I’ve been working from home as a Virtual Assistant for more than 13 years now.

Early on, I attended a lot of in-person networking events and met often with clients. Now I rarely meet anyone I work or collaborate with in person, so the thought of heading to my industry’s annual event (BTW, I am talking about the International Virtual Assistants Association hallmark event, the **Annual Live Summit—see the link at right) the last time I attended was 9 years ago!) has me quaking in my Danskos.

Working from home has numerous benefits, and I’m a lucky woman to be able to have made it work. There’s one serious downside.

Between working invisibly and having racked more mileage on my grandma odometer than on the trail or treadmill over those years of self-employment,  a peek in the mirror reveals an unacceptable weight gain and an atrophied sense of personal style.

I’m going to start watching “What Not To Wear” to prepare to go out in public again. Meanwhile, if you, too,  are feeling a tad devolved in the fashion department, let’s talk!

*There are just a few more days (through January 31, 2010) to take advantage of the great member discount rates for the IVAA Summit. Hope to see you there!

Speaking of this, here is another relevant post from the Loosely Speaking Archives:

Life of the VA Fashionista

VA Fashionista Part 3: Use Your Retooled Wardrobe to Best Advantage When Traveling

VA Fashionista Part 2: Scrutinizing and Updating Your Wardrobe

With social media in its apparent heyday, what happens to your print or enewsletter campaign? Or, for that matter, your blog and website? Are those still viable markeing and branding tools?

It’s the time of year when we all do some self assessment and then look ahead to changes we want to make in the coming year.  Personally, it may be your work out routine that needs some recommitment. Professionally, it’s time to review your skills and make upgrades to your professional toolbox.

AZVAs introduces professional development classes for VAs.

As a part of the mission to connect VAs throughout the southwestern United States through peer-to-peer networking and educational opportunities, an ongoing series of classes taught by dynamic presenters in the industry is yours for the taking in 2010.

The Complimentary Consultation,
February 11, 2010, 6:00 pm Mountain Time

Enroll Now! http://www.looseends.net/contact.html#enroll

Effectively Conduct Your Complimentary Consultations & Overcome Objections presented by Patty Benton of The Marketing Train System Coaching Program.

Now that you have created your Marketing System and are funneling potential clients into Complimentary Consultations, how do you EFFECTIVELY conduct them and overcome the common objections? Do you struggle when you get a potential client on the phone, knowing how to keep control of the conversation, and turn them from potential into paying? (PS: You do NOT have to have attended the Marketing Train teleseminar to participate in this – we welcome all attendees who want to expand their knowledge for growing a business.)

Patty Benton, Certified Coach and Founder of the Marketing Train, is here to share with you the secrets to creating and maintaining control of your consultations from before the consultation begins, to signing the client. Not only that, but then she will model the strategies of how you can overcome objections and turn a higher percentage of your consultations into signed clients, all the while, setting and modeling your working relationship.

This webinar will be presented using GoToMeeting, and  is open to all VAs.  Limited enrollment of 14. Just $25.00.

Ensure your place in this class by signing up right away!

http://www.looseends.net/contact.html#enroll

Additional details are located here on the AZVAs FaceBook fan page.

Creating a Marketing Train System for 2010,
January 11, 10:00 a.m. U.S. Mountain Time

Do you want 2010 to be the year you grow your business? What if Patty Benton, Certified Coach and Founder of the Marketing Train, told you that with a marketing system in place, you could double to triple your business in this year? In 2009 – by implementing the Marketing Train System, even with several major life crisis’s ranging from the loss of her father, then her nanny of 2 years, her mother being ill, her own health issues, and other family issues – she TRIPLED her business by implementing this simple concept. Join Patty Benton on January 11, 2010 for a powerful 2 – hour marketing workshop, that will give you the foundations of implementing a solid marketing system that will take you from hodge-podge marketing, to a systematic marketing approach – that if you implement this strategic, easy system, will make amazing changes in your marketing!

This conference call seminar is open to all VAs for just $25.00! http://www.looseends.net/contact.html#enroll

Additional details are here on the AZVAs FaceBook fan page.

