Melinda, the girls and I are madly getting ready for the Australian VA Conference. As a major sponsor via Tilda Hosting, we are able to do inserts in the goody bags and have an expo table too. We’ve got the DL flyers ready, business cards ready and we haven’t forgotten the chocolate frogs either!!

The conference is only next week but it isn’t too late to register. Please go to the website and register. You won’t regret it!

The Australian VA Conference (AVAC) will be held in Melbourne, Friday 12 and Saturday 13 March 2010.  While it’s called The ‘Australian’ VA Conference it doesn’t mean you can’t come if you’re not Australian. It simply means it is being run in Australia and everyone is invited.

We are excited to be putting on a conference for VAs by VAs.  We promise you that the lineup will include names well known to the Virtual Assistant industry.

Co-ordinators for AVAC are Kathie M. Thomas from “A  Clayton’s Secretary” and Anita Kilkenny from AKA Virtual PA.

Early bird tickets are just $140 (inc GST) and include a choice of sessions, morning and afternoon refreshments, a networking lunch and the chance to mingle with sponsors and speakers.

If you would like to make contact with us, please click here.

Re-blogged with permission

Recently I decided to sit my Ethics Test and Certification with the International Virtual Assistant Association as a way to prove that I do in fact manage my business on a day to day basis that is ethically sound and in accordance with codes of conduct for the various associations of which I am a member.

Needless to say, I passed and have the honour of adding this badge to my website.

So what you do you think about ethics? Is it important to be independently tested as being an ethical online business owner or is it unnecessary in your humble opinion.

Either way, I’m happy!

Ask around in your online or offline community and chances are you know someone who started their business to be at home with their kids. Some of them may have even started their business while on maternity leave only to be told that they were ‘stark raving mad’. We all know how hard it is to start a new business, to write that business plan, to pay for our licences and to find that first client. But how many of us truly understand how having children and working from home will affect our businesses to the extent that it does?

I started my business 34 weeks pregnant with my third child while building our new home and studying at university for a degree in education full time. My boys were 6 and 3 and I’d been having a difficult pregnancy.  And yes, I was told that I was stark raving mad to even think about a business. My husband was extremely supportive but most of my extended family was very negative and frowned upon working when raising a family. All I knew was that my studies were less and less fulfilling as time went by. All I knew was that to be a great mum, I needed something besides child rearing. All I knew was that I wanted something more.

I applied for a job 33 weeks pregnant, started the following week working from home as a subcontractor and that’s when my entrepreneurial spirit showed itself. I stumbled upon the term Virtual Assistant and my head just about exploded with the information that was so readily available. But nothing really prepared me for working from home with small children.

Yes there were the articles about how to manage one’s time, how to work alongside your child and how to set up a play office so they could play and be with you. But nothing prepared me for what ultimately happened. I gave birth to a beautiful girl who was very sick. Instead of taking a few days off (pfft, what do people know, I can ‘pop’ out this baby and be back at the computer in no time) we had a short stay in the NICU and didn’t leave hospital for two weeks. I had systems in place, my mum became my assistant and looked after my one and only client but even then, I wasn’t prepared.

No one tells you about breastfeeding while typing one handed and talking with a client on Skype. No one tells you about how segmented your day will become. No one tells you that you’re supposed to sleep at night. And there’s no one to keep a close eye on you for post-natal depression (post partum).

The first thing you’ll need to discover is what type of schedule works best for you and then to not feel guilty about it. If you’re a morning person that’s great and if you’re a night person, that’s great too. Figure out what part of the day you are the most productive, map it against your family’s needs and try to stick to it.

The next thing is to understand that it’s ok to have nanna naps, even if there are no kids at home. If you need 10 minutes or 30 minutes to recharge, do it! It’s part and parcel of taking care of yourself so you don’t fall apart. I personally am a night person but my husband is a morning person so he gets up to the kids in the morning, feeds them, dresses them all before leaving to go to work. But I’m the one who gets up to the kids in the middle of the night and puts miss M back to bed 4 times between 1am and 4am.

