Outsourcing It: 7 Qualities a Virtual Assistant Must Have

A virtual assistant must have certain qualities

The virtual assistant industry is growing fast and more and more people are leaning towards 

working as a virtual assistant either as a part time job or a full time career. A big reason for this trend is that there are a great number of people, especially the small business owners and entrepreneurs, choosing to partner up with virtual assistants because they find it more practical and economical than hiring a real employee. Hiring virtual assistants allows them to focus on more important business transactions thus making their business progressive and attract more customers and clients. And to make this possible, here are 7 points that a virtual assistant must have.

1.    Reliable. Usually, a virtual assistant is a person either living offshore or remotely near your location and your only means of communication is through emails, VOIP tools like Skype or Yahoo Messenger or calling them on their mobile phone. A virtual assistant is someone who you can count on. They have to be always online and on time during working hours (sometimes even on their day offs) and be reliable enough to give you reports about the progress of their work.

2.    Honest. A virtual assistant is someone that you must trust. Trusting a person when you first meet them is kind of a difficult pill to swallow, what more if you’ve never even seen that person. The virtual assistant must be honest enough to tell you that he/she is not available to work or that he or she is not familiar with what the task at hand is about. You wouldn’t want to fix a mishap made by a virtual assistant who goes on a “disappearing act”, would you?

3.    Passionate. A virtual assistant must have the heart to work not just to get paid but to make the best out of the tasks that is assigned. A passionate virtual assistant will take that extra mile to get things done even if it means working during the weekends or holidays to meet the client’s satisfaction.

4.    Resourceful. A virtual assistant must learn how to be resourceful when things get demanding. They must remember to have a backup storage device for important files using tools like flash drives, external hard drives and cloud storage devices like DropBox, Google Cloud Storage and Apple’s iCloud. Also, since virtual assistants significantly need to use the internet and computer every day, they must have a dependable internet connection and must have a backup plan when there is a power outage.

5.    Courageous. Every virtual assistant has a certain niche or category that he or she excels in. But it doesn’t mean that it has to stop there. A virtual assistant must not be afraid to learn new things and update himself with the latest breakthroughs in the industry of virtual assistance. For example, a programmer can set his sights in web design and online startups since his coding skills can be very beneficial in this field.

6.    Good communicator. Virtual assistants must be able to communicate and contribute ideas to the team that will make things work smoothly like a well-oiled machine. For instance, when a certain virtual assistant has concerns regarding the task assigned he/she must voice it out to the client to clarify and avoid making guesses which can be detrimental to the outcome of the project.

7.    Organized. A virtual assistant can be assigned multiple tasks at one time and must be able to organize these tasks well to avoid mistakes. An organized virtual assistant can work more productively when their workplace, tools and projects are kept systematic.

Hiring a virtual assistant is not that simple. Sometimes it can be quite stressful and frightening particularly if it’s your first time. You have to choose very carefully. It’s like looking for the right person you’re going to marry. He or she can have a pretty face but soon you find out that you have no chemistry at all and the partnership ends in a divorce. The same goes with hiring a virtual assistant because you have to be in sync and have a give and take relationship to make your business ventures profitable.

20 Feel Good Ways to Drive Traffic To Your Blog

What's the best way to make traffic for your blog or site? Actually, there's no best way to do it but to try out different tricks. What works for you might not work for everyone but there are some methods that can produce better results than others.

Some experts or gurus may tell you to do this and don't do that. For me, I suggest to follow what you feel is right. Experiment on tips and tricks that they teach you and find out which works for your blog.

In relation to this, here are 20 easy-to-do and almost FREE ways to drive traffic for your blog. Do try some of it out 'cause I certainly have had results!