More on Patty Benton

Patty Benton runs a training program for new entrepreneurs interested in venturing into the virtual professional industry, that is affordable to all, training them how to set-up a solid foundation and successfully market their business. She is the founder and coach of the Marketing Train System – a unique, but profound and empowering marketing system. She has also written an e-book that takes virtual assistants through the process of setting up their business. Additionally, Patty is the owner of JERPAT Virtual Assistants and JERPAT Web Designs which provides affordable tele-seminar, administrative, and web design support to coaches and virtual professionals.

Please note: registration in these AZVAs classes is non-refundable but may be transferred to another person in the event you cannot attend.

- – - – - – - – - – - -

AZVAs is a business organization which fosters networking and professional growth opportunities for Virtual Assistants practicing in through out the US southwest. Both free and fee-based activities are offered, including events, publications, face-to-face and virtual networking, and educational activities. Prescott Arizona VAs Katie Baird, Loose Ends, and Tara Fort, Versatility, are its co-founders. Subscribe to  AZ VA Connections, the AZVAs newsletter, by sending an email request to ktcosmos@LooseEnds.net.

Virtual Assistants in practice for a number of years usually reach a crossroads when their client load begins to challenge their energy and time limits. In talking with veterans in the industry, most eventually remodel their business plan taking it in one of the following directions, all of which take them out of personally providing day-to-day direct services:

a. build a virtual team

b. sub out the work

c. become a trainer or coach

Have you built up your practice successfully only to run into this dilemma? Where are you on that continuum? Let’s have a conversation about these and other options since, even if you’re just getting started, you’ll eventually face this dilemma and having a plan for that day will help you sleep at night!

And, speaking of professional development…

Meanwhile, if you are a VA in the Southwest, AZVAs is launching a new offering: classes on topics that have been requested as a result of our recent AZVAs Fall Retreat. First up on December 15, 2009,  is “Facebook Up Close and Personal,” presented by Andrea Kalli. For more info, or to register, go the the AZVAs event page here.

Please bear with this veteran VA while she spouts off on some assaults on common courtesy she’s noted of late.

Lots of us who work in home offices find we have far fewer opportunities to attend meetings in public places these days. The proliferation of online meeting options has saved us time and money, enabling us to pop out to get a cup of coffee or let the dog out while participating with our colleagues in a virtual meeting room.

The convenience and relative newness of virtual meeting spaces is the reason that the protocols aren’t yet firmly in place. I’ll assume that the gaffes I’ve noticed are simply errors of inexperience. Let’s all try to remember that unless we have muted our microphone, everyone in the room will hear: your minor sniffles, heavy breathing, loud hachoos, the dog barking, your teenager’s raised voice, or the details of your toddler’s potty training session. I’ve even heard loud expletives (likely from someone else’s conversation when a participant is attending a meeting at a local coffee house) and detailed (need I specify unrelated?) conversations between couples.

The solution is simple: please mute yourself.

Most of us still get out and about occasionally, and it’s pleasant to spend some time in the company of colleagues now that our lives aren’t filled with such events. Networking and other live business meetings often take place in local restaurants. Let’s face it: organizers love to schedule these at restaurants who have space and are willing to host meetings at no charge or with no minimum purchase. Attendees, alas, don’t always recognize an obligation to the restaurant to at least purchase something!

Remember that you’re taking up precious seating in these eateries for anywhere from one to three hours. It’s not ok to just drink water, particularly if you brought your own! (Heaven forbid you think it is ok to bring your own brown bag salad or sandwich to a restaurant!) In fact, it’s probably not ok to just have a cup of tea or soda or coffee if you’re going to occupy your chair and table for more than thirty minutes. AND it’s not ok to schedule your gathering during the restaurant’s peak dining times when their regular (paying!) customers are coming in to dine.

Thank you for listening.

And, speaking of this, here are some related posts from the Loosely Speaking archives:

The execution of thank you notes: questions from readers

Online Meeting Rooms

What do these things have in common?

