Are You Struggling to Find Work?

Do You Want to Sub-Contract With Some of the Leading Virtual Assistants in the Industry?

Do You Want Your Opportunity to Audition in Front of Ten + Booked Solid VAs?

Come audition for FR*EE between June 16 and June 20!

Register Now: http://www.soyouthinkyoucansub.com

If you have the skills to be an amazing asset to any of the leading virtual assistant teams, you need to read through and attend this amazing, free event!

Held from June 16 to June 20, the first ever virtual assistance sub-contracting job fair will be held. There is nothing out there like this and we’re making this opportunity happen for many reasons.

Why Is This Event Taking Place?

Virtual assistant teams are rapidly becoming in demand for clients and entrepreneurs around the world. People are looking to hire not just an individual but an entire team. If you are part of one of these teams, there is a great chance that you will have an endless supply of work.

Here are some of our primary reasons for hosting the event:

1. We know what it’s like to try and find clients and we want to help make it EASY for you!
2. We are a group of really booked solid VAs who need to build an amazing team but just don’t have time… this allows us to “audition” many virtual assistants and virtual assistant’s assistants all at once!
3. It gives you the opportunity to get used to speaking in public and in front of potential clients.

It’s a win-win all around!

Do I Have to be a VA?

Absolutely not! We’ll be looking for ghostwriters, copywriters, graphic designers, website designers, blog designers and much, much more. If you provide a service that would be a value-add to our clients, we want to hear from you!

How Do I Register?
Go to http://www.soyouthinkyoucansub.com and follow the steps outlined on the page!

See you at the auditions!

So I have to preface this with my sincere apologies to all of my subscribers for disappearing from the blogosphere. For me and my family, the first few months of 2008 have been…eventful…to say the least. We’ve faced everything from major illnesses to the wrath of Mother Nature. In February, all five members of our household were violently ill with sinus infections, stomach viruses, food and medication allergies and to top it all off, two of us were hospitalized with pneumonia. By the time we were all healthy again, we had made 10 doctors visits and there were enough prescription drugs in our house to start up a pharmacy. But we wouldn’t want to do that since my pharmacist and I are on a first name basis.

Just when things began to settle down, on Friday April 4th, five tornados blew into town. I would assume that everyone in the country heard about the path of destruction these little forces of nature left behind, but because I’m convinced the state of Mississippi doesn’t even exist as far as the rest of the US is concerned, this might be news to you. Rather than continuing on this subject and opening up a huge can of worms, I’ll just stick to the topic at hand.

Typically, as an entrepreneur just starting out, we’re on our own. It’s up to us to take care of everything from bookkeeping, administrative duties and marketing to business development and custodial duties. As our business grows, and our clients come to depend on us more and more, we become busier and busier. Then when something happens like life, God or Mother Nature, we’re left there, forced to deal with catastrophe while running our business in the midst of it all. Ultimately our clients suffer and that’s unfair.

My question is what happens to your business when something unthinkable happens?

I can’t stress the importance enough of documenting everything you do to run your business. Everything from the way you answer the phones to detailed accounts of services you provide. It’s so important to set up systems and processes in your business. As solo entrepreneurs we should all be working towards a set of clear procedures and policies so that if something happens, you can hand everything over to a trusted colleague and they will be able to pick up and take over while you deal with whatever it is you need to deal with.

What would you do it you woke up tomorrow and there was a power outage? What if, God forbid, your house burned down or something happened to you? What happens to your business?

Don’t put this off until it’s too late, you owe it to your clients and yourself to get prepared before you’re in the midst of crisis. Fellow virtual assistant, Yvonne Weld, has written a guide to writing your own business manual.

As for me, I am off to take a very overdue and extended vacation with my family in just a couple of days. Who will be handling things while I’m away? My very AWESOME project manager, Victoria, and talented team members we refer to as Team Worx.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

A couple of days ago I had a phone consultation with a potential client who I would love to work with. He is my ideal client on so many levels. During the consultation—which lasted almost 1 1/2 hours—we got to know each other and discussed his marketing needs among other things. I know, I know. I’m sure there are some jaws dropping out there in the VA world because so many VAs advertise free 30-minute consultations, but personally, I don’t care whether it takes 10 minutes or 2 hours to discuss my prospects’ needs. It takes as long as it takes in order to fully understand my prospects’ businesses, where they’ve been, where they want their businesses to go, what I can do for them to make that happen, and if each is a client that I truly want to work with. I would rather know that the prospect and I are compatible, both in our personalities and in how we would work together, as opposed to taking on clients who obviously aren’t a good fit. It would be a waste of their time as well as mine if I were to learn the ins and outs of their businesses over a period of time, only to part ways due to things I could have recognized if I’d just taken the time in the beginning. Personally, I’m an “in it for the long haul” kind of girl.

