Sometimes the “cheesiest” ideas are the ones that stick so here are some great gimmicks to use as you market your VA business:

1. Prop: A Candy Watch
   Saying: “Partner with a Virtual Assistant to save you time”
2. Prop: Chocolate Coins or Play Money
   Saying: “Partner with a Virtual Assistant to save you money”
3. Prop: Coffee sample
   Saying: “A Virtual Assistant can do anything an in-house assistant can do except make your morning coffee
4. Prop: Ice Cream Certificates
   Saying: “Treat yourself to some extra time by partnering with a Virtual Assistant
5. Prop: Eraser
   Saying: “Erase your administrative nightmares by partnering with a Virtual Assistant
6. Prop: Aspirins
   Saying: “A Virtual Assistant can take care of all your administrative headaches
7. Prop: Coins
   Saying: “A Virtual Assistant can make “cents/sense” of your administrative tasks
8. Prop: Pair of Socks
   Saying: “Partner with “XYZ Virtual Assistant Company” and we will knock your socks off
9. Prop: Tea Bag
   Saying: Put your feet up and enjoy a cup of tea while we take care of your administrative troubles
10. Prop: A timer
    Saying: Gain more time by partnering with a Virtual Assistant

Just think back to the commercials that were your favourite or the ones that stick out in your mind, most likely they stick out because they were different. The same is true for your marketing plans … make them different and make people remember who you are!!

I seem to find myself at the end of the day thinking that I have had such a productive day and then realizing that I have wasted so much time. I was speaking with my friend Sally and we were both commenting that we would really like to know what it is that we are wasting our time on. In my research I found this great site The Top 10 Time Wasters and wanted to share Wendy’s thoughts with you.

The Top 10 Time Wasters

There are many time wasters that will really eat into your time if you allow them to. To free up your time you need to identify those time wasters, decide what you want to do about them and then take action. I’ve identified what I’ve seen to be the 10 most common time wasters. Just consider in what way these are relevant to you, rather than just assume they’re not. This will open you up to seeing how you can make improvements in the use of your time. For each item, I suggest you ask yourself the question, “In what way does this waste my time?” For now, just see it as it is. Later on, you can identify any action you’re going to take.

1. Not enough time-off or time for yourself.
You need to step back, evaluate and re-energise yourself in order to be effective. Many people ‘try’ to do more and more thinking they’re using their time better. But in actual fact, this can often result in being less productive and not working on what’s most important. You waste time when you keep doing, doing, doing, without enough time for just being and listening to your inner wisdom. Without enough time-off or time for yourself, your health may suffer and eventually you’ll reach a crisis point where you’re forced to take even more time off.

2. Lack of planning, prioritising and focus.
Without these, you’ll find yourself drifting and working in a scattered and disjointed way, and not spending time on what’s most important to you. You’ll end up working on activities that aren’t moving you towards your vision and if this is so, it’s not an effective way to spend your time. You’ll feel directionless and your productivity will drop. When you’re not fully focused in the moment, you inhibit the momentum required to be effective and to get things done faster and more easily.

3. Procrastination.
Putting things off wastes not only your time but also your energy and thoughts. When you procrastinate, much time is spent thinking and worrying about the things you need to do. You give yourself a hard time for not doing them and therefore you’re unable to spend your time effectively, especially when crunch time arrives and what you’ve been procrastinating over finally has to be done. If you see yourself as someone who procrastinates, you’ll remain in that endless cycle.

4. Interruptions.
This may be the telephone, people dropping into your office, unanticipated events or visitors, anything that stops what you’re doing. Interruptions prevent you from being focused; they pull you away from important things at that moment. Time is wasted when you allow different areas of your life to overlap into each other. Focus and time are lost when you allow your work and personal life to interrupt each other. The same goes for the different things you’re working on. Keep them separate and don’t allow them to interfere with each other. Focus on each specific thing at a time.

5. Lack of delegation.
It’s a real waste of your time to think you need to do everything and no one ever does it as good as you. You’ll end up doing too much and having insufficient time to focus only on what you’re really good at, your gifts, strengths and ability. You miss out on leveraging your time by not allowing other people to carry out your basic and routine tasks.

6. Meetings.
Meetings can be a time waster if there isn’t a specific reason, agenda and timeframe for holding them. It’s too easy to fall into the habit of holding meetings without realising that some of that time could be spent more effectively. A small amount of time clarifying the need and reason for the meeting could save a lot of time in the long run.

