Steven Paul Jobs, the computer tycoon of the computer industry is no longer with us, but his memory will last forever in the hearts and minds of Mac users, iPhone users, iPad users, and much more.

Steve Jobs was both a computer inventor and entrepreneur. Born in 1955 in San Francisco, California, his driving purpose was to develop products that were both functional and elegant; and he did just that which earned him the respect and honor of computer users everywhere.

It was just recently here in August of this year that Steve announced that he was resigning as CEO of Apple due to not being able to carry out his normal duties due to the ravages of pancreatic cancer. He also announced at that same time that he would remain as chairman of the board.

October 5, 2011, will long be remembered as a sad day. The family announced that Steve Jobs passed away peacefully in his sleep. As you go to Apple today, you will be met with a black and white picture of Steve in one of his contemplative poses that only he could do so well, along with his name and the years of both his birth and death. As you click on the photo, you are greeted with a moving obituary.

As you read Bill Gates’ statement on The Gates Notes, you come to realize how much Steve Jobs meant to fans, colleagues, competitors, and just anyone he came into contact with. “The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come. “For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor.  I will miss Steve immensely.” – Bill Gates

We couldn’t agree more Mr. Gates. His effects will carry on for many, many years. We are very honored to have been graced with the incredible knowledge that he possessed. We are also very lucky to have been the recipients of the wonderful technological gadgets that he passed our way.

Rest peacefully, Steve Jobs; and thank you.
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Pam Lokker is a skillful writer and proficient virtual assistant. She is co-owner of Borlok Virtual Assistants — the place to get global expert VA services with quality and on-time delivery.

Why is it that when we see a word a phrase that we really like that we grab it and use them forever? Do you ever stop to think about the words you are using in a proposal? Are they overused and full of consultant-speak speech? Well, let’s check out some words or phrases to consider stripping out of your proposals.

Overused Superlatives

What the heck are superlatives? I don’t use them. Are you sure? Do you really know what a superlative is? Let’s check out Dictionary.com for some help.

1. of the highest kind, quality, or order; surpassing all else or others; supreme; extreme: superlative wisdom.
2. Grammar . of, pertaining to, or noting the highest degree of the comparison of adjectives and adverbs, as smallest, best, and most carefully, the superlative forms of small, good, and carefully.
3. being more than is proper or normal; exaggerated in language or style.

Let me give you five examples from random sites that I looked at:

• the biggest benefit
• the best managed
• need us the most
• the most notable
• the least promising

There’s nothing wrong with using words like unrivaled, easiest, highest, shortest, unique in other types of content. You just want to try and limit your use of superlatives in proposals.

Overused Buzzwords

Buzzwords are overused a lot in proposals, and even in all types of content. Buzzwords are usually trendy words that are specific to a certain group. For example, in the Internet Technology (IT) industry, common buzzwords are SBS, MSP, VAR. In the Virtual Assistant (VA) world, one might speak of EA or VA or PA. Be careful that what you are talking about can be understood by the person it is intended for. Spell it out as I have done with IT or VA or leave it out.

Other types of buzzwords that are just used too much are popular words specific to a particular industry. Have any of these examples cropped up in your proposal writing?

• Thinking outside the box
• value-added
• alignment
• win-win

If you tend to use the words above, it would be to your advantage to leave them out of your proposal. (Buzzwords Gone Bad)

Pronoun Overabundance

There are better ways to write proposals than using an overabundance of ‘I’, ‘you’ and the rest of the pronouns. In my opinion, it doesn’t show any creativity and is extremely boring. Quit it!

One of the purposes of a proposal is to justify unspoken decisions in the preliminary stages of the sales process. Instead of using overused consultant-speak, make your proposal believable by supplying facts to back statements up. Get rid of overused superlatives and buzzwords and leave the pronouns back in your office

Provide concrete evidence that your company can solve a client’s need, but do it without saying “our company is the best qualified to provide you a variety of MSP solutions because I say so.”
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Pam Lokker is a skillful writer and proficient virtual assistant. Borlok Virtual Assistants is the place to get global expert VA services with quality and on-time delivery.