1. Turn your articles and blog posts into PDFs using free PDF converters like OpenOffice. Then submit your PDFs to document sharing sites like Scribd and DocStoc.
2. Write truly informative and useful articles related to your niche, and publish them on WikiPedia.
3. Hold a contest and give prizes to your readers. Use social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to let people know about the contest. A good contest with good prizes will attract a lot of people.
4. Write list posts like the one you are reading. Readers love posts like “10 ways to make money” or “6 ways to drive traffic to your blog”. List posts are amongst the most popular kinds of posts, and people tend to share list posts with others more often than other posts.
5. Post frequently, but don’t sacrifice quantity for quality. Both search engines and visitors like to see fresh, quality content. The more content you have, the more chances you have for ranking for variety of keywords, which will mean more organic traffic for your blog.
6. Submit your blog to search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Or simply use AdMe.com to submit your site to over 25 search engines for free.Submit your blog to social bookmarking sites like Digg and StumbleUpon.
7. Write with what you are passionate about and what makes you feel good.
8. Turn your articles to videos using free video creation services like Animoto, and submit them to video directories such as YouTube and DailyMotion.
9. Create a hub about your blog on HubPages.
10. Controversial posts attract visitors. Write a controversial post. Be creative and bold, but be careful not to cross the boundaries.
11. Leave quality comments on blogs that are related to your niche. Make sure your comments add value to the blog. Don’t just spam-comment and hope for the best. It never works, and your links will get deleted. If you leave a useful comment, people will be more likely to visit your blog.
12. If you find interesting posts on other blogs, write a post about them and link to them. The other bloggers will notice and might do the same for you.
13. Submit your site to review sites that write reviews on other websites and blogs, like CoolSiteOfTheDay.
14. Use your keywords in the title of your posts. Having your keyword in the title makes it easier for you to rank for that keyword, thus bringing you more organic traffic. That's a little bit of SEO too.
15. Make a Twitter profile for your blog and tweet each and every post you publish on your blog.
16. When you eat out, leave a good tip along with a business card with your site info on it.
17. Go to YouTube, find popular videos related to your niche and start commenting on those videos with a link back to your blog.
18. Make a bumper sticker with your blog address on it, and place it on your car’s bumper. You can even ask your friends and family to do the same for you!
19. Use your blog’s name as your username on forums, social networking sites, and other places like YahooAnswers.
20. Introduce your blog to Google+ and make your "circles" engage with each other.

Courtesy of: Problogger.net

My Life as a Virtual Assistant

Good Day fellow VAs,

              Are you still enjoying being a virtual assistant? Well, to make you feel good and a bit envious of being a VA,  I decided to take pictures of my day as a social media manager. 

               First of all, I would like to apologize for the quality of the pictures. I was supposed to use my Sony digital camera but I just found out this morning that it was broken! I just used my Samsung Corby's camera and I hope that these pics  are clear enough. My work starts at 8 in the morning and what's good about it is - no TRAFFIC and no COMMUTE! Jealous much? LOL! Just kidding! Anyway here's my life as a virtual assistant. 

Just woke up at 730 in the morning. I'm still wearing my pajamas and checking my mail and Facebook. 

Here's my biggest fan, Miggy, my doxie!

See, even dogs are interested in becoming a Virtual Assistant!

Wouldn't it be great to get paid by spending time on Facebook and Twitter?
That's the life of a Social Media manager! 

Here's my sumptuous and hearty breakfast that I cooked.
Yes, you have time to cook and eat breakfast when you're a VA!

I'm a big basketball fan and I can watch my favorite games while working!
You can call it distraction - I call it multi-tasking! hahaha!

My "work" ends at 1 in the afternoon and then I can go to the mall or play Frisbee with my friends. But today, I chose to go to my nearest Sony service center and get my digital camera fixed. So that's my day as a Social Media Manager / Virtual Assistant! 

I hope this makes you change your mind about corporate work or employment and start feeling good working at home as a Virtual Assistant!

Life is too short to waste, so start living it now! ~ Anonymous

Coming Soon!

5 Tips That Are Critical In Being a Successful Virtual Assistant
5 Ways to Get A Job Using Social Media
How Dangerous Is Sitting All Day?
To Hire Or Not To Hire A Virtual Assistant?
6 Pros and Cons in Outsourcing Social Media
7 Facebook Apps That Sucks Your Time
Top 10 Social Media Events That You Didn't Know Of
Digital Virtual Assistant Straight Out Of A Sci-Fi Film
6 Ways To Get Noticed On Facebook
10 Most Asked Questions About Social Media
Do You Suffer From Social Media Fatigue?
Social Network Wars: Which Side Of The Force Are You On?
White Hat Or Black Hat SEO: What's The Color Of Your Lightsaber?
What You Didn't Know About Twitter Limits
How To Use Social Media in Crises and Disasters
What You Need To Know About Facebook "Subscribers"
6 Myths About Social Media
Is SEO Dead?
101 Amazing Ideas To Get More Virtual Assistant Work
What Can You Do In 1 hour As A Virtual Assistant?
What's The Highest Paying Job As A Virtual Assistant?
10 Strangest Virtual Assistant jobs
15 Tasks That Virtual Assistants Hate To Do
Article Writing Tips For People Who Hate To Write Articles
How To Manage Several Social Media Accounts For Multiple Clients

What Can A Virtual Assistant Do in ONE hour?

