Unless you live on the moon, I’m sure you’ve heard of the changes to the new EU data protection laws, commonly known as the GDPR. These changes came into force on 25th May 2018 and affect every business whether it’s in the EU or not – so that means you AND your clients. Here’s what you need to know and how to comply.
If you’re looking to set up your own Virtual Assistant business then you may be considering buying my DIY VA course. The course is really popular because it not only shows you how to become a Virtual Assistant, but also how to market yourself and then work better once you are one. Here are the questions people ask most often.
Although I’ve written about how to say no to those negative saboteurs called naysayers, what I haven’t done is give you examples of the things they might say to you so you know what to say no to! Whether you’re on the receiving end of a negative comment or the one thinking them yourself, it definitely helps to have a good response ready.
Picture the scene. I’m 17 years old, it’s around 8.45 in the morning and I’m on a bus on my way to work. It’s one of my very first jobs out of school, I work from 9 to 5.30 every day in a huge airless room at a faceless call centre in a massive building with hundreds of other people. As I look out of the window, the bus passes a tree in the park… and it suddenly hits me.
Although I had often outsourced the occasional one-off task, I was actually doing everything myself and only started regularly working with a VA after I broke down in tears after spending most of the week dealing with a host of support emails instead of getting any real work done. That was the moment I knew it was time to get some help.
Because you don’t need any formal qualifications to become a Virtual Assistant, there’s often confusion and misunderstanding in the VA Handbookers Facebook group around what being one entails, and it’s sometimes described as being an ‘easy side gig’, I thought I’d explain what it actually means to be a Virtual Assistant.
One of my favourite sayings is “you’re the sum of the five people you spend the most time with”, so if the people around you are negative complainers who always find a reason why something can’t be done, they will eventually bring you down to their level and you’ll never reach your full potential. This is why you need a Mastermind or Accountability group.
Following a family bereavement, Lauren Moon took some time to evaluate and decided that life was way too short to be unhappy. Lauren wanted something that would fit around her two young children and she definitely wanted to see if she could ‘have her cake and eat it’!
If you charge by the hour, at some point you’re going to reach an income plateau as there are only so many billable hours you can work in a day. You know you need to raise your rates as time goes on, but you’re also worried you might lose some of your clients if you do. Here’s how to up your prices like a pro along with a customisable email template.
Because Associate work is a great way to take on more work both when starting out and as you become more successful, I asked my VA Handbookers Facebook group to post up any questions they had on the subject and then I asked some volunteers who had experience of both sides to answer them. This is what they said:
