Perhaps I was one of the few who were lucky to have find the Virtual Assistance Industry when the idea of working from home, online was still considered a taboo. I remember the faces of my friends and relatives the first time I told them I got a job online. One uncle even warned me that I might be working with an online syndicate. 4 years after, here I am with a flourishing virtual assistant business - The Office Escape.

Ok, this blog post isn’t all about me. This post aims to help new Virtual Assistants to stand out from the crowd. Yes, surprisingly, in a matter of 4 years, the Virtual Assistant Community immensely grew.  This has both its advantages and disadvantages. Growing pains I believe. As more and more individuals join the bandwagon, our community of online workers are growing giving us more opportunities to meet, develop and enhance the skills.

1. Feed your hunger for learning - Keep in mind that aside from fellow VA’s, we also have to compete with foreign virtual assistants. To stay on top of the game, you have to continuously seek learning and continue to hone and develop your skills. Sign up for webinars, buy ebooks/resources that will help you develop a new skill. Sign up for online classes that will enhance and broaden your services.

2. Break away from the employee mindset - I was once guilty about this too. This is one difficult hurdle especially if you have spent long years working for a company. As soon as you decided to work as a virtual assistant, you have to constantly remind yourself that you are no longer an employee to anyone, including your clients. You are their partner to success. Yes you will continue to get instructions from your clients, but you are free to do things your own way, especially when you know the outcome is far more efficient. You are no longer tied to a 9-5 work routine. You no longer have to watch out for a supervisor behind your back. You are now a business owner, you have to take control of your business. You have the power to limit your income or expand it to your maximum capacity. You are now your own Boss.

3. Be visible - Most  Virtual Assistants that I know of, especially the newbies, are scared of getting out of their shell. No websites, no blogs, using anonymous nick names, no web presence. This is actually one of the biggest mistakes. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you have to put yourself out there, where everyone else can see you.Try searching your name on Google. Can you find yourself other than your Facebook or Twitter account? If the answer is no, then you have to start building your web presence. Why? Because this is the only way clients can check who you are. This is a way for you to build your credibility. If clients can’t find you online, do you think they can trust you with their projects? Think about it.

Choose. Do you want to just be a regular freelance virtual assistant? Or do you want to stand out from all other virtual assistants out there?  

As with any new and growing industry, the Virtual Assistant Business goes through the painful phase of trial and errors. Most active players in the field have, at one time or the other, experienced some pitfalls that have made success a bit shy to them. This article will outline the ten most common mistakes and misconceptions that most would-be Virtual Assistants are prone to:

Top 10 Virtual Assistant Newbie Mistakes

1. Placing wrong priorities in terms of preparation. In the virtual assisting world, your experience, skills and knowledge might rank high; proper tools and equipment might help much in providing excellent services but the crucial component is marketing your business well. No amount of highly technical trainings and state of the art equipment can take the place of the old marketing tactic — planning and strategizing.

2. Lacking the entrepreneurial mind set. Most new aspiring virtual assistants forget the most vital part of this whole industry — you own the business and you work for yourself; you are the owner and not the employee. You need to have the right mind set in order to grow your business and propel it to succeed.

3. Committing to projects but not meeting deadlines. One very rampant mistake committed by many virtual assistants is to accept too much work but fail to deliver on time. Don’t be overwhelmed by the amount of job orders coming in; learn to say NO, your clients will appreciate it more rather than receiving late, and often times, error-filled outputs. Remember that the key to your success is satisfying your clients.

4. Accepting and promising to deliver projects beyond your skill set and know-how. A virtual assistant is expected to possess a variety of  skills and knowledge, yet to accept every job order you come across should not be your stance. Learning to do the task after contracting the job is a good way to jeopardize your business.

5. Bidding too low or too high on a project. The rate you ask quote depends on what type of services you offer and the level of expertise you bring to the job. Do not, in any event, under price your services for the sake of getting an account. Indeed, you will get your job orders but you will end up working long hours for nothing. The best course is to know the normal rate in the industry and set your own rate in the middle. As someone new in the business, it is prudent not to go too low nor too high. As you grow in experience, you can easily raise the rate you charge.

6. Sending in sloppy, unorganized, half-baked work. Always put your mind into your work to avoid poorly done and second-rate output. Understand all tasks involved in the job and try to ask for clarifications when things are vague and client’s instructions are not precise. Be excellent in everything you do — not mediocre, not halfway but exceptional and to the hilt! The virtual assistant industry is growing fast and the competition is quite big and daunting; in order to succeed, you have to do something or be above the rest.

7. Ignoring client’s emails, messages and other communication. Communication with the client is very crucial to the virtual assistant job. Whatever outcome or anything happening to the project never cut the communication line. Your clients cannot see you and have no idea exactly what you are doing. A one liner email or IM updates will make a big difference in terms of how your clients will look at you. The connection you establish will pave the way for their trusting you and admiring your competence.

8. Not establishing a regular home-office schedule. The pivotal qualification that you really need as a successful virtual assistant is self-discipline. With this one vital characteristic the rest follows. As long has you have enough experience and a good foundation in the essential skills, the rest will take care of itself.

9. Not capable of working without any supervision. You are contracted to give support to your clients and they are expecting you to know what you are suppose to do. Asking too many irrelevant details will bother them. On the other hand, not following instructions carefully or neglecting to verify vague directions or worst, ignoring orders altogether are traits that clients will never appreciate. Remember, your task as a virtual assistant is to make things easier for them.

10. Not updating on the skills. Once you decide that you want to be a virtual assistant, you must make it a point to remain on the cutting edge of technology. Continue to learn any new developments or new software that is connected with the services you are offering. Keep abreast of all the new trends in the industry, a virtual assistant needs this.

Today you will define your ideal Virtual Assistant Client. I’ll share with you why you need to do this, and how you go about it. Specifically you will learn:

• Why you need to define your ideal virtual assistant client.
• Why you need to define your ideal client NOW! And what will happen if you don’t.
• My own ideal client list.
• Which group should NOT be on your ideal client list.
• Homework | define your own ideal client list.

Before you proceed further, make sure you already know your big WHY. If not, please go back and read Why Become a Virtual Assistant or Executive Virtual Assistant?

Why You Need to Define Your Ideal VA Client

I thought, and you probably do too, the more clients you have, the more successful your business. That is up until I read about Michael Port’s “Book Yourself Solid” book. In it he talks about the need to select just a few, but ideal clients. These are the people who inspire and energize you. They bring out the best in you.

High priced Virtual Assistants & Online Business Managers (ie. OBMs) also maintain just a client or two. There’s a reason for this. If you focus your talent and energy on a few ideal clients, you will most likely perform at your best. Your perceived value will be much higher. Your potential income greater than other Virtual Assistants who are juggling multiple so so clients.

 Why You Need to Define Your Ideal Client NOW!

In beginning, especially when you don’t have any online work experience or portfolio yet, you probably won’t have the chance to pick your ideal client. You will be lucky to get any clients at all. But this is no excuse for not defining your ideal client now.  If your ideal client is not clearly defined,

•  Your marketing message will be all over the place.
• Your website will be generic and it will not resonate with anyone.
• Your training efforts will not be focused.
• Your services will not be targeted.
• You will end up working with clients who zap the energy out of you.
• You will be STUCK where you are for a very looooong time. Just look around VA Job boards and you’ll see what I mean.

The earlier you define your ideal client, the faster you’ll find him, and the faster he’ll see you. As for the duds (assuming you already have a couple of clients), you should dump them.

My Own Ideal VA Client List

* I used to target startups for my ideal clients. I was filled with noble intentions then. That was up until I actually had start- up clients who couldn’t make payment on time. Now I only work with clients with proven business models/ stable income. 

REJECT THRESHOLD (when to dump the client) | Payment always delayed. Ignore emails for days. Uber detailed I can’t breath. Resorts to black hat seo and other shady online practices.

Just so you have an idea, I’m sharing with you my own client list above. Your list might look completely different. Maybe you like working with women more. Or you like getting a lot of input from Clients so you may want a bit of a micromanager. There’s no right or wrong answer. Also note that I have a Reject Threshold. If a client falls under this category, I politely decline the client.

Tips from the Trenches

• Be cautious of start-up Internet Marketers. There are of course exceptions, but generally start-up Internet marketers pay cheap rates. Understand that a lot of them are struggling too and are trying to get into the get-rich-quick bandwagon. The proliferation of articles on how to build your online empire via cheap Virtual Assistants but encourages marketers to dump rates. Here is an interesting post on this How Much Do I Pay My Virtual Assistant? ReplaceMyself actually encourages marketers to hire VAs at $250 (full time VA).

And it’s not just about the rates. Start-up marketers are known for trading up quality for quantity. So while they may be good people, I advise you to be cautious when dealing with them. Start-up Internet marketers are just not the stuff ideal Virtual Assistant  Clients are made of.

• Do not worry too much about not getting everything perfect at this point. As you work with more and more clients you’ll find your description of your ideal client getting much clearer. If you are totally clueless, go visit eLance.com Browse Virtual Assistant Job Postings   Read through the job requirements. Most of them have brief introductions about their business. Some of them have company names so you can easily Google their business. See if any of their profiles interests. You can also tell a lot about the client just by reading their job posts alone. Was the posting clear and concise? Or was it done in a haphazard manner? Is the tone demanding, or is it polite? Is he using a lot of we/ us, or is it purely “me, my, I”?

