April – 2010 – The Gritty Virtual Assistant Blog

Monthly Archives: April 2010

April 30, 2010 – 10:00 am

Why Aren’t You Involved in Other Organizations?

There are a few particular people I don’t care for in this industry because of their ethics. To be clear, I’m not talking about personal differences. Just because you dislike someone does not make that someone unethical. I’m talking specifically about people who have a history and ongoing pattern of telling bald-faced lies and engaging in unethical conduct.

Why on earth would I (or you) want to have anything to do people like that or their organizations? If you knew the truth about someone like that, how do you ignore it? How do you reconcile it? How do you make yourself un-know what you know? And knowing what I know and how I felt about it/them, wouldn’t it make me an inauthentic, two-faced phony to smile in their face just so I could have access to their group?

Live and let live, I always say. Whatever those folks’ life lessons are to learn, it’s not my problem. The world is big enough that we can go about our separate ways and not be bothered with each other. I don’t have to be concerned with them or deal with them in any way. And so I don’t.

My feeling is that if you don’t like someone or you find them to be dishonest and unethical, you should own it. That doesn’t mean you have to go out of your way to shout it from the rooftops at every turn, but jeez louise, stop trying to play both sides of the fence and talk out of both sides of your mouth.

Your thoughts? Post a comment!

By Danielle Keister | Posted in Personal Musings | Comments (0)

April 28, 2010 – 10:00 am

Dear Gritty VA: Do I Have Enough Experience to Be a Virtual Assistant?

Dear Gritty VA:

I only have 2 years experience as an Executive Assistant and 6 years as a Receptionist/Data Entry Clerk. Could I still be a Virtual Assistant? Any suggestions are helpful. –BT

Well, it’s not really for me to say. It’s what the marketplace has to say.

What I mean is, yes, the Virtual Assistant/Administrative Support Consultant profession definitely has ideas, opinions and expectations about what the qualifications should be of those who want to enter its ranks. The Virtual Assistant community generally wants to protect the reputation and credibility of the profession in the interests of clients and VAs alike. But ultimately, this is an unregulated industry so no one can tell you that you can’t open a Virtual Assistant business if that’s what you want to do.

That said, clients have very demanding expectations. So the better question might be, do you have enough experience that you will be professionally qualified enough to meet those demands? Business savvy also plays a critical role here because if you don’t know how to run and manage business well, that also will directly impact your service to clients and their satisfaction. If you don’t have a sufficient level of these things, are you prepared to deal with the extra difficulty and rejection you might face? Do you have the stamina, perseverance and tenacity to keep working on whatever you need to work on to get to a level that is marketable? The less skill and experience you have, the much more difficult a path you face. It will be much harder for you to command the kind of fees that will earn you a real living and it may take you much longer to get established. You can be the most likable person on the planet and have no problem developing rapport with prospective clients, but when it comes right down to it, the proof is in the pudding. Clients get frustrated (and do not work long) with VAs who don’t have a business level of skill and ability.

What I might personally recommend is that it might be a good idea to stay in the workforce a few more years. Grab every opportunity to grow in your administrative and support skills and at the same time become a student of business (and I don’t mean enrolling in an MBA program–simply start reading business books). Use this time now to start thinking about a target market and studying what kind of administrative needs and challenges that market has and how you can support those needs and solve those challenges. Lay the foundation of your business now so that when the time is right and you’ve got enough business knowledge and marketable expertise under your belt, you will be more prepared for success.

Then again, maybe you feel you’ve already got what it takes. If so, go for it.

4 Comments

By Danielle Keister | Posted in Cool Stuff, Dear Gritty VA, Virtual Assistant/Virtual Assistance | Tagged Danielle Keister, Gritty VA, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistants | Comments (4)

April 26, 2010 – 10:00 am

There’s No Such Thing as Social Networking

Ha! That got your attention, didn’t it. Let me explain…

Social networking is nothing new. It’s simply the latest catch phrase for something that has always existed and will continue to exist in business: networking and relationship marketing. The only thing that’s different is that we have new technology tools available for nurturing and facilitating those things.

