OIVAC Blog & Podcast 45 day Tour
April 22, 2007 by Kylie Short · 1 Comment
The 2nd annual Online International Virtual Assistant Convention (OIVAC) is being held 17 May to 19 May 2007. This fantastic convention will have workshops, seminars and networking events for virtual assistants or anyone considering starting a virtual assistance business. The convention has a great line up of speakers on a great range of topics and the best thing is that it’s all online! This is especially fantastic as being based in Australia, I can’t attend many of the industry conventions and summits. Having an online convention is a great idea in my opinion as it opens up the workshops, seminars and networking events to a global audience.
Since 1 April, Sharon Williams of The 24hr Secretary has been blog and podcast hopping, answering questions about Virtual Assistance and the OIVAC. Yours truely will be visited 30 April by Sharon to answer my 5 questions about starting a VA practice.
I have to admit that I have been following Sharon on her travels, collecting the clues for the big prize on the puzzle board, but I am also really excited to be visited by someone I consider to be a pioneer in this industry!! I started my business 15 May 2006 and only stumbled onto the term ‘Virtual Assistant’ in June 2006. Oh the disappointment over missing this convention… well we won’t linger there people because I certainly won’t be missing out this year!
So if you are interested in attending this year’s OIVAC, head on over to www.oivac.com and book yourself in for some of the workshops.
I look forward to seeing you there!
What do you do with the kids during school holidays?
April 21, 2007 by Kylie Short · 1 Comment
This is something that has really bugged me these Easter Holidays. What to do with the kids? During the school term I have my eldest in school, my middle child in preschool two days a week and my youngest… well she still sleeps a lot and we are very happy about that. I have my schedule and most of the time, it works and I get things done for both home and my business.
But these school holidays would have to be the worst yet since starting my business. My boys (aged 6.5 and 3.5 years) are constantly fighting and punching the stuffing out of each other. I have to leave what I am doing and break the fights up, all the time. It’s driving me INSANE!!
I have modified my schedule and tried making it mummy and kid time in the mornings and then work time in the afternoon but as soon as my back is turned… ‘mum, he punched me’, ‘mum, he’s got my toy and won’t give it back and it’s my absolute favourite’ ARGHHH!!
To make it worse, I have taken on three new clients in the last 3 weeks and normally, the relationship would start slowly as we got to know each other, I could wait before introducing the hazard that is my home life at times. But it’s been hard to protect them (my clients) from the fighting and screaming in the background. **Sigh** At least they are an understanding bunch and have had a great laugh at my expense.
So what do you do with your older children when they are home from school during working hours? Do you just plan to work late into the wee hours like I have been or do you just make do?
C’mon, fess up and help me out here, because I am going CRAZY here!
Tips-n-Tricks: Bookkeeping
April 21, 2007 by Kylie Short · Leave a Comment
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Make sure you do your data entry regularly!
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Have your company file set up correctly by a certified user of the program or someone who is extremely experienced in using your program. Where a lot of problems occur is in the initial setup of the company file.
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Send out your invoices regularly. This way, you can keep your cashflow happening and you will be able to pay your overheads in a timely manner.
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If you are using a bookkeeper, make sure you check their entries for accuracy at least on a monthly basis. This way if expenses or income are incorrectly allocated, they will be identified and rectified immediately.
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Print your reports including your Profit and Loss on a regular basis.
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Photocopy all documents sent to your relevant tax office or department. Should you be asked to produce evidence of lodgement you will easily be able to produce the documentation.
How to implement a backup strategy
April 14, 2007 by Kylie Short · 3 Comments
Ok, so you have decided that you need to implement a backup strategy but what exactly do you need to do and how do you do it?
Firstly, you need to begin by working out what files and data you need to back up. This is usually anything you need to keep your business running smoothly should your computer crash and burn, that cannot be easily replaced. This would include your own data and client data. You then need to think about how often you need to back up. What sort of impact would it have on your business if you lost a day’s, week’s or month’s worth of data and work? If running your business would prove difficult after losing a day’s worth of data and work, then this is an excellent indicator that you should back up at the end of your work day. Don’t forget to backup your Web site. A lot of people take it for granted that their Web site is protected as it is being hosted. But what happens if the Web host has a file corruption on their server? Where does that leave your site, particularly if it is an eCommerce site?
The next step is to think about where you should store your backup files? What about emergencies such as fire, theft, or power surge? How would these scenarios impace your backup storage method? The best kind of insurance is to store your backup’s offsite at a friend or family members house.
But how to back up and what to use? You will need to purchase backup software and media in which to store your backups. There is a lot of software on the market, however, Windows XP does come with a backup tool even though we have not used it here at Tilda Virtual Services. Find software that is easy to use and friendly to your budget. Then consider your backup media and how much data you will store onto it. Depending on how much you have and how often you back up, you may choose to use a USB thumb drive, CD-RW, DVD-RW, external hard drive that is connected to your computer via USB, or a Firewire cable. All of these are suitable for small and medium sized businesses. Larger businesses and corporations tend to use tape media due to its longterm archival ability and the sheer amount of data to be backed up. There are no mechanical parts with tapes and therefore they have reduced risks of data corruption. The most common form of media used these days for small to medium sized businesses is the external hard drive because of it’s ability to store larger amounts of data than CD or DVD.
Once you have selected your software and media and have your backups occuring regularly you need to make sure you restore from backup regularly. You need to restore regularly to ensure your backups are occuring properly and that the files are uncorrupted. It’s easy to be backing up regularly and to think that your data is protected, but unless you regularly restore from backup to check for file corruption, you may not have protected your data after all.
Lincoln Short has a Bachelor of Information of Technology (Computer Science) and 13 years experience in systems and infrastructure. Currently working in the education sector, Lincoln enjoys playing with technology and seeing how he can implement it in the Short family household, much to the exasperation of his wife Kylie.
So what is Search Engine Optimization?
April 14, 2007 by Kylie Short · 2 Comments
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of ensuring your website is search engine friendly. After all, if the search engines can’t find you, how will your target market?
On doing a quick Google search, I found a huge number of websites and articles all proclaiming to tell all about SEO and its secrets. Well I’m here to tell you that it’s no secret at all and that you shouldn’t have to pay someone to optimize your website. In fact, with a few simple steps, you can do it yourself.
When designing your site, you will need to confirm with your designer if they will optimize the site prior to signing off the project. Be aware that most designers are just that…designers. SEO is an additional service that may require additional payment. As I mentioned before, you do not have to pay someone to optimize your site although you can do so if you wish.
The basics in SEO include:
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the inclusion of metatags and meta keywords.
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selecting and using keywords that relate to your site, using them in your content and meta keywords.
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ensuring your site is content rich. Search engines can’t read images, only text, so if your site is high in images you may want to think about adding content that is rich in the use of your keywords.
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using your keywords in labeling your ALT tags.
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submitting your website to the major search engines.
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listing your site on relevant, quality websites to increase your backlinks.
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making changes to your site and your content regularly. Search engines LOVE fresh content and will keep coming back to index your site if you make changes regularly.
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using your keywords in your title tags for each page in your website.
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avoiding the link farms and exchanging links with ‘anyone’. All this will do is damage your potential for search engine ranking.
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listing your web site on all your marketing materials including business cards, letterhead, invoices, your car…. the list is endless.
I know this list seems like alot of work but with time and effort you will be able to increase your search engine ranking. Once the visitor is on your site, it is up to you to ensure your copy will entice them to stay and purchase.