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The virtual assistance industry is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing industries on the planet.  The reason?  It’s low cost and low barrier to entry.

However, this does end up opening up people to the possibility of making mistakes in their businesses.

Are you the type of person who:

• Leaps without planning or looking first
• Has always wanted to be your own boss but are unsure as to the starting point
• Would love to do things right the first time

If so, download this audio and PowerPoint where we’ll uncover:

• The mistake around skill building
• The mistake on niche marketing and choosing that elusive target market
• The costly mistake VAs make around certification
• The mistakes made around spending money on tools and web-related items
• The mistake around poor planning
• And more!

Simply register yourself below and you’ll be sent all of the details via email!

Yes!  Send Me the Audio Download & PowerPoint

Looking to start a virtual assistance business?

Check out the Build Your Virtual Assistance Business 2.0 LIVE Program we have starting on September 21.

Now, why exactly do you, as a Virtual Assistant, need to care? Let me lay it out for you in three big reasons.

1. Your potential clients will use it.

You are a virtual professional so it is distinctly important that you are knowledgeable and well-versed on the tools available that help you and your clients work virtually. If you are not up-to-date, another Virtual Assistant will be! And although some of your clients will not be familiar with Google Wave, it is also your responsibility to educate them on the available options to work efficiently with you.

2. You will be able to interact easily with clients like you are in the same office (and this time I mean it).

I know, we have a tendency to say that about a lot of computer applications that come along. We heard that about instant messaging, we heard that about project management tools, and we heard that about Skype. With Google Wave, there are no more endless strings of emails when you use it like a wiki. Also, you and your client will only need to interact using one platform (Google Wave). It becomes a powerful project management system because of its file-sharing ability. You will be able to communicate instantly with your clients (or refer to a record of your conversations) while working with documents or completing other projects.

3. You have to love the price – FREE.

Because Google Wave is open-source, this opens it up to any developers around the world that want to take part in creating Google Wave “Gadgets” and “Robots.” (Just like there are thousands of applications for Facebook and Twitter now.) There will no longer be a need for you or your clients to invest in expensive project management, file sharing or communication tools.

Sure, there are Google skeptics out there. They have concern about the confidentiality aspect to keeping your documents and records of your communication “in the clouds” (a technical term for storing things on the internet instead of your personal computer). But, given its early popularity and its comprehensive functionality, all signs point to the fact that this Wave is something that is coming straight for you, so you had better get ready!

So where else can you go for information? Sign up to be notified when Google Wave is ready. Ben Parr of Mashable.com has written Google Wave: A Complete Guide that is so far the comprehensive preview.

Angela Green is the editor of Virtual Assistant 3.0, the go-to resource for Virtual Assistants who want stay ahead of the pack by keeping up on the latest technology trends.

Be sure to grab your free copy of “5 tech tools you MUST have to serve your clients efficiently (and stay ahead of the VA pack!).”

She lives with her husband and three kiddos in Delano, Minnesota.

Technorati Tags: Google Wave, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Mashable, Skype, Ben Parr, Angela Green, Virtual Assistant 3.0, virtual assistant, VA, virtual assistance, the va coach, va coach, Erin Blaskie

The new website offers virtual assistants the opportunity to get amazing visibility and publicity via our advertising channels.  We have an extensive network on Facebook (5,000), Twitter (10,500+) and in many other social atmospheres PLUS an e-mail list of over 10,000.

The best advertising spots will go blazingly fast but you can see all of the options here:

http://www.thevadirectory.com/advertise-with-us/

Also, we’re going to be offering an affiliate program with this site so you can help us promote it at 30% commission rates.

http://www.thevadirectory.com/advertise-with-us/affilites/

Let us know what you think – your feedback is vital!  Also, grab an ad spot if you want to get great publicity and visibility for your business.

To your virtual assistance success,

Erin Blaskie
http://www.TheVADirectory.com

P.S. – We also have a new video up on our YouTube channel featuring a fight on Twitter between myself and Stephen Harper (Canada’s Prime Minister)…  Check it out here:

http://bit.ly/1ajKL

Since I know this is something a lot of people struggle with, here’s a blog post with a few ideas on how to help turn prospects into clients and income.

Marketing Funnel

Let’s start right here.  What does your current marketing funnel look like? If you haven’t thought about this at all, pop over to ErinBlaskie.com and download the free marketing funnel template there and FILL IT IN!