What Can A Virtual Assistant Do in ONE hour?


Imagine this: More clients that you could connect with; more billable hours you could clock, or simply FEEL GOOD to have more time for your family, friends and for yourself!

With a virtual assistant handling the day-to-day administrative tasks associated with running and growing your business, you’ll find that you have more hours in the day, and more time to do the things you really want to be doing. The following list details just some of the things a professional virtual assistant could handle for you, in just one hour:

1. Call 25-30 prospective clients.
2. Mail merge 50-100 letters including stuffing and mailing.
3. Create and schedule an email marketing campaign.
4. Data Entry of a minimum of 75 contacts in an Excel spreadsheet.
5. Manage customer service correspondence.
6. Proof and edit a five to six page white paper.
7. Create a PowerPoint presentation.
8. Create a signup process on your website for an ezine or newsletter subscription.
9. Balance your business bank statement for the month.
10. Research travel, hotel and meeting facilities for an upcoming holiday or convention.
11. Provide personal or group training via webinar for a specific software or service.
12. Update web site content to be more search engine friendly.
13. Manage article and press release submissions.
14. Transcribe thirty minutes of audio from a conference, meeting, speech or similar.
15. Gather and organize research for a specific project.
16. Type handwritten notes from a seminar or meeting.
17. Utilize client’s content to create a basic sales page with PayPal.
18. Create a header graphic for website/blog.
19. Set up a Facebook page for the client’s business.
20. Manage a client’s Facebook business page (sending invites, interacting with users/comments, adding recent images, etc.)
21. Do follow-up research on a client, prospect, applicant, or competitor.
22. Manage incoming emails: delete spam; sort, answer, or redirect important emails.
23. Create a custom spreadsheet.
24. Organize files, label them appropriately, and mail them back.
25. Make confirmation calls regarding your appointments, engagements, or reservations.
26. Open and sort mail one week’s worth of mail.
27. Stuff, seal, label, and stamp a bulk mailing.
28. Write, format and post a detailed, relevant blog entry with image.
29. Collate and label personalized packets for your seminar or presentation.
30. Build at least 30 SEO-friendly links back to your website or blog.
31. Monitor and forward info from multiple sources of client industry news headlines, blog posts, and forum discussions.
31. Create and/or analyze and update Google Adwords campaigns.
32. Setup and/or analyze Google Analytics and relative conversion reports.
33. Add a press page to the company website.
34. Select and schedule 15 individual handwritten greeting or thank you cards for delivery to clients, colleagues, etc.
35. Edit and prep for download a 30-60 minute audio file using Audacity or similar.
36. Update shopping cart with new product images and information.
37. Create a customized, detailed Google business listing with images.
38. Manage the company Twitter account (providing Tweets, responding to @s, following/unfollowing per the company policy)
39. Create a draft of a company white paper out of last year’s relevant blog posts.
40. Scheduling a week’s worth of Tweets.
41. Planning two week’s worth of blog topics.

This is just a sampling of what a virtual assistant can do for you and your small business. The possibilities are truly endless!

A professional virtual assistant can handle any of these tasks in one hour – freeing you up to focus on more important business tasks and enjoy more personal time.

The Newest Superhero Sidekick : The V.A. (Virtual Assistant)

Are you a fan of Spiderman, Superman and Batman? Can you see any difference between these three awesome superheroes? Each one of them have special skills and strengths, but only one superhero stands out of the rest. It's Batman! Why? He has a sidekick! Yes, everyone knows that Batman has Robin - his trusty sidekick - to always save him in times of peril or when he is outnumbered by his rivals.


Just like Internet Marketers, some may have a difficult time in "saving the world" without a handy Virtual Assistant by their midsts. So, the need for Virtual Assistants in the past decade has really changed dramatically. In fact, being a VA is now one of the hottest home-based business today. Becoming a Virtual Assistant is not a one-day work. Similar to superhero sidekicks, it entails discipline, hard work and dedication to succeed and defeat the evil villains that surround them.