1. failure to use a condom
2. volcanic eruptions
3. buying imported foods
4. the earth’s tilt
5. leaving the lights on when leaving a room
6. wildfires
7. running unnecessary errands in your car

Though some are natural events and others intentional/unintentional human activities, all can engender consequences which contribute to climate change.

Whether or not you believe climate change is happening, and regardless of your stance on this subject as  policitically polarizing (or not),  here are some data, courtesy of the World Resources Institute’s Sustainability House graph:

• 13.5% of greenhouse gas emissions are transportation related

• Another 13.5% comes from agricultural activities

• 24.6% of these emissions are from electricity and heat

• 10.4% are industrial

• 18.2% are related to changes in land use

Yale’s recent project Global Warming’s 6 Americas 2009: An Audience Segmentation Analysis determined that we are extremely segmented in our beliefs and understanding of this issue. The project determined that we can be divided into 6 separate Americas based on our perceptions of the reality/unreality and extent of this problem and regarding whether individual change or national policy is the solution. Reading the report is a good place to start in deciding where you fall on this 6 Americas continuum.

What can an individual do about climate change?

And, by the way, where do I get off discussing this subject in a non-political blog?

8 years as a middle school science teacher prior to my present career has, I hope, informed some of the household practices we have always adhered to: no paper towels or plates, no tissues (we use cloth hankies), no disposable diapers, and composting wherever we have lived.

You’re probably already doing what you think you need to do but if you have questions, you could just spend an afternoon with my husband, Don, the resident energy czar. If you can’t track him down (he is probably checking our water barrels or installing more weatherstripping), just follow some of these principles at work and home:

• Teach your friends and family that in your home, you practice the good old 3 Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

• Update your appliances so that they have earned Energy Star ratings

• Turn off your computer when not in use

• Seal and insulate your home

• Use water efficiently in and around your home

• Monitor your tire pressure

As for me, I am NOT an expert and I am NOT an activist, just a person from one of those 6 Americas who today  lives and works in a house on a well, with a low water use washing machine and a hybrid vehicle in the driveway. And a person who tries not to be wasteful but who probably is in many unacknowledged ways. For instance:

All of us entrepreneur types go to meetings at places like coffeehouses: do we bring our own coffee mug along?

We stay in touch with our clients and colleagues on computers that are likely ALWAYS on: is that necessary?

Learning more

Here is more information if you’re ready to change some personal habits this year, or if you concluded this problem is larger than what changes in personal habits can accomplish:
Climate Change Communication
Do Personal Changes Matter? Yes Yes Yes
Clean, Green and Fair to Everyone
Taking Personal Responsibility for Climate Change
Creating a Personal Plan for Climate Change Part 2: Taking Political Action

And speaking of that, here are some related posts from the Loosely Speaking archives:

58 Hankies: Going Green in the Home Office
Best of Blog Action Day 2008
Blog Action Day 2008
Pick Your Issue and Drive it Home (Blog Action Day 2007)

Ever wonder where blogging is headed now that social media web sites have become mainstream tools?

If you’ve decided that blogs are so 2008, think again.

I just watched a great 8-part video series on Build a Better Blog, presented by Denise Wakeman of “The Blog Squad” fame. The series is called 5 Tactics for Small Business Blog Success.

Check it out!

Speaking of this, here are some earlier posts from the Loosely Speaking Archives:

• Has your blogging post waned?
• How to convert a static web site to a WordPress blog site
• Choose Wisely: your blogging platform, that is
• Does anyone in your town know about your blog?
• Love and Fear on the road to successful blogging

There are many scenarios that can derail your well-oiled SOHO operation. These’ll getcha, just like a change up in baseball. And next thing you know, you’re out.

Kids home for the summer or holidays. New baby. New pet. Extended visit from family or other house guests. Illness or death. Adult Child returns to the nest (that one just happened here at Loosely Speaking, in fact). Uninvited guests (termites, mold, etc.)

Acts of God, like floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes.

Some variation on this theme will likely affect your business operations at some point. So, how to prepare?

My foolproof, two-pronged approach:

• Liability Insurance
• Separate office space

Speaking of this, here are some related posts from the Loosely Speaking archives:

• Skunkage: Risk Management for the Self Employed
• Top Ten “to NOT do” List Items

Here’s a list of things to do now, if you are in a work slowdown, so that when things pick up again you’ll be ready!

