Hazel Bowman, Tara Fort, owner of “Versatility,” Mary Lou Locke, owner of Locke Solutions (who drove all the way from Queen Creek Arizona to meet with the rest of us), and I met in Prescott on March 13, at 11:30 a.m.

Following brief intros and show & tell (the best was Tara’s Marketing Calendar!), we discussed the topic: “Marketing Your VA practice: Do you need a Blog or a Website? What works?â€?

If you were one of the attendees, consider amplifying the content of our meeting by sharing what you learned via commenting after this post!

Next Meeting:
The next gathering of the Northern Arizona VA contingent will be held in an ONLINE meeting room format, on Thursday, April 24 at 11:30 a.m. Details on how to access the meeting that day will be sent to all who R.S.V.P. (to me) for the meeting. Hazel and Tara have volunteered to co-moderate and facilitate the meeting.

Proposed Agenda:
1. Intros and Show & Tell: Share a recent cool project or recommended resource

2. Open discussion on the topic of “How does one establish rates?� Please note we will NOT discuss our own rates as required by the the Fair Trade Act. Please do bring any guidelines on HOW to establish fair rates to share.

Rate setting note: My friend Nina Feldman, Nina Feldman Connections, has done a lot of the homework for the rest of us in establishing a methodical way to set your rates. Visit Nina’s Resources page for details.

3. If time permits, break out sessions for novices in one area and veteran VA’s in another

4. Schedule date/time/location/topic of next meeting. Possibly some time in June, 2008?

Proposed/possible topics for future meetings:

1. Where are some good lists of resources for VA’s?
2. What associations should you join?
3. What project management methods do you use?
4. How does a virtual assistant market herself?
5. Which is more profitable – local area or internationally?
6. Continuing education – what do you need and where do you go to get it?
7. What are some helpful software packages?
8. How do you budget for hardware/software upgrades?
9. How do you go about subcontracting to other VAs?

Things for Arizona VA’s to remember:

• Don’t forget to try to get to one of our industry’s BIG EVENTS: the IVAA Summit, held on April 23 – 26 in Charlotte North Carolina.
• There is another online gathering scheduled for May 8 at noon.
• If you plan to have coffee, tea, lunch or breakfast with a VA in your area and want to know if anyone else lives nearby who you could include, drop me a line at ktcosmos – at – looseends – dot – net.
• Laura Jo Richins, RichinsVA.com, (and another great ktcosmos friend and colleague!) has created a place for us to talk between meetings. If you would like an invitation to join the Arizona VA group (you have to register with Yahoo to be able to login), contact Laura Jo at lrichins – at – RichinsBSS – dot – com.