If you’re a virtual assistant who has come to view Clerical Advantage as a favorite resource site for the industry, you may have been a bit baffled lately.  On Black Friday, not only did the VA Survival Guide become unavailable for purchase, the VA Survival section of the blog was inaccessible as well.  What the heck?!

It’s not because I’m abandoning virtual assistants in search of help running their businesses. On the contrary, it’s because I wanted to focus a bit more on helping them.  As I’ve mentioned here before, I’m currently preparing for the launch of what I believe will be one of the most comprehensive and flexible training opportunities for virtual assistants anywhere.  So it just made sense that rather than continue to post virtual assistant survival tips on my business tips blog here, that I would move that aspect of the blog to Virtual Assistant Survival School.

So that’s what’s been done.  Right now there are just a few reprints of some of the most popular posts for virtual assistants from this blog, but you can expect lots of great new information to be popping up there on a regular basis.  And of course, Virtual Assistant Survival School with it’s learning courses and modules will be launching soon as well.

(Psst…interested in starting a business as a virtual assistant? There’s a special offer at the bottom of this post. If you’re the impatient sort you can click here.)

Do a search for ‘how to become a virtual assistant‘ and you’ll get a slew of information provided by a variety of sources from Entrepreneur .com to some obviously uninformed authors who are looking to increase traffic to their website by using a popular search term.  In fact, the search I did for this post 10 minutes ago returned over 5 million hits.  Sounds like an abundance of information available at your fingertips doesn’t it?

Sure.  That is if you want to spend thousands of hours sifting through tons of inaccurate information and just plain nonsense.  Oh and don’t forget, if you’re doing the search in the first place you most likely don’t know what is valid information and what’s not.  You could spend all of those hours only to find yourself  more confused that you were before you started reading.  Trust me, I know.

I hear from wanna-be, new and struggling virtual assistants and virtual paralegals every week wondering how in the world I built a successful business.

I started out like many of the rest of you, with perhaps two major exceptions.  One, I was unemployed and desperate.  And two, I had some experience running my own craft based business way back in the dark ages; otherwise known as my twenties.   The desperation gave me the motivation I needed to do the trial and error thing over and over and over again.  If something didn’t work, I had no choice but to try something else.  The craft business experience gave me a tiny bit of business owner knowledge of things like business structure, licensing and registration that I wouldn’t have had a clue about otherwise.  Truthfully, the desperation was a bigger benefit, but those two items are the only things I may have started out with that other virtual assistant wanna-bes  might not have the benefit of.

So how did I build a successful business?  And how do I keep it going and growing?  All of that trial and error.  4 years worth in fact.  And over those four years I’ve combined those hard knocks lessons, prior business experience, knowledge gained from several certificate courses ranging from writing to office procedures and my geek girl love and knowledge of technology to boil it all down to some tried and true strategies.

I’ve been successfully sharing my strategy for success with coaching clients for awhile now.  Every time I get an excited e-mail from one of them telling me how much their business is growing and how much smoother it’s running it makes me smile.  Big.

I like smiling.  So I wrote the VA Survival Guide to share some of my coaching strategies.  I started getting more e-mail from people who bought it which made me smile big more often.  Then someone told me I was being stingy. What?!?   I was only sharing a small part of what I taught my coaching clients in the eBook.  Umm, yeah, because putting everything into an eBook would make it overwhelming.  How many of us never read War & Peace because of its size right?  I didn’t mean to be stingy.  Honest.

That didn’t keep me from dwelling on the thought that I really did have a lot of information that could help  a lot of people that I wasn’t sharing .  It wiped the smile right off my face.  I knew then it was time to find a way to get the information out there.  It was time for Virtual Assistant Survival School.

Right now I’m working hard to get all of those great strategies that have worked for my business, the businesses of coaching clients and VA Survival Guide readers ready for launch.  It will include information for starting a virtual professional business, actually doing business successfully and branching out beyond your scope of services.   Awesome right?  Want to know something even more awesome?  I’ve worked really hard to make sure you can get access to the information you need to become successful.

