My Website

I have been working on my website, K4VirtualAssistant.  I think I have finally gotten it working properly.  Only time will tell.

Next, it is my intention to attempt to add this blog to my site.  Maybe that will work.  I will keep everyone posted about my attempts to do this.

Keep watching this site for updates.

Eight Positive Things About VAs

1. A VA is not an employee of your company.
   
2. VAs are small business owners themselves.
   
3. VAs are an integral part of your business.
   
4. VAs pride themselves on becoming a part of your company interested in helping your small business succeed. If you are successful, then your VA is successful.
   
5. VAs get to know you personally, want to know your customers and assist you in maintaining close contact with your customer base.
   
6. VAs perform Information Processing, Internet Research, Bill Paying services, Mail and Email services, Event Planning, and assist in making travel arrangements.
   
7. VAs perform every administrative job you can think of and they will even give you some suggestions about additional services they can perform that never occurred to you.
   
8. Your VA can organize your calendar, your papers, your life.
   
9. 
   

VA Training Program is NOT What it Seems

From a fellow VA, found here. I have to admit, I agree with her!

Well, I was going to take a nice, leisurely afternoon - visit my forums, do some posting, enjoy the serenity and peaceful day. WOW, was I mistaken!

I was on a VA forum (the VACOC) and I’ve just found out about a new “training” program designed to “help” the VA industry. Now look, I am all for training. I try to take teleseminars and marketing classes, I subscribe to newsletters and ezines, I belong to forums where I can learn and grow. But when I see promotion materials that show a woman with eight arms pouring coffee, typing, answering the phone, and so on (you get the picture) and the caption reads, “The Problem with Most Assistants, and Why It’s Not Their Fault,” I have to say I take offense. Here are just a few themes I found in this program that I feel demeans and demotes the VA industry:
#1 - I am not an employee - so why would you have one message to different industries with different ways of working and different thought patterns. I am not an employee nor am I an intern. I do not have bosses or employers. I am a business owner.

#2 - I am not embarrassed by a potential client asking if I can provide a service that I don’t provide. I cannot be “all things to all people” nor do I want to. When I am talking with a potential client, I explain the services I offer. If there’s not something I offer, I can give them names of VAs who do offer that service.

#3 - I don’t get “trained” by my clients (and that isn’t an offensive statement). When I partner with a client, they expect me to be well-versed in certain tasks. After all, that’s why we are working together - to take some of their burden so they can concentrate on growing their business. I know what I am doing or I don’t take on the task. If I see a need that many of my clients are looking for, and I feel it is an area I would enjoy providing, I take the initiative to search out training in that area. No one sends me to “school.”

#4 - The whole tone of this “training” program is condescending, not only to VAs, but to all administrative assistants. I have over 25 years of experience in administrative assistance, executive assistance, legal assistance, and now virtual assistance. I have trained, learned, worked hard and become an expert in my field. I find the wording in this training program to demean and debase what an assistant is and does. I am proud of what I’ve accomplished and am continuing to accomplish.

There is much more I could say, but - my point here is that I feel assistants, virtual and otherwise, have been done a huge injustice by this “university” program. I for one will not be a part of this.

I urge everyone to look carefully before you join any training program. There are many programs on the Internet that promise to make you an expert for a fee. Read carefully, be wary, be cautious. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is!

Beginning

This blog will attempt to explore my attempts become a money-making individual from the Internet. K4 Virtual Assistant was begun as an entity six months ago (March 2007) and so far has generated $0 in revenue. I have decided to take a more definitive approach and make this work.

My first step is, creating a website. Then, google adwords is the next approach. I haven't done that yet, but it is my next step.

More as things develop.

What is a VA Really Worth?

This blog is about my industry--a Virtual Assistant. I am not new to this profession, but I am new to being an independent contractor.

Have had a couple of people contact me recently and they want a VA for the same price they would spend to hire a girl right out of high school. I am a little shocked to hear that. I will not accept a job at minimum wage or a little above.

I told one potential client, "You are paying for experience and you are paying someone to show up on a regular basis. A professional VA will not be late, call out sick because their date with their boyfriend ran overlong, will not take off early just to go the beach, ignore deadlines. What you are paying for is a person who will do the job they are hired for and only charge you for the time they are working."

She replied, "But to pay you that much for something I can do myself..."

I told her, "Of course you can do it yourself, but hiring a VA will free up your time to do more important things, leaving the mundane administration work to your VA. You will have more time to run your business."

She said, "I can get a girl right out of high school to do my typing."

I responded with, "Yes, you can, but you don't get years of experience to go along with that girl. VAs do more than just type. We can handle just about all of your office needs, including answering the phone."

She replied with, "Good point." I still haven't convinced her to pay the extra money for a VA. We shall see.

New Findings from the SBA

I have recently found some interesting facts from the SBA regarding small businesses:

• Small businesses are 52 percent home-based and 2 percent franchises.
• Of the 23 million nonfarm businesses in 2002, women owned 6.5 million businesses. These firms generated $940.8 billion in revenues, employed 7.1 million workers and had $173.7 billion in payroll.