It’s time for another question in my CBC (cross blog conversation) with Tricia of Time Saver VA. Last time Tricia answered my question of what her ‘perfect’ internship would be so it’s only fitting that her question for me this week has to do with interns. If you are just joining us, please check out our first conversation so you can follow along.

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?

My friend and fellow Virtual Assistant Tricia Gardner of Time Saver VA and I have continued our cross blog conversation. If this is your first time visiting, you can go here to read the beginning of our CBC.

This time Tricia asked me:

Name five sites where you have learned the most about becoming a VA and working from home. Why were these sites so important and what kind of information did you get from them?

Once again Tricia has provided me with a great question! And she’s gonna make me think this time around I should know this right off the top of my head but I can only think of a couple. So I might not be able to provide you a list of five, but I’ll give it my best shot!

Sites I have used & I recommend:

• Mom Masterminds - I can’t even begin to explain what information is available here because there is so much! It’s a paid membership site for moms and it’s worth every penny. In fact I just recommended this site to another one of my friends that is starting a VA business. I told her if she was going to invest any money into her business I highly recommend investing in a membership at Mom Masterminds. Not only is it full of learning resources but the mentoring forum is full of so many wonderful successful business owners that are willing to give you support, feedback, etc.
• Internet Based Moms - This isn’t specifically geared towards VA’s but it has a lot of information about working from home. It’s an interactive message board where you can ask questions and receive feedback. It’s free to join and has lots of helpful information. I’ve even picked up a couple jobs from other members that frequent this site.
• Just Online Jobs - Again this isn’t geared specifically towards VA’s but the information about working from home here is helpful. This site is more about telecommuting jobs but I’ve found it very helpful and just recently there was a section added to the site specifically for VA’s.
• VA Networking - I haven’t utilized this site as much as I should but the few times I have visited it and used the message board I was impressed. Unlike the other sites mentioned, this one is geared toward Virtual Assistants only. Although I’ve been impressed with the site I have to say that I also feel overwhelmed when on the message board. There is so much information there that I often don’t know where to start & just end up not reading any of the posts.

Well, Tricia I know you asked me for five sites but I honestly can’t think of a fifth one off the top of my head. I hope that the four I’ve listed give you a good idea of what each individual site offers and the type of information you can pick up there.

I leave Tricia with this question:

If you could have someone take you under their wing as an intern what thing(s) would you want to learn? In other words, what would be the perfect intern opportunity for you as a ‘newbie’?

Tricia of Time Saver VA and I started a cross blog conversation awhile ago but I think both of us kind of dropped the ball on keeping up with it. I’m happy to say that we’ve picked it back up. I love getting Tricia’s question and responding to hers!

If you missed our first conversation you can check out my response to her question (and see what question I asked her) here. And don’t forget to check out Tricia’s blog to see her answer to my first question.

The next question Tricia has asked:

What do you use to keep track of your hours and clients projects?

Another good question Tricia! To keep track of my time I use a program called Time Stamp. I’ve used Time Stamp since the beginning, never tried anything else and probably never will. I love it. It’s simple to use and easy to understand.

As for keeping track of client projects I do a couple different things. I have a planner that I keep on my desk and every Sunday I sit down and write out the client projects for that week. Every night before I go to bed I’ll check the next day’s projects and fill in anything that I might of missed on Sunday. I love having a planner on my desk to write my daily to do lists in. In my planner I include anything that pertains to Caleb and I - it’s not just client projects. Writing all our stuff in helps me to see what hours I have available over the week if someone is looking for a last minute project to be done, etc. I rely mostly on this method. And I love having a planner right on my desk with the week filled out because then if someone calls me about a project (or even if a friend calls & wants to go to lunch) I just flip to that date and I can see right away whether I have the time or not.

I also use Google Calendar. I love using this because I assign different colors to my clients and have a calendar for every one of them. I have to admit that even though I do love Google calendar, I haven’t been using it as much lately.

And then I also have a big calendar (one of those big desk calendars that you can get at Wal-Mart or an office supply store for like $7.00 or something) that hangs on my wall next to my desk. Again, I don’t use this as often as I used to.

So I guess my answer could of been a lot easier if I would of just wrote that I use my daily planner for keeping track of client projects. LOL!

Ok Tricia it’s your turn now!

Where do you see yourself taking your business over the next year? By this I mean do you have plans for starting a newsletter, releasing any info products, etc.

I’ve been talking with Tricia Gardner of Time Saver VA for quite awhile about doing a CBC. We both loved the idea of taking my experience of being a VA for the past couple years and her being a ‘newbie’ and interacting with some conversation. But, I kept putting it off and putting it off because of not having this site all set up perfectly and the way I want it yet.

The topic of co-promotion came up on Mom’s Morning Show where I’m one of the several crew members we have there. A challenge was thrown at me, that week, to get out of my comfort zone and contact someone about co-promotion. Instantly the idea of the CBC conversation with Tricia popped into my head so I contacted her and here we are.

Here is Tricia’s first question to me:

“When you decided to become a VA what was your thought process? How did you decide this was what you wanted to do?”

Tricia what a great question! And to answer that, it’s kind of funny how my thought process really went.

Kelly McCausey, queen of Podcasting, and I used to live in the same town (and my son and I even lived with her and her son for a couple years) and I watched her begin her home based business and always thought in the back of my head wow that’s so cool. One day after my hours had been cut to part time hours at my job, Kelly approached me and asked me if I would like to be her VA. Back then I had never even heard of a VA or what a VA did.

I honestly have to say that I didn’t have a big thought process going on about all this. I didn’t think I would leave my job as an Optometrist Assistant to work from home. As a single mom I never imagined it was a possibility. But the more I got involved in working with Kelly and working out of my home office, I started to wonder how it could become a reality.

Again I have to give credit and a lot of thanks to Kelly. She was pretty well known in the WAHM (work at home mom) community and when she started mentioning my name, things began happening and moving along pretty quickly! The next thing I know I was leaving my job and coming home full time!

To answer the second part of your question, how did I know this is what I wanted to do, it just felt right. I had peace about it. I loved learning new things, I loved working with all the other small business owners (all WAHM’s) and knowing that by offering my services to them I was saving them time and helping them to be able to focus on other more important aspects of their business.

So Tricia I leave you with this question:

As a ‘newbie’ VA what is the one thing you find yourself struggling with most?

Many people have yet to realize the benefits that hiring a transcriptionist can bring them and their business. In fact, many people see hiring a transcriptionist as a business expense that that they just can’t foot the bill for. Not everyone - but a lot of people feel this way. What about you? Should you hire a transcriptionist?

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.