AuthorMary Cabrera is the Manager of The VIVA Club. She loves to write articles, which, considering where you’re reading this, makes perfect sense. She's also the Virtual Executive Assistant of Turner Invest. You can find Mary on Facebook and LinkedIn Archives
November 2018
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![]() “When I started my business, I was doing it all – admin work, responding to customers, managing my Social Media Accounts and so much more. But while I pursued entrepreneurship for many reasons, having less time in my life wasn’t one of them.” Does that sound like you? It is a common feeling among small business owners and entrepreneurs that there is just not enough time in the week to get everything done. That is why the first “employee” many entrepreneurs hire is a virtual assistant: someone who can take on the daily tasks and processes that are important for running your business, but not necessarily focused on growing it. A virtual assistant is like having an extra pair of hands without hiring an actual employee. If you’re experiencing stress and the other “good problems” that come with success, it might be time for you to consider hiring your own virtual assistant and get back some of those hours in your day. After doing a ton of research, business owners are now no longer hiring their VAs from onlinejobs.ph or other portals, but choosing The VIVA Club to hire their very first VA and handle their day to day tasks (including the tasks they hate!). But why are Business Owners, like Ben Wright, making the switch. We wanted to take a moment and share with you the reasons for switching to The VIVA Club. Many Talented Virtual Assistants are in one place! You can pool lots of talented and experienced VAs in the VIVA Club. From Admin tasks to Social Media Management, Graphic Designs or Web Development, they’re all in one place. You just need to make a clear job description on what you really need for your company. Affordable price The Executive Package is available for just £147! The package includes 1 Month Access to the exclusive VIVA Club, 1 Month Free Trial of Business SOS (the membership programme to Systemise, Outsource & Scale YOUR business), and everything to save you time including:
More Choice Feedback from one of our happy Business Owners who used The VIVA Club was: “Once I posted my Job Advert in The VIVA Club, I received an unbelievable 300 applicants to choose from!” FREE Access to VA Community I now have a FREE access to The VIVA Club community where I can post questions about VAs and Softwares and receive answers and recommendations from the community. The VIVA Club customer service is exceptional! Last, but definitely not least, we receive amazing reviews and recommendations as our team do everything to support you in hiring your VA: “I was very impressed with The VIVA Club’s customer service. Over the past months of subscribing to The VIVA Club, whenever I had a trouble of any kind regarding my VA, I hopped on the Support Chat/ Email and someone got back to me usually within minutes!” We hope we have given you the reasons to join The VIVA Club now and access the best VAs and Virtual Specialists you need to progress your business too!
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The VIVA Club vs. Onlinejobs.ph10/30/2018 Last year, The Very Important Virtual Assistant (VIVA) Club was launched after the success of the Life Leverage Online Masterclass and huge interest from Business Owners wanting to hire after finding out the importance of a Virtual Assistant for their business. We’d been wanting to launch The VIVA Club for at least a year prior, but two things held us back— where can we find quality VAs and what platform should we use to gather them together in one place?
