With a recent update to the software behind our Virtual Assistant Forums Chatroom we decided to make it a more focal part of the site. You'll find the chatroom on it's own page.

The chatroom is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to help you to connect live and network in real time with fellow members. Feel free to log into the chatroom whenever you like, invite your friends via PM to join you there, or just post a thread in the Talk section letting other members know you'd like to get the conversation started!

And of course, we're also planning some great live topic chat events in 2009 - so stay tuned!

VAF Admin

Every year when the holiday season comes knocking at our doors people tend to open their heart, minds and pocket books for family, friends and even strangers. A wonderful reminder of those we love and those less fortunate. This year seems different and has touched my heart in a different way. I approached the "give unto others" part of the season with a different foot forward. It is amazing to me that in the past I have spend thousands of dollars on gifts for people. I always take the time to put thought into my offerings, but this year I decided to make them from the heart. I cannot believe the difference in levels of appreciation I have received for creating my gifts instead of spending money at a retail store. Is it because of...

TimeForLife

I only have 2 more days of work at the junior college I work at and then I will have a nice break until Jan. 5th - I am looking forward to it.
I plan to work on my website and market myself more. I will also visit with friends and family. I am still excited about working with my first client and getting the word out about my business here in Kansas. Since my husband is out of work right now my budget for marketing is low at this time. Paying bills is more important this time but once he gets back on track then I can begin to put more money into my marketing campaign. Have a great holiday everyone and let's hope it will be a good New Year.

HandyVOA

TwitWall is something everyone who has a Twitter account automatically has access to. It is like a blogging feature that for your Twitter Account. You can write posts, add video or pictures and once you post it to your Twitwall, it will automatically tweet the post for you. There's also a button that other people can click on if they want to re-tweet your post.

The other thing I really like about about Twitwall is over in your profile area it lists your twitter bio, your twitter grade (as determined by Hubspot) and you can post links to all your social media profiles and your website or blog. I've posted to my Twitwall a couple of times and you take a peek HERE if you're interested in what I've posted on my Twitwall.
...

JKVirtualOffice

Being new in the virtual assistant arena, many things have become clear to me as I meddle my way through the process of researching, writing, editing and creating my business from scratch. As I am sure many of you have encountered this or are in the process now, I would like to point out the biggest "ahha" moment I have had. Being a perfectionist is not always a good approach to building a business.
I have seen and heard several comments from VA's who recommend just getting started after a solid plan is in place. This is much easier said than done; nonetheless, true. Last week I was stressed about getting my website content perfectly written to my target audience; however, this week I have a new approach. Just get it done...

TimeForLife

Let me begin by giving you a little history of my story. Several months ago my family moved to a new home in rural location with 21+ acres and a 100-year old farm house. Or as we like to say our new “old” house. We moved in late summer so critters were not our problem, well inside anyway. I’ve got used to the bats, great for the insect population and even bought them their own house. But that is another story.

First thing we did when fall arrived was check the attic for adequate insulation. I was too chicken to go into the attic not knowing what has been up there for 100 years so I gladly sent my husband and son in my place. When my son came back down he announced, “There are some mice skeletons up there and I think some...

leedrozak

I just spoke with a friend of mine from Detroit today. She's just as new to the VA profession as I am. She told me about her first day as a VA and a client that was in her own words "hastily signed." The client was a busy executive type who needed to get a letter drafted and emailed out to some of his colleagues in his field.

My friend didn't probe this gentleman's needs in depth and failed to fully understand the scope of work that she was to perform. She admitted that she made a mistake as we all do on occasion. She was under the impression that after getting the letter approved, the client has all of the contacts and email addresses in Outlook or in a .csv file. Unfortunately that was not the case.

...

virtualguy

I first started working in the administrative field when I was 20 years old. My first admin job was working as a secretary at the county juvenile probation department. My was that an awkward feeling. Awkward because I was the only male in a secretarial pool of seven people and the rest were females. Imagine all of the strange looks from the juvenile probation officers that passed through the admin section and visitors who came into the lobby while I provided receptionist relief.

