From the Desk of Janet Barclay

I had a disappointing experience last week. A relatively new client, with an extensive list of future projects, decided to stop working with me. Although I was sorry to see her go, I understood why she made that decision. After all, it had taken several weeks to complete the first project, which could have been done in a couple of days. This was not due to incompetence or laziness on my part, or due to taking on more work than I could manage. I believe it came down to a lack of communication.

When you have someone working in your office with you, they can pop their head in, ask you a question or two, and continue working on the project. When you’re working remotely, you do not have that luxury. It is therefore critical that you answer your virtual assistant’s emails as promptly as possible. If your schedule doesn’t allow you to respond on a timely basis, your VA may have moved on to another project by the time he or she receives the information they requested. This is especially important in the early stages of your working relationship, as your VA is getting to know you and your preferences. After you’ve been working together for a while and your VA has had an opportunity to gain a good understanding of your business and the way you like things done, these "check-ins" will become less frequent.

If e-mail is not your preferred method of communication, it would be a good idea to schedule regular telephone meetings with your virtual assistant, keeping in mind that you will usually be billed for the time. Once again, you’ll probably be able to reduce the frequency of these meetings once a regular routine is established, except perhaps when a new project is underway.

Things may have worked out differently with my client had I explained all of this at the onset, and I’ll be sure to do that going forward.

For more on this subject, read Kathie Thomas’ recent blog post, What Can a Client Expect in a Virtual Working Relationship?

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.

My Blog Friend Jacki Hollywood Brown of Adventures in Organizing tagged me to write an interview with myself. So, here goes:

What is the story behind the name of your blog?

Desk: a table, counter, stand, or booth at which a person works (from Middle English deske, from Medieval Latin desca, modification of Old Italian desco table, from Latin discus dish, disc)

Janet Barclay: A Canadian introvert who has found her bliss working from home as a virtual assistant.

Why did you start blogging in the first place?

When I attended Professional Organizers in Canada’s National Conference in 2006, one of the speakers I had the pleasure of hearing was Leesa Barnes, who encouraged all of us to set up a blog. Up until then, I wasn’t convinced that I had anything to say, over and above what’s in my monthly ezine, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I am constantly coming across exciting new resources or having insight that has nothing to do with Maximizing Your Time and Space, so I figured I might as well put them somewhere where other people can also benefit from them.

What is your best blogging experience?

Through my blog and visiting other blogs, I have connected with so many interesting people! One of them even chose me as her virtual assistant after getting to know me through my blog. As a business owner, you really can’t ask for better results than that!

So far the worst experience?

I really can’t say I’ve had a bad experience. I’ve had one or two comments from readers who disagreed with something I’ve said, but not in a nasty way. I sure don’t expect the whole world to agree with me about everything!  Sometimes it’s just hard to think of something to write about that anyone would care to read.

What do you think will happen to your blog in 2008?

I’m hoping to make it bigger and better – but that will have to wait until I’ve finished redoing my website.

Who I’m tagging:

Ariane Benefit of Neat and Simple and Alex Fayle of Someday Syndrome

I couldn’t let International Coaching Week go by without stopping to celebrate the business success I’ve experienced over the last couple of years, because it wouldn’t have been possible without the support and guidance of my coaches.

When I decided to leave my job and work in my business on a full-time basis, I knew I needed to speed up the growth process to bring my income to what it had been. I had a lot of good ideas, but didn’t know how to decide which ones were worth implementing or even how to go about it in some cases. The best decision I made was to team up with a business coach, who helped me to analyze my competition, identify my niche market, and strengthen my branding, among other things. I still had to do all the work, but with someone to guide me and to be accountable for, I was able to accomplish much more than I had been able to do on my own. As I’ve mentioned before, I later took part in a group coaching program based on the Law of Attraction, which further developed my awareness of my ideal client and helped me to take my business to the next level.

If you’re a new entrepreneur, you may have limited resources available, but I strongly encourage you to find a way to make the investment. Group coaching tends to be less expensive than one-on-one, and provides the added support of the other group members. Another option would be to offer your services in exchange for coaching.

Just make sure that the person you choose as your coach is someone you respect and feel comfortable with. And remember, you will have lots of homework! Like so many things in life, you will only get out of coaching as much as you put into it.

There are a number of coaches in my blogroll, whose specialties include executive, marketing, productivity, and careers. Why not pay them a visit and see what they have to offer?

Every once in a while, I hear about something someone is doing that I just have to share.

Last year I wrote about a program I took called "Turbocharge Your Business" which taught how to use the Law of Attraction to grow your business. I can honestly say that since then, I have never looked back. Now Law of Attraction Coach Don Giberson of DreamCrafters Inc. is offering his Dream Library, which includes all of the audio files and accompanying documents for Turbocharge Your Business and 12 other programs, at a special introductory price of only $77.00 - less than the cost of one individual program!

That is pretty exciting in itself, but what makes this offer even more special is that the first $100,000 raised through the Dream Library will go directly to Colton, a 9-year old boy with a rare, degenerative disorder that usually claims the lives of its victims by the age of 12. Colton is going to India for a life-saving operation, but his  family needs to raise $400,000 for the trip, the operation, and the years of rehabilitation he will need when he returns home.

Taking three simple steps can help create a miracle for Colton, and they will only take a few minutes. The three steps are: 

Step 1 - Click here to learn more about Colton and the various ways you can help create a miracle for Colton. Some cost nothing.

Step 2 - Order a one-year membership to the Dream Library. It truly is an amazing offer. And the first $100,000 raised goes directly to Colton.

Step 3 - Please help spread the word about this special young boy. It will take a lot of people to create a miracle for Colton.