7. Crisis management, fire fighting.
When you’re running around like a headless chicken, too much time is wasted through a lack of effectiveness. You’re not focused and working on what’s important. There are too many urgent items getting in the way. Because you’re in such a hurry, things are not done well and often come back to bite you, wasting more time when you need to redo it.

8. Telephone, email and Internet.
These can also be interruptions and as with meetings, it’s easy to spend quite a bit of time on the telephone or internet without any real reason or intention. Time is wasted when you don’t make the best use of the time, when you’re unclear about what you want to get out of what you’re doing and when you stray off the point and drift. It’s so easy to justify to yourself that you’re working hard when in fact what you’re doing may serve no useful or effective purpose at all. It may be just a distraction.

9. Not saying ‘No’.
Taking on too much puts pressure on you and prevents you from working at your best. Not working at your best and most effective means everything takes longer and more of your time is stolen from you. You don’t value your time and you don’t decide how you want to spend it and therefore, you allow others to make that choice for you. You’re not going to spend your time effectively if you allow others to ask too much of you.

10. Lack of organisation and untidiness.
Clutter zaps your energy and not only leaves you less able to work effectively, but wastes time as you try to sort through it. You may find yourself looking through the same clutter time and again. Clutter can be a distraction for you and anything that distracts doesn’t allow for effective use of your time. When you lack organisation, much time can be spent doing the same thing repeatedly or because there aren’t the necessary systems or processes in place. Not simplifying robs you of your time.

Now you have more clarity about the time wasters in your life, you are free to make a choice about what, if anything, you want to do about them. Action is required for things to change if you want to eliminate the time wasters you’ve identified today. I say today because this is a process and I encourage you to continue with the process to see if there are any more or new time wasters. To be truly effective in the use of your time you need to introduce a continual process of improvement. Take a look at how your time is wasted, pick one specific thing and then define the specific action you’re going to take today to plug the hole in your wasted time.

So … now that I have found this article I am being a lot more conscientious of where I am wasting my time and trying hard to be more productive.

I have been having such a great time with my blog that I wanted to share this article I found on the Top 10 blog writing tips. I hope that it helps you as well:

Most of the “rules” about writing for ezines and newsletters apply to writing posts for your blog, but there are some important differences. Keep these 10 tips in mind and you’ll be publishing great blog content that attracts prospects and clients in your niche market.

1. Write with the reader in mind. Remember WIIFM? It’s marketing jargon for What’s In It For Me? That’s what you should be keeping in mind. Your reader will read your post looking for what’s in it for them.

2. Make it valuable and worthwhile. Don’t waste people’s time. If you don’t have anything to say, no problem, plenty other people do. So share their articles, do an interview, review a book.

3. Proof-read for typos and glaring grammatical errors. You wouldn’t go out of the house with dirty hair or missing a sock, so why would you publish spelling mistakes? Respect your readers by polishing up your stuff.

4. Keep it short and simple, sweetie. (KISS). Most people are scanners. You may have a lot to say and think it interesting, and it may be. But people are reading online and out of time. Get to the point quickly. Publishing short posts more frequently is a better format than publishing lengthy articles every few weeks.

5. Keep it lively, make it snappy and snazzy. Even if you aren’t a natural born writer, you can write for your blog. Just write like you’re speaking to your friend…or to yourself! Remember though, get to the point quickly. Keep in mind the journalist’s rule of 5 W’s in the first paragraph: who, what, why, when and where.

6. Link often. This builds credibility and positions you as an expert in your field. People don’t have time to know what others are doing, you should tell them. Linking to other blogs and websites also helps you build a network of associates who will in turn link to your blog.

7. Use keywords often. This will help you stay on purpose, and the search engines will love your blog. Your rankings will go up. This is one of the reasons we have you write out your purpose statements before beginning your blog. The clearer you are about your purpose, the more consistently you will deliver messages that are on target. And the more often your keywords show up, the better your search engine results.

8. Write clearly (short sentences, only one concept per sentence). No double speak or jargon; no more than one idea in one sentence- don’t make your readers have to think about your meaning. Spoon feed them. Use commas and dashes liberally.

9. Write like you talk. It’s okay to use common expressions from speech.

Examples:

Go figure.

