Global Worker Online

And I say “Good” because this and this and this aren’t free, right? They’re sinfully the best, and they don’t come for free.

But seriously, there’s too much stuff out there that one can use for FREE! There’s the magic word.

And that indeed spells magic when we’re talking about computer and Internet applications that we need so that we can do our work and make our clients happy.

Hopefully, happy enough to make us happily laughing our way to the bank.

Okay on a serious note, yes, there are a lot of stuff out there that any freelancing online worker like me can use to accomplish just about anything that I need to do. Just hours ago, I downloaded and tinkered with a software app that would allow me to monitor my own virtual team as they work on their computer in their own homes.

And I am not talking about oDesk. oDesk is way up there…nothing compares to it.

But it’s me getting ahead with a subject/material that will make a very interesting post for tomorrow, or next week.It depends on how fast I could set it up and make it work beautifully.

What I am sharing with you today is a little thing that any freelancing online worker can actually live without, but will thank the high heavens for once they do get around to install and try it — the NoteZilla.

Okay, it’s not a notebook the size of Godzilla. It’s a small, and amazingly lightweight application (4 mb) which is your desktop version of a sticky-note.

Yup, it is, really.

Well, I have tried a lottt of sticky note applications but I really find Notezilla to be the most efficient, lightest, most colorful, and the closest to the real thing.You can write your tasks, notes, memos, and just about anything that you would like to be just within your mouse’s reach.

It’s not actually 100% free, but it costs so little ($30) and is available in full version for a free 30-day trial period.

Here’s how my my desktop looks like with those cute sticky notes:

Nice, eh?

I’ve just read Lifehacker’s post about the top 30 most irritating phrases or expressions, which compiles Oxford University’s top 10 most irritating phrases, and BBC Magazine’s 20 most hated cliches.  The latter is a result of a data analysis tool, while the latter is the result of an online survey.

I was more amused with BBC Magazine’s list because I have dealt with these cliches not only in my day to day communication with friends and family, more so in my dealings with clients who are from different parts of the world.

Here’s my own list of “most irritating expressions”:

1.  From here on out – I find this to be disjointed, even as a phrase.  Why make things difficult when you can simply say, “From now on…”

2.  On the same page – I am irritated with this simply because I’ve read and heard this over and over again.  “I am saying this because I wanted to be sure we’re on the same page”…”Let’s clarify things so that we’re on the same page”…blah blah blah

3.  My best - I read this (okay, I sometime use this ) as a salutation in some emails.  Until now, I do not know what this means in business communication.  I just use it because others use it, and because “Best regards” is over-used.

4.  Basically – I admit I am one of those who abuse this word.  Oftentimes, I do not even know why I always use it at the start of every sentence.

5.  Actually - This is the twin sister of “Basically”.

I’ll add to my list when I come up with others.

Do you have your own list “most hated expressions”?  Share it with us.

All the stress coming from the holidays, family emergencies, and the recent hospitalization of a family member sucked the energy out of me since last month. I must admit, I took pains to start the year 2008 bright, optimistic, and well-planned, but certain events can really stop us on our tracks.

But I won’t dwell on that. To start off the new year with good vibes, I would like to share how I started out as a Virtual Assistant, and I am quoting from my website:

Eliza has more than five (5) years of experience working as an administrative and executive secretary in her ten (10) years of offline employment history in the corporate, government, and NGO sectors. While working fulltime, she pursued her graduate studies in Law and became a fulltime working mom, wife, and law student. But in 2005, while she was heavily pregnant with her second child, she made the difficult decision of giving up regular employment for health reasons as doctors found a possible congenital defect on the baby. It was then that she decided to become a work-at-home mom. She first started out in the content writing business as part of a team of writers for a UK-based company, but later on left the team and became a project hunter for writing services. Later, she landed a home-based business transcription job.

Realizing that with her years of work experience in varius capacities and acquired skills, she believed that she can build a business of offering offsite administrative services to those seeking support for their business. Researching the Internet, she came across several websites owned by established Virtual Assistants and found that this is exactly the right kind of business for her. In 2006 she launched VA 24/7 Services where she first accepted her very first client as a VA. In 2007, Eliza decided to change the business name and Virtual Workdesk was born.

To get credible and authority materials on the subject, I spent days reading through a number of websites of VA networks and VAs who have already established their professional and business reputation in the industry. It is not surprising to know that the first few VAs came from developed countries such as the U.S.A, Australia, Canada, and also in Europe where we first saw computer and Internet technology flourish, and make possible home-based work arrangements.

Who first established business as a Virtual Assistant?

There doesn’t seem to be an exact answer for this question because the international VA industry seems to have varying views on this matter. From the International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA) website, it was life coach Thomas Leonard who coined the term “Virtual Assistant” in 1996, referring to Stacey Brice who was said to be then doing virtual administrative, travel, and personal assistance work with the former. Brice went on to establish Assist4U in 1997.

But then, I came upon Christine and Mike Durst’s The Rat Race Rebellion an authority website that basically espouses on the joys, benefits and advantages of telecommuting and working from home. Christine is the CEO of Staffcentrix, a training development company that provides virtual careers training to their clients. There I read Mike’s clarificatory article about the history of the Virtual Assistant industry.

Before founding Staffcentrix, Chris was the CEO of the Internet’s first denominated “Virtual Assistant” practice, MyStaff, which was launched in 1995 from the basement of her home in rural Connecticut. The result of Chris’s earlier role (1993-94) as Virtual Assistant to a Priority Management franchisee, MyStaff grew quickly to international dimensions, with clients drawn from the first wave of businesses in North America, Europe, and Australia migrating to the Web.

