The Gritty Virtual Assistant

Grateful Mondays: Visual Delights

There is a neighbor down the boardwalk here who has six resident hummingbirds populating the flower garden he's grown on the side of the hill. Recently, I took a little early morning stroll and was able to catch this beautiful footage...

Can you spot the hummingbird in this shot?

I love these little guys. They're like the little terriers of the bird world. Little bundles of energy who think they are bigger and tougher than they are. They're very territorial and always squabbling with each other.

And they are sooo tiny... this guy wasn't even as long as my thumb! You'll see something shoot by like a bullet, thinking at first it's a fat little bug, but then you realize, nope... that was one of the hummingbirds. :)

So What? Who Cares

As a Virtual Assistant, is it important to you to have your ideas and contributions recognized?

As a human being, how do you feel when your ideas are acknowledged?

Does it feel good? Does it give you personal pride? Does it boost your personal and professional self-esteem? Do you gain a sense of happiness, gratitude and of being appreciated from doing or creating something that others value?

What if you had a great idea and shared it with the world, only to have it stolen and your role as the originator usurped and obscured by petty, jealous thieves greedy for the personal fame and self prmootion who have to steal from others in order to gain the spotlight?

Have you ever had an idea and then been deprived of acknowledgement or recognition for that idea or contribution? Or perhaps had something stolen from you, whether that was a thought, an idea, a body of work or creation?

How did that feel to you? I'm willing to bet, not too great.

And then, what if someone then told you, "So what? Who cares?"

So what? If we are so cavalier and disrespectful of acknowledging other's people's work and feelings, and giving proper and due credit where it is due, how can we in turn have the same expectation of consideration? If it's not important, then it shouldn't be important the next time you are robbed of being credited for something for which you originated.

What does that say about our humanity? What does that say about our integrity? And not just personal integrity, but the integrity and factual quality of truth, understanding and historical accuracy? Are not those things important as well?

Grateful Mondays: Pats on the Back

It's so nice to hear back from the Virtual Assistants who have purchased the Virtual Assistant business forms, tools and guides I offer at the Virtual Assistant Business Forms store.

I love hearing how they've learned something new or see things in a different light based on my teachings, as well as how they are implementing the information and tools in their practices.

I most especially love to hear how they've improved their businesses and processes and standards after investing in my offerings.

I recently received a lovely letter from Julie Barnes of Let's Coordinate LLC (fantastic work on the new site, Julie!):

"Good afternoon, Danielle... I wanted to thank you for the Client Consultation Process I purchased this week. I used it this morning during my consultation and it made the process so easy and less nerve-wracking. Thanks again!"

I received a wonderful review from Cheryl Harless of CH Enterprises Virtual Assistance Services (thank you, Cheryl!) on my latest guide, "Understanding Your Value: How to Craft Your Own Unique Value Proposition and Cash In on Value-Billing Methodologies:"

"If you are ready to work smarter instead of harder, this workbook is a must have!  Danielle has outdone herself with a wonderful, thought provoking, tutorial designed to make us really look closely at our business model and what we actually provide our customers. In Understanding Your Value: How to Craft Your Own Unique Value Proposition and Cash In on Value-Billing Methodologies, she encourages us to look beyond the current industry script, take the focus off of hours and dollars, and put it on what we really offer: value and results.

"Among other things, she teaches us the 3-step process of Fit, Focus, and Value – knowing who our clients are, the market they are in and then providing value-added services uniquely suited to these clients.

"This amazing guide is helping me to hone my own message and speak to my clients about the value I provide without having to account for every second. There isn’t a Virtual Assistant out there who enjoys tracking time, and this workbook teaches us how to get out of that nasty habit! I know I will use this tool over and over as my business grows and evolves!"

Denise Shears of Shears Virtual Advantage also sent me a lovely testimonial that she even blogged about:

"This book is awesome! It so totally changed the way I thought about what I do and how I present it that I went right to my website and reworded my entire payment page! I can't say enough about this book. I am printing it out and going to go through the steps Danielle suggests to get my mind, my business, in the right place to grow expoentially. I recommend this book for each and every Virtual Assistant out there, whether your business is just beginning or you're a seasoned veteran. You can't go wrong with it, and who knows, you may just learn a thing or two! :)"

Thanks, you guys! It really does my heart good to know my products and information are truly helping you and others. I'll take these kind of messages any day of the week, LOL!

