Thanks for reading!

To listen to a clip of the interview, click the link below:

Advantage Virtual Assistant on The Greg Knapp Experience radio show

I sent out my press release this morning and within a few hours I received a voice mail from the producer of a nationally syndicated radio show inviting me to be interviewed by the show’s host. How exciting is that?

Then I happened to find a very nice, slightly used, corner desk for my home office. Now I’ll have more room and be more comfortable and more organized as I’m working.

All in all, its been much more fun and exciting than I anticipated and I’m looking forward to the future growth of my new business.

Be sure to stop by and offer any Words of Wisdom you may have for me for my first steps into a new venture!

And if you have any questions about Advantage VA or the VA industry in general, feel free to ask by leaving a comment here or contacting me directly via email at april@advantagevirtualassistant.com or call me at 877.2211.AVA  (877.221.1282)!

From the article:

Paralegals
Paralegals provide critical support to attorneys, law offices, corporate legal departments, courts, and government agencies. The Department of Labor predicts brisk growth in the field, especially for graduates of paralegal courses offered through online paralegal degree programs.

The national salary range for entry level paralegals is from $36,641 to $49,754, however, paralegals with eight years experience may earn upwards of $86,666.

Now that’s a lot of money! But if you’ve checked out the VA calculator on my website then you already know that you don’t have to spend that much. Hiring Advantage Virtual Assistant can save you approximately 50% depending on the level of services your firm needs. For example, with Advantage, if the amount of work you need done only amounts to 30 hours instead of a full 40 hours per week and you’re paying a Paralegal $25 an hour, that’s a savings of $1,000 a month! Add the expense of a workstation including computer, phone line, and office supplies and you’re saving hundreds more. And one of the biggest differences between an in-house Paralegal and a VA is that you don’t pay benefit expenses such as insurance, sick leave, holiday pay, and 401k.

So take some time to try out the VA calculator and calculate your savings.

Who knows, maybe next year Virtual Assistant will make the list!

Before you read the article in its entirety, here are a few key points:

“The VA can be a life-saver, and can relieve the stress of ballooning workflow. An established VA relationship will ensure more consistent full-time, part-time, temporary or supplementary help, and will reduce the high cost of hiring and instructing short-term and temporary staffing solutions. You will be working in the crisis with someone who has an existing working relationship with you. Appropriately assigned work sent to a VA can help both you, and any in-office legal assistant, to handle successfully the work load variables with ultimate flexibility. You have spontaneous additional help without the overhead costs, and without the hassle of orientation of temps.”

“Lawyers told us that a good VA saves time and money, and can be a tremendous asset. For the larger firms, VA’s can provide additional support at peak times without need to pay for temp services, and can avoid the time and cost to orient personnel to the firm layout, equipment, systems and procedures. The overhead cost of a VA is based on use, and that means overhead then more closely follows the billable work product.”

Specifically, the article explains:

• How do I find VA services?
• How do I choose the right VA for me?
• What technology do I need to work with a VA?
• How do I explain the task to my VA?
• What can the VA do for me?
• What tasks can I assign to my VA?

The original article is located at http://www.abanet.org/lpm/lpt/articles/tch07071.shtml

Once you’ve read the article and are considering hiring your own VA, contact Advantage Virtual Assistant, a VA specializing in the legal field, to have your questions answered and to get a service rate quote based upon your individual needs.

Use
A Newsletter To Get More Clients

by
Lisa Taliga

Imagine the following scenario: six months ago you paid someone
to come and do your gardening. You’d like to use them again but
you can’t remember their name and have lost their business card.
You end up going to another gardener, which means that the first
gardener has probably lost a customer for life.

How easy would it have been for that gardener to stay in touch
with you by sending you a newsletter with gardening tips and
product recommendations?

