TAVASA - The Transcribers and Virtual Assistants of South Africa

Blog: www.tavasa.blogspot.com

Emails: gaynor@typewritetranscription.co.za or amftyping@mweb.co.za

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TAVASASouthAfrica/

Our group was founded 8th August 2008 by Gaynor Paynter from Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services cc, Cell: +27834424689, Web: www.typewritetranscription.co.za and Alison Fourie from AMF Typing Services cc, Cell: +270828713452, Web: www.amftyping.co.za. Tavasa was formed as there was a need for a support group within South Africa.

• We provide support for people in our industries
• We bring together a group of professionals who can support each other
• We advertise job leads and subcontractor positions on the Tavasa forum, you are welcome to apply
• We share our VA and Transcription knowledge with you

Because we like to have immediate access to queries that arise from our members, and because many people in South Africa still find it easier to access email on a regular basis as opposed to accessing an internet browser regularly, our main means of communication is an yahoo group online, email discussion forum, and you can join our group at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/tavasa/ free membership.

• Our aim is to promote the Transcribers and Virtual Assistants industries within South Africa.
• To guide new Transcribers and Virtual Assistants to set up their businesses within the industry.

 

You will feel by belonging to our forum you have now joined the South Africa family of VAs and Transcribers within South Africa. All questions are welcome and we would love you to participate and meet everyone. No questions are too stupid to ask as there will always be someone wanting to ask that question. Join us. Send us an introduction email telling everyone what you do, if you are married or single, have children, what services you offer, how you feel about working from home, you will get lots of response saying welcome, our team is very friendly. Ebooks for sale:

• Transcription EBook for sale R130.00 is packed with everything you need to know about working from home as a Transcriber in South Africa. https://typewritetranscription.co.za/e-book/ Conveniently purchase over the internet / email. I started out as a transcriber in 2005 and I’ve included everything I’ve learned along the way that I wish someone had told me. It’s an essential resource for transcribers starting out and for those who just want to brush up on their business skills. Contact: gaynor@typewritetranscription.co.zato place your order today.

• VA Handbook for sale R130.00, explaining all about starting up a VA business within SA. This handbooks content includes marketing, networking, prices/rates, business plan details/info. Just send an email to amftyping@mweb.co.za, requesting the guide and I will then forward you an invoice, on receipt of your payment, I will forward your Guide to you via email, it is a PDF document. This Guide is updated on a continual basis.

Please note we are not a recruitment company, It is up to individual Virtual Assistants and Transcribers to find their own work and clients.

I hope the information above is helpful to you.

 

Contact us:

Emails: gaynor@typewritetranscription.co.za or amftyping@mweb.co.za

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VA Tips & Tricks Blogging Challenge 2014 - F is for Fighting

We as VAs are always fighting something within our jobs. We fight to get paid, we fight to get our deadlines finished and we fight to find good subcontractors. Fighting is part of our jobs.

For many VAs its can be a battle to get paid, often on completion of a task, we then struggle to get our payments. We do the work, giving the client an excellent service then the client decides they don’t want to pay or had no intention of paying in the first place and they simply want the job done for free.

Some VAs are so busy that they fight to make their deadlines. This is one of my problems, I juggle my time between clients to make sure everyone’s work gets done and try my hardest to meet the deadlines which are not always possible. This is when time management skills come in handy, I have to stop, relook at what I have, look to see which piece of work I can get done quickly and then redo my to-do-list and start again.

 

 

 

Finding good subcontractors is a battle. Everyone wants to subcontract but not everyone is good and that is where the problem lies. We take on a subcontractor as they are so enthusiastic to assist and then when the job is returned and here is just one example proofreading has not been done. This makes our jobs more difficult as we are using subcontractors as we need the assistance, as maybe we are too busy, then we must stop what we are doing and proofread the work. Anyone no matter who you work for, your work must be proofread, nobody is too good that they should not proof their work, you either proof as you go or do a proof when you are finished but it is part of your job to proof any work that has been typed. Things like this slow down our production.

These are just 3 tasks that I have chosen to show that our job is about fighting to get things done; can you associate with any of them?