Grateful Mondays: Vacations!

Since I'm on vacation through August 8, what better thing to be grateful for today than being able to take vacations!

This first week we are road-tripping... travelling over to the coast and just winding our way down wherever our curiosity leads us. We left first thing Friday morning and it's been so nice to get away.

We have a huge Suburban which is just perfect for traveling--it's like a little home away from home-and we've been sleeping in the truck at nights alongside the ocean. It's been delicious.

I did happen upon a realization that you might find useful. I'm not much of a planner when it comes to vacations and stuff. I prefer the spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment kind of getaways. And with my guy's old job, planning ahead for a vacation was not a luxury we had. They frequently had him on call and he could get called away at a moment's notice. I can't count the number of times we had plans dashed that way. We'd have to sneak away like thieves in the night sometimes just to prevent them from putting him on-call. I tell ya, I don't miss that one bit!!!

That said, a small bit of planning ahead is necessary when you have clients you take care of. A couple days off here and there, I don't worry about at all because I don't do any on-demand work for my clients that requires me to be in daily contact with them. But when I plan to be gone for a length of time, I let my clients know one to two weeks in advance.

The thing I just realized is that the last and first weeks of a month are great times to take off for vacations.  My payments are automatic so I don't have to worry about billing and so forth during the first week of the month. And taking the last week off leaves more than enough time in the previous three weeks of a month for clients to take advantage of their retainer plans.

I hope you all are having a lovely summertime and have taken vacations of your own or have plans for them!

Grateful Mondays: Getting a Shot of My Favorite Bird

My all-time favorite bird is the kingfisher. They are just the cutest things and so unique.

They look different. They act different. They are quirky and have a very distinctive sound. I just love'em!

But in all my years on the water, I have never been able to get a photo of them. My camera is never handy or they are gone by the time I get it in gear.

Well, I finally got a shot!

I was on one of my little hikes, walking from downtown to home along the waterfront. It was about 8pm and out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a familiar dervish and plunge (the kingfisher's distinctive diving-for-prey form). Lo and behold there were actually six of them all squawking and hunting and bothering each other!

Luckily, I had my camera in my day pack and whipped it out to catch some shots. Unfortunately, it was just starting to get dark and because I've taken the camera out on the kayak one too many times and gotten it wet, none of my other settings (like "nighttime," which would have come in very handy) works except for "sport." (Note to self: Have GOT to get a new, waterproof camera!)

So, I didn't have the best results and my quest continues. Below is the one that came out the best. Aren't they adorable?

Grateful Mondays: My Man is Home!

Some of my closer Virtual Assistant friends know that my beautiful, sweet, wonderful man has been away for a couple months. He's finally back home (got back Sunday) and I'm walking on air!

My guy is an adventurous type and his job for the past 10 years has been with an international outfit that machines and services the giant turbochargers on ships... all kinds of ships from cruise ships to the freighters that travel the oceans from continent to continent. They train these guys in Switzerland and there are only about 500 or 800 of them (can't remember which) in the world who do what my guy does (or did, rather).

They had a local shop and for the most part he worked there. But every so often, because this is such specialized work and there are only a relative handful of guys who do it, he would be sent to various exotic ports around the globe, places like Panama, Curacao, New Guinea, Pusan and Saipan to name a few off the top of my head. Generally, he might be gone for a week or two at the most on those jobs.

I've always had a love-hate relationship with his job. The money was extraordinarily good, but I didn't like it when he'd have too many back-to-back jobs where he had to be away from home constantly. It's just so disruptive. Sometimes I downright hated it, and I'd wish he did something else.

Well, be careful what you wish for! LOL

My guy retired from that job finally... but can he just relax and enjoy it? No, he ends up taking this offer with this corporate fishing company as an engineer. He'd been toying with the idea since last year and I've been saying "no way" from day one.

But he had to try it; he thought it was too good an opportunity to pass up and regret not having the experience. The way he figured it, the buttload of money was well worth the almost round-the-clock hours and balls-to-the-wall work and then he'd have two or three months off in between for us to travel and work on some of his own business ideas (he'd like to start up a kayaking guide business at some point).

