Another Term for Virtual Assistant

June 5, 2009 at 2:21 pm | In Bookkeeping, Entrepreneur, Online Business, Outsourcing, Rita Cartwright, Rita J. Cartwright, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Solopreneur, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistant Services, Virtual Assistants | 1 Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

ritajoblack1So, you are still not quite sure exactly what a Virtual Assistant (VA) is or what they do. Think of a Virtual Assistant as your online administrative assistant. Your first thought may be, “Geez, they are expensive.” When you pencil out the benefits you reap from working with a Virtual Assistant, your thought will be, “Wow, they are not as expensive as I first thought.”

When you work with a Virtual Assistant, your business operations will run as smooth as silk. Your VA becomes familiar with how you operate your business and, as a result, are able to complete the tasks you hand over to them. Remember, virtual assistants are also business owners and have to deal with their own business operations. Therefore, are very versed in this area.

You won’t have to worry about time-consuming tasks, such as, your e-mail marketing campaigns, maintaining your website, following up with your clients, bookkeeping, creating a new blog, to name a few. Being able to take back your life is priceless, while at the same time, your business is booming.

Next time you hear the term Virtual Assistant and are not exactly sure what that means, just think of what an administrative assistant is and the tasks they complete; except, they are online.

An Online Business Tool for Virtual Assistants and their Clients

May 12, 2009 at 3:21 pm | In Entrepreneur, Marketing, Online Marketing, Online Survey, Outsourcing, Rita Cartwright, Rita J. Cartwright, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Solopreneur, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistant Services, Virtual Assistants | 1 Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

ritajoblack1Those of you who have been following my blog posts know that when I discover useful information I like to pass it on to other small business owners. If you need to create an online survey, I recommend using SurveyMonkey.com. It is very user-friendly, and the basic service is free. Although the basic service is limited, there are a lot of features included with the free version.

The survey is very easy to design and includes option of templates, as well as over a dozen types of questions; for example, multiple choice, drop down menus, and rating scales. You also have a choice of how you want to collect the data. You can put a link on your blog or send the link via e-mail. I used Aweber for one of my clients to send out e-mails because we needed to set up an auto responder follow-up e-mail. You can also send your e-mails through Survey Monkey. If you use Survey Monkey for your e-mail distribution, you can see who responds to your survey, as well as send follow up reminders to those who don’t.

Another feature is you can analyze the results as they are collected in real-time, including filtering and cross tabulation. In addition, you can download the results in multiple formats.

Remember, if you don’t have time to create your survey, outsource it to your Virtual Assistant(s).

Communication Tool for Trade Shows or Conferences (Updated Post)

April 1, 2009 at 12:30 pm | In Outsourcing, Rita Cartwright, Rita J. Cartwright, San Diego, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Solopreneur, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistant Services, Virtual Assistants | Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

A couple of days ago, I wrote a post on free video services.  It occurred to me that this would be a great communication tool for those of you who will be attending trade shows and/or conferences.  My video is an example of the type of video you can share with the attendees.  I chose music as my audio, but you create a recording explaining your services and/or products as the audio.  It has to be in MP3 format.  Once you create the video over at One True Media, you can publish it to YouTube. Once you have published it to YouTube, you can create a playlist at YouTube with the same video; so, it appears it is on a loop. This would be an excellent idea for a trade show booth. Your video is repeatedly playing describing and displaying your services.

As I mentioned in my previous post, although it is easy to create your videos, it is very time consuming.  If you don’t have time to create the videos, outsource the task to your Virtual Assistant.

Information for Entrepreneurs & Small Business Owners, Including Virtual Assistants

March 28, 2009 at 3:45 pm | In Entrepreneur, Outsourcing, Rita Cartwright, Rita J. Cartwright, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Solopreneur, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistant Services, Virtual Assistants | 2 Comments
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

ritajopurpleWhenever I come across valuable business information, I like to pass it along to other entrepreneurs and small business owners. One of my clients, Karen Pina, Owner of Gifts Ordained by Direction, shared this information with me regarding creating free videos so that I could design one for her. I was so impressed with the software, I thought I would share it with you. Click here to learn more about One True Media and design your own video. If you don’t have time, outsource the task to your Virtual Assistant.

If you would like a sneak peek at the video I created for Karen click here. If you have been following my blog posts, you may remember me hosting one of Karen’s virtual book tour stops at my blog, a few months ago. If you missed it, click here to read all about it. If you would like to check out the video I designed for my business, RJ’s Word Processing Services, click here.

Remember it is free! Also, it is very easy to learn; however, it is time-consuming. As I mentioned earlier, if you don’t have the time, hand the task over to your Virtual Assistant. Enjoy!

