Balancing your family and your home office

Organising your time is very important when working from home, especially if you have a family. You need to still spend time with your family but you also need to be committed to completing your work.

You must learn how to balance your time between your office and your family. Your office must be your working domain, away from the children, they must learn and know that this is your place of work. They must be taught not disturb your desk and equipment in any way. Maybe setting up there own little office space within your office, maybe with a little table, chair, paper and crayons could help.

A good idea is to have set times where you work in your office and times when you spend with the children, teaching the children these times and try to keep to these boundaries that you set. If possible having someone on hand to help with the children while you are working would be very helpful, maybe a maid or a Grandparent. Or an idea could be to send your children to crèche during your working hours and then have them home early afternoon and spend the rest of the day with them, if you have urgent work that needs completion, then you can start again once the children are in bed, don’t forget though that you also need to spend quality time with your husband. Another useful idea is to let hubby spend time with the children on a Saturday morning while you complete any outstanding work tasks, therefore your husband will get to spend valuable quality time with the children which he cannot do during the week because of work commitments.

Your office needs to be organized and if you practice time management skills, you will feel less stressed and more in control of your working environment. Start your day by checking first your diary to see what you have scheduled for that day, then download and check your e-mails and any mail you have for the day, then schedule all your tasks for that day on a ‘To do List’, carrying on the tasks from the previous day, add new tasks as and when you receive them onto the end of the list, use your prioritization skills to prioritize as you go. If your day is structured, your working life will be organized and less stressful. Try to keep your office stress within your office. If you are stressed this will affect the way your children behave, so remember stress stays in the office.

Try to keep everything on your desk in its own place, that way if the children have came into your office and moved anything around on your desk you will know immediately, as children do this regularly if they have access to your office. A good idea would be to lock your pc functions, screen and keys, this will stop them from upsetting anything on your computer.

It's tough being a VA

I dont think people realise how tough it is being a virtual assistant, after all you are running a full time business. My admin sort of does not get done, I don't have the time. So admin falls behind, not good. My bookkeeping is way behind. I know what is going on, but need to get it down on paper and keep it updated. As long as I work from my work schedule and take the time to put every task that comes in onto my schedule and stay organised,  its ok. But when unexpected jobs come in, quotations which can be very time consuming, telephone queries, email queries that all affects the day to day running.
A full time VA with many clients can be quite hectic especially so when clients give you day to day work, it really can test your coping, prioritisation, and time management skills. This is when its time to think do I expand. What is the next step a 'multi VA business'. Do I want to go this way? Can this work for me, that I don't know and I am very unsure of. Its a large step to take. I am reading up all the knowledge available to me and contacting other multi va businesses to see how they work, I have a good idea what I want to do but is this the way to go. Hmmm.

Potential Clients

Often clients will take time to make up their minds about whether to use a VA or not. Some clients can take a few months after the first initial contact, be prepared for this. Don't rush the client because you want work, let the client make up their own minds when they are ready to approach you.
The same applies for quotations, a client can ask for quotations but then take ages to get back to you ,on accepting their quotes. They need to know if the budget can pay your costs, they have to get approval from upper management on whether they can use a VA for the task they require. Quotation replies can also take time, be aware of this.
By all means keep in touch with the potential client but dont push them for work.
Let the client know how you can assist them, what value you think you can bring to their businesses.
Selling the concept of what a VA is about is very worthwhile.
Ask the client what their business is about, what their aims are, for their companies, as this will also help you to work out how you can assist them.

Client Liaison

As a Virtual Assistant I deal with clients daily, either via email, skype, cell, telephone or in person.
The way you interact with a client can make a difference on whether that client will give you the task/job or not.

Being a business owner of AMF Typing Services cc I engage with clients on an equal status. A lot of VAs are ex Secretaries or Personal Assistants and they are used to dealing with Bosses and it is often difficult for them to deal with a clients on the same level, as they think of that client still as a Boss which they are not.

Always be friendly and polite. Never sell a service that you cannot do 100%. Do not offer transcription if you do not know how to do this, as you will soon find yourself in a sticky situation when the work comes in and you cannot do it. Only offer the services that you have the most experience in and that you know you can complete.

I can now judge by the response of the client whether I will get the task or not. And when there is a task/job that I am interested in, I will tell the client I can do that task, give them a deadline when it can be done and talk with confidence about that task, within a few minutes that client will give me the task to do. I am very confident in my approach with clients but I was not always like this, my years of experience as a secretary has helped me a lot with dealing with clients today. I have got a lot of experience behind me of dealing with the best and worst of clients. I am patient, friendly and very convincing when I want to do a task for a client.

I deal with a lot of Virtual Assistants within the industry worldwide and client liaison is very important. The way you write your emails reflects on your company, the way you liaise with clients via skype and in person all makes a difference. With emails and sms’s I always sign off with my signature and contact details so any potential client will always know who I am and who I work for.