But this time apart has been really hard on me. It's just too long.

For now, though, in this moment, I am so grateful and elated to have my love home again.

Grateful Mondays: 5-Day Weekends!

Whew! I'm settling down from a lovely, eventful five-day weekend of sorts which began last Thursday.

Every three years, the Tall Ships Festival comes around. I know in parts of the East Coast these sights are more commonplace, but around here it's a pretty big deal. I never thought it would be something I'd be too interested in (seems more of a guy thing), but that first year we had the festival, when I saw the first of the majestic fleet of restored ships of old sail into Commencement Bay... Wow! It was a very visceral reaction. They really are just so magnificent.

(This is a commercial pic of the Lady Washington, Washington State's official state tall ship. The building overlooking her is Stadium High School, the high school my daughter attended and more affectionately known as "The Castle.")

This year, I had planned to get out in the kayak and be among them when they first came in on Wednesday, but I wasn't able to get away without completely ignoring some important business priorities. So on Thursday, I went down to the festival to do a bit of shopping and check out some of the festivities.

Besides being able to board the ships for tours and a quick sail around the Bay, there are all kinds of food and vendor booths and live music and entertainment along the waterfront. What's also fun is there are clubs where people dress up and act like pirates--sort of like the Renaissance Faire folks. Pirate clubs from all over the state each had their own booths and the "pirates" walked around talking in pirate speak and had interactive demonstrations showing festival-goers how to do pirate-ish things. It was hoot!

Fourth of July was really fun. After doing some VACOC-related work in the morning, I got a little kayak ride in. With all the boats out there and the wakes they caused, I got more than a bit nervous and came back. Later, I got my day pack stocked (makeup for freshening up later--check; a bit of cash--check; mini-umbrella--check; ID and debit card--check; flip-flops--check), put on some layered clothing, as it was a bit overcast with a few sprinkles here and there, and walked all the way down to the waterfront where we have the Freedom Fair every year.

Oh man, I totally got my shopping on at the vendor booths. I found a lady from Equador selling these beautiful dresses and skirts and blankets and things. I bought two dresses, a skirt and some earrings. By that time, it had turned into another gorgeous, sunny day and I ended up being dressed far more warmly than necessary--so I just changed into one of my new dresses.

What a crack up--stripping almost nekkid at a festival with thousands of people milling around and nothing but a tapestry held up by the vendor lady to shield me from leering eyes, LOL! But it was so much cooler (and prettier) than what I'd had on and I got compliment after compliment all day long. What girl doesn't love that.

My favorite "shoe lady" was also there, I was excited to find. The owner, Lisa, is a nurse in Seattle who also designs shoes and sells them on the weekends at fairs, festivals and, most commonly, at Seattle's Fremont Sunday Market. She creates the designs and then takes a few trips to Bali each year to have them made and get new design inspirations.

I have several pairs of her designs made in suede with hand-card wooden heels. They are sooooo comfy and stylish. Anyway, she had the most fabulous green velvet "coach" type bag--one of a kind--that I snapped right up. I've so got to take a pic for you!

Can't wait for my next business networking event. I'm going to wear the black and white patterned skirt I bought from the Equador lady paired with a simple black sweater set and my new green bag! I swear, sometimes I think I go to these things just for the fashion fun.

So after getting my very important fashion shopping out of the way, LOL, I strolled around, had a little taco salad, sat on the beach, gazed at all the boats (boy, were there a few monster yachts out there!) and did some people-watching. Later, I scored a choice spot right on the boardwalk at one of the local eateries and had some appetizers and a couple beers while watching all the people walk by. Ran into lots of old friends I hadn't seen in many a moon.

Later in the evening, I slowly started making my return way back so that after the fireworks were over, I wouldn't have so far to go. There was live music all day long at just about every venue along the way so I would stop and hang out at each one for a bit.

I got to my favorite waterfront restaurant and they had a big stage set up with a couple blues bands playing, one of which was an old friend's band. I also ran into another friend (and former client) who acts and produces film and video these days; the City had hired his outfit to film the festival--pretty cool gig.

It was really fun hanging out at this spot. My daughter and her boyfriend had intended to meet me, but their real estate agent was throwing a bonfire party at his property and it was just too much trouble to get down where I was. But no worries... I met some cool, interesting people and we all chatted, grooved on the music and got beer-buzzed together, LOL. The fireworks were lovely and afterward everyone began the mass exodus for home.