Set up a default schedule where you block in everyone’s commitments including your own. Colour-code the schedule for each person in the family. One thing I have noticed with two children in school now is how busy we are. They don’t do a lot of after school activities but remembering which child has library day and which child has ICT (information communication technology – fancy pants term for information technology) is a lot easier now with the family schedule on the wall.

Create a support circle of business mums. They don’t necessarily have to be in the same industry as you or even have children the same age as yours, you just need to surround yourself with people who understand what it is like to be a mum in business for herself. Family members won’t understand and your partner may not understand. You’ll receive all sorts of advice from all corners and I promise it will all conflict with what you are trying to do. Having your circle of cheerleaders’ means you have people to share your highs and lows with.

Try to understand that running a business with a newborn is vastly different to running a business with a 9 year old or even a 19 year old. Your child has needs, wants and desires that changes, as they get older. My billing record is at an all time high that dates back to when miss M was less than 6 months old. Why? She slept a lot so I was able to put in the extra time. I was also post-natal at the time. Recognise what your family needs from you and be prepared as best you can for when it changes.

Each child is different. What works for me won’t work for you. I don’t have a play area in my office because I can’t handle the mess. I need a clear and tidy workspace to be able to work and kids are made to be messy. So we have a separate playroom for them to be messy to their heart’s content. All three of my kids are pretty independent and so I can snatch 10 or 20 minutes to make a phone call. But there are days when I can’t do that, so I don’t. We go outside instead. Listen to your kids and you’ll soon figure out what you need to do.

Trust in yourself. We all do a great job with our kids AND our businesses. While owning a thriving business and raising children is no easy thing to do, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. Don’t think that one size fits all. Find the solutions that suit you and your family and you’ll notice the difference it makes to your business immediately. Your children are only young once so make the most of it.

About Kylie Short:
Kylie Short, owner of Tilda Virtual Services specialises in providing Internet Marketing Support, Administrative Support, Hosting and Website Design to coaches, consultants and small business owners working from home. Visit her website at http://www.tildavirtual.com.au

Big congratulations to this year’s winners:

Janet Jordan Award: Jef Keep – Daily Planet Virtual Services (Canada)

Thomas Leonard Award: Jeannine Clontz – Accurate Business Services (USA)

For the last two years I have been using a Palm Treo and that’s when my love affair with the Smart Phone began. It held all my contact details for both personal and business use, my calendar and it synced with my Exchange server automatically.

Gone were the days of carrying around a clunky day planner.

Gone were the days of double booked appointments.

Gone were the days of carrying everything in my bag for ‘just in case’.

So when my contract ended I decided to go with a Blackberry Bold and wasn’t it all nice and shiny. It does everything the Palm Treo does but it has a better keyboard among other things. I was definitely in love.

But after only a month we started to have issues. We started to have a difference of opinion. My Bold decided that it had had enough of being a smart phone and wanted a career change. It wanted to be a ‘normal’ mobile phone. Pfft!!!

I’m sorry Bold but uncaught exception errors are just not going to cut it and even ‘normal’ mobile phones still allow texting and profile changes.

Seriously Bold, I’ve tried updating your software and backing you up but still the issues persist. Today is the last day you and I will have together. You are going in for repairs and so help me, if you come back faulty, I’m going to drag out my trusty Palm Treo and use it until something better, something more shiny (that works!) comes along.

This year I’ve decided that it’s my year to set up my systems, once and for all. When I first began to build my team, I knew that I needed to write them down but due to lack of time and lack of planning on my behalf, it never happened. Big mistake.

Without systems, it made completing internal and client tasks difficult. We were wasting time and were inefficient. Not a good thing for a service provider.

Once I had my aha moment, I started the process by purchasing the “Systems of a Successful VA” ebook by Kristi Pavlik. I’ve written procedures before but seeing how Kristi has set up her procedures within her business makes a whole lot of sense. She also includes templates to help you get started.

