From the Desk of Janet Barclay

March 2007 marked the 5^th anniversary of the Canadian Virtual Assistant Connection (CVAC), and in honour of the occasion, I arranged a VA lunch in Hamilton. Although the group was small, it was such a great experience that we planned another get-together in June, followed by one in October, and another one in February, with an increasing number of VAs coming out. It was clear that the interest was there, so we decided to formalize the group.

Our first official meeting as the Golden Horseshoe Virtual Assistants Group (GHVA) was held last month and we were pleased to receive a visit from SNAP Burlington photographer Catherine Young, and even more pleased to be pictured in the May 2008 issue which came out yesterday.

This week also marks the launch of the GHVA website. I’d like to extend special thanks to Carol Behan for designing the logo, Yvonne Wu of The YP Publishing for the initial site design, and Erika Martlew and Angela Del Corpo for developing the content.

The following release was sent out to the media today:

NEW  ASSOCIATION FORMED TO SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESSES IN THE GOLDEN HORSESHOE

HAMILTON, ON –  After several meetings with her local colleagues during the past year, Janet Barclay saw the need to form an association for Virtual Assistants in the Golden Horseshoe area. She recognized that Virtual Assistants who attended could better serve their clients from ideas shared at the meetings. Golden Horseshoe Virtual Assistants Group was formed and a web site launched. www.ghva.ca.  

The GHVA Group cross-promotes their skills and expertise to potential clients, and clients benefit by ensuring the right fit for their needs. Building relationships through the networking events can lead to referrals and sub-contracting opportunities for member VAs.

“We offer a solution that will make being a business owner the rewarding experience it should be, resulting in more freedom and less stress,” says GHVA member Erika Martlew.

On May 16 of this year, Virtual Assistants (VAs) throughout the world will celebrate International Virtual Assistants Day.

Since Virtual Assistants work remotely from anywhere in the world, they don’t often get a chance to meet face-to-face. In Toronto, a weekend long conference has been organized for VAs all over North America to network, attend workshops and share knowledge and experiences, as well as make friendships. The event runs from Friday, May 2 to Sunday, May 4 at the Delta Toronto East Hotel.

Business owners are beginning to realize the advantages of retaining the services of a Virtual Assistant. The Virtual Assistant industry has been growing rapidly over the past ten years as companies begin to understand the benefits of retaining a VA. Each VA is an independent business owner offering his or her own unique skills and talents, but one thing they all have in common is caring for the clients they work with. Ideally, a VA develops a long term partnership-type relationship with their clients, becoming familiar with the client’s business and understanding their challenges and overall goals.

Previously, companies would need to hire part-time staff or temporary workers to fill short term needs. This would require the necessity of providing work space, equipment, and training. Through the versatility of a professional Virtual Assistant, who works from their own office environment, savings can be realized as the client does not cover any of these costs and only pays for the time to complete the project or task performed by the VA.  Business owners are taking a second look at this new outsourcing alternative which has recently been mentioned in:

National Post
The Wall Street Journal
CNN
Reader’s Digest May 2007 issue
NBC Today Show
Time
Dr. Phil Show
Plus numerous regional magazines and newspapers

“In today’s business environment, the pace of keeping up with information and trends, while maintaining an edge in the marketplace, requires new ideas.  Hiring a Golden Horseshoe Virtual Assistant may just be that idea.”

*******

For more information and to see a listing of services offered, please visit www.ghva.ca or email janet@organizedassistant.com.

As small business owners, blogs, Facebook, and LinkedIn are just a few of the many tools available to help us to develop our online presence and expand our networks, and since any one of these activities can consume several hours a week, it’s important to make sure that we are using our time wisely.

For this reason, I’ve developed a survey to find out what online activities are most effective, and I’m asking you to respond. It will only take a few minutes, and all answers are completely confidential. To thank you for your participation, I will be sharing some of the results here on my blog.

Please click here to take the survey.

I can’t even remember when I first heard of the Pareto Principle – you know, the one that says that 80% of the effects comes from 20% of the causes. For example, we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time, and we spend 80% of our time with 20% of our acquaintances. In business, it’s said that 80% of your sales comes from 20% of your clients.

I recently attended a networking breakfast where I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Tony Alessandra share some strategies for keeping clients and attracting new ones. He suggested that you create a profile of the top 20% of your clients, and seek more clients who fit that profile. It seems obvious, but how many of us actually do that?

He went on to recommend that you develop a plan to make it happen. The first step of the plan he outlined is to identify which clients are actively recommending you to others. Next, figure out what it is you do differently for those clients, and then start doing that for your other clients. That could be a bit more challenging to figure out, but I can definitely see the value in it.

Overall, I was very impressed with Dr. Alessandra’s presentation and I hope to have an opportunity to hear him again. Did you notice I said "hear" and not "see"? That’s because he wasn’t actually in the room when I heard him. This particular event takes place every month, with the presentation delivered by speaker phone. It’s really quite unique, because there isn’t an actual group to join, so you get to meet different people all the time. If you want to find out if there’s one happening in your area, simply Google "Breakfast with Fran" along with the name of your city or town.

I for one am very glad to see that March is over! Now spring is just a wee bit closer (the calendar says it’s here, but we know better!) and as I get ready for my upcoming series of teleseminars, I’m looking forward to opening my office window and letting in some fresh air.

Speaking of those teleseminars, the president of AORCP (the host organization) said it was OK to offer free registration to non-members to this Thursday’s session on Organizing Your Home Office, so if you’re interested in taking part, just let me know, and I’ll send you the information you’ll need to access the call.

Here’s what I’ve been blogging about elsewhere:

OnlineOrganizing.com - Technology as an Organizing Tool:

• For Girls who Love to Make Lists
• My Love-Hate Relationship with my Pocket PC
• Organize Your Email - Part 1
• Organize Your Email - Part 2

Introvert Retreat:

• Power Networking for Introverts
• Speed Networking for Introverts

I’ve also posted a new article to OrganizedArticles.com on A Website for Your Small Business.

Enjoy!

I recently attended a networking event called "Intimate Alliances" which was organized by Neworld Coaching. Since these are the same people who run the Beehive Game Online and The Beehive Game Live, I was sure it would be unlike any other event I’ve been to, and I was not disappointed. Instead of self-introductions and unstructured "mix and mingle" time, a specific amount of time was allotted to meet one-on-one with each and every other participant in order to explore the possibilities for forming joint ventures with that person.

As a result of one of those meetings, I’ve been invited to be a presenter at Small Business Marketing Make-over, a half-day workshop taking place at the Holiday Inn in Kitchener on Thursday, April 17^th. This workshop is being offered by Holibyte Online Solutions, who specialize in online marketing, and Trudezign Graphics & Marketing, who specialize in branding and print marketing, and my role is to give a short presentation on the ways a Virtual Assistant can help you to carry out your marketing strategies. Since it’s the same day as my teleclass on The Four Steps to Organization, I unfortunately won’t be able to participate, but I will be contributing helpful information to the workshop handout package.

I wish I could be there, not just for the speaking opportunity, but because I am sure Craig and Trudy’s marketing ideas will be quite valuable! If you’d like to learn how to get an advantage on your competition and achieve a stronger and more prosperous market presence on a limited budget, be sure to register soon –early bird pricing is available until March 31^st, and space is limited!