Charging low rates to get the client/job
What actually do you achieve by doing this?
1. You can get the job, YES
2. Is it worth your while doing the job at the low rate?, NO
No it is not. With each job you do you need to know that job is worthwhile to do, you need to have proper rates set up and remember you are running a business.
If this is just a game to you and you are doing this just to earn a little extra, it’s still not worth it to you as you are not being paid for your worth, you are seeing money, but what can that money buy for you from that task. What about your skill, experience and time you have spent doing the job, is that worth nothing to you. Going in at the lowest rate is not going to make money for your business, it sure want make profits. You will be running your business at a loss and is that the way to do business, not really, every good business person will tell you there is a need to make money to run your business.
Even if you charge low and take in job after job you are still losing out with your expenses that it takes to do the job. A VA should know with each job they do exactly what is involved. How long the job will take, what costs are involved as no matter what job you do there is a cost to you involved, be it your time, printer ink, electricity etc, there is a cost, these issue have to be looked at with your rates.
Wouldn’t it be better to win a job on your skills, attributes, knowledge, experience than to win because you put in a low bid for that job… Surely you have confidence in yourself to know what your skills are worth… Are they really worth that low rate! Interesting eh…
Monday, March 29, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Dictaphone - Trancription - Typing
Believe it or not there is a difference between Dictaphone, Transcripiton and Typing, a lot of VAs and Transcriptionists dont seem to know this.
Dictaphone and Transcription are similar so we charge at an hourly rate or an audio hourly rate and these are not referred to as typing in any way, if the client refers to them as typing tell that client it is either of the two but not typing and then explain what is involved with doing it, they are both a skill in themselves and not everyone can do them.
Dictaphone is normally one person, could be a doctor or an attorney recording into a digital machine, recording device and then you as a Transcsriptionist listen to that tape and transcribe it.
Transcription can be more involved, it can be a recording of a meeting with a few people present, a conference session, court hearings etc. It is usually when more than one person is speaking and the event is being recorded.
These two skills should not be the same as copy typing, they are more involved and can take a few hours to transcribe into a document therefore there is normally an hourly or audio hourly rate involved not a per page rate.
Typing is what it is and is not either of the above and its charged at a per page rate or a per word rate (sometimes students like it per word, but not often). Typing is normally when you type from written notes, pdf documents, author's books, reports, tenders, copy typing etc.
If you let clients charge you at a per page rate for Dictaphone or Transcription then you are losing out big time in time and money as these tasks take much longer to complete and are skill on their own.
It is up to us to price accordingly for these tasks and to educate VAs, Trancriptionists and clients on the differences.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Fast response times to Potential Clients
When working as a VA or Transcriptionist one of the ways to get and claim potential clients is by responding very fast. Have your email set to received emails the minute they are sent. As you receive emails asking for quotes, respond as quick as you can or even to a request to use your services, often the early bird will catch the potential client. Clients are impressed by a quick response as it shows you are ready and willing to assist that client.
If you have adsl access then you are able to sit in skype or messenger all day, you have no need to go in and out as these programs barely use any gig space/time. Often clients contact me via skype when a job is urgent, they know they will get a fast response by using this method of communication from me.
If you have adsl access then you are able to sit in skype or messenger all day, you have no need to go in and out as these programs barely use any gig space/time. Often clients contact me via skype when a job is urgent, they know they will get a fast response by using this method of communication from me.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Does your clients work all hours or 8am to 5pm?
Your clients working hours will impact on your working hours, so make sure you are both in sync about the hours you work.
If your clients are working all hours and weekends you will be expected to be available these hous also, unless you state different. I am available to suit my clients and all my clients work long hours and weekends, but that is my agreement with them and my preference.
If you want to work 8am to 5pm make sure you let your clients know this and make sure when you look for clients you look for the types of clients that work these hours. Working hours can be very important to some clients when they are looking for a VA or Transcriptionist.
Make sure your hours are part of your working agreement with your client.
If your clients are working all hours and weekends you will be expected to be available these hous also, unless you state different. I am available to suit my clients and all my clients work long hours and weekends, but that is my agreement with them and my preference.
If you want to work 8am to 5pm make sure you let your clients know this and make sure when you look for clients you look for the types of clients that work these hours. Working hours can be very important to some clients when they are looking for a VA or Transcriptionist.
Make sure your hours are part of your working agreement with your client.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Goals for 2010
A good way to start of the new year is to set goals for your business. Look at what you did and did not achieve last year, then look at what you would like to achieve in your business for 2010. Set small acheiveable goals and then longer term goals. We have the world cup coming to SA soon, so a good goal to set is to do plenty of marketing. Goal setting is an important part of any business.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
http://conorsadmin.blogspot.com/
A great blog for information for virtual assistants run by Trish Donmall of Conors Admin Services. Website: http://conorsadmin.co.za/
Monday, December 7, 2009
How easy is it being a Virtual Assistant!
Being a Virtual Assistant (VA) is not all about the client sending you typing, you do the work and send it back, there is much more involved.
As a VA we do many things, there is month end administration with invoices every month so no matter how busy you are, you stop and do your invoices, it is important to be paid for the work we do. You set aside a day and get your invoices out. Bookkeeping and updating your schedules. This is just one part of our administration another part is, we need to push clients and contractors for payments and invoices, we have to battle with clients who do not want to pay, who query what we do.
One of our aims is to keep our clients happy all the time, we need to keep that client as they provide us with ongoing work so we nurture that client; our clients are our bread and butter. We need to liaise with our clients often.
Managing many clients work is not an easy task. Keep their work in separate folders also in my documents have client folders and in email. With regular clients it is best to invoice monthly. All my clients are regular so I prepare all their invoices at the end of the month and get them all out at the same time so that I can monitor payments coming in. This is where my work log comes in handy as I document all work incoming, and I check back against this when doing my invoicing for each client.
Administration as we call it is a major part of being a VA. We need to market continually, our company needs to be out in the public eye and be seen. Our websites/blogs need to be updated. We continually look for new avenue’s to market our work to. Networking is just as important, there is always the need to tell everyone and anyone what we do, who we are, get the word out there. Any person you talk to could be a potential clients or referral, that’s why it is important to talk about your business no matter where you are, when you can and who you are with. We continually need to look for avenue’s to advertise our companies.
Often we need to do debt collecting with clients who do not pay, this is not a nice part of the job but we must do it, we need to be paid for what we do.
Managing of contractors, when a VA is overloaded we then get the opportunity to help out newbie Vas by contracting to them or helping out established VAs with a bit of extra work. Contracting work out is not as easy as you think. We are on our contractors backs to get them to keep in touch, they need to meet our deadlines, what if the contractor decides she is not doing the work or cant for some reason then we need to find a replacement in the middle of the work that is time taking. Paying of contractors on completion of work.
Another favourite is quoting for work, often ad-hoc jobs come in and we need to arrange a quote, quoting is not quick we need to ask questions to be able to place a price on the work, very time consuming especially with larger jobs.
Filing must be done as with any job, the office administration as seen above is often the hardest part of our job to do, but that comes with running any company/business. There are still many other facets about being a virtual assistant, the best way to learn about doing this type of job is to talk to established VAs as they know what they are doing and they can give you valuable information.
So you see it is not all about sitting and typing, it is about running a full time business/company, and these are only a handful of the tasks we do.
Written by Alison Fourie VAcertified
AMF Typing Service cc
As a VA we do many things, there is month end administration with invoices every month so no matter how busy you are, you stop and do your invoices, it is important to be paid for the work we do. You set aside a day and get your invoices out. Bookkeeping and updating your schedules. This is just one part of our administration another part is, we need to push clients and contractors for payments and invoices, we have to battle with clients who do not want to pay, who query what we do.
One of our aims is to keep our clients happy all the time, we need to keep that client as they provide us with ongoing work so we nurture that client; our clients are our bread and butter. We need to liaise with our clients often.
Managing many clients work is not an easy task. Keep their work in separate folders also in my documents have client folders and in email. With regular clients it is best to invoice monthly. All my clients are regular so I prepare all their invoices at the end of the month and get them all out at the same time so that I can monitor payments coming in. This is where my work log comes in handy as I document all work incoming, and I check back against this when doing my invoicing for each client.
Administration as we call it is a major part of being a VA. We need to market continually, our company needs to be out in the public eye and be seen. Our websites/blogs need to be updated. We continually look for new avenue’s to market our work to. Networking is just as important, there is always the need to tell everyone and anyone what we do, who we are, get the word out there. Any person you talk to could be a potential clients or referral, that’s why it is important to talk about your business no matter where you are, when you can and who you are with. We continually need to look for avenue’s to advertise our companies.
Often we need to do debt collecting with clients who do not pay, this is not a nice part of the job but we must do it, we need to be paid for what we do.
