You're right Jan, why didn't I think of that?
Thanks!
Jo-Carole

LOVING that simplynoise site!!! Thanks!!

Originally Posted by deannatroupe

Here are some more of my favorite sites! http://www.twitter.com - A great way to find clients through social networking. http://www.twitwall.com - When something is to long for a tweet but too short for a blog post. I used a combination of twitwall and twitter to find new clients. http://www.tweetbeep.com - Works like google alerts for twitter.

Have you ever found clients through these websites?

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Christie

Hi Christy,


I live at the Jersey shore too. What town are you in?

Jo-Carole

Here are a few that I use for my event / party planning:
(they are all FREE)

http://www.seatingarrangement.com/ - For Weddings
http://www.mypunchbowl.com/ - Online Invitations etc
http://www.downloadry.com/most/planning/ (this has a little bit of everything)
http://www.homepartyprofitsoftware.com/login.php - Used this when I did Direct Sales, still a great tool though!
http://www.ezeventplanner.com/ - Event Planning
http://www.ezweddingplanner.com/ - Wedding Planning

What a wonderful question and some fantastic answers! I am going to spent some time exploring the suggested websites!

Here's a few of my own which I have found really helpful whilst setting my business up:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/te...CL100632981033 - for various free templates

http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/ - I've had great fun using this to make my publicity posters, headed paper etc.

http://www.syntap.com/products_timestamp.htm - for tracking the time for each individual customer

I also downloaded Express Scribe so I can do digital transcriptions.


This forum rocks!

Avocet

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Secretarial Service with a Smile!

Thanks for all these great resources. They are a great help to a newbie like myself!

Thank you all for the great free resources, cant wait to use some of them.

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Dawn - Your Virtual Office Girl

Just referred back to this thread--I am amazed at all of the resources being used by VAs--again, thanks for sharing all of this wonderful and useful info.

So far my favorites are:
http://www.logmein.com
http://www.facebook.com
http://www.virtualasistantforums.com

Microsoft Office for Small Businesses is a great resource also.

I just realized I don't have five just yet! Need to get busy.

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Dena Peters
http://www.denastoolsandtips.com

Here are two I've come across:

http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computer/classes.aspx

This one's thru Microsoft:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/tr...px?ofcresset=1

Does anyone has any other classes they know of that are FREE?

Wonderful topic!!

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The Doctor's Rx
"The Doctor's Prescription for Success"

I've discovered several good VA blogs:

http://webworkerdaily.com
http://freelancefolder.com
http://freelanceswitch.com
http://virtualbuzzassistant.com
http://www.grittyva.com
http://www.yourvirtualassistantblog.com
http://wordpress.com/tag/virtual-assistant
http://www.thevirtuallink.com/blog/v...stant-blog.htm

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VirtuallyDee

WOW - what a great thread!!! This should keep me busy for quite some time looking into all of these great resources.

Thanks so much to the "been there done thats" for passing along your experiences to those of us just starting out. YOU yourselves are a very valuable resource.

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Suzanne
ASC

I've been 'away' for awhile - what a great bunch of resources! My favorites are the ones that say 'FREE' !!

Well, here's some software that is free and can basically do MS Office tasks. I have used it for several years. It's also a great program to use on computers that your kids are using at college.

OpenOffice Suite - Optimize your office efficiency & productivity! -

Whats Included:
WRITER - Is an invaluable & easy to use word processor offering many familiar functions & tools that helps improve the writing process
Calc - Is a unique spread sheet program that differentiates itself by providing a number of time-saving features not available in other software.
Impress - Is an innovative multimedia presentation program that enhances the creative process. Your presentations will impress with its special features.
Draw - Is an effective, expressive and versatile tool to help draw plans, graphics or diagrams
Base - Effortlessly creates and handles databases for forms, reports and other entries while providing easy access to all entries.
Math - Builds and edits mathematical formulas that can easily be anchored inside your documents.

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Mary Hettwer
Hettwer Virtual Office

Ohhh, hit the button too fast. Here's another one of my favorites for free software for antivirus and internet security:

AVG Free - Download antivirus and antispyware software for Windows XP and Vista

They also offer updates and keep you current. I was not sure about this, but have been using it on one of my computers for over a year now. Hats off to my computer repair person for recommending this.

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Mary Hettwer
Hettwer Virtual Office

Originally Posted by VA4Lyfe

Well, here's some software that is free and can basically do MS Office tasks. I have used it for several years. It's also a great program to use on computers that your kids are using at college. OpenOffice Suite - Optimize your office efficiency & productivity! - Whats Included: WRITER - Is an invaluable & easy to use word processor offering many familiar functions & tools that helps improve the writing process Calc - Is a unique spread sheet program that differentiates itself by providing a number of time-saving features not available in other software. Impress - Is an innovative multimedia presentation program that enhances the creative process. Your presentations will impress with its special features. Draw - Is an effective, expressive and versatile tool to help draw plans, graphics or diagrams Base - Effortlessly creates and handles databases for forms, reports and other entries while providing easy access to all entries. Math - Builds and edits mathematical formulas that can easily be anchored inside your documents.

OpenSouce programs are really becoming popular. Have you compared any of those programs to those in MS Office? I'm just wondering if they are comparable.

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VirtuallyDee