We have the technology and need to communicate across distance. Some among us have formalized our “virtual teams” and this approach to work has become routine.

If you’re doing it, you already know the challenges. If you’re just now thinking about building your own virtual team, you’re likely wondering about some of the logistics and you already know there’s more to consider than which online meeting platform to use.

The University of North Carolina’s online mba program has produced a white paper which focuses on developing the skills essential for virtual teams.

Written by Meena Dorr and Kip Kelly, the article begins with the premise that virtual teams are here to stay, and then dissects the challenges and identifies the keys to creating successful collaborations in the virtual team model.

Here’s the article, “Developing Real Skills for Virtual Teams”

Let’s discuss it, here in the comments or over on the AZVAs Facebook page.

I usually begin by sketching out my design idea (whether for a web site, knitted or sewn project) and playing around with images (or fibers, needles, fabric and thread) for awhile. I then just detach from the project and do something else until an idea is formed.

Watching my granddaughter at the sewing machine made me remember that sometimes you have to just go for it.

Even though she and I have sketched out ideas on paper for things to make together in the past, sometimesshe just dives in.

Recently when she had three new pairs of jeans that needed hemming, I measured and sewed the actual edge hem, but she picked out the thread colors and embellishment details she wanted to add. Shen then sat at the Janome and did all of that decorative sewing by herself. This took three hours from start to finish, and she was elated with the results.

I might add that she worked in a pedicure for me and I’m thinking in terms of how that turned out, she shouldn’t give up her day job as a 2nd grader just yet.

All in all though, how often can YOU say you feel elated with your results?

My AZVAs colleague and I are no exception, as we’re planning our May 2011 podcast around the topic and are even offering a course of our own on May 24.

In fact our recent monthly REAL TALK chat explored social media successes and challenges, and Tara couldn’t join me since she was attending a local presentation by our area Chamber of Commerce on social networking!

Here’s a segment of my “REAL TALK” conversation with Carla Wilson (owner Wilson Virtual Assistance and co-owner of  Wilson Media Services) and Mary Motz (owner of ProVirtual Solutions).

AZVAs_REAL-TALK_040511

Speaking of This… here are a few related posts from the Loosely Speaking archives:

Not that social with your social media?

Social media WOWS!

Plus another one from elsewhere around the web:

5 Key Tips to Marketing Your Event via Twitter, by Denise Quashie

What if you have tried it but can’t figure out what exactly to do with your new Twitter or FB accounts once you open them? Maybe you just need a little inspiration.

Here are some success stories that span various industries, from equine dentistry to paper manufacturing:

Mashable’s “Social Media Business Success Stories”

Tech Crunch’s “How Social Media Drives New Business: Six case studies”

How about some real live talk on the subject? Join me on April 5 at 9:00 a.m. (Arizona time, of course) for a live chat (via GoToMeeting) about successful, creative and experimental uses of social networking.

AZVAs  activities include:

• our monthly podcast (resuming in February), and accompanying newsletter,
• occasional face-to-face networking and educational events,
• a discussion listserv over on YahooGroups,
• a Facebook page (where you can interact and find out about upcoming events),
• low cost webinars on topics value to our audience and,
• new this year: occasional live conference calls as a place for all of us to come together, coffee break style, to discuss our businesses and learn from one another.

The first REAL TALK conference call is 9:00 a.m. Arizona time on Tuesday, February 1. Email me if you’d like to join the conversation and make a few new business friends. ktcosmos-at-LooseEnds-dot-net.

Tara and I emphatically believe that business success depends on the ability to develop real relationships. Nothing new in that, but finding the time to make it happen can get in your way.

Join us for some terrific activities this year and make room in your day to build some new (and nurture some existing) relationships.

Special thanks to Angela Yee, publisher and author at Summit Star Press, for permission to use her image “Keeping It Real.”

In 2011, we’re keeping it real: that means that when we interview our guests, we’re asking them to share exactly how they built a successful business, and we’re asking them for specific tips for contractors who want to break into their industry.

We’ll give you a sneak peek at the monthly themes covered in the 2011 season in a few weeks, but here’s how YOU can be a part of it all right now.

Share your recipes for success in landing new clients, avoiding disaster, technology that works for you, day-to-day admin systems, and methods for rolling out new products and services. We want to help our audience cut through the fat and find real solutions. So we’re asking you to pass along your answers to real questions you get asked all the time about how you make your business work.

Your tips will be a part of the next episode, along with links to you and your contact information. Good for you and good for our audience.

Post your tips below this post (just roll your cursor over the word “Comments” and then click), or over on the AZVAs Facebook page.

Special thanks to Angela Yee, publisher and author at Summit Star Press, for permission to use her image “Keeping It Real.”

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.

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

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)

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

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.

Format

The format allowed for both education and unlimited opportunities for networking. Our small contingent of Arizona VAs hopped on board and embraced our attempt to give them a sneak peak both the IVAA Online Summit and the IVAA Live Summit, while strengthening ties with local colleagues.

Even though some attendees were skeptical about presentations delivered by speakers joining us remotely via GoToMeeting, that approach enabled us to provide a greater range of topics and presenters during our breakouts. Including top talent from within our industry that way also exposed some participants to a new way to work virtually using online meeting rooms. (read more about other online meeting options here).

In planning this event, we speculated that if you gather together in the same space with others for a seminar, regardless of the delivery method, the main benefit of being in a room with other live bodies is the opportunity for immediate interaction and idea germination during and after the activity.

And in fact, that’s exactly what happened after every breakout.

Location

The design of the Biltmore Embassy Suite’s public areas was spectacularly conducive. The many tables and chairs scattered around the atrium served as a magnet for those fresh from their breakouts. All you had to do was step out of the guest room where your session took place and scan the vast atrium to spot others gathering below near the on-site Starbucks. In fact, we even scheduled one breakout in the atrium, and that attracted a potential client who was drawn to our meeting when he overheard the term “virtual assistant.”

Working in isolation as VAs do most of the time, we take pride in all we can accomplish on our own, despite the distance between us and our clients. This gathering gave us all a chance to tap into the flow of energy that can only come from people connected in real time and space.

Outcome and Outlook

Now that the dance is, in fact, over, I hope that those who attended will carry on with the new ideas and relationships begun in Phoenix.

Next up: marriage of great minds and birth of dynamic new projects and partnerships.

Next challenge: figuring out the best means of staying connected while back at a distance from one another. That will mean everyone organizing and attending local VACs (Virtual Assistant Connections), and learning to use FaceBook (event and biz pages), Twitter, Yahoogroups listserv, Ning, Linked In, and/or one another’s blogs.

Recently I had a conversation with a resumé expert (who will remain unnamed until or if she decides to weigh in on this matter) about the merits of keeping your resumé tuned up just in case.

In our current economy, any tool you can produce that helps present your expertise may make a difference.

So… how about it? Do you have a resumé and do you know how to use it?

If you’re an athlete, you’re expected to have that and more.

But when you own your business, or dream of doing, you need your game to have a dose of those qualities but not so much that you’re projecting aggressive arrogance.

If you’re a female executive, add that other balancing act, appropriate assertiveness versus perceived bitchiness, and you may find your carefully honed professionalism isn’t cutting it.

I’m hearing of more folks conjuring up a little home-based business after having been laid off and fear that those not possessing the entrepreneur gene are in for a tough fight. Dr. Mark Clayson‘s article “Beginning a Business—No Bravado Please” covers some of the pitfalls you’re up against when you start a business without a plan, or simply because you are up against a wall.

Yes, you have to convince your would-be clients that you are confident and can get the job done, but remember that pairing your confidence with genuine humility and gratitude goes a long way.

And even athletes can succeed with a little temperance in the swagger and a liberal dose of humility and sweetness.