The Chief Juvenile Probation Officer and the Juvenile Court Judge thought that I was from the Information Systems Department. I asked myself, "What have I gotten myself into?" I just knew that I had chosen the wrong field to get into. As time...

virtualguy

The countdown is on...there are now only seven more shopping days (maybe only six depending on your timezone) until Christmas. If you had unlimited resources this year and could purchase five 'business' toys - what would they be? I was thinking of this as I finished up my Christmas shopping today and thought I would share with you my official Santa wish list. In no specific order here they are:

1. Neat Receipts - I keep getting drawn to the office section at our local Costco and I have even picked up the box to read exactly how it will 'Simplify my life'...you know how it goes, trying to convince myself to buy it. Still not totally convinced yet but I would love to have a way to organize all my loose papers that I always mean to file but never

...

Virtual Horizons

This has been a crazy week...the snow, ice and freezing temps have kept the schools closed all week so far and the rumor is that they'll probably stay closed for the rest of the week. I don't mind having my son home so much, but I typically use the time he's in school to get a good chunk of my work done for the day without interruptions- and I feel guilty letting him just sit and play video games too much during the day. He also has a head cold so going outside to play hasn't been at the top of my list of things to do.

On top of that, we had no power on Monday for 6 1/2 hours while it was about 20 degrees out AND our Christmas tree fell over (again!) yesterday with ornaments flying everywhere and water pouring out of the tree...

JKVirtualOffice

I thought for 2009 I would do something different since I tend to not keep one resolution I make every year. I am going to make others for themselves. This will certainly make my life easier and I won’t be so disappointed when they are broken. So here goes…

My dear husband – will learn to not get so frustrated and cranky when working around the house. We know it is old but it has character (just like you!)

My darling daughter – will not get so wrapped up in her life and visit her family more. Who cares that she is in college and becoming independent.

My sweet son – will stop using cuss words in everyday language. I know you are trying to find yourself but frankly those words should be saved...

leedrozak

I just discovered this neat little site called Wordle.It allows you to enter a string of text into a text box and then it generates a 'word cloud'. Once you have entered your text it allows you the option of customizing your 'cloud' with different fonts, layouts and colours. Very neat! Have a peek and let me know what you think.

Until next time...

Virtual Horizons

WooHoo, I got a Wii for the boys. Some of you know about my midnight shopping trip on Saturday night/ Sunday Morning, it was not fun at all. Here's how the story begins -

On Saturday,I had my Mom come over and sit with my boys while I made a short trip to Walmart. I get there and no Wii's. I ask a sales associate where all the Wii's were? Her reply was oh we put them up, as in, in the back until 12:01am. I ask her why, she said that's when the sell starts. My next question was what time should I be back here? around 11:30pm should be good, she says. I go to Walmart at 11:30 as told to do. There is already a line, but it was a short one only about 6 people in front of me. No big deal, right! WRONG. They only had 4 Wii's to sell...

Virtually Assisting You

As the year ends, taking a moment to reflect where I am with my Virtual Assisting Practice, and where I want to be in 2009 at year end.

I hope to soon be able to complete my website. Although, I already have a few clients, I want to take my business to the next level this coming year. Would like to add a few retainer clients. I have goals set and plan to accomplish. I guess a review of my notes to get a clear picture of my business needs, would be a good start. Another thought is...what would it take to improve my virtual working relationship to gain more.

It seems as though with the economy and job security getting more unstable, Virtual Assistants continue to grow and prosper and encourage their clients to...

Virtually Assisting You

So a new year is almost upon us and how quickly they seem to go by. You are probably already thinking, what I want to do differently this year. Here are 5 quick tips to get you on track and help you stay there so you can achieve any goal that you set.

1. Clearly identify your goal.
Be as specific as possible. If your goal is to increase business think about how much: one new client per quarter or increase income by $1,000 per month. When you list an identifiable goal it is easier to reach and you are less likely to stop being deterred. However, be realistic because it is easier to achieve smaller goals and work your way up then to strive for the moon and not even leave the Earth.

2. Practice thinking...

leedrozak

We just turned the marketing power of your forum profiles on - and then up another notch!

Now, inside your profiles here on VAF you'll notice a 'Customize Profile' link at the top right of your information tabs [About Me, Contact Info, etc.] - use the link to change the colors, font styles, background images and more of your profiles.