Now, I’m not saying social networking is bad or not to use social networking tools. Not at all. Just be smart about it. Use your head. Know your target market. It makes little sense to expend days and months twittering away if that’s not where your serious clients are spending their time and all you have to show for your effort are a few nickel and dime project customers.

So here are some questions that might help you gain some productive direction in your social networking efforts:

1. Is your target market there? If not, you might as well be blowing smoke in the wind. If your target market has its own, more concentrated industry forums and groups, your time and energy might be more productively spent in those places.

2. Are the interactions meaningful? If you and your prospective clients aren’t able to really engage, might there be quicker or more effective means to get in front of them and really connect?

3. What’s the ROI (return on investment)? You want to engage in networking activities that yield the highest, greatest return for your marketing/networking time, energy and budget.

4. Is your effectiveness being diluted by spreading yourself too thin trying to everywhere? You can do a lot of things not very well or you can do one or two things super duper well. Don’t be afraid to buck the bangwagons and stick to your favorite platform for better results.

5. Are you being interesting? Remember what you’re there for. Prospective clients are interested in how you can help them. Tie your conversations to that interest whenever possible. Provide good info and also ask questions to learn more about them. Clients are also people: don’t bore them. They don’t care what you had for breakfast or that you are now taking the garbage out, but sharing a funny anecdote or the day’s pet peeves can be great conversation starters that also let them see you as a real person.

Social networking can be a great leveraging tool for finding and getting to know new prospects and drawing them into your own pipelines. Done without any thought or intention, it can also be a complete waste of time. Do your homework so the former is the case for you.

2 Comments

By Danielle Keister | Posted in Marketing | Tagged Marketing, social networking | Comments (2)

April 21, 2010 – 10:00 am

Dear Gritty VA: Should I Point Out Errors on Other Virtual Assistant Sites?

Dear Gritty VA:

I can’t tell you the number of times that I have looked at another Virtual Assistant’s website, taken a deep breath, sighed, and just continued reading. But 5, 10, even 15 minutes later I will still be struggling with whether or not I should have emailed the VA and told them about the error. You see, I am an administrative professional who has been in the business for 20 years and am now starting my VA business. One of my special talents is proofreading. So I think…this person is NOT going to appreciate me, the newbie in town, emailing them to point out the spelling error, grammatical error or formatting problem on their VA website. Yet…it bothers me. This is our profession and our website represents who we are and the work that we do. I learned the hard way to review, review, and once again review. I worked in the actuarial field for the last 5 years and let me tell you…those folks are very difficult to communicate with and they demand perfection the first time that you return a document to them. I refused to make mistakes and be caught. So I walk away wondering if I should contact the VA and take a chance that they think that I am being rude by pointing out the errors or do I disregard it? I know that my work is NOT always perfect but if these websites had been reviewed these errors would have been caught because they are obvious errors. I prefer to do what I think is the right thing, take screen shots and send the VA the info. I have found three websites with errors in the last two weeks and the Virtual Assistants all appear to be well spoken and high level (some of these websites were created by Virtual Assistants who are members listed in the VACOC Directory – I found some of these errors while doing research for my own company). Personally, I think that these Virtual Assistants should hire me to proofread their websites (totally tongue in cheek there but I just had to say it). So…what do you think? Do I contact them, or not? By the way…I proofread this email several times before sending it (and pasted it in Word and performed a spellcheck on it). Yes, I am a perfectionist but my name is on this email after all. –KG

The first question that pops into my head is why are you spending so much time on other Virtual Assistant sites? The people and sites and businesses you should be studying and getting to know are those of your core target market.

