From the Desk of Janet Barclay

Today is International Virtual Assistants Day, and OIVAC is in full swing!

I’m not attending as many seminars as I did last year, as I decided to make the most of my time by choosing topics I’m already focusing on. I find I get more out of any learning situation, and I’m much more likely to act on what I’ve learned, if I have an immediate use for it.

The first session I attended was Designing a Compelling 30 Second Intro, presented by fellow Canadian Cristina Favreau. I thought I knew a lot about this subject already, since I’ve attended so many networking events since starting my business, but I’m a big fan of Cristina’s blog, and was sure she’d have some great ideas to share. I wasn’t the least bit disappointed!

Cristina mentioned that a potential client needs to hear our message at least nine times in order for it to influence his or her buying decisions, and because of that, it’s important to be consistent. This was a real eye-opener, as I had thought I needed to change what I say when I introduce myself at networking events, so I wouldn’t bore people who had already heard my introduction. Just being aware of that is enough to motivate me to make sure that my introduction is powerful and memorable.

She also suggested completing the StrengthsFinder assessment as a way of identifying what makes us different from other professionals in our industry, which sounds like a great idea. I understand that a lot of people are surprised to discover what strengths they really have – and it’s always beneficial to learn more about ourselves!

Over the next few days, I’ll share a few tips from Anita Bruton’s session on Creating a Personal and Company Profile that Attracts Clients and Enjoy Promoting Your Website with Web 2.0, which was presented by Suzanne Falter-Barns, Chris Muccio, and Peggy Murrah.

There are many talented individuals in the virtual assistance industry, but one name that keeps popping up is Erin Blaskie. In addition to running her successful multi-VA practice, Business Services, ETC, Erin has developed several programs to support other virtual assistants, including her new Virtual Assistant Mastermind. This program includes a series of speaker events which are open to guests as well as members, and I’ve been selected as one of the guest speakers! I’ll be talking about one of my favourite topics, Organizing and Your Computer, in a teleseminar on Thursday, June 19^th, and I do hope you’ll be able to join us. Here’s what Bernadette Wong of K&M Secretarial Services said after my last presentation on this subject:

"Janet provided quick tips on managing your emails and inbox, files within your computer and how to prioritize them. These many tips of information were most helpful to me. I thoroughly enjoyed the PowerPoint presentation which guided you step by step of what to do to get you better organized.  I recommend Janet’s teleclass to any individual or group!"

The other speakers lined up so far include:

• Allison Nazarian - Get Blogging (Or Jump-Start Your Existing Blog) Today
• Viki Viertel - Time Management Survival
• Mikelann Valterra - The Four Keys to Earning Your Worth
• Alexis Martin Neely - Show the Universe You Mean Business About Your Business
• Susan Daffron - Don’t Follow the Herd: Enjoy Online Success Using Simple Tried and True Marketing Methods
• Elinor Stutz - Relationship Selling Works!
• Mari Smith - How To Strategically Grow Your Business Using Facebook & Other Social Media

These are some great topics, and I’m hoping to sign up for at least one of the sessions myself. What’s most exciting is the Platinum membership, which includes access to all the teleseminars and a ton of other benefits, including a weekend retreat in Arizona next spring!

Earlier this year I was asked to participate in a group interview with Mark Shead, who blogs at Productivity501. I responded to these questions:

What is the single most important tip you would give to someone who is having trouble managing all the paper in their lives?

What is your best piece of advice to help someone stay organized once they have gone through the initial effort?

To read my answers, those of the other participants, and Mark’s comments, simply click on the questions above.

I answered one other question, but it hasn’t been posted yet, so you’ll have to wait for that one!

In addition, the Blog Carnival which I wrote about on Friday has started, with submissions from 9 bloggers – not bad for the first issue! To read the articles, simply click on Virtual Assistant Home Business Blog Carnival - Issue 1.

If you ever wonder about the value of online networking, here’s something you really should read.

Earlier this year I posted one of our GHVA events on VA Visionaries - Savvy Virtual Assistants from Around the World, one of the Facebook groups I belong to. I received a reply from Shari Sultana, who had been unaware of our get-togethers, since she didn’t use any of the VA forums where I normally post the invitations. She then invited me to check out Virtual Assistant Forums, which I have since joined.

While browsing the forums yesterday, I learned that member Amanda Moore is starting a Virtual Assistant Blog Carnival, and I’m going to take part! I had heard of blog carnivals before, but this will be the first time I have participated in one. Anyone with a blog related to WAHM, Virtual Assistant, Entrepreneur, Small Business, Solo Business, or related topics is welcome to participate, so maybe you’d also like to get involved. Or maybe you’d just like to check it out, so you can read some of the best postings from bloggers all over the world, all in one place.

I’m sharing this information here on my blog, which feeds into my Facebook profile. So if you are learning about this on Facebook, we have gone full circle!

I probably visit thousands of websites every year, so I come across all kinds of nifty little tools. I even get around to trying some of them! A few prove themselves to be so handy that I find myself using them time and time again. Here are three of them.

Tiny URL

Have you ever had to send someone a long link like this one?

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=hamilton+city+hall,
+hamilton,+on&sll=55.763528,-4.045969&sspn=0.006616,0.023518&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=addr

Often, their email program will not link to it properly, so unless the recipient knows to cut and paste the whole thing into the address bar of their browser (and is sufficiently interested to do so), they’re not going to see what you’re trying to send them.

With Tiny URL, you copy and paste the link into a form on the website, and it converts it to a nice short one like http://tinyurl.com/4pv4gx.

Universal Currency Converter

If you ever need to calculate conversions from one currency to another, this tool allows you to quickly convert between any two of the top 85 currencies in the world by simply entering the amount and selecting the two currencies in question. (You can even put it on your own website, if you want to.)

Acronym Finder

Have you ever received an email signed something like this?

John Doe, MCCC, CMF, CCM, CPRW, CTL
Member of ICF, PCMA and PARW

If you wished you could figure out what all those letters stand for, you’ll want to bookmark this site, where you can find out the meaning of even very obscure acronyms and abbreviations.

All of these tools are quick and easy to use, and they’re free!

What is YOUR favourite online tool?