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This One Tip Can Help Establish You As An Expert

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You’ve spent countless hours setting up your virtual assistant website. Your social media accounts are set up. You’ve narrowed down your target market. Now, how do you get those potential clients to know that you really know your stuff and get them to want to work with you?

Listen!

Listen!

A great way to get yourself out there in front of your audience and establish yourself as an expert is to participate in speaking engagements. Before you panic, close out this post and run away from your computer, this doesn’t always require you to show up to an event, stand in front of a bunch of people and talk to them in person. You can do so by speaking or being interviewed via a podcast, radio show or Google Hangout.

And that’s exactly what I did! I am uber terrified when it comes to public speaking, but this was super fun and I didn’t have to stand up in front of a crowd! It’s a great step to get out of your comfort zone, if you have a fear of public speaking like me, and still connect with your audience. Oh, and you can absolutely still wear your yoga pants while you do this. 😉 I’ve also made some fabulous connections with the awesome women who run these shows.

Here’s what I’ve been up to so that you can see what I mean. Now you’ll have some real-life examples. Check these out:

–>Seattle Moms Coffee Chat with Taryn Perry– Taryn hosts a weekly radio show where she seeks to inspire and motivate WAHMs and SAHMs. You can listen in here to our episode together where I shared my story and you can also sign up for the next Moms Coffee Chat held every Tuesday from 9:30-10:00 AM PDT.

–>Get Social with Luz- Luz Donahue is a social media VA expert who also hosts a Google Hangout show to assist business owners. We talked about how we both started our online careers, our first impressions of the VA industry, being the new kid on the block in business, courses that we teach and our favorite things about working online. I apologize in advance for my crappy lighting. 😉 Here’s the link to watch: https://youtu.be/zJyspJTnqLQ.

–>Stress Relief for Successful Women with Lisa Birnesser– Lisa is a Stress Management Coach who also hosts an awesome podcast to help women business owners de-stress and prioritize. This is a great one for you to listen to in order help your clients decide to hire you as a VA.

Here are some of the questions that we tackled. Why would a business owner hire a virtual assistant? What are some of the myths about hiring a VA? What are some tips you can offer for hiring and communicating with a virtual assistant?

Listen in to see what Lisa and I discuss and learn what to say when you need to help potential clients get past the things holding them back from hiring you! Click here to watch/listen on BlogTalkRadio.

After reading the details of my little online speaking tour, what do you think? Are you ready to do it? Let me know in the comments!

Don’t miss any tips or news from New VA Advice! Sign up here and I’ll visit your inbox. You can also keep the conversation going in the Virtual Assistant Empowerment Facebook Group. See you there!

Network Marketing Gone Wrong: Learn From My Mistakes

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You know the importance of networking for your virtual assistant business. You want to get out there, whether it’s online or off, and mingle. You want to establish relationships to solidify that ever-popular know, like and trust factor so that people will hire you and pay you for your awesome services.

Photo courtesy of Freerange Stock

Photo courtesy of Freerange Stock

One very common way of networking is to attend local events where you can rub elbows with colleagues and those in your target market. Here’s a little story about what happened to me when I attended my very first networking event so that you can learn what NOT to do.

Before working online, I was a manager at a printing company. I was sent to a local Chamber of Commerce mixer in the hopes of networking with some local businesses that could be potential clients. To be honest with you, when I went to this event I really had no clue how I should handle myself. I was eager to meet some new faces and potentially get more business for our printing company but I had never done this before.

When I first arrived, I was a bit intimidated so I stood for a while and chatted with the two people I already knew at the mixer. Realizing that I was never going to meet anyone new that way, I mustered up some courage and walked right up to two people that I didn’t know who were having a conversation. I totally interrupted them and blurted out, “Hi, I’m Alicia from XYZ Company! We specialize in blah, blah, blah. If you ever need any printing, just give me a call.” Then I shoved my business card in their hands and asked for theirs.