Searching some more, I read up on Kathie A. Thomas blog entitled, The History of Virtual Assistant Industry, where she shared that “No-one knows for sure the history of Virtual Assistants or how long ago secretaries and other admin staff started working at home. I’ve heard of a lady that was working at home with a typewriter in the 1970’s.” However, she further adds that she knows of at least 2 networks of secretaries way back in mid-1980’s, one in the U.S., and another in her home country Australia. She founded “A Clayton’s Secretary” in April 1996.

While thinking over the title for this post, I suddenly was struck with the thought that the terms “Virtual Assistant” and “Business Owner” wouldn’t actually come together as referring to only one person.

Did I make sense?

Let me put it this way. How can an “assistant” be the “business owner”? How can everyone’s “assistant” be his or her own “business owner”?

I can offer a very simple explanation. I think that the term “Virtual Assistant” pertains to the nature of work and services of a VA, and not so much on the professional or business relations of a VA to the client. In essence, a virtual assistant’s services aim to provide support, mostly administrative, that is relevant to the client’s business. But being a support for everybody else does not define my status of business and professional relations with clients.

Why is this so?

It is due mainly to the fact that a virtual assistant is a business owner, the owner of his or her very own virtual assistance business. A VA sets her/her fees, standards of performance, and work pace. A VA is not an employee, rather he or she is a business partner, providing clients with the most useful, efficient, and professional in areas relevant to the clients’ business.

The Importance of Holding Out Yourself As A Business Owner

Nowadays, with everyone trying to get a piece of the outsourcing and offshoring action both from the service providers sector and the project providers side, the Virtual Assistants industry especially in countries considered as the bedrock of international VA networks, is now at loggerheads with the burgeoning offshore industry. With the popularity of hiring offshore companies mostly from third world countries, to perform projects involving activities ranging from personal to business, there is a growing concern within the VA industry about the unnecessary and as they say, risks involved in outsourcing work to offshore companies. A recent example is the issue written about by Kathie Thomas in her blog about an article posted in one of Australia’s websites advocating small businesses in Australia, where the author related her experience in seeking the services of a popular offshore company based in India.

The way I see it, the issues confronting the VA industry emphasizes the need to differentiate and emphasize how and why a Virtual Assistant who operates as a business owner largely differs from the so-called Virtual Assistants hired by a staffing company as an employee. The work-at-home advocate in me says there is a whole lot of difference in terms of quality, skills and dedication to work between the two types of VA’s. Having worked at home for three years in a row now following almost ten years of corporate, non-profit and government employment experience, I would say with conviction that one can have as much chances to become successful with a work-at-home business as any 9 to 6 employee or executive would. I am not saying that I have become successful in this VA business at this point, rather, I am saying that anyone who is determined to make it work can actually stay long and have really good chances to become  successful in a work-at-home business.

I searched for the right definition of a Virtual Assistant and I ended up getting a whole lot of definitions coming from experts, newbies, and even from online dictionaries. But being a member of the Virtual Assistant Networking Association (VANA), I am adopting the association’s definition and used it in www.virtualworkdesk.com, and also in this blog.

A Virtual Assistant (VA) is a business owner who works from their own office providing professional support, services and skills to their clients via phone, fax and internet based technology.

*Source: Virtual Assistant Networking Association (VANA) Virtual Assistant Definition

 

Let us dissect it even further so that we will have a deeper understanding of what is a Virtual Assistant.

A Virtual Assistant is a business owner. Two years ago while I was heavily researching on Virtual Assistant work on the Internet, I have always read enough materials emphasizing that a Virtual Assistant is first and foremost, a business owner. As a business owner a VA does not work for an employer, but rather enters into a business contract with a client whereby the VA undertakes to render services to the client. The client, who is also an individual or corporate business owner, gives payment for the services actually rendered by the VA. In short, a VA works as a business owner and not as an employee.

A Virtual Assistant works from his or her own office. While working for a client on a project, the VA does not have to be physically present in the client’s work or business location. While there are some occasions for a VA to go see the client in instances like pre-consultation meetings or dropping off of completed documents for certain projects, generally VA services are performed from the VA’s very own office. Just like any other business owner, the VA should have a place where work can be performed equipped with the appropriate office equipment, materials and other essentials.

A Virtual Assistant provides professional support, services and skills to his/her clients. It goes without saying that a VA is a professional, a business owner who offers professional services. As a professional, the VA must have the necessary education, training, and experience to be able deliver promised services. One very important question related to this is : How does one become a VA? There is no definite answer to that because if one would go through the multitudes of websites, blogsites and other materials written by VA experts and non-experts on the subject, one becomes a VA by getting an established VA certification, through mentoring programs with other VAs, or simply through years of experience in their field of expertise. In VA circles there is reasonable number of discussion on this area, but on a personal note I would say that a mix of these three factors would keep you on the right track in the VA industry. I shall expound more on this topic in the next few days.

A Virtual Assistant provides services for clients via phone, fax and internet based technology. As I have always mentioned in some of my writings, the Internet has become the great leveler for all people across the world. And it aptly describes the outsourcing industry wherein talent, skills and work experience transcend borders and nationalities. The Internet is teeming with online job ops forums, websites and directories where any prospective business person can find the best service providers from all over the world. From multi-national companies to start-ups, they are now getting a piece of the outsourcing action. So, due largely to the wide range of opportunities offered by the Internet, outsourcing and also by the growing trend towards telecommunication, a VA can only rely on the appropriate office equipment to be able to complete projects. After all, a VA is in the business of providing services and as such, holds out to the public his/her capability to perform and do the job at all cost.

Tags: outsourcing, VA, virtual assistant