 



VA Tips and Tricks Blogging Challenge 2014

Looking forward to taking part in the VA Tips and Tricks Blogging Challenge for 2014. The aim of the challenge is to produce 2 articles a week starting from the letter A and invite other VAs to go and view our articles and leave comments. This will drive traffic to our blogs and therefore increase our marketing and advertising for our companies. It will also enable us to meet and network with our peers from our Industry.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/vatipsblogging/ Thanks to everyone involved for setting this great challenge.

Have you been virtually butt kicking yet?

By Dee Matheson

Just last week I was feeling sorry for myself because my Virtual Assistant business had come to a grinding halt. My ever understanding husband said that these things happen and I must not be so hard on myself. All I could think of was ‘thank goodness he still believes in me’.

As per usual my marketing coach, Francis van Wyk, was scheduled for our marketing mentor session and I was not looking forward to it because I was feeling down in the dumps and I had not done everything on the list that I was supposed to do. Well lo and behold, she kicked my butt virtually (via Skype) and told me to do something that we are all so scared of: Be Proactive. It’s not rocket science but boy does it work.

As I had already identified my target market, I started looking for contact details and information and composed my email marketing letter. I was rather sceptical about sending  it out because I was wondering whether they would even bother reading it, put it in the trash or send me rude emails back because I was wasting their precious time. Well that did not happen. No hit squad came to my virtual door and told me off. Instead the feedback has been phenomenal. There are so many people out there just waiting for someone to help them further their business goals but don’t know how to get into connect with them. By just using this very simple initiative it has opened up doors that I did not know were even there. Those that were not quite ready for my services at this moment agreed to regular informative emails from me which means I’m developing a database of potential clients. Exactly what Francis encourages: build up a funnel system so that when one client moves on, you’ve got others waiting in line.

This week I signed up two new clients and I’m in the process of signing up my third which came from my website and not even from my marketing email campaign. When I spoke to these new clients and those potential clients, I asked them what made them want to connect with me and they all said, “Your pro-activeness, because if you do that for your business, imagine what you can do for mine?”

Once again this just shows that putting those positive vibes out there into the universe, and I’m not an airy fairy type of person, and stop wishing for things to happen when you don’t even try yourself only bodes disappointment and eventually failure. That is such a pity because we all have skills, knowledge and know how that someone else does not have and needs.

I hope that this has inspired some of you to become more proactive and get out there and kick butt or at least try. Don’t give up. All that hard work you’ve already put in should not go to waste.

If you would like more information or connect with me, you can reach me via email on dmatheson@worldonline.co.za or visit my website: www.dfm-virtualassistant.co.za

Social Media

Years ago when VAs started out working from home they used to advertise office administration, typing and transcription as their services, today there is many more services you can offer clients. One of these services is Social Media. It is important for every business no matter how big or small to be part of social media. Cell Phones, Tablets and IPads are all centred around Social Media, being part of it is part of doing business in the world today.

You have had to set up your own business and have to include Social Media in as part of your networking and marketing so why not offer this service to potential clients, especially to new businesses/entrepreneurs etc. You have learnt enough through doing this for your business to have the experience in it to offer it as a service.
You can offer it on a package basis or on an hourly rate. You can offer social media, or offer it in separate services like Twitter or Facebook etc. You can log into your clients twitter account on a daily basis or every other day and set up tweets ahead of time, interact on behalf of your client with like minded businesses on twitter, the same with Facebook, Linked In etc. You could offer a package for social medial including all 3 the most popular social media platforms which are Facebook, Twitter and Linked In.

Today a lot of company's/businesses networking is done by joining groups within Facebook, Linked In etc. Being part of forums online. You network and interact with people and build up friendships and relationships. Networking is not about selling your project, its about building relationships with likeminded people in the same business as you and maybe business can come from this.

It is a great service to offer clients as its a much in demand service today. People cannot do business today without belonging somehow to social media.

 



WHAT MAKES A GOOD TRANSCRIPTIONIST

There are many reasons why it seems a great idea to set up as a transcriptionist – be it for health, personal or financial reasons – but it is not like driving a car. What you get out of this business is directly concomitant with what you can put it.

The two most important considerations are (a) your ability, and (b) your equipment.
The equipment is reasonably simple: a chair, a desk, a PC, good internet connection and a foot pedal (not essential – some manage extremely well using hotkeys).
And off you go...

