I got a phone call today from the delivery people that Entrepreneurial Freedom is being delivered Monday. I’m very excited. The ebook is done, but it’s always nice to hold a book in your hand. I’m anxious to see how it looks.
The website for Entrepreneurial Freedom will hopefully be up and running soon. My husband Ed has shown us a, hmm, what’s the tech word, comp? of what it will look like and it looks great!
I came across this word recently and had no clue what it meant, so I went to one of my bookmarked sites Dictionary.com to look it up.
Pedagogy is the art or science of teaching.
You learn something new every day!
I had the occasion to email Michael Russer , Mr. Internet (TM). I’ll keep you in suspense as to why I contacted him, but I wanted to share that I was impressed with his professionalism and graciousness. While I’ve heard Michael’s name for years, I learned something new about his network.
Russer is the brains behind REVAnetwork. Geared for VAs that specialize in real estate support, it’s free to join (at least for now). As the field of real estate virtual assistance grows, new specialties have emerged. REVAnetwork has formed a network of sub-specialty “guilds” to mentor newbie VAs. These include everything to copywriting to website design to listing management. If real estate support is your specialty, check it out!
“What’s the definition of a virtual assistant?” is a question often asked by new VAs. Ask 5 veteran VAs and you’ll get 5 different answers.
Andrea Cannavina of Lawfirmsolutions.com comes up with this definition: Virtual Assistant (VA) - one that assists in essence and effect though not in physical form
According to The 2-Second Commute, The Encarta definition is: long-distance assistant is: somebody who uses computer and phone connections to work from a distance as a personal assistant to somebody else, instead of working in the same office or building.
IVAA has its own definition: “A Virtual Assistant (VA) is an independent entrepreneur providing administrative, creative and/or technical services. Utilizing advanced technological modes of communication and data delivery, a professional VA assists clients in his/her area of expertise from his/her own office on a contractual basis.”
If you go to other websites of VAs, you’ll find other definitions. Some people strongly believe only those who provide administrative assistant-type assistance should be called VAs. Other people feel that a specialist like a writer, bookkeeper, graphic designer, etc., are all VAs because they provide assistance virtually. I believe the latter. Otherwise, I couldn’t call myself a virtual assistant. I actually call myself an editorial virtual assistant. I provide virtual editorial services to my clients…ghostwriting, editing, research, transcription, etc. Some of these I provide to authors, and some to entrepreneurs that need some help with writing their books or promotional material.
Am I still a VA? Yup.
I’m writing an article for the IVAAcast about educational opps for virtual assistants, and in doing my google search, I came across this post by a genealogy speaker, Kenneth G. Aitken. It’s just a reminder to all you VAs out there that we still need to spread the word. Oh, and for whoever has a skillset that matches what he needs, pitch him!
In a time when growing old is often equated with giving up, Amy Gorman has proved that life can be fun and enjoyable even into our very late years. Gorman’s book, Aging Artfully explores the lives and art of 12 elderly women. These women are painters, musicians, dancers, storytellers and sculptors who have who have lived fascinating lives. I read this book in 2 days, mesmerized with each woman’s story.
As a former geriatric caseworker, I wish I had read this book long ago. So often we hear about sick and frail elderly, but we need to remember that there are plenty of people out there living a full life as they approach (and sometimes surpass) the triple-digit mark. Aging Artfully is truly an inspiring book.
I highly recommended this book for anyone interested in the arts, biographies, aging studies, and related non-fiction.
So I wake up this morning at 5:15 when my 6-year old son Kyle tells me, “Mommy, I threw up in my bed, and I have diarrhea.” Lovely way to start the morning, lol. So, my husband changes the sheets, I grab a bucket, sit him on the toilet, run a bath, get him cleaned up, Ed gets fresh sheets on the bed, and we put him back in bed. It’s a stomach virus going around. Fortunately no fever, just no fun to have.
So, since after starting some wash, getting everything cleaned up, etc., I have some time to ponder, and think how this will affect my day. Umm, just a little. That’s one thing I love about being a VA. I can keep my kids home with me and not feel the guilt so many of my friends feel when they have to call in their absence to work. I can still work on my laptop, take care of my son, and just get slightly behind. I can catch up when my husband gets home from work.
I really love the work I do and the flexibility it offers to meet the needs of my family. I’m just feeling grateful today.
Katie Baird over at Loose Ends has opened a can of worms. That’s okay with me. After all, that’s what blogs are for, right? To encourage healthy discussion.
Her post claims that some clients are getting fed up with VAs because some have taken on more clients than they can effectively handle, or have exceeded “carrying capacity”.
If you read her post, you’ll see my comment there. A client (or potential client) has commented that it’s a real problem among her and her colleagues. As long as I’ve been a VA, this is the first I’ve heard about it. Since this is coming from a client’s viewpoint, we shouldn’t bury our heads in the sand. How widespread is this problem? What, as VA’s, can we do to fix this problem, or perceived problem? If you’re a client of a VA, what do you think VAs could do to fix this problem? Are you more likely to find a competent VA if they’re affiliated with an organization like IVAA? How about if they’re a graduate of a specific training program? Let’s explore some possible answers to improve everyone’s experience with the VA community.
Comments are turned on and ready.
I have Vonage for my business line. I can have a phone line, unlimited long distance, a toll-free number, and a fax number all for about $50/month. If I did the same thing through my phone company, it would easily cost me twice as much, at least.
For my purposes, my phone through Vonage is acceptable. Most of my clients are writer-types and prefer email. I can go days without the phone ringing, and that’s fine with me. I think I’ve only had dropped calls about twice with Vonage in the year and a half since I’ve had it. Now faxing, on the other hand, is awful.
I had to fax two things this week (again, I can go months without faxing). I tried faxing a one-sheet document to a number four different times and none of them went through. Never did go through. I did fax to an alternate number and that worked on the first try. It took me 3 or 4 attempts to fax some stuff to Candy and I tried faxing something else to her 3 times without success. It’s ridiculous and unacceptable. Receiving faxes seems to work fine. For sending them, I might need to connect my fax machine to my normal home phone line and just pay the long distance charge. I fax stuff so rarely, that it’s not worth spending the money for a dedicated fax line.
So, while I think Vonage and its competitors will give the old Ma Bell a run for her money in the long run, they definitely need to figure out how to deliver a more reliable service to small businesses if they want to stay in the game.
I had something like 3,0000+ comments awaiting moderation in my blog. 99.95% were spam. I think a couple were “good” but when I was bulk moderating them, I might have lost some of them. My apologies if I deleted anyone’s legitimate post. My tech support guy installed Spam Karma 2 on my blog, so hopefully it will be a lot less frustrating for me to manage comments. I’ll keep you posted.