I'm quickly loving this forum for interaction with my colleagues and fellow VA, but my question is this where else do you network. What lists do you follow, and where to connect with your client focus? Also what do you do to stay up-to-date with what's happening in your clients industries?

My curiosity speaking...

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Renee Shupe, Become a Techie Virtual Assistant
eMail Marketing & Aweber Training Starts May 15! - Save 50% using VAFAweber

I'm on facebook, twitter, linkedin, and also on 2 real estate forums. look for forums that have potential clients.

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Serita Diana, the List 2 Close Assistant
REVA Academy

Good question
I subscribe to Google News alerts for keywords relative to my clients' industries, I read their blogs and the blogs they link to, I scan any hashtag conversations they have on Twitter, and then for some clients who have very specialized industries-if they have access to an industry publication or website I'll ask for access so that I can stay on top of things that way as well, the same for industry mailing lists. Basically, just about anything that my clients subscribe to, I subscribe to.

Of course, I don't have time to actually read every piece of info but I find that scanning for highlights, common themes, etc. can help me decide where to focus my attention.

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I agree with utilizing Google News alerts. It's helped me find tons of resources for particular industries without having to spend my entire life surfing the web.

Also, online magazines and networking groups specific to the industries you are interested in targeting might help. Try to think like your target customer, how would they search the web for industry information?

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Claire
CM Office Support

I also belong to and keep track of multiple groups: bookkeeping, entrepreneur, my niche industries, my client's industries, and local Meetup social groups as well as linked in, etc. As with Tess, I try to keep up on my client's industry trends even though I focus on bookkeeping so that I can speak intelligently with my clients but also be aware of changes that may affect their bookkeeping practices.

I try to spend NO MORE THAN an hour/day checking on my various groups, though as otherwise I could spend all of my time doing that instead of working.

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Lily Chambers, The Virtual Office Goddess, LLC
Author "How to Do Your Own Small Business Bookkeeping"