Managing of contractors, when a VA is overloaded we then get the opportunity to help out newbie Vas by contracting to them or helping out established VAs with a bit of extra work. Contracting work out is not as easy as you think. We are on our contractors backs to get them to keep in touch, they need to meet our deadlines, what if the contractor decides she is not doing the work or cant for some reason then we need to find a replacement in the middle of the work that is time taking. Paying of contractors on completion of work.
Another favourite is quoting for work, often ad-hoc jobs come in and we need to arrange a quote, quoting is not quick we need to ask questions to be able to place a price on the work, very time consuming especially with larger jobs.
Filing must be done as with any job, the office administration as seen above is often the hardest part of our job to do, but that comes with running any company/business. There are still many other facets about being a virtual assistant, the best way to learn about doing this type of job is to talk to established VAs as they know what they are doing and they can give you valuable information.
So you see it is not all about sitting and typing, it is about running a full time business/company, and these are only a handful of the tasks we do.
Written by Alison Fourie VAcertified
AMF Typing Service cc
Sunday, November 22, 2009
African Language Trancriptionists/Translators required
Tavasa requires transcriptionists and translators in the following african languages: Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho and Tswana. If you have these skills please email alison@tavasa.co.za or gaynor@tavasa.co.za.
Friday, November 13, 2009
VA Certification Alison Fourie
Press Release:
The first Virtual Assistant in South Africa to receive this recognition.
Headline: Local Virtual Assistant Receives International Recognition from Industry Leaders Worldwide
Summary: Alison Fourie qualifies for worldwide Virtual Assistant certification at VAcertifed.com
Author: Alison Fourie
Email: amftyping@mweb.co.za
Website: http://www.amftyping.co.za
Keywords: worldwide virtual assistant certification program, VA leaders, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, specialty VA, niche Virtual Assistants, WAHM, work at home moms, business startup, virtual business, online business, work from home
-------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Alison Fourie
13 November 2009 Tel: +27011768 5028
Fax: +27 086 514 8475
E-mail: amftyping@mweb.co.za
Local Virtual Assistant Receives International Recognition from Industry Leaders Worldwide
South Africa – Alison Fourie, owner of AMF Typing Services cc announced today that she has qualified for the new worldwide Virtual Assistant Certification from VAcertified.com.
VAcertified.com is the new standard for Virtual Assistant Certification which clients worldwide can use to benchmark the services they are looking for in a Virtual Assistant (VA). The first internationally recognized VA certification, VAcertified.com offers a carefully calibrated and unbiased assessment of a VA's skills, education, professional experience and industry contributions to gain business owners' confidence in the skills of certified VAs.
To qualify for the certification, Alison was evaluated by 13 industry leaders and specialists from the four corners of the world on a broad spectrum of personal and professional traits pertaining to her expertise and professional ethic.
Alison is one of thousands of Virtual Assistants (VAs), business owners who work from their own offices providing professional support , services and skills to their clients via phone, fax and Internet-based technology. Partnering with a VA reduces stress, protects cash flow, eliminates administrative hassles and enables business people to find the success they originally set out to achieve.
As more and more businesses look toward affordable, online solutions to sustain and grow their bottom line in a tough economy, Virtual Assistants are enjoying increased demand for their services. For business owners and managers who may have considered outsourcing support tasks to a VA in the past but could not justify the understandable risk of hiring an unknown, VA certification provides an assurance that the VA in question has the skills and experience needed.
Alison specializes in typing and assisting new VA entering the industry and is a home-based administrative professional providing various online services to her clients. She started her Virtual Assistance career in 2001 to be able to assist clients with office administration and typing and to assist newbie Virtual Assistants entering the industry and to spread the word about the industry around South Africa.
My certification is important to me as I feel I have the experience, skill to be able to assist clients worldwide. I feel I can make a difference to new Vas coming into the industry by showing them how to get to the position that I am in now, I believe in sharing my experience with others to assist them so they want make the mistakes I made coming into the industry.
For more information about AMF Typing Service cc visit http://www.amftyping.co.za.
The VAcertified.com seal of approval tells prospective clients that a global panel of experts has thoroughly reviewed a Virtual Assistant's skills, experience and professional ethic. To learn more about becoming a certified Virtual Assistant or to discover the benefits of hiring a certified Virtual Assistant, visit http://www.VAcertified.com
About AMF Typing Services cc.
