My brain is in overdrive this morning. My apologies in advance.
1. I got an IM from someone on MSN messenger asking me if I was hiring any writers. I told her I wasn’t, and she said to let me know when I was. Umm okay. The thing is, we do business with people we have a relationship with. I have no idea who this person is. I haven’t seen her website, I don’t know her from a professional group, I’ve seen no writing samples, and I don’t know what type of writing she does. People need to network effectively…that’s how you have a chance to get overflow work. If you need to brush up on your networking skills, let me suggest Entrepreneurial Freedom for starters.
2. I have a new client who is an actor/screenwriter. Now, I know other VAs are working in this niche, but I really didn’t think too much about it until I got this client. Another interesting note is that this new client was a referral from his brother, a former client of mine working in the financial services industry. You just never know who knows whom. I still keep in touch with the former client. He knows that I focus on editorial services now, and voila.
3. I posted some new pictures on Myspace. If you’d like to see pictures of my kids dressed up for Halloween and my exquisite pumpkin-carving skills, click here.
4. There was an article in yesterday’s Harrisburg Patriot about MySpace becoming “Our Space” and they profiled local people who had gotten in trouble for some of the private information they posted on their public myspace account. Folks, if you wouldn’t shout out the message on your blog post into a crowd, don’t post it online. Your blog, your myspace account, etc., is not a private diary with a lock and key. It is public information. I try to keep the Hidden Blog mostly business related, where I may talk about my kids, vacations, shopping bargains, etc. on my myspace account. But I never post anything that would embarrass me tomorrow, 5 years from now, or 50 years from now.
Have a great week!
Back many years ago, my husband and I watched South Park faithfully. Ed can do a mean Cartman imitation. One episode that particularly sticks out in my mind was the one about the underpants gnomes. It’s been many years since I’ve seen it, but the premise is these gnomes were stealing underwear from people.
When the South Park crew asked what they were stealing underwear, the gnomes said, “Step One: Steal Underwear. Step Three, Make a Profit” The South Park crew asked, “What’s Step Two?” The gnomes said, “Step Three is Make a Profit”. They didn’t know what Step Two was.
Do YOU know what Step Two is? I’ve seen this with new virtual assistants quite a bit. They think Step One is to declare themselves a virtual assistant, Step Three is to make a good living and have a balanced life. But they don’t stop to consider Step Two.
Step Two is why Jeannine Clontz and I wrote Entrepreneurial Freedom. Step Two is actually many steps. It’s your technical (project skills), it’s your business skills (how you organize and run your business), it’s your attitude, and it’s your perseverance.
Do you realize that opening your VA practice means you’ll have to wear all the hats of a business? You’ll be the employee, the boss, the marketer, the salesperson, the CFO, the mailroom person, etc.? Once you’ve achieved some success, you can start delegating that? Do you take on any work that comes your way or do you stick to the projects you excel at and enjoy? Do you set competitive rates, or do you try to be the lowest bidder? Do you have your clients sign contracts or do you just hope your client pays on time? Do you invest money in conferences and training or do you just keep doing the same old thing? Are your goals to fill all your available hours with client work and turn anyone else away, or are you going to expand your business to have others working for you so you and your child can be at the moview while someone else is making you money? All these and much more are what leads you to Step Three: Making a Profit.
Wired Magazine just came in the mail the other day. I don’t think I’ve ever read it before–my husband Ed subscribes to it. But an article caught my eye, “Meganiche” by Clay Shirky.
Shirky defintes a meganiche as “a thin slice of the Web that nonetheless reprensents roughly a million users”, or one tenth of one percent of today’s web audience. He further states that a tiny piece of an immense pie is huge. One tenth of one percent of today’s web audience is a million people. That’s nothing to sneeze at.
So, it got me wondering….will “virtual assistance” one day be a meganiche? Unfortunately, there’s no way to know exactly how many virtual assistants exist in the world today. Part of the problem is what your definition of a virtual assistant is. If you mean solely someone who provides administrative assistance virtually, your numbers will be much lower than if you include everyone who provides services virtually, from graphic designers to writers to legal assistants to web designers. I know that VANF has around 3,000 members. Other VA groups may have close to that many people and some will overlap and some won’t.
So how many virtual assistants will have to have how many clients each to turn our profession into a meganiche? Anyone care to do the math?
I’m almost finished writing my three articles for an upcoming National Speakers Association newsletter. Of course, I need to provide an author box to accompany my articles, so I looked to see what I had. I have author boxes for a variety of uses. I have one I use for my IVAACast articles, which I frequently update depending on what I want to highlight that month. And I have one I use for the promotional articles I post online.
Combine this with needing a professional bio for my website, one for my book, one for press releases, etc., and you end up having multiple, though necessary, versions of basically the same thing. My full bio is a whole lot longer than the one I’ve used in a press release. It’s a matter of editing, editing and editing.
It’s easy to just include your author box at the end of an article and then forget about it. A time-saving tip is to copy it and paste it into another document and name it “authorbox 10-20-06″ or something similar and create a folder with “promo materials” or some other title that makes sense for you.
You really need to customize promotional writing materials for your audience…both the topic and the length.
In writing, one size does not fit all.
I just got home from picking up my 4-year-old son, Drew from preschool. I guess the long weekend of playing really wore him out because he was grumpy when I picked him up and fell asleep in the car on the way home, which he hasn’t done since last year.
As I lifted him out of his carseat to carry him into the house, he sleepily opened his eyes and said, “I love you.” Right then, I was truly thankful that I have my own business and could experience a moment like this.
Life is good.
One of the books I picked up at Infinity Publishing’s Express Yourself conference was From Book to Bestseller, written by Penny C. Sansevieri I haven’t read it from cover to cover yet, but I did spend some time skimming through it. From Book to Besteller gives some specific resources and tips to be a better promoter of your own book. From creating powerful press kits to contacting the media; from book signings to creating an internet buzz, I know this book will become dog-eared and highlighted as I use it for promoting my newest co-authored book, Entrepreneurial Freedom: How to Start and Grow a Successful Virtual Assistance Practice.
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.
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.