virtualassistantindustry.com

Invest In Career Training and Ongoing Education

Denise Griffitts — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:14:41 +0000

As a very busy Virtual Assistance firm, we receive hundreds of resumes and inquiries from people who have decided that the Virtual Assistance Industry is something that is very interesting to them. The unfortunate truth is that only rarely receive do we receive a resume that outlines the skills, hard and soft, that my firm requires. In fact, this one crossed my desk this morning.

I am interested in becoming a VA. How does this work? Do you send the work to me weekly or are there larger, longer term projects to be had?

Please let me know – thank you!

Clearly this person has no concept at all about what it is that we do. I hate to admit that we are seeing more and more of this type of resume which is what prompted me to write this article. People are losing their jobs at a truly frightening pace and turning to the internet to either supplement or replace their income and the Virtual Assistance Industry on the face of it looks like something that could be easy and fun to do.

Job seekers are reading online that there is a very high demand for Virtual Assistants without understanding what the qualifications and skill sets are that set us apart from our competition. Simply possessing entry level office skills does not an entrepreneur make and that is exactly what we are. We are highly trained, highly competent, highly motivated professionals who regularly self-invest in career training, certifications and continuing education.

One of the best pieces of advice that I ever received is this: “Invest in yourself”.

When employment opportunities are scarce, investing in yourself can mean continuing your education, staying on the cutting edge of your chosen field or developing a new area of expertise. In any case, investing in yourself requires time, energy and often a financial commitment. Self-employed professionals who pursue continuing education stay on the frontiers of their fields more effectively. Their pursuit of new knowledge signals to clients that they take nothing for granted, that they are not stagnant and they are working daily to self-improve. When you invest in your own career training you are increasing your market skills and will earn consistently high professional fees.

While there is no formal path to training for small business ownership or entrepreneurship, training with successful professionals can give you a helpful edge in your market. As more companies and individuals rely on new technology and the internet to do business, job growth in the Virtual Assistance Industry is expected to grow rapidly.

My colleague’s advice, offered so many years ago, continues to ring true. We must invest in ourselves and, as a corollary, in our employees and team members in order to reap maximum returns.

Virtual Assistance University

Virtual Assistance Certification Training

The Virtual Assistance University is a collaboration of experts from a variety of backgrounds. Some of the faculty members are virtual assistants, web developers, WordPress platform experts, social media marketing experts, technologists, profit growth consultants, sales trainers and business development coaches. We even have a nationally renowned Psychologist who will teach you how to overcome fear and self-resistance. Each faculty member contributes years of practical experience to accelerate your growth and success.

The Virtual Assistant Certification course is a structured 20 week performance improvement program in which goals are set, actions are taken and results are realized. You will be provided with a performance plan, a disciplined implementation process, daily measurement systems, and a very unique accountability process along with specific tasks, tactics, tools and strategies to attain your business goals.

Social Media Marketing Certification Course

During the course of this 4 week intensive course you will learn how to balance your online social media marketing efforts. Every online marketing campaign needs balance. To stay relevant with your core audience, you need to interact with them and create impressions across several marketing channels. By experiencing the brand’s message across several marketing channels, the likelihood of being able to recall the brand (you) and your message is greatly increased.

Have questions about the Virtual Assistance Industry? Email them to me at info @ virtualassistantindustry.com.

**You have permission to reprint in your publication or to your website/blog any articles by Denise Griffitts found on this Website as long as Denise Griffitt’s name and contact information is included. Denise Griffitts, Virtual Assistance Industry Expert, http://virtualassistantindustry.com, info @ virtualassistantindustry.com, 888-719-6711.

Entrepreneurs… Remember to Breathe!

Denise Griffitts — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:38:30 +0000

Take a deep breath…

Being an entrepreneur is not easy. It is rewarding, it is exciting, it is occasionally exhausting and tears inducing, but what it is not, is easy. Today, many people live in stress mode all the time and entrepreneurs, particularly women entrepreneurs, tend to top that list. By learning to identify your “stressors” you can decide to face them, change them and move towards calm.

Overloading your “to-do” list

This is a huge one. Even if you do self identify as “super woman”, “super man”, or “super entrepreneur”, and you have the focus and energy to be super, the real question is: Is your schedule so packed that one small hiccup throws you into a snit both physically and emotionally? The sad truth is that our days are filled with countless interruptions and unforeseen dilemmas. Stamping out fires is the norm most days.

What to do?

Consider categorizing your daily schedule and grouping certain types of activities that can be done in a logical and linear fashion. Depending on your personality and work style you can start with the easy items that will take just a few minutes, work through them and get them off of your list, or tackle priorities first thing in the morning when you are refreshed and rested.

