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Yep – I’m a Joiner!
Reason #83,472 I love working from home.
Those of you living in “temperate
Click Protection Technology and Google (an opinion piece)
Wow.
I’m in the process of becoming Google AdWords Certified and in listening to the modules I was astounded at how much time was devoted to “invalid clicks”.
Google has a team devoted to this. I mean, what were these people doing ten years ago? If you had told them what their job description was going to be today…what would they say? I’m just wondering if getting up in the morning to go work on invalid click control is a fulfilling job.
See you on the other side of certification!
World Internet Summit 2006 – Las Vegas
For those of you who aren’t aware, my husband and I (along with our 8 month old and 20 month old daughters) drove to Las Vegas to attend the World Internet Summit hosted by Brett McFall and Tom Hua.
When one of my clients told me he’d be attending the summit I considered going, but when I saw the ticket cost I balked. Then, looking further into the site I saw that there were free tickets to be had if you listened to a teleseminar and answered a trivia question correctly at the end. I told my husband, “If we win the tickets, we are so going to Vegas!” Lo and behold, I received an email that I’d won two tickets to attend.
The 30 hour drive to Las Vegas was not that bad. We drove straight through, alternating drivers and sleepers along the way. The babies were soothed by road travel and we got there in one piece and ready to get to the summit.
Our first morning was “newbie day” – even though I’m not a newbie I wondered what kind of basic instruction they might give that Randy (my husband) might find useful. Wow. When they said “newbie” they weren’t kidding! It was fantastic for most of the attendees, but for us it wasn’t going to be worth the time and we explored the casino and hotel and got a feel for where we were going to be spending the next three days.
Oh, I almost forgot – my mother lives in Las Vegas so she was watching the kids during all of these excursions.
The lineup started with all of the speakers going up to give a two minute synopsis of what they were going to talk about when it was their turn to talk. After the two minutes, they drew a ticket out of a bowl (we all had one with our name badges) and that person would get a free 15-minute coaching session.
Of course, because I’m me and my life is just like that, when my client picked a number out of the bowl…it was mine. It was a little embarrassing to have to stand up and say “ooh ooh not me not me” but I think I managed okay. My client picked a different number after telling the assembled group, “Oh, that’s my virtual assistant. She doesn’t need coaching.” Not the worst plug I’ve ever gotten in a room of 150 people.
The first speaker was Dave Talor, Lord of the Blog. That’s kind of like Lord of the Dance…but completely different. He talked about his (admittedly amazing) credentials and then explained what blogging is and how it can be used for a company.
While he was really interesting, you may have noticed I don’t have blogging issues. I’m very comfortable with the platform and love to express myself. Blogging and I are a match made in heaven. On the bright side, Randy was getting oodles of information out of the talk and that made me feel that this was really going to be a worthwhile event.
We broke for lunch, and I inevitably ended up with someone asking me what I did and that one person asking, “So, really, what can you do for me?”
Note: The people who ask that particular question (with that particular tone and inflection) always manage to be really close to the polar opposite of what I’m looking for in a client. I’m still able to resist from answering, “Nothing.” (I don’t want to seem rude) but it gets more difficult every time.
Marc Harty did a fantastic job of giving amazing amounts of information. He did a great explanation of how to submit a press release on prweb.com and why you would want to. His system is great and has made a vast difference for his clients. We recorded a testimonial for him while we were there. It wasn’t difficult to find people who were thrilled to tell us how great he is.
Another interesting pair of speakers were Michael Chaney and Sterling Valentine. They both made over $100,000 in a few months with their products and gave a great talk on knowing where you are in order to know where you’re going. Very high-level and very necessary for some people to hear.
That evening I joined my client and a couple of the other speakers (and a couple attendees) for dinner. I bartered an hour of my services for dinner with a potential client – don’t think I’m that smooth, it was his idea – and then a few of us had a drink at the bar in the casino before retiring. My husband was doing some networking of his own so didn’t join me for this.
The next day Rich Schefferin was speaking (he’s the author of the Internet Business Manifesto) and his business talk was even more high-level than Michael & Sterlings. This was mainly because Rich has so much background in business. I think a lot of his talk went over the attendees’ heads. Sad but true, the audience seemed quite a motely pack. I watched people take notes and then just drift off….looked like they were daydreaming.
Mark Widawer also gave an amazing talk (with props!) about online marketing and some suggestions for making a good idea even better. He is the owner of landingpagecashmachine.com – if you go there the little “ka-ching” sound is too cute.
Oh, the speaker that connected best with the audience (I would say bar none) was Matt Bacak. He was offering a program that came with a laptop and the promise that Matt would do whatever it took to get a product and squeeze page up and running for them no matter what. I was really impressed with his speaking style as well as his idea for putting up a picture on the screens of one of his merchant accounts so we could see what was in his bank account. Pretty impressive stuff.
There were more speakers, but those were my personal favorites.
Saturday night we all went back to the bar for drinks, and my husband joined in the reindeer games. In true geek fashion, we watched YouTube movies and chatted about AdWords while drinking, laughing and having a great time.
Then it was time for the drive home. Oye vaye! My youngest had decided this was the perfect time to cut her upper front teeth (aka she was not happy) and my oldest was just plain unhappy about being in the car again. We made frequent stops along the way to give the kids (and us) a break from feeling so cramped in the car.
At one truck stop in Nebraska, I was taking a walk when my phone rang. It was someone I’d met at the conference asking where I was. When I told her NE she got really excited and asked me if I could turn around and drive back to Boulder, CO and have dinner with her family and talk business. We agreed and turned the car around. Two and a half hours later we pulled into her driveway. I was too stressed to eat, but did take her up on her very, very kind offer of a shower.
