AMF Typing Services celebrates 14 years in business, 1st April 2015.

 

http://www.amftyping.co.za

 

 

Working as a Virtual Assistant

Wouldn’t it be nice not have to work. But as some of us have to work what better job than being a Virtual Assistant, we get to work from home. We get to work the hours we want to, we can wear what we like for work if we are not seeing clients, we can even do our work in PJs. We can schedule our day to suite us and our own way of working. We can listen to music while we work.

The reason lots of people want to become a Virtual Assistant (VA) is because they think it will give you more time to spend at home with your new-born, small children and families. In reality if you have a full business of clients then your spare time is spent doing the admin work that is required to keep your business going. You don’t just to the actual work but you do the business administration as well. You have to continually market your company, your books need to be kept up to date, you need to advertise to show other businesses that you are out there and also need to get potential clients attention.

You have to work and meet deadlines. Most of the work we get in is deadline related and that can mean long hours, working weekends and public holidays. A deadline must be met, simple as that. Our work does not stop like corporate hours and this is not the sort of business you can run on corporate hours, it simply want work. You have to be here as your clients demands to a certain extent.

 

We work hard as VAs as we have to meet deadlines but at least with working long hours we are working from our own virtual offices and do not have to travel backward and forward to and from work at all hours.

I love the fact that I don’t have to travel far to work every day, it takes me a minute to get to my desk and the best part is I don’t have to clear my desk every night because the cleaning ladies will be coming into the office at night. I can simply leave my desk exactly as I left it and pick up again in the morning.

I am glad in the winter when it’s cold that I don’t have to travel on a very cold bus for an hour or more to get to work and even in the summer when it is too hot on the bus as its hot outside, and there was nothing worse than coming home and getting off the bus in a thunder storm and have to run home to get out of the rain. Now I can sit and work even though there is heck of a thunder storm outside. I can sit in my office working and look out of the window at the storm and know I am warm and dry inside.

If you work in a corporate office you have to invest in working clothes. As we work from home offices we can choose our dress clothes and only really have to wear and dress nicely if we are seeing clients. We can dress casual and be comfortable working in any weather when working from home.

I don’t think there is any job which matches working for yourself, working from home; it must be one of the best jobs to have.

 

 

What is a Virtual Assistant?

Being a Virtual Assistant is about running your own business. Owning your own business, you are not working for someone else. You are not an employee, therefore, you do not use a CV, instead you use a company profile, your website, Linked in, Facebook etc.

You are a business owner, your own boss. You do not work for clients, you work with clients, you do not work for other VAs, you subcontract to other VAs or you can work as an associate in a multi VA practice.

 

 

I find a lot of people who want to become Virtual Assistants actually have no idea what a Virtual Assistant is and what we do. We are service companies; we offer our skills and experiences to clients. We work as any business does but we have to do our own bookkeeping, administration, marketing, advertising, networking, fixing our own office equipment etc. We run our business like every other small business, doing the same tasks.

 

If you would like more information about Virtual Assistants in South Africa please contact me at amftyping@mweb.co.za or alison@amftypinh.co.za

Definition of a Virtual Assistant, from: AMF Typing Services

A Virtual Assistant is a person who works for many clients, providing office administration tasks, communicates with clients via telephone, email, Skype; we may never meet our clients face to face.

A person who works independently from his/her own virtual office.

An office administration person, with at least 10 years of office experience as a PA/Secretary or Office Manager.

A person who can work alone.

A person with exceptional time management and prioritisation skills.

Someone who can run an office and liaise with clients on an ongoing basis.

Someone with a bit of management experience can learn quickly and who is at ease with software.

We have to be pro-active and assertive, and friendly.

Virtual Assistants are Business Owners, who run their own companies, do their own marketing, networking, bookkeeping etc.

Becoming a Virtual Assistant is a career choice within a worldwide industry.

 

 

The differences in Typing and Word Processing etc

Typing

You have to look at what the typing is, is it just copy typing of text say a 1^st to 3^rd year student assignment, a book with text etc. Contracts, agreements, etc they are plain copy typing with tabulation for the bullet points. A document with many bullet points or staggered bullet points is just plain copy typing.

When you type for students doing MBA, Masters or Ph.D etc then there is much more involvement with the typing, references need to be a set in a specific way, the manuscript, dissertation etc, university guidelines must be adhered to like the Harvard Business Method or APA 6^th Edition style. Some of these students are given bursaries which covers their typing, proofreading and editing costs.

But not all typing is plain copy typing; often you get documents with tables, charts, graphs, graphics. You have to look at what is the best way to do these, how long does it take to do a page, what is involved.

Word Processing

Word Processing covers many tasks - from graphics to graphs, tables, flow diagrams, most things that you must create that are not plain copy typing, this is word processing and it can be very work intensive and time consuming.

Can you create the chart in Excel and then copy it across into Word, can you do the graphic in word or must you go and create it in Photoshop etc and then copy it into word etc. Sometimes with manuals you may need to use the services of a Graphic Designer and these often quote per graphic involved, depending on what must be done to that graphic. So beware and don’t under quote if graphic design is involved, as you will need to cost in their charge too. You will need to ensure you explain this to the client. Sometimes you might have to scan a graphic and copy it into the document. Just check what is involved before doing the work.

A complicated table, chart or graph might take some time to create. When you start looking at the item you must create, then you need to look at the length of time it takes, is it viable to charge say R20.00 per page, if the job is going to take you long, no, it’s not viable.

Flow diagrams can take an inexperienced person a few hours to create, but someone experienced in doing flow diagrams then it can be done very quickly, even big complicated flow diagrams, so again you need to look at how long it takes you to do the job, what is involved.

