If you have worked in one or both of these systems and are confident that your skill sets are proficient to expert, please email me at info @ virtualassistantindustry.com, subject line “Click Bank”.

Please feel free to send this information to someone you know who is expert in these systems.

Thank you!

Denise Griffitts, Virtual Assistance Industry Expert

These are online resources that will help you develop, gain knowledge, find new information and absorb new ideas.

Enjoy!

This Weeks Recommended Resource

WordPress Tip of the Day is a free video podcast from the “Internet Genius” Ben Cope that delivers high-quality video training for WordPress in 5 minutes or less every day in a format that is easy to follow, easy to understand, and always free!

I will be interviewing Lisa Manyon of Write On Creative next month on the Your Partner In Success Radio Show. Lisa shared a wonderful online tool that she has created that helps you create a professional press release for you and your clients.

Lisa’s free online tool Write On Creative Press Release Producer gives you a beautifully formatted press release in two simple steps. All you have to do is imput your information in the form fields and hit the “display My Press Release”. Lisa also gives you some great free goodies when you use her free press release tool.

Lisa Manyon Press Release Case Study

Where To Post Your Press Release

There are several free and not so free press release sites that can drive a lot of traffic to your website. Just Google the phrase “press release distribution” and you will find links to free and paid services. Here are a few that we use.

Free Press Release — Be sure to read their tips page before posting.

PR Log

PR Web – Sign up is free, but press release distribution is not. See this page for pricing information.

I get a lot of targeted responses from press releases that we post on Fast Pitch! It is free to join Fast Pitch, but to use some of the tools such as press, events, etc. you do need to upgrade to their paid subscription. I highly recommend upgrading!

I would love to see press releases you create with this tool so please feel free to come back here and post a link to it!

To train with Denise Griffitts to become a highly technically savvy, highly paid, highly sought-after Virtual Assistant please visit Virtual Assistance University.

**You have permission to reprint in your publication or to your website/blog any articles by Denise Griffitts found on this Website as long as Denise Griffitt’s name and contact information is included. Denise Griffitts, Virtual Assistance Industry Expert, http://askdenisegriffitts.com, info @ virtualassistantindustry.com, 888-719-6711.

This post is going to explore how accessible your business phone should be.

Recently I was given a couple of recommendations for (insert service here) by somebody whose judgment I trust. I called both people and had no problems at all connecting with the first person on that very short list.

However, the second recommended business person would not allow my blocked number call to go through. Now understand that my phone number is blocked for some very legitimate reasons, one being that if my direct phone number became widely known, I would never get anything done. That number is given to my clients and team members. Period. My toll free number is published on all my websites/blogs and is embedded into my business emails. We are easy to get in touch with!

Now, I really did want to speak with this person about a project for a client and just kept going down the numbers given me until I reached a toll free number where I was relieved to be able to leave a message. That was three days ago.

This is where the accessibility question comes in.

Today my call was finally returned and when I mildly expressed my concern with not being able to reach this person’s business phone I was treated to fairly huffy explanation of their reasons. When I explained why my number is blocked (remember now, I have several reasons, all of them legitimate) the response was, “Well that’s weird.” Not a great start to a working relationship.

So my question is, why would a business, whether brick and mortar, or home-based block callers who may not want to show their phone number right away? Isn’t this where voice mail become a wonderful business tool? I have to wonder just how much potential business this person is actively turning away by refusing to accept calls.

Your thoughts?

**You have permission to reprint in your publication or to your website/blog any articles by Denise Griffitts found on this Website as long as Denise Griffitt’s name and contact information is included. Denise Griffitts, Virtual Assistance Industry Expert, http://askdenisegriffitts.com’ info @ virtualassistantindustry.com, 888-719-6711.

For example, one of your vendors or contractors might not charge much per hour, but will take longer to complete each task, thus costing you more than a more expensive, but more efficient vendor. Or you might discover that small changes to communication process and work flow result in large productivity gains.

By tracking your team’s productivity, you will know when your team members are overworked and when they are underworked and adjust their work loads accordingly. You will also be able to identify and eliminate various online time-wasters and distractions your team deals with. Finally, by tracking how much time your team spent on each task, you can better quantify and analyze each task’s ROI.

