THe DO's and DON'Ts of working with a VA

This being my first post of 2010, I wanted to address some simple Do's and Don'ts. There are definitely exceptions to many of these. Some may seem obvious, some may even be funny but I wanted to share nonetheless some of my day to day encounters.

1. DO-Pay your VA - A VA is not a professional volunteer and normally spends much more time
than you contract for, supporting you. Don't let your VA be the last person that you pay.
2. DON'T-Disregard the amount of time that it takes to complete a project. (i.e. you may tell
your most annoying vendor to call your VA for a quick question but he/she ends up on a call
for an hour.) Who's paying for that call??
3. DON'T-Expect your VA to sit at their desk staring at their machine waiting for an email from
you. If you send me 40 emails today, don't keep asking me, "Did you get my email?" and
please do not resort to texting me to look at my email if I haven't replied within 2 minutes.
4. DO-Did I say, Pay your VA? There is nothing more annoying than a client that is demanding
and always in a rush but never pays their invoice on time.
5. DO-Learn to like and even love your clients. If you do not love your clients, you are in the
wrong business and your VA will spend the majority of his/her time covering for your bad
attitude. Don't forget the way that your VA has to interact with others on your behalf, also
affects the way potential clients view the VA. If you constantly cancel appointments, a
potential client who initially was impressed that you had a VA and considered hiring them will
begin to think that your VA has bad organizational skills. I recently spoke with someone that
had just hired a VA and they mentioned that they considered hiring me but that my client had
missed so many meetings with them that they assumed that I was not organized.
6. DON'T-Assume that all social networking sites that your VA is a part of belong to you. (i.e. if
your son/daughter is having a birthday party, even if your VA is assisting you with planning
it, don't assume or demand that your VA broadcast or post it on their facebook, etc. ) their
Friends or Followers after all, may not care about your event and you will cause an annoyance
for those that communicate with your VA.
7. DON'T-Ask me to lie for you. Enough said!!
8. DO- Be a person of integrity. Do what you say that you will do. Do not promote yourself as
something you are not and have your VA cover for you. See #7.
9. DO-Refer others. If your VA has done a good job, refer them to someone else. My main client
is always telling people about me and I greatly appreciate it and return the favor.
10. DON'T-Insult your VA by disregarding them as a professional because they might work from
home. Professionals that work from home are in some cases, even more disciplined and work
many more hours than those in a traditional office setting.
11. DO-Provide money for expenses. Other VA's that I have spoken with say that
we get burned the most on postage and Cell phone charges. Mailing out CD's and books cost
money and unless I give you permission to give out my cell phone number, please do not use
it as your alternate business phone number. Please provide for that or do it yourself.
12. DON'T- Be insulted if your VA of 12 years raises their rates. (Especially if you have raised
yours consistently each year. When I started out, my rates were $8.00 an hour, it's 20
years later, there is no way...)
13. DON'T-Expect your VA to be a mind reader. Give as much information on a project as
possible and be consistent. Don't change the process every week depending on how
your week is going.
14. DO- Be a person of great character. Do not hire your VA because you believe you can gain
inside information about one of their current clients. A good VA will not share their
information nor will they share yours. I have had quite a few prospects rap up an inquiry
call quickly when they ask about a current client and I share that they will not have access to
that clients e-lists or tips by hiring me.
15. DON'T-Waste your VA's time. If you are really not interested in that new MLM Sales pitch
that Mr. X has been calling you about, please don't make your VA call and listen to the pitch
knowing full well that you are not interested.
16. DON'T-Assume that your VA will attend all of your events or work at your office. VA means
Virtual Assistant. That means that a VA works, well...virtually. Offsite. That is one of the
major perks of being a VA. You no longer have to attend events and corporate functions.
Don't be disappointed if you decide to have a weekly meeting with one of your vendors and
your VA does not have it on their calendar to attend.
17. DO-Considered your VA an integral part of your team.
18. DO-Discuss any and all changes to working parameters, projects. Communicate often.
19. DON'T -Be afraid to use technology. VA's use technology. EMail is a best friend to a VA
20.DO-Appreciate your VA. Just remembering that as much as your VA loves you, your family
and your business, your VA is a business professional and should be treated as such.

OK, there might be a part II...stay tuned.

10 Signs You Might Need a Virtual Assistant

10 Signs You Might Need a Virtual Assistant

1. You’ve missed out on opportunities because you forgot to follow up or didn’t have time to submit a proposal.

2. You’ve sent out articles, proposals, or other important correspondence with spelling or grammatical errors.

3. You haven’t sent out your “monthly” newsletter in several months.

4. You often work evenings and/or weekends to stay on top of administrative tasks.

5. You have projects requiring skills and/or software that you don’t have.

6. You have lots of great ideas for your business, but no time to carry them out.

7. You haven’t updated your website in over a year.

8. You’ve been procrastinating about tasks on your to-do list for several weeks - or longer.

9. You’ve had to turn down opportunities because you couldn’t figure out when you would do the work.

10. You’d love to take your business to the next level - if you only had the time.

By AuthorJanet Barclay, MVA and owner of Organized Assistant . Another Great VA!

Publicity VA

Everyone is writing a book or beginning an entrepreneurial journey these days. A jump from the corporate world or a journey into publishing, while exciting, creates another set of problems. There is sometimes not enough time to complete all of the tasks necessary to complete the dream.

Many authors are working full time jobs and yet feel that God has mandated them to publish a book. Pam Perry, PR Guru, is well known as the authority on book publicity. The most successful of her clients have been through the PR Bootcamp Coaching.©

“Most people that contact Pam to assist are short on either budget or time. This is where I come in. Pam’s bootcamp will give you the perfect strategy to get your book “out there” and I can assist you in working that strategy.” says Hubbard.

The average full book campaign is $10,000.00 and 3 months of hard PR Work, although MMS offers full campaigns starting at $2,500 per month. “What people don’t realize is that it takes a full staff for a full campaign.” says Perry. “I have been coaching authors for years and the reason I decided to offer the boot camp was to share my years of knowledge to assist you in gaining the information.” This concept for authors is based on the theory of “if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” The goal of the bootcamp is to teach you everything you need to know to publish not only your first book, but those beyond. Once you have written your book is when the real work begins.

Ask anyone what the main issues holding them back in their publishing are and it is knowledge, money and time. Pam Perry of Ministry Marketing Solutions and Leah Hubbard of Wise Administrative Associates have teamed up to offer you real help in all of these areas.

Publicity Virtual Assistants are especially beneficial for those many first-time authors who are overwhelmed with the publishing process. By partnering with a Publicity Virtual Assistant, the stress of having to do it all while maintaining the rest of your live is drastically reduced and the author can rely on their PVA to take over and implement much of the publicity campaign. Virtual Assistants have revolutionized the way we work today.

Most businesses now count on their Virtual Assistant the same as they used to count on their secretaries, only so much more. Most businesses today can’t imagine where they would be without their VA.

As your Publishing Virtual Assistant, Leah Hubbard will help you to:
Spread the word about your book
Assist in getting your Press Releases to the media
Follow up on contacts Assist in arranging book signings
Mailings of marketing materials to various outlets
Calendar Coordination to keep you on top of appointments and interviews
Help you keep your sanity and keep your dream alive while you work

To contact Leah Hubbard, email her at waabiz@aol.com or via Pam Perry at info@MinistryMarketingSolutions.com.