From the Desk of Janet Barclay

Here are the other blog articles I’ve written over the past couple of weeks:

OnlineOrganizing.com - Technology as an Organizing Tool:

• Electronic Filing for Dummies
• TBYL Update
• Yahoo! I’m Organized!

Introvert Retreat:

• Playing Extravert

There are also some great new articles at OrganizedArticles.com, including VANA member Frances Palaschuk’s Top 10 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Maximize Your Holiday Marketing Campaign. I’m always looking for good quality content related to Maximizing Your Time and Space so if you’re a coach, professional organizer, or anyone else who’d like to contribute relevant articles in exchange for free exposure, please let me know!
 

As I mentioned back in June, this will be the first year since starting my business that I haven’t gone to the POC Conference. Now that it’s only a few days away, I have to admit that I wish I was going to be there. Having enjoyed numerous beach walks in Nova Scotia last month, and learning that one of the extracurricular activities planned for the Vancouver conference is a fitness walk by the sea, the thought of visiting both coasts for the first time in my life within a relatively short time span has a certain appeal.

However, one of the reasons I had decided against going was that I didn’t think I could spare taking more time off so soon after my vacation. Considering that I didn’t feel back to "normal" until last Friday, and that I am still working on projects I started before I went away, I think I was right.

My sister suggested that setting my sights on walking both coasts within a slightly less tight time frame, within the first ten years of the 21st century, would be realistic, and I tend to agree. And like so many things, having a specific goal in mind to accomplish something by a certain date makes it much more likely that it will happen than if it’s just on my "someday" list.

A few months ago I wrote about The Ongoing Battle Against SPAM. At the time I was mildly perturbed about the time I was wasting dealing with spam, but in September I noticed a sharp increase, to the point where it was taking about 10 minutes to download my messages in the morning. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I noticed that some of the people I know were using Spam Arrest, so I decided to sign up for their 30 day free trial. I figured that would at least get me through my vacation at the end of September, so I wouldn’t be returning to 1000+ spam messages. It didn’t take me long to see the value of the service and to recognize that it is well worth its price - which is less than $50 per year. It will clearly pay for itself, as the time I’m not spending monitoring my junk mail can now be spent on client projects or marketing activities. In addition, my brain isn’t being inundated with multiple messages that I really don’t care to see.

The way Spam Arrest works, you upload your contacts so any messages from these people will automatically be approved. If anyone else sends you an email, they’ll be sent an automatic reply to which they must respond before their messages will be delivered to you. They will then be added to the "approved" list. As most spam is sent out by automated systems which are unable to deal with this request, only messages sent by actual human beings will go through. I have received a couple of messages which I considered spam, but I’m able to log into my account and block the senders from sending me any further emails.

As part of my weekly routine, I export my Outlook contacts to a CSV file, then import it into Spam Arrest to ensure that any new contacts I’ve added do not have to go through the verification process. This also provides me with a backup copy of my contacts. As an added benefit, I can use the same CSV file to find people I know on social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook.

I received the following inquiry this week on my article directory/blog, OrganizedArticles.com: I was referred to you as I am thinking of going into the Virtual Assistant field. Any suggestions that you can offer would be greatly appreciated. How does one get started, membership, help etc.?

Since I am often asked this, or similar questions, I decided to post my answer here. There is a ton of information available and I won’t try and duplicate it, but rather provide some direction.

For anyone contemplating starting a virtual assistant business, I highly recommend joining the Virtual Assistant Networking Association (VANA). There are many VA groups but VANA is open to anyone, regardless of geographic location or specialty (or lack thereof). There’s no cost to join, the forum is very well organized, and the members extremely helpful and friendly. You can probably find the answers to most if not all of your questions there, and if not, you can post them and count on receiving a number of replies. They’ve recently introduced a premium membership which includes a lot of extra information and resources, including access to RFPs (more on that later) and until the end of October, it’s available for only $99.00 (after that, it goes up to $249.00).

If you’re not familiar with the term "RFP," it stands for "Request for Proposal." VANA, and most other VA associations, allow potential clients to submit the details of their requirements and members can then send their information for consideration. This is similar to applying to job postings, except that you’re not looking to be an employee but an independent contractor, so instead of a resume, you’re sending a proposal.

Canada has two VA associations, the Canadian Virtual Assistant Connection (CVAC) and Canadian Virtual Assistant Network (CVAN), and each offers different benefits. CVAC has two levels of membership - a "partial" membership is free and a "full" membership, which is required to access RFPs and some of the other membership benefits, has an annual fee, which I believe is around $30.00. CVAN doesn’t offer a free membership, however, a lifetime membership costs only $49.95.

There are also a number of international organizations as well as some geared towards specialty fields such as real estate virtual assistants. Since I’m not involved with any of them, I’m unable to provide any details, but you can find lots of information on the three websites which I’ve mentioned.

I know quite a few people who have been able to go through the government’s Self-Employment Program and found it to be very helpful, but if you’re not eligible, there are lots of other places you can get information and advice on starting a business, such as through your local Small Business Enterprise Centre or community college, or from a business coach. There are even coaches who specialize in working with VAs, not to mention a large number of VA training and/or certification programs.

I hope this is helpful, and I wish you luck on your new endeavour!

Because email can be such a hindrance to worker productivity, a number of companies have attempted to combat this problem, and encourage face-to-face communication, by implementing "no email days". Interestingly enough, this has not been well received by employees. One of the (predictable, in my opinion) results was a backlog of messages the following day.

Email is the natural choice for introverts, who typically prefer written communication. It’s often used by individuals who wish to avoid confrontating someone or asking a difficult question. And sometimes it’s nice to have the communication documented for future reference.

As a virtual assistant working from a home office, email is my primary method of communicating with clients, suppliers, and colleagues. In many ways, it is very efficient, because email can be sent at any time of the day or night, without having to think about the recipient’s time zone or hours of operation, or worry about interrupting them with a telephone call. However, some people have great difficulty staying on top of their email, so you might have to wait a long time for a reply - or your message might get overlooked or forgotten in the inbox, or filtered to a junk folder. When this happens, it’s best to pick up the phone rather than send a follow-up email, because your second message might easily suffer the same fate.

Those of us who grew up when long distance was an expensive luxury might tend to avoid calling people in other time zones, so we need to remind ourselves that it’s now affordable and is in fact often included in our regular telephone service. There have been a number of occasions where I was able to resolve something in minutes by telephone that might have taken several back and forth emails, so I can see why these large companies are trying to encourage their staff to use this form of communication.

In terms of productivity, when we need to contact someone, it would be wise to consider the following:

• If I get an answer to my question immediately, will it help me to continue working on this activity?
• Is the person likely to be at his or her desk right now?
• Does this person usually answer their phone, or let it go to voice mail?
• Does this person usually respond to emails on a timely basis?
• What is the most effective way to communicate this information? (often our intent in an email can be misunderstood)

I’m not sure that "no email days" are practical, but reminding ourselves that email is not the only form of communication available to us - or always the best one - is a fabulous idea.