What will be helpful in this situation is getting really honest and clear about the underlying intention. The danger here, as you suspect, is that your approach may engender resentment, rather than appreciation. And the reason it could is because there’s a different feeling and tone between a) randomly reading someone’s site, finding a typo and shooting off a quick, friendly email to let them know, and b) going out of your way to find every error, spending an inexplicable amount of time and energy taking screenshots, and doing what really amounts to free work for people who aren’t even your clients. All that effort and energy would be more productively focused on developing your own business and clients.

As you mention, no one is perfect. One of my mentors is a multi-millionaire consultant renowned the world over who takes great pride in his vocabulary and command of the language. He can be quite pedantic when it comes to grammar and even he has typos and misspellings on his websites and blog posts now and then. It doesn’t bother me. It’s certainly always the goal to “dress the part” as much as possible, but a few occasional typos here and there do not diminish his standing and wisdom nor detract from the message. Those are cosmetic things that are quickly and easily corrected.

Personally, I always appreciate someone who takes a moment of their valuable time to let me know of little innocuous errors (which can happen even when you have your own proofreaders) as long as it is done in the spirit of helpfulness. Yes, it is true that there are always a few people calling themselves Virtual Assistants who have very poor grammar and communication skills. But it’s probably safe to say that the last thing you’d want is to be viewed as a busy-body. There can be a very fine line between being helpful and being presumptuous. It’s one thing to discuss standards and expectations in an industry, entirely another to barge into someone’s house, so to speak, via an email pointing out their personal gaffs and shortcomings (which is what that might feel like to the recipient). Ultimately, their business is their responsibility.

If you have impeccable grammar and proofreading skills, emphasize those attributes to your own prospective clients. If you come across a typo on someone’s site, let them know about it as a friendly favor if you are so inclined. Beyond that? Let it go. It’s not your kettle of fish to fry. Save your energy and focus for your own business.

4 Comments

By Danielle Keister | Posted in Business Savvy, Dear Gritty VA, Virtual Assistant/Virtual Assistance | Tagged Administrative Consultant, Danielle Keister, Gritty VA, Virtual Assistance, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistants | Comments (4)

April 12, 2010 – 10:00 am

Administrative Support IS a Speciality All Its Own

Guess what, people? Administrative support IS a specialty in and of itself. You CAN specialize in just administrative support and do as well as any other kind of specialized service professional. The problem, the reason why clients don’t get it much of the time and why Virtual Assistants as an industry are not earning well, is because they continue to call anything and everything Virtual Assistance and lump everything under the sun under the Virtual Assistant umbrella. When something doesn’t have any definition, then it isn’t anything at all, least of all a profession. And clients don’t pay well for something that is nothing. They view it as merely gopher work.

If VAs would simply stop trying to call everything Virtual Assistance and learn to identify, define and separate business categories for themselves (and not let clients define that for them), they could begin to earn better. They could charge one retainer for administrative support and then charge separately for work and projects that fall under different business categories entirely.

A good example of this is the argument I hear new Virtual Assistants put forth constantly. “Well, when I was an executive assistant, I also did bookkeeping and web design and copyrighting and this and that and the other.”

So, you’re saying that because employers piled a load of other work onto the shoulders of administrative staff because they were trying to save a buck at your expense, that means as a business owner you should lump everything you know how to do under one banner and offer it as all one and the same? As an employee, you had no say in the matter and trooped along like a good soldier. And hey, learning new skills and tinkering with new programs can be just plain fun. But it is neither smart nor profitable to carry that kind of employee mindset over into your business. If you do, I guarantee sooner or later you will realize the consequences of this and the wisdom of the advice I give you today.

Just as a doctor is different from an attorney, there are different classifications of work and business. For example, Web design, a separate profession in its own right, is inherently project-oriented work. So, it immediately differs from administrative support in that respect. More importantly, it is something that requires entirely different skills, processes, knowledge and talents from administrative support. For this reason, it is a completely separate category of business and expertise for which you can charge separately as an additional income stream.