That means that you have a bunch of options when it comes to enrollment.  If you’re just starting out and you want all of the information you can enroll for the entire program.  Already past the start up phase?  You can enroll  in just the course or courses that apply.  Don’t really need an entire course?  Enroll in just the modules you want.

That’s flexibility that you’re not going to get just anywhere.

And speaking of flexibility, each module gives you options of how you want your information presented to you.  Video, audio and eBooks are included in every learning module.

This isn’t a membership program, once you’ve enrolled that material is available to you. Period.  Plus there will be special events like interviews with some of my super hero  mentors and informational webinars and seminars on subjects to help you boost your business.   Not to mention the Bonus Modules, additional courses on subjects like building your virtual professional website.

And it will all be launching very soon.  (Don’t want to miss the launch? Click Here.)  Excited yet? 

Do you have questions about Virtual Assistant Survival School?  Do you have something you really want to learn about?  Ask questions and find out if your request for info could be turned into a module by commenting below.

As if there wasn’t enough confusion out there regarding virtual assistants, along comes the iPhone 4S.  The S, I’m guessing, stands for Apple’s version of a virtual assistant and ‘her’ name is Siri.  Articles and blog posts have been singing her praises, absolutely amazed at the way she answers their questions and requests.  I suppose some virtual assistants might  be irritated.  After all, we’ve spent a lot of time trying to distinguish ourselves as high level professional administrative support and now a scrap of artificial intelligence gets added to an iPhone and appears to muddle the issue once again.

Or not.  I think it’s a chance to set ourselves apart even further.  

Siri is artificial intelligence and as such is limited by both the questions asked of her and the answers her developers programmed into her.  As  helpful as she may be  and as witty as some of her responses may appear, she can’t think for herself.  Nor does she possess creativity and initiative.  There are just some things that you’re never going to get from a programmed piece of software that you get from a living, breathing, thinking human being.

While Siri may return the three closest locksmiths to you when you’ve locked yourself out, she isn’t going to call them for you, explain your situation, get price quotes and send the best deal to your door.  She may give you directions to the hotel you’re booked at, but she isn’t going to be able to call the hotel  and set up the shuttle service to pick you up at the airport when your flight arrives.

Siri holds no loyalty to you or your business.  Or anyone else’s for that matter.  She’s simply not real.

Although I don’t have Siri, or even an iPhone, I’m pretty sure she’s not capable of pulling your PowerPoint presentation together.   Blog assistance, e-book creation and website creation aren’t on her list of services either.   Sometimes as fallible as we humans can be, the human touch is just what we need most.

Rather than  be irritated by Siri, I’m embracing her.  She’s giving me a great way to set myself apart.  You see, when a potential client mentions her in the same breath as me and my services I have the perfect response.

“No, I’m not Siri.  I’m so much better than that.”

P.S. As of this writing Siri is still considered beta.  I’m not.

Have you ever wondered if you could start your own virtual assistant business?

Or maybe you’re just curious about what type of requirements or skills are required to be one.  I know it’s one of the top ten questions I see hit my e-mail inbox on a regular basis.

Which made me think.  Maybe I should take the information I’ve been sharing with a few via e-mail and turn it into a class?  So I did!

The Do You Have What It Takes?  Webinar is scheduled for September 28th, 2011 at 2 PM ET. And guess what?  It’s FREE!

I opened registration for this webinar on the Facebook Page and I’m already seeing it fill up fast, so don’t wait to register, as ‘seating’ is limited. (Psst…. people that follow the Facebook Page always find out about new events and latest happenings first. In fact, I’ll be answering questions  related to the webinar there directly after the presentation so be sure you’ve ‘Liked’ us!)

What if you can’t make the 2PM ET event and you’re really disappointed?

I thought about you.  I’ll be recording the event and sending a link to everyone that registers for the webinar a day or so later.  But you have to register to have the link sent to you.  That means if  you want the recording but can’t attend the webinar next Wednesday REGISTER anyway to get the recording.

Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Virtual Assistant Webinar

Presented by Tina Marie Hilton

Wednesday September 28, 2011

2 PM US Eastern Time

With a question and answer session on the Clerical Advantage Facebook Page directly after the webinar!