Don’t even go there…

Now, I ask you…

Gotta love it…

(And, remember the age group of your readers…)

10. Use a clear headline, and don’t be afraid to make bold statements (but don’t mislead people either). Make it snazzy and use key words. Example: Ex-Techno-Weenie Masters HTML Code

BONUS: After you write a post and BEFORE you hit the save button

Use this checklist to ask yourself a few questions as you are reading through for typos and grammar:

__ Is the topic clear to someone who only reads the headline?

__Does the lead paragraph tell who and what the story is about and why the reader should care about it?

__ Is the angle you’ve used likely to seem newsworthy?

__Would someone who knows absolutely nothing about this topic understand this post?

__ Is the post free of jargon?

__ Is it written in journalistic style and does it make an effort to be objective?

__ Have you peppered the headline and the post with keywords and phrases that will be attractive to search engines?

__ Did you remember to ask your readers a question at the end, or something to stimulate readers to comment?

__ Did you remember to write with the reader in mind, always keeping in mind WIIFT? (What’s in It for Them?)

Patsi Krakoff of Customized Newsletter Services, and Denise Wakeman of Next Level Partnership, have teamed up to create blogging classes and marketing services for independent professionals. You can read and subscribe to their blogs at http://www.coachezines.com, http://www.bizbooknuggets.com and http://www.biztipsblog.com

I am not even going to make excuses for not posting yesterday except to say I have been lacking motivation the last couple of days. We are in the process of moving and that is taking up a lot of my time, energy and thoughts. I found this really interesting article on-line today though and really wanted to share it.

The link if you want to read the rest of this information on-line is here.

Here’s why they say we procrastinate:

1. Avoidance: We often disguise our avoidance by being very busy doing things that may be interesting, and even useful, things that don’t contribute to our goals.

2. Fear of failure and self-doubt: Judging yourself as not good enough or worried that others won’t like or accept you, you may keep putting off getting started or getting finished with a project. You may even convince yourself that failing at a small task will result in devastating consequences.

3. Feeling overwhelmed: This can directly related to not being able to get your thoughts around everything on your list. This bout of stress can be more related to the large amount of commitments you may have.

4. Lack of commitment: No desire to get the job done, no matter what because of the inability to distinguish between what is important and what is unimportant.

5. Low Self-Esteem: You may insist upon a high level of performance even though you may feel inadequate or incapable of actually achieving that level.

6. Not A High Enough Priority: You have challenges evaluating your obligations and demands and prioritizing them.

7. Perfectionism: This can referral to “starts and spurts” in your performance, meaning that you go on a cleaning spree, or attack a task with great energy and then slump back in exhaustion after having exasperated, irritated, or alienated everyone around you.

8. Resentment: When you tell yourself that you have to do something, you’re implying that you’re being forced to do it.

9. Undervaluing the Rewards: you feel that the effort to complete the task (almost any task) would not be worth the rewards.

10. You Just Plain Don’t Want To:

So why do you procrastinate? How do you find your motivation when you are lacking the desire to just get moving?

In yesterday’s post, I talked about the importance of setting boundaries for your business and stated that the best thing I did for my business was to establish a boundary letter. Here are the top 10 areas to consider when developing your own boundary letter:

1. Hours of Business - Just as any business states what the hours of business are, so too should you establish hours that you will be available to your clients. They should be stated clearly and should never change without written notification. Remember you are your own boss and whichever hours you establish are fine provided your potential clients know from the very beginning.
2. Phone Answering - Let your client’s know how and when they can reach you by telephone. If you do not wish them to have your cellular telephone do not provide it to them, however if the opposite is true let them know that you are available by cellular phone when you are not in the office. Make sure to tell your clients how long they should expect you to take to return their phone call when they leave a message. If you do not have an answering service on your telephone be sure to advise your clients as to how they can reach you
3. Email Availability - Be upfront with your clients as to your email availability. If this is your preferred method of communication be sure that they are aware of this. Let them know how long they should expect an email to be answered. Also, if you have limits on the numbers of emails you want to receive from them in any given day be sure they know this. Also, let your client’s know how often you check your email and when that is.
4. Turnaround Time - Most businesses have a usual amount of time it takes to complete projects or order products for their clients. Be sure that your clients know exactly what this usual turnaround time frame is. Also, if there are any surcharges, be sure that they are aware of how these surcharges work and when they are applicable.
5. Pricing/Invoicing Policies - Be sure that your client is very clear on what your pricing policies are. How do you track your time and calculate their invoice each month and how quickly is this required to be paid? Do you require a deposit? What constitutes an overdue invoice and what are the consequences of an overdue invoice? Be concise yet thorough in your descriptions so that you can avoid problems at a later date.
6. Referral or Other Bonuses - The best way to grow your business is to get your client’s working for you. Do you offer any referral bonuses or customer loyalty programs and how would your client qualify? What expectations do you have of your client or is this an appreciation? Be sure that they know exactly what is expected from being able to work with you.
7. Vacations and Closures - If you close each year at Christmas, be sure that your clients are aware of this up front. For some this might mean the difference between doing business with you or not. If you have a “back up” plan in place for when you are closed let them know about that as well.
8. Subcontractors/Employees - If you are in a service business and you are selling yourself to a potential client even though others will be assisting you with the work, be upfront with your client and let them know how this works in your business. Make them aware of the credentials of each of your staff and why this system is in place. Let them know that you are still involved and how.
9. Tools or Software Utilized - In particular in my business it is very important to let my clients know in advance which software programs I will be utilizing so that we can ensure that we are compatible. For many programs such as Microsoft Word and Excel just knowing the version someone is using is important when saving documents. For other programs (accounting software in particular) it is important that both parties are using the same version to be compatible. If you are aware of a potential problem and how it is solved be sure to include that in your outline.
10. Termination of Relationship - The final thing to include in your boundary letter is a brief description of what would “push” you to terminate the relationship. Let them know what rules when broken would mean you would sever your relationship. Also, let them know how quickly you will utilize this. For example, if one of your areas to terminate is failure to pay an invoice let them know that all work will cease immediately. If, on the other hand, it is for not respecting your boundaries they will be given one warning/reminder after which time a second occurrence will mean 30 days notice for termination.

I am sure that once you begin to establish your boundaries and are clear with your clients, they will learn to respect you more easily. Remember the most important rule of boundary setting is to stick to your boundaries no matter what. This is perhaps the hardest lesson and one we can talk about another time!!

Everyone always says that there are no guarantees in business, that you can never be sure of anything in the world of self-employment, but I beg to differ …

Here are 10 things that I have learned in the last (almost) 2 years that I have been in business:

• Being an entrepreneur is like a roller coaster ride
  Being in business for yourself is full of ups and downs and highs and lows, not very often will you find that your business will sail along on an even keel. You are bound to experience periods where things are better than great and periods where things are worse than horrible. This is the nature of business.
• No two clients are ever alike
  No matter how similar your clients are, every client is an individual with their own set of expectations, personality traits and characteristics. What works for one client may or may not work for the next. Just when you think you have it figured out how to handle a situation, the next time you are in a similar situation you will need to handle it differently to get the same results
• No two businesses, no matter how similar, are ever alike
  I have several friends that are also Virtual Assistants, yet I have yet to find two VAs that provide the same services in the exact same manner for the exact same target market. It is the same with any business (unless of course you are talking about a franchise). Each entrepreneur brings their own ideas, skills and personalities into their business which results in a totally unique business even when they might look the same in every other way
• It takes a thick skin to be an entrepreneur
  Many businesses have come and gone because the owner could not separate from their business. When someone is upset with your business or your services, it is hard not to take it personally. In order to survive in business and thrive, you need to be able to look at that situation and realize what it is that will allow you to learn from the situation and grow. More importantly, you need to learn how to disassociate from these situations and be able to take that “constructive criticism”. Without the ability to do this, your business will never survive.
• It takes a lot of hard work to make it work
  Gone are the days when you can cover your head with a pillow and forget about things. In business when things are tough, they need to be faced head on and dealt with. Some days will be extremely hard and will take all of your effort to get through. Then just as I suggested in the first point, the roller coaster ride starts and the next day reminds you why you are an entrepreneur.
• Those that forget to find a balance between family and business will never thrive in both areas
  There are those that spend all their waking moments immersed in business and then there are those that see their business as a hobby, something to work on when there are no family obligations. Although I am not saying that either of these don’t work, I am saying that without having that balance one or the other area will never grow and prosper. Finding a work/life balance is a key in business and something that many fail to master.
• You need a strong support system to survive
  I think this is pretty self explanatory except to say that it doesn’t matter who or what this support system is; just that you have one in place.
• Business can be very rewarding
  It is a very exhilarating feeling when things go well in your business. The satisfaction that all the efforts and work that you put in are rewarding yourself and are for the benefit of yourself and your business.
• You will find the best support system from other entrepreneurs
  Just attend any networking event and you will see just how true this statement is. It is so surprising how much an entrepreneur is willing to help another entrepreneur. It is like having a big extended family watching out for you and supporting you.
• It is usually the “sure things” that never work out and the “unsure” things that do
  Funny how this happens, but in business it is usually the clients that you think are going to be the easiest to work with and guarantee the sale that turn out to be your hardest sale and the ones that we think are going to be the easiest sale that take the most work. It can’t be explained, but it is just one of those funny things about business.