I went around the room and repeated this same pattern about four more times. I was pretty impressed with myself at the end of the day having given out all of my business cards and getting cards from all of these “potential new leads.” I waited about two days after the event and then wrote a personal note to each person whose business card I had received telling them that it was a pleasure to meet them and asking them to call me for their printing needs.

I popped the notes in the mail and waited impatiently for the phone to ring with fabulous orders from all of my newfound friends. And I waited…and I waited. I was so disappointed when I didn’t hear from any of the people from the Chamber mixer.

Great idea, huh? Can you spot the things that I did wrong? Nowadays, I do more of my networking online but there are still some basic rules that apply. Let’s go back through the story and see what I should have done differently.

The Plan

I really didn’t have a plan walking into that first event except for trying to hand out as many business cards as possible and receiving as many as I could in return. First and foremost, when attending a networking event, you should have a plan of what you’d like to achieve. Is it to make connections with colleagues? Is it to get new leads? Is it to search for potential team members or partners? Having a plan of what you’d like to accomplish at a networking event will help you keep your end goal in mind.

It doesn’t have to be a huge, intimidating goal and it shouldn’t always be focused around making sales. You don’t need to meet everyone in the room. Give yourself a goal of having a really good conversation with two or three people. It’s quality over quantity.

The Intro

Remember when I said I just walked right up to two people engaged in a conversation and completely interrupted them? Not the best tactic. Look for natural ways to jump into a discussion that’s taking place or walk up to someone standing alone like you are. Chances are that person standing against the wall doesn’t know anyone either and is as nervous as you are about this whole networking thing.

The Conversation

As you can tell from my story, I decided to totally skip the conversation piece. I just went right into my pitch. This is probably what the other people heard when I was talking: “Me, me, me. Buy my stuff.” You’d give me your business after that, right? Sure you would. 😉

You can liken business networking conversations to dating conversations. When you meet someone for the first time in the dating world you don’t say, “Let me tell you all of the great things about me. Now, do you wanna get married?” The other person would probably run screaming!

Instead, you get to know them. You ask them questions to find out their likes, dislikes and what makes them tick. Then you go on a couple of dates, meet their parents, get engaged and all of that stuff. My point is that building the relationship is a process.

Building relationships with clients is the same thing. It’s not about you. You want to get to know them. A great idea is to start with some non-business conversation about things that you might have in common, like your kids, where you live, pets or favorite sports teams. Then you want to learn what they need and how you can help them solve a problem. Be helpful and genuine, not pushy. All of this is not going to happen during that first meeting at a networking event but you are laying the foundation of the business relationship.

The Follow Up

This is an important step that people often miss after a networking event. My idea to send personal notes to the people that I met was on the right track. It’s just that I had not established any kind of relationship with them so there was a missing connection. After the event, think of something in particular that you may have talked about with someone and drop them a note. Let them know that you’d like to stay in touch. Include a call to action. For example, you could ask them to connect with you perhaps via your favorite social media channel.

I hope my little story of the Chamber event gone wrong helped you to avoid some of these mistakes. If this type of networking still makes your knees shake and your hands sweat, you can always reach out to a professional. There are networking coaches out there like my good friend Carol Deckert at Contacts to Connections who will teach you the ropes and get you out there having fabulous conversations in no time!

Do you have a networking nightmare to share? Leave it in the comments. Any other pointers for networking best practices? Leave those in the comments, too.

Don’t miss any tips or news from New VA Advice! Sign up here and I’ll visit your inbox. You can also keep the conversation going on my Facebook fan page. See you there!

Book Review: Become A Virtual Assistant- The Virtual Assistant Forums Guide To Success

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I just finished reading a copy of Become A Virtual Assistant- The Virtual Assistant Forums Guide to Success and I had to share this information with you!

By now you know that my goal here at New VA Advice is to share with you what I’ve learned on becoming a virtual assistant and point you in the direction of the resources you need to get started so that you don’t waste your time searching all over the internet trying to find the best information and figure out who you can trust, like I did.

Phew! That was a mouthful but it’s the truth!
Become A Virtual Assistant

Why Read This Book?

