Today is a new day. Whether it be the beginning of a New Year is really irrelevant because you can put into motion