How are you feeling as a virtual assistant during this recession, that is hitting us wordwide?
Is it hitting your business?
What affects has it had on your business?
This is my take on the recession and purely my opinion.
Companies are downsizing especially so with office administration staff, this is not just happening within South Africa but worldwide. This to me opens the way for virtual assistants and transcriptionists to find work. Companies will need their office administration done no matter what. Tasks like company invoicing, accounts, typing, company correspondence, arranging meetings etc. We as virtual assistants can handle these tasks and help keep the company administration under control.
To get these types of jobs it would be wise for virtual assistants to send out company brochures and introduction letters to prospective clients, start with the types of small businesses that could downsize easily then move on to larger corporates, what harm does it do to let companies know you are out there willing to assist in this time of recession.
Clients are contacting me around three to five times a week for quotations so that proves there are potential clients out there looking for support from virtual assistants. They are hearing about us through the continual advertising/marketing we do. But the problem is they are only hearing from a small percentage of us, a small percentage of us appear in advertising everywhere, where everyone else advertises, does there marketing, I don’t know as you are not being seen. To me if I was you I would see that as a problem. A virtual assistant’s aim should be to get her details out there so that corporates, businessmen, entrepreneurs can see her, but this does not seem to be the case. So I would say the veterans of the industry like myself are the ones who are benefiting the most during the recession. The one thing that I can do as I do have a full business of clients is contract work out to newbie’s and assist them this way, but that should not be the way newbie’s find work, they themselves should not rely on veteran VAs to give them work but should go out and look for potential clients. You will not receive full pay for a job that you would if you had the client yourself and as a contractor you will not make much money working for other VAs, so to me that is to your disadvantage. Go and find clients and make the money you could earn. Take advantage of the recession with companies downsizing that are now outsourcing and present them with your details. Get out there and be seen.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
VA Industry Survey
http://www.vanetworking.com/survey/
The Virtual Assistant Industry Survey 2010
Please participate in our 2010 Virtual Assistant Survey to help provide the media with valuable up to date stats on our industry.
VAnetworking.com is constantly being bombarded with requests from local and national media organizations asking many different questions about Virtual Assistants.
The media is always wanting answers to the six questions they use as a basis for most of their stories (Who, What, When, Where, Why & How). To aid them in getting to know about Virtual Assistants better, I’ve put together this survey.
Here is our opportunity to tell the press all about us Virtual Assistants.
The survey will take about 20 minutes of your time to complete but at the end of it, you'll receive some downloadable gifts from our network to say thanks for giving to us.
http://www.vanetworking.com/survey/
The Virtual Assistant Industry Survey 2010
Please participate in our 2010 Virtual Assistant Survey to help provide the media with valuable up to date stats on our industry.
VAnetworking.com is constantly being bombarded with requests from local and national media organizations asking many different questions about Virtual Assistants.
The media is always wanting answers to the six questions they use as a basis for most of their stories (Who, What, When, Where, Why & How). To aid them in getting to know about Virtual Assistants better, I’ve put together this survey.
Here is our opportunity to tell the press all about us Virtual Assistants.
The survey will take about 20 minutes of your time to complete but at the end of it, you'll receive some downloadable gifts from our network to say thanks for giving to us.
http://www.vanetworking.com/survey/
Friday, October 29, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Contratulations on first VA client
I would like to congratulate Celeste on getting her first VA contract.
I wish her luck with her new client and hope many more new clients will now come her way. Congratulations.
Céleste Schröder
Business Owner & Virtual Assistant
SCHRÖDER & ASSOCIATES CC
Suite 258, Private Bag X3, Northriding 2162
Tel : 011 794 1003 Cel: 082 764 9616 Fax : 086 612 7887
E-mail : sch.ass@telkomsa.net
Link to website: www.pa4you.co.za
Website: www.schroderandassociates.co.za
Skype: celeste_schroder
Delegate your Office Administration to SCHRÖDER & ASSOCIATES!
I wish her luck with her new client and hope many more new clients will now come her way. Congratulations.
Céleste Schröder
Business Owner & Virtual Assistant
SCHRÖDER & ASSOCIATES CC
Suite 258, Private Bag X3, Northriding 2162
Tel : 011 794 1003 Cel: 082 764 9616 Fax : 086 612 7887
E-mail : sch.ass@telkomsa.net
Link to website: www.pa4you.co.za
Website: www.schroderandassociates.co.za
Skype: celeste_schroder
Delegate your Office Administration to SCHRÖDER & ASSOCIATES!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Tip of the day
Proof Read your work
No matter whether you are a transcriptionist, word processor, typist, virtual assistant or secretary make it part of your job to proof read all your work before sending it to the client, this is something that does not always get done and is very important, you can do a spell/grammar check but it does not pick up everything, its always good to have a good read through and spot check each word on completion of your documents.
No matter whether you are a transcriptionist, word processor, typist, virtual assistant or secretary make it part of your job to proof read all your work before sending it to the client, this is something that does not always get done and is very important, you can do a spell/grammar check but it does not pick up everything, its always good to have a good read through and spot check each word on completion of your documents.
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