Disadvantages of Outsourcing to Offshore Virtual Assistants

March 17, 2009 at 11:17 am | In Entrepreneur, Offshore, Onshore, Outsourcing, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Solopreneur, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistant Services, Virtual Assistants | 9 Comments

ritajoblack1As an onshore Virtual Assistant and small business owner, I feel obligated to inform small business owners about the disadvantages of outsourcing to offshore virtual assistants (VAs).

When you choose to outsource offshore, you are going to encounter virtual assistants who are not familiar with our culture and language. Although, they speak English, generally, it is not their first language. This causes language barriers, communication gaps, and lack of understanding. Is the frustration worth the money you save? Keep in mind, offshore VAs’ cost of living is much lower than ours. They can afford to work for less money. If you choose to outsource confidential personal data offshore, it may not be protected. Firms in India currently are not equally subject to any extensive legislative or regulatory data-protection controls.

Offshore VAs work for an outsourcing firm and are not business owners. They do not have a vested interest in your business other than getting more projects. Most of us, onshore virtual assistants, are business owners; therefore, we understand the operations of a small business, as well as what is required to develop it. Our goals are to establish an ongoing business relationship with you in order to help you reach your goals. We want you to succeed in your business. Erin Blaskie of Business Services, ETC stated in her blog, “These companies are working day and night going through a wide variety of tasks just to get them back out the door. They aren’t spending the time to strategize and become a partner in your business. They are simply providing cheap labor.”

Another disadvantage is offshore virtual assistants can’t operate without access to the Internet. On January 31, 2008, India had an Internet outage due to snapped cables in the Mediterranean Ocean. You can read the entire article here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,326988,00.html. Onshore virtual assistants’ Internet providers are their phone companies, cable companies or satellite providers. We are not at the mercy of a cable under the ocean.

There are several disadvantages to offshore outsourcing, including drastic differences in time zones. The one main advantage to outsourcing to offshore virtual assistants is saving money. The old adage is true. “You get what you pay for.”

Rita J. Cartwright, Owner

RJ’s Word Processing Services
Your Business Success Is Our Success
http://rjswordprocessing.com
866-651-3073

A Marketing Tool for Your Online Marketing Strategy

February 26, 2009 at 11:30 am | In Blog, E-book, Entrepreneur, Marketing, Online Business, Online Marketing, Outsourcing, Rita Cartwright, Rita J. Cartwright, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Solopreneur, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Book Tour, Virtual E-book Tour | Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

ritajoblack1Recently I went on a virtual e-book tour to promote my newly released e-book, “Online Marketing Tools for Today’s Small Business.” For us entrepreneurs and small business owners, writing can be an inexpensive way of marketing our small businesses. This can involve writing articles, blog posts, and/or e-books. It is not necessary to be a well-known author in order to write or have virtual book tours. If you choose to write e-books, you can go on virtual e-book tours to promote your e-book. As a result, your services and/or products, and your business will be promoted at the same time. If you are an author, you, too, can do virtual book tours to promote your books.

Because of today’s technology and blogs, book tours can be done virtually, and it is an inexpensive, creative tactic to advertise your e-books or books. However, coordinating virtual book tours can be time-consuming. If you don’t have time to arrange the tour, outsource this task to a Virtual Assistant. The process consists of you (or your Virtual Assistant) and blog owners coordinating dates for when you will stop by their blogs. On the date of your tour stop, the blog owner can interview you or you can participate in a question and answer session with the blog owners’ readers. If you choose to do an interview, you supply the blog owners with the questions and answers for them to post on their blogs, which is the standard procedure in the current media world. Periodically, you check in to see if there are any questions or comments from the blog readers you need to address regarding your interview.

To encourage the blog readers to get involved, hold some type of random drawing for anyone who submits a comment or question. At http://random.org/, you enter the e-mail addresses of the participants in a list randomizer and a random e-mail address is selected. This would be your random winner. On my tour, I gave away free copies of my e-book to random winners who participated, as well as to the blog owners as a way of expressing my gratitude for them hosting my tour stops.

In my e-book, I discuss various online marketing tools and strategies, which include virtual book tours. If you would like to learn about additional marketing tools that you can use in your online marketing plan, click here to purchase my e-book, as well as find out more about it.

When Working With a Virtual Assistant

January 27, 2009 at 3:15 pm | In Clients, Entrepreneur, Outsourcing, Rita Cartwright, Rita J. Cartwright, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Solopreneur, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistant Services, Virtual Assistants | 4 Comments
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

ritajoblack1With all of the recent layoffs, more and more people for various reasons are opting to start their own businesses rather than seeking employment. These new small business owners will require some type of administrative assistance and are turning to virtual assistants for their administrative assistant needs. Due to the increase popularity of virtual assistants, I feel it is necessary to reiterate the working relationship between a client and a Virtual Assistant.