Maths typing, typing of equations, signs and symbols is time taking but you need to look at the manual as a whole and work out how long you think it will take you, what is involved, you might do the work using maths software or you may use MS Word Equations etc.

With most typing work look at what is involved, there is a difference in time with experienced typists and new typists.

These days with the economy being what it is you need to look at the client, what, do you feel in your gut that a client can afford to pay. Don’t push the boundaries too low to get the work where it is not cost effective to do the job, also don’t push the boundaries and charge the client too high a price, you simply want get the job.

Bulk Typing

Manuals are bulk work so you could very easily go down to R15 to R20 per page or a price per manual, taken on how long it will take you to do. When you do manuals, check out what is involved; often you can give a lower price because it’s bulk work for you.

Formatting Documents

The best way to go for formatting is using your hourly rate. You never know how long it is going to take to format a document till you start working on it. A document that has been set up by someone other than yourself can often give all sorts of problems; let the client know this as its often not straight formatting. Often when you start everything will jump out of alignment, tabs etc so it can take twice as long to format than it would to retype.

Columns, tables, graphics tend to come out of alignment. Table of Content can become completely messed up and that can take a while to unravel and put right so make sure you give yourself plenty of time to work on formatting documents. Keep track of your time and charge hourly. If you charge per page you will find some pages can take much longer to format than others and you really have to look at the time that is spent formatting to price this properly. You can charge per page but might be better to go via your hourly rate.

Quotations

With all work, never quote blindly, how can you quote when you have no idea what the job/task is, you have no idea how long it will take you or what is involved. Ask the client to send you a sample. How can an architect quote on a job he has not seen! You need to look at the task at hand then decide what is involved, how long it will take you and get a full description of client requirements before quoting. No matter how urgent a job is, surely the payment is the most important thing in the end, the job is important to the client but they should understand that you do not quote blindly, ask for an example first, check it out, see if you can do the job in the time frame given, you can also negotiate as you know, how you work and how long jobs take. My advice would be do not take on an urgent task without seeing what is involved first as its quite easy to undercharge. Make sure you clarify the clients’ requirements and write them down/record them or get the client to email you further, as clients often forget or change their mind and lay the blame on you. Email them a copy of their requirements and get them to reply before you go ahead that everything is ok.

PDF

Do not PDF a document unless your client’s specifically asks you too. Do not think that by saving to PDF that you are forcing the client to return to you, that is not the case, they can simply get it done elsewhere, simply convert it online and edit it themselves. Most clients want the work typed up and then they want to be able to edit it themselves.

All comments are welcome.

Greetings for 2015

Season's Greeting for 2015 from AMF Typing Services, a Happy New Year to You

NEW: Weekly Post - Questions and Answers

Question subject: Reaching Deadlines

Question: How do I reach deadlines?

 

Answer: You can reach deadlines by knowing how long tasks take and what is involved with doing them. Do practice runs before you open your business, experiment with how long it takes you to do the tasks you are going to offer. Know how long it takes you to transcribe a 1 hour file, how long it takes to type up 20 pages of basic copy typing, know how long it takes you to set up Facebook for a new client. Run examples and note down how long tasks take. 

When you feel a deadline is not reachable, negotiate, you will be doing the work, so only you will know how long it takes to complete. It is up to you as a business owner to tell your client ‘this deadline is unreal’ and to explain what is involved within the job. Many clients have no idea how long a particular job will take. They will give you very unreasonable deadlines. Only you know what you are capable of and what your limits are. This is often a problem with Transcription, the clients do not know how long it actually takes to transcribe and often the deadlines are tight but it is up to you, as you are doing the job to negotiate this with the client, not the client to set this deadline for you. Simply explain what is involved.

I would love to have your comments if you feel you would like to comment, please do, as I would like to put your answers with your contact details onto my blog, it gives you a bit of exposure. amftyping@mweb.co.za or alison@amftyping.co.za

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Question subject: Motivation

 

 
 

Question: What keeps you motivated while running your own business?

 

Answer: What keeps me motivated is knowing that my marketing is working and has kept on working since I started my business. Every time I have an enquiry about my business I can see that my business details are out there and being seen. It is motivating for me to get up every day and come to work as I love my job and I never know what each day will bring, every day in my job is different.

 

I would love to have your comments if you feel you would like to comment, please do, as I would like to put your answers with your contact details onto my blog, it gives you a bit of exposure. amftyping@mweb.co.za or Alison@amftyping.co.za

 

 

The EARLY bird who always catches the worm

 

My philosophy has always been ‘get in first’, ‘be ahead of the crowd’, and to ‘stand out from my peers’ and I do just that in South Africa. I go by the phrase ‘An early Bird always catches the Worm’ and I do. I have always had clients contacting me all the time and always found it easy to talk the client into using my services at my price rather than go to the next VA down the line. If I want a job I will go all out to get that job, I will convince the client of how good and how I am able to assist. My office has a continuous flow of typing and my main service that I offer clients is Typing. If it can be typed I can do it. I am very old school and I find that saying this to clients helps draw them to using my services.

I started out wanting to run a typing company and never thought I would get to this point, but I’ve done it and proved that you can run a company just doing typing. I know where to look for my clients, if I want to take on more clients, I know how to get clients and am not afraid to sell my services and tell clients how good I am at what I do.

I answer emails fasts, as an email comes in and I see that it’s from a prospective client I then quickly respond, clients are impressed with a fast response, they want a VA who is pro-active and assertive.

I love the variety that I get with typing. You would think typing would be boring, typing the same thing over and over, yet I don’t I have such a variety in typing from PowerPoint presentations to graphs, tables, charts, and graphics. This is the job I always wanted to do.

Be like me and be the early bird that catches the worm. The faster you respond the better chance to get the prospective client.