This comprehensive guide was designed for the new and would-be virtual assistant in mind, taking you through the first steps of ensuring that you understand the realities of what it means to work for yourself and covering the details of how to set up your business.

If you’re like me, you will appreciate the step-by-step way that the book is laid out. You can literally read and implement each chapter and know that you’re adding in each piece of the puzzle in the right order.

I like to have a plan. I certainly can’t say that I had one starting out. I had to find out all of the information of how to build a business on my own. I had to search in multiple places, which took up so much time! I can honestly say that this guide covers all of those things that I had to scurry around and put together in order to run my business. Lucky you if you’re just starting out because it’s all here in one book!

What’s In The Book?

Another big plus that I wanted to point out is that the book starts out discussing the mental aspect of being a business owner, not an employee, and what that really means to you. It’s so important to understand the difference before you set out on your endeavors.

Then you dive into the meat of all of the legal and tax stuff like choosing a business name, registering it with the state, insurance and taxes. I know, this is not the glamorous part of running your own business but it’s all necessary and it’s often what keeps people spinning their wheels instead of jumping into their Virtual Assistant business.

There is also excellent information on determining your services, setting your rates, determining your target market and setting up your website. As I mentioned earlier, you really can follow each chapter of this book, implement it and then go on to the next one to learn the next step in creating your business.

Bonuses!

Here’s the best part of the whole thing. They’ve included 35 worksheets, contracts and documents for you to use in your business! That fact alone makes it worth getting the guide. There are worksheets included for you to figure out your business plan and mission statement as well as worksheets for deciding your target market. Then there are tons of editable documents and contracts that you can use with your clients to help make things run more smoothly. Why reinvent the wheel? You’re going to end up needing forms like this for your business anyway such as a service agreement, invoice and confidentiality agreement. They’re all here for you and you can edit them to suit your business needs.

Who Wrote This Book and Why Should I Trust Them?

Tess Strand is the author of this guide. You may recall that she was featured here in a Start up Story where we learned how she got started in the VA world. Tess founded the popular online community for VAs, Virtual Assistant Forums. She is also the founder of Virtual Assistantville, a premium directory of professional virtual assistants dedicated to evangelizing the industry and educating business owners on working with professional VAs. All this to say that Tess really knows her stuff!

So, I certainly think it’s worth the $49 investment. You know I’m a big advocate of not shelling out a lot of cash in the beginning when you don’t have it to go around, but I do believe that you need to spend a little money to make money. Pick up your copy of Become A Virtual Assistant- The Virtual Assistant Forums Guide to Success and let me know what you think!

(Yes, the links included for the book are my affiliate links and I will make commission if you decide to purchase through them but if you appreciate the information that I provide here then click away and feel free to show the love!)

 

Let Me Help You With Your VA Business in 2013

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Well, the New Year is here! We’re making goals, setting intentions and working on getting things done. Is this the year that you’ve decided to start your Virtual Assistant business? Perhaps you’ve started but thing just aren’t moving as you’d hoped. Let me help!

I want the New VA Advice blog to be a place that you can come for advice and inspiration. I want to provide what you really need. So, I’ve devised a super-short survey. Please take a minute to fill it out so that we can get your questions answered. Here’s the link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VHHTKW2

Let’s rock 2013!

Transcription on Mechanical Turk: great for starting out

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This is a guest post from the wonderful Amy over at Transcriptress.com. Amy and I met on Twitter, realized we had a lot in common and have learned so much from each other! Since the writing of this post, Amy has moved on to other endeavors, but still offers great ideas here for those just starting out working for transcription companies.

Say you’re working on getting some momentum going in your new VA career. It’s exciting stuff, and you’re looking forward to it all taking off. Still, it’d be nice to have some extra money coming in for now. You feel you should be choosy, though. After all, you don’t necessarily want an ongoing commitment. That could get in your way, once you start meeting the clients you intend to keep.

Fortunately, that doesn’t have to be a dilemma. Having some extra space in your daily work schedule means it’s an ideal time to set yourself up as a transcriptionist on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.

Lots of people around the Web are convinced that Mechanical Turk is a waste of time when it comes to making money. You’ll find plenty of articles about how you can only make pennies for your time. But to someone familiar with Turking, most of those articles are loaded with inaccuracies and misunderstandings about how the Turk system works.

For example, contrary to popular belief, the top pay available from the four main Mechanical Turk transcription companies is right about $90 per audio hour. Granted, you’ll have to work your way up to being eligible for that work, and for the more frequently available work that pays $60 per audio hour. But for a skilled transcriptionist, this can be done in a few to several weeks, depending on how much time you have for Turking.

Here are a few more reasons that your VA startup period is a great time to get started with Mechanical Turk:

  • Mechanical Turk transcription is a reliable sideline to keep around. Turk transcription companies will be happy to have you take as much or as little work as you wish, as often or infrequently as you want. This can mean you only transcribe 30 seconds of audio a month, or even a quarter! There’s truly no minimum work output required, and no penalty of any kind for being inactive or low-producing for as long as you wish, and without any notice required.
  • The pay is fast. Turk transcription companies often pay within a day or two. (Yes, really.) And Mechanical Turk’s minimum payout is $1.00 (as of the writing of this post), so any time you reach that amount, you can ask for a transfer into your bank account. Amazon charges no fees for this.
  • Although the audio on Mechanical Turk is sometimes rather terrible, training your ears on it can be a great way to become a more accurate listener.
  • Before your schedule becomes fully booked, you have more time to learn a few different style guides. Each of the main four Mechanical Turk requesters has their own, so if you learn them now, it’ll be easy to come back to a little Turking whenever you need to.

Having an extra source of income is one way to smooth out the new VA ride. Transcribing on Mechanical Turk can provide a very flexible source of it, as well as some useful (and interesting) experience. Whether Turking ends up being something you stick with, it’s certainly worth a try!

We All Need Somebody To Lean On

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somebody to lean on VA mentor

First, let me just say how much I love this song. And now it’s stuck in your head, isn’t it? You’re welcome! 😉 So you’ve just started your Virtual Assistant business or you’ve had one for a little while but you’re struggling. Are you feeling any of these things?

  • Maybe you’re overwhelmed by all of the things on the multiple to-do lists you now have as a business owner.
  • Perhaps you have all of these ideas but you’re not sure where to start.
  • Maybe you’ve seen the term “target market” over and over but you’re just not sure who that is for you.
  • Perhaps you just need a little motivation and inspiration to keep you going. It can be lonely working from home!

Let me tell you right now that I’ve felt ALL of these things in the course of my career as a Virtual Assistant, especially when I first started out. The hardest part for me was not knowing anyone and being unsure of who I could trust for advice.

Unfortunately, there are so many scammers out there just waiting to take advantage of a newbie. Plus, I didn’t really have any money to sign on with a coach to help take me to the next level. I learned a lot on my own by trial and error and eventually found some people online that I trusted and admired. But that took some time, a little bit of side-tracking and some dead ends.

I don’t want anyone else to feel this way. I want you to know that you CAN do this! You are smart and talented. You have some awesome skills…and you can offer them in a way that no one else can but you. Do you need to hear this today? Then give me a call!

Brainstorming talk

This is you talking to me. Camels are cool, right?

Yup, you can chat with me during a mentoring session and we’ll talk about whatever you want as it relates to you and your Virtual Assistant business. I’ve been where you are, so I get it. I’ve also been there while not having a lot of money, so I wanted to make these calls affordable.

You can start with a completely free 20-minute call to get you moving in the right direction.

You can choose a 60-minute planning call where I’ll help you hone your focus and create a plan that works for you.

You can also check out the Mentoring Page on my site for more group and one-on-one coaching options.

Can’t wait to chat with you soon! 🙂

Don’t miss any tips or news from New VA Advice! Sign up here and I’ll visit your inbox. You can also keep the conversation going in my supportive, private Facebook group filled with VAs (and would-be VAs) just like you. See you there!