No one is saying that you can’t be a VA if you also do Web design (or bookkeeping or copyrighting or marketing or social media or whatever). You can be a VA and also a web designer (or bookkeeper or ghost writer, etc.) if that’s what you want to do. It’s just that they are not all one and the same thing. Once you start grasping this, you’ll begin to gain more clarity about which business you intend to be in and what to more appropriately call yourself. This will start you on the path to better earning because you’ll be able to see and think more clearly about what should fall under your administrative support umbrella and what falls under another business category altogether (you can call these “divisions”) and should be charged for separately.

YOU have to make these distinctions and classifications in your business. Don’t let clients dictate these things. Because that’s the other part of the problem–VAs doing (and giving away) all this other work beyond administrative support because clients keep trying to pile everything on without paying extra for it. And it’s keeping you in the poor house.

Of course, this is happening with your consent if you refuse to get conscious about these things. It’s not a partnership if you are being taken advantage of. By the same token, you aren’t being taken advantage if you are allowing it. If you keep lumping everything under the Virtual Assistance/administrative support umbrella, you will continue to deprive yourself of opportunities to earn better and grow your business in profitable, sustainable ways.

1 Comment

By Danielle Keister | Posted in Business Savvy, Marketing, Virtual Assistant/Virtual Assistance | Tagged Administrative Support, Defining Categories of Business, Virtual Assistance, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistants | Comments (1)

April 8, 2010 – 11:17 am

Do You Want to Be Right or Rich?

You may have heard this little saying somewhere online, particularly in Internet marketing circles.

What this really translates to is, “Do you want to be truthful or rich?”

Because the implicit message is that you can’t be honest, really and truly authentic and tell the truth if you want to also be rich.

Frankly, I much prefer to be a truth teller rather than someone who tells people just what they want to hear or manipulates them into paying attention. I have absolutely zero interest in selling my soul for the sake of earning money.

But what I also find interesting is that it implies that being truthful and getting rich are mutually exclusive. Really?

I don’t believe this for a minute. What do you think?

Your thoughts? Post a comment!

By Danielle Keister | Posted in Marketing, Personal Musings, Rant & Raves | Tagged do you want to be right or rich | Comments (0)

April 6, 2010 – 12:58 pm

Net Neutrality: Save the Internet Once and for All

I’m reprinting a message I received from MoveOn.org today about Net Neutrality. If you want to help keep Internet control out of the hands of private corporations, all you have to do is follow the link and “sign” the letter by adding your details to the fields provided. They do all the work for you and YOU get to lend your voice to this very important issue! Here’s the message:

Since 2006, MoveOn members have been working to save the free and open Internet. And now, for the first time, we’re on the verge of making an open Internet the law of the land. The Federal Communications Commission is getting ready to rule on net neutrality—the key principle that keeps the internet open to all. But Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon know it, so they’re fighting in court and claiming the FCC doesn’t have the authority to do its job.It’s a smokescreen. The FCC still has all the authority it needs to make net neutrality the law. The only question is whether it’ll have the political will to take on these corporate giants. That’s where the SavetheInternet.com Coalition comes in. We already have 1.75 million voices telling Washington that we must make net neutrality the law, but we’re aiming for two million.

The FCC is only taking public comments until this Thursday before making a final ruling, so we need 250,000 signatures today and tomorrow to send a resounding message that the FCC won’t be able to ignore. Can you add your name below, and then tell your friends to sign so we reach two million?

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=87793&id=19723-7690029-X3qvWdx&t=3

The Internet is the future of communications, and we need to keep it open, available and affordable to all Americans so it can continue to drive free speech, democratic participation, and economic growth. Net neutrality ensures that you can go anywhere and access whatever you want on the Internet, without having to pay corporate gatekeepers for the privilege. Without net neutrality, AT&T could charge its subscribers more to visit the website of their local bookstore than Amazon.com.Or, as one DSL provider was caught doing just yesterday, they could start forcing you to use their own search engine instead of Google.And they’d love that extra profit, so they’ve sent armies of lobbyists to Washington to in one final push to control the internet.

