General

Please Don’t Paint Us All With The Same Brush!

Because Virtual Assistants are a relatively new concept to many people with this industry being so young, there are a lot of challenges we face on a pretty regular basis. Let me share a story with you.

I attended a small tradeshow about a year ago which was sponsored by a local business women’s group. I was walking around doing the networking thing when I noticed there was a VA exhibiting. I thought that was very interesting because at that time, I thought I was the only Virtual Assistant in my province. I was looking at her booth waiting to chat with her and couldn’t help but overhear the conversation she was having with another booth visitor. I heard the lady ask her what she did and she went on to tell her that she was a Virtual Assistant.
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Posted by Karri on September 5, 2008 in All Topics, General | Comments closed

VAs and Training

It shouldn’t be up to you to train your VA. The VA you choose to work with should already be experienced in the work you want them to do. That’s one of the big benefits of partnering with a Virtual Assistant.

If you find someone great who hasn’t any experience in the services you need, if it’s specific to your business – a very specialized tool or service, you should expect to pay your VA for training.

If it’s a skill that’s generic that could benefit the VA’s business by being able to offer a new service to other clients, s/he will probably agree to train at no cost.
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Posted by Karri on August 22, 2008 in All Topics, General, Hiring Tips | Comments closed

Common Policies and Procedures of Virtual Assistants

There are a few key things to look out for when you initiate the process of working with a Virtual Assistant.

First of all, the VA should provide you with a contract or client agreement to sign before you start working together. This should outline his/her hours of operation, your rate, different policies and procedures which are put in place to protect both parties involved. Look at the agreement carefully and make note of payment terms, termination and non-compete clauses.

If your VA doesn’t send you an agreement that’s a bad sign!
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Posted by Karri on August 11, 2008 in All Topics, General, Hiring Tips | Comments closed

Understanding How a VA Operates

Most people who are searching for a VA have just heard of the industry and are overwhelmed when they find themselves faced with the task of hiring someone.

By understanding a few basics about Virtual Assistants, the entire process should be easier for you.

The first thing you should realize is that a Virtual Assistant is not an employee. You have to make that change in your brain from the get-go because it’s not something that comes naturally to many people and VAs often take a great deal of offense to being thought of and/or treated like an employee.
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Posted by Karri on August 4, 2008 in All Topics, General, Hiring Tips | Comments closed

What is a VA, anyway?

Because we have decided to build this blog to help educate potential clients of VAs on the ins and outs of working with a virtual professional, this seems a logical starting place.

What is a Virtual Assistant (VA)?

Perhaps you’ve heard about virtual assistants in the media, through an article or a press release. Maybe you heard about the industry from “Dr. Phil”, through the Reader’s Digest, or Entrepreneur magazine. Could be that you have a friend that has been making you jealous talking about how their own virtual assistant has improved their quality of life. It doesn’t really matter where you heard about VAs, we would like to tell you what a virtual assistant actually is.

We, at VAnetworking.com, like the following definition:

“A Virtual Assistant (VA) is a highly-trained independent entrepreneur who provides a myriad of business support services virtually via phone, fax and internet based technology to support and meet the growing needs of businesses worldwide.