And, in order to give you as much marketing leverage as possible we opened up the thousands of member profile pages to the search engines - Google, Yahoo!, MSN, they're all indexing YOUR pages right now - so be sure to take advantage of the huge SEO-positive impact of VAF and fill in your details.

We'll continue adding even more fields for you to add more of your information...

VAF Admin

So I just created a thread HERE in the Social Networking area with some links to different Twitter resources to help you get started with using Twitter and with getting familiar with how Twittering works. But I thought I would use the wonderful new blog feature to write some more specifics about how Virtual Assistants can use Twitter not only for their own marketing and networking purposes, but as members of the larger Virtual Assistant industry.

I've only been using twitter for a couple of months and I will freely admit that I'm thoroughly addicted. When I get up in the morning, I check my email first and then moments later, I log into twitter. All this usually happens before I've had coffee or breakfast...(and embarrassingly...

JKVirtualOffice

We were looking at the site menu recently and it dawned on us that not only were there so FEW of the great features here on VAF appropriately linked up in the menu, but there wasn't a *single* pixel of space left for all the great new features and pages we have planned for 2009. So we did a little remodeling

Please take a moment to check out the new (and we hope, improved) VAF main menu - there are now drop downs to help you more easily find and use the many key features here at Virtual Assistant Forums.

VAF Admin

I recently came across an excellent article from fellow VA, Angie Green, which describes the concept that an entrepreneur satisfies needs we do not even know we have. To have it put into words what exactly an entrepreneur should be/do has inspired me to change some wrong thinking on my part. You see, I am guilty of colouring within the lines and staying within my comfort zone when it comes to any kind of marketing. That means that when opportunities to speak up have occurred (and they have) that I usually freeze and get the ‘caught in the headlights’ look. I’m also a forum lurker so I haven’t participated in many discussions which have been proven to be beneficial in both creating a support system and increasing your online presence. Has this...

Virtual Horizons

Ok. So, I'm a procrastinator, and I must say I work very well under those conditions, usually. Christmas is almost here and I've barely started my shopping. Although, I love this time of year and being with my family, trying to decide on the perfect present can be quite stressful.

I set my boys down this morning and told them to make Santa and I a list. They had neither one asked for much, just this and that here and there. And, here is the reponse we got - Tucker (8) Wii, laptop & remote control motorcycle. Heston (6) trucks, semi -trucks and some box trailers, gooseneck flatbed trailers, remote control honk honk (semi truck). Tell me just how in the world that is going to work. The oldest one is wanting about $1000.00...

Virtually Assisting You

Today I have been given the incentive to get a blog up and running. You see, I have a hard time saying no to a challenge, especially if there is a prize at the end. Therefore I plan on accepting Virtual Assistant Forum's offer to blog...how about you?

I admit it...I am a self-confessed wall flower so this is my first venture into the blogging sphere however it is at the top of my to-do-list for 2009. Looking forward to seeing how well it goes.

Virtual Horizons

Hey There Everyone-
I've been wanting to start blogging for forever and a day. Well, I have no excuses now, VAF has made it too easy not too. I read alot of blogs, especially if I find your post informative or entertaining...chances are if you blog, Yep - I read it.

The VAF is growing by leaps and bounds. New members signing up all the time. I guess that just means the Virtual Assistant Industry is becoming better known.

I can't speak for everyone else but I have made so many connections here at VAF - there are so many knowledgeable people here willing to offer there opinion and/or experiences. Most of the time all in good spirits as well.

Ok. This is my first Blog - not sure how I've...

Virtually Assisting You

Use the controls at the left to create your own VA blog right here on the site! Create your blog title, enter a description, and add categories in your Blog Control Panel. Then, click 'Post to your Blog' and get started! It's that easy!!

Click here for more information...

VAF Admin

Announcing the Virtual Assistant Directory at Virtual Assistant Forums, Where Even the Listings Are Multitasking


Virtual Assistant Forums answers the need for a more comprehensive virtual assistance industry directory.

The Virtual Assistance Industry is booming, but the lack of a comprehensive industry directory of virtual service providers has left many potential clients scratching their heads over just how to locate a professional Virtual Assistant, and many VAs questioning the value of listing their sites in directories in the first place. In search of the perfect VA, these potential clients soldier on, patiently wading through a hodge podge of hit-or-miss keyword search results, poorly structured or...

VAF Admin