During the course of our conversation, the potential client mentioned that he was talking to several other VAs who provide marketing services (to be expected, of course) and that he was really impressed with the virtual assistance industry as a whole. He went on to say that everyone he had spoken to thus far seemed very happy and upbeat. (more…)

If you’re subscribed to my blog, you’ve probably been wondering where the heck is Connie and why hasn’t she posted anything in well over a month? Well there really isn’t any astonishing life happenings to report, and my lack of writing would be just an excuse really, but honestly I’ve just had some last minute projects come up which brings me to the reason for this post.
My very good friend and business partner, Jaime Lee Mann of Mann Made Time, asked us to completely redesign her logo, which of course led to her website and business cards being redesigned, as well as a shiny, brand new blog…appropriately named Mann Made Blog. Jaime’s site and blog went live several weeks ago and she has had nothing but compliments and praise on the new look.

Now, I’m always proud of my designs, not because I’m arrogant or think I’m the best in the whole world, but I do pride myself on delivering quality designs and each one is like delivering a new baby to my clients…one they love. However in this case, at this very moment, Mann Made Time is my golden child. This project by far has been the most satisfying of all my projects. To top it off, Jaime is simply an ideal client. She typically does not ask for some impossible deadline, she gives you input, she sometimes knows exactly what she wants while other times, she really isn’t sure which gives me complete creative control. In addition, Jaime has always known what branding can do for your business. She truly “gets it” and always incorporates her branding into everything.

You really should check out her blog, I literally cannot go a day without visiting to see what she has to say. She is an excellent writer and a really good story teller. We’ve even adorned her pretty little head with a Santa hat for the holidays

A week ago, we discussed free audio and video tools for VAs: Audacity and CamStudio. Last but not least…

Week 10: Blogging for Virtual Assistants

Ah, blogging. It may not be the latest craze, but it is still pretty darned hot! If you haven’t jumped on the blogwagon yet, chances are that you probably will. Blogging isn’t hard, especially if you’re a natural storyteller. You just have to write about what you know and what you’re passionate about.

BlogBackupOnline: Have you ever lost months or even YEARS of blog posts due to a server failure, glitch, or corruption? Worry no more with BlogBackupOnline. Back up as much as 50 MB for free. You don’t even have to remember to do it, and there is no software or programming required.

WordPress: No matter what anyone else says, WordPress rules in my book. If you’re thinking about starting a blog, there is nothing easier than using WordPress to manage your posts. Plus, it’s free—which makes it even better. Many web hosts offer one-click installs, so there isn’t any difficulty installing a new platform on your server if you’re a non-techie. WordPress offers a simplistic dashboard to manage your posts, categories, plug-ins, blogroll, and more, all while offering instant RSS feeds across the Internet. Choose from thousands of free themes created for WordPress, or get help customizing your new blog if you want to incorporate your company’s branding into your latest venture, which I highly recommend.

I was planning to include my favorite WordPress plug-ins here, but I figured why not make that post another day—after all, I just wrote 10 weeks of posts, and I need a break! WordPress plug-ins coming soon… 

This post concludes our series of must-have freebies for virtual assistants. I hope you enjoyed the series and found lots of new toys, and perhaps even something that you can’t live without!

Last week we discussed alternative software programs for virtual assistants, including 7-Zip, PDFCreator, OpenOffice, and ThinkFree. Next up…

Week 9: Audio & Video Made Simple (and free) for Virtual Assistants

Audacity: Audacity is a free, cross platform, open source audio program for editing and recording audio. Use it to record, cut, copy, splice, mix, and add effects, and then convert it to various audio formats such as MP3, WAV, MPEG, and more. Why not record an audio message for your website visitors?

CamStudio: CamStudio is a free streaming video application that records the on-screen and audio activity on your computer. Turn your video files into streaming Flash videos (SWFs) that don’t take up half your server space. Create demonstration videos, tutorials, and more.

Do you use other free audio tools? Share with us! And don’t forget to check back next week for more free tools!