What you want to have here are the following things:

• Freebie: Something worthwhile, something that provides an immediate solution to a problem and something your target market actually wants / needs.  Do NOT just offer a newsletter as a freebie.  People don’t want more newsletters.  They want problems solved immediately and they want to see how you can help them.  See our “30 Days of Delegation” over at www.bsetc.ca.
• Free Consultation: Make this clearly indicated on your website and make it super easy for someone to book time with you.  Let people know that you’re happy to answer questions for them via telephone or e-mail. Another option is to answer FAQ’s in a welcome video or on a separate page of your site.
• Inexpensive Product: This could be an ebook or a special report but have something that people can buy to again, solve a problem they are faced with.
• A La Carte Service: Offer a few services that are inexpensive and allow people to “sample” your company and what it’s like to work with you.
• Hourly Packages: Offer the larger hourly packages to those clients who need on-going support.

If you don’t have this right now, you have HUGE gaps and are no doubt losing customers because of it.  People need to build up the “know, like and trust factor” before they’ll purchase from you so give them many options to see what you have to offer.

Look at Your Copy — Is It About You or Them?

Many people make the mistake of making their copy about themselves.  “Here’s my portfolio, here are my services, here are the things I can do, here’s what I’ve done, etc.”  Instead, focus it outward.  The word “you” is one of the most beautiful words in the English language and use it a lot!  For example, “You can expect to see a lighter workload on your shoulders and you’ll feel like you can actually take that much needed vacation.”

Scour through your copy right now and see where you are making it all about you.  (One indicator is… do you see a lot of I’s and we’s?)  Then, re-write it so it focuses entirely on the client.  The best thing to do is to sit down with a pen and paper and write out your ideal client.  Detail them as clearly as you can.  Then, write your copy as though you are talking about how what you do will benefit that person specifically.  This will target your writing right to that ideal client.

Are You Showcasing Your Abilities?

While you don’t want your copy to be all about you, you do want to still showcase what you’re capable of.  For example, are you using your social media status updates effectively?  Most people don’t.  Instead of writing about what you are eating for lunch, change up your status update to read:

• “Just finished putting together a custom WordPress site — my client loves it!”
• Or: “Just found an amazing resource for pulling together Request for Proposals, check it out!”
• Or: “Attending a teleseminar on Blogging Tips – I’ll take these back to my clients and help improve their blogs!”

These status updates actually tell people about what you DO as opposed to what you eat.  What do you think will bring in a client?

Marketing Activities — Many Roads or Only a Few?

Are you utilizing all of the available marketing tools or only a few of them?  If you are only using a few, you have limited ways for people to find you.  The more you reach out into different areas of your target market, the more new business you’ll attract.  Don’t swim in the same pool as everyone else.  Jump out and find a new pool full of fresh, clean prospects to reach out and touch.

Hopefully this list allows you to improve on anything you aren’t currently doing so you can turn more prospects into cash!  Comment back and let me know if anything works for you after you implement it or if you have other ideas!

Technorati Tags: Erin Blaskie, The VA Coach, virtual assistant, virtual assistants, virtual assistance, marketing activities, social networking, marketing funnel, turning prospects into clients, leverage, income, status updates, copywriting

Great, great, great question.

The answer to this question however needs to start with how I propose packages to my clients.

Billing Options for Virtual Assistants

When a client comes to BSETC looking for virtual assistance support, they have two options with my company as it relates to paying us for our services.

1. Pre-Paid Packages. With this option, they purchase a 5, 10 or 20 hour block of time (with discounted rates accordingly) and then those hours sit on an account for the client.  These hours roll over, month to month, until they are gone.  Then, the client replenishes their stock of hours.
2. Hourly. For those clients who do not know how much time they want or need, they go on an hourly rate which means I track the time spent on the project and invoice them accordingly twice per month.

Now, let me explain why I use the pre-paid package route and NOT a retainer.  I have never offered retainers in my business because I think that in many cases, they do not benefit your client.

Here’s why.

Let’s imagine that you walked into a tanning salon (I know, I know — leaving skin cancer and other morality issues out, this is just an example) and purchased an on-going plan for 5 hours in the tanning salon per month, at a cost of $100 per month, with ZERO option to roll over those unused tanning hours into the next month — regardless of what happens.  Then let’s say that you experience a super busy month yourself and you can not get into the tanning salon to use up your tanning hours.  The salon says, “Oh, sorry!  You’ve lost the time.”  $100 gone out the window.  How do you feel?