Nowadays, keeping your clients with you is critical to the well-being of Small to Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs). It’s not always easy to work with those clients that ask for the moon but give you impossible demands that eat up your time and money. So what can you do with those cantankerous clients, especially if they get ticked off at you? Let’s take a look:

Give careful thought on whether to keep them or set them free.

Sometimes, we know right from the get-go that we’re going to have trouble with a particular client. You just get this tightening in your belly as they speak with you during your free consultation that maybe they could be trouble. For goodness sake, pay attention to your intuition. Most of the time, your intuition won’t lead you astray.

If those cantankerous so-and-sos get too ornery, it’s going to take you bucking up and deciding whether they’re just too much trouble to make it worthwhile to continue the relationship with them. It’s okay – if your decision is to let them go, go ahead. Just make sure you weigh all the risks.

Set their expectations early.

Unfortunately, we’ve only had to learn this through hard knocks through the years. Set realistic expectations for them and get their expectations of what they want from you. Doing so will hopefully keep you from wanting to kick yourself in the butt because you neglected to do that.

Don’t burn your bridges.

If you decide to let a client go, or even if they decide to leave your services, make sure that it is in an equitable way. Burned bridges can cause unnecessary stress and hard-feelings that could develop into something more serious like bad-mouthing of you on the social media networks or even lead to lawsuits.

Stroke the feathers of the good clients and keep them happy.

Make sure that your client relationship management is above reproach. A happy client can be a long-term client.

To many times, SMBs will stroke the wrong feathers. What I mean is that they will bend over backwards for the brand new client while they let their old clients fall by the wayside. Folks, that’s just plain silly — your older clients are your bread and butter; they had been tried, tested and proved to be reliable. Now why in the world would you want to go mess that up?
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Pam Lokker is a skillful writer and proficient virtual assistant. Borlok Virtual Assistants is the place to get global expert VA services with quality and on-time delivery.

See how virtual assistants can get back lost customers.

A Small to Medium-sized Business (SMB) is usually very busy during the day, and they need a good phone they can use to communicate with clients. But is there such a phone? I mean, after all, Straight Talk is a pre-paid cell plan – not an actual phone. Is there hope that such a phone exists?

Meet the Samsung Prepaid Phone with Keyboard, R451C

The Straight Talk Samsung Prepaid Cell Phone has a wide variety of features that you can use to communicate with clients — all without having to sign a contract. That means you don’t have to worry about extra fees for things such as activation, reactivation, cancellation, daily access or overage.

Features

This attractive-looking phone has some of the features that all your other cell phones have like a slider QWERTY keyboard, bluetooth wireless technology, a 1.3 -megapixel camera, Mobile Web services, Voicemail and Call Waiting, Battery talk time up to 4 hours, Standby time up to 14 days, and the charger and services guide. You will need to purchase the Service Talk Service Plan (minutes, text, data and service days) in order for you to use the phone.

Advantages

Let’s take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of this phone.

1) Economical - I went to Walmart’s online website and searched for “straight talk phone.” There are several there, but the Samsung R451C listed for $79.88. You will find others there that might appeal more to your taste; however, you will pay more for them with the exception of the Samsung R355C. You will need to purchase a Straight Talk Service plan to activate it.

The Service plans come two 30-day Service Plans: the $30 All You Need Plan with 1000 Minutes, 1000 Messages plus 30MB of data, or you can also choose the $45 Unlimited Plan with Unlimited Minutes, Unlimited Messages & Unlimited Mobile Web Access. Okay, so you want more versatility? Choose one of the 3 additional Unlimited Plans which offer unlimited talk, text, and/or multimedia messages and Mobile Web Access during 90, 180 days and 1 year of Service.

2) Phone capabilities are multiple - You can call out, receive calls, view calls that you missed, view the call that is incoming, and use your own voice to dial. In addition, you can text.

3) Size – This cell phone is small enough that you can slip into your pocket. It measures about 2″ x 4.5″

4) This CDMA phone uses the Verizon towers, although I did find that if you have any questions about calls dropping, users of this phone found that Verizon support was not a help.

5) What if you don’t like the ringtones that come with the phone. Can you download ringtones to your computer and transfer them to your phone? The answer is yes. You can also swap ringtones with your friends.

6) The Samsung R451C does not have a sim card, although Walmart does offer the R451G which does have a sim card.

Disadvantages

1) Currently, if you are a small business owner and need to make or receive an international call, you are going to be out of luck as Straight Talk only allows nationwide calls.

2) There is no capability to record videos.

3) A busy businessperson will not have any way to install any apps, so you won’t be able to install JAVA files for internet messaging, etc. The phone has a very limited internet browser.

4) Text messages you send are a minute size of only 160 characters and are not saved in streamed or chat format meaning they are saved individual text messages appear in your inbox and are not threaded.

While this article is not meant to be an all-inclusive review of whether or not Straight Talk has a prepaid cell phone that SMBs can use to communicate with clients, it does give you a view of the Straight Talk Samsung R451C. Would I recommend this for a small business owner? I can’t advise you on that; you have to make your own decision. Personally, I would do more research to see if there might be something better.

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Pam Lokker is a skillful writer and proficient virtual assistant. Borlok Virtual Assistants is the place to get global expert VA services with quality and on-time delivery.

Samsung R451C + Unlimited Plan

Every day you hear about people having trouble finding jobs. But, there is hope on the horizon. Individuals are finding work in a direction that might not be expected – that is in the freelancing arena.

Places like Elance are seeing a drastic increase in outsourcing as recently disclosed in the Quarter 1 results for the Elance Online Employment Report. Just take a look at some of the amazing results that Elance has pulled together.

• Jobs posted by businesses seeking talent jumped forward in leaps and bounds and grew 52% year-over-year and 32% over Q4. Freelance workers overall logged in from over from over 130 different countries yielding an increase of over 51% more year-over-year.
• IT and Creative skills have always maintained a strong push up in momentum, but Operations skills are coming up from the rear with a quite surprising surge of 24% over last quarter.
• More and more businesses are looking to satisfy employment needs from outsourcing with New York being the number one city to take advantage of the freelance marketplaces; Los Angeles, San Francisco and Brooklyn are closing in fast.
• Amarillo, Texas, takes a bow as they are recognized as being America’s most creative city. This was after a huge jump of over 10 spots.

It goes without saying that it’s an employer’s market right now. Businesses can afford to be choosy right now. Whether companies have a long-term project that they need help on or a short-term project, project managers are quickly coming to the realization that outsourcing is the wave of the future, and it’s in their best interests to jump on the bandwagon now and save on the high costs of hiring full-time employees.
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Pam Lokker is a skillful writer and proficient virtual assistant. She is co-owner of Borlok Virtual Assistants — the place to get global expert VA services with quality and on-time delivery.

Read here on the benefits of using a freelance marketplace for hiring virtual assistants.

A small business might think that freelancing is a thing of the past due to large corporations outsourcing most of their help overseas. But, that’s simply not the case. There is plenty of work nationally, plus you can outsource overseas yourself by outsourcing in Canada, UK, Australia, and lots of other countries.

So is there a way a small business can benefit from outsourcing? Yes, there are three specific ways to go about it:

1. Identify the tasks you can outsource

What do you have on your plate right now that you can have someone else take care of, thereby freeing up time for you — things like transcription, article submission, copywriting or copy editing and much more. Make a list and then prioritize them.

2. Systematize tasks

Before you give work to a freelancer, you want to make sure that you write up your instructions so they are clear. One problem I see with clients all the time when they are outsourcing to me is that they skip steps. Not every freelancer will try to fill in the missing step. They will sit there and say “I can’t do that; it doesn’t work.” Be complete and concise in writing out what you want your freelancer to do and avoid any misunderstandings up front.

3. Don’t wait until your workload demands that you get extra help immediately.

The time to go through the process of finding freelancers is now before you end up with a short deadline. Check out the major freelance marketplaces. Need some more encouragement as to how a small business can benefit from outsourcing? Check out this article: What Are the Benefits of Using a Freelance Marketplace For Hiring Virtual Assistants?.

Are there other avenues you can pursue to find good, honest freelancers? Sure there are. If you travel a lot and attend a lot of conventions or seminars, keep your eye out for virtual assistants that may be there, as well. Another option would be to search the internet under keywords like outsourcing, freelancing, virtual assistants, and a wide variety of others such as benefits, freelance marketplace or independent contractors.

Being proactive and taking a look at what you can outsource now, organizing your possibilities, and then looking for good outsource possibilities now will save you time and money in the long-term. Do you need a jump start at making that list? According to this article, Outsourcing: Three Keys to Outsourcing Success by Janet Attard, “When you are a one-person or micro-sized business you not only have to create the product or do the income-producing service, you also need to answer calls from customers, make sales calls, get a website set up, get active in social media, send out invoices, do the bookkeeping, keep marketing your business, and do a whole lot of other things, too. To keep up with it all you could easily work 12 to 14 hours a day , 6 or 7 days a week.” Does that help to kick start you?
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Pam Lokker is a skillful writer and proficient virtual assistant. She is co-owner of Borlok Virtual Assistants — the place to get global expert VA services with quality and on-time delivery.

Get the answer Now! Do More with Less on oDesk You can .

The administrative roles that are required to run the operations of a business are many. It used to be that one person could pretty much handle the day-to-day responsibilities of answering the phone, bookkeeping, or typing up letters or reports.

Now with the technological advancements that have taken place with computers and the Internet, not only can you have graphic design, article writing, internet marketing, programming, and more, it’s just too much for one person to handle. It’s just not cost effective for businesses to hire the amount of staff needed to handle everything. Now businesses not only can, but also should examine the benefits of using a centralized freelance marketplace for hiring virtual assistants.

Businesses can gain access to highly skilled professionals from all over the world.

When you utilize a freelance marketplace, you are not limited to local staffing agencies. You can get highly skilled virtual assistants from India, Pakistan, UK, Canada — there are no limits or boundaries. Providers can be chosen that specialize in administrative tasks such as data entry, personal assistant, Web research, customer service, and so much more.

Businesses can save money by using freelancers.

No longer are businesses tied to expensive overhead costs like overhead, payroll, insurance, licensing, training, taxes; I could go on and on. When you hire a virtual assistant from a freelance marketplace, you either pay them by the hour or at a fixed rate. For hourly jobs, you only paid for the hours that are worked.

Hiring managers can monitor work as it’s being completed.

For those freelance marketplaces that require virtual assistants to sign into a time clock, the benefits for businesses are immense. The hiring manager can gain access to actual screen prints of the work as it’s being completed. This translates to an effective insurance against paying for work that has not been done yet.

Businesses can have as little or as large a team as they want.

One of the benefits of using a freelance marketplace is flexibility. You can start small and expand your team as your business gets larger. It is quick and easy to add on new independent contractors that can start work the same day.

Businesses can hire at competitive rates.

By utilizing a freelance marketplace, you receive bids from virtual assistants — many times at far less than what you would expect. You can now afford to be choosy about how much you will pay.

So in this article, we’ve examined what the benefits are for companies to hire virtual assistants through a freelance marketplace. Among the benefits, we looked at access to highly skilled professionals, cost savings, monitoring capabilities, and possibilities for growth. Now the question you should ask is who is a good freelance marketplace to use?

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Pam Lokker is a skillful writer and proficient virtual assistant. She is co-owner of Borlok Virtual Assistants — the place to get global expert VA services with quality and on-time delivery.

Get the answer Now!Do More with Less on oDesk

The virtual assistant industry is highly competitive right now, especially with corporations starting to look overseas for cheaper, faster freelancers. It’s up to you to make sure that you avoid being late for that interview with a potential client.

Below are some suggestions that you can possibly use to be prepared and be early, not only for client interviews, but also webinars, conference calls, and seminars.  Let’s take them one at a time.

Let’s start with the night before the interview.

One way to start mentally and physically get ready is to do things ahead of time, right?. Draw up a checklist of things that you want to have for the meeting and cross them off as you do them.

Get plenty of rest. For some of us, it’s human nature to go to bed and lay there thinking through everything you want to say the next day. Do the mental rehearsing before you go to bed so you can have a good night’s sleep and feel refreshed the next morning.

Lay things out for your interview or meeting preferably the day before, but at least in plenty of time prior to your meeting so you’re not rushed.

If you have a headset, have it hooked up and ready to go. Print out whatever your need for the meeting – presentations, resumes, etc. Have a notepad for notes and at least two pens. I have been in a meeting, only to find that my pen ran out of ink. Shucks! Invariably, there wasn’t one available in the drawer next to me. Then I had to pull up Word in a hurry and start typing my notes and switch back and forth to something else on my desktop that I may have needed.

Start the day out relaxed and on schedule.

Now I know that’s not an easy task when you have kids to get off to school or your husband off to work; however, the benefits of starting relaxed is that you’ll stay relaxed. Things will flow much easier. Once you get behind, it seems like you can never catch up to where you should be.

Do your research ahead of time on the prospective client.

It’s so easy to use the Internet to research whether or not your client has a company website, a blog, or participates in chat or forum rooms. You will also be able to determine whether or not they are members of social network sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others. All of this information should be put in a folder after you take the time to do some reading on them so you can gain an insight into your client. Don’t wait until half an hour before the interview; you will be late and sound totally unprepared.

Do your homework, mental preparation, and physical preparation ahead of time so you can avoid being late to an interview over the phone. You want to shine like the sun and show that you can be organized — not sound harried, rushed, and totally unprepared.

Let’s take a brief run through again what I’m suggesting so that you are not late to a phone interview. Early preparation was the first tip I suggested, with my recommending that you create an atmosphere that will allow you to feel in control of things and relaxed. Get a good night’s sleep the night before and have everything you need laid out ready for that all important meeting with your potential client. Check out any references to your client and/or their company on the Internet. The early bird can get the worm. Remember that when you’re looking to get that all-important next client.
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Borlok Virtual Assistants has the global expert services with quality, on-time delivery that you require. Get more tips on increasing your knowledge in the world of VA and come see us at Borlok Virtual Assistants or Borlok Transcription.

Be kind to your clients and provide comprehensive customer service!

Most likely your interview will take place over the phone. Now, you might think that not having to be in the physical presence of your interviewer might be an easy thing to do. You might be surprised, however, to learn that a telephone interview can actually be more difficult than being across the table from someone as a telephone interview has its own unique skill sets you should know about. So let’s look further into how a virtual assistant should prepare for a phone interview.

Don’t Wait Or You’ll Be Late

I would say that you should be at your desk at least 5-10 minutes ahead of the interview. You don’t want to sound rushed, and you don’t ever, ever want to be late. That will give the interviewer good reason to not want to hire your services. You’ll want to have your headset set up ahead of time and have a notepad and pen handy for notes.

Be Prepared

Please listen to me when I advise you to prepare ahead of time. You will want to have the job posting, their website (if they have one) and any other important details that might help you to put your best face forward. One such paper might be a list detailing your strengths and weaknesses, as well as your recent accomplishments that are similar to what the client is looking for you to do.

Practice Makes Perfect

Always, always, always practice sounding out what you might say ahead of time. Try to think of questions they might ask. Practice how you might answer them. It will help make you sound much more self-assured. Use your family or friends as sounding boards as you practice in front of them.

Don’t Eat Or Drink During the Interview

Refrain from chewing gum, eating your lunch or snacks, or drinking your soda on the phone during the interview. The sounds of chewing, slurping, etc., could not only stand a chance of being heard on the other end of the line, but it will also cause you to slur your words making you less likely to be heard clearly.

Be Neat and Tidy

This one might sound silly, but it really isn’t. So, hear me out. Run a comb through your hair, put on a clean shirt or blouse, wash your face, whatever it takes for you to feel good on the outside. That feeling will make you feel better on the inside as well. When you do this, your self-confidence will be quite evident during the phone interview. Don’t forget to have good posture so your voice will carry. Watch your tone. You want to have an animated voice at a consistent pace and level.

Shut Down Communications

While you undoubtedly have IMs that you have open, email open, your cell phone on your desk, and Skype open, take care to ensure that these methods of communication won’t be a major distraction during the phone interview. Shut down your email, either close your IMs or put them in a busy or offline status, and either leave your cell phone in another room or turn it off. Now is not the time for distractions to occur. Let your family know that you can’t be disturbed, and maybe put the dogs out in the back yard for a while.

So let’s take a look at what a virtual assistant should do to prepare for a phone interview. We’ve discussed that you should be on time and prepared. Check out the interviewer’s company on the Web and even look at their website(s) or blog(s) if they have any. Practice what you might say if a certain question comes up.

The final sections we looked at were what you can do to create a good impression and avoid distractions. A virtual assistant must do everything they can to land new clients in this highly competitive business. Now go out there and ace that phone interview.
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Borlok Virtual Assistants has the global expert services with quality, on-time delivery that you require. Get more tips on increasing your knowledge in the world of VA and come see us at Borlok Transcription or at our blog Borlok VA.

As we remember, there are two groups of customers — internal and external. To service them, there are multiple types of Customer Support Solutions that a business can provide. Many businesses only tend to focus on one kind of service; they get really good at using one of the following types of customer service:

*  Phone Service

*  Email Service

*  Live Chat

Wouldn’t it be much better for you if you provided a comprehensive customer service experience for your clients? You’re probably scratching your head and saying “What do you mean by comprehensive customer service experience?”

A small business can utilize multiple methods to provide award-winning assistance to their customer or client. Here’s what I’m suggesting. Why not combine all three of the services I mentioned and cement them together with the use of a knowledge base and a forum? Let’s look deeper into the three main services:

Phone Service

We all are familiar with phone service; we use either a land line, cell phone, or VoIP all day long. The problem is though that many, many businesses have implemented menus for answering their phones and made it next to impossible for a client to get to an actual human. By the time the client does get to an actual representative, the client is usually irritated and seeing red. You are a virtual assistant. Don’t let that happen to your business!

Email Service

You may be familiar with companies that utilize email ticket service. I’m sure you’ve sent in an email to a business and been told your ticket number is xxx. These same companies have the ability to implement set responses that they can send out to the person at the click of a button. They can receive reporting, they can customize how their tickets look, assign tickets to users, and customize fields to fit them. This type of service is superior to phone in my estimation because you have a written record of all the conversations that you have had with a customer and can refer back to it at any given time. This allows you to provide a more advanced pleasurable experience for your customer.

Live Chat

Live Support Software (also known as Live Chat or Live Help) refers to handling incoming customer inquiries with the use of an instant messaging application. Similar to phone service where the customer has instant interaction with a customer representative, the benefits of live chat are numerous. Let me show you just a few:

*  There is little or no cost to implement it; it’s all done over the Internet.

*  Most live chat is fully customizable

*  You can monitor your clients visits with ease

*  Set hours can be established for the customer care representative(s) to be online or offline.

*  There are even more benefits not listed here.

As a virtual assistant, you want to be able to provide your clients with easy access to you should they have questions or want to order services. This is why I recommend implementing a comprehensive customer service experience for your client. To do this, you use a combination of phone, email, and live chat; BUT you also give your clients two additional types of service:

Knowledge Base

Think of a knowledge base as an online library that your client can go to get answers to common questions. You can add articles that you’ve written, put them in your knowledge base, and even categorize them.

Forum

In addition, you can set up your own forum. A forum is different from a live chat in that the forum is discussion threads that do not show in real time. To see new posts, the user will need to refresh their internet browser.

With those five methods, you can give your clients the very best customer service experience. Don’t kid yourself – providing first-class customer service is vital to the success of your business. I know of at least one company out there that will host four out of the five methods into a hosting solution with absolutely no cost. That’s right; I said no cost.

Comm100 is an open source company that provides services to large Fortune 500 companies. If they can provide a comprehensive customer service experience, then you can do the same for your clients. Why not look into it right now while you’re thinking about it. You won’t regret it.