Mark your calendars. The grand opening of the new WordPress training site is March 1st from 7-9pm. I’m working on getting prizes. Anyone want to donate, the target market is virtual assistants and entrepreneurs who want to maintain their own blogs.

During the grand opening call, I will show you around the site and introduce you to what it has to offer. It’s what you’ve been asking for!

Details will follow.

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(drunk)
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Author: Frances Palaschuk

The Virtual Assistance Industry Has Experienced Tremendous Growth in 2008; VAs are Revolutionizing the Way Business Services are Delivered, Everywhere.

The Media’s Virtual Assistant Survey found at conducted by VAnetworking.com gives us a deeper insight into the virtual assistance industry, which has experienced tremendous growth in 2008. The mysteriousness behind the term virtual assistant has been replaced with intrigue and fascination. To professionals such as speakers, author’s, business coaches and online business owners – having a virtual assistant has become main-stream. Small scale businesses are able to achieve large scale growth and higher sales volumes simply by outsourcing to a virtual assistant. Business Services etc., http://bsetc.ca, a virtual assistant company in Canada was able to increase a clients’ subscribers list by 4,000 and generate $40,000 in sales over the same 4 month time period.

With the shift in the global economy and the pressing environmental issues facing the world, the general consensus is on conserving both money and energy. Not only does the virtual assistance industry contribute to the conservation of both of these global factors but it also allows professionals to leverage people and strengthen systems and resources.

In a localized business environment there may be one person who is responsible for the daily operation of the administration and marketing. What happens when that person is not seeking or given the opportunities to network with peers and enhance their skill sets? It is vital for businesses to be able to assess their options and participate in marketing activities such as social media marketing.

It is customary for a virtual assistant to explore multiple social media and traditional marketing strategies and implement these into their business successfully and those of their clientele. This practice is both extremely cost effective and yields noteworthy results.

The general mindset of a virtual assistant is typically technical in nature. Because they work virtually their whole foundation is built around technology. Every major breakthrough online contributes more and more to their success. The affects of social media tools such as blogs, facebook, and twitter have been profound.

The 3 key areas that have experienced significant growth within the virtual assistance industry in 2008 are:

1. Collaboration/Leadership/Professional Development

Take for example the milestones achieved by the leadership of Tawnya Sutherland at VAnetworking.com, with over 10,000 members worldwide this association reached its fifth year anniversary and won 1st place in the Startup Nation’s Baby Boomers Back in Business award. Providing training, mentoring, and networking opportunities for both new and aspiring virtual assistants.

And as stated by Erin Blaskie of BSetc.ca, “2008 saw the emergence of more multi-VA Teams”. Virtual Assistants that offer clients a “one stop shop” are building solid teams and implementing comprehensive project management strategies that enable them to effectively service multiple clients. Michelle Jamison, founder of MJVA.ca a multi-VA company in Canada has been in business since 1998 and authored a book titled, “The Virtual Assistant’s Guide to the Multi-VA Business” which shares everything Michelle learned and everything one needs to know in order to create a successful and fulfilling multi-VA business.

Seasoned virtual assistants and others who specialize in Internet Marketing are developing niche specific training and coaching packages designed towards educating newcomers to the profession and coaching them to success. Like Mary-Lou Ashton of Virtual Strategies, vatp.ca, who has been a pioneer in the Virtual Assistant profession in Canada since 1997. She provides coaching services to virtual assistants through her coaching business Vision to Action. Also, the VA Coach, TheVACoach.com, Erin Blaskie offers a variety of solutions for new and seasoned virtual assistants in both group and self study training formats. And for those looking for industry specific training in Internet Marketing and Social Media the VAclassroom.com, founded by Craig Cannings offers an affordable and comprehensive certification program.

More and more industry specific Forums and Conferences are presenting hands on development opportunities for virtual assistants. Barbara Lang, of Virtually Anything-Administrative Services, virtuallyAnything.ca, started the Forum On Virtual Assistance (FoVA) in 2008, which presents virtual assistants with the opportunity to exchange ideas and information and gain valuable insight in facilitated discussion groups and workshop formats. This event was so well received that FoVA 2009 is a highly anticipated event within the industry.

2. Tools/Technology

Social Media Marketing and web based collaboration tools and software have totally transformed business. Having the ability to connect real time with such tools as twitter means that we are able to reach out to millions of people. Managing multiple projects with virtual work teams using web based project management systems such as Basecamp, Skype, and a variety of Google tools is a snap. Not to mention how productive and easy it has become to track time across multiple projects and give clients the ability to log in from virtually anywhere to view and pay their invoices seamlessly with tools such as Freshbooks.com. Armed with the knowledge, passion, and desire for success entrepreneurs such as Kathie M. Thomas, an Author, Blogger, Speaker and Virtual Assistant Coach & Trainer, who founded A Clayton’s Secretary, vadirectory.net, in 1994, are able to achieve successes such as gaining a spot on the Top 100 Australian Blogs list. Also, Danielle Guérin owner of VADG, vadg.ca, a fully bilingual (English/French) multi-VA company in Canada, won the Young Self-Employed Worker of Quebec award in the 2008 ARISTA Provincial Competition. This award celebrates Danielle’s talent and accomplishments. The winners were selected based on rigorous criteria and succeeded in impressing the jury with their professional achievements, creative spirit and involvement.

