communication is to ask the right questions.

Remember, communication is like a nickerball … you cannot just bite through it to reach the centre; you have to suck through the layers in order to reach the core. 

Don’t just communicate with your clients, connect with them.   Listen actively and carefully, don’t interrupt when they are talking, make notes and ask the right questions in order to reach the core of their message, their needs and their expectations.

It is Up to You

It is up to you to make your mark in the Virtual Assistant industry.

Everybody want to be successful!

Everybody wants to have more clients, make more money, be recognised in their industry and feel good about themselves. It is life and part of being human. Unfortunately there is no magic wand that can make all of this happen.

The plain truth is that what you are and what you become is totally up to you.

I was recently confronted with the questions

• “Who motivates the motivator”

• “What do you do with information you receive at seminars, online training, webinars, teleconferences, email newsletter etc. etc.”

• “How will your business look a year from now”

• “When are you going to implement what you’ve learned”

…and then realized it is totally up to me to make my mark.

To go from ordinary to extraordinary I should “decide to do”.

Running your own business requires more than just following the flow of things that are thrown your way, it involves actively steering your business in the direction that you want it to go into. It requires from you to:

• Be your own motivator;

• Sift through the sea of information that you receive on a daily basis and take action on the things that can help you make your mark;

• Renew and/or set goals and targets in order to grow your business to its full potential;

• And the most important one – Implement what you’ve decided to do.

The truth is:

“There is a fine line between dreams and reality;

it’s up to you to draw it.” ~B. Quilliam~

How to Take Care of your Business

As a solo-preneur in your Virtual Assistant business, you are the boss, the worker, the accountant, the complaints department, the marketing manager, the strategist, the administrative clerk and the chief financial officer all-in-one.

With so many things happening at the same time, how do you take care of your business?

The primary purpose of Virtual Assistants is to help clients run their businesses smoothly. Yet we are sometimes putting so much time into our clients and their businesses that we don’t have time to make things easier for our own business!  Can you identify with this situation?

So, how can you take care of your own business? Read more »

Get Out & Get Clients!

6 Reasons why Face-to-Face Marketing can Land you Clients

With all the talk of social networking, Facebook, Twitter, blogs and having an on-line presence, I think we as VAs sometimes forget that one of the most effective ways to find new clients is to have some face-to-face interactions with people.

I often get the perception that Virtual Assistants feel, because they work “virtually” they do not need to find clients via face-to-face marketing. I also sometimes get the perception that it is easy to “hide” behind a computer because it is a safe, friendly and comfortable environment where a person do not “have” to step out of their comfort zone to talk and directly interact with people.

But here are 6 reasons why face-to-face meetings with people can help you get clients. Read more »

Choose The Right Companion

What is your reaction when your alarm goes off in the morning?  Is it …  “Oh no!!  Not now!!  I don’t want to get up.  It’s going to be another horrible day.”

or

What comes to your mind when you have to meet with a new client?  Is it … “What are the odds of me getting this job?”

or

What is your reaction when you have to do marketing?  Is it … “Why am I wasting my time it never pays off?”

Well, there is a reason why it’s going to be a horrible day, or why you are not getting the job and why marketing never pays off   and that reason is your companion!!  Read more »

Imagine this …

Imagine if you had a chance to build a business without spending ALOT of money on recourses.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful?

Well …

why don’t you do just that?

It’s no secret that forums are one of the most powerful business-building tools on the planet, yet we refrain from using it.

Why?  Are we scared?  Don’t we have the confidence?  Don’t we have the time?  Or are we just plain uninformed?

Building a virtual assistant business is never easy.  There are numerous things to take into consideration and sometimes money fly without being noticed.  You have to pay for this, that and the other in order to build a successful business and valuable information doesn’t come cheap.  And that is not enough you sometimes feel all on your own with nobody to talk to, to ask questions to or to share your experience with.

Put your hand up if you have ever experienced the above?   Tough isn’t it?

Well, believe it or not, you are not alone in the virtual world.  There IS a place where you can get support for FREE!! Read more »