Finally and most importantly the biggest guarantee about business is that THERE ARE NO GUARANTEES!!

A Solopreneur is any business that is being maintained and operated by one person. This person is not only the owner but the operator and administrative person as well. As a solopreneur, it is easy to find yourself overwhelmed, overworked and stressed. It is for these very reasons that a Virtual Assistant (VA) is a great partner in business. Here are some great reasons to truly consider this partnership:

1. Don’t Have to Provide Space
Most solopreneurs are running their business from the comfort of their home. Many might even have their office set up in a corner of their living space and not in a designated room. When bringing in administrative support, this would mean having someone “invading” your space each day. Something not all solopreneurs and/or their families are willing to do.

2. VAs Take Care of Their Expenses
Unlike employees, VAs are subcontractors to your business and responsible for all their own expenses. They take care of wage-related expenses, office equipment, office space, vacations, holidays, training, etc. No longer are you obligated to or governed by labour-related laws and requirements.

3. Expertise
Luckily you can hire a VA with the specific skill(s) you require. In fact, can hire more than one, each with their own skillset to perform different tasks for your business. Many VAs are now moving towards operating multi-VA businesses which allow you the opportunity to have many skillsets available to you through one VA business.

4. Flexibility
VAs offer the flexibility to use them when you want and when it is convenient for your company. For many VAs, there is no obligation as to the number of hours you use them in any given period. You are also not governed to specific hours each day, nor to a minimum number of hours in each shift that your employee would work.

5. Time Savings
You can focus on what it is that you do best, while your VA takes care of the rest. You can focus on the stuff that makes you money rather than the stuff that doesn’t. Not only that, but by freeing up the time you normally spend on these tasks, you now have additional time to get back to your family, your hobbies and your interests instead of being consumed by your business day in and day out.

6. Money Savings
Over and above the ways we have already talked about that will be sure to save you money, you will only be paying for your VA when they are on task. You will not be obligated to pay them when they are going to the washroom, on a break, surfing the internet or speaking with their mother on the phone (because most employees have admitted to doing this during working hours).

7. Zero Obligation
With a Virtual Assistant, when the work is not there, there is no obligation to come up with a “make work” project to secure your relationship with the VA. The VA is available for you when you need them and during times when you cannot or do not want to perform the administrative tasks.

8. VAs are Business Owners
Unlike an employee, VAs are business owners and understand what it takes to run a business. This understanding means that your VA is more likely to provide you with ideas and suggestions to take your business to the next level.

9. No Geographical Boundaries
Not limited to the talent pool in your geographical area. Employees would be required to commute to their work place so you are limited to those that can commute within a reasonable distance. Similarly, if you are on vacation, you can work with your VA as if you were still at home. This frees you up to spend more time away from the office … one of the biggest perks of owning your own business.

10. Stress Reduction
When we spend all day and all night consumed by our business, soon we learn that our business is running us and not the other way around. By utilizing a VA, it will give you the opportunity to work less and your stress will in turn be reduced.

As a solopreneur, perhaps the biggest hurdle is to give up the “reins” as we are consumed with the feelings that we can do it all; that the business is our “baby” and no one will ever do it as well as we can. However, remember that sometimes the best thing you can do for your business is to take a step back and realize that you can’t do it all, nor do you want to. Start today by outsourcing those tasks you dislike doing most and, in most cases, these tasks can easily be handled by the right Virtual Assistant.