*Everyone registered for the event will get access to a recording of the webinar

Don’t miss your chance to learn more about just what it takes to be a Virtual Assistant.

I bet you thought you’d missed out on the Finding & Claiming Your Value Webinar. Surprise!  As I mentioned in my post earlier today, I just returned from two weeks in Maine due to a death in my family, 7 days of which I didn’t do anything business related at all.  Needless to say, it has jammed up my schedule a bit.

Because of that, the webinar has been rescheduled (I know, I know….again!) to give me a little time to catch up.  The webinar will now be held on August 10^th at 1pm ET.  This webinar is for you if:

• You’re a virtual service provider of any type (virtual assistants, virtual paralegals or anyone who provides services from their own home office utilizing technology to get the job done!)
• You’ve got clients but still can’t seem to make a decent profit
• You’re just starting out and have no clue about what to charge
• You’re working too many hours for clients and can’t seem to find time to market your own business.
• You’re struggling, discouraged and ready to throw in the towel on your virtual biz because you’re just not making money.
• You’re providing high level services at low-level prices because clients and potential clients balk when you quote higher rates.

Vicki Voisin (the Paralegal Mentor!) and I will be showing you all the things you need to take into consideration when setting your rates (newsflash it’s not just how much you want to make!) and how to assure clients that they are getting a high level of value no matter what your rates are. The 90 minute webinar will consist of a presentation and a chance to ask Vicki and I questions.  In reality, this is actually a high level virtual business class that could cost $150 to $700 in a traditional classroom setting. It’s a steal at the low price Vicki and I are offering it to you.

Don’t miss your chance to make a difference in your business. Attend our webinar and start charging what you’re worth!

You’ve worked hard to start your business.  You’ve struggled to find clients and get your business to grow.  You’ve worked hard to get where you are.  So why are you content to stop there?

Lots of small business owners lose sight of the business ‘forest’ due to all the trees.  And by trees I mean the actual day in, day out activities that it takes to run your business and provide services to your clients. And you’re so busy focusing on these ‘trees’ that you effectively stunt the growth of your own business.

Sure, you mean to learn that new software, take that business class or re-evaluate your pricing structure, but you’re just so busy taking care of your clients’ needs that you haven’t found the time.  Because after all, you rely on those clients to pay the bills, right?  It ends up becoming a vicious circle. And your business remains stuck in that place where you’re one client away from business failure while the ‘trees’ keep you too busy to see the business forest before you.

This is when you need another perspective.  You need the insight of a person who isn’t blinded by your trees that can show you the path through them to the forest. You can call it business coaching, consulting, tutoring or mentoring; it all helps you accomplish the same thing.  Growing your business.

As someone who always found ways to improve the productivity of my former positions in my career by doing things like building databases,  automating processes and creating templates, it was only natural that same ability to see ways to improve how things were being done would eventually impact my own business.   But because I was deep in my own ‘trees’ I didn’t recognize it. It wasn’t until I asked for help from a mentor of my own that they pointed out the fact that I was actually ‘coaching’ all of those virtual professionals contacting me.  And then they laid out a way that I could add coaching and tutoring to my services.
I was still skeptical.  But I trusted my mentor and what they could see that I could not.  It wasn’t until one of my coaching clients contacted me, explaining that I had given them the confidence to quote the $65 an hour rate we had determined for their services to a potential client, who proceeded to sign with them with no mention of the cost.   That was followed by other clients giving me updates about how their businesses were running smoother and growing faster because they were now aware of the ways they could improve the way they were doing things.  My mentor was right.

I’d bet you’re a lot like I was.  I guarantee you there are things you could be doing differently in your business that would help it grow, help you find more clients and/or get paid what you’re really worth.  I also know that one of the first excuses you’re going to make is that you can’t afford a coach/consultant/tutor/mentor.  But the truth of the matter may be that you can’t afford not to find one.

