Employee vs. VA subcontractor

There seems to be confusion still about how a VA differs from an employee, despite the fact that most of us will put some type of blurb on our websites about the differences. Wait a minute... I don't think I properly addressed that on my site www.girlfridayservicesofmaine.com. Alas, I have too many other exciting things going on there, so I'll just blog my thoughts on this hot topic of debate.

An employee typically is one who you pay X amount of dollars per hour, not including the employer paid proration of insurance premiums, training time, recruiting costs, the employment taxes, 401K contributions, vacation time, and sick days (I won't even go into the other things you pay x amount of dollars for like idle time, chit chat at coworkers desks, reading the paper, personal phone calls, texting, internet browsing...) oops its out of the bag now. What is all that really costing you per hour? And if you have a full time employee and work is slow - do you send them home? Not usually because you hired them as full time employees. The upside to all this? Company loyalty (we hope), someone to assist you 40 hours a week (unless they are out sick...). The downside - you are paying for nonproductive hours every week like it or not. Don't get me wrong, if you have enough work and can afford a full time assistant, by all means hire that full time assistant, its good for you and its good for them.

On the other hand if you cannot afford to hire a regular assistant, or have a project that goes beyond your time availability or skills then a VA could be the solution. A VA works for you on a strictly as needed basis. If you only need a VA to type and prepare a mail merge document, it will likely take them a fraction of the time it will take you to do it. If you have a big project that will take your full time assistant away from more important work, you can contract a VA to do just the special project and that's it. Maybe your assistant is on vacation and something has come up that simply cannot wait, call your VA. While a VAs price per hour may seem high to you, just remember that you are not paying to place a job posting ad to find them, you likely will not need to train them to perform the work you need done (but if so we are very quick learners), you do not pay employment taxes or any other costs for us (we pay our own taxes and insurance), you pay only for active work time (our clock stops when the phone rings, when we need to use the rest room, when we want a snack, etc) you ONLY pay for real productive work time (that's premium work), a VA works on a contract basis, if you don't like our work or the personalities just don't mesh well you can end the relationship there (you are not stuck with a hiring decision gone wrong), a VA works from home (off-site) and does not need to be provided with computer equipment to do the work (we have our own, thank you). A VA does not need to be micro managed, we are not your employees. Give us the work, explain the results you want and then let us go and do what we do best- getting it done, no matter what!

A recant of my opinion on free press releases

okay okay, so we all make quick assumptions and grumblings from time to time. I digress. I love free press release sites! My press release has been picked up locally and brought some very good things into my business so far.

Sometimes you do get more than what you paid for. I guess it just depends on what you are putting out there and how much passion you have for what it is you are doing.

Please contact me at girlfridayservices08@yahoo.com if you want to discuss a press release for your business!

Take care.

Press Releases take two

To say I'm not impressed is a major understatement. The URL they gave me for my blog didn't work. I go back and view my press release and they cut off part of my release even though I was within the character limits, no name in the source even though I put it in. So as the old saying goes "you get what you pay for".

Prospective clients, don't ask me to submit a press release for you unless you are prepared to pay for the site's premium or upgraded (paid) submission, bad press isn't any better than no press in my book.


Perhaps this link will work:
http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200809/1222053489.html

Press Releases

Okay so there are a couple of sites out there that offer free press releases, but most will only say free to indicate that registering as a user on their site is free. However to actually submit a press release costs you money. For a small business just starting out, sometimes doling out money for a press release that may or may not be read by your target audience is a bit hard to swallow. I submitted my first press release for MAVA (The Maine Association of Virtual Assistants) with i-newswire. It was quick, easy and yes it was free. It actually popped right up within a day when I googled Maine Association of Virtual Assistants for.... about a day. After that I had to search a little for it. So I'm trying this new one with www.free-press-release.com and going with the free submission, though they try hard to get you to upgrade to the premier press release. I'm curious to see how this one goes. You can find it here I think:

http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200809/1222053489.html' target='_blank'>Press Release: Announcing the Maine Association of Virtual Assistants

If you have problems accessing it, please leave me a comment letting me know. Thanks

Have a great Monday tomorrow.

Benefit of being a Virtual Assistant

Okay so today I realized one of the biggest benefits of running a virtual assistant business- being able to work at home on days that you don't feel well!
I woke up this morning not feeling well, but not bad enough that I would have stayed home. However as the day progressed, I was not able to focus on my work at my "day job", was increasingly feeling worse and ended up leaving at noon.

If I was working this VA business full time that would allow me to rest, work, rest, read, rest, work, rest and so on, so that I could get through the day, be a little productive but also be able to take it easy without constant interruptions, constant fires to put out etc.

What benefit does that offer my clients? When I go home sick, I'm still at the office - my "virtual" office. I can easily take my laptop to the couch or to my bed; wherever it is that I need to just place my body to rest, but yet still allow my mind to tend to the work at hand.

Announcing Maine Association of Virtual Assistants

Attention all Virtual Assistants in the State of Maine!

