Archive for the ‘Virtual Assistant’ Category

My name is Caroline M. Jarzabek and I’m a Virtual Assistant.

Sounds like something from AA, but honestly, being a VA is like an addiction. One that I’m very passionate about.

My next greatest joy is software and learning new skills, this too is  like an addiction to me. I enjoy expanding my knowledge and accumulating new productivity tools.

I have been in Administration for more about 30 years and I love it. I can’t imagine doing anything else.

My main objective in this Blog is to try and pass along some information that I find helpful to my business and hopefully you will find useful in yours as well.

This was posted on CVAC (Canadian Virtual Assistant Connection) and I thought this was really valuable information. Some of this I hadn’t thought of either. I want to thank Diane Coville for sharing with us.

There has been a flurry of activity on the CVAC board with others who have either had similar things happen to them or friends and family who have.

GPS
A couple of weeks ago a friend told me that someone she knew had their car
broken into while they were at a football game. Their car was parked on the
green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to
football fans. Things stolen from the car included a garage door remote
control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the
dashboard.

When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked
and just about everything worth anything had been stolen.

The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the
garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house.
The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time
the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to
clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty
the house of its contents.

Something to consider if you have a GPS – don’t put your home address in it.
Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station) so you can still find
your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live if
your GPS were stolen.

MOBILE PHONES
I never thought of this…….
This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile
phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell
phone, credit card, wallet… Etc…was stolen.

20 minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling him
what had happened, hubby says ‘I received your text asking about our Pin
number and I’ve replied a little while ago.’

When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money
was already withdrawn. The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to
text ‘hubby’ in the contact list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20
minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.
Moral of the lesson:

Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact
list.

Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc….
And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts,
CONFIRM by calling back.

Also, when receive a  text from friends or family to meet them somewhere, be
sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them.

A few weeks ago, I received an email newsletter from someone that I didn’t know. I noticed that it was a fairly local phone number, so decided to email to find out where this person had met me and/or how she got my information.

This person emailed back and stated, that she had found my information on the BWNA (Business Women’s Networking Association) directory.

I immediately, emailed back and very politely asked if she could please remove me from her list – simple request.

This person wrote back, quite upset that I had opted out of her emails and stated that was the reason people’s names were on the directory so that they could be contacted and to promote business. She then went on in a little tirade that she was quitting the group because of this.

I’ve actually asked quite a few people to stop sending me email that I didn’t sign up for (another two today) without this sort of response.

Now, I ask you, is it me or is this just plain rude to harvest names from a directory and start sending email, newsletters, beg for business, etc. especially when you have never met the person?

I found this neat little tool http://www.printgreener.com/ that lets you edit a document before you print it and best of all it is a free download.

GreenPrint scans print jobs and removes pages that it determines are a waste, like web pages with just one line of text, advertisements and unwanted graphics.

It resides in your printers folder so that you can use this with any program that you have on your computer.

You can preview your print job and remove pages or specific text and even print to PDFs.

Another neat feature is that it will track how much paper, money and greenhouse gases you have saved.

To learn more about GreenPrint, click here. or watch a demo of GreenPrint.

I am passionate about being a Virtual Assistant and working on client projects.

It is true what they say about being a business owner, you spend more time working “in” your business and not enough time working “on” your business.

So today, I took a couple of hours out to do just that, work on my business, and updated my web site. It feels wonderful getting the few tweaks done that I’ve been meaning to get to for ages.

I hope that you will stop by and take a look.

Feeling Like There’s Never Enough Time to Let Your Hair Down With Some Friends?

Maybe You Just Haven’t Found the Right Kind of R ‘n R!

What if we told you about a new kind of get-together for Virtual Assistants and other Virtual Pros? A casual kind of party that:

• Worked around YOUR schedule?
• Was so much fun you wanted to go back for more?
• Lasted all day and all night so you could come and go as you pleased?
• Had no dress code, no expectations, and no pressure to do or say anything?
• Had fabulous door prizes just for showing up?
• Cost NOTHING?

Sound like your kind of party?

Good! Because starting August 28th until the end of the year you can do all of the above and more.

You’re Invited to the VAnetworking Never Ending Birthday Bash!

And if you are a Virtual Assistant or even just thinking about becoming one, there’s a lot to celebrate:

• 5 years in at VAnetworking.com and people just like you have made us the warmest place on the web for Virtual Assistants globally.
• VAnetworking.com Forums are a community that VAs from around the world have come to rely on for support, camaraderie and invaluable industry knowledge and know-how.
• A membership base of 10,000+ makes VAnetworking.com the largest professional online network for Virtual Assistants—that’s networking you can take to the bank! (And many here have.)
• Being “five” means VAnetworking.com offers a comprehensive array of both FREE and paid services to Virtual Assistants. From sophisticated eSeminars to incredible downloads to a huge network of helpful VAs, we’ve got every need covered for every kind of VA.
• Our new premium membership package—VAinsiders—is wrapping up its first year as the hottest professional membership going for Virtual Assistants around the world.

