Archive for July, 2009

A Virtual Assistant is Robin to the Business Owners’ Batman…The Ultimate Guide for Business Owners selecting their Virtual Assistant partner

As a successful business owner there will come a time when you will have to admit that unlike Superman, unfortunately, you do not have special powers. You are more like Bruce Wayne. You’re a courageous leader that is answering the call of your target audience with a service or product you are passionate and committed to producing. Successful business owners are gifted “thought leaders” who have found the keys to getting paid for what they love to do. However, it is unlikely that you have all the tools needed to deliver your goods to the masses. There are weak spots to every business owner’s armor.

Your business is built around your strengths but can very well fall to your weaknesses.

You must be willing to admit this and then determine who can carry that load for you.

Back in the good ol’ days, you would have enlisted an Alfred to sit in your cave and handle the administrative duties but due to the recession, green-living and the internet you no longer need an 8-5 secretary to solve your riddles.

What you need in this day and age is a highly skilled Robin. A sidekick that is ready to perform only when you need them to. Your Robin is your virtual assistant.

A virtual assistant is a highly skilled professional who is determined to pick up where her leader drops off.

Our passion is to overcome your weakness and protect your vision. As a bonus we have our own unique capabilities that you can utilize to make your business even stronger and broader in scope.

Although virtual assistants may be an unfamiliar term to you, we are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with. We all have the administrative skills of an “Alfred”, but we have pin-pointed our own individual strengths and welded our own special belts of web 2.0 super tools!

…but which virtual assistant is right for you?

You need someone to bring out the best in you and your business. You need a confidante, a team player and someone that can fill-in-the-blanks to take you from a successful business owner to a rock-star business owner.

To help you identify the skill-set that will best compliment you, you should write down the tasks that you need to delegate ASAP.

• Are you needing someone to pick up your slack or are you looking for someone to take the lead on tasks that you don’t have the knowledge to do yourself?

This list of tasks are wearing you down-time and morale-wise-and need to be your virtual assistant’s first priority.

Put out your Robin signal—your Request for Proposal.

Leading networking sites for locating your Virtual Assist –>VA Networking, VACOC, VA Forums, VA Classroom, and IVAA.

Once you have received bids on your proposal, you will want to schedule a consultation.

5 Tips to Guide You Through the Consultation Process:

1. Does she (or he) have the training and or professional experience that you are specifically looking for? Ask probing questions and seek thorough answers. (Some Virual Assitants frown on being asked for references, I personally do not).
2. Do your personalities mesh well? This is not to say they must mirror each other, opposites do attract. This means, “Can the relationship be rewarding?” You will need a virtual assistant to stimulate your best qualities and vice versa.
3. Before committing to a contract, test our services out! Ask for a 2-3 hour paid trial. This will let you know if the virtual assistant “gets you”.
4. Don’t look for the cheapest virtual assistant. The saying is true, “you get what you pay for”! If you are not ready to commit to a 20-30 hour monthly retainer with your virtual assistant (our rates range from $25-$75/per hour), then ask for 5-10 hours to start. Build the relationship and the tasks. The ability and need to delegate more hours will come naturally.
5. Above all, trust and respect your virtual assistant! As a virtual assistant, we are committed to you and it is your success that ultimately determines ours. We ask that you give us the courtesy that any right-hand counterpart deserves and we will gladly find ways to make you better.

Would you like to learn more about how a virtual assistant can build upon the success of your business?

Join the #smbiz Twitter Chat Tuesday August 4th from 8-9 EST, where you will be about to able to participate in a virtual chat and learn the answers to your questions about partnering with a virtual assistant. This chat is hosted by John Sternal (@SternalPR) and Chrisanne Sternal (@SternalMrktg). John is a PR professional of nearly 20 years and Chrisanne is a marketing expert for almost as long. John and Chrisanne are also the creators of Understanding Marketing and The PR Toolkit.

The expert guests virtual assistants will be Michelle Mangen (@mmangen), Dawn Pigoni (@dawntrenee) and myself (@VirtualRaven).

I hope to “see” you there!

Yours,
Raven Howard
Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant

My Super Powers : Internet Marketing, Event Coordination, Email Marketing, HTML, Social Networking, Google Tools, Creative Documents and Personal Assistance

My Ideal Super Heroes: Event Planners, Women, Entertainers and Athletes

Fellow Virtual Assistants…please feel free to leave your own Super Powers and Your Ideal Super Heroes in the comments. Business owners…I would love to hear what your “Kryptonite” is and what your Ideal Sidekick should be able to do!