Be careful as you write up your website, as you need to make sure that website is drawing in clients or the right people who you want to liaise with, in your business. Make sure your written content, sounds right and looks right. Clients also judge you on what your website is saying to them.

First appearances and sounds always count when a VA is dealing with a potential client. I dress casual for work but when I meet a client I make sure I dress appropriately.

I am a business owner and I must come across as a business owner and know what I am talking/writing about to all potential clients.

© Copyright 2001 AMF Typing Services cc®, Ck2001/083866/23. All rights reserved.

VA Business Plan

I know its very daunting start out as a virtual assistant, in fact down right scary. There is so much to be done and that horrible business plan, do I really have to write one, I dont know how, or want to know how. But its got to be done. Its the backbone of your business, without a business plan many VA and small business companies will not last long. All business even that of a VA , must have structure and procedures. How else can you work. Your business plan is like a skeleton and the pieces must fit together to work and everything is connected to your backbone, your business plan. It should take about a week to pull it together, use a template from the internet as then the categories are there and its a case of just adding your information and customising the template into your working business plan.
There are specific categories to fill in, do not rush this, think of your information, think how you want to run your business, think of the procedures that you will do for every task and document them.  If you need a bit of help with this, don't struggle, give me a shout and I will asisst.
A VA business with no structure or a clear plan is doomed. Your business plan will be a working document and will change lots especially over your first year as you settle into running your VA business.

Newbie VAs

As you start as a virtual assistant you need to think what are you going to offer clients. What are you skilled at doing, what do you like to do. The services you offer are very important. To get the type of work you would like, do target marketing it is often the way to go. If you are skilled in transcription then think what types of clients would produce transcription and dictation and market to those clients. The list is endless here.
I love to do typing and can type forever, so I look and market to the types of clients that I would get typing from.
Not every client will send you great work, some work can be boring and dull but that work still must be done if you take the work on. The client is dependent on you to complete their work. I dont mind what type of typing I get in, as long as it can be typed I will do the work, I love typing and its my niche service so I dont care if the work is boring after all it is a job and I will be paid for doing it so that to me is worthwhile and the client will be pleased with a job well done.
Everyone wants to do typing or transcription working from home well to do this you need to get out there and find this type of work, it will not fall into your lap.
As a virtual assistant you will need to have confidence in yourself to do the work and to deal and work with clients, you will need to be pro-active, assertive, get yourself out there, you cannot just sit back, you will never find clients that way, and they want find you.

To be a virtual assistant

As a newbie virtual assistant you need to be like a sponge and soak up as much information as you can that is out there.
After you have gone through the various steps to start up and are ready to get out there that is when your marketing, advertising and networking begins, this is an on going thing. A few weeks of marketing will not assist you, it is an ongoing process and that is one of the problems for VAs today. They do a bit of marketing and sit and wait, nothing will happen, but you will wait, you have to continually thoughout your virtual assistant business do marketing, it is non stop. You have to look for places to advertise in, look for places that there is no other VAs advertised that you could maybe be the first one there and I can tell you there is places out there as I am in many places and the only VA there, especially so in South Africa. Get your company onto VA directories around the world, there are many VA associations. Many offer free advertising in their directories, take advantage of this and advertise there. You need to be listed everywhere and anywhere. Use your internet skills to find directories, classified sections, site submissions etc.
I marketing a few times a week, and I do not need to, but I do it to show I am out there still in business.
Join VA forums worldwide, you will be amazed at what you can learn, attend seminars, webinars etc, established VA run these and give you loads of valuable information and a lot of the time these are offered for free.
Find a good established VA to mentor and assist you, just be careful and check that, that VA is qualified to assist first, check her service in the industry, her website/blog, company profile, ask questions to test her knowledge.
Save all information that you find as it will be very useful to you as you grow into being a virtual assistant.

AMF Typing Ebook for Sale

Available Now: EBook 'How to start up a VA Business". It is full of information on starting your own business, full of tips and advice. A must for newbie VAs! On sale for R110.00. Please email amftyping@mweb.co.za with Ebook as the subject.

A few of the sections available within the ebook:

Steps to draw up your Business Plans

Client Relationships and Pricing

Rough guide on how to price
Services
List of Services/Prices offered by AMF Typing Services cc
Overseas Clients/Pricing
Transcription/Dictaphone Typing/Transcribing
Marketing/Networking/Advertising help/tips


The ebook is packed full of all the information you will required to start up a virtual assistant business in South Africa.

Definition of a Virtual Assistant

Hi as a virtual assistant, who do you think you are? I know what I am, I am a business owner and as a business owner I have the say in every aspect of my business. I know I am not a freelancer, temp, work at home mum, etc. I run a business like any other person, doing all the same tasks, only my services are different to that of say a plumber, architect, etc.
Virtual Assistant describes what I am doing, I work for many clients, providing different services, working completely virtual.

 

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