Ripped off would be my answer.

Now, I know there are going to be many, many virtual assistants who disagree with me and that’s okay.  I don’t run my business to please other virtual assistants (and you shouldn’t either!) but rather to service the client — the people who purchase the service and who need my flexibility.

Let’s now imagine for a moment the very same tanning salon who appreciates that life happens and stuff comes up.  They roll over your tanning appointments if you don’t use them all because they appreciate that some months, you’re going to want MORE tanning appointments AND since you’re getting amazing, flexible and supportive treatment, there’s a good chance you’ll share that adoration with your family and friends.

Which scenario sounds better to you?

I’ll tell you that in the five years I’ve been doing business as a virtual assistant, people still to this day breathe GIANT sighs of relief when I tell them that we maintain a completely flexible payment plan for them.  In fact, most people say, “Wow – that is awesome!  So many virtual assistants don’t and it’s nerve wracking to know whether I will have a specific amount of work every month for them or not.”  This is why entrepreneurs hire virtual assistants — to have flexible, on-going assistance that is also well versed in their business.

If you’re accepting money each and every month for “up to X number of hours” and your clients are not consistently using the hours — where is the money going that they paid you? I think that it’s unfair to receive money that you are not doing work for.  Instead, offer them a pre-paid package that they get to replenish as needed and they can keep their hours flexible with you.  I promise you, this will build longer term, more satisfied relationships with your clients.  Lastly, they won’t ever have to get to a point where they can’t afford you — instead, you’ll grow together as their business grows which is just an amazing feeling.

Agreements for Your Virtual Assistance Business

I’d love to know from the readers of this blog: do you draw up agreements or contracts with each and every single client?

I use my guidance system on this one.  If a client is only in need of five-ten hours per month, a contract is not required.  If the client needs a lot of support and we have two-three of our team members working on one client’s work and if I relied on that client for their income, a contract is then definitely drawn up.

I like to keep things really simple and while so many virtual assistants believe in doing up massive amounts of paperwork for each and every client, I prefer to use my guidance system, take payment before starting (this is the way I protect myself from not being paid) and then jump right in to actually make a difference in someone’s business.

I find it quicker and keeps the relationship open and mutually exciting.  Nothing is worse than getting bogged down in a lot of paperwork when the commitment from the client is not paperwork necessary.

Again, I’m going to have disagreements from those people who firmly believe that paperwork will protect them from all dangers and client wickedness.  I’ll tell you, I’ve been doing this for five years and have serviced well over 200 entrepreneurs and only twice did I wish I had a contract. Except, even in those cases, I knew that the move away from that particular client was the best thing possible (and karma takes care of the rest!).

I’ll also tell you that setting your business up with great protection is fabulous but overdoing it where it’s not necessary will just add formalities to a place where you could just be entering into a fabulous, high energy, exciting relationship with your client.

In Your Business

You have to trust your instincts and your guidance system.

Do what feels right for you.

If having mountains of paperwork and signing contracts, etc. makes you feel safer, then by all means do it.  I’m just stating what we’ve done and will continue to do because we’ve seen great success doing it this way.

The best part is this: the success we’ve seen is not self-indulgent success.  It’s success based on the way our clients feel, how we’ve set our business up to support them and when they walk away from us at the end of the day, they feel like they are getting WAY more value for their money spent.  None of that feels wrong to me at all.

(Photo Credits: cleebster on the money photo, photo david on the contract photo and picturejockey for the in your business photo.)

Technorati Tags: Erin Blaskie, The VA Coach, billing, contracts, agreements, virtual assistants, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, VA, value, proposition, money, earn

I started my business and successfully built it up over the course of six months.  Through this time, I continued to work a full-time job and deal with a three hour commute.  It was insanity.  Luckily, I learned some very valuable lessons about automation and scale that I can now share with you.

This never before offered course will teach you how to continue to build your VA business even while you are managing a job, a family or whatever other distractions you have in your life. I’ll share with you some proven tactics that will allow you to maintain your sanity while building a scalable and profitable business.

We’ll cover topics such as:

• How to use automation in all areas of the business to improve efficiency
• How to make it look like a big business that is in full-time operation even if you aren’t
• The best use of your time when you do get that luxury
• Ways you can scale out, outsource and use other tactics to free up your time
• Determining the best services to offer in the beginning or when you are really busy
• And more…

Join us for two classes on Tuesday, May 26 and Wednesday, May 27 for one hour each class where we’ll uncover the secrets of building your business while you still have “life” happening all around you.  This course is only $97 and will be recorded if you can not make it.

Register now and we’ll see you on the calls!

Technorati Tags: The VA Coach, virtual assistant coach, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, VA, virtual assistance coach, building a business, part-time business, time management, starting a virtual assistance business, starting a business part-time, Erin Blaskie

Question: What do you do when you’re asked to do something but you don’t know how to do one part of it? If I don’t know how to do something and what I’ve done in the past is I’ve turned down the job and I’d rather not do that if I can do 80 percent of it. What’s the best way of filling in the gaps when you need them fast? How do you find other great virtual assistants?

Answer: That’s a great question! What I’ve done in my business in the past , if there were things that I didn’t know how to do and I was asked to do them right away, I would say “yes” to everything and then I would figure it out once I said yes. That wasn’t always the most stress-free way to do things!

What I would do now is:

(A) Try to figure out how to do it yourself.

One of the things I find myself doing from time to time is using the Web to do some research to try and find forums or message boards where people were currently doing what it is that I needed to figure out how to do.  I would then see if, based on the knowledge given there, if it was something I could do myself.

If it was something that really went beyond my technical knowledge, I would share that with my client and say, “You know, I can do x, y and z. But I can’t necessarily do w.”  The client would then make the decision of giving me the extra time to figure out the part I didn’t know or to hire someone else onto the team who could do that particular task.

(B) Outsource it to someone who already knows.

In my business now, I’m quite fortunate that I have a team as well as a pretty wide database of people, so if there’s something that I can’t necessarily do, I am able now more quickly to find those people. If you get to a point where you’re being asked to do more things that you don’t know how to do, determine if you do want to outsource it.  If you do, this might be the perfect place to begin growing your team.

You’ll want to find people who fill the gap for you.  If you’re lacking in the blogging department or the website department, consider finding someone who can take over this area for you.  If you want to do more graphic work for example, find someone who can do that.  Most things that you may need in your VA business can be outsourced to other team members.  It just requires great planning and finding the right people.

Technorati Tags: Virtual assistant, virtual assistance, multi-VA, multi-VA practice, multi-VA team, virtual assistants, growing your team, outsourcing, delegating, Erin Blaskie, virtual assistant coach, virtual assistance coach, VA coach

As a virtual assistant coach, I spend a lot of time talking to new virtual assistants as well as virtual assistants who have been in the industry for a long time.  One thing that naturally comes up a lot is the subject of pricing.  For new virtual assistants, it’s a struggle to determine where is a good place to start and for industry veterans, it’s an issue around pricing their services too high.

My rule of thumb is this.  Do your research and ask some questions.  Take a look at other virtual assistant websites and see what they are charging for their services.  If a VA that has a similar skill set to you is charging $25/hour (let’s say that’s primarily administratively based) and you’re charging $75/hour, you may want to rethink your rate.  Here’s why…

If you price your services super high, you will instantly need to deliver to that level.  All of your potential clients (or at least most) will be doing their research and due diligence before coming to you for your services.  If you’re priced high, they will have very high expectations.  If you don’t deliver to those expectations, you may experience high turnover rate where your clients are concerned.

So, go with a happy medium.  Determine what feels good for you and what the industry standard / average seems to be for your skill set and then price your own services accordingly.  Again, do your research and see what other people are charging.  If they are super busy in their practice, it probably means they’ve found a sweet spot in terms of pricing.

What are your thoughts around pricing?  Any advice for VAs out there when first starting out?

Technorati Tags: Virtual assistant, virtual assistance, VA, VA Coach, The VA Coach, virtual assistant coach, virtual assistance coach, Erin Blaskie, BSETC, virtual assistant rate, virtual assistant rates, pricing strategies

That’s the one statement that started off this blog post.  I was thinking the other day about pricing and branding and how we turn ourselves into exactly what we decide we want to.  What I mean by that is that your pricing strategies, your branding strategies, etc. define you in a simple yet powerful statement.