Note: Yes, I’m a weirdo. I have no qualms about showering somewhere that’s not my home if I’ve been in a car over 15 hours. Especially if I have to talk about someone’s business needs.
Showered and with a steaming cup of coffee we discovered that I could be a great asset to her business and allow her to do some things that she currently just doesn’t have time to do herself. I’m really excited about where she’s going and the first thing I’m doing this weekend is becoming Google AdWords Certified in order to help administrate some of her campaigns.
How cool is that? I’m really excited.
We hit the road again at about 10pm and drove home. All told we clocked just over 1,700 miles to get there and just over 2,300 miles to get home. It was absolutely worth it. Not just for the new client (although she’s fantastic) but also to get a better handle on my niche (internet marketers) which will let me more clearly define the type of person I want to have a business-to-business relationship with.
All in all I think that this was the best experience I’ve ever had as a business owner. I think better experiences are still to come, but this was definitely not bad for a first time conference. The people I met made it more than worth it.
Is it wise to outsource to a VA that lives in another country / remote region where you never get to meet them in person?
This is a great question.
Ultimately, the answer is “do you trust them?”
It doesn’t really make a difference if the person you’re working with is in your office or in Zaire, if you don’t trust them you shouldn’t be giving them your most precious documents and information.
The question you should be asking yourself is, “How do I come to a place where I trust another person?” Some people generate trust by having conversations over the phone. Others use intuition while reading emails. You need to know what makes you trust another person, and then use that knowledge to determine the best way to interact with your Virtual Assistant to get to that place of trust.
You shouldn’t be working with people you don’t trust in the first place, virtual or not.
Of course, if you are unable to trust anyone, you have to make a best guess or have someone else talk to them on your behalf. You can always use someone else’s “gut instinct” if you don’t have one of your own.
Instituting “Standards” into the Virtual Assistant Industry.
I feel that in a lot of cases it’s the dreamers and people who “just don’t fit in” that start something new, and then people come in after the fact and want to put requirements in place.
Virtual Assistance is a new way of doing business (I know it’s been around since a long time ago, but it’s finding it’s audience much more recently.) To try and put the industry or any of people into little boxes would be not only horrible but truly unethical.
And Terry – Insert random lambasting here! (just kidding, of course)
People have been saying they can do things they can’t since time began. They always get found out eventually…and if not…they can answer to their higher power when they pass on.
This seems very close to a “people in glass houses” issue. If someone wants to tell me how my business should be run, they better have every i dotted and every t crossed in their own business…and if they do, shouldn’t they be busy working on further developing their own business rather than telling others?
Teaching by example is the only effective method I know. When I first started visiting VA Networking, I think the first website I went to was Terri’s because she spoke professionally and answered questions well. I spent six months lurking the boards without posting and just watched and searched websites to get a feel for the industry.
I chose who I wanted to emulate. I feel a lot of VAs do the same when they come to the boards.
Finally, while I do not have this issue I know a lot of Virtual Assistants do. The ever present self-esteem monster. If you put lofty standards in place, a lot of women who *think* they might be able to do this will be turned away for fear they will be attacked or “made fun of” if they are “not good enough” – while I know this would not happen here at VAN, it’s the fearful mind of a newbie that we’re concerned with, not the reality of the forums.
A community of caring and responsible VAs will be able to help newcomers – without telling them if you don’t have this, this, this, and this you shouldn’t even be here or trying to run a business.
Who knows what hidden natural talent someone might have that doesn’t show up in their resume or work history?
Business Cards for the Virtual Business
In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a Virtual Assistant. I work out of a home office and have clients I’ve never met before. If I attend a networking event, it’s usually online. Business meetings are usually held on a telephone.
So, this begs the question, do I need business cards?
Let me clarify. I have business cards. They’re the “print at home
What Does Your Voice Say About You?
I have a confession to make.
I talk fast…I speak with a speed that sometimes defies understanding.
Not the only person with this problem, many virtual assistants speak too quickly for proper business discussions. I try and think before I speak whenever I’m on the phone with a client, and that usually solves the problem enough that I don’t too often hear, “Wow…you talk fast!” Although it seems I cannot escape it entirely.
That’s okay, I believe that practice makes perfect and my voice is an ever improving tool to communicate with others. Some people have asked my why I’d work on my voice and cite that it’s just part of who I am and people should accept that.
I tell them my voice story:
When I was in high school, I had a voice that sounded like Minnie Mouse. It was high and squeaky and when I laughed or got excited about something I would become shrill and difficult to listen to. No one actually told me this, of course. I found out when I had to make a professional recording of a speech I’d done.
My grandmother wanted an extra copy of the tape to listen to because she was so proud of me. I sat next to her as she loaded the cassette tape into the stereo and hit play. I heard my voice come out of the speakers and just cringed. I watched my grandmother’s face for any sign that the recording device had somehow malfunctioned and raised my voice an octave or two; but she was just smiling her proud grandmother smile while listening to my (2nd place in State) speech about democracy and freedom.
When the recording ended I asked, ‘Gram, does my voice really sound like that?
Thoroughbreds at the Starting Gate
I believe in niche marketing.
Repeat after me, “I BELIEVE in niche marketing!”
My niche is internet marketers.
Sounds huge, no? It’s not. If you just so happen to market your product on the internet, you are not an internet marketer. If you sell some things on ebay and have an ebay store. You are not an internet marketer (by my definition). If you play on the internet all the time and have a really cool blog and promote your hairdresser, you are not an internet marketer. Even if you have an affiliate link, you may not be an internet marketer.
An Internet Marketer has a different way of seeing the world. They believe in pop psychology, “what’s in it for me
