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Favourite Tools for VAs: Square

Square is such a handy payment tool.  If you want to take credit cards in your business, it’s a simple solution whether you are doing business in person or over the Internet. It’s a simple device & app for your smartphone that allows you to process orders and send receipts to your customers. The money you collect gets deposited to your bank account the following day, making it faster than Paypal. The fee is slightly higher – about 3% – but can be worth it if you are at a live event or in my case this week Paypal wouldn’t accept my client’s credit card. (Paypal makes up its own rules sometimes!) So I ran it through my Square without… Read More »Favourite Tools for VAs: Square

How to Fire a Virtual Assistant Client 

Have you ever wanted to fire a client? The anxiety that comes with not being happy working with someone can paralyze you. I know, it’s happened to me. You open your email and you see their name. Your blood pressure rises. You read every little inflection in their emails with a negative voice. You complain to your colleagues (hopefully not on public social media!) and your family about said client. It’s time to fire them. But here’s the thing – it’s business, it’s not personal. That’s what we talk about in today’s training call: How to Fire a Client. There is a good process that you can use that will help you to still be a good business owner even… Read More »How to Fire a Virtual Assistant Client 

Favourite Tools for VAs: Office 365

Office 365 is one of the indispensable tools that I use in my business. Almost everyone uses a software package like this in our line of business, and when I discovered Office 365 I bought it and never looked back at an actual program install again! Office 365 Business costs only about $10 / month and you get desktop and web versions of all of the MS Office Suite of products for web and mobile. The versions are always kept up to date, and you can install on 5 devices for that price. It’s crazy! And you get 1 TB of storage space online too – so everything is in the cloud and you can access anything you need anywhere. So… Read More »Favourite Tools for VAs: Office 365

Tips For Healthy Working

Sit for a moment and think about how your average day looks … does this sound familiar? Imagine … wake up, no shower, get coffee, go into office, pick up email, start working, microwave coffee, eat lunch at desk, get distracted by Facebook, answer phone each time it rings, grab shower, run out to get groceries for supper, pick up mail, open it, do more client work, stop when kids come home, help with homework, dinner and dishes, watch Grey’s Anatomy, get kids to bed, go back to work till midnight … If this sounds remotely like you, you have to stop right now. This type of day or routine is not sustainable, productive or healthy. You will suffer from burnout… Read More »Tips For Healthy Working

Do You Know Your Own Value as a Virtual Assistant?

If I were to ask you what your value is, how would you answer? It’s a bit of an open ended question but it’s a really important one to consider as a business owner. Do you actually know your own value? So many things we do in our business come down to the value we bring to the client. I tell all of my clients (and anyone else who will listen!) that people want to know two things: what you can do for them and how much it will cost them. That’s it. Nothing more! Both parts of this rely very heavily on how valuable you are to your clients. This training session is about recognizing what you bring to… Read More »Do You Know Your Own Value as a Virtual Assistant?

How Much Should You Charge as a Virtual Assistant?

Probably the most asked question in the VA industry is ‘how much should I charge?’ Whether you are starting out, or you have been in business for a long time, the struggle around rates always comes up. I think there are a couple of reasons for this – mainly we have trouble seeing our own value, and also we have even more trouble asking people for money. It’s not a flaw in our character, it’s actually very natural. To be apprehensive about setting our rates is perfectly normal. So I try to take the emotion out of it and explain the logic behind setting your rates in this week’s training video. In this Back to Basics training session, we look at rate… Read More »How Much Should You Charge as a Virtual Assistant?

Favourite Tools for VAs: Timetrade

Timetrade is an online scheduling system that I have been using for many years. It’s a simple way for your clients (or anyone!) to book an appointment with you, without the back and forth emails that usually take place trying to find a time that suits both parties. Timetrade allows you to set up available appointments in your calendar, and it syncs with Google Calendar so you can block times easily if you have other appointments. I love the ability to enter recurring availability too, so I am not constantly updating my calendar. My time is valuable, and so is that of the people I do business with. Timetrade is a tool that I can’t do without in my business. And for… Read More »Favourite Tools for VAs: Timetrade

Get Your First, or Next, VA Client

Good clients are NOT hard to find. Whether you have lots of clients, or are still looking for that elusive first one, it is important that you find GOOD clients. The backbone of any business is clients. Without clients you have no revenue … you have no business. And frankly, life is too short to work with clients that you don’t like or who stress you out. Look at your client list right now. Do you love each person you work with? What do you like about them? Is it the work you do for them? Their personality? The rate they pay you? Be honest with yourself and really determine what makes a GREAT client for you. It may not be… Read More »Get Your First, or Next, VA Client