My name is Marie and I own and operate Girl Friday Services of Maine, a virtual assistance business in Bowdoinham, Maine. I'd like to welcome you to a new state based membership organization for virtual assistants; the Maine Association of Virtual Assistants (MAVA). I believe it is going to be one of the first organizations of its kind. As of this date the closest organizations I have found are the International Association of Virtual Office Assistants and the Virtual Assistant Chamber of Commerce, both of which cater to virtual assistants on a much broader scale nationally and internationally, and the Delaware Valley Virtual Assistants Association serving New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. But what do we have here in Maine? A couple dozen virtual assistants scattered across the state with nowhere to turn for guidance, networking, referrals, and partnerships on a more personal level. Don't get me wrong, it is awesome to have the power of the internet to bring you information from the very top leading VAs and online business experts in our country and believe me I glean all the information I can from them too.

However, what I was seeking was a closer knit network of individuals who would understand the ups and downs of running a virtual business in Maine, the frustrations of trying to market a high tech virtual assistance service to a workforce that has relied heavily on self reliance through the years. I think it was ingrained in me as a little girl to work hard (that's what a good employee or business owner did) and I have all my life. The business community needs to be made aware of our industry and the value that we can provide to them in their business and their lives. It is amazing how we can simplify operations and bring such a tremendous value to the daily lives of busy individuals. The Association is still in the beginning stages and I welcome participation and input from other Virtual Assistants. I don’t want MAVA to only serve me, I want it to serve all of us, to be created by all us and nurtured by all of us so that it can be the best source of support and information on Virtual Assistance in the state.

I first stumbled upon the term virtual assistant this summer in a book about home businesses. It was just a short 2 or 3 paragraph blurb explaining how a virtual assistant was an independent entrepreneur who served busy people such as small business owners who could not afford a full time assistant and teachers, executives etc., with administrative services conducted from their own virtual office (usually in their home). It went on to talk about how VAs service their clients, such as through email, document sharing on the internet, faxing, phone and sometimes even locally in person. But the amazing thing I learned was that virtual assistants aren't restricted to a local market region. In fact, a VA could service clients clear across the world, all through modern technology. I had worked from home on the computer before, I was well versed in working with word processing and internet usage I could do that. I had never heard of a virtual assistant before and wasn’t aware of any others in the area who provided such a service. As time went on and I began joining networking organizations and freelance sites on the web I would always see one or a few listed in Maine through sites such as VA Networking, Elance.com, and VA4U. I would see some of the same names, then a few new ones scattered here and there. In looking at the Elance listing of providers, so many of us have gone that route and very few have made any money at it. A few of us have websites, many do not. Some of us have lots of information on these directory listings and some have very little like just a link through the networking site but no real way to contact you. If you are reading about this Association for the first time now, that means I could not find any contact information for you to send my announcement directly to you. How are your clients finding you? Do you have enough clients without proper marketing of your service? If so, I’d love to hear how you did that and I’m sure others in Maine would as well.

That’s exactly what I want to see for the Maine Association of Virtual Assistants, a membership organization where virtual assistants can network and learn from each other, support each others’ businesses and help each other grow and develop. I want our membership to be a source of inspiration and guidance for emerging virtual assistants. Someone who has 20 years experience and is a whiz at typing and secretarial work may wish to work for themselves but lack the knowledge of how to market themselves adequately to make that wish a reality. We can help one another. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses individually but together we can accomplish and overcome so much more.

With such a vast global market area, we are not in competition with each other we are merely working alongside one another. Wouldn’t it be great if six months to a year from now you could talk to anyone in the state and say you are virtual assistant and not get that confused and dazed look in their eyes because they don’t know what a virtual assistant is? I think so. If they don’t really know what a VA is, how will they ever be open to seeing the value one can provide?

Please contact me at girlfridayservices08@yahoo.com or by phone at 207-841-5523 anytime to discuss the Association, its member benefits or how to become a member. Feedback and comments on this article is welcomed. www.girlfridayservicesofmaine.com.

When a good idea hits a Virtual Assistant

Okay, so at 10:00 am yesterday as I was chit chatting with a co-worker an idea hit me. A wonderfully awesome, terrific idea! Okay, so what happens when a wonderfully awesome, terrific idea hits someone who is a virtual assistant? It sparks a fire inside them that is not easily quenched. I could think of little else until about 1:00 a.m. when I finally made myself shut down the computer from my frantic work to start putting this idea into action and go to bed. Then I proceeded to toss and turn and wake frequently throughout the night thinking about this wonderfully awesome, terrific idea that wouldn't let me rest.

Nothing against pit bulls I love the few I've met (they were sweethearts), but I'm like a stereotypical angry pitbull on your leg when I get an idea that I think is good. Like when I decided to become a virtual assistant in July of this year. I literally was up until 2-3:00 a.m. every night for about 3 weeks straight, I think I sprouted a few new gray hairs at that time. I couldn't get enough information into me, I couldn't learn enough new things, couldn't satisfy the urgency to learn and do many new things and develop my skills beyond what they currently were.