If you are down to your last $20, invest it on Michael’s Book Yourself Solid. It will guide you and help you do exactly that, book yourself solid. You’ll never have to bid for a job again – knock on wood for me .  You can clearly see Michael’s influence on my VA business in my earlier post Why Become a Virtual Assistant (rate/income section). It’s probably the book on my shelf that gave me the highest ROI and the fastest payback, ever.  - Shell

HOMEWORK | Now it’s time for you to define your ideal client. Think of a person who inspires or energizes you to work. What are his characteristics? If you can’t think of anyone in particular, imagine yourself being a client. Then ask yourself, “how would I want to treat my VA?”

Do not hold back. Do not feel guilty.  You are doing yourself, and your potential clients a favor by ensuring that you only commit to people with whom you can be at your best. When done, jot down your answers in you Train – Upgrade – Promote Map (page 3 of your  Virtual Assistance Business Planning Worksheet.)

! If you are a brave soul, you might want to post your ideal client list below. I would love to see what you come up with. Or if you have any questions, just jot them down below.

On the Next Post … I will walk you through the process of determining your Virtual Assistant Services. What services should you offer first? Not all services are created equal. Find out which would lead you to financial independence faster. Should you plan on going deep or wide? I’ll answer these questions and more, on our next post. So if you haven’t already done so, SIGN-UP for our EMAIL. You will also get high quality Social Media & Marketing Templates.

You Have a Virtual Assistance Business

You are on a business, wether you acknowledge it or not. You are not an employee. You are a business owner. And as a business owner, you need to make sure you have a plan. If you don’t, others will plan and use your days for you. And when they do, they will achieve their goals and be successful, but not you.

If you have been operating for a while now and your VA business is still struggling, chances are you have been operating without a working plan.

Why You Need a Working Plan for Your Virtual Assistance Business

Imagine going on a journey with a friend. You ask, “Where are we going?” Your friend responds, “I don’t know.” “How do we get there?” “I don’t know.” ” How do we know we are already there?” “I don’t know.” It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? But that’s exactly what you do when you go on your VA Business journey without a plan. You wander about aimlessly, hoping to get somewhere, someday.  Not a very smart approach, I must say.

In the next couple of posts, I’ll walk you through the process of creating your Virtual Assistance Business Plan. It doesnt matter whether you’ve just started or you’ve been operating for a while now. As long as you haven’t achieved your goals yet, you need a plan. Your plan will serve as your roadmap for the next 12 months. You will review it monthly, and you will use it to set your weekly and daily tasks.

Any activity not aligned with your plan is a waste of time, and will not be attended to during the day. Every step you make will have to lead you a step closer to your plan. You will be ruthlessly consistent and you will be very focused. And before you know it, you would have achieved all the goals you’ve set for yourself.

HOMEWORK | 12 Month Here-to-There Virtual Assistance Plan 

For today, I need you to print and answer below worksheet. You probably won’t have solid answers to most of the items and that is fine. It is not the accuracy of the plan that matters at this point. It is the effort that you into the planning process; it is the habit of planning that you develop as you go through this exercise.

My own plan have changed so many times I’ve lost count already. But in the end, I still arrived at my end business goal – financial independence. You should be clear about your goals. But How you get there can and should be flexible.

On the Next Post … Tomorrow I will walk you through the process of determining your Ideal Virtual Assistant Client. Why do you need to define your ideal client? What happens if you don’t? Which group should probably not on be on your ideal client list? I’ll answer these questions and more, on our next post. So if you haven’t already done so, SIGN-UP for our EMAIL. You will also get high quality Social Media & Marketing Templates.

One of the most important tools a Virtual Assistant must have is solid online presence via website and social media such as twitter.   A well-made, SEO-optimized website draws in potential clients and helps differentiates you from thousands of competitors.  If you operate a business online, you definitely need a web site. Not to have one is Business Suicide!  There are several factors to consider when creating your own website and one rule of thumb is to create links between your website and your profiles on top social networking sites (like Twitter)  to help direct more traffic to your site.

Beautiful VA Websites & Twitter Designs

Here we’ve collected some of the best “coordinated”  Twitter and Website designs owned by Virtual Assistants and/or Virtual Assisting Business Heads for design inspiration.   These sites show elements of good branding.

1) Go2Girls (Laurie Cantus) - “Virtual Assistant Extraordinaire – Providing business support and e-marketing support to entrepreneurs.”

2) YourCreativeAlly (Sara Carbaugh) - “I help Creatives like you expose themselves online in a way that won’t get you arrested for public indecency!”

3) VirtuAllin (Cheryl Allin) - “Virtual Assistant Expert, Speaker, Joomla Guru, Entrepreneur, Blogger, Marketing Consultant, Tech Early Adopter. A True Girly Geek “

4) Virtual Business Lifestyle (Chris Ducker) - “Virtual CEO of @Live2SellGroup and @VStaffFinder. Entrepreneur, Outsourcing Expert, Blogger, Podcaster, Husband and best of all… Dad!”

5) Virtual Assistant-Live (Michelle Dale) - “The Entrepreneurs Girl Friday. Shaping businesses of all sizes into lucrative, paperless enterprises.”

6) Virtual Admins Plus (Ann Brown) - “CEO ✰ Virtual Assistant ✰ Social Media Expert ✰ Really Cool Person to Know ✰”

7) VATrainingOnline (Sheila Zaldivar) - “Virtual Assistants. Dedicated to Providing Sources of Relevant & Quality Online Information for Virtual Assistants.”

8) VAnetworking (Tawnya Sutherland) - “Your Outsourcing EXPERT – #1 Social Network 4 Virtual Assistants to connect, share & discuss virtual assistance. Need/Learn to Outsource? Hire a VA today!”

9) VAClassroom (Craig Cannings) - “Passionate about web marketing and online training! Owner of VAClassroom.com, a training center for Virtual Assistants and Online Professionals.”

10) The Office Escape (Ella Pelayo) - “Your Escape Route to Online Biz Success – Offering Online Biz Solutions and Virtual Assistant Services.”

11) The Brainy Gal (Lisa McDonell)- “Virtual Assistant, Designer, Entrepreneur. Good wife, Cool Mommy, Mediocre Soccer Player, health food junkie and self-proclaimed ‘Brainy Gal’”

12) Step It Up Va (Donna Toothaker) - “Coaching Virtual Assistants to create the 6-figure business of their dreams.”

13) Staci Jansma - “Seeking learning opportunities to further my experience through virtual assistant work from home. Need to get something done but not enough time – I can help!”

14) Tinas Virtual Office (Tina Thelen) - “Virtual Office Assistant. 30+ yrs in clerical field, including 10 yrs in real estate as salesperson & assoc. broker,& 5 yrs as paralegal for corp & family law.”

15) My Virtual Brains (Rain Gamboa)  - “Quality Virtual Assistant Services from the Philippines.”

16) Leading Logic (Chauntelle Rakebrandt) - “Social Media Specialist & Virtual Assistant. Leading Logic Australia get you inline, online!”

17) BlogWorkz - “WordPress Web Design & Online Marketing, Virtual Assistant London| Helping coaches & small business owners boost their online visibility.”

18)  Pepper VirtualAssistants - “I’m your indispensable virtual assistant ”

Although a few of the designs listed are not yet as awesome as some of those made by graphic artists or design firms, they are fantastic enough to motivate Virtual Assistants to create their own sites and to think of how they will use the elements of Branding to position themselves online.  If you have your own favorite site or page design of a fellow VA or a VA Business, do mention in comments.

Beautiful VA Websites & Twitter Designs

If you need help on creating your own website, here are several resources to help you create a  site using wordpress and here are How to Customize Twitter for Virtual Assistants. And if you want to dive in to twitter now, here’s a full list | How to Customize Twitter Tutorials

We will be featuring terrific VA websites (with or without coordinated social network profile pages) as well as fantastic You Tube and Facebook profile designs!  Stay tuned and follow us! You may also join as at Facebook VAPhilippines.

I want to share with you my Roadmap on How to Become an Executive Virtual Assistant.

It’s been a year now since I launched my Virtual Assistance Business. Back then I was full of doubts and fears. I didn’t know whether I can actually recover the comfortable salary I so easily gave up in exchange for flexible time. I wasn’t even sure whether becoming a Virtual Assistant was for me, given that I have no background in Admin. I thought Virtual Assistant meant Admin Assistant. Back then I merely groped, stumbled and hanged on to the words of those who have done it before me. But it was all so confusing because there were tons of information, but they were scattered in bits and pieces. I couldn’t ascertain whether I was heading towards the right direction or not.  I wanted some sort of a guarantee that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. I wanted a roadmap, but there was none.

No I’m not earning tons of money right now. You don’t exactly get to do that from being an Executive Virtual Assistant. But now I’ve already managed to achieve a regular monthly income that is almost at par with my net tax salary when I was with corporate. Such an achievement may not be so outstanding. But considering that now I am able to fully “be there” for my children from 4pm – 8pm daily, while at the same time maintaining my financial independence, to me is a major personal milestone.