The catch here is your ability. Dictaphone typing can be likened to transcription only in so far as one types another’s words. Dictaphone typing in an office situation deals with correspondence, reports, file notes – all of which should be familiar to you. If you work for a mining company, for instance, the subject of the above will be mining. If you find a strange name which you can't make out you can ask for assistance; if a typo slips in, somebody will probably pick it up and correct it.

In the world of transcription you're on your own and this is where the specialised skills of transcription come into play.

Spelling, grammar, punctuation
I believe I owe a client good English at the very least. You must be able to distinguish between principal and principle, there and their; to be able to hear the difference between his, he's and hiss. If you are going to attempt to obtain international clients be aware of the difference between UK and USA punctuation and spelling.

Spellcheck!
This is a tool of vast importance – it is a gift – use it.

Reliability
Take rush jobs only when you have gained confidence. A client may be prepared to grant reasonable time for you to turn into an impeccable transcript, but, if you cannot meet the deadline, the client will move on immediately. Reliability is a key marketing tool in this game.

Typing speed
This should not be an overwhelming factor. Fair enough, you need to have a reasonable typing speed but you don't need to be a whizz. There are plenty of other factors which contribute towards a great transcription.

Taking instruction
Fortunately most clients want intelligent verbatim – no err, mmm, or general babbling. Legal proceedings require keener attention to verbatim speech than interviews, for instance. It is up to you to enquire what the requirements are and stick to them. If a client sends a template don’t substitute yours.

General Knowledge and Google
Ah, don't we just love Google? But even Google can't read your mind. You will work in many different fields with a vast variety of subjects and you can't just turn in a helpless well-I-can't-know-everything transcript marred by question marks and the famous inaudible. Say, there is mention of a mine in Finland – your Finnish may be fluent but mine certainly isn't – there are ways of tracking down that name. It takes time and skill but you can usually get there.

There are of course many aspects to be considered – marketing strategy, web design, advertising, your accounting system, tricks of the trade – the list is long - but it is my belief that without the above qualities you are not going to be successful in the transcription field.

Michele Johanson
Good Hope Transcription Services
michelejohanson@yahoo.com
http://goodhopetranscription.weebly.com
Fax: 086 6021 791
Skype: Michelej6
Ph: 084 6944 307

Tips for Newbie Transcriptionists

PRODUCING HIGH QUALITY TRANSCRIPTS

I suggest that you join a forum aimed at VAs and transcriptionists. For South Africans I would recommend TAVASA. Working from home can be a lonely experience and trying to sort out technical problems can be very daunting. By joining a forum you will be in contact with people who understand exactly what is required and can assist with questions.

Best of all, this is where the more established people post their requests for assistance with overflow work. Having secured a shot at subcontracting this overflow work bear the following in mind:

• Obtain a template from the contractor and STICK to it – every comma, every underlining, every space. Do not get creative and do not try to improve on the template.

• Often the contractor will send a sheet through with his or her typing preferences and requirements. Read it carefully before you start typing and again before you proof your work and ensure you abide by the instructions.

• Communicate – if you are having problems with the recording it may be a bad recording. On the other hand, if you are the only typist experiencing problems then it is probably an incorrect setting or your equipment may be faulty. The only way to find out is by asking the contractor about the recording quality. Do not go merrily ahead and turn in a transcript littered with [unclear], [inaudible], etcetera.

• Make notes as you go, especially for names and words that you are not sure of. Should these become clear as the transcript progresses, it makes it easy and quick to do a global replacement.

• Proof your work thoroughly. Put those earphones on and go through the whole transcript – this is time-consuming and quite often expensive – it takes a long time to type your very first transcription and it can be quite discouraging in terms of your hourly rate, but you would be amazed at what you pick up on the second run-through. Words previously indecipherable will be clear once you are familiar with the context of the transcript.

• Spell and grammar check – spell checking is an absolute requirement but adding the grammar check function is very useful in picking up mistakes other than typos. Bear in mind that transcription is usually rendered verbatim and the most common grammar mistakes are made in speech. Do not be tempted to tidy up the speaker’s grammar unless specifically requested to do so.

• Google is your friend. If, for instance, you pick up a name and a designation but not the company name, chances are you will find it on Google. Many terms are industry-related or, in the case of medical transcription, the names of patent drugs, etcetera, are unfamiliar to most people. It is not enough to spell a word phonetically, add a question mark and move on. In the long run your efforts will be rewarded.

• Ask questions. We were all new at this once and I believe we would rather answer a dozen seemingly insignificant questions rather than receive a badly-typed transcript.

The above steps are very, very important. It is as well to remember that not only do contractors offer the jobs that will get you started as a transcriptionist but that they often recommend – or not – typists to other contractors. Shoddy work will put a halt to your career before you start. Commit to producing high quality transcription from day one.



Michele Johanson is based in Cape Town and owns Good Hope Transcription and Typing Services http://goodhopetranscription.weebly.com which offers general and legal transcription, typing, article and content writing and editing/proofreading functions. Recently we have added recording of small meetings to our profile.

What is it like being a Virtual Assistant

I have been doing my job as a Virtual Assistant now for 10 years. No two days are the same. I think my job is harder now than what it was as a secretary. It is not easy running your own business, there are many things involved that have to be fitted into your schedule. Not only do you sit and do the clients work but you do the many tasks that have to be done with running a small business. There is the marketing, networking, advertising, debt collecting, liase with clients and virtual assistants, keep up to date with what is going on with virtual assistants on the many forums I belong to, keep up to date with VA newsletters that I subscribe to. I try to do online marketing a few times a week, just adding my details somewhere new, often looking for places where there is no VA's advertised or where there is just a few advertised. Keeping up with social media, that is very time taking, but its something that has to be done as its part of keeping your business fresh out there in the corporate world. Updating my website and blog, adding new content or changing a word here and there. Every opportunity I get to network with other people and tell them about my job as a virtual assistant is worthwhile, as you never know when that person may pass on my details to someone further who may need my services. My phone, skype and email are busy non stop, I get enquiries from Virtual Assistants and potential clients all the time, I always try to assist when I can. Monthly administration has to be done, no matter how busy I am, schedules need to be kept of work coming in and going out, schedules need to be kept of monthly expenditures in and out etc, invoices need to be done monthly and also for adhoc jobs as they are completed.
Being a Virtual Assistants is my career choice its hard, difficult but its a job I love doing.

Naming your Business and finding a company logo

One of the most interesting tasks to do when you open up a new VA business, is to give your business a name. Your business name needs to reflect what you are doing, what your business is about. Once you find that name use that name as your website domain name, your user name. You need your business name to be memorable, something that people will connect with you straight away. I am AMF Typing Services and everywhere you will see me using the user name 'amftyping' its short and easy to use and immediately it can be connected with my company name. Make your name unique to you.
Another great task is finding or creating a logo to suit your company name, I choose a typewriter as it matches my company and user name and my main company function is typing so the typewriter is very apt. You can play around with your initials, find a good graphic and play around with it making it unique to your business. It took me a few different logo's before I came up with this one, I played around with my initials for a while coming up with different combinations.  You dont need fancy graphic software to do a logo, you can do many things just playing around in powerpoint or word. Make sure you feel comfortable with the name and logo you choose.

How to Series - Work Schedule

Another article in my 'How to Series'.

I keep a work schedule of every item of work that I get in. I list the date/time, name, description of work, urgent/non urgent, who does the work, (myself or contractor) proofing (I sometimes send work out to a proofreader), time/date complete and comments, time worked, price of job. I keep all this information in an excel spreadsheet and have it set up monthly.
I work for a lot of clients on a weekly basis, so keeping good records of the work helps me to stay organised and know what is going on, it assists with time management, priorising the work and keeping track when I send work out to a contractor. It also gives me the stats at the end of the month to see how many jobs I do on a monthly basis and how much I make on each job that I do. These stats are important to have as you are running a business.
As a client send me in work, i then enter that work on my spreadsheet, giving as much details as is involved, then when the work is complete I finish the entry on the spreadsheet.
I hate doing admin at month end but this is such a help when it comes to doing my invoicing which I do at month end as my clients pay monthly.
If you have any comments on this procedure please share with me, I would love to hear what you do and how you run your VA business.

OIVAC Launches Speaker Interview Series

OIVAC Launches Speaker Interview Series

During the next 30 days, Ms. Lyn Prowse-Bishop of Executive Stress Office Support interviews 20 speakers scheduled to appear at the upcoming Online International Virtual Assistants Convention 2011 (OIVAC - http://oivac.com), Thursday, May 19 thru Saturday, May 19,
2011.

During this 6th annual event, virtual assistants will rev up their businesses and shift them from 1st gear to hyper drive, as they learn innovative marketing, networking, and business management strategies to assist with their business growth and development and
topics that will positively impact client relations and services, and their pocketbooks.

This week's interviewees and topics located at the OIVAC YouTube
Channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/theoivac#p/a) include:
* Kathie Thomas - The Importance of Networking.
* Annemarie Cross - Five Powerful Steps to Follow When the Product You are Promoting is You
* Ivana Taylor - How to Get Your Ideal Customer to Choose You
* Dawn Jensen - Social Media Toolkit: Managing Your Clients and Your Business
* Christine Giri - Unleash the Power of Focus
* Cindy Greenway - The Essential Secret Ingredient Clients Want From Their Virtual Assistants

Visit our convention channel today to view these informative videos, and register as a subscriber. Stop by the convention website for complete speaker profiles and seminar details (
http://oivac.com/.

Take advantage of our early bird specials and register for the convention today!

To your success,
Sharon Williams
OIVAC Steering Committee
Alliance for Virtual Businesses

Answer to comment

Awesome post. Do you mind if I ask what your source is for this information?

Hi I would like to answer this question above, all the information you see on the blog is my own, it is my experiences over the 10 years that I have been AMF Typing Services. I have many clients and have many experiences with those clients. I like to share my experiences to assist others especially new Virtual Assistants.My 'How to Series' are what I do, what I go through, to show you how its can be done.
New VAs need to know how things are done, if my experiences help at least one VA every now and again then its worth my letting everyone know.
I welcome all comments on my blog positive or negative, please if you enjoy the blog leave your comment. regards Ali

How to Series

Quoting on clients work.
You need to know roughly how many pages can you type of plain copy typing in 1 hour, you need to know roughly how much transcription you can roughly do in 1 hour.
Clients will say to you, I have a 250 page document for typing, how long will it take you and what will you charge, to quote on this you need to give an estimate, so knowing roughly what you can produce in 1 hour of work will assist you in gaging what you can do.
I know I can type anything from 15 pages to 30 pages per day, but it depends on what the content is, whether there is graphics, flow diagrams, graphs, drawings in that content, these will take longer to produce. I know I can do these quickly but not everyone can, each typist is different but you need to know what you can and cannot do. If it will take you a few hours to do a flow diagram that must factor in your quote and whether you can meet the deadline set.
With transcription there are factors involved that will determine how long you take with transcribing, there could be multiple speakers, background noise, language difficulties if its court transcription, a focus group meeting can take twice as long to transcribe as often a lot of people will talk at once. You should roughly be able to say a 1 hour transcription will take plus/minus 4 to 6 hours to transcribe.
Data entry, you need to see what they require, see how many entries you can do in an hour, know what you can do at all times.
Look at the job you have, work out can you do it in the deadline stipulated. Can you produce a quality job, also remember you will have to spell check/grammar, proof your work and check your layout, all these things are part of the job you need to do. If you need assistance with a quote give me a shout. My advice would be for you to ask for a sample of the work that is required before you quote, this will assist you in quoting and always ask as many questions as you can think of about the task.

Africa VAs

Tavasa - Transcriptionists and Virtual Assistants of South Africa
Website: http://www.tavasa.co.za
Tavasa blog: http://tavasa.blogspot.com/
Entrepreneur Buddy ~ http://www.entrepreneurbuddy.net
African Virtual Assistants Network(Afrivan) ~ http://www.afrivan.org/
Business Without Boundaries ~ http://www.businesswithoutboundaries.net
Be Virtual Wise - http://www.be-virtual-assistant-wise.com/

The difference between Transcription and Typing

Believe it or not there is a difference between Dictaphone, Transcription and Typing, a lot of VAs and Transcriptionists don’t 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 Transcriptionist 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. Transcribing can take anything from 1 hour to up to 6 hours depending on various factors, like language, amount of speakers, quality of tape etc.

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, Transcriptionists and clients on the differences.

Your comments are welcome.

Goal: To earn a Million Rand as a VA in SA and to be the first VA to do this

Have you set your goals yet for your business in 2011. I am setting smaller goals that are easier to reach than setting larger goals that can take forever to reach.
Here are a few of my goals:
My main goal for my business is to make a Million Rand, to be the first VA within South Africa to reach that goal of making A million Rand while working as a virtual assistant. I believe it can be a reachable goal, it may take a while, but i believe I can do this.
One of my smaller goals is to turn my business into a Multi VA business. There is much to be done to achieve this goal but I can break the tasks needed to make the goals smaller which are associated with this so that I can make this reachable.
Write your goals for 2011 down and print and place on your wall where you can see that goal, always keep your goals in your mind.

The Victor Poet: CW longenecker

If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don’t
If you like to win but think you can’t,
It’s almost a cinch you won’t.

If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost.
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow’s will
It’s all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are.
You’ve got to think high to rise.
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win the prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man.
But sooner or later, the man who wins
Is the man who thinks he can.

How easy is it being a VA

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.

Nine to Five (9 to 5)

I have been thinking a lot lately on how can anyone in this type of business work 9 to 5.
If you feel you can, please let me know.
If you have a full time VA business with many clients, I think and feel you have to be there when your clients need you, if you are not available that client can move on elsewhere to another VA, who will give them the service they require. I believe in providing my clients with a quality service and that includes working the hours they need me.
Its hard, its tough and I have children 13 and 9 and a hubby.
As a VA you must meet your clients deadlines, you cant just say I will do it tomorrow, things do not work like that, you have to be available when you reasonably can be. My clients appreciate this and let me know they are appreciative of my working the hours to suit them. But with doing this I have now retained my clients for years.
I do get help and assistance from other VAs with my work, as I do, most of the time have overflow. My children and hubby are very understanding of my work and give me their full support and assistance as I need it. I think without this I probably would not manage. I work better under pressure so I thrive when I am hectic, its the way I like to run my business, somehow I manage it all, how, often I dont know, but things get done.
A lot of people think when you are working for yourself, you have it made, you can work when you like, relax when you like, be there when the kids come home, spend time with the kids, and go shopping when you like. YES WELL. That does not happen when you run your own business, you find, you work many more hours to grow that business and often you are the only person within that business who knows everything about it so you have to be available and with a VA/Transcription business you do the work as well as everything else, so there is no time. Being a VA is not the being at home and spending time with the kids this is not that type of job. Its about work and building a business. In today society where money is in short supply and salaries are low and a recession is hanging around, you have to work.
I am very interested in how other VAs work their hours, how they manage running a full time business with many clients. Drop me a comment and let me know or email me, I would love to hear from you.

2010 Afrivan VAimpact Award Winners

African Virtual Assistants Network(Afrivan) VAimpact 2010 award is finally here, thanks to all those who took upon themselves to nominate deserving individuals for this year award. VAimpact yearly award is till in it infancy stage and we might not be able to provide all the perks and incentive of awards, but I believe it no excuse not to honor deserving Virtual Assistants in and around Africa for their hard work.

Afrivan hope is that as the yearly award progresses, we will have companies to sponsor the award, provide business incentive and business opportunity for award winners.

It’s my honor to present to you this year 2010 Afrivan VAimpact Award Winner, you all truly deserve it for all your hard work, dedication even in the faces business challenges and set-backs.

These award from Afrivan is to encourage you to keep on keeping on and to give more sense of feeling that you can achieve and attain whatever you set your mind and energy to accomplish in life. The sky is no longer the limit to what you achieve, the only limitation will be you and the people you surround yourself with if you allow that to happen. These award challenge you to do more for yourself and well as for others.

Visit their full bio to get to know them as both individual and business owners and leave words of encouragement on the comment page for them.

Full Name: Alison Mary Fourie

Business Name: AMF Typing Services cc

Years in Business: 9 Years

Business Website: http://www.amftyping.co.za

Location & Country: Johannesburg, South Africa

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Full Names: Francis van Wyk & Marietjie Steyn

Business Name: Be Virtual Assistant Wise

Years in Business: 15 months

Business Website: http://www.be-virtual-assistant-wise.com &

Blog: http://www.be-virtual-assistant-wise.co.za

Location & Country: Vanderbijlpark, South Africa

Continue Reading More of Francis van Wyk & Marietjie Steyn Bio