Some may not agree with it, so here is just a short simple video to explain why online business will FEEL GOOD in having trusty Virtual Assistants.

My first earnings as a VA

Good Morning fellow VAs!

                     What a great week! I've received my first pay as a VA particularly in a gig I got from Onlinejobs.ph as a Social Media Manager. I am really excited in getting this gig because who knew you could make a extra money just by posting updates in Twitter and Facebook! Well I'm not really bragging about my earnings but for a start I can say I deserve a pat in the back! So here it is, my first dollars as a VA!

I edited some contents on the picture as to secure my account and my clients name.

Always FEEL GOOD and have a great week ahead!

Top 5 Feel Good Tips In Landing Your First Gig!

Good Morning fellow VAs and Everyone!

                 First of all, I'm really excited to tell you that I've finally had my first gig as a VA after attending the VA Seminar of Sir Jomar Hilario in Cebu last April 2-3, 2011. I am really thankful that after almost 2 years of being away from the VA world, mainly because I went into employment as a hospital nurse, I am glad to be back as a VA and enjoying the perks of working at home at my desired time.

                 Here are some of my tips to land a gig for all of you aspiring VAs and soon-to-be achievers of the online world!

1. Be Open-minded. The Internet is really a vast and overwhelming place that opportunities are so limitless. All you have to do is to open your mind to the opportunities that comes flashing right before your eyes. There are a lot of gigs out there just waiting for you. So revamp your CVs or resumes and start seeing the results.

2. Be Honest. When you get an interview, tell the truth to your clients. It's better to tell them that you do not know or you are not familiar with what they are asking you about than telling them that you are a know it all and become a clueless cockatoo in the end. There are some clients who would rather have an honest VA than a VA pretending to be an expert.

3. Make a blog or website about your passion. There are some clients who would want to see if you have ever made a blog or a website and this adds good credits for you to be hired. Also if they see that you can write and express yourself well, you have a better chance of getting the gig because they know that you can communicate with them with ease.

4. Make your resume credible and add skills. This is one advise that has really worked for me. After attending the VA Seminar, I just did the assignment that was given and this included making a CV or resume. I had a resume posted at Onlinejobs.ph way back October of last year and I used to apply to gigs with this resume hoping to land me a gig. Unfortunately, after a few weeks and with no single interview, I gave up. So after the VA seminar, I revamped my resume and added skills and also made this blog which contains easy-to-use tutorials for programs used by VAs, and surprisingly an interview came up on my email and after a series of interviews, I finally got the gig among other applicants.

5. Just Feel Good and Believe in yourself. Sometimes you may get a bit frustrated when you do not get a gig or an interview, but you just have to believe in yourself and always see the positive side of things and feel good about yourself. When you feel good, all the things will realign itself to make you feel even better and you will just be surprised with what comes your way.

So that's about it for the Top 5 Feel Good Tips in Landing Your First Gig! 

P.S. Secret Tip: You can NOW download the Online Seminar of Jomar Hilario HERE!

Good luck to all your endeavors and remember to FEEL GOOD! See you guys at the flip side!

Photo courtesy of: flickrcc.bluemountains.net

Welcome Everyone! Stay for a few moments and Just Feel Good!

Good Morning!

Welcome everyone to my first ever VA blog!

You might be wondering what does VA stand for? Well, VA stands for Virtual Assistant. Yes, I am one of those aspiring people who knows how to work at home or as better known as Virtual Assistant.

You might be wondering why a Virtual Assistant blogs instead of looking for online gigs? Well, to tell you the truth, this is one of my assignments from a seminar I have attended. haha! Got you to read my assignment!

But kidding aside, what I discovered while doing this assignment in learning how to work from home as a Virtual Assistant is that anyone can do it! And the best part is that you will feel good! No kiddin! You get to feel good in so many ways as a Virtual Assistant which I will talk about in my future posts.

So, if you happen to be one of those would-be Virtual Assistants who are looking for someone to share their ideas, please feel free and feel good to input them in my blog.

And if you happen to just stumble upon this blog by accident then I thank you very much from the bottom of my heart.

Again, I welcome you to my blog and Just Feel Good!