If you are …

• A corporate mom who is not sure whether you can actually get a regular income online
• A newbie in the Virtual Assistant world
• A struggling VA who is still in the feast or famine cycle

you might want to keep yourself posted. I’ll be sharing with you the month by month, step by step account of the things I did, and the decisions I made to get to where I am so far. Within 12 months I managed to  up my income from a couple of bucks to a comfortable regular $3k/mo. So if you’ve been struggling yourself for a while now, you may be able to get something out of what  I’ll be sharing with you. It’s not an easy get-rich kind of thing. It’s more like consistent, focused targeted hard work. But when you are enjoying what you do, things don’t seem as hard. So in my opinion, it is quite fun actually.

Subscribe via RSS or email because in the next couple of posts, I will share with you my roadmap on how I became an Executive Virtual Assistant.

Next | Why Become a Virtual Assistant. On Time and Potential Earnings.

Latest Updates…

1 Why Become a Virtual Assistant or an Executive Virtual Assistant
2 Virtual Assistance Business Plan
3 Define Your Ideal Virtual Assistant Client
4 Determine You Virtual Assistant Services

If you are a Freelance Article Writer Looking for Steady Work, opportunity abounds on-line. If you are just looking for a part time gig while waiting for your "ideal client" to come by, yes, there are a lot of opportunities for you too. Below you’ll find a list of the major Content sites that pays for articles.

If you are not clear on the pros and cons of freelance writing please read our earlier post

5 Excellent Reasons to be a Freelance Article Writer at the Content Mills.

A Couple of Submission Tips:

• Don’t use a first-person tone. You can get automatically rejected for most sites. Present your facts in an objective, yet engaging style.
• Double check your grammar, spelling and structure.
• Browse through the site’s topic and write an article which may fit in any of the site’s existing categories. The slant, the idea will have to be unique. But the category will need to fit in the existing channels.
• Make sure you support your claimed “expertise” in your resume. If you wish to cover topics on Microsoft Office, state in your resume why you are the best person to talk about this topic (ie. certifications, length of experience, etc).
• Ideally, you should have a blog to showcase your past writing experience. If you don’t have one, consider writing a guest blog post. I’d be happy to post your article here in our site, if that would help.

Most of these content mills welcome freelance article writers who are looking for steady work. Some sites do impose a cap during the probationary period. Other than this, you are free to write and earn as much as you want. There’s always a steady flow of topics that you can write about.

Write for About.com – Freelance writing jobs, work at home

Use your topic expertise to create content for a related GuideSite. Experience the freedom of working from anywhere and on your own schedule, while receiving editorial, technical and marketing support from About.com. About.com will offer Contributing Writers in their first two years a guaranteed minimum monthly payment of $500. After two years, the guaranteed minimum monthly payment will be $250.

Bright Hub Writers Wanted – Benefits

Many of our channel models even provide an upfront fee for each article produced ($10-$15). Not only can you enhance your reputation online as a premier writer in the Bright Hub community, there are many opportunities for you to grow into other roles in Bright Hub. We offer writers a variety of career-enhancing opportunities rarely found in other online content sites.

Freelance Writing Jobs & Writing Opportunities – Suite101

Join our team and make money writing about what you want, where you want. Ready to set your own hours, pick your own topics, and reach a massive audience interested in the topics that you love to write about? If so, then this is the place for you.

Performance Pay – Associated Content – associatedcontent.com

Certain types of content can be submitted for Upfront Payment, meaning we’ll review your content, and send you an offer before we publish it. Current offers range from $2-$15. Be sure to read our Upfront Payment guidelines before choosing this option. You earn money for every one thousand page views your content generates (PPM™ rate). The baseline PPM™ rate is currently $1.50 – meaning if you generate 30,000 page views, you’re paid $45.00 in Performance Payments. As your library of content grows and your total page views accumulate, your Clout level increases.  – Paid submissions only in US.

Freelance Work | Demand Studios | eHow

The payment you receive depends on the type of work you complete. The pay range for each type of content will vary depending on the nature of the work and the distribution it will be given. – Paid submissions only in US.

How Mahalo Works

Topic pages on Mahalo.com are built and managed by Mahalo community members. Mahalo compensates the manager with 40-50% of the advertising revenue. – Apply with caution. I’ve read a lot of negative reviews about Mahalo.

VALibrary

I have compiled a list of the best writer websites in our library. They will speed up your learning curve, as well as your job search. Hope they help.

Freelance Writing Websites | VALibrary.

• Freelance Writing Jobs | Freelance Writing Market Place
• Freelance Writing Websites | Blogs
• Freelance Writing Websites | Trainings
• Freelance Writing News
  

I imagine … A truly creative society: Each person moves from project to project, from gig to gig. Global Voluntary Communities of Interest, rather than corporations, provide the bedrock upon which we stand. Learning never ceases. Self-reliance is the norm… Each career consists of numerous “mini-careers”, with time-outs along the way. The cubicle slave is dead; long live the Free Agent! – Tom Peters, Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age

I would love to hear your experience, whether positive or negative,  on writing for the content mills. Do drop a comment below. Thanks!

Content Mills. Content Farms. Holy Evil Crap.

No, I am not blind. I have read The Answer Factory: Demand Media and the Fast, Disposable, and Profitable as Hell Media Model and the hundreds of other articles that echoed, “Yes, content farms are exploitative and evil. They breed crap.” A lot of people fear that this is The End Of Hand Crafted Content. Most journalists and freelance writers do not like them, and for good reasons 7 Reasons Why I Won’t Write a $15 Blog.

For those of you who may not be familiar, we are talking about eHow, Mahalo, Suite101, etc. These are content mills. Freelancers get paid a low $10-$20 to write on SEO heavy articles. This or a revenue share based on page views. Given the huge volume, most of these articles are written haphazardly and are published with minimal editing. Goodbye, creative writing. Goodbye, proper journalism. The result is a proliferation of crap content that clogs Google’s search engine.

In my opinion, these are all but teething pains. Eventually, an effective content quality system will be developed. Good old law of supply and demand will smoothen things out. Quality will win over crap (please Mr. Google!).

When ecosystems change and inflexible institutions collapse, their members disperse, abandoning old beliefs, trying new things, making their living in different ways than they used to. It’s easy to see the ways in which collapse to simplicity wrecks the glories of old. But there is one compensating advantage for the people who escape the old system: when the ecosystem stops rewarding complexity, it is the people who figure out how to work simply in the present, rather than the people who mastered the complexities of the past, who get to say what happens in the future. – Clay Shirky

5 Excellent Reasons to be a Freelance Article Writer

While some writers perceive the proliferation of content mills as a threat, for Virtual Assistants and online entrepreneurs, this is an excellent opportunity.  No, it won’t make you rich over night. It might not even be a viable long term strategy. But if you are in the process of establishing your Virtual Assistance Business or if you are in the process of molding yourself into becoming a better writer, then freelance article writing is a good stepping stone for you.

Minimal Entry Requirements

For most content mills, a journalism or communications degree is not required. Neither are clips or previously published articles. Gone are the days when your diploma dictates your career.

The only requirement for content mills are as follows:

• Sample writings.
• Your resume/cv that illustrates your competence in your chosen topic

Writing is a skill that can be easily learned. So it doesn’t matter if you are not good in writing now. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t have the journalism background. As long as you are willing to learn how to write good web content, you can become an article writer!

Paid Learning Experience. Free Critique

I recently joined and got accepted into Bright Hub. My primary reason for joining is to hone my writing skills and get some constructive feedback from editors. On-line writing workshops costs $250 to $900 per subject. With Bright Hub, I don’t need to pay. Even better, I get paid. Sure there are lessons in the workshops but these are mostly out of books which you yourself can buy at a fraction of a cost. What you are paying for really is the community and  the editorial critique. Something you can get out of the content mill communities.

Do note though that not all content sites have an editorial structure. So make sure to check this out before you join. About.com and Bright Hub have good editorial structures.

Credibility Booster

For most Virtual Assistants, article writing is part of the job. Well written articles published in reputable content sites are a good addition to your resume. This assumes though that the content site you are writing for has good credibility. I will probably think twice about writing for eHow. But that’s just me. A lot of prolific article writers do make money on eHow.

Simply because you are being paid $10 doesn’t mean you are confined to writing a $10 worth article. When you write a $10 article, potential clients will see you as a $10 writer. Write your article as if you are getting paid $500.  When you write a $500 article, potential clients will see what you really are capable of and then they’ll be in a better position to commission you a $500 gig! Make it a habit to always strive for excellence; irregardless of how much you are getting paid for.

Excellent Exposure & Traffic

Yes you can write solely in your own blog but you’ll have to wait forever for google to index it. Writing for content mills is a smarter way to generate traffic and gain additional exposure. Eventually, some of the traffic will flow back to your own blog.

Supplementary Income

Most paid content sites pay $10-$20/article upfront. Then you get monthly residual income of $1-$3 per 1000 page views. Not all have the same rate structure so make sure you check this out. Reported earnings varies widely from $100 to $1500 per month. To get an estimate of your earning potential, estimate the number of articles you can write in a month then multiply that with your upfront pay. Layer a residual income with the assumption of 1000 average page views.

• Assuming you can write 1 article/day | 25 articles/month
• Your upfront pay will be (25 x $10-$20)| $250-$500/mo
• Plus your revenue share (25 x $1-$3)| $25 – $75/mo

In the first few months your income will be negligible. But as you article base grows, so will your income. Just to share with you some feedback with regards to potential earnings.

Positive reviews for Suite 101 Suite 101 Monthly Earnings

Suite101 $1400/mo ‘Tis the Season: Celebrating Holiday Articles with Mary

Not to dampen your spirit, but bear in mind that for every 1 successful freelance article writer, there are thousand others who are barely making $100/month. If you need money to pay for mortgage now, this is probably not the best option for you.

If you are a Virtual Assistant from Asia … A lot of Virtual Assistants accept 40 hour, full time jobs for $200-$400/mo. If you are in a similar scenario, you should seriously consider writing instead. You can get the same amount of money, or more, as long as you write 1-2 articles/day. You don’t need to work the graveyard shift. And you don’t have a boss to attend to. More importantly, you’ll have excess time to do other things that interests you.

Things You Should Know About Content Mills

Lifetime Revenue Stream

Most content mills try to lure freelance writers at the promise of lifetime residual income. As long as your article remains in their database you will get a share of the ad revenue. Here’s how the calculation goes. If you write 300 articles every year, for the next 3 years, you will have a passive income of $900-$2700/month. Cool!

• Write 1 article/day, for 3 years | 900 articles
• Revenue share (900 x $1 or $3)| $900 – $2700/mo income

Technically it is correct. But do note the underlying assumption here is that your article will continue to generate substantial page views. If you are writing low quality how-to articles this will most likely be wiped out off the face of google search. If the article is not evergreen, it will most likely be outdated, and similarly, will be wiped out off the face of google search. The very nature of the topics being written in most content mills inherently conflicts with the promise of a lucrative long term passive income.

The content mill business model is so new, we don’t know yet what will happen. Even with the google age factored in, there’s no guarantee that the page views can be sustained. Worse yet, the content site can simply decide to delete your articles if there’s too much crap on their database  (like ehow did during their infamous eHow sweeps). Don’t anchor all your hopes on the future revenue stream.

You Can Write Whatever You Are Passionate About

You can write what you are passionate about, as long as what you are passionate about falls within the pre-approved list. Most content sites will pick out long tail keywords with high searches and minimal competition and post this list for everyone to see. You are then free to pick a topic from this list and claim it as your own. Most creative writers find this very stifling. You need to be flexible when writing for content sites. A lot of your content may come from research, and not necessarily out of your knowledge, or current expertise. If you want to be able to pick your own topic, make sure the content site you are joining allows pitching. Bright Hub allows pitching. Others may be less flexible.

Being a freelance article writer at the content mills may not be for everybody. But for those who genuinely likes to write and are looking for an easy entry, a learning experience, and at the same time a supplemental income, then freelance article writing is for you.

• Freelance Article Writer For Steady Work | Content Mills.
• Freelance Writing Websites | VALibrary

Never before in our history is an individual presented with so much career options as we are being presented now. Technology has enabled it so. Sure there will be bumps along the way, as we revolutionize our systems and processes. But as long as we continue to develop ourselves, we will continue, not only to survive, but to thrive in our new environment!

I imagine … A truly creative society: Each person moves from project to project, from gig to gig. Global Voluntary Communities of Interest, rather than corporations, provide the bedrock upon which we stand. Learning never ceases. Self-reliance is the norm… Each career consists of numerous “mini-careers”, with time-outs along the way. The cubicle slave is dead; long live the Free Agent! – Tom Peters, Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age

I would love to hear your experience, whether positive or negative,  on writing for the content mills. Do drop a comment below. Thanks!

Finding Virtual Assistant jobs can be a challenge. Especially at job boards like eLance or oDesk wherein competition is steep, and rates extremely low. But for new VAs who have yet to establish a client base, job boards are an immediate solution. OnlineJobs.ph is a job board for Filipinos.

Why OnlineJobs.ph

I signed up with OnlineJobs and within days of my application, I got 3 invitations from interested Clients. It is not that I am fantastic, it us just that the competition (perhaps), is much less. So in this post I wish to share with you some tips. Do note though that OnlineJobs is not for everyone. Here’s a quick profile.

• FREE
• For Filipinos
• Most of the clients are looking for regular Virtual Assistants
• Most of the clients are Internet marketers
• Average offer at $200-$500/mo

Increasing Demand for Virtual Assistants from the Philippines

I certainly hope I am not offending non Filipino VAs. The fact is, of late there has been an increasing demand for Filipino Virtual Assistants. This is especially prevalent within the Internet Marketing Industry. Here are some indications of this uptrend. These are paid sites intended for those who wish to outsource. I stumbled on them as I was doing my research on outsourcing.

• ReplaceMySelf | Outsourcing training that includes instant access to BestJobs.ph and OnlineJobs.ph as part of the package
• MassOutsource | “How you can outsource your entire life to the Philippines and make over $100,000
• OutsourceForce | Also advocates hiring Filipinos and outsourcing via OnlineJobs

4 Tips When Applying for Virtual Assistant jobs

Here are some tips when you sign-up with OnlineJobs.ph. They worked for me. I hope they work for you too.

Create an On-line Resume or Profile | Ideally, you should have your own website. At the very least, you should have an on-line resume or profile. Direct your Clients to your profile. Here’s what I personally use.

• On-line Resume | I tested a couple of on-line resumes and I find VisualCV the best. It is FREE and easy to use.  You can easily download it to a pdf if your Client prefers file attachment. Mine is far from perfect, but if you just want to see a sample : My VisualCV
• Personal Content Aggregator | I use Flavors.me. It is FREE. This might help you How About Some Flavors.me for Your Virtual Assistance Business?

Include Keywords In Description & Skill Summary | Reasonable payers generally take their pick. They do not merely rely on applications. To increase your chances of being found, make sure you include your keywords in your description/skill summary. For example, I want to target Internet marketers who are looking for Virtual Assistants. My title is therefore “Virtual Assistant for Internet Marketers & Online Entrepreneurs”. Not very creative, but it is practical.

Specify Your Common Tools |  Don’t generically say “I can create websites”. Say “I am proficient in setting up WordPress sites”. You should use your Client’s terminology as it gives them more assurance that you can get their job done. Along the same lines, mention the tools you are using, which are relevant to them. State your proficiency in using these tools. If you are not proficient as yet, go and study already! Here are the most common ones that they are looking for:

• WordPress : Here are some tutorials VA WordPress Tutorials
• CPanel : HostGator has cPanel and is a popular choice. Best Webhost for Virtual Assistants
• FTP : There are a lot out there. I use FileZilla. It is free.
• Photoshop : Here are some tutorials Virtual Assistant Trainings | VALibrary (choose DESIGN tab)

Apply to Become a Top Pick | To maximize your exposure, sign-up to become a top pick. This exclusive list is accessible by Clients who are willing to pay more. Visit | Become a Top Pick

Visit | OnlineJobs.ph

I’ve found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often. – Brian Tracy

Related Readings

• Philippines Outsourcing Tips | There are tons of outsourcing tips on this site. Even if you are not a Filipino, it is still good to learn how clients think; what their needs are; and what you should watch out for so you do not get taken advantage of. There are 16 tips, ranging from communication, to setting expectations, to culture.
• Virtual Assistant Jobs | VALibrary

Earlier we identified the competencies you need in order to be a successful Virtual Assistant. In case you missed, please create your own competencies list with this article as your guide What are Virtual Assistant Competencies, Do You Have Them? In this exercise, we will filter and narrow down your list to a manageable and actionable level.

Do You Need a Virtual Assistant Training?

The most common question among newbie Virtual Assistants is whether one needs to attend  Virtual Assistant Training or not.

• If you are after the certification/badge, then NO, you don’t need the Virtual Assistant Training. Currently, there is no universally accepted training standard. As such VA Certificates/ Badges do not hold as much credibility as you hope they do. Most Clients are unaware/indifferent to VA Certificates.
• If you are after the skill/knowledge that you would acquire once you complete the training, then yes, VA Training may be beneficial, but not required.

From what I’ve seen so far, going through training providers that actually specializes in the skill you wish to develop on, is far more effective than attending a general Virtual Assistant Training. You are able to address specifically your areas of weaknesses. But the assumption here is that, you do know your areas of weaknesses. And strength, and opportunities and threats for that matter. You need your SWOT.

Why Use SWOT ANALYSIS ?

SWOT analysis is a simple yet powerful technique that you can use to understand a business area of strength, weakness, opportunity and threat. Reference for a more in-depth reading is presented at the end of this post. In this exercise, we will use SWOT mainly within the framework of a Virtual Assistant Training. By having an awareness of your SWOT, you can:

• Focus your training development on your areas of core competence
• Properly allocate your training resources (time and $)
• Manage your weaknesses
• Proactively address potential threats
• Take advantage of hidden opportunities

INSTRUCTION | Pull out your competencies list and categorized them based on SWOT. I used mindjet to map out my SWOT. You may use any other mind-mapping tool.  If you have none, pen and some colored pens works equally well.

What are your STRENGTHS?