So firstly, why & when did we create The VIVA Club? This was mainly due to a Facebook Live we did for Business Owners & Entrepreneurs, and with our Executive VA Mary. We’d spent 90 minutes with the business owners detailing all the pros and cons of having a VA and answering their many questions and then immediately we received lots of messages asking us where to find VAs to hire. And a light bulb went off. Why not make our own VA outsourcing firm? To do this we needed to attract quality VAs to ensure not only the business owners benefited from a quality VA for their business, but the VAs benefit by working for the right business to suit their skills. And, succeeding with this will get business owners recommending The VIVA Club to other business owners and VAs recommending to other VAs. So quality VAs have been sourced from personal recommendations from other VAs and, our specialist Business SOS training open to VAs which contains lots of training on how to be the best VA in terms of organisation, time management, software training videos and much more including a monthly Live Q&A to support them. The answer to the second question about what platform should we use to gather VAs together in one place wasn’t that simple. Because there are lots of online platforms for online workers like Onlinejobs.ph. After hearing the same questions from several business owners and doing a little online research, we settled on creating The VIVA Club on Facebook. It seemed fairly intuitive and gave us the option to include/exclude VAs and Business Owners easily, and importantly, allowed Business Owners to view the profiles of the VAs they intend to hire before hiring them. In the span of a year after our launch, we already have 120 Business Owners from UK looking to hire their VAs and almost 3,000 VAs in our VIVA Club community looking for an online job. So now the question is what’s the best platform to use to hire your VA’s? While our platform and the onlinejobs platform share the same goal and some similarities, there are differences as well. Similarities: These sites have several broad-strokes categories of remote work, including design and creative work, programming and development work, administrative support, marketing and sales, and more. And of course beneath each of those are dozens of highly specialized areas of expertise. Also, both companies don’t take a percentage of your worker’s salary and both offer long-term VA employment. Differences: Here are some differences between The VIVA Club and Onlinejobs.ph: 1. Lower Price Both sites represent huge talent pools and earn money by playing matchmaker, though they go about this in different ways. Onlinejobs.ph offer $69 per Month for the Pro Plan with 75 contact workers and no video guide to outsourcing. The VIVA Club offers £69 for the Professional Package which allows 1-month access to the exclusive VIVA Club, and 1 month FREE trial of Business SOS the membership programme to systemise, outsource and scale your business. There is no automatic renewal fees for The VIVA Club like there is with onlinejobs as our aim is for you to hire within 1 month. 2. Unbelievable Service The VIVA Club has an incredible customer service. And it doesn’t end after you’ve paid them. You can ask dozens of questions and expect to receive a quick response. When we don’t know the answer, we quickly find out and turn them into a helpful resource on our site’s FAQ section that can be accessed through our website The VIVA Club. Additionally, The VIVA Club offer 2 advanced packages: Executive - which gives you access to all the template documents you need to hire and onboard your VA Platinum - a done for you service, turning all the template documents into specific documents for your business and carrying out the hiring process for you giving you a shortlist of the best 3 candidates to choose from. 3. More Option Onlinejobs.ph only allows 75 contact workers to apply per month but The VIVA Club allows you to contact unlimited numbers of VA applicants per month. 4. Exclusive VA Training The VIVA Club offers our VAs Business SOS which aims to train them to become quality VAs and stand out from other VAs. Onlinejobs.ph doesn’t have this kind of training. Business SOS is also open to all business owners to help them systemise, outsource and scale their businesses to earn more and work less, and one access can be shared between the business owner and their VA, for more information visit Business SOS. 5. FREE Access to VA Community Once you purchased THE VIVA Club, you can have a FREE access to The VIVA Club community where you can post questions about VAs and Softwares and receive answers and recommendations from the community. The VIVA Club’s Vision is to form a community of quality & trusted outsourcers who can work full-time, part-time or on a project to project basis who are available to Business Owners & Entrepreneurs looking for quality assistance in their business, making it easy for the business owner to find and hire the right person. What's Next? If you are now ready to hire your perfect VA, head over to theviva.club and start the process of outsourcing the tasks you do not like, the tasks you are not good at and/or the tasks that are not the best use of your time. We hope to hear from you soon.
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Why I Wanted To Be A VA?9/10/2018 “A virtual assistant (VA) is a person who provides support services to other businesses from a remote location. The term originated in the 1990s as the ability to work virtually due to technology improvements, such as high-speed Internet, document sharing, and other advancements, made working remotely a reality”. (RANDY DUERMYER ) Jona May RoseteJona is a registered Nurse. She decided to work from home as a Virtual Assistant when they moved to the US with her family.