 

Always Have an Emergency Plan for Your Business

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Help Emergency PlanWhether you just started your Virtual Assistant business or you’ve been at it for a while, you worked hard to get to where you are today. You built this business by yourself.

You are the proud solopreneur.

However, what would happen if you became very ill tomorrow or had a family emergency and had to step away for a little while? The other day I was on a forum and read about a fellow Virtual Assistant dealing with a family emergency.

I began to think, “What if something happened to me or one of my family members? What would happen to my business if I had to step away even for a week or two unexpectedly?” I’ll be honest with you here. I didn’t really have a plan in place for this kind of situation but I began working on it right away. Here are some important things to cover when creating your business emergency plan.

Create and Document Process. It is important to create processes for all of your major tasks. These can be things like how you create a website or record a teleseminar. Begin by writing down the actions you take to complete the task step-by-step. You should do this now even if you are not planning on delegating these tasks to anyone else in the foreseeable future.

Note Important Information. Keep a spreadsheet or some other type of list for important passwords and website login information. It’s also a great idea to have a database of clients, colleagues and vendors. Make sure that someone you trust knows where to find this information in case of an emergency. It could be crucial that someone have this information in case they need to log in to pay a bill or contact a client in your absence.

Have A Back-up Person. None of us like to think of these things, but you should give some consideration to having a discussion with a trusted colleague–or two–about passing your work on to them if there were an emergency. Have the conversation before you really need to so that you won’t be racking your brain at the last minute trying to decide who could help you.

Delegate Now. In order to make sure that your business can still run in your absence, ensure that it’s streamlined while you’re still here. Make a list of all of the things that you do in your business. Then narrow down the few things that you personally HAVE to do yourself in your business. Take the rest of the items and pass them on to a trusted Virtual Assistant or VA team. Yes, although you are a Virtual Assistant yourself you still need help to take your business to the next level.

These are just a few of the items that I found most important in creating my business emergency plan. What about you? Have you had to deal with an emergency that took you away from your business? Is there anything that you would add to this list? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

If you want a done-for-you process, including templates and checklists, so that you can document emergency processes and plan out your business, check out the Ultimate VA Business Planning Blueprint today!

 

Why Learning From Fellow Virtual Assistants Rocks!

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VA Good Bunch

VAs are a good bunch!

From my first day as officially being open for business, I have found that my Virtual Assistant colleagues are friendly, helpful, caring and all-around good people!

There are some cut-throat industries out there where people keep the keys to their business success locked up tight but I haven’t found that in the VA world. In fact, it’s been quite the opposite. People are willing to share their knowledge with you.

Virtual Assistants can often relate to each other’s stories whether they arrived here due to a lay off, the need to escape the nine-to-five rat race or a desire to be home with their children. We know how it feels and want others to experience what we have.

The other great thing is that there are Virtual Assistants who specialize in everything from bookkeeping to social media. You’re sure to find someone out there in our industry that can help you with a specific problem.

So, don’t be afraid to ask. I know that there are always a few bad apples in the bunch, but don’t let that stop you from connecting with other Virtual Assistants. Reach out and get help from someone who has been where you are.

How do you find your fellow VAs, you ask? Social media is a great starting point! There are tons of VA forums out there as well as virtual industry events.

For example, the VA Virtuoso Seminar series starts in just a couple of weeks! I will be joining 19 other fabulous VAs in order to share information and tricks of the trade with other Virtual Assistants.

 

VAVS6

VAVS6

Oh, and it’s really affordable. Want more info? Click here for the details. Why don’t you join us?

Don’t miss any tips or news from New VA Advice! Sign up here and I’ll visit your inbox. You can also keep the conversation going on my Facebook fan page. See you there!

The Importance of Having a Mentor for your Virtual Assistant Business

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When you first start out with your Virtual Assistant business it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. There is so much information out there about setting up your website, marketing, social media…the list is endless.

mentoring

We all need somebody!