When working with a Virtual Assistant, it is important to remember a Virtual Assistant works “with” you not “for” you. Clients don’t hire virtual assistants (VAs), they retained their services. Clients don’t interview VAs, they have consultation sessions. Virtual assistants are not employees; they are small business owners as Minda Zetlin points out in her blog post titled, “Why You Need to Hire a Virtual Assistant.” Although, I don’t agree with some of the terms that Minda used, she discusses valid reasons why small business owners need to hire a Virtual Assistant. Click here to read Minda’s blog post.

Although the Virtual Assistant industry has existed for nearly 10 years, due to downsizing and layoffs, VAs are suddenly in high demand. However, clients and virtual assistants need to recondition their concept of what a Virtual Assistant really is and what they do or don’t do.

Did You Know That Virtual Assistants Do This Too?

September 2, 2008 at 2:52 pm | In Entrepreneur, Outsourcing, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Social Networking, Social Networking Forums, Solopreneur, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistant Services, Virtual Assistants | Leave a Comment

More and more of us, entrepreneurs and small business owners, are using social networking as a marketing tool. Did you know that Virtual Assistant services include creating your profiles in social networking forums? Creating profiles is very time-consuming and, again, one of the benefits of working with a Virtual Assistant is to handle these types of projects for you. The time that you gain can be used to focus on the services you provide and/or the products you sell.

Speaking of social networking forums, there are two forums, which I feel are beneficial for entrepreneurs and small business owners. One that I have recently discovered is Sta.rtUp.Biz located at http://sta.rtup.biz/. It is a forum designed specifically for entrepreneurs and small business owners. The other forum, Shout Life, is geared towards Christian business owners, Christian leaders, and coaches of Christian leaders. It can be found at http://shoutlife.com/.

If you don’t have time to set up your profiles and customize your profile pages, outsource it to your Virtual Assistant. Did you know?

Working With a Virtual Assistant

August 8, 2008 at 7:06 pm | In Entrepreneur, Outsourcing, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Solopreneur, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistant Services, Virtual Assistants | 1 Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Now you have investigated and researched the concept of Virtual Assistant (VA), you have finally decided to give it a try. Congratulations! As an entrepreneur and small business owner, you will quickly realize that you made a wise business decision. Your plate will suddenly be cleared of all those pesky “to do” items.  Your “bottom line” will increase. You will have more energy and time to spend with your family. They will appreciate it. For the first time, you can close early on Friday and get started on your weekend with the peace of mind that everything is taken care of.

Keep in mind, when working with a Virtual Assistant, it is important to keep an open line of communication. If possible, give your VA a list of tasks with proposed due dates, preferably 3-4 weeks in advance. Chances are you are not your VA only client. With advance notice, your Virtual Assistant can complete your tasks in plenty of time. Last minute notice leaves room for error. “Haste makes waste.”

Try to keep your communications to a minimum. When you interrupt your VA’s “train of thought,” it takes time to refocus on your project that they are currently working on. We realize that traditionally employers are accustomed to having their employees available at their “beck and call.” However, VAs are not employees. We are entrepreneurs and small business owners just like you. We don’t work for you, we work with you.

All in all, the advantages in working with a Virtual Assistant outweigh the advantages of the traditional working relationship. As you know from your research, you do not have to provide any benefits, equipment, or office space and, most importantly, you will pay only for the actual time you will use.

Virtual Assistant Services

July 4, 2008 at 6:01 pm | In Entrepreneur, Outsourcing, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Solopreneur, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistant Services, Virtual Assistants | Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Are you a new entrepreneur or small business owner? Do you have a small staff and just learned that you are going to have an open staff position in two weeks? Or because of overload of work, you need temporary assistance?

If this sounds like you, I have the perfect answer for you. A Virtual Assistant (VA) can be the solution in all of the above-mentioned scenarios. Due to downsizing, company closed its doors, can’t find employment, whatever the reason is, you have decided to start your own home-based business. You realize that you need administrative assistance; however, you have limited funds, as well as no space to accommodate another person. A Virtual Assistant is the answer for you. You will pay only for the actual time used; not for a part-time or full-time salary. Plus, you will not have to provide any benefits or office equipment. With your limited funds and space, this is the perfect solution.

Maybe your situation involves the next scenario. Billy Bob has just handed you his two weeks’ notice of resignation. So, in two weeks you will be understaffed. Should you outsource the tasks involved with this position or should you hire a replacement? Your other choice would be to hire temporary assistance, which will give you more time to select another candidate for the position. A Virtual Assistant is the answer. A VA also provides temporary service. If you work with a VA rather than hire a temp agency, you will not have to pay the surcharge fees.

Perhaps you are aware of a huge project coming down the pike, and your current staff will be overloaded with work as a result of this project. Once again, a Virtual Assistant is the answer and can assist you with the overload of work on a temporary basis.

Whichever situation you may find yourself in, a Virtual Assistant can come to your rescue.

Next Page »

Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.