Davis Virtual Assistants

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It’s time for all of us, yours truly included, to break out, break away and take a break. Yup, I want you to go cold turkey for 24 hours: no computer, no printer, no fax machine, no blog, no iPod, no PDA. Pick one day this weekend and choose to walk away from your daily life as you know it now. Don’t you dare power-on that laptop, post to your blog or make any changes to your website.

Instead, go to the park and checkout the music festival going on this weekend. Visit your local library and review the stacks of new books; while you’re there, apply for your library card! Take a walking tour of a neighborhood in your city you’ve yet to visit. Go visit the new bistro or cafe down the street and invite your dad or best friend along for the ride.

It’s time to revisit your fun side and to ensure your family and friends still remember your facial features.

Get it?

Got it?

Good.

We return you to your regularly scheduled programming, already in progress …

I do not wish my current state of mind of cranky-business-owner on any one — friend or foe.

The kicker? During the uninstall process, you’re presented with a cheesy list of “get more information” items. You know what I’m talking about … insurance quotes(!), get your high school diploma in just 8 weeks(!), learn how to make a million dollars in just 3 easy steps(!), etc.

I have slain the evilness that is Mirar … let’s hope you’re not hit with this nastiness.

Our conversation was full of point-counterpoint and I love that. Her questions were spot-on and we both came away from this conversation with some new knowledge. What a great feeling … I’m so pleased!

Erase from your mind the notion that all it takes to open a VA business is a phone, a fax, a computer and a printer. I read posts and participate in on-line forums for the VA industry and I want to pull out my rock ‘n roll hair when I read posts by new VAs discussing their problems in opening their business.

I want to sit them down, smack them on the hand and ask them:

• Do you have a business plan?

• Why do you want to be a Virtual Assistant?
• Why are you doing this full-time?
• Did you consider your part-time options, until you get settled and gain new clients?
• What do you mean you have very little money in the bank? You don’t have enough money to cover you and ALL of your expenses for at least 6-9 months?
• Do you have a web presence?
• How did you plan on marketing your business and your services?
• Can you tell me, in 120-seconds or less, why someone should engage your services

Horror stories of “I’ve been in business for two years, but I still don’t have any clients” really anger me. Let’s lower the business-opening-to-first-client threshold to three months, not 24 months. By your third month in business, you should have at least 1 - 3 clients. Something is wrong and needs to be addressed immediately if you’ve “been in business” for two years and yet, you have no clients.

Starting any new business is tough, especially as the proverbial blood-sweat-and-tears set in, and you realize just how tough it is adding new clients.

I’m always pleased (and probably more honored than pleased!) when I’m asked for advice on starting a VA business. It makes me smile when women and men who are considering this business model do their homework from the outset and ask a lot of questions … and then ask some more questions …. and then, well … you guessed it … they ask even more questions. Couple this with their independent research and you see critical thinking in action, and not a knee-jerk reaction by someone who wants to work from home and yet, has not thought through the process of operating a home-based business.

If you’re going to do anything — open a business, bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies, or vacuum the living room — do it well. If you want to open your own virtual assistance business, contact me and I’ll throw some knowledge your way. Do your homework, ask a lot of questions and research the industry. Just when you think you’ve got all the knowledge you’ll need to open your VA business, start the whole process over again …

Homework.

Questions.

Research.

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This Director of the Future and her staff have completed three simultaneous deadlines — each of which is due by 9:00 AM, Tuesday, 9/27/05, and each of which was handed off to us yesterday at 7:00 PM.

This Director of the Future hopes her non-electric alarm clock Shakey will NOT wake her up in four hours at 6:00 AM. Heck, even if she does, I won’t mind — how can I resist that face!

Still happier than I ever was in the corporate world.

Still incredibly content and satisfied that I’m a small business owner.

Much love and props to my staff! Your dedication to your craft, your keen attention to detail and your willingness to jump in and help … you folks rock my world. THANK YOU.

“Stop bothering me, I will look at log file later”

I know, I know … I’m an easy audience! Still, made me giggle out loud …

I hear this a lot: ‘I never really thought about the stuff I could outsource to an assistant.’ I hear that at least once or twice a day. It’s at that point where the experienced VA will jump into the conversation and make the client — or potential client — really think about what can be outsourced to a Professional Virtual Assistant.

I get a kick when a potential client begins to understand the virtual world, when that lightbulb pops up over their head and the “yes, I can do all this virtually” thought invades their brain.

Technology kills these days, and I say this even though I’m really peeved with Bill Gates (see below). I can be just as effective and efficient, if not more so, than an on-site assistant. The cool part? I can do it all with my Marvin the Martian slippers on my feet and my non-electric alarm clock Shakey eyeballing me from atop my bookcase.

Today I began the process of opening new bank accounts in preparation for my oh-so-soon-to-be-reality move to upstate New York. My current bank, Washington Mutual, does not have branches or ATMs near my new home, so I’ve decided to switch to Bank of America.

So, I’m checking the Bank of America site for the products and services I need, and begin the application process. All of sudden, a mini-IM window displays with a message from a customer service rep, asking me if I need assistance with opening my new accounts. Very cool! I didn’t need assistance, but took her up on her offer nonetheless … I just had to scope this out!

What pleased me oh-so-much is the CSR is an excellent speller (typos drive me nuts), and she knew the application process and BofA’s products very well.

Makes me wonder how I could implement a similar system on DavisVA.com. If I’m pinged when someone’s checking my Services page, I could IM them and address their questions and concerns … live.

Calling all web developers: How can I do this?

Please contact me …

Let me begin by telling you that I love Microsoft Outlook. My staff and I manage e-mail accounts for many clients, and Outlook gives us all the tools we need to help our clients look really good to their clients. I like that, and so do my clients.

Now, with that being said, it’s brass-tacks time: Bill, you simply must do something about Microsoft Windows (or Windoze as I’ve seen it referred to lately). In a word, it’s problematic and Bill, I simply cannot have this many problems with my computer systems. It’s unacceptable, it’s making me very upset and well, it’s turning me into a cranky small business owner.

Over the weekend, two of my computer systems crashed and crashed hard; I had to rebuild both systems and because I had a disaster recovery plan in place, was able to recover both systems in record time. Today, I’m experiencing problems with Windows and Outlook, and have been through a myriad of steps to correct the problem(s). The problem is that the problems still aren’t fixed! Bill, what’s a small business owner to do? I estimate I’ve wasted 2.5 hours today attempting to correct the problem — that’s 2.5 hours of non-billable time, Bill. Are you going to send me a check for the monies I lost today?

You’ve got the market share with your Microsoft Office suite of products, and I can only assume you’ve got a killer technical staff working on Microsoft Office (though I am doubting that right now). Riddle me this, Bill — what’s the deal? You and your team have a responsibility to every single person who owns your products and right now, I’m stepping up to the plate and telling you it’s time, right now, to fix the problems. You can do it — I know you can.

Don’t make me go Open Source on you, Bill. Believe, I’m tempted to do so right now.

Respectfully and Waiting Patiently,

Lori Davis
Director of the Future
Davis Virtual Assistants
The Bronx, New York

P/S: Have your people call my people, 866.611.LORI. The next time you’re in New York, dinner at Roberto’s here in The Bronx, on me.