As a Travel agent, you are in the market for making people’s dreams come true. This is probably the appeal that pushes most agents towards pursuing this career. Little did anyone tell you that there would be so many “behind the scenes” tasks that would require so much of your energy. So, how can a travel agent find more time to get back to what they love … granting wishes!! The answer is simple: partner with a Virtual Assistant. By partnering with a Virtual Assistant they can take care of those “behind the scenes” tasks on your behalf. Here are just a few ideas a Virtual Assistant can assist a Travel Agent:

1. Client Database
A Virtual Assistant can take your client lists and insert them into a database. Once this is accomplished, they can even maintain that database on your behalf. They can insert such information as places clients love to go, personal information such as birthdays and anniversaries they have celebrated, and what they did and/or didn’t like about the places they have traveled in the past. Imagine how much better your customer service will be when all this information is at your finger tips instead of having to search through paper files and notes that are maintained in several locations.

2. Client Contact
Imagine having someone that could order a fruit basket to be waiting for your clients at their destination, send birthday cards, anniversary cards, and conduct impartial surveys upon your client’s return. Customer service is key for word of mouth and referral marketing. By providing these little extras for your clients, they are sure to be talking about you to others. Your Virtual Assistant can also put together the itinerary packages for delivery to your client.

3. Client Follow-Up
Follow-up is crucial for travel agents so that they can better inform future clients with respect to different destinations. Having a Virtual Assistant that can contact clients after their holiday and listen to what they liked and/or didn’t like can be crucial for future consultations.

4. Internet Research
Having all the important little tidbits about your client’s destination is a wonderful little extra to provide to your clients. Your Virtual Assistant can find out rules for different countries, key tourist spots (together with maps and directions), country customs, etc. They can compile this data into a brochure or information packet for you to provide to your clients. Also, your Virtual Assistant can research destinations that you would like to know more about before starting to advise your clients so that you can decide if the destination is one that would be suitable to promote.

5. Marketing Materials
Even outside of the ordinary marketing materials such as brochures and business cards, imagine being able to provide your clients with feature sheets on various destinations including different facts, ideas and tidbits for different popular and/or unique destinations. Perhaps fact sheets of what to bring or what not to bring, airline and country regulations, etc. All these little extras are things that a Virtual Assistant would be pleased to assist you with preparing.

6. Newsletters
Staying in touch with your clients via a newsletter is a certain way to ensure that they think of you when they are ready to take their next trip. Your Virtual Assistant can do the research, write articles and put together a newsletter containing tips, advice and features within the travel industry. Not only would this reach your existing clients, but could also be a way to market to future clients as well.

7. Website Preparation and Maintenance
An excellent way to keep in touch with your clients and provide up-to-date information would be through a website. Your Virtual Assistant can assist you with getting a website prepared and then maintaining the data and information you provide on your website.

8. Bookkeeping
Perhaps the most dreaded task by most Travel Agents is bookkeeping. Your Virtual Assistant can assist you to prepare invoices to your clients, pay your suppliers and utilities. By maintaining an up-to-date set of books, you can begin to see your financial picture at any time, together with cash flows and expenses.

9. Supplies Ordering
Your Virtual Assistant can take care of not only ordering your office supplies for delivery, but also ordering the brochures that are provided by the different tour groups, airlines and hotels.

10. Email and Voicemail Management
Imagine having someone that would be able to group your email into different categories such as spam, client inquiries, new clients, feedback, training, etc. This would make the task of opening your email so much easier if all you had to deal with is the emails that need your attention. You could also provide your Virtual Assistant with responses to simple inquiries that she could answer on your behalf. Also, your Virtual Assistant could check your voicemail and return phone call on your behalf when you are out of the office.

By partnering with a Virtual Assistant it will provide you, the travel agent, with more opportunities to visit the destinations you are telling your clients about, more time to meet with clients and you can get back to the job of making people’s dreams come true. At that point you will have truly created a thriving business.

About the Author:
Yvonne Weld is owner of ABLE Virtual Assistant Services and the author of several books on creating a thriving business. This series provides the reader with tools and resources for both creating and maintaining a thriving business. For your FREE Preview Manuals and for more information on how you can ensure you have truly created a thriving business, visit the Web site at http://www.yvonneweld.com.

Recently I met with a photographer friend and we were discussing my Virtual Assistant business. I had never thought about the benefits that a photographer could gain from partnering with a Virtual Assistant until I spoke with her. Our conversation opened my eyes to a whole new market I had never considered, but the more I thought about it, the more excited I became by the prospects. I started to make a plan and make a list of the ways that such a partnership could be best utilized.

