Virtual Nightmares – You are not alone out there!

October brings the scariest things to the store front; just go to any retail center and you will see all manner of ghosts, goblins, and large, hairy spiders on display. Last week, I was shopping with my two granddaughters, a six year-old that loves to push buttons and activate every scary thing within her reach, and a two year-old who is fearful of all the animated creatures that come to life at a push of a button or movement when walking by. While the six year old was having the best time ever, her little sister was crawling out of the shopping cart so she could bury her head in my chest!

In our virtual world, there is “scary stuff” always going around: viruses, trojans, malware, and spammers. There is another kind of monster that is not so apparent when you start dealing with them–the nightmare client that steals your work. There are virtual bad guys posing as paying clients that have you complete work for them and then do not pay. One way to avoid this happening to you is to require a non-refundable deposit, then, not releasing any project work until the invoice is satisfied. If you use PayPal, they could still file a report and get their funds returned—they have it all figured out. Even with careful investigation of clients before commitment, you can still get taken advantage of.

We all have stories, I’m sure. I am looking for short, real-life business horror stories from other Virtual Assistants and virtual professionals. I plan to compile them and make them available to new virtual assistants with self-confidence issues. My plan is to put a positive spin on the negatives we encounter. I may even take it to the next level and publish them. If you would like to submit a story, please comment to this blog or Email me: valuedservicevas@gmail.com please let me know if you would rather remain anonymous and keep the client’s details to yourself. I am looking for learning experiences of loss and recovery from a bad client-VA relationship and what you did to recover.

This works both ways, if you are a client and have a story to tell—I’ll publish it; all I ask is that you keep it respectful and no flaming!

One size fits all rabbit costume

One size fits all rabbit costume

Yikes! Hard Drive Failure; Online Backup Service to the Rescue!

There has been a lot of discussion on the Virtual Assistant forums I subscribe to about online backups so I watched the posts with great interest.  The two that received the most positive votes were Carbonite and  Mozy.  For ease of use, first-hand testimonials of real hard drive crashes and data file restoration, I felt that Carbonite was the ideal candidate for me.  I downloaded the free trial, and was so pleased that I paid for their service before the free trial period ended. Although many VAs have chosen Mozy and feel just as possionate about their services.

Now, all my data files have little colored circles (called dots) that tell me which files have been backed up.  A full green dot means the file was updated, yellow means the file backup is pending, a green “donut” means that only selected files in the folder have been backed up, and no dot means the folder is not selected for backup.  I do have the choice to turn the dots off to increase the processing speed if needed.  I just happen to like the dots!  A quick glance at the dots show me what files are backed up and others in various stages of progress.  An added bonus for me is I access folders buried deep inside sub-folders frequently and you can follow the yellow dots to the files you have been working on recently.  Not really a selling factor, but it works for me! (Follow the yellow dot road!)

Carbonite runs constantly in the background, and I have not noticed any performance issues.  You can change the settings to customize your backup times and files if you are having issues with performance or bandwidth speed. I found the help files easy to understand and implement; online tech support is also available.  I have been using it over a year and have been very happy with the service.  For extra security, I run a weekly local drive backup, to a hard drive I have installed just for that purpose. I once had an External Drive, but I blew it up in a mass electrical destruction of my laptop–but, that’s another story!

Just make sure you are backing up your data, you never know what will happen. Always think positive just remember, some things are out of your control!

5 Quick and Easy Strategies to Get Business Through Alliance Partners

Posted with permission from Rick Cooper, The PDA Pro (See his bio box at the end of this post)

Developing Alliance Partner Relationships:

Anytime you partner with another person, it is an informal joint venture or an alliance partnership. There are a lot of reasons to partner with other people in the business community.

Reasons to Joint Venture:

            • Pass referrals
            • Cross-promotion
            • Share resources
            • Make introductions
            • Encourage people

Approaching someone for a joint venture is easy. Networking is a great way to identify alliance partners. People who network are looking for people to work with. They want people they connect with and have something in common with.

