JOJ Community Blog

The Economy & You

Nell Taliercio — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:31:23 +0000

There’s a lot of talk about the economy as of lately. It’s about all we hear about in the news and during the election process.

So I’m curious how many of you have been touched by the down turn in our economy? If you have a telecommuting job, were your hours cut or were you let go? If you own a business, have you lost clients or found it difficult to gain new ones?

Do you have a plan to get through these hard times? Because, we will get on the other side of this crisis one day but it could be a ways off. Any plans in place to keep that telecommuting job, get a new one or more? Any plans to grow your VA business even when many people want to tighten the purse strings?

Share This

Charge Your Worth

Nell Taliercio — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:53:20 +0000

Recently there was a conversation on a work at home mom forum about charging what you’re worth. It made me think of my own story. I started my VA business back in 2004 and when I did my skills and experience were low. So it was my decision to also make my rates low.

Until I could gain the skills, experience & confidence I needed to up my rates I just couldn’t feel comfortable charging $30.00 per hour. And the more skills and experience I gained the more I did increase my rates.

After awhile I closed my doors and focused on affiliate marketing. I took on freelance VA projects here and there but my business closed. I closed my doors never seeing more than $15.00 per hour. (I started my business at $10. per hour) I now look back and see that I should have been charging more than that.

So when I decided to re-open my VA business doors early this Fall I had to take a good hard look at what I wanted to charge. Not only wanted but what I knew I was worth. Even knowing that I had tremendous experience, education and skills in the area I was specializing in I still had a hard time setting the rate I knew I was worth.

But this time around I stuck to my guns and didn’t let fear interfere. I didn’t let the self doubt creep in. I didn’t let the thoughts of “I won’t get clients at this rate” take over my confidence that I am worth the rate and will get clients and they will be thrilled to pay me what I’m charging.

So what about you? Are you charging what you’re worth? Tell me your story about your VA rates.

Share This

Social Networking Can be a Bad Thing

Nan Gomez — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:06:14 +0000

I agree that social networking can be an important part in bringing in new clients and making contacts but if you don’t put a time limit on the social networking aspect of your business it can be a bad thing. If you’ve ever tried to keep up with more than one type of social networking you’ve not only seen how addicting it can be but also how time consuming it can be.With sites like twitter, facebook, myspace, and on and on and on you can see how much time you’d actually have to spend posting, making comments, keeping up in conversations, etc.

I’ve tried it and yes it can be a nice little break away from work when you need a breather or just to communicate with another adult but it can be addicting and become a pitfall for your business.There is a time and a place for social networking and it you want to make it a part of your business why not schedule a small block of time daily for social networking and stick to your time limits. This way you’ll get the benefits of social networking without allowing it to be a pitfall for your business.

If you’d like to find out a little more about some other activities you may be allowing to damage the growth of your business, stop by PremiumVA.com and pick up the free report: Avoid Pitfalls Detrimental to Your Business. I’m sure you’ll find you are probably doing at least one of the items discussed. So, find out what it is and how to resolve it for the betterment of your business.

Share This

Getting Back in the Groove

Nan Gomez — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:13:50 +0000

Well it’s been almost a week since our medical/vaction trip out of state, and it took me a little while to get back on track with home life and work but I’ve done it. It’s hard getting that work groove back but once I did I was on a roll. It only took me a day so and another day or so to get all caught up and finsih all my clients’ pending projects just in time for mid-month invoicing.

Better to be caught up than behind right? Do you blog? Now that’s the one thing that is taking me a bit longer to do. I think I’ll take Friday off to take care of my personal things, and work on my business. It’s important to take time to grow my business as well as help others build theirs. Do you take time to build your business?

Of course as soon as I get back in the groove with stuff at home, school will be starting and throwing me all off again. That is going to take some getting use to too as my little one will be going to school all day with her big brother. Going to be lonely but I’m hoping work will continue strong and the potential client jobs pending at the moment come through to keep me busy.

Share This

When a Vacation Really Isn’t a Vacation

Donna — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 01:57:49 +0000

Do you find that sometimes taking a vacation really isn’t worth it? You spend the whole week before getting ready – preparing your house for your time away (this could include a myriad of duties), washing and packing clothes, working extra long days to make sure your/clients’ work is all caught up. Then when you come home you spend the whole week after – cleaning up your house/airing it out (because even though your darling husband didn’t come with you, he’s left you a week’s worth of dishes and take out boxes to clean up), unpacking and washing clothes (not to mention the darling dear has left a week’s worth of laundry strewn all over the house), and then working extra long days to get caught up on everything that you missed while you were away. Oh, wait, I’m forgetting the week’s worth of mail spread out over every visible counter / table top space that you have to go through and sort out the bills, junk mail, catalogs, magazines, etc. because no one else can do it like you do. Oh, and the hundreds of e-mails that have accumulated in your various e-mail accounts because where you were either didn’t have internet or if it did, it was so slow it wasn’t even worth attempting to use it. And let’s not even discuss getting the kiddos back into their routine. “I don’t care that Grandma let you eat your breakfast in the living room. We eat our meals at the kitchen table!”

I know this is not unique to work-at-home parents/families. It seems to me whether you work outside of the home or work-at-home, vacations become “working” vacations, even if it’s just to check in to make sure there are no fires burning, so to speak. Since I’ve entered the world of work-at-home, most of my vacations have been “working”, even a week up in way northern Vermontf or a snowmobile trip, I found my way to a WiFi hotspot and checked in with one of my clients on a daily basis. I just wonder . . . since when did taking a vacation become “work”? Or am I just taking the wrong kind of vacation?

Share This