3. Clientele

A variety of people are now outsourcing multiple projects ranging from personal assistance to the management and operations of their entire business. It need not matter if you run a service based company, an actual brink and mortar store, are an entrepreneur, franchisor, or large corporation people are now keenly aware of the benefits that a virtual assistant will bring to their business. Seeking ways to overcome challenges, be innovative, save money, and participate in online collaboration and marketing are the common factors that the majority of clientele share. Like Terry Green owner of Fastype VA Services, Inc., myfastype.com, a full-service multi-VA company with a team of qualified associates specializing in providing quality administrative and executive support to Professional Speakers and Coaches worldwide. Their clients span the globe from across the United States and Canada, to as far away as New Zealand, Antigua and Singapore.

The forecast on the virtual assistant industry for 2009 and beyond is remarkable. With the ongoing commitment, drive, and passion to provide extraordinary customer relations while presenting the best possible options to service their clients, virtual assistants are revolutionizing the way business services are delivered, everywhere.

Quotes:

“The online world is evolving. Being simply a virtual assistant that offers administrative services is no longer enough. With the emergence of social networking and social media marketing, it’s vital to any online business to stay on top of these changes. For the growth of my business, I took the certification course to become a Social Media Specialist. I will achieve the certification in January. It’s not only internet marketers that need this service anymore. Every business, from Realtors to Entrepreneurs to Ebayers will be using Social Marketing to attract business. I heard an interesting quote recently. The Internet is a buyer’s market where sellers aren’t welcome. Sellers need to adapt.” ~ Crystal Pina, VisionsVirtualAssistance.com

“Working virtually is not the future anymore, but an everyday reality that has now taken its rightful place! As a Virtual Assistant and owner of Virtual Managing Associates, working virtually throughout 2008 brought in many developments on a multitude of levels, may they be professional or personal. To some it all up in a few words I would only say: Working on a virtual basis is not only a frame of mind, but also a possibility to offer to your existing customers and associates your undivided attention, and a proactive outlook on the work at hand. ” ~ Christiane Jechoux, VirtualManagingAssociates.com.

About the Author:

Frances Palaschuk is an Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant and founder of Ultimate Biz Assistant based in Ottawa, Canada. Frances has an Internet Marketing certification through VAclassroom.com. She specializes in social media marketing through the setup and optimization of WordPress blogs, twitter, facebook and linked. Also, competitive analysis, keyword research and assisting with marketing plan development and deployment.

In two days it will be the New Year. As we all know, along with the New Year comes last year’s lists. I usually look forward to these lists. Two lists I’ve seen recently were the top 10 people on Twitter and the top 10 influential people on Twitter. Both lists graded Tweeters solely on the amount of followers they have.

On one hand I have to say that if 40,000 people are following you, that you do have some influence in the Twitter world.

If Social Networking is supposed to be similar to being at a party (and I believe it is), then a party with 40,000 people is not a party, it’s a convention. Have you ever been to a convention? If you have, how many people at that convention did you actually have a conversation with? I’ve been to conventions. I usually find a group of people who is interested in learning the same things I want to learn and hang out with them. We attend the same speakers, hook up for lunch, then maybe exchange emails before we go home. Never have I gone to a convention and connected with every person there.

So how can you be influencial in your little corner of the internet when you only have a small list? The secret is to highly target your list. Don’t follow every person who you come across. I actually think you should have two Twitter accounts (you aren’t allowed two on Facebook). One account for giving, and one for receiving.

The giving account is where you will follow people who may make a purchase from you. They are in your target market. You should follow every person back so that you can have conversations with them when the time comes. Don’t use any of those silly rules I’ve heard about such as, only follow people with a picture, or only follow people who will follow you back. Because you are giving, people will naturally follow you back. And it doesn’t matter if they have a picture as long as they are reading what you write.

Remember the rule of giving – you give from the heart, you don’t give to receive. Don’t expect anything back from these people. Just keep giving and they will want to learn more about you. Where will they do that? Why, on your website or blog, of course. That’s where they will decide to make a purchase or not. 

The receiving account is where you want to follow people who will give you information that you will share on your giving account. Find the people that are leaders in your industry, that regularly send out valuable content. You will always be “in the know” when you read their posts. They don’t need to follow you back since you aren’t engaging them in conversation. You may want to add their blogs to your feed reader so you can see what else they are talking about. The trick with this account is to not follow anyone who isn’t a thought leader in your industry because untargeted posts will only clutter up the pages that you are trying to read and add to the “internet noise”.

If you follow the give-receive method, I know that you will be as successful at Social Networking for business as the people with 40,000 followers.