If you’re running your own business, you can’t afford not to
have a newsletter. Sure, it seems that every business sends
out one nowadays but that is no reason to avoid using this invaluable
marketing tool. It’s an excellent way to build ongoing customer
relationships, establish trust and build credibility.

The most cost effective way to send out a newsletter is by
email. That way you avoid printing and mailing costs, and it’s
so much more immediate.

Here are 5 tips to using email newsletters as a way of staying
in touch with your customer base:

1. Use the 80% 20% Rule

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is talking only
about themselves in their newsletters. Think about the newsletters
that you delete and the ones that you make the effort to read.
Usually the most interesting ones contain solid information
and tips that benefit you in some way. Think about what would
really interest and help your readers and write articles on
those topics accordingly.
80% of your newsletter content should directly benefit your
reader. Only allow 20% of your content to promote your business.

2. Choose a schedule and stick to it

Consistency is the key when sending out newsletters. Whether
you decide on a monthly or fortnightly newsletter, make a commitment
to yourself to keep to this schedule. If your newsletter is
good, your customers will start to look forward to hearing from
you and you don’t want to disappoint them, do you?

3. Pick a quality newsletter provider

I did a lot of research into different newsletter services
and it turns out that Aweber is known as one of the best in
the world. I haven’t been disappointed. Aweber gives me fantastic
service at a very reasonable price.

As part of signing up, you get free templates to use. Customise
these with your logo and photo to add that personal touch. Aweber
also manages people wanting to unsubscribe from your list automatically,
which is a great time saver. You can try Aweber risk-free for
30 days here:

http://www.virtualpabusiness.com/recommends/aweber.html

4. Plan your content

Instead of inwardly groaning when suddenly it’s time to send
out your newsletter again, why not brainstorm and work on some
article ideas in advance? Think of your newsletter as an ongoing,
fun project and it will be.

5. Put your sign-up box on your website

Make it easy for people to sign up for your newsletter by putting
a sign-up box prominently on your website. Also invite people
to sign up by putting a sentence at the end of your email signature,
saying something like ‘Sign up for my newsletter with the latest
articles, news, tips and stories at ………’

The time and effort that you put into your newsletter will
pay off dividends by increasing repeat business, and bringing
in new business.

Check out Lisa’s ’5 Key Steps to Your Successful Virtual Assistant Business – Freelance From Home!’ Toolkit

Perhaps the biggest difference between a VA and an in-office assistant is that a VA is a self-employed independent contractor. Rather than the VA being an employee of your company, you are the VA’s client. This alters the dynamic of the working relationship. Like you, the VA is a business owner and it is their goal to work with you and making sure that your administrative needs are fulfilled. And as a business owner, they value your satisfaction and understand that it is vital to your business as well as their own.

The other major difference between the two is that, as the title implies, a virtual assistant works from outside of the office. Using technology like the Internet, cell phones or Blackberry/SmartPhone, fax machines, e-mail, etc. allows a VA to serve clients all over the country.

Virtual assistants typically have diverse backgrounds which means they can specialize in certain areas – law, real estate, medical – and may have specific skills such as desktop publishing, marketing, or web design. This gives you, as the client, the opportunity to hire a VA whose training and experience best suits your needs.

While the hourly rate for hiring a VA is usually higher than that of having an in-office assistant, clients will actually save money. Clients are only paying for the actual time that the VA spends on the assigned duties or project as opposed to paying for a flat 40-hour work week without regard to how much time is spent on each task. VAs also provide their own equipment, office supplies, and services. This relieves clients of the costs of computers and software, phone and fax lines, office supplies and other expenses associated with providing office space. In addition, clients who hire a virtual assistant will not be responsible for providing sick pay, holiday pay, 401k plans, insurance and other benefits.

If you’re considering hiring a virtual assistant, take the time to consider the advantages and remember that you and your VA have the same goal in mind which is to help your business grow and succeed. If you have more questions about how a VA can help you, please feel free to contact April via email at April@AdvantageVirtualAssistant.com.