On Saturday, I got a bit more VACOC work done in the morning. I was able to run several errands and get both a good bike ride and hike in.

Sunday, my daughter and I went to Tall Ships Festival together and did some eating, shopping and sight-seeing. Later, we sat in one of the beer gardens and listened to some sea chanties (horrible, horrible music, LOL). While we were there, a good friend of mine whose boat club was working the security detail called and invited my daughter and I out for a ride. It was so fun. We spent a couple hours out on the boat and I finally got the view of the tall ships from on the water I was after.

It was a lovely, filling, active weekend and I slept like a log!

Grateful Mondays: Yard Sales & The Beach

I absolutely LOVE to yard-sale. Every year, I can't wait for the season to begin, which generally starts around April or so.

There's something about the recycle/reuse philosophy that really appeals to me. Plus, I love the mystery and adventure--you never know what kind of treasures you'll find, and when you do make a true find, it's usually something very unique and original--nothing you'd ever find in your regular stores. At least, that's always what I'm on the lookout for.

We live in an affluent part of town and one famous street (homes here were used in filming When the Cradle Rocks and 10 Things I Hate About You, among others) held it's annual neighborhood yard sale event this weekend. Just about every house for about 10 blocks participates and you never know what you might find! A hand-carved sidetable from Italy for $30? A new computer for $150? Antiques from Europe and the Orient?

I found some neat baskets and decorative items, but my main score this weekend was this fabulous acrylic/paper collage mixed media artpiece--for $10!!! It's got the same colors used on this site here. The acrylic/paper colors are each in these block rectangular shapes going diagonally across the canvas. It reminds me a lot of the new Death Cab for Cutie album cover which I have been coveting--I even contacted the artist to see if the piece was available to buy or have something similar commissioned, but no such luck.

Anyway, this one will quite do until I find what I'm after. I'll upload a pic whenever I get around to it.

This weekend was a scorcher (close to the 90s) so after spending Saturday morning making my yard sale rounds, I could not wait to get back to the beach. I spent the rest of the day alternately lolling in the scorching sun and jumping in the freezing cold water to cool off.

Met up for dinner on the waterfront with friends, and did it all over again on Sunday, LOL.

Ah, life is good.

Nothing Personal

I know the social networking craze/fad is sweeping Internet-land, but I could not be more uninterested and nonplussed. I also could not be less interested in making a million "friends" with strangers.

Although I can be quite gregarious in the real world social scene, I'm also a bit of a loner by nature. I'm not the kind of person who needs that kind of external validation from strangers. I like my close circle of friends small--if I call you friend, it's because it's actually means something, not because I think linking to you can get me somewhere. (Gads, I wish someone would come up with a program to keep those types away from me!) I don't like things that are without substance and authenticity.

I do have Facebook, LinkedIn and Ryze business profiles set up and I've been playing with Twitter completely recreationally, but the novelty of those things wore off about a minute after completing the pages and forms.

I find much more purposeful, substantive, focused, meaningful, interesting and intelligent conversation, networking and interaction within the targeted blogs and forums that I follow. Not only is my participation there much better spent business-wise (I could not buy the quality of leads, referrals and word-of-mouth "advertising" I get through those activities), but I also come away with a real sense of soulful, intellectual nurturing. It adds to my life, mind and growth.

I don't have time or interest in jumping on every relentless, mindless bandwagon of online fads and gimmicks.

So if you are someone who has sent me pokes, nudges, requests, good karma, and all the what-not manner of doodads those platforms entail, please know that if I don't respond, it is absolutely nothing personal.

I'm just not there.

Petty Thieves

Hey, can I take your report, reword a few things and put my name on it and market it to my audience? Would that be okay with you? Or how about I copy everything on your site, just adding a few details of my own and changing around a few sentences?

Is that cool with you?

What is it with petty thieves? Do they think this kind of behavior is ethical? Honest? Are they so small, jealous and inconsequential that they have to steal someone else's expertise and pretend it's their own?

How do you feel about people who take other's articles and writings and repurpose them as their own? Are these greedy people who do this? Dishonest? Do they have any ethical boundaries? Mental problems?

What do you think about all this?