When MoveOn members joined with hundreds of other organizations to form the SavetheInternet.com coalition in 2006, we could only dream of having a president who would fight to make net neutrality the law. But with President Obama’s support, and his appointee Julius Genachowski chairing the FCC, we’re on the verge of winning a huge victory for a free and open Internet. Can you add your name and tell your friends to help us reach our goal of 2 million signatures by this Thursday?

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=87793&id=19723-7690029-X3qvWdx&t=4

Thanks for all you do.

–Daniel, Marika, Anna, Eli, and the rest of the team

Your thoughts? Post a comment!

By Danielle Keister | Posted in Business Savvy, Don't-Miss-It Events, Fab Ideas | Tagged Net Neutrality, Save the Internet | Comments (0)

April 2, 2010 – 1:41 pm

Another Way to Supercharge Your Virtual Assistant Help

I was talking with one of the attendees of my Pricing & Packaging business intensive last month who mentioned that she wasn’t sure what to do with a couple clients she wasn’t feeling very energized by. I asked her what the problem was, and she related that she much preferred big picture work, and while she enjoyed these two clients as people, they were low-commitment as far as hours go–only 5 hours per month. The work always ended up being transactional, sporadic and disjointed, and she never felt like she was really and truly helping them get anywhere other than taking care of busy work.

I’ve spoken with hundreds of Virtual Assistants who experience similar issues and feelings. Administrative support consultants enjoy big picture work because it allows them to understand the client and the business much better. In turn, this allows them to apply critical thinking, grow in their knowledge of the business and the work, and thus complete work in ways that make much better sense and fit better in the overall scheme of the client’s operations, goals and objectives. This is much more gratifying and energizing. But with such a low commitment of hours, it’s incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to gain any kind of big picture sense of the business. It’s verrrry slow-going at best.

So there are a couple choices you can make. One, you can decide that in order to provide the kind of work that allows you to really and truly help clients AND which also keeps you energized, motivated and interested, your ideal clients must make a higher minimum commitment. And then simply decline to work with anyone who can’t make that commitment.

Alternatively, what you can do is take charge of the delegation process by consulting with the client, finding out what one of their most immediate goals or objectives is and then focusing the support exclusively on that one support area.

For example, let’s say the client really wants to get an ezine going. Well, implementing an ezine requires some initial project-related design and set-up. Once you’ve got that going, it requires ongoing management. So what you could do is charge a project fee for the design and initial set-up and then focus the retainer hours on establishing the publishing schedule, setting deadlines, formatting, editing and proofing articles, uploading issues, managing the delivery platform, scheduling issues for broadcast, not to mention taking care of all the details of managing subcriber lists and utilizing tracking and reporting features.

As you can see, when you sit down and map all the activities that go into implementing and then managing/maintaining a support area, it’s a lot. And by focusing that small 5 hour retainer on just that one support area, you can help the client actually accomplish something that’s both tangible and important to them. They can clearly see results from your support and this is exciting to clients. Once you’ve got that area of support all whipped and under control, you talk to the client about taking on the next support area and increasing the financial commitment.

Commitment requires a measure of trust. And trust isn’t handed over on a silver platter. Trust is something that is earned and just like relationships, grows in stages over time. You can help clients grow in their trust and esteem of you by taking charge of the delegation process in this way and focusing the work on a support area where you can better show tangible accomplishment, and then keep growing with the client from there. Most clients simply don’t know how to move forward and are unsure of what should be delegated. This is why it’s your JOB as an administrative support consultant to take charge of the delegation process, form support plan recommendations for them, and take that burden off their shoulders. It’s still ongoing support as it’s not project work or specializing in doing one thing–this is why I call it a support area. It’s just that it’s a much more focused and intentioned way to really help clients move forward in accomplishing the things that are important to them while also growing the commitment.

Your thoughts? Post a comment!