I then signed up for an account with Lovely Charts to begin charting how information flows within my business.

It’s been a slow process but my goal is to have ALL my processes documented for both my business and for the tasks completed for our clients by the end of June 2009.

So how about it, are you going to join me and document all your processes by the end of June 2009?

I first stumbled upon Virtual Assistance in August of 2006. I had just given birth to my third child, my daughter Matilda and started my business four weeks before she was born. Until I found the term Virtual Assistance, I had no idea there was this entire industry out there waiting for me, but as soon as I found it I became excited. So excited I wanted to learn more about it. How to get started? What technology do I need? Is it something I can even do

‘So people actually work from home huh’ was the response from my husband. And with his support I started my research.

Ask any newbie and they’ll tell you, ours is one of the most giving and nurturing industries out there in Internet land. Especially considering what normally happens when you have women working together (lots and lots of nastiness and/or competitiveness). I was so humbled to see veteran VAs sharing their knowledge and supporting the newbie’s in their quest to start their own businesses. For me, it was the deal clincher. I too wanted to be a Virtual Assistant when I grew up.

So with two young children and a newborn, my plan was to grow and market my business slowly but Internet land had other ideas for me. I soon became so busy that I decided to become a Multi-VA, started to build my team and I won the Janet Jordan Achievement Award for 2008. So why am I telling you all this? Well as a Virtual Assistant who lives in Australia and has no plans on moving countries, I had to interpret the information my poor brain had to assimilate. I had to ‘Aussiefy’ it. (Sorry to all the writers reading this – I made up my own word there)

Kylie’s tips for International VAs:

• Be aware that the rules and regulations are different between countries, states and local government areas. A lot of the advice on starting a business, registering a domain name didn’t apply to me because of where I lived. I still had to go out and research where to start on my own.
• Join forums in your own country as well as overseas. Who knows, maybe there is a get-together in your area that you are missing out on.
• Be aware of the differences in spelling, grammar and the meaning of words. For a long time there I was really careful about how and what I said in the webinars I attended. I wanted the communication channel to be as clear as possible so that there couldn’t be any miscommunication. I don’t anymore and even teach those who want to learn, how to speak ‘Aussie’. Crikey!
• Work your time-zone to your advantage. I have a Project Manager who is quite literally my right arm. She is able to log remotely into my server and is administrator on most of my accounts. We usually have a Skype chat (can’t really call it a meeting because of the other things we talk about) each day around 10pm my time to do a recap of anything that came up and what I absolutely need her to do or delegate that day for me. I wake up and the work is in my inbox for quality checking and sending to the client.
• Don’t just glance over your Professional Indemnity insurance policy (Errors and Omissions Insurance). Read it thoroughly. My policy doesn’t cover me for clients located in the United States but it does for all other countries. To increase my cover I need to pay an additional $3,000 AUD. As I don’t have clients in the US, this currently isn’t a problem for me and so I haven’t paid the additional fee.

With all the information I have assimilated in the last two and a half years, my business has grown beyond my wildest expectations. Part of my business plan is to now give back to my industry so the upcoming newbie’s receive the support and knowledge that I did. And it never surprises me to find newbie VAs from Australia, unaware of the VA industry in their country.

The Internet has truly made our industry a global one where teams are made across continents; clients are served by VAs in different time zones and the industry continues to grow day by day.

First published in IVAACast – the official VA Newsletter of the International Virtual Assistants Association!

I have to confess I’ve been really busy with both client work and some exciting new projects for Tilda Virtual Services. I’m in the midst of creating my first info product as a joint venture with Angela den Hollander at communic8 design and I have been working hard at rebranding my e-newsletter.

The newsletter is now called Techno Update – and it will be a monthly cheat sheet on the latest technology for online businesses trying to market their services or products. Topics will include VoIP, Content Management Systems, Customer Relationship Management Software, Setting up and promoting Teleseminars and much more.