Identify what tasks are predictable, recurring and time-consuming. From this list determine where you really need help and can outsource tasks. Is your housework falling behind and the clutter beginning to impinge on your consciousness? Consider hiring a cleaning service once or twice a month to really deep clean your home. Do you need to get very serious about your social media marketing but just don’t have the time or the knowledge to do it properly? Consider hiring a social media marketing expert to help you build your online presence and expand your brand.

Create a schedule that will keep you on track with all the chores and tasks that you need to accomplish on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, but be certain to build some flexibility into it to allow for the glitches that will invariably run into.

Tend to yourself

Yes, I know, as Virtual Assistants and online service providers we work from our beautifully appointment home offices. But…. do you look in the mirror and see your hair pulled back for convenience, little or no makeup, clothing that is functional and comfortable but hardly professional? Go to your bathroom mirror and take a good long look at the “entrepreneur” in the mirror. The truth is that there is a strong correlation between how you present yourself to the world and how the world reacts to you. When you present a strong, confident aura even if it is just over the phone or in your online interactions with other people, you will get positive responses.

What to do?

I strongly recommend a good fitness regime! If you can get to a gym first thing in the morning or are disciplined enough to work out at home you will find that your day is fueled from natural energy rather than a pot of coffee.

Remember to eat healthy snack in-between meals. By forgetting to eat your body goes into craving mode and you will find yourself irritable, headachy and tired. Keep fruits, fresh vegetables and nuts handy for that quick energy boost. And drink plenty of water!

Invest in a good haircut, create a “5 minute face” makeup routine and ditch the sweat pants. I am not advocating that you dress as if you were working in somebody else’s office, but do make sure that when you sit down at your desk that you could also run out the door to meet with a client or a friend for lunch without having a full blow panic attack.

Do you have some great time management and stress managment tips for the online entrepreneur? I would love to hear them!

Streamline Your Life, Streamline Your Business

Denise Griffitts — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:27:46 +0000

Professional organizers will tell you that a good old fashioned clutter purge can save you time and money. This should also apply to your business. By arranging your environment for success and organizing your processes you will be more efficient in your time expenditures, save time and ultimately save money.

Streamline Bill Paying

Do you pay some of your bills online and some the old fashioned way? This can get confusing if you are not keeping a calendar that reminds you when it is time to get out the checkbook and write that check. Consider setting up a separate email account that is used only for banking and bills. Gmail is a great tool for this. Then schedule a twice-monthly bill paying session in your calendar to check that email account. By doing this you don’t miss deadlines and wind up paying those truly awful late fees. You will save money and maintain good credit.

Clean Up Your Email Client

By setting up an effective way to process and organize your email you will gain more control over your day, improve your response time, and keep track with critical actions and due dates.

Create an effective reference system by organizing what information to store where and what to keep and what to delete. Sounds daunting doesn’t it? According to Microsoft, you have the opportunity to save almost an hour a day by having a good system in place! Read more here and here about how to set up these systems for Microsoft Outlook. You can also upload big attachments to a free online storage like Windows Live SkyDrive.

Tidy Up Your Computer

Is your computer desktop a maze of shortcut icons? By keeping only active files and shortcuts (in files) visible you will feel less cluttered and jumbled. Can you even see your wallpaper anymore? If not, it is definitely time to get organized. Think of the computer desktop as a real desktop. The pens and pencils go in a certain corner, while files that you regularly access will be in another section. It is the same idea with your computer desktop.

Start by creating a series of folders. Do this by right-clicking any blank area on your desktop. I typically use 4-5 folders:

Actions

Put items in this folder that requires action that takes more than just a few minutes to complete. This could be anything from files to upload to large applications to install and set up. Be sure to schedule these action items in your calendar so they don’t get overlooked.

Incubate

This is your ideas folder. These are items or links that you need to go back and look at when you are fleshing out potential projects, or where you can keep articles or information about further education for yourself and your business such as online classes or certification courses. I suggest going through this folder weekly to determine if you are ready to act on any of these ideas. This is the time to delete or archive items in this folder.

Current Projects

Files pertaining to active projects go here. Create sub-folders for each project and client so you are not continually searching for a phrase or key word shown on your project schedule.

Archive

Once you have completed a project move it to this folder. Again, don’t be afraid to use sub-folders. Schedule a time each month to visit this folder and edit, prune or delete items that you don’t think you will ever need again. Backup your archive to DVD or external hard drive just in case you do need them again down the road.