I’ve teamed up with Vicki Voisin; the Paralegal Mentor for a low-cost 90-minute webinar for virtual professionals working within the legal field.  Virtual paralegals, virtual legal assistants and others providing services virtually to attorneys We’re Listening!  Now all virtual professionals can get the benefit of my coaching on Finding & Claiming Your Value and learn how to determine and charge what you are really worth.  (You get an hour and a half of my best advice about setting and presenting your rates for less than it would cost you for 20 minutes of my coaching. This is the same advice that led my client to claim her $65 per hour rate and get it!)

But don’t procrastinate or let those ‘trees’ get in the way.  The webinar is tomorrow;  Wednesday, June 22 at 1pm so **Vicki and I postponed our webinar so that we could include all virtual professionals. The additional time will allow us to adjust the content of the class to address all virtual professionals from generalist Virtual Assistant to Virtual Paralegals! sign up today to attend the class on Wednesday, July 13th, 2011.

Take a step toward finding your business forest.

How important is your website to your service provider business? Amazingly I still see some ‘so-called’ experts telling people it’s not all that important. In the recent past I’ve overheard at least two conversations in which the expert told the new business owner to ‘just get a free website or Facebook page‘. If I hadn’t been in a public place I probably would have screamed “Noooooo”, much like Obi-wan Kenobi when his mentor Qui-Gon Jinn was struck down by Darth Maul.

Your website matters. A lot.  Want proof?  Keep reading.

A friend in my legal network contacted me today looking for virtual paralegal services. I’ve made it policy to try to find reliable virtual assistants and paralegals that I can pass along when I don’t provide the services needed.  That was the case today. I gave a couple of names that are always at the top of my list but the individual was looking for someone more local. So I went looking for one of my virtual colleagues that would fit the bill.

The first one I came across was eliminated because of their website.  Landing on their home page I was greeted with the same tired,overused business stock images and lackluster copy that my brain translated into ‘blah, blah, blah’ two sentences in. Not to mention the fact that their title simply read “Home Page”.

Then there was the fact that their copy ran off the white ‘text space’ into the colored background below, which would have made it hard to read if I hadn’t already lost interest. Scrolling down I had my ‘a-ha!’ moment…there it was the infamous ‘Website Tonight’ logo. I should have known, since it had that outdated, cookie cutter look to it.

I then proceeded with my search and landed on many more sites that were all so generic I didn’t even bother reading the text on the pages. The majority of them had no pictures of the virtual paralegal/assistant,  just stale stock images. And lots of them had that ‘free website’ look to them like the one below. I didn’t even have to scroll to the bottom of the page to see the telltale logo.

Then there were the names that kept popping up as a virtual paralegal in the location I needed,  but try as I might, I couldn’t find their website to learn more. Chances are, they didn’t even have one. Something that is incomprehensible in 2011.

With Google failing me, I decided to look a little deeper by visiting the forums. where I was shocked at the number of virtual paralegals and virtual legal assistants that either don’t have a website at all or don’t have it listed in their signature line on the virtual assistant forums. And going through the directories?  I clicked on website links that led me to pages like the ones below rather than business websites.

After my search I came to the conclusion that there are very few virtual assistants and virtual paralegals out there that I’d feel comfortable recommending based on their websites.  Of the 50 websites I visited today, only 4 of them left me feeling like the owner was a true professional that knew what they were doing and could provide the level of services they were advertising.

That’s 46 of you that failed miserably.

Think I’m being too tough?  Trust me, as a virtual service provider myself I’m a lot more understanding than someone that is thinking of spending money on your services. I don’t care who is telling you that your online presence and website isn’t that important, I’m telling you it’s crucial.

Your website is the single most important marketing item for your business.

So why are so many of you are putting the focus on building something free and easy  instead of showcasing your professionalism? I realize that not everyone is a geek that can build their own professional business site. If that’s the case, show how serious you are about your business and invest in having someone build it for you.

Because your website is that important.

2010 could very well be called the year of social media. With over 500 million users on Facebook and over 100 million users on Twitter, smart businesses realized that it’s far from a fad that will fade. On the countrary, social media and mobile applications (or apps) are obviously on the rise.

Don’t believe me? Check out this infographic at digitalsurgeons.com.

However as more and more people log on to these social media giants, it’s not good enough to simply have a presence. As with any ‘marketing’ strategy, you should always have some sort of plan. Some plans work better with social media than others.