Techno Update will give you all the information you’ll need to decide if using particular software or technology is going to help you to achieve your goals.

I kind of can’t help myself and read a LOT of ‘stuff’ on the Internet and I thought what better way to market my business and my services than to share this knowledge with the rest of the world.

To subscribe you can click on the home page and subscribe in the form there on the right or you can send a blank email to kylie-349256@autocontactor.com

Why not drop me a line and tell me what it is you are looking for, but don’t know what you need?

Anyone with a computer, Internet connection and a typing speed can become a Virtual Assistant.
All the Virtual Assistants I know are experienced Personal Assistants, Executive Assistants, Office Managers, Bookkeepers and Web developers with at least 5 years experience. It takes considerably more than just a computer, Internet connection and the ability to type to become a Virtual Assistant. And yet there are still some people who see the Virtual Assistance industry as something they can do until something better comes along. This in turn reflects on the industry as a whole.

The International Virtual Assistant Association (IVAA) defines a Virtual Assistant as, “an independent entrepreneur providing administrative, creative and/or technical services. Utilizing advanced technological modes of communication and data delivery, a professional VA assists clients in his/her area of expertise from his/her own office on a contractual basis.” and I agree wholeheartedly with this definition.

To become a Virtual Assistant you need a solid background in providing administrative, creative or technical support. I believe that you can learn online how to provide these services on a virtual basis but you need to have the background, knowledge and experience before you begin.

All Virtual Assistants are created equal
Just as there is a difference between in-house assistants and what they do for you, there too is a difference between Virtual Assistants. Some only provide bookkeeping support, some provide graphical and web design support. Other’s provide technical support. When selecting your Virtual Assistant you need to carefully look at the tasks you wish to delegate. Then select a Virtual Assistant with the skills you require to enable the project to be completed. You’ll be sorely disappointed if you ask a Bookkeeper to design graphics for you when they should be maintaining your books instead.

Virtual Assistants are just like employees right?
Virtual Assistants are independent business consultants who specialise in providing administrative, creative and/or technical support. We are registered as a business in our home countries and what this means is that you don’t have to pay for benefits and insurance like you would with an employee. It also means that you can’t micro-manage a Virtual Assistant as they usually have more than one client at a time. If you need to micro-manage then you need a telecommuter or an in-house employee, not a Virtual Assistant.

My Virtual Assistant is available 24/7
When starting with a Virtual Assistant it is extremely important to set general expectations and then stick to them. If your expectations are not the same as those of your Virtual Assistant then it’s highly likely that they’ll never be met.

You need to give your Virtual Assistant enough time to complete your tasks and understand that you’re probably not the only client they have. You also need to take into account his/her time-zone, their requirements for lead time and allow for this in your own schedule. Just because your Virtual Assistant seems to be there 24/7 doesn’t actually mean they are there. Unless of course they have a team of Virtual Assistants in all time-zones and literally are available 24/7.

Virtual Assistants only provide Administrative support
As we move away from the industrial age and into the information age, we as workers are no longer just selling our time for money. We are also selling our knowledge. Part of the Information age is the process of using the Internet as the sole or secondary means of marketing your product or service to a target market, of finding information and learning about the world.

Virtual Assistance is a relatively new industry that has been born in the Information Age. Virtual Assistance simply describes how service providers, provide their services. Thanks to technology Virtual Assistants are no longer restricted to working with a client onsite but can also work with clients outside their own time-zone. Technology allows Virtual Assistants to work from their own office be it in the home or an office space, on their own or as part of a team. It means as a service provider, Virtual Assistants are no longer limited by geographics.

To work virtually, Virtual Assistants research and absorb information almost like osmosis and then share the information and knowledge they have gained about working online freely amongst themselves. Skills are learnt, new knowledge is gained and in retaining the services of a Virtual Assistant it’s highly likely that they have more than simple administrative support to offer you. Why not ask and find out?