Start Filing!

Even working virtually as so many of us do these days, we still handle paper and files. Invest in a small filing cabinet that can be tucked away in a closet or corner of your home office, or even consider a furniture quality lateral filing cabinet that can be used as additional table top space for your printer, scanner or other office equipment.

Make it a point to file papers and documents as soon as you are through with them. Don’t get into the habit of piling them up and thinking that you will get to them later. There are few things more frustrating than having to rummage around piles of papers on your desk to locate the one you need. By making it a practice to handle a piece of paper one time and then put it where it belongs you eliminate that distraction and boost your efficiency.

Scan Letters and Documents

If storage in your home office is a problem, consider scanning documents such as retainer agreements, client documents that don’t require original signatures, etc.

Buy a Shredder!

I can’t stress this enough! As a Virtual Assistant, you need to protect your client’s information with the same ferocity that you protect your own personal information. We all know about identify theft, but did you know that your waste material is sorted and recycled? Worse yet, your garbage is public domain and is available to anyone to reclaim.

As Virtual Assistants we have a legal obligation to protect our client’s privacy. If you are not filing paper or phone notes that you took while chatting with a client, shred them! Shred discarded or outdated material that belongs to your client. When and if you stop working for a client shred EVERYTHING and let the client know that you did it.

Do you have great organizing tips that you would like to share? We would appreciate hearing from you!

Profit Growth Strategy # 12 For Virtual Assistants

Denise Griffitts — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:47:18 +0000

Table of contents for Profit Growth Strategies for VA's

Selecting the Right Clients

Dozens of books have been written on the selection process for employees. The experts recommend a variety of tactics and strategies that ensure the prospective employee has the skills for the job and is the right fit for the culture of the organization. One less than stellar employee can damage the team. For a small entrepreneur, one bad employee could destroy the company’s reputation.

Many of the same reasons a bad employee can harm a business are the very same reasons a poorly chosen client can damage or destroy a small business. In most cases, when a virtual assistant reports that she chose the wrong client, she will also admit that it did not feel right from the start. Usually, there are issues of self-doubt, tight finances, or over confidence on the part of the virtual assistant. No matter what the cause, often the results are the same.

By the end of the first project, both the client and the virtual assistant are angry with each other. They blame each other for lack of communication, wasted efforts, and inadequate vision. Both experience a decline in energy and often they infect members of their teams or even their clients. Before long, the relationship is severely damaged and one party initiates a painful separation.

Although much has been written about employee selection practices, there are few resources to help a virtual assistant choose the right client. Here are a few tips:

Start with a small project and no future commitment so you can test the waters;
Develop a standard questionnaire to understand your prospective client’s desired communication medium, times and frequency;
Always start with the project vision clearly recorded. Conference call lines are great for this and provide replay and archival functionality. A few hours invested now will save many hours of wasted effort later;
If the initial interview and subsequent discussions cause an uneasy feeling—the feeling you get when you know the relationship is not going to work—don’t move forward; and,
Always behave in a graceful and professional manner. One of the most common complaints I hear from client’s who have worked with VA’s in the past is that once the working relationship began to go sour that they simply could not reach their VA. Phone calls were not answered and emails were not responded to. This is one of the worst things a VA can do in a professional relationship. If your client, or even a potential client is not someone who is a good fit, or the work involved is out of your scope or range of skills, offer to refer them to somebody else. Make the introduction and be done with it. You will maintain your online reputation and not have a bitter (and vocal!) client on your hands.

Establish your ground rules for the relationship up front and stick to them regardless of your circumstances or who the client is. If you need help, have a few members of your mastermind team or trusted members of your network on the first call with you. It is likely that you will be contacting some of these same individuals anyway to refer business to them. Get them engaged at the beginning.

If you are interested at all in building and growing a recession-proof Virtual Assistant practice, I urge you to join our mailing list now.

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Virtual Assistance University Announces Scholarship Program

Denise Griffitts — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:59:14 +0000

Scholarship Program for Virtual Assistants

One of the major initiatives of the Virtual Assistance University is to attract and support new talent in the Virtual Assistance Industry by improving the educational opportunities for future Virtual Assistants through scholarships.

We are grateful for the opportunity to be leaders in our industry and have created the Founders Award for budding entrepreneurs who demonstrate a genuine interest in becoming a highly trained Virtual Assistant, but cannot afford the tuition at this time.

This scholarship is highly sought after and will be rewarded on merit. The value of the scholarship is $3,250.

