I hear it all the time when I’m speaking with a possible client. They know they need a VA but it’s too overwhelming for them. They don’t know where to start, what projects to outsource or how to even get a VA on board with them.

It can be overwhelming in the beginning. And depending on what projects you outsource there may be a learning curve involved. If you are handing over your email to a VA there will be some training that you will need to provide your VA.

I was hired by a client to take over her email. The first week we got on the phone every morning (I check her email twice a day - once in the morning and once in the afternoon) and she walked me through what to do with each email. I took notes for future reference. It was smooth sailing after that. She was comfortable in my ability to handle it from then on and I was confident in my ability to do it. Hiring me as her VA to take over her email saved her several hours a week. I do in 2-3 hours a week what she was doing in 2-3 hours a day!

If you don’t feel comfortable outsourcing something as large as email management in the beginning start with smaller projects. Make a list of the tasks that you do for your business - article marketing, press release submission, blog posting, website updating, keyword research, etc and narrow it down to the project(s) that you hate doing and outsource those.

A large number of my clients have hired me to handle their press release submissions and article submissions. I have also recently started doing blog posting for clients that just don’t have the time to keep up with their blogs.

It doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Start small and work your way up. The idea behind outsourcing is to not only get off your plate the things you don’t like doing but to free up some time so you can work on incoming producing projects.

—
I currently have openings in my schedule for some hourly projects or retainer clients. Contact me at tishialee@gmail.com

Tricia asks:

Tishia, do you make your clients sign agreement forms?

Yes and no Tricia. This is actually something that I have to start getting better at doing. I need to make every client sign one especially my retainer clients. For awhile I was doing good about making new clients sign them. If a client doesn’t ask I tend to not push the issue.

For more than one reason that isn’t the smartest business move. A signed contract not only protects my client as well as myself but it also states all my policies, rates, late fee, etc plain as day. If an issue were to ever arise, I’d have a contract to fall back on.

Now I’ve made a post-it note to myself that I need to update my contract and start making it mandatory that all clients sign one. Thanks for asking that question & reminding me how important contracts really are!

A Question for Tricia:

Do you make your clients sign contracts? 

Ok so I know it wasn’t very original turning around and asking you the same question Tricia but now I’m curious as to what your policy is.

First I have to apologize that it has taken me over a week to answer Tricia’s question. As we all know sometimes life happens and things need to be taken care of while we let something else sit on the back burner. Let’s just say life happened and I had to take care of some things and get myself sorted out. Thankfully I am blessed to work at home and can take some time off when needed.

But now it’s time to get back to the cross blog conversation and onto answering Tricia’s question.

Tricia Asks:

When you struggle to find content for your website blog what do you do?

One of my weak areas is adding content to my site on a regular basis. Before anyone attacks me with the “content is king” lecture let me defend myself and say that I have somethings up my sleeve to implement that will take care of this issue

Until I have my ducks in a row and start doing what I have planned I have been writing about products that I’m using, membership sites, etc. I’ve thrown in a blog post with a new customer testimonial…anything that comes to mind I blog about.

I’ve just recently set up Google Alerts for some different business related terms that I hope will also help inspire some content creation. And I’ll also be checking into some PLR items because I absolutely love rewriting PLR (guess you can imagine that’s one of my services I offer…LOL) and I also have thought about using a Ghost Writer as well.

I hope that gives you some ideas Tricia and answered your question.

A Question for Tricia:

We all learn from our mistakes. Think back to when you first started your business until now. What is the one mistake that made you cringe when it happened but you learned a valuable lesson from it?

I thoroughly enjoyed the transcription job I did for her. I have to check out her products after transcribing her audio. It was wonderful and jam packed full of great info!

Here’s what Marcia had to say:

“Tishia, thanks very much for the transcription. You did an awesome job in both speed and quality of work. Especially with my South African accent.

I would recommend your services to anyone and will put your name down as a resource in my “million dollar rolodex” so that my clients can also reach you.” (June 2008)

Marcia Francois
Time management expert & Speaker
http://takechargesolutions.org/

When the site first launched, I grabbed the introductory special price they were offering. I wasn’t planning on continuing my subscription. I was honestly just wanting to go in, look around and see what it was all about. Once I joined and began looking around I realized it was worth the minimal monthly fee to stay a member.

Nicole and Darina have done a nice job of putting together a site for women freelancers where they offer monthly resources. You’ll find audio or video resources, special reports, etc. A new feature they just recently added is the forum.

If you are looking for a way to get your business name out there check out Shelancers.

Not anymore…thanks to the this!

I heard about the Virtual Assistant Revolution right after I started Tishia Saves Time. I cant’ tell you how many times I’ve been ready to join but kept putting it off and putting it off for one reason or another. Recently I attended an open house they had and that was the night I knew it was time, that it was my time to join. I believe there’s always a right time for everything and in the past I wasn’t ready for the Rev but know that I am now.