What are your areas of strengths? Strength is relative to your target niche. Here’s an example. I am selling myself as a Virtual Assistant, as such I consider “web design & set-up” as one of my strengths. It allows me to offer value added service since not all VA’s have this skill. If however, I am marketing myself as a Web Designer, then web design skill is a necessity and not a strength. If most of the Virtual Assistants within your niche have the same skill, then it is a necessity, and not a strength.

Most of the Basic Competencies we’ve identified earlier (ie. VA Competencies), are necessities. Even if you have them, they can hardly be considered as strengths unless you are exceptionally advanced in any one area. On the other hand, if you lack any of them, they can be considered a weakness. Pay close attention to your Technical & Entrepreneurial competencies. See if any of these are your strengths.

• What advantages do you have in terms of skills, experience and knowledge?
• What do people normally praise you for?
• What do other people perceive as your strength?

Among the competencies you’ve listed earlier, which can be considered as your strength/s? Write them down.

What are your WEAKNESSES?

A weakness is not a weakness if your target niche does not require the specific skill or competency. Bookkeeping cannot be your weakness despite your lack of knowledge on it, unless you are a Virtual Assistant Bookkeeper. What the market needs and wants – that’s the key here. Anything that addresses their pain/ provides them with a solution should be in your competency list. If not, it is your area of weakness.

• What can you improve?
• Which job areas do you normally struggle with?
• What obstacles do you face?

What are the OPPORTUNITIES that you see?

In my case, I see 2 opportunities. One is the steep uptrend in Internet Marketing, more specifically SEM & Social Media Marketing (Marketing Work Joins Top In-Demand Categories | oDesk Blog) & the other is the increasing demand for Filipino VAs (MassOutsource, ReplaceMySelf, OutSourceforce, Outsourcing to Philippines Trend). Being a Filipino and being passionate about Internet marketing, I feel that these are 2 great opportunities for me. I then take these information into consideration when drafting my training plan. For instance, I am currently enrolled in a writing class because I find that most Internet marketers/ outsourcers to PH requires some sort of article writing. I like to write, but I just feel I don’t have sufficient knowledge on how to structure and develop my articles. Also, I have social media training in the pipeline.

• What industry trend do you see?
• Any good opportunities?

What about you? What opportunities do you see in your niche? What skills do you need to equip yourself with in order to seize these opportunities?

What are the THREATS that you see?

I’m Asian and my expected salary is most probably way lower than yours. And yet I still find that Virtual Assistant rates can be ridiculously low ($2/hr!). And what is even more amazing is that a lot of VAs do accept them. Differentiation can address this issue, but current technology makes it even harder to differentiate. My conclusion, continuous self development is more important than ever. Furthermore, I need to dig deeper in order to find out what skills the market demands (hopefully an area I am passionate about) wherein there’s much less competition.

What threats do you see? Armed with this information, what skills do you need to further develop yourself on? Write them down.

SWOT What To Do Next

By now you should have narrowed down your training list into 4 buckets – Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats. Those which do not fall in any of these categories may have little impact on the long term success of your Virtual Assistance Business. Now here’s what you are supposed to do next:

• Strengths | Enhance your strengths and develop them into your Core Competence
• Weaknesses | Strive to improve your weaknesses to an acceptable & manageable level.
• Opportunities | Prioritize & optimize your opportunities. Acquire the skills that will enable you to take advantage of market opportunities.
• Threats | Equip yourself with the skills needed to push back/ counter the threats.

VA Training Tips

• Test Your Skills | Knowing your competence level is critical to your path of self development. If you are unsure where you stand, you can take skills tests in oDesk & eLance. You just need to sign-up, for free. You don’t need to market yourself in there, unless you want to. eLance Skill Test oDesk Skill Test. ExpertRating is ISO accredited but charges $99/test.
• When we find that we don’t know something important, we’re often motivated to learn more. However if we’re blissfully unaware of our ignorance, there’s little we can do about it. - The Conscious Competence Ladder | MindTools
• Learn to Free-Source | Tons of free trainings on-line. Take advantage of them.
• Learn When NOT to Free-Source | Free is not free when you need to spend an inordinate amount of time filtering, organizing and digesting an information.
• Take Advantage of Free-Trials | The web is one big amazing library! You get a lot of 15-30 free/$1 trials. Take advantage of these. The trick here is to schedule your trainings such that you can focus on 1 training before your trial period ends. These 2 are excellent! Business Growth Strategies ($1 trial) and MindTools ($1).
• VALibrary | I’ve collected, and will continue to collect, trainings which are relevant to Virtual Assistants. I try to add as many good free/affordable trainings as I can find. Check it out Virtual Assistant Trainings | VALibrary – VA Training, Writing, Computer/Office Skills, Design/Graphic.

If you are aware of your weaknesses and are constantly learning, your potential is virtually limitless. – Jay Sidhu

Related Readings

• SWOT Analysis Method & Examples
• SWOT Analysis – Matrix, Tools, Templates and Worksheets
• Personal SWOT Analysis – Discover New Opportunities, Manage and Eliminate Threats

I love Zoho, GTD and Diigo. And today, I’ll be sharing with you 3 tips on how you can take advantage of these tools/ concepts to get things done.

Why Zoho for Online Task Management Tool?

You can use pretty much whatever Task management system you are already using. For myself, I use Zoho. Zoho is actually a most comprehensive suite of collaboration, productivity and business tools online. It is email, docs, sheet, online notebook, writer, wiki, planner, project manager, etc. – all in one. It’s sleek, uncluttered and very intuitive. In my humble opinion, every Virtual Assistant should use it. It’s free. When you sign-up, do get the Zoho Business. It has all the components you’ll need, in one panel. Explore Zoho

What is GTD Getting Things Done?

I find that most people online are familiar with GTD Getting Things Done, or at least have heard about it. If you happen to be living outside the GTD planet, this brief article will get you up to speed What is GTD? You may find Free Podcasts & Free Articles on GTD on David Allen’s site. If you have itunes, you may listen here Free podcasts  David Allen Company. GTD is one of those concepts/systems that has the most profound and long lasting impact on my life.

3 Tips to Get Things Done with Zoho Online Task Management Tool

Set Zoho Task Categories by On-line Context

The Context list is a GTD concept whereby you group your task list based on location/context (ie. @home, @computer, @errand). Doing so allows you to batch process all your tasks. Andre Kibbe of Tools-For-Thought.com explains this very well in his article Get More Done with Batch Processing.

Set your folder categories based on the url location of the major task groups. For instance, all tasks that you need to do while you are on Facebook, should fall under @Facebook (add friends, add clients, enhance Virtual Assistance Business Fan Page, share photos,etc). All the tasks you need to do while you are on your website (i.e. write post, add plugins, respond to comments, enhance design, etc), should fall under your @Blog folder. When you categorize your folders based on on-line context, you are able to work on your tasks in batches. Your productivity shoots up.

Do not create an impossible number of list. Create separate categories only if there’s sufficient task volume involved. For instance, I have a lot of Facebook tasks so I have a separate category for this. I also maintain mybloglog, my visualcv, friendster, twitter, etc, but the tasks I have on these are minimal. So I simply dump them all under @social.

Batch Your Tasks by Day of Week

You should assign the best day of the week to do a task category. For example, I do heavy RSS readings when I do research on Wednesdays (day 3). So I also schedule all my bookmarking related activities (ie. Diigo), on the same day. I usually have the energy to work on my most challenging tasks in the beginning of the week. So on Friday, I just schedule all my social media and planning activities. You may need to spend a bit of coffee hours if it’s your first time to do this exercise. Planning your task structure upfront will enable you to get things done, at much less time.

For tasks that spans through a couple of days (usually for those with subtasks/checklists), you can simply indicate the start day of the week. But of course, the actual start and end date will be reflected accordingly in the schedule. Also, feel free to indicate the actual deadline if a particular task happens to be time-bound. Usually I put those with real deadlines in my calendar. But for some tasks, I may opt to do them ahead of schedule. That is fine as well. But always remember, the more you can batch your tasks, the more productive and the more efficient you’ll be.

Putting the day of the week on your task category folder itself (ie. 3 RSS meaning day 3 Wednesday), makes it easy to add a task on the fly. I’m writing this post when I suddenly remember I need to search & subscribe to RSS feeds of interesting VA Bloggers. I can simply pull up a task and add it to Wednesday next week. The number 3 besides 3 RSS reminds me at a glance, to schedule the task the following Wednesday.

Leverage Diigo Bookmarks to Batch Your Tasks in Zoho

A lot of times you come across good reading materials while you are in the middle of a job. Or you may come across an article that is excellent for your future blog posts, while you are rushing to meet a deadline. A lot of people let these valuable information get lost due to the absence of an effective capture system. Bookmarking them alone, usually results to waste. Most of the bookmark’s tag and search systems are currently inefficient. Here’s a simple trick.

Assign a simple tag to all the bookmarks that requires an action. I use “add”. Anything I need to add to my blog I tag “add_blog”, to my facebook “add_fb”, to my google reader “add_reader”, to clients “add_clients”. Get it?

Assign a repetitive task to the above tag. I have a folder | 1 Blog. I do my blogging on Mondays (ie. day 1). I simply create a task “Check Diigo | add_blog” , in the Blog folder, and schedule it to repeat every Monday (screenshot below).