What doesn’t work:

Message overload: Old school snail mail marketing gurus will tell you that it takes ‘being seen’ between 3 and 7 times before someone will act on your mailing or advertisement. Many businesses are applying this to social media by sending out repetitive updates. Newsflash: It’s a whole new marketing environment out there and no one wants to be spammed with the same old marketing message a dozen, or even a half dozen times.

Just being there: Simply being able to say your business has a Twitter account or Facebook Page does not equal social media marketing. In the same way, just having a static website doesn’t work either.  And if your blog hasn’t been updated for months it may be doing more harm than good.  It’s not good enough just to show up for the social media ball, one needs to dance.

Automation: While I do believe there is a use for automated tweets and updates, it is extremely limited. Automating the majority of your social media posts is sort of like sending your followers to voicemail. And although voicemail is fine on occasion, if people never get to interact with the real you they are going to give up on interacting with you at all. It may seem to make social media easier to manage, but it can actually kill all of the benefits.

What does work:

Connecting with people: Look at your blog, Twitter and Facebook as starting and having continued conversations with your audience or market. And I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember the last time I gave an overt sales pitch in a face to face conversation. Just sayin’.

Being authentic: Sure, we want to be thought of as a professional businessperson, but that doesn’t mean we have to be cold and impersonal. Let your personality shine through. People want to get to know you, so let them. Just make sure you don’t cross the line with the personal information.

Sharing: Are you using an awesome invoicing tool or did you read a blog post that rocked your world? Share it with your audience/followers. If you’ve learned something useful, gotten a great deal or have an awesome tip chances are one of your followers or a member of your audience will benefit from it too.

I can’t count the number of people that have told me they tried social media and it didn’t work for them or that they don’t seriously believe it has value for their businesses. I think those people are closing their eyes to the future of business marketing and client/customer relations. People used to say that the Internet was a fad too.

If you let 2010 pass you by without getting your business involved in social media then maybe it should be on the top of your resolutions for 2011

Starting your own virtual assistant business requires more than just a desire to make money working from home.  Ask yourself the following questions and answer honestly.

Too many individuals look at becoming a VA as a way to make easy money from home, but the truth is, running your own business is anything but easy.  Your honest answers to these questions will give you a clearer idea of what it takes to become and succeed as a virtual assistant.

• Do I work well independently without the need to be told what to do or when to do it?
• Am I able to get along well with all different types of personalities, even those that many people find difficult?
• How good am I at making decisions?
• Do I have the stamina to put in the long hours and days required to run my own business?
• Am I good at planning and organizing?
• Do I have the motivation to keep going even when the responsibility of running my own business becomes difficult and stressful?
• Am I capable of the self control needed to set and meet deadlines without supervision?
• Can I remain focused and able to resist distractions?
• Do I have a good support system?
• Do I have adequate professional office experience?
• Do I have the technical expertise required?
• Am I able to market myself and my services?
• Can I handle sitting at a computer all day?
• Do I enjoy working alone?

The importance of your answers to these questions can’t be understated.  As a business owner you and only you will be responsible for all aspects of the business.  You’ll not only be providing  your clients with VA services, but you’ll also be responsible for bookkeeping, invoicing, marketing and all of the other aspects of keeping a business running and making it a success.

You might think that because you’re virtual, getting along with people isn’t as important, but remember, clients come with different personalities and so do people you network with.  Making major decisions regarding your business, as well as the way you complete client work will be something you do daily. You’ll put in more hours than you ever imagined, and need to be more organized than you ever thought.

You’ll be surprised at how much more distraction is present when working from a home office, so it will be important to be able to shut out the things around you and focus on business. You’ll need to know how to set and stick to deadlines without someone prodding you to get the work completed.

The need for adequate professional office experience can’t be emphasized enough; there are some things, such as professionalism, that can only be learned through the proper experience.  To be considered professional office experience you should have been at the very least an administrative assistant with certain amount of responsibility within the office.  This means you would have been required to make decisions and perhaps supervised others.

