Tag Archives: Virtual Assistance

Are There Legitimate Companies?

December 9, 2009 – 10:00 am

One of my members wanted to know the other day if there are legitimate companies that help you find clients. She’d seen many companies that say they employ Virtual Assistants for administrative work, but didn’t know who meant well, who was legit, who wasn’t and so on. It’s a perfectly good question. I mean, on [...]

By Danielle Keister | Posted in Business Savvy, Virtual Assistant/Virtual Assistance | Also tagged , , | Comments (5)

Want to Know How NOT to Sound Like Every Other Virtual Assistant?

December 8, 2009 – 10:00 am

One of the biggest complaints I hear from clients is that all the Virtual Assistant sites they visit say the same thing. There are a number of reasons for this. For one thing, it seems to me that many people attracted to this industry somehow get the idea that it’s a sort of club to [...]

By Danielle Keister | Posted in Cool Stuff, Great News, Virtual Assistant/Virtual Assistance | Also tagged , , | Comments (2)

Do You Send Clients Gift at Holiday Time?

December 3, 2009 – 10:00 am

Hey, do you want to get your business spotlighted in an upcoming issue of our ezine, The Portable Business™? If you are a Virtual Assistant, I’m looking for your best gift-giving ideas and tips for clients. Do you have a favorite mail order company you like to order from? Is there a particular kind of [...]

By Danielle Keister | Posted in Cool Stuff, Virtual Assistant/Virtual Assistance | Also tagged , , | Comments (1)

Dear Gritty VA: Do I HAVE to Know This and This and This, Too?

December 2, 2009 – 10:00 am

Dear Gritty VA: My biggest strengths are written and verbal communication, research and word processing. Can I still be a successful Virtual Assistant or do I need to know things like 1shoppingcart, website design and desktop publishing to even have a prayer of getting any clients? -KT I’m going to be annoying and not really [...]

By Danielle Keister | Posted in Business Savvy, Dear Gritty VA, Marketing, Virtual Assistant/Virtual Assistance | Also tagged | Comments (4)

Do You Need a Client Guide?

December 1, 2009 – 10:00 am

One of my newer members posted on our forum that she had only recently discovered our Client’s Guide to Virtual Assistants and was exclaiming her appreciation. She wanted to know if she could link to it on her site and my answer was “By all means!” as that was exactly what it was for. I [...]

By Danielle Keister | Posted in Cool Stuff, Virtual Assistant/Virtual Assistance | Also tagged , | Comments (4)

Dear Gritty VA: How Do I End a Relationship with a Difficult New Client?

November 25, 2009 – 10:00 am

Dear Gritty VA: How do I end a relationship with a difficult client without burning bridges? This was a brand new retainer client. We’d finished the contract process and I had just received my deposit. I’d actually been talking to this client for three months about working together and I was so glad to finally close the [...]

By Danielle Keister | Posted in Business Savvy, Dear Gritty VA, Virtual Assistant/Virtual Assistance | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (1)

You are Not a Generalist

November 20, 2009 – 10:00 am

I frequently hear Virtual Assistants refer to themselves as “generalists” and I always wonder why they denigrate themselves like that. It’s like saying “I’m just a mom” or “I’m just the help.” It’s certainly not attractive marketing-wise. It portrays what you do as unimportant and of less value or consequence. It implies that there is [...]

By Danielle Keister | Posted in Business Savvy, Marketing, Virtual Assistant/Virtual Assistance | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (7)

Dear Gritty VA: How Can I Handle Last Minute Requests at the End of the Month?

November 18, 2009 – 10:00 am

This isn’t actually a question that was submitted to my Dear Gritty VA column, but it was an email conversation with one of my members on a topic I thought would be helpful to everyone here… Dear Gritty VA: My main issue around retainers is that toward the end of some months, I’m less than [...]

By Danielle Keister | Posted in Business Savvy, Dear Gritty VA, Virtual Assistant/Virtual Assistance | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Don’t Fall for Dangling Carrot Syndrome

November 11, 2009 – 10:00 am

“Incentive-based compensation…” “Good work will lead to more immediately.” “Work on commission and your income is only limited by your effort.” “I pay on percentage… if I make money, you make money.” Work your ass off and maybe you’ll get repaid in proper proportion for all of the effort and value you give away, is how that should read. [...]

By Danielle Keister | Posted in Business Savvy, Virtual Assistant/Virtual Assistance | Also tagged , | Comments (2)

Good Client Hunting

November 10, 2009 – 11:03 am

While we’re on the topic, I want to talk to you about clients. There are all kinds of clients in this world, more than plenty to go around. As an industry, we have only begun to scratch the surface of all the people and fields we can be helping, and will be helping eventually. And [...]

By Danielle Keister | Posted in Business Savvy, Virtual Assistant/Virtual Assistance | Also tagged , | Comments (2)