Here’s a concrete example. I’m working on a project and I happen to come across a good reference for this post. I quickly highlight the article and post a few private stickies to remind me what I like about it. I tag it “add_blog”. I then continue working on my project. Come Monday, my system reminds me to look it up in Diigo and use it in my article! This simple process enables you to capture and organize an enormous amount of information, without disrupting you from your current work.

Of all the bookmarking tools, Diigo is the best as far as productivity is concerned. It is not (as yet) as popular as other on-line bookmarks. However it is a most intelligent bookmarking tool. It is a blogger’s best friend. If you do a lot of on-line information processing like I do, you have to try it. Visit Diigo. To jump to the overview guide Diigo Outline

I hope you picked up something useful. Do try the above 3 Tips to Get Things Done with Zoho On-line Task Management Tool, and you’ll be amazed at how much more productive you can be! Thanks for reading.

“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” – Paul J. Meyer

Recommended Readings

• How Good is Your Time Management Quiz | MindTools
• Productivity Tips for Freelancers with Toddlers Underfoot | FreelanceFolder
• Vote for Diigo! Lifehacker Five Best Bookmark Management Tool | Diigo
• To-do Lists The Key to Efficiency | MindTools
• 46 Must-Read Productivity Tips for Freelancers | FreelanceSwitch

When you are in corporate, the company  pretty much determines what are the competencies & skills you need to possess so you can do your job well. The company then helps map out a training plan for you. But now that you are the owner of your Virtual Assistance Business, you are fully responsible in mapping out your Individual Development Plan (IDP). And the first step in developing your IDP, is establishing the competencies your target niche demands of you.

Knowing the competencies which are valued by your target clients will enable you to focus your self development efforts. By developing and mastering a competency or a skill, you’ll be able to carve out a niche for yourself, that will put you way ahead of other virtual assistants.

Virtual Assistant’s Professional Development Framework

The competencies & skills required of a Virtual Assistant can be broadly categorized into three sections, as follows:

1. Basic Competencies
2. Technical Competencies
3. Entrepreneurial Competencies

Basic Competencies

As the term implies, basic competencies are the basic skills you need to become a Virtual Assistant. 5 core elements have been identified as the Core Competencies for Emerging VAs. The 5 elements are as follows:

1. Professional Skills:

• Client Success
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Delegation
• Established Productivity
• Executive Presence
• Professional Attitude and Aptitude
• Professional Integrity

2. Personal Skills:

• Competent with Skill Set

3. People Skills

4. Education:

• Structured: 5 years office experience, basic office skills, proficient in email, internet, im, etc.
• Education of Marketplace

5. Office Standards:

• Basic home office hardware/software

Consider including all 5 core elements in your Competencies lists. They are all basic requirements as far as Virtual Assistants are concerned.

Technical Competencies

Depending on your field of expertise, a set of technical knowledge, skills and competencies are associated with your target niche. There is no standardized list w/ regards to the experience required of a Virtual Assistant. So here we are solely focused on skills.

You may visit your Client’s forums, Virtual Assistant Networks and your Industry Publications, to have an indication of the technical skills required of you. But I find that the most efficient way to get this information is to go to the On-line Job Boards (i.e eLance & oDesk). The job boards have already categorized most the technical skills clients require. Presented below are the technical skills of an Administrative Assistant. This is by no means exhaustive. You may view a more comprehensive list in our library =>  Virtual Assistant Technical Skills | VALibrary.

Pick out the technical skills that apply to your niche. I suggest you do not filter the list as at this point. Some of the skills which you do not have, presents a good opportunity for future self development. Just keep your list open.

Entrepreneurial Competencies

You are not just a Virtual Assistant. You are a Virtual Assistance Business owner. Do you realize the big difference between these two?

The Basic & Technical Competencies discussed above well equips you to function as a Virtual Assistant. But in order for your Virtual Assistance Business to survive and succeed, you need to arm yourself with Entrepreneurial skills.

To my knowledge, there is no definite list of Entrepreneurial skills/ competencies. The lists, as I’ve seen them, varies widely. But the article 

Entrepreneurial Skills. What you need to know to run your business | MindTools.com seems to be able to capture the most common traits of successful entrepreneurs. They are as follows:

1. Personal Skills

Do you have the inner spirit characteristic of successful entrepreneurs?

• Vision
• Drive & Persistence
• Initiative
• Commitment
• Control
• Risk Tolerance
• Resilience
• Self Determination

2. Interpersonal Skills

Your ability to communicate with others is crucial to your entrepreneurial success

• Conflict resolution
• Negotiation
• Leadership & motivation

3. Critical & Creative Thinking Skills

As an entrepreneur, you must be able to find the necessary information to support wise decisions about your business.

• Creative thinking
• Problem solving
• Opportunity identification

4. Practical Skills

Do you have the skills & knowledge to produce & deliver your services effectively, and to run your Virtual Assistance Business?

• Goal setting
• Planning & organizing
• Decision making
• Knowledge – business, entrepreneurial, opportunity specific, venture specific

Personally, I find that I possess, to varying levels of expertise, most of the Basic & Technical Competencies required of a Virtual Assistant Blogger. But given that I’ve always operated within the confines of the Corporate, I am severely lacking in Entrepreneurial skills. And I realize that, on many occasions, especially during start-up, self determination & resilience (i.e. entrepreneurial skills), becomes far more crucial than your technical skills. They sustain you.

This is not to say that one skill set/competency is more important that the other. What I’m saying is that you need a good balance of all 3 Competencies in order to succeed in your Virtual Assistance Business – Basic, Technical & Entrepreneurial Competencies.

Do you now have a good feel of the competencies required of you? As I’ve mentioned above, just broadly list the various skills in your niche. Do not do any filtering at this point. In the next post, you will learn how to rank & prioritize your list based on your personal SWOT & USP. Ok, bye.

Would-be entrepreneurs believe in what I call the fatal assumption: that knowing how to do the technical work means you know how to build a business. – Michael Gerber, e-Myth.com

Flavors.me is…

Flavors.me is your elegant narcissist web page. This is me smiling, this is my blog, here’s where you can find, here’s what i read, here’s what i listen to. It’s pretty cool.

Flavors.me allows anyone to create an elegant website using personal content from around the Internet. It automatically organizes all kinds of information – Posterous blog posts, Twitter status updates, YouTube videos, Last.fm music listening habits, Flickr photos, LinkedIn resume details and more – into a constantly growing, interactive visual montage that is ideal for personal homepages, lifestreaming, digital business cards, splash and microsites, celebrity fan pages, brand marketing – and everything in between. – Flavors.me

If you still don’t get it, then this may help  My Flavors.me

How Can Flavors.me Benefit Your Virtual Assistance Business?

If you don’t have a Website | I find that a lot of Virtual Assistants, especially those operating purely via job boards (Odesk/eLance), still don’t have their own websites. If for whatever reason, you fall under this category, then Flavors.me is excellent for you. You can simply upload your coolest photo, and add your social networks. You can then direct clients to your own Flavors.me page.

If you have a website | Here are some benefit you

• You maintain multiple blogs. You want to show potential clients your posts without them having to navigate to different sites. Flavors.me streams all your post feeds right there on your page.
• You want to show more personality. “Well yes, I’m a Virtual Assistant Bookkeeper, but hey, I’m creative too.” While it’s true you can design your webpage to show your personality, on most occasions, your website is geared towards the needs of your readers. You don’t usually smack your photo on your homepage. And you don’t usually talk a whole lot about yourself. Flavors.me allows you to show-off your personality while at the same time, showing off your work.
• Direct your personal domain name (i.e MyName.com). If you bought the domain for your personal name (highly recommended), but never got around to creating your own personal page, then you can simply forward your domain to Flavors.me at no cost.

My One Dilemma …In my opinion, whatever social network you hookup with your online profile, has to be read-worthy. So I had second thoughts about adding my facebook account on my Flavors.me page. My facebook updates were plain and ummm… unintelligent.

• my update: “Just ate a piece of chocolate. Happiness in a box. Little pleasures make life worthwhile.”
• potential client: “ So? ”

My point is, do review the contents of your social feeds before you add them in. True it’s nice to have a personal touch. It allows you to better connect with potential clients. But also ask yourself, which side of you do you want them to see more of, so you can have a better chance of closing the deal?

The Good & The Bad of Flavors.me

The Good: Super simple. Ultra easy to use. Pick & click. Elegant layout.

The Bad: Too simplistic. Does not handle html beyond link,bold,italics & paragraphs. Limiting layouts which do not give you the flexibility to drag the objects around.

Sample Flavors.me

My Flavors | Sheila Zaldivar : minimalist, tutorial tidbits, virtual assistant, blogger

Virtual Assistant | I found Cheryl’s cool page. She’s also Virtual Assistant! Cheryl Allin

So, What’s Your Flavor?

I do encourage you to try and create your own page. As a Virtual Assistant, having a web presence is crucial. Having a cool web presence is an advantage. Do watch the quick video below and then hop over to Flavors.me. It’s really fun & easy! Goodluck!

Flavors.me from Jack Zerby on Vimeo.

If you’d rather create your website using website builders :

CreateOwnWebsite| VATrainingOnline.com

Related :  Five Best Personal Landing Pages – Personal Landing Page – Lifehacker

Shyness has a strange element of narcissism, a belief that how we look, how we perform, is truly important to other people. – Andre Dubus

Running Out of Ideas for Blog Content is Very Common

Even the best of writers experience the “writer’s block” every now and then. As I mentioned in my 3 Simple Yet Critical Questions | Before You Start a Virtual Assistant Blog, lack of blog content is one of the most common reasons why blog dies. And if you are a Virtual Assistant, chances are, you don’t even have as much time to focus generating blog ideas as full time bloggers do. No worry. Today I’ll share with you the simplest, yet most effective way to generate ideas for your Virtual Assistant Blog.

Get Blog Content Ideas Using the Kipling Method

Kipling’s honest serving men

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who. (more…)

Rudyard Kipling’s 6 honest serving men prompts you to ask the 6 basic questions, What Why When How Where and Who. Since these questions are impossible to answer with a simple “Yes” and “No”, they are an excellent tool for conducting root cause analysis or investigations. They are an indispensable tool for project managers, writers, authors & journalists. In blogging, they can be an excellent tool in generating blog ideas. Simply pinpoint a client pain/ problem, then go thru the 6 questions and brainstorm your way thru your blog contents!

PinPoint a Pain

You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough people get what they want | Zig Ziglar

The most effective blog contents are those that addresses a client’s pain or problem. With this premise, let us start off by identifying a pain that your Virtual Assistance Business can address. Let us a assume that you are a Virtual Assistant specializing in article writing. Your ideal client is a decent paying customer who is looking for quality content. You go to the job boards/ forum and find that the most common & obvious problem for your client is generating quality content for their blog.

PAIN = LACK OF BLOG CONTENT

Identify Possible Solution/s

Here I am assuming that since you are a Virtual Assistant, then the call to action you are a after is to get the clients/readers to eventually, hire you. The default proposed solution therefore is to outsource to you There could be various other conclusions/ solutions but for simplicity’s sake, let’s just assume you are rallying for outsourcing to a Virtual Assistant.

SOLUTION = OUTSOURCE BLOG CONTENT

Brainstorm | What? Why? When? How? Where? Who?

Depending on the problem you’ve identified, some of the questions may be more applicable than the others. That is fine. The intent is merely to generate as many relevant topics as possible. I suggest you go thru this exercise using your own real example. Simply append your your solution to the 6 questions (ie. WHY + Outsource Blog Content?)

WHY Outsource Blog Content?

You simply explore the rationale behind outsourcing blogging content. If your pain is on eBook writing, then you ask, “Why Outsource eBook Writing”, etc. Here are some sample topics you may arrive at…

• Why Outsource Your Blog Content?
• 5 Excellent Reasons to Outsource Your Blog Content.
• Why 80% of Online Entrepreneurs Outsource their Blogging Content, and Why You Should Do To.

You can also focus on the top reasons why client’s outsource (ie. cost effective), and then expound on the pros & cons of the different outsourcing options. Some examples …

• The Hidden Cost of Poor Quality Content.
• How Much a $1 Article is Really Costing You.
• Cheap Article Writers Really are Expensive. Here’s Why…

TIP | If you are targeting readers who may not be familiar with the benefits of outsourcing, then you may want to provide more posts on the rationale behind outsourcing articles. But if you target readers are seasoned clients, then you may want to include more statistics or more in-depth articles to show your expertise.

HOW to Outsource Blog Content?

You can get a lot of topic ideas by asking the HOW question. You will most likely end up with checklists, processes, forms, SOPs, simple instructions – all value-heavy type of contents. Some sample ideas…

• Free Article Outsourcing Checklist.
• Do’s & Dont’s When Outsourcing Your Blog Contents.
• Step by Step Guide to Outsourcing Your Blog.
• 10 Most Common Mistakes When Outsourcing Blog Contents.
• Outsourcing Blog Content Process Map

TIP | Do not worry of the contents at this point. Depending on your level of knowledge, you will have to do some researching on these topics once you’ve prioritized them. At this point, just brainstorm on the most relevant topics/ answers you can think of.

WHERE to Outsource Blog Content?

You need to do a bit of research on the best online places clients can outsource (some here ie. VA Job Boards | VALibrary). Ideally, you’ll highlight some of the best sources, and guess what, you can be found there too!

• Top 20 Sites to Find Quality & Yet Affordable Article Writers.
• 30 Sources of Free Blog Content (And Why You Should be Cautious About them).
• Where Have All the Quality Article Writers Gone?

WHEN to Outsource Blog Content?

• You Know It’s Time to Outsource Your Blog Content When…
• Struggling Start-ups. Ever Heard of Blog Content Outsourcing?

WHAT to Outsource?

• 10 Blog Niches Which are Excellent for Outsourcing.
• You Should Never Outsource Your Core Contents. Here’s Why.

WHO to Outsource Blog Content to?

• This section should be really easy for you!

There you go – easy and straightforward way to generate blog content ideas using the Kipling Method. With practice, generating ideas out of a simple pain/problem becomes very easy. And you’ll never run out of topic ideas again. I use mindjet when I brainstorm using Kippling Method. But you may use whatever method suits you. Even a simple pen and paper works. Do give it a try!

Proofread carefully to see if you any words out. ~Author Unknown

Recommended Readings

• Where to Find Blog Content Ideas | VALibrary
• How to Manage Your Blog Content | VALibrary
• How to Start a Virtual Assistant Blog | VALibrary
• The Foundation of an Effective Website | CreateOwnWebsite
• Kippling Questions | ChangingMinds

If you conduct online search heavily, you should consider automating your process. An automated job search can greatly reduce the time you spend browsing and searching for a relevant job, thus leaving you more time to focus on your core activities . Here are some ways by which you can automate your job search.

4 Ways on How to Automate Your Job Search

1. Subscribe via Email Alert from Job Boards
2. Subscribe via Google Alert
3. Subscribe via RSS & Create Your Personal Dashboard
4. Use Yahoo Pipes (Advanced)

Subscribe via Email Alert from Job Boards

Most major job boards offer the ability for you to subscribe to job alerts via email. You simply conduct a job search, apply your filters, then save it for your alert. Depending on the job board, the frequency by which you receive the email alert may not be timely.

Sample instructions for eLance &  oDesk below. For others (you may refer here VA Job Boards) you may simply search the Help/FAQ section on email alerts.

• What Are the Different Ways to Search for Jobs?| eLance
• Job Alert Emails| oDesk (kindly scroll down towards bottom of the page)

Subscribe via Google Alert

You may set up an alert instructing Google to send you an email every time your key word (ie. Need + Virtual Assistant Secretary) is mentioned in the web. You may opt to receive the alerts as soon as they appear, daily or weekly. Setting up an alert is very easy. But hitting the right keywords/ key phrases may require a bit of trial and error.

• You may set-up your alert here| Google Alert
• Reading thru Google Alert FAQ may help if you’re totally clueless
• If you are not familiar with Google syntax/ you are getting irrelevant results, this will help Google Advanced Search
• Below is an excellent video tutorial on how to automate job your job search via Google Alert.

Subscribe via RSS & Create Your Dashboard

Subscribing to RSS feeds is better than email alerts. You get the updates real-time, and all your alerts are conveniently organized in your RSS bookmark/dashboard. If you have been operating online for sometime now, you are probably already familiar with RSS. If not, you may refer to below instructions.

• How Do I Use The RSS Feed To Find Jobs? eLance
• High Value Odesk Job Feeds| Odesk

Create Your Dashboard!

You may simply save your RSS using your favorite bookmark (ie. Firefox RSS Bookmark, Google Reader, etc) . However, to fully leverage on the power of RSS, you may want to create a dashboard. A dashboard will allow you to view all your job alerts, on one magazine-like page. This will tremendously cut down your job search time.

iGOOGLE| Here is an excellent tutorial

How to Build the Ultimate Job Board with iGoogle

NETVIBES| If you want more dashboard power, I recommend NetVibes (Free).

• If you are undecided on which personal dashboard to use, Mashable’s comparative review may help you 14 Personalized Homepages Compared, Feature by Feature| Mashable
• For first time RSS readers, reading can be overwhelming. Get an idea on how others are processing their RSS feeds in this article. The readers’ comments are especially helpful: How Do You Read RSS Feeds? These time saving tips are also good for newbies 5 Time Saving RSS Reader Hacks

Use Yahoo Pipes (Advanced)

Pipes is a powerful composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from around the web. – Yahoo Pipes.

Yahoo pipes allow you to create and filter your RSS. For instance, instead of getting an RSS/alert for all jobs for Virtual Assistant Web Designer, you may create a pipe that will filter all Admin Virtual Assistant jobs Web Designer specializing in wordpress, within your location. Imagine how much easier your life would be if you can get only those alerts which pertain to your field/niche! Once you have created your Pipe, you can then use the resulting RSS in your dashboard.

At a first glance yahoo pipes appear complicated. But once you try it out, you’ll be amazed how easy it is! This quick tutorial will guide you.