So, this wonderfully awesome, terrific idea of mine???? I'll devote a whole blog to it next. It's going to be great!

Why the name Girl Friday?

I thought I'd write a little about why I chose the name Girl Friday. First off though, I probably wouldn't have chosen it if I had researched the name a bit further. There are at least 4 other Girl Fridays in Maine with various versions of the name. In fact, I didn't realize just how big the virtual assistant industry was, even in little ole Maine. However, maybe that is just a wake up call that we VA's need to get the word out there. I still get confused looks when I mention to someone what I do. We owe it to ourselves and our businesses to market the VA industry as much as possible. It's such a valuable service in this time crunched society.

What better or more valuable gift can you provide to someone then helping a small business owner with the paperwork so that he can call it quits by 5pm and go home to have a nice dinner with his family, help with homework, enjoy a long ago favorite tv show with his spouse and help tuck the kiddos into bed. I wonder how many small business owners miss out on these valuable family times because they feel they need to get this paperwork done tonight, need to get these invoices out, have to place this order for more supplies... too many is my guess.

So anyways on to the topic of this post. Why I chose Girl Friday. It was a natural choice and not one that I even considered. I didn't sit down with the idea to start a virtual assistant business and wonder what I should call it. I just immediately thought of Girl Friday Services. Then I set up my email and domain name for a future website and Girl Friday Services of Maine was born.

A girl friday to me represents an office worker, let's face it typically a female administrative employee, who does just about everything in the office. A girl friday to me means someone who learns every aspect of the office or business operation, does a cracker jack job with them all, can fix anything, do anything and still be a likable person with a good, sometimes sarcastic, sense of humor. That's me all over. At least in my mind.

Whether it is fixing the printer, dealing with a vendor, soothing an anxious co-worker, finding a file (well sometimes that one proves tough to do), producing a deed in 20 minutes, closing a million dollar real estate transaction, maintaining the fish tank, throwing a party, typing a letter, and on and on and on I can do it as a typical girl friday should be able to do.

That's why I offer so many services (see: www.girlfridayservicesofmaine.com ) its because I have experience and proficiency with them all and I like to do all of those things. I may need to narrow down my offerings when this business gets busier and my time is limited. But for now I'll just continue to do what I do best help others succeed, save time, earn money, be more efficient. Let me be your girl friday and see what amazing results we can produce.

Speech Tips For Transcription

Written for me after probably the 1,000th sigh of aggravation while transcribing an audio recording.

For many of you reading this you are probably wondering why somebody would write an article on how to speak. First of all this is mostly intended for people who intend to have someone take your oral notes and transcribe them. Second, my wife does transcribing… or did until you drove her crazy. She told me once that she was good at transcribing especially for the lawyers she worked with. The lawyers spoke clearly and slowly and there was a format to their speech. A linear progression that made sense to the listener, not just random jumps of tangent thought.
You are trying to get a message out to someone, in most cases a customer. You either do not have the time or the ability to transfer the thoughts in your head to written word so you find someone to transcribe this for you. Save yourself some time and allow the person transcribing to paraphrase what you are saying or get the voice recognition software and have it do most of the grunt work (this will allow the person you send your tape to to spend more time going over it to make it into a cohesive message than actually transcribing it word for word).
Messages order have no that to understand hard are… messages that have no order are hard to understand. Make some index cards like you have for your speech, put them in order and follow that order for the tape. Even that little bit of organization will make a better end product. Stay focused and on topic. If you are looking to have something that is transcribed turned into an article or piece of reference material pay the extra fee and see if the person who is transcribing it can make a good article out of it. You will be recognized as the author, the person doing the transcription and final editing will simply be doing the ghost writing for you. No one will know you didn’t produce it yourself. Gabe

Have a super Saturday everyone!

Girl Friday Services of Maine is now trying her hand at blogging

Well my first blog, actually my second but my first has long since fizzled. I started it about one year ago and am not even sure how to get back to it, so I guess its floating out there in cyberland somewhere. I think its called Marie's Journey or something like that. If you happen to pass by it, tell it I said hello. Thanks.

So I started my business and hung out my shingle about a month and a half ago and its slow moving; as is to be expected with a new business venture. Girl Friday Services of Maine is going to make it though. I've set my mind to it, I'm learning new things every day. I'm communicating with successful people every day and absorbing all the lessons they have to share.

I will be successful with this, I believe it. I'm smart, a quick learner, dedicated, efficient, and always wanting to give 110% to whatever job I'm handed. So for any small business owners out there that are not quite sure if they want to engage the services of Girl Friday Services of Maine, rest assured, I'm going to give as much to your business as I am giving to my own. Your success will ultimately be mine. And, if I want to grow this virtual assistance business into the biggest most widely known in the state, I better stand behind my word and so I will - believe it, I do!

That's it for my first toe dipping in the pool of blogging. Its late and I've burned the midnight oil for several nights this week. Good night and peace to all.