The key is not to blow it out of proportion. When asking someone if they want to joint venture, don’t use the words ”joint venture”. It sounds too intimidating. It sounds like a lot of work.

Instead, ask people if they want to “partner”. Here’s a quick script you can use: “I’m looking for people to partner with. Would you like to get together and talk about ways we can help each other?” It’s low key and non-committal.

What are some of the ways you have partnered with others in the past?

Long-Term Relationships:

The key to building a successful long-term joint venture relationships is to take baby steps. Don’t try to create an elaborate plan on how to work together.

Set a goal to develop 3-5 alliance partner relationships.

Life happens. Some will work. Others will fall through.

Once you have an initial meeting, decide how often you want to chat. Monthly may be often enough. Weekly can be helpful if you set a short term goal for something you want to
accomplish.

Value your time. Keep your calls to about a half hour or less. Stay focused and on task. Decide the primary purpose for working together.

Make a list of 5 people you can partner with.

What value can you offer them?

Partnership Opportunities:

Pass referrals – This is one of the simplest relationships to set up. Look for referral sources. Who has your customer? Look for complementary businesses who work with similar
customers as you do. Exchange referrals if possible. If you are unable to provide them referrals, then do something else to create value for your partner.

Eric Lofholm calls this a reciprocal referral relationship.

Cross-promotion – This can involve develop marketing materials, but it can also involve sending email messages to your list of contacts. Ask your partner for business cards and
marketing collateral to hand out.

Share resources – We live in a knowledge based economy. Information is at a premium. Ask what people need and then send them information that will help.

You have information at your fingertips. Consolidate that information. Keep it handy.

Make introductions – Become a connector of people. When you meet someone new, think about who you can introduce them to. Look for people who would fit together well. Connect with people through social networks and look for ways to help them.

In his famous book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell referred to super connectors.

The average person knows about 250 people. A super connector knows a lot of people. Some may know upwards of 10,000 people or more.

Encourage People - Life is challenging at times. Pick up the phone and share an encouraging word with someone. Send a greeting card just to say hello. Send an email with an
inspirational quote.

I hope you enjoyed this information. 

Rick S. Cooper, MBA, is The Attraction Marketing Expert. He works with entrepreneurs who want to grow their business. He helps them make more money and spend less time doing it. He specializes in working with Coaches, Speakers and Experts. Receive The 7 Steps to Attract your Ideal Clients (complimentary audio program) by visiting http://www.AttractClientsAudio.com

Validation Movie ~ SMILE!

This video is a must see. I found it this morning and felt compelled to share it with all my readers. It runs for 16:23 minutes and is worth every minute. Share it with someone who needs a pick me up.

http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1892182081

I’ve been Twitterpated!

I was at a live conference event yesterday and one of the questions that was asked was, “How many of you use Twitter?” There were around 160 people in the room, most of them young female business consultants. To my complete surprise only around 10 people raised their hands. Not even 10 % of the group!

I guess once you become “Twitterpated,” like me, you think everyone has heard of, or more likely, uses Twitter.  For those of you that need a definition, Twitter is a micro-blogging social networking tool that answers the question, “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less. Twitter is the reason my blog has been neglected, there are so many opportunities and interesting links to follow on Twitter that I exhaust myself trying to keep up. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however, it can become an addiction.

Twitter allows you to hyper-learn about business and affiliate opportunities, develop personal (albeit virtual) relationships, ask questions and get immediate answers. You can Twitter from your mobile device, follow conversations between people you admire, virtually experience any big networking event by following the “Tweeps” (your people) who are in attendance. There are free teleseminar announcements, job offers, causes, and just about anything else you can imagine going on all the time.

If you have not joined Twitter yet, it’s free and easy to do. Go to: www.twitter.com and sign up for the ride of your life. You can follow me here: www.twitter.com/Teri8D

New Twitter users have a variety of choices to organize and follow your “Tweeps.” I suggest downloading the FREE “Twitter Handbook” written by @CoachDeb and @WarrenWhitlock. The handbook explains the short history of social networking and introduces you to a multitude of free applications available to use with your Twitter account.