It’s taken me over two years to get to the point where I’m really serious about my business. In the past I’ve been ok with how things were going but not anymore. I’m ready to step up my game, move out of my comfort zone, and revolutionize my business! I’m ready to become a highly sought after VA.

It’s an awesome community! 

I’m thrilled with the resources, mentoring and all around wonderful people that make up the Virtual Assistant Revolution community. It’s empowering and inspiring being around a group of successful VA’s, ones that have ‘been there done that’ and are willing to share what’s worked for them and what hasn’t. If you’re a VA, whether a newbie or seasoned pro, there’s something to benefit from joining the VA Revolution. I give it two thumbs up

Tricia asks:  

Tishia is there a service out there that you don’t know how to do but wish you could learn so that you can offer it to your clients?

Yes Tricia there is definitely something I wish I could offer my clients that I don’t. I do basic WordPress customization but I want to be able to do more in depth customization! I’ve been intrigued with WordPress ever since I started working with it. I love it but sometimes hate it too ;-)  Eventually I would like to learn more coding, etc so that I can offer more customizations. Until then, I’m enjoying the basic customization I do offer.

A Question for Tricia:

Now that your kids are out of school for the summer, how is this going to affect your schedule? Will you make changes to accommodate your kids being home or will you still work the same hours you have been?

How often do you check your email?  And does checking your email really seem to eat up your time?

I suppose I have to answer this question honestly don’t I? This is one of my downfalls, but I’m working on it every day. I’m obsessive about checking my email. It used to be I was ok with only checking in the morning and then in the afternoon.

Once my business began to grow and I had more emails coming in it was a bit overwhelming opening my email first thing in the morning and seeing all that I needed to deal with. So I picked up a bad habit…leaving my email program open all the while I was online. It’s very distracting and a habit I certainly don’t recommend! Having it open at all times makes reading and responding to emails even more time consuming, in my opinion than if you just schedule say an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon.

I’m back to only checking it in the morning and afternoon. Ok well I’m working really hard on only checking it twice a day! I schedule 1 hour every day for checking my email first thing in the morning. I schedule 30 minutes every day for checking my email in the afternoon (I have more in the mornings than in the afternoon).

When I know that I have a certain amount of time scheduled to deal with email, it keeps me more focused and on target. When I was in the habit of leaving it open all day, it was too time consuming because I would stop what I was doing when I saw that an email had come in.

I think I got a bit wordy on answering that question. I didn’t mean to ramble so much and I hope it made some sort of sense to you Tricia. Now I have another question for you.

A question for Tricia:

Now that you’ve been working as a VA for awhile, what’s the one piece of advice you would give another newbie coming into this market? 

Take the Quiz!

Read each question and then rate them using the 1-5 scale. One meaning I don’t agree and five being I totally agree.

I have a website that would benefit from fresh content.

1 2 3 4 5

I have a podcast with audio archives.

1 2 3 4 5

I provide teleseminars full of information.

1 2 3 4 5

I sell information products.

1 2 3 4 5

I know someone (myself, a customer, etc) that prefers to read instead of listen to audio.

1 2 3 4 5

If you scored 20-25 points you definitely should hire a transcriptionist. You understand the benefits of doing so and what a transcriptionist can do for your business. Go for it!

If you scored 15-19 points you may want to hire a transcriptionist but you are still unsure of how such a simple thing will bring forth any business benefits. Give it a try!

If you scored 14 or fewer points hiring a transcriptionist may not be for you. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t - it just means you need to take some time to consider it before making a final decision. Take your time!

Not every business person will benefit from hiring a transcriptionist and while some will agree that a transcriptionist is a business expense that can be skipped, there are those that understand how a transcriptionist can help them build their business with fresh content, printable material, etc. Each and every business person has their own individual needs so you will have to make your decision based on your needs.

Now that you’ve made your decision it’s time to put your plan into action and start looking for a transcriptionist that will meet your needs.

Tricia’s Question for Me:

If you had to hire an intern what qualities would you look for in an intern?

There are several different qualities I would look for in an intern. The main characteristics I would look for in a person applying for an internship with me (if I were to offer one) are:

• self-starter
• eager to learn
• certain amount of time (ex: 10 hours) to devote each week to the internship
• ethical
• good communicator
• follows instructions
• a new VA just starting out or someone interested in starting a VA business

The last thing I would look for in a possible intern would be someone that I could potentially use as my backup VA and partner with them on future projects such as information products, audio recordings, teleseminars, etc. In other words, someone that I could work side by side with that would be an asset to me and my business.

Another great question from Tricia and I look forward to the next one she sends my way.

A question for Tricia:

What marketing tool(s) have you found to be the most beneficial to you in getting your name out there and obtaining new clients?