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Tips and Resources for VAs

Three Potential VA Opportunities and How to Find Them

by Janet Barclay

smiling virtual assistantAs a virtual assistant you can choose to specialize, or you can offer a variety of services. There are pros and cons to each approach.

Whether you’re looking for a particular area in which to specialize, or a new skill to add to your roster, here are three types of services to consider, along with suggestions for finding opportunities.

Transcription

Transcription is a specialized skill, especially if you have medical or legal experience. If you have excellent proofreading and editing skills, then you have even more to offer.

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Categories Starting a VA Business, Tips and Resources for VAs
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Finding Clients Online for Your Virtual Assistant Business

by Janet Barclay

online marketingYou probably started your virtual assistant business because you love the idea of choosing your own schedule, dress code, and work environment. Good for you! It’s a great business and it’s very rewarding. Your first challenge in this business, however, is going to be finding clients.

Most people will not be comfortable working with you until they’ve had a chance to get to know, like, and trust you. It’s usually easier to build that type of relationship when you meet in person, but it can also be done online, if you go about it properly.

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Categories Starting a VA Business, Tips and Resources for VAs
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Staying Organized

by Angela Spisak

feeling overwhelmedAs you can imagine there are a multitude of tools a Virtual Assistant can use to stay organized and on top of that growing to-do list.

Email is a major area of distraction.  While there are many options out there, we have favoured Gmail or Microsoft Outlook. Gmail has multiple add-ons that can assist with your inbox organization.  You can colour code emails, file them in folders, label them, make notes on emails and even mark them according to importance.  Outlook has similar features but not quite as many options.  You can create rules in Outlook to apply categories, split emails into folders and flag emails for follow up.

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Categories Tips and Resources for VAs
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Three Challenges of Being A VA and How to Avoid Them

by GHVA Group

upset womanThere’s little that compares with being your own boss. As a virtual assistant you have a lot of freedom. You choose your working hours. You choose your clients. You even set your fees and grow your business as you see fit.

However, along with this freedom come challenges. Running your own VA business isn’t always easy. Let’s take a look at the most common challenges of being a VA and how you can avoid them.

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Categories Tips and Resources for VAs
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3 Reasons Why Every VA Needs an Online Presence

by GHVA Group

Web site for businessBuilding a VA business? Congratulations! Being self-employed is a fulfilling and rewarding lifestyle.

But before you get too far into that business plan, are you planning on having a website? If you’re going to be a virtual assistant, you need one. Here’s why:

1. Your Clients are Online

You’re a virtual assistant. Emphasis on virtual. That means your business operates online via the Internet, email and perhaps instant messaging and conferencing. Without an online presence, you’re missing out on clients. Many of your clients will be online business owners. They’ll turn to the Internet first to search for a provider.

Even local clients will likely search for you online. It’s how our society buys products and services.

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Categories Starting a VA Business, Tips and Resources for VAs
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Working With Other Virtual Assistants to Build Your Business

by Janet Barclay

handshakeThere was a time when partnering with someone in your own industry would have been considered totally bizarre, but these days, “competition” has been replaced by “co-opetition”.

Cooperating with other virtual assistants to help build your business is smart marketing. The truth is, not every client is going to want to work with you, and you are not going to want to work with every client. There could be a mismatch of skills to needs, a disconnect in working habits, or even a difference of opinion in how things should be done. No matter what the reason, you simply can’t work with everyone.

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Categories Tips and Resources for VAs
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Using Pinterest to Market Your VA Business

by Janet Barclay

PinterestIt seems that everybody’s talking about Pinterest these days, and you may be wondering whether it’s something you should be using in your business.

In case you’re not familiar with it, here’s how Pinterest describes itself:

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

You can almost think of Pinterest as an online bookmarking service, but instead of saving titles of blog posts and web pages that you like, you save an image from the page along with a note about it. Once pinned, the image retains a link back to the original website. You can pin images from any website, and you can even “repin” images that other users have pinned, whether you are following them or not.

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Categories Tips and Resources for VAs
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How Do You Choose a Specialty?

by GHVA Group

virtual assistantAs a virtual assistant, do you have a specialty? Or do you offer anything and everything? Experts strongly recommend specializing. Here’s why:

Specializing makes you competitive.

When you specialize in a service or an industry it helps set you apart from your competition. When a potential customer is looking for a virtual administrator, chances are they have a very specific task in mind. If you provide that service or specialize in their industry then you’re going to make it to the top of their list.

Not specializing can make you crazy.

Choosing a specialty means you don’t have to juggle too many tasks and responsibilities. It’s challenging enough to own and grow your own business. The last thing you want to do is add more challenges to your day. If you specialize in a task or an industry then you can focus on being the best provider possible.

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Categories Starting a VA Business, Tips and Resources for VAs
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How to Find Great Clients

by GHVA Group

searching for clientsBeing self-employed can be extremely rewarding, but it can also be a challenge. Often the difference is the type of client you have. The better your clients, the more rewarding your business feels and the happier you are. So, it makes sense to create a strategy to find great clients. Here are a few tactics to consider.

Referrals

GHVA Group members report that the majority of their business comes from word-of-mouth recommendations. Referrals often come from past and current clients, former colleagues, networking associations, and even through volunteer work.

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Categories Starting a VA Business, Tips and Resources for VAs
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15 Top Tools for Virtual Assistants

by Salma Burney

The Golden MouseHere is a listing of our favourite tools that allow us to work effectively and efficiently for our clients:

1. Billing Boss

A free service for invoicing. You can upload your contact list or add it separately. Billing Boss will email invoices and make a PDF version. Clients can pay online or pay with PayPal, just click to pay! Unfortunately you cannot make a custom invoice, and it won’t track your time. There are additional items that cost to connect them. Mobile version is a cost and you can do it from your phone! Can allow others to run reports.

Recommended by Janet. Unfortunately, this service was discontinued on December 14, 2012.

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Categories Tips and Resources for VAs
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Next Page »

Categories

  • Business Tips
  • Professional Development for Virtual Assistants
  • Starting a VA Business
  • Tips and Resources for VAs
  • Working with a Virtual Assistant

Authors

  • GHVA Group
  • Angela Spisak
  • Crystal Burkholder
  • Debbie Lapointe
  • Jacquie Manore
  • Janet Barclay
  • Janet Whiting
  • Janice McLeod
  • Jennifer Kubilis
  • Salma Burney
  • Sheila Penton
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