If you have answered the above questions honestly and still feel confident that becoming a virtual assistant is for you, you can now move forward knowing that you’ve truly put some thought into what it takes to run your own business.

For those of you who made it through the list and are convinced that virtual assistance is the career choice for you head over to the Clerical Advantage Facebook Page and grab the freebies available by simply clicking the Like button on the page.  And if you’re serious about starting a virtual assistant business the VA Survival Guide gives you the sort of start up and day to day helps for running your business that can mean the difference between success and failure of your business. And keep up on helpful business tips for VA’s by subscribing to the VA Survival Tips newsletter.

Download the .pdf  handout version of this post, which has a fill-able checklist and section for notes and questions.

I love being a virtual assistant. I love educating others about virtual assistance. And I love helping new virtual assistants get started.  With that said, I also believe that if you’re thinking about becoming a virtual assistant there are some things that you shouldn’t need to be taught.

The whole concept of a virtual assistant is that clients are hiring someone who is technology savvy. After all, we rely on said technology to do our jobs right? Yet more and more I’m being contacted by new VA’s asking for help with things that I feel they should already know or at least be aware of.

1.      You should know how to do a comprehensive search with a search engine.

2.      You should be aware of Word templates[1] and how to use them.  This is office administration 101.

3.      You should know about online calendars, online file sharing and other ‘cloud’ services.  Asking me which services I might recommend is good, asking me what they are after you’ve told a client you’d be using them? Fail.

4.      You should never take on client work that you don’t know how to do.  It seems like common sense but I’m amazed at the times I’ve had someone say “I told my new client I’d have this project ready next Monday.  How do I do it?”

5.      You should understand what your clients are requesting you to do without asking someone else’s opinion.  Yes, I’ve actually been contacted by virtual assistants who ask me, “My client said he wanted me to do such & such.  What do they mean?”

6.      You should be able to register, log-in and use the information available to you on virtual assistant forums.  I’ve given out the addresses to two of the best forums dedicated to helping virtual assistants many times and you’d be surprised at the number of people that contact me and tell me they ‘couldn’t get on’ them and could I just give them the information they need.  What does that mean?  To me it means that you either don’t have the technological know-how to register and login in to a forum or you didn’t take the time to check out information I freely gave to you.

7.      Other virtual assistants (like me) are generally willing to help in any way that they can, however, don’t expect them to do your work for you.  Most of us are running businesses ourselves.  We make the time to try to help you because we believe in helping others and we probably had someone help us along the way a time or two.  We know how overwhelming being a new VA is, because we’ve experienced it.  There is nothing quite like having someone who has been there as a mentor.  Yet there is a line that is drawn between helping and doing.  Sure, contact me and ask me if I know where you can find a template for something. I’ll give you a few places to look and if I have one I’ll most likely send it to you.  E-mail me back telling me that your client is in a different niche than the template and could I change the wording to reflect that?  That’s doing your work for you.

With that final point I’d like to give a bit of additional information.

I often end up referring many of the new virtual assistants that have asked for my help on certain items. Yet there have been a few that I would never refer.  What is the deciding factor between the two groups of help seekers?

• Professionalism.  My clients and clients that are referred to me have come to expect a high level of professionalism.  If I don’t sense that level of professionalism in another virtual assistant, there is no way I’m going to refer them to others.
• Initiative.  Showing initiative has always been something that employers sought in employees.  Just what is showing initiative?  It’s the ability to see what needs to be done and doing it.  If you tell me that you’ve looked for information on a certain topic and couldn’t find anything and I turn around and find what you’re looking for in the first page of Google results it leaves me with questions.  Do you not know how to do a proper internet search? Or do you lack the initiative to try to find the answer yourself first?  Regardless of which it is, neither is going to encourage me to pass your name along to clients.

The last thing I want to do is discourage new virtual assistants from coming to me or other seasoned VA’s for help.  By all means, contact me if you need a question answered or need a bit of direction.  However, if your inquiry falls into any one of the 7 points above, you might want to consider that you’ve gotten in over your head.  Is being a virtual assistant really a good fit for you?

What do you think? Am I being too harsh? Are there other items you feel should be added to the list?  Let’s start a conversation in the comments section.