Learn How to Build a Pipe in Just a Few Minutes

The easiest way to learn is to clone an existing pipe and simply change the parameters/code to suit your needs. Here are some pipes which may be relevant for you as a Virtual Assistant:

• Job Search Pipes Customize and merge all your job search according to your needs.
• All in One SEO Pipes All the best SEO blogs filtered by Tags
• RSS Merge If you want to group/merge your rss. Merge your comment + blog rss into one feed. etc
• Social Media If you need to monitor your/your Client’s brand all over www
• Best Yahoo Pipes so Far

Remember| Activity Does Not Equate Productivity

Browsing around the web; spending countless hours wading thru tons of irrelevant jobs – these are activities. They are non-value added administrative tasks which you should automate. Try a couple above recommendations and have a feel on which method suits you best. It may take you a bit of tweaking. Consider this a small upfront investment of your time.  Once your process is in place, you’ll have a lot more time to dedicate to your core/ revenue generating activities for upcoming weeks, months or years!

Your greatest asset is your earning ability. Your greatest resource is your time. – Brian Tracy

A Virtual Assistant Blog Will Most Likely Benefit You, But…

That blogging benefits a service business is a given. Vandelay’s Blogging for Service Providers points it out. Tina Marie Hilton, Clerical Advantage Virtual Assistance Service owner, also advocates blogging for business| I’m in Business, Why Do I Need  a Blog? Technorati’s 2009 State of the Blogosphere (SOT) reports 70% of the self employed bloggers surveyed owns a company & blogs about it.

BUT positive as all these may sound, Calson’s Blog Statistics & Demographics prompts you to think twice about jumping in the blogging wagon. The review reports that roughly 60%-80% of blogs die within a month; 66% of surveyed blogs had not been updated in two months – 2.72 million blogs! ; and that 1.09 million blogs were one-day wonders, with no posting on subsequent days!  “The ‘average blog’ thus has the lifespan of a fruitfly…”

Roughly 40% of the Virtual Assistant blogs I’ve visited are now either dead or are on their death bed. Perhaps these blogs were not meant to be born, to begin with. The Virtual Assistants just didn’t know it. Proper evaluation upfront will save you tons of wasted time and heartache down the blogging road.  Here are 3 simple yet critical questions you need to ask yourself before you start a blog.

3 Questions Before You Blog

WHY Will You Blog?

What drives you to blog? What motivates you?

Passion?

If you are passionate about your topic, then that is excellent! Your passion will motivate you! It will reflect in your writings and move your audience. Read these Virtual Assistant Blogs and you’ll see what I mean The Gritty VA & Mann Made Blog

Goal?

While passion is ideal, in actuality, on certain Virtual Assistant fields/niches, the choice of topics may be less appealing. For instance, you may be passionate about being an Administrative Virtual Assistant, but you may not be very passionate about writing “20 Ways to Manage Your Emails”. In cases where passion falls short, your clearly defined goals will see you thru.

Top 5 Reasons to Start a Virtual Assistant Blog

• to establish your expertise
• to share your knowledge or voice out an opinion
• to differentiate yourself from competitors
• to improve client’s experience
• to provide a spring board for book or information product

Top 3 Reasons to Start a Virtual Assistant Blog (That You Should be Cautious About)

• to get more clients
• to get more traffic to your website
• to charge higher rates

I say “be cautious” because the above goals tend to focus on quick results and tend to give you a false set of expectations. If you focus on more traffic/clients but don’t see any after writing daily, religiously for 3 months, you’ll be extremely disappointed to the point of unblogging. This happens quite often. In reality, blogging takes time. Getting indexed, being found by readers, converting readers to paying Clients, all these takes time. A lot of bloggers report being on a standstill for the first 12-18 months. Here’s an interesting read that will dispel the myth of overnight blogging success in your head Becoming a ProBlogger – A story in Many Parts by Darren Rowse, & Business Timeline by Yaro Starak.

Focusing on establishing expertise or differentiation frames your mind to view blogging as long term brand building process. You will continue to write day in & day out, even though you have but a handful of readers, knowing fully well that every single quality post that you write, contributes to building Brand You. And when that happens, then, the moolah comes!

Stop reading for a while. Think thru why you want to start a blog. Write your answers down.

WHAT Will You Blog About?

Topic Breath | Will the topic you’re considering starting a blog about be lend itself to being an ongoing project? – 3 Factors to Consider Before Starting a Blog – Maintenaining Blogging Momentum

Sad to say but a lot of the dead Virtual Assistant Blogs I’ve observed where due to a very narrow topic. Some died just past their “Benefits of Hiring a Virtual Assistant” post. Here’s a quick exercise to test the depth of your topic.

20 Topic Test

Write down at least 20 topics you would like to write about in your blog. A draft outline will do.

• Title
• Key Points/ Bullets

Don’t just write the first topic that comes to your mind. Your topic content should be purposeful (7 Pillars of Successful Blog Content, Pt. 2 – Purposeful)

• Needed
• Actionable
• Premise-based
• Easy & Efficient

Your topics should be aligned with your blogging goals.

• If you are planning to write about your experiences as a Virtual Assistant which are intended to help other VAs, but your goal is to establish your expertise as a Bookkeeper Virtual Assistant, you may have some rethinking to do.

Reveiw Blogs by other Virtual Assistants. What topics are they blogging about? Are there any topics you can cover which they are not yet covering? Do you have anything different to say?

• Virtual Assistant Blogs | General
• Virtual Assistant Blogs | Sales & Marketing
• Virtual Assistant Blogs | Writing & Research
• You may find our full list here: VALibrary| Virtual Assistant Blogs

If you can’t think beyond “How to Work With a Virtual Assistant”, you may need to re-think about blogging. Lack of content is one of the most common reasons that blogs die. While there are many sources of inspiration for finding blogging topics, you may need to do some researching before you actually start posting. Sure you can grow into your blog. But if establishing your expertise is your goal, blogging at this point, when you clearly have very little knowledge as to what you want to write about, may be counter productive.

So, what will you blog about? Write it down.

WHEN Will You Blog?

Virtual Assistance Business itself demands a lot of time (assuming you already have Clients). If you have kids, as most of us do, then you probably even have less free time on your hands. I’ve searched high and low on how much time it takes others to blogs. The answers varies greatly. Here’s what I found.

Blogging Takes Time. Blogging Quality Posts Takes Even Longer

Here are some interesting stats from Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere (SOT) 2009 | The How of Blogging

• An average blogger blogs 2-3 times/ week
• 32% of Self Employed Bloggers spend 10 or more hours blogging.
• 10% of Self Employed Bloggers blog 40 hours/week or more

Outside of Blogging itself, you’ll need time to work on your blogging platform (plugins, design, brand, etc). You also need to market your blog either via social media or networking. Moderating comments also takes time. These can easily add up to another 5 to 10 hours/ week.

If you are writing quality posts, you will need even more time planning, researching, drafting and editing your posts.

Sure you can blog as little as you want. But in order to be successful, as a newbie blogger, you may need to allocate anywhere from 10-20 hours/week on your new blog.

Do You Have 10-20 hours/week to Spare?

If you currently don’t have a regular client base, you may have sufficient time to blog. But you need to ask yourself, if and when you do get Clients, will you still have the time to write?  When you are rushing to meet Client’s deadlines over weeks, as some Virtual Assistants do, will you still write? If not, then don’t start blogging. You are merely setting yourself up for failure.

If you think, “I don’t have time to blog”, but believes blogging is crucial to the overall success of your Virtual Assistance Business, then consider it as an investment of your time. In which case, you need to FIND the time to blog. I’ve seen it plenty of times. Successful people just find the time to do the things they are suppose to do – be it when the kids are sleeping, very late at night, or in the wee hours of the morning. It then just boils down to how much you believe in your goal and how committed you are in achieving it. If you believe in your goal, you will find the time and the energy to do it.

If you cannot commit the time and resources to Blog about interesting and unique information that you site visitors are interested in, at least several times each week, week in and week out – don’t start.’ – 5 Reasons Not To Blog, Judith Kallos

Recall your schedule for the past couple of months. Realistically asses whether you have the time or whether you can find the time to blog.

Contrary to Popular Believe, Blogging is NOT FREE

Setting up a Blog is very easy and yes, largely free. But, maintaining a Blog is NOT FREE. Depending on your hourly Virtual Assistant rate, a 10-20 hours/week of blog posting & maintenance can run anywhere from $450 to $1,800/month. You do the math.

So before you start investing your precious time and effort on your Virtual Assistant Blog, ask yourself first these 3 simple questions. Your honest answers will help you determine whether your fantastic blogging idea should be born with a bang, or should be aborted, now.

• WHY Will You Blog?
• WHAT Will You Blog About?
• WHEN Will You Blog?

You have to put in many, many, many tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates before you achieve anything worthwhile. – Brian Tracy

Recommended Readings

• How to Start a Virtual Assistant Blog | VALibrary
• Why Do You Blog? Do You Have a Purpose? | LorelleOnWordPress
• Guide to Finding Time to Blog (When It’s Not Your Day Job) | Business.com
• Top 7 Blog Content Tips – Part2: Schedules & Deadlines | BlogForProfit
• Building a Successful Blog – Part7 – Making sure your blog does not fail before it starts | BlogForProfit