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7 Tips for Better Face to Face Networking Results

Here is a cool stat for you from a great infographic from Virgin Entrepreneur: 95% say face to face meetings are essential for long-term business relationships. Now I know we are all virtual professionals, and I’ve done my fair share of hiding behind my computer screen. ‘I don’t do in-person meetings.’ ‘I don’t do Skype or Facetime.’ ‘Thanks for the invitation to coffee, but I only do phone meetings.’ ‘You can only reach me via email. It’s how I work.’ I’ve said these things to my clients and potential clients. I still say them! BUT in terms of networking, there are many cases where meeting face to face (either in a small business setting or a large event) can really fast-track your business… Read More »7 Tips for Better Face to Face Networking Results

Make a Decision Now – What Do You Want to Do?

Do you like vacuuming? I can’t stand it. I tend to do it quickly to get it overwith so it makes me all hot and sweaty. Just probably my least favourite household chore. I do a decent job but I often take shortcuts because I just dislike it that much. I also don’t like ironing, but I’m good at it so there’s that. I tend to iron as we need things though, instead of doing it all at once like my Mom used to do. I do like dusting. I have this amazing furniture polish from Melaleuca that I really like. It smells great and it really does a beautiful job. And I quite enjoy doing the laundry. I get into… Read More »Make a Decision Now – What Do You Want to Do?

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?