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Most of the time, a Virtual Assistant may be asked “what does your job entail” and “how can I be a virtual assistant”. This is because the job is very intriguing to people who are interested in spending more time at home, making a higher income, and being able to essentially set their own schedule. However, being a virtual assistant is not always glamorous, and more work is involved than one might think in order to become a successful one. Here are some tips to becoming a great virtual assistant. 1. KNOW YOUR SKILLS Before looking for a virtual assistant position or clients of your own, you will need to be sure you have the basic skills necessary to be a successful assistant. If you have worked in an office as a secretary or administrative assistant, then you have a very good starting point. If not, then you will need to be sure you at least meet the following criteria: * Can at least type 45+ WPM * Knowledgeable in Windows or Mac environment * Can use the Internet and search engines effectively * Know how to use web mail and remote email services daily * Understand basic social media marketing practices * Understand the basics of email marketing and newsletter creation * Have excellent organization and scheduling skills 2. BE READY WITH YOUR TOOLS Beyond the skills you possess, you will need to be sure that you have the necessary equipment to complete the work functions of a virtual assistant. Like your skills, these can be improved with time, but it is essential to at least have these basics before you begin your new career: * Fast and reliable computer or laptop * Installed browsers on your computer * An email client such as Outlook or Gmail * A high speed Internet connection 3. SCHEDULE Whether you choose to work with a company or not, it is vital that you create a set schedule for yourself and stick with it. That said, it does not need to be a 9-5 schedule. Many assistants work evening or night shifts to work around their family schedules, and some may even work split shifts and choose to take Monday off. The important issue here is that you set a schedule, set up a routine, and train yourself to be working during the same time each work day. 4. FOCUS Not only will you need to get yourself into a work routine, but you will need to train those around you that because you are at home, it does not mean you are available. Once you’ve established your working days and times, you must let your family and friends know not to bother you unless absolutely necessary during those times. It is nice to be home and able to quickly respond if your children needs bandages, but it does not mean that you can be getting up every ten minutes to get them a drink of water. 5. SET UP YOUR WORK STATION Speaking of children and training the family, your task will be much easier if you are able to work in a separate room from them. A room that has a locking door is preferred, but even clearing out the unused den or basement will help the feeling of having an office and being “unavailable” to everyone when you are in there. It will also provide a noise buffer – which is necessary when on client calls. 6. SET A PLAN Ask yourself these questions: * When will you work? How many hours per week? * Where will you work? How will you set up and add to your office or desk as you go? * Will you begin working with a company or simply freelance? * How will you secure health and business insurance when you need to? * Who will pay your taxes? As you begin to write this plan, you will most likely come up with other questions that should be answered before you even take on your first client. Cover all your bases to ensure everyone has the best experience possible. 7. DEVELOP A SPECIALTY The term “virtual assistant” can actually mean many things these days, but often boils down to “Jack (or Jill) of all trades.” However, it is not exactly possible for any assistant, especially one just starting out, to be an expert in all areas of online business. Therefore, it is actually beneficial to you and your clients to become an expert in a set skill, market, or set of programs. Some ideas are: * Social Media Guru * Email Marketing Expert * Sales copy, SEO, and SEM * Affiliate and Ecommerce site creation/optimization * Travel and Schedule Organizer Think of yourself as a business partner for you clients, and focus on becoming the best in one area of support to give them the kind of service they’ll pay top dollar for. 8.. RELIABILITY One thing that every virtual assistant will learn is that clients can sometimes be impatient. An emailed task sent at 9 AM might be followed by one at 10 AM asking why the task hasn’t been completed. At the start of every client relationship, you should be very clear, even in writing, of the kind of communication and task completion turnaround the client can expect. The average goes something like this “All emails and calls are responded to within 1 business day, and tasks are usually completed within 2 business days, unless they are very large or complex.” Then, it is very important that you stick to this statement. Respond to calls and emails in a timely fashion, but refrain from responding outside your usual business days and hours. Complete tasks on time, and always provide courteous responses where necessary. This will help to train the customer on what to expect during the process of task completion. Believe it or not, responding on weekends and all hours of the night sets unrealistic expectations for the client and will create a customer service disaster later on in the relationship. I hope that you find these tips helpful as you setup and get started toward a successful virtual assistant career. Good luck!😉 |