My statement is the first line…  I’m not a Wal-Mart, I’m a Holt Renfrew.  Now, let me explain what I mean by that.  The first part about not being a Wal-Mart means that I am not setup in such a way to cater to everyone’s needs.  I’m also not here to serve the masses.  Instead, I run my business selectively.  I price my services so that only serious entrepreneurs will move forward with our company.  For me, serious entrepreneurs means that we’re going to get focused on the core issues around delegation and why they need a VA more quickly.

Setting yourself up to serve the masses may be appealing because that might lead you to think that you are going to get more customers.  While this might be true, can you truly serve that many people in a service-based business (trading time for money) and do it effectively?  That answer may be no.  If it is, consider setting yourself up to serve fewer people in a more niched format.  You could do this via pricing, you could do this in terms of what services you are going to provide or you could target one particular industry or a subset of people.

Now, let’s examine the second part.  I’m a Holt Renfrew.  For those of you who are not Canadian, Holt Renfrew is the equivalent in most cases as Barney’s or Saks Fifth Avenue.  It’s the department store for the elite and the wealthy.  They have limited product, high price tags and pride themselves on over-the-top customer service and overall customer experience.  When I was thinking about the differences, this is where I wanted to fit into.

So, I’m making it my goal to make my company the equivalent to a Holt Renfrew and I’m going to work really hard at upholding these standards in my business.  Catering to fewer people means that I’ll have less stress and be able to do a super stellar job for those people who become our clients.

What’s your business motto?  Do you have one and if not, create one!  Think about what you want in your business and what you want in terms of a lifestyle.  Decide what is most important and write it down!

Technorati Tags: Virtual assistant, virtual assistants, virtual assistance, VA, VA Coach, virtual assistant coach, virtual assistance coach, Erin Blaskie, BSETC, Wal-Mart, Walmart, Holt Renfrew, marketing, business, branding, pricing, pricing strategies, marketing strategies, motto, business motto

(I want to preface this blog post by saying that this entry today is not to put fuel to any fires, it’s not to stir anything up or to be a general trouble-maker but rather to really start an open conversation about the virtual assistance industry and where we’re headed into the future.)

As most of you know, I teach and coach virtual assistants on building businesses, taking those businesses to six-figures and creating multi-VA practices. I take immense pride in what I do and couldn’t imagine not having the opportunity to encourage and inspire others.

On one of my last mastermind sessions, I was asked about the virtual assistant industry survey that is put out by the Virtual Assistant Chamber of Commerce. The issue was raised that the survey was really, really long IF you answered the first page of questions “correct” but really, really short if you didn’t. There was concern that the survey, which calls itself “the largest, most comprehensive, in-depth and representative survey in the industry”, automatically excludes people right away if you don’t meet certain requirements.

It got me thinking… what are the requirements? One of them was that you couldn’t be a multi-VA team and still be a virtual assistant. Another was that you couldn’t provide additional services outside of administration and still be a virtual assistant. There were other things too which I can’t think of right now because I failed out on the first two strikes.

So, does this mean that all of this time my business (four years, fourteen plus hour days, blood, sweat and tears) has been a lie? I don’t think so. Instead, I think that we need to realize (and come to terms with) the fact that we are such a new industry that we can’t define or box in what constitutes a traditional virtual assistant practice yet. We are ever-changing and we’re growing in leaps and bounds.

Instead, I think we should be opening up these surveys and forums to ALL virtual assistants regardless of whether they have a team or provide some web design services on the side. I don’t believe in discrimination or exclusion – we are all working TOGETHER to create an industry that can be proud of what we stand for and proud of evolution. Otherwise, there is no way that the words “comprehensive” or “representative” or “in-depth” can be used. Instead, it should be defined as the survey that only includes insight from a very small subset of virtual assistants.

I’m not trying to be catty here but I really get fired up when we encounter people, organizations, etc. trying to box in something that has the ability to be so wide open. Part of what I do in my daily business is I try to inspire people to reach beyond their abilities, beyond their dreams and beyond anything they ever thought possible. I wish others did too.

I wish I could have participated in the survey for my industry but I can’t. I don’t fit the requirements and to be quite honest, I’m happy that I don’t. It means that at least what I am doing is trail blazing a new path for people who prefer to live out their dreams and reach for the stars – requirement free.

Technorati Tags: BSETC, Erin Blaskie, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, VACOC, Virtual Assistant Chamber of Commerce, VA Industry Survey, Virtual Assistant Industry Survey, VA, VA Survey, Business Services ETC