Launched in 2001, AMF Typing Services cc specializes in typing and office administration. Visit the website at http://www.amftyping.co.za.
About VAcertified
VAcertified.com is the go-to resource for Virtual Assistants who want credible, unbiased and international recognition for their skills, education, professional experience and industry contributions. Devoted to creating and growing a certification program that embraces diversity, VAcertified.com strives to enhance and evolve professional relationships between VA and client. Follow ( @ ) VAcertified on Twitter for up to date information about this worldwide certification for Virtual Assistants.
For more information contact:
Tawnya Sutherland
Founder, VAcertified.com
Toll Free: 866-943-6665
info ( @ ) vacertified dot com
Follow ( @ ) VAcertified on Twitter
The first Virtual Assistant in South Africa to receive this recognition.
Headline: Local Virtual Assistant Receives International Recognition from Industry Leaders Worldwide
Summary: Alison Fourie qualifies for worldwide Virtual Assistant certification at VAcertifed.com
Author: Alison Fourie
Email: amftyping@mweb.co.za
Website: http://www.amftyping.co.za
Keywords: worldwide virtual assistant certification program, VA leaders, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, specialty VA, niche Virtual Assistants, WAHM, work at home moms, business startup, virtual business, online business, work from home
-------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Alison Fourie
13 November 2009 Tel: +27011768 5028
Fax: +27 086 514 8475
E-mail: amftyping@mweb.co.za
Local Virtual Assistant Receives International Recognition from Industry Leaders Worldwide
South Africa – Alison Fourie, owner of AMF Typing Services cc announced today that she has qualified for the new worldwide Virtual Assistant Certification from VAcertified.com.
VAcertified.com is the new standard for Virtual Assistant Certification which clients worldwide can use to benchmark the services they are looking for in a Virtual Assistant (VA). The first internationally recognized VA certification, VAcertified.com offers a carefully calibrated and unbiased assessment of a VA's skills, education, professional experience and industry contributions to gain business owners' confidence in the skills of certified VAs.
To qualify for the certification, Alison was evaluated by 13 industry leaders and specialists from the four corners of the world on a broad spectrum of personal and professional traits pertaining to her expertise and professional ethic.
Alison is one of thousands of Virtual Assistants (VAs), business owners who work from their own offices providing professional support , services and skills to their clients via phone, fax and Internet-based technology. Partnering with a VA reduces stress, protects cash flow, eliminates administrative hassles and enables business people to find the success they originally set out to achieve.
As more and more businesses look toward affordable, online solutions to sustain and grow their bottom line in a tough economy, Virtual Assistants are enjoying increased demand for their services. For business owners and managers who may have considered outsourcing support tasks to a VA in the past but could not justify the understandable risk of hiring an unknown, VA certification provides an assurance that the VA in question has the skills and experience needed.
Alison specializes in typing and assisting new VA entering the industry and is a home-based administrative professional providing various online services to her clients. She started her Virtual Assistance career in 2001 to be able to assist clients with office administration and typing and to assist newbie Virtual Assistants entering the industry and to spread the word about the industry around South Africa.
My certification is important to me as I feel I have the experience, skill to be able to assist clients worldwide. I feel I can make a difference to new Vas coming into the industry by showing them how to get to the position that I am in now, I believe in sharing my experience with others to assist them so they want make the mistakes I made coming into the industry.
For more information about AMF Typing Service cc visit http://www.amftyping.co.za.
The VAcertified.com seal of approval tells prospective clients that a global panel of experts has thoroughly reviewed a Virtual Assistant's skills, experience and professional ethic. To learn more about becoming a certified Virtual Assistant or to discover the benefits of hiring a certified Virtual Assistant, visit http://www.VAcertified.com
About AMF Typing Services cc.
Launched in 2001, AMF Typing Services cc specializes in typing and office administration. Visit the website at http://www.amftyping.co.za.
About VAcertified
VAcertified.com is the go-to resource for Virtual Assistants who want credible, unbiased and international recognition for their skills, education, professional experience and industry contributions. Devoted to creating and growing a certification program that embraces diversity, VAcertified.com strives to enhance and evolve professional relationships between VA and client. Follow ( @ ) VAcertified on Twitter for up to date information about this worldwide certification for Virtual Assistants.
For more information contact:
Tawnya Sutherland
Founder, VAcertified.com
Toll Free: 866-943-6665
info ( @ ) vacertified dot com
Follow ( @ ) VAcertified on Twitter
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