1. Recommit to your core services

It’s easy to get off track when you are slow. Requests for charitable work or even paid projects that lie outside the area you love to work in is enticing since it represents much needed income or exposure.

The problem with accepting too many such requests is that it’s work that takes longer to do since it’s not routine. Or, even if you can turn it around expeditiously, if it’s a killjoy you’ll come to resent the time you’re putting in on it. Then once you get really busy, you may be saddled again with some types of work that you decided long ago that you weren’t going to do any more.

Use this time to remain true to your areas of expertise and joy. If you want to donate services, only donate them in the areas of work you love to begin with.

2. Reexamine your structure

When you are swamped again, you may wish you had carved out some time to set up systems for referring overflow work, creating affiliate and/or referral programs, creating a virtual team work structure, or even moving beyond providing direct service into the realm of education through writing, training or speaking on your industry.

If you want to grow your business beyond being a solopreneur who personally handles every job, you can work now to set up an organized strategy for when the work comes rolling in again. Study the various systems utilized by some of your industry’s leaders so that you can create your own profitable approach now while you have time.

3. Dig out your crockpot

When you get slammed, it’s easy to develop and rationalize bad eating habits, even though you know that cooking at home is better for your body and your bank account. Practice some new culinary techniques and find local sources of good fresh foods.

Apply this principal to some of your existing office practices, too. If you’ve been doing your time tracking by hand, for instance, or never learned how to track projects using a database,  look around now for some software options which can automate these processes for you later. It’s like finding dinner ready and waiting for you in the crockpot at the end of the day.

4. Do your part to solve  an important issue that you CAN do something about

You can’t personally fire up this economy. But you can make a difference by adjusting your various daily habits or by trying to help someone else in your community.

Blog Action Day is every October 15th and is a world-wide effort to bring attention to an issue that affects the entire world. Participating bloggers dedicate a post to their personal examination of that year’s issue.

By participating you can educate yourself and  consider what you personally can do about the issue locally or globally. In 2008, the topic was poverty. In 2009 participants will blog about the topic of Climate Change. You can get involved (it will cost you nothing but time) by going here.

Fall is in the air and that was the inspiration for a weekend of “what was old is new again” projects in the LooseKnit workshop. Perfect for some quick knits for gifts and then overhauling some rather forlorn items.

Project 1: Steeking a sweater that was never right for me to begin with.

As a knitter myself, I rarely purchase knitted items. On a trip with my mom to Orcas Island a few years ago, I spied a beautiful fair isle sweater that I could not resist, and my wonderful mom chipped in with me to help me buy it.  It was right in color, but just enough too big and bulky that it was never a good fit for me. After a few years of non use, I had tried fulling it to take it down a notch, but it was just still just too big as you can see from the bad photo below. It’s been gathering dust and pills on the bottom of my sweater stack for too long.

This weekend I decided it was time to either do something else to make it wearable, or just find it a new home. I took scissors in hand and sliced it right up the front. Though many knitters are horrified at the thought, steeking, as this method is called, is a time-honored knitting technique.

Since the steeks result in raw edges, I applied I-cord down the front (had the perfect color and weight in my stash) and added a band of purple Angora on the inside, to encase the raw, steeked edge, and for just a touch of luxury. Still needs buttons and button holes so I’ll steek those next. For now, I have a cardigan I may actually be able to wear!

Project 2: New Pair of Slippers

Last week I found a name brand child’s sweater at one of our local thrift shops. Knowing it would work best as felt, no matter what I decided to turn it into, I washed it and just kept looking at it for a few days. I finally realized there was just enough in the body sections to make a pair of felted clogs. So, a little pattern draping, some machine sewing, a bit of knitting a pink I-cord around the top, and some finishing by hand yielded this pair of slippers. As I was working on them, my color blind husband yelled out, “Dibbs!” He thinks they are tan and brown, haha. I’ll work on a pattern and see if I can replicate these for others on my gift list.