There is even an online dictionary at http://twictionary.pbwiki.com/ to look up any unknown and newly created “Twords” you may not understand. Not only that, but there are all kinds of time-wasters being broadcast on Twitter daily. Twitter is just plain fun and useful to use for business!

What are you doing?

Beautiful day in ♥ Colorado; grass is green sky is blue, scattered clouds. Pretty as a picture! Who could ask for more?

Joining the Blog Boost Giveaway! Pick me! Pick me! If you want to join: http://ping.fm/66D2l Great prizes to win.

Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum. I Smell the Blood …

I’ve been reading a lot of blogs lately, trying to figure out where I wanted to go with this one. I read a blog post by Stacy Brice, (author of Virtual Moxie) that really got my writing juices flowing. You can read her post here: http://www.virtualmoxie.com/2008/07/if-you-dont-wan.html She talks about discounting your fees for retainer clients and I never thought about it from her perspective before. (Thanks, Stacy!)

When you are setting up your business plan, you need to decide what your fee structure will be, and how much money per hour you need to clear to make it profitable. If you are like me, when I jumped on the scene, I didn’t have much experience with running my own business. When you set your hourly rate you have a lot to consider. (Disclaimer, I am not an accountant or tax consultant, and the laws vary depending on where you live, so always get professional advice.)

What is your cost of doing business? (This is your overhead.)

How much space does your office area take from your living area? You’ll have to do some math to figure the cost of your office space versus the living areas. For example, if you have 3,000 sq. ft. available in your home and your office takes up 75 sq. ft., that means you may be able to deduct that 75 sq. ft. from your mortgage or rent payment and that would be your office rent payment. This only works if you have a dedicated office space that is not used for any other reason. If you work from a laptop anywhere and everywhere in your house, this consideration would not be part of your overhead.

Other things to consider:
•    How much does your ISP charge you?
•    How much should you allow for electricity charges?
•    How much are your business phone & fax line charges?
•    Do you have a cell phone that is used for business purposes?
•    How much do you pay for office supplies?
•    How about your office equipment? (Includes printer supplies & paper.)
•    Do you have business insurance?
•    How much do you pay for continuing education?
•    How much do you pay for subscriptions or membership fees?
•    How much do your promotional items cost you? (Business cards, brochures, etc.)
•    What else should be included in your overhead?

Once you figure out the cost of doing business, then you need to decide how much money you want for your own paycheck. For example, $50.00 an hour sounds like a great wage to most starting out, but how much of that is actually going into your pocket as profit?

After you decide how much your hourly rate is, your next question should be how much can I discount my fees for retainer clients and still be profitable? Nina Feldman has a worksheet you can use on her website: http://ninafeldman.com/pricing-worksheet.htm One other thing to decide is, how much will I pay subcontractors? You need to have your rate set before you advertise your availabilty or make an offer to another VA.

For retainer clients, I did have a discounted plan depending on how many hours the client purchased. A lot of VA’s do this, but after reading Stacy’s blog (link above) I decided to listen to the voice of experience. Besides, it makes perfect sense. I am restructuring my fee schedule today and no longer discounting my rates for retainer clients! I am also making changes to my website, to reflect this change. I am not saying this is the only way to do business. I am saying it makes perfect sense to me; I’m the boss, so I am instituting the change for my own business model.

One big mistake I made when creating my business model, was offering a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Unfortunately, I didn’t think about a less-than-ethical client actually taking me up on this offer and demanding the money back. I had no choice but to refund the money, even though the client is using my intellectual property, because my website and scope of services proudly boasted my guarantee. I had no wording to the effect that retainer fees were not refundable. If you decide to offer a guarantee, make sure you can live with your decision and be prepared to return money whether it was earned or not. Oh well, live and learn! It was a costly lesson and it won’t happen again. Do your research and try to come up with all the possibilities for your fee structure. You won’t hit all the possible issues, but it’s better to be informed.

Severe Weather Alert! Thunderstorm w/large hail headed my way. Preparing to work offline for awhile!