1. Website Maintenance

Utilizing a Virtual Assistant to upload recent photographs, set up client galleries and maintain pricing and availability schedules on a photographers’ website is an invaluable service. Many photographers spend so much time maintaining their website; time they would much rather be utilizing behind the camera. Other photographers utilize their web designers and find that the prices are much higher than a Virtual Assistant’s price and the turnaround time is often longer than a Virtual Assistant’s is.

2. Blog Maintenance

Many photographers have begun to blog about their experiences and share their personalities with prospective clients. Virtual Assistants could easily upload articles, photos and stories to the photographer’s blog and also insert links to helpful information for the photographer’s prospective clients. For those photographers that are not as computer savvy, but realize the advantage of the personal contact a blog can provide, can use a Virtual Assistant that can provide services to, not only maintain your blog, but install a blog as well.

3. Client Contact and Follow Up

Virtual Assistants are a great asset in maintaining client contact on your behalf. A simple greeting, sent in the photographer’s behalf, on a wedding anniversary is one of those touches that not all photographers have the time to provide. Your Virtual Assistant can keep track of the important dates and make sure that your clients are never forgotten. Christmas cards, thank you notes and birthday greetings are just a few other contacts that your Virtual Assistant can make on your behalf. Perhaps you have always thought of sending a survey to your clients. Wouldn’t it be great to have this taken care of for you? Your clients are more likely to provide honest feedback to your VA and your VA can provide you with a summary of the survey results for future marketing and business operation decision making.

4. Email Management

Many photographers would love to have someone reply to the many inquiries they receive via email. Simple messages of unavailability, directing potential clients to online portfolios and a thank you for inquiries are just some of the emails that could easily be answered on a photographer’s behalf. Imagine only having to deal with one email each day with a summary of the emails received and how they were handled on your behalf.

5. Scheduling and Appointment Setting

Virtual Assistants can maintain a calendar on your behalf of availabilities, bookings and appointments with potential clients. By allowing someone else to schedule your appointments, you can spend more time being creative. Your Virtual Assistant would simply work with an online calendar of which you would both have access and would also provide you with daily, weekly, monthly and yearly agendas. Reminder calls are just another way that your Virtual Assistant can assist you in making sure that potential clients are never left waiting and appointments are never missed.

6. Marketing Materials

A Virtual Assistant can work with you to create a portfolio, promo package or other marketing materials required for meetings with potential clients, trade shows and networking events. Virtual Assistants can also create and maintain a newsletter to update past clients and provide potential clients with great information on what is happening in your business.

7. Basic Administration and Research

Typing of contracts, filing, proofreading services, formatting documents and voice mail management are just a few of the many secretarial type tasks that your Virtual Assistant can provide on your behalf. Your Virtual Assistant can also conduct market research to see what your competition is up to and find out what potential clients are looking for.

8. Database Management

A Virtual Assistant can not only create a database of your past and present clients, but they can also maintain this database. They can track important dates and maintain contact with your clients. They can also track prospects and leads, as well as referral partners and potential joint venture partners. Other things that can be maintained in a database are inventory, pricing and promotions. Any data you would like to maintain a list of can easily be accomplished by your Virtual Assistant.

9. Bookkeeping

Even those Virtual Assistants that don’t specialize in bookkeeping services (and several do), can still provide bookkeeping services such as creation of invoices, tracking of deposits paid and accounts payable management. Your Virtual Assistant can work hand-in-hand with your accountant or bookkeeper to ensure that your financial matters are kept up-to-date and worry free.

10. Organizational Tasks and Business Support

Just having a partnership with a Virtual Assistant provides you with the ability to bounce ideas off someone for future development and growth of your business. Your Virtual Assistant will be open to offering you feedback and suggestions in how to better organize your files, time and business for even greater success. After all, if you don’t succeed, neither does your Virtual Assistant.

Remember, the single most important thing about partnering with a Virtual Assistant is that you are gaining an invaluable member of your team. Your new partner will be there only when you need them with invaluable expertise and a drive to succeed and make your business thrive.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Yvonne Weld is the owner of ABLE Virtual Assistant Services and offers administrative and bookkeeping support to busy solopreneurs. She is also the author of The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Thriving Business and Managing Your Thriving Business for Success. For more information and for your free downloads, visit her Web site.