So put away the email, shove aside the client work (for just a little while) and join the VAnetworking.com Never Ending Birthday Bash … VIRTUALLY!

Just imagine, you get to party every night—heck every week—whenever it suits YOU and YOUR schedule for then next not 5, not 10, not 15 but 20 WEEKS! Talk about the network that never sleeps!

And it’s all just a click away. Any time you need a break, the party will be happening over at VAnetworking.com’s exclusive Party Hall.

Look forward to attending our Birthday Bash knowing that you can:

• Wear whatever you want (elusive “perfect” outfit be gone!)
• Whoop it up while the kids are sleeping (no babysitter required).
• Eat or drink or listen to WHATEVER you want while you have fun.

Oh yeah, did we mention the festivities are totally FREE? You need only be a member of VAnetworking.com Forum (also FREE) to attend.

We can’t divulge all the super cool activities, events and unbelievable prizes that will be going on for the next 20 weeks straight starting August 27th, but we can tell you that you’d be crazy to miss out!

If this sounds like something you could get into (and really, what VA couldn’t?), then RSVP NOW:

Virtual Assistant Networking Events, Birthday Bash Celebration

Extraordinary plans are being made for FoVA ’09 and I can tell you that we have an incredible program shaping up for you! 

Mark your calendars!

FoVA ’09 will take place June 4 – 7, 2009 in Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada. http://www.niagarafallstourism.com/

To our U.S. colleagues, you can fly in to Buffalo, NY and just cross the bridge!! No need for inflated “international” airfare rates! (You’ll still need a passport though so if you don’t have one, be sure to get one before next spring.)

Come see one of the 7 Wonders of the World!!

In addition to our newly expanded 2009 Forum program, we also have 4 amazing Full Day One-of-a Kind Workshops being offered Pre-Conference on Wednesday June 3^rd! You may never get the chance to participate in these Workshops in person at any other event!

I don’t want to spoil any surprises but I can tell you that we already have commitments from some unbelievably huge VA industry leaders!! 

Check out these names:

Michelle Jamison of MJVA and Associates -  Author and Multi VA Business Guru!

Erin Blaskie of Business Services, ETC – VA Coach and Expert on Passive Income Extraordinaire! … and

Kathie Thomas of Award-winning “A Clayton’s Secretary”® VA Coach, Speaker and Author of the very popular “Worth More Than Rubies” coming all the way from Australia!!! Outstanding!!

(I have 1 other very special guest lined up but I’ll tell you about that next time. J  I can’t let you in on ALL of my secrets now can I?)

To top things off, we will be offering a mini French FoVA Forum for our bilingual colleagues. Imagine a whole day of French Workshops designed and delivered “en français” just for bilingual VA’s!!

FoVA started as a dream for Canadian VAs. It blossomed into a North American event and is turning into a Global Forum!  

If you are serious about your VA business, our industry as a whole and want to meet, network and collaborate with some of the most important and influential VA’s in our industry, be sure to mark June 3 – 7, 2009 on your calendar.

We are working feverishly on the FoVA ’09 website which will provide you with all of the necessary details. We will let you know when that is available in the next several weeks.

We look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones in June 2009!!

It has been a while since I last posted to my Blog and I thought it was about time that I paid a little more attention to it

I’ve actually just found Windows Live Writer and I think that this new tool will make things so much easier for me to post. I love the fact that I can launch this from my desktop and there are so many cool additional plug-ins available as well. You might just want to check it out.

Where did I find out about Windows Live Writer? From Smashing Magazine – which I just love.

There is so much talk lately on the power of positive thinking and The Secret.

I truly believe that we can empower ourselves to rise to the top with a positive mind set.

Keep negative thinking out of the picture and focus on the positive and good in everything in life.
Those who are successful understand that there is power in their thoughts. Power to draw positive results, create realities and tear down the walls that are holding us back. There is true power to overcome the challenges we face each day. Don’t focus on the barriers that seem to stand in our way, eliminate them by focusing on what you dream of and what you want to achieve.

Your mind is a wonderful tool, use it to positively impact the changes that you want to see in your life.

I belong to several group forums, such as: VANA (Virtual Assistant Networking Association), CVAC (Canadian Virtual Assistant Connection) and The Revolution.

There have been quite a few posts lately from newbies on how to build a Virtual Assistant business.

I am such a strong advocate of networking. I believe that networking is the key to building any business.

Networking is about building relationships and that takes time, as does any solid relationship, whether it be personal or business.

I remember a couple of years ago, there was an entrepreneur who attended a couple of network events in the hopes of gaining business. This was a very talented lady and she could be very personable, but her attitude about networking was very poor. After the second time she attended this particular group, she announced that she wouldn’t be coming back as there wasn’t a business represented there that could afford her services.

Needless to say, this person is no longer in business and has since joined the work force again.

The thing is, these were businesses that were growing. These people were in several different network groups. The very thing that this person could not see was, that although, they may not have needed or could have afforded her services at that time, they may have down the road. There was also a very good possibility that they may have known someone who could have definitely used her services.

Networking is definitely key and so is attitude!

Build relationships, this is the foundation on which the rest of your business will flourish.