How do you know what you really need to do and where do you find the information that you need? Finding a mentor is a good place to start.

Why do I need a mentor?

  • They can show you the ropes. They can point you in the right direction and give you resources from trusted people.
  • They’ve already been there and done that. You can learn from their mistakes—and accomplishments.

Who should be my mentor?

  • You want to look for someone who is ahead of you on the business path.
  • They should be successful and have already had some struggles to get where they are now.
  • Look for a person who is where you want to be.
  • It should be someone with a complimentary personality that you would feel comfortable working with.

Where and how do I find my mentor?

Research

Let’s look at my situation for example. I found my mentor Loretta Oliver and took her Transcription Crash Course. I fully stalked investigated her online and asked around about her reputation. I heard nothing but good things about her. I checked out what she was up to with her businesses. When I saw how much she has accomplished I became thoroughly excited at the thought that I might be able to achieve half of what she’s done.

Contact

I knew this was a person that I needed to connect with. After taking Loretta’s course and then working with her on transcription projects (which I still do to date) I sent her an email. I think it said something like, “OMG! You’re my mentor!”

Ask

In retrospect, that was probably not the best way to approach the subject. I’m lucky because she’s awesome and she didn’t run for the hills screaming. It’s more customary to first see if the person is offering mentorship (people do this for free and for fee) and then ASK the person—not tell them. Like I said, my situation was a little different. Loretta doesn’t offer a mentoring program at this time so don’t get any ideas;)

However, this is definitely a service that I offer at New VA Advice. You can schedule a free call with me to see if we’d be a good fit, work with me for just an hour to get a plan in place, or we can work together in a group or one-one-one setting. There’s an option for all situations and budgets. Check out my mentoring page today and find your best option.

Don’t miss any tips or news from New VA Advice! Sign up here and I’ll visit your inbox. You can also keep the conversation going in my supportive, private Facebook group created just for VAs. See you there!

Making Money with General Transcription

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You may or may not know that I got my start online as a general transcriptionist. There are other posts here that will tell you exactly how that came to be and how I set up my business. You can go ahead and read those now if you like, but don’t forget to come back!

The point I’d like to make today is that this is a viable income-earning service to provide. You can do this as a stand-alone business as I did or add it to the current services you are offering as a Virtual Assistant.

General transcription career

General transcription was right for me!

There are plenty of people out there right now who need general transcription services. Did you know that you can increase your business and help them to make more money by offering transcription services? That’s right!

Here is a short list of people who benefit from transcription:

  • Bloggers
  • Authors
  • Business coaches
  • Speakers
  • Researchers
  • Colleges/Universities

How will transcription benefit them?

We all know that audio and video are huge in the online business world right now. People and businesses are adding video posts to their websites. They are holding webinars and teleseminars. They’re posting audio and video messages to sales pages.

At some point in the process they are going to need a written version of all of that audio whether they realize it or not. You could be the one who helps them with that.

Here are just a few ways that you can help business owners earn more cash with transcription:

  • Audio/video posts: Transcribe these for your client and use the written version as another blog post. Optimize it with keywords to bring in their readers. More eyes on their website can lead to more sales of their product or service.
  • Webinars/teleseminars: Repurpose the written version into a blog post or a sellable product.
  • Product Packages: Your client may currently offer a package with an audio and workbook. Add in a transcript of the audio. You are adding to the value of the package, therefore the price can be increased. You may also reach a wider audience as there are people who prefer to read versus listen to materials.

Those are just a couple of examples to get your wheels turning!

 How will it benefit you?

  • If you want to make it a stand-alone career:
    • You can create a service-based transcription business looking for clients who will benefit from repurposing their audio
    • If you already have a VA business:
      • You become their rockstar VA who told them about these great ways to add revenue to their business.
      • You will increase your workload from existing clients making you more money and possible referrals.

Does general transcription sound like an option for you to earn income? If you’d like to learn how to provide this service, check out the General Transcription Bootcamp.

Don’t miss any tips or news from New VA Advice! Sign up here and I’ll visit your inbox.