Another benefit of productivity and time tracking in a team environment is that you will build a knowledge base of time requirements for different types of tasks and projects. This will help you create very accurate time and budget estimates for future projects.

I use an online productivity tool called Rescue Time (available for Mac and Windows) that allows me to easily and effortlessly track how productive my team members are each day.

Rescue Time actually allows you to specify a period of time you want to focus on the projects at hand and will block the parts of the web that you tend to go to without thinking or planning. You can set the number of hours you want to spend in a day on a particular site and Rescue Time will alert you on your email, RSS reader, or by SMS when you run out of time. You can create groups and compare your online stats with other users. There are Rescue Time widgets for blogs, iGoogle, and Netvibes. You can also create a white-list of sites that you want Rescue Time to pay attention to.

Check out the free trial here and please be sure to let me know your thoughts on this tool after you have used it for a while.

* To train with Virtual Assistance Industry Expert Denise Griffitts to become a highly paid, highly sought after Virtual Assistant Professional call 888-719-6711 or visit Virtual Assistance University.

Question

I recently lost my job as an Administrative Assistant in a small company and decided to become a Virtual Assistant. I have been trying to find clients and recently downloaded one of your teleseminars where you were talking about niches.  How do I find a profitable niche?

Karen, Bronx, NY

Answer

Good morning Karen. This is a question that we hear frequently and as I hear it, you are actually asking two questions even though one may be undefined, and that is “How do I find clients?” We will tackle that thorny question in future posts so please bookmark this site and return often to ask questions and browse the answers that other Virtual Assistants are asking. You can also get blog updates delivered to your email box by subscribing to this site.

The first request I would make of you is that you sit down with a piece of paper and a pen and clearly determine what both your hard and soft skills are as well as where your true interests and passions lie.  By  assessing your own interests, work style, skills, and personality characteristics you will see patterns emerge that offer clarity about which services you would be passionate about offering. It will also offer clues to where you may need further training in order to achieve the success in your industry that you crave. Keep in mind that working in a traditional brick and mortar office is vastly different then working with a client, or clients, remotely. I cannot stress this enough!

Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills

In the business world, “hard skills” are technical or administrative procedures related to an organization’s core business. For example if you are a Excel spreadsheet expert, this is a skill that is easy to observe, quantify and measure. 

“Soft skills”, however are difficult to observe, quantify and measure. Soft skills can be defined as “people skills” and are very critical to your Virtual Assistance practice either growing and thriving, or never becoming a viable practice at all.

When assessing your hard and soft skills, be very honest with yourself. On the hard skill, or technical side of the sheet, are you listing systems or processes that you have worked with a little but are by no means expert in? List them, but make a note letting yourself know that if these skills are what you would like to base your Virtual Assistance practice on, that you will enroll in a training program that focuses on the area of highest need.

Soft skills are needed for everyday life just as much as they are needed for business. Honestly assess how well you communicate with other people, with emphasis given to telephone and email interaction. Remember, you are working remotely and this is how you will communicate with both your clients and other team members or consultants if you are in a multi-VA team environment.  Give serious consideration to the following soft skills and add your own where appropriate:

• Communication
• Listening
• Engaging in dialogue
• Giving feedback
• Cooperating as a team member
• Problem solving
• Conflict resolution
• Proactive innovation
• Decision making
• Planning
• Delegating
• Instructing
• Observing
• Coaching
• Encouragement and motivation
• Team building

Once you have clearly defined what your current skills are, what areas require further training or coaching and most importantly, where your true passion lies, you can formulate a plan to focus on those clients/markets that most interest you and will continue to interest you over the life of your practice.

To train with Denise Griffitts to become a highly technically savvy, highly paid, highly sought-after Virtual Assistant please visit Virtual Assistance University.

**You have permission to reprint in your publication or to your website/blog any articles by Denise Griffitts found on this Website as long as Denise Griffitt’s name and contact information is included. Denise Griffitts, Virtual Assistance Industry Expert, http://askdenisegriffitts.com, info @ virtualassistantindustry.com.