I met someone through my networking at Biznik who shares my name. Tia’s are pretty hard to come by. She’s not only great because her name is Tia, she’s fabulous because she’s demonstrated the point of networking.

She lives on the other side of the country (really) yet we’ve found some common ground discussing a topic that’s of mutual interest - mastermind groups.

Today, she passed on some information that is priceless to me just because she thought I might find it interesting. Just a simple link to something she found - out of the blue; I didn’t ask for it. She just gave it because we’re in this quest together.

To me, that’s not only the mark of a truly generous person, it’s the mark of a friend and a connection to keep for life. And that, my friends, is good for the soul.

You just never, never know who you might meet in your social networks.

Happy networking!

*Tia*

p.s. membership at Biznik is free and the members are all real people interested in real connections. I highly suggest you join if that’s something that interests you, too.

This post is more of a request for clarity or information than it is an accusation.

Please note that I am trying to be as sensitive as humanly possible while at the same time being poignant and true to my thoughts.

I’m aware that some of you may not like this post but I encourage you to speak up, then, and support your opinions boldly.

I’m just wondering, have you ever run into cases of phony virtual assistant certification? Do you disagree with my entirely that there is such a thing as phony certification?

Or, rather, who is doling out certifications and is it right that just about anybody can put up a “certification” program with a neat web graphic and sell it for money? Should there be one set of criteria to certify a VA and if there is, can someone point me to it because I’ve been all over the web and it doesn’t appear to exist.

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Sometimes, you just have to remind your clients of what you can do for them.

All the while, resist the temptation to say, “I told you so!” Clients, like all consumers including we virtual assistants, simply need to be educated. There are thousands of marketing messages pummeling the brain every day, so it’s no wonder that it’s easy to forget things.

A mind under construction is a terrible thing to waste. Embrace it, educate it, and then wait for the ROI.

Tia

All American Admin

Thanks for the heads up, Stacey!

My blog was chosen as the VA Networking Blog of the Week!

Thought I’d pass on the news!

As an internet marketing service provider, there are A TON of tools I need in order to do what I do well everyday. I’ve listed some here. Some are free, some are not, but all are worthwhile. This is a list of virtual assistant resources you’ll want to keep. Enjoy!

Filezilla: Free. You need this. It’s the best FTP program I’ve ever used. You’ll be able to upload and download content to and from your and your client’s websites with ease using this awesome tool. The interface is great, there’s no “technie-ness” to it and it’s fabulous (can you tell I like it?)

Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended: So totally not free. OK, so this is one of the pricier tools in my toolbox. It’s worth every penny. If you do any website design at all, this along with Fireworks are the tools that will set you free, my friends. If you’re not, skip this tool because it’s way too expensive for the beginner.

Audacity: Free audio-editing software. If your clients are coaches or consultants or are involved in any way, shape or form with e-biz, most likely they are going to have a podcast or teleclass or something else that’s recorded that they’re going to expect you to edit. You’ll feel like a master mixer with Audacity. It has nano-second installation and you’ll quickly discover how to cut, silence, and record over like a pro.

Skype: Free or very, very low cost to dial out to a land-line. Attending client teleclasses can cost you, if you use only a cell phone like I did at first. In walks Skype. I’ve been using Skype for a couple years but only recently started using it to dial real land-lines. I even used it call my boyfriend when I lost my cell phone in a park - really! It costs me $2.00 a month and I get to save all of my anytime minutes for me instead of on teleclasses…

PrimoPDF: Free. This is a PDF converter. I like it because it’s free and easy. Your Mac-using clients may hate you because for some reason, some Mac programs don’t like the PDFs it creates, but I think it’s worth it. You could run out and buy Acrobat to convert PDFs but it will cost you a pretty penny.

TinyURL: Free. Long, broken URLs suck. Don’t be a fool! Jump on the bandwagon and start using TinyURLs so you don’t get bombarded with emails saying “the link doesn’t work!” Plus, TinyURL indexes the links so you only have to worry about one TinyURL floating around out there for your link. If you lose it, just go back to TinyURL and do it again. You’ll get the old one back.

BillingManager: Free invoicing, and the online bill pay service is low cost. I wish I could sing a song about this tool. I am in love with it. I have forever fired Paypal and hired Billing Manager. It’s an awesome, easy invoicing tool - your clients will love you. And if you sign up for online bill pay, they will love you even more.

Dreamweaver CS3: Not free. Like Photoshop, it’s pricey. But listen, if you’re going to help with websites, you need an html editor. Dreamweaver is 10 times more than that. I’ve been using Dreamweaver (and subsequent upgrades) since 2001. I think it’s a great web development tool but it’s not for the beginner. My suggestion? Get out of “beginner” stage, take a class (or ask me to train you) so that you can offer your clients something of extraordinary value.

MyHours.com: Free. Thanks to my assistant, Stacey, I’ve discovered MyHours.com. LOVE IT! Even if you don’t use it to track time you’re spending on clients, use it just to see where all of your time goes! It’s amazing. And the best thing is that it’s all online, there’s no downloading and it’s FREE.