Scholarship Contest Rules

Applications for the 2009 academic year must be completed by Friday, October 23, 2009 at Midnight CST. Notification of awards will be completed by October 31, 2009 and the winner or winners will be notified. Applicants will not receive more than one scholarship.

You must have, or really, really, really want to have your own Virtual Assistance practice

You must be a member of our FREE Virtual Assistance Community.

You must write a 500 – 750 word essay telling us why this is so important to your and your future, what or who inspired you to take this entrepreneurial path and what your vision is for your business. Please let us know what your accomplishments relating to your current practice are.

Please submit your essay by email at information @ virtualassistanceuniversity.com. Please note that you must have the words “VAU Scholarship Program” in the subject line and the essay must be copied and pasted into the body of the email. We will not accept attachments.

We wish you the best of luck and look forward to reading your work.

Denise Griffitts, Founder and CEO

**Current employees, team members or contractors of Denise Griffitts, Your Virtual Assistant or Your Office On the Web are not eligible for consideration.

Note: By submitting your scholarship essay to Virtual Assistance University (VAU), you agree to allow Denise Griffitts and her companies to use your essay, name, business name, and URL in any future marketing materials and/or promotional products through our various websites to help further educate and train others about the Virtual Assistance Industry.

Profit Growth Strategy #11 for Virtual Assistants

Denise Griffitts — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:18:57 +0000

Create Joint Venture Partnerships for Your Clients

As your Virtual Assistance practice grows you will naturally begin to build a very deep “Rolodex”. Being associated with other highly successful business people brings a certain synergy to all of your business dealings. Take a look at all the people you associate with, work with, or network with. Does one or more of your clients have a product or service that would be a good fit with another client who has complementary capabilities and resources?

What other services or products would be good for your customers or clients? Be creative and you’ll be able to come up with many suitable complimentary products or services in your client’s industry or closely related industry.

Use your Rolodex to form JVs so your client can:

Form complimentary products or services and offer package deals.
Create joint seminars amd promote themselves jointly to a specific marketplace.
Write articles and post them in each other’s newsletters and websites.
Give special offers to their JV partner’s customers and have them do the same.
Include a special offer or coupon for product or service within each other’s client mailings.
Add links to and from each other’s web sites.
Co-author a helpful “how to” booklet and then offer it as an exclusive gift to their mutual clients.

Case Study

Recently I introduced two of my clients to each other with fabulous results.

Todd Durkin of Fitness Quest 10 in San Diego is a nationally and internationally known fitness expert. Todd Durkin Enterprises offers dynamic programs, presentations, DVDs and other educational products, conduct seminars and workshops and Todd speaks at many of the large health and fitness conferences in the United States and abroad.

Dr. Jack Singer is a nationally renowned Sport Psychologist and is one of only a dozen or so Sport Psychologists around the U.S. who has this Clinical Hypnosis Certification, and he teaches powerful, self-hypnosis skills to all of his athletes. Dr. Jack is a frequent guest on ESPN, FOX-SPORTS, CNN, MSNBC and countless sports radio talk shows throughout the U.S. and Canada, including Reid Spencer’s famous golf show, “On the Green.” Jack also is on the advisory board for Championship Performance, and his articles are frequently featured in that periodical, as well as sports, human resources, medical and psychological publications around the U.S.

Todd and Jack instantly recognized that while they were both appealing to the same market, that they were in no way competing and could offer many valuable products, services and information to each others clients. They recently did a Mastermind session that you can listen to here. Enjoy!

If you are interested at all in building and growing a recession-proof Virtual Assistant practice, I urge you to join our mailing list now.

Profit Growth Strategy #10 For Virtual Assistants

Denise Griffitts — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:52:17 +0000

Table of contents for Profit Growth Strategies for VA's

Virtual Assistants who possess excellent writing skills should use those skills to create articles for their clients. There are several ways to do this which will give additional credibility to your client and generate more business. Profit growth for your client will generally mean profit growth for you.

Ghost writing an article is the first way to help your client. You can interview him and take notes about a relevant topic in an industry that your client supports. Then you can write the article and send it under his name to trade associations or media outlets that may be interested.

Advocacy is another approach. Your clients should be aware of issues that affect the livelihood of his clients. Therefore you should be aware of these issues too. You can draft letters to legislative leaders or letters to the editor supporting particular viewpoints. This gives your client more credibility and attracts more attention to his understanding of the industry he supplies.

The last approach we will discuss is to write about your client’s clients. While this may sound odd, if you act on behalf of your client and write articles about the great work his clients are doing, you will generate more business for them and probably for your client. In addition, you may earn a new client in the process.

