Monthly Archives: April 2007

Back from the IVAA Summit in San Francisco

It’s good to be home (but more on that later).

Yesterday morning I arrived home from an action-packed summit in San Francisco. We had a great representation of DVVAAs (Delaware Valley Virtual Assistant Association) members who all flew from the Delaware Valley (PA, NJ, and DE) out to San Fran.

All in all, I believe there were about 69 attendees. We enjoyed networking, dining, sightseeing, oh yeah, and learning. While there, I almost completely lost my voice (I was coming off a fever/cold earlier in the week). Fortunately, by Friday for my presentation, I had enough back that I could croak out my presentation, which I think went pretty well. I did get some good feedback after it (and btw, for any IVAA summit attendees who want my notes from the presentation or a copy of my Powerpoint presentation, send me an email).

Now for the not-so-fun part….by Saturday afternoon I was beginning to feel miserable again during our sight-seeing. When we got back to the hotel, I took my temperature and it was 102. (and no, I don’t always travel with thermometer! I had used my boys’ travel bathroom bag because it is smaller, and I had noticed the day before there was a thermometer stuck in one of the compartments I hadn’t noticed when I unpacked it. It must have been in there from a previous trip. I think Candy and Lanel thought I was a traveling hypochondriac!). So, Candy and Lanel, the sweethearts they are, took care of me, went out and bought souveneirs for my kids, and Lanel drove me to the airport.

So I made it through the long flights, came home and got into bed at 10 a.m. Sunday morning. Between then and 6:30 this morning, I think I was awake for 6 hours. I didn’t know it was possible to sleep that long, but I must have needed it. I’m still feeling wiped out and my voice is gone, but I’m on the mend! If anyone needs to get in touch with me today, please email, because I can only whisper!

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Help me achieve my goal…landing a speaking engagement in Arizona

Want to help me with a fun project? Help me find a speaking gig in Phoenix, Tucson, Tempe, or any other city in Arizona. Why? I’ve always wanted to go there, and since I have a lot of clients in Arizona, for some reason, I figure it’s a realistic goal. I won’t even charge a speaking fee…just transportation and lodging. I’d be thrilled to speak to a group of authors about how to work with a ghostwriter, how to work with an editor, how to self-edit your writing, how to organize your non-fiction book project, or other similar topics. So Arizona writers’ clubs, publishing conferences, writers retreats, etc., would all be good venues.

The first person to successfully book me at an Arizona speaking engagement will be rewarded with a 25% discount on your book editing project, or a gift certificate of approximate equivalent value to use for my other related services (I will help you determine the best way to use it, if you’re unsure).

Help me with this little experiment. It’ll be fun, I promise!

P.S. Wondering how I got this idea? I got a call from someone in Phoenix, Arizona asking me to speak to a writers group. He had seen me on Jerry Simmons’ newsletter. Unfortunately, he didn’t know I wasn’t a local. But I was….this….close…. So the next logical step is to land one!

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My Saturday conference

On Saturday, April 14th, I spent the day with Myron Golden, Dr. Stan Harris, and Steve Spangenberg C.P.A. and about 25 other attendees to be inspired, educated and entertained.

Myron Golden is a client of mine, and I edited his popular, niche book, The Ebony Treasure Map and the recently released, From The Trash Man to The Cash Man. Myron is hugely successful and one of the smartest people I know (that’s no coincidence). More importantly, he knows that we need to change our internal programming about success before we will make any progress in business.

Steve Spangenberg, who is my personal and business “tax guru” also presented us with tax savings tips to help us keep more of our hard-earned money. Since Steve has been doing our taxes for several years, I had already heard most of this, but some reinforcement never hurts!

And Dr. Stan Harris was excellent as well. A 10th Degree Blackbelt, he shared his story and encouraged us to all break thru our obstacles instead of being afraid of them. After breaking boards himself, he invited some audience members up to do the same. I had one of those breakthrough moments that obstacles are meant to be conquered, they are not to stop you.

I love going to conferences, which reminds me, I’m leaving next Wednesday for the IVAA Summit in San Francisco. I can’t wait!!

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IVAA BOD, Referrals Galore, and Upcoming Conference

I’m happy to announce that I am now on the International Virtual Assistants Association’s Board of Directors! I’m pleased to be serving my professional organization in this way. I’m also the Managing Editor of IVAACast and the Committee Chair for it. All the content for the April “rebirth” issue is written and proofed, we just had a delay in finding a volunteer to do layout (I’m not a designer!)

My poor blog has been neglected lately. That’s because I seem to have turned into a referral magnet. Not that I’m complaining, mind you, but I’ve been spending a lot of time talking to prospects, drawing up project quotes and thanking my referral sources. I’ve also brought another editor, Amber, onto my virtual staff. I’ve also turned over all my bookkeeping to OffAssist and I’ll probably need to add another VA soon to help me stay in touch with my customers.

I’m also looking forward to the IVAA summit and am busy preparing my presentation. It always seemed so far away but it’s quickly approaching.

Here in New Cumberland Pennsylvania, (just outside Harrisburg, PA) we’re still experiencing winter temperatures. The Easter Bunny might be delivering frozen Easter eggs!

Lauren

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