Focusing on the needs of others, especially profit growth, is one of the most effective ways to grow your own business. Profits allow your clients to expand. Their growth means more business for you and your VA team and other network partners.

If you are interested at all in building and growing a recession-proof Virtual Assistant practice, I urge you to join our mailing list now.

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Profit Growth Strategy #9 For Virtual Assistants

Denise Griffitts — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 03:10:29 +0000

Table of contents for Profit Growth Strategies for VA's

Find Speaking Engagements For Your Clients

Top notch virtual assistants find new ways to market their clients. Today and tomorrow we will share a few of the ways you can do this. Your client will be grateful for the help and will remember you when they book more business.

Speaking engagements are a great way to get the word out for an expert. There are over 10,000 national associations that cover every industry. Each of these associations has local, regional and state chapters whose leaders are looking for speakers every month. If your client is an expert in an industry or has a specific niche, find opportunities for him to speak to a room of prospects.

If you don’t have experience in this area, there are experts who can teach you. However, before you spend money on programs, call some of your partners. Someone in your network is likely to have experience setting up speaking engagements. Ask them for tips or even ask if you can “apprentice” with them to learn this skill. There is no education that replaces actual experience.

Finding the right meeting is the key. Ask your client who his best customers are. Then find out what these customers read and which associations they belong to. Research the associations and read their materials. Befriend the leadership of the associations and recommend that they have your client speak. A third party referral is a very powerful persuasion tactic.

If you are interested at all in building and growing a recession-proof Virtual Assistant practice, I urge you to join our mailing list now.

**You have permission to reprint in your publication or to your website/blog any articles by Denise Griffitts found on this Website as long as Denise Griffitt’s name and contact information is included. Denise Griffitts, Virtual Assistance Industry Expert, http://denisegriffitts.com, info @ virtualassistantindustry.com, 888-719-6711.

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Profit Growth Strategy #8 For Virtual Assistants

Denise Griffitts — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:02:11 +0000

Table of contents for Profit Growth Strategies for VA's

Build Your Client a Free Squidoo Lens

Is your client an expert on something? Cat nip toys, Library operations, power of persuasion? No matter what your client’s area of expertise you can create a Squidoo lens. What’s a Squidoo lens? It is a free, single page online – which translates to a popular way to be found on the web and possibly make some money for your client or a charity. Squidoo is a user-generated website which ueses the concept of a lens as its primary feature, and the best part about it is that you don’t need to have a computer science degree or know html to build a beautiful one page site.

Squidoo lenses are a cross between Wikipedia and a blog. You can sell items on your lens, link to Amazon and much more. So whether your client’s passion is politics, the internet, or enterprise content management, you can bring them further exposure by creating a Squidoo lens or a series of lenses. It is a fun and simple way to publish information that allows you to share, get found, get followed and get influential. Your client will love it.

At this time Squidoo is in the top 500 most visited sites in the world, and in the top 300 most viewed in the United States.

If you are interested at all in building and growing a recession-proof Virtual Assistant practice, I urge you to join our mailing list now.

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Profit Growth Strategy #7 for Virtual Assistants

Denise Griffitts — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 23:21:21 +0000

Table of contents for Profit Growth Strategies for VA's

Leveraging Other People’s Highest Billable Hours

Yesterday you learned how to leverage your highest priced billable hours. Today you are going to learn what to do with those tasks you don’t care to do or don’t get paid well enough to do. This profit growth strategy is often neglected but can be worth millions of dollars and many more hours sleep over the course of your career.

Many solo-preneurs fail in business because they never build a network of strategic partners. Virtual assistants are notorious for this behavior. It is also one of the key reasons most virtual assistants never make more than they did in corporate America.

Develop a network of virtual assistants and other professional service providers who complement your work. This is a mutually beneficial relationship. You pass your partners work that they specialize in and you receive work from them that is your specialty. Each of you only uses the highest priced skills you have doing work you enjoy. This way everyone performs at their highest level and produces results that create loyal customers.

This partnership is not a free venture. You must work out an agreement as to the prices your partner will charge for their services. Then, you will add a premium. The amount of the premium you charge can depend on the amount of effort and time you consume in selling the services, managing the project and billing the client. A set dollar amount per hour or a percentage-based fee is acceptable.
Strategic partnerships are highly valuable and help you earn money while you are sleeping or on vacation. Once you master this you will be more valuable to your clients and you will have a vast network of partners selling your services in reciprocation for you selling their services.

If you are interested at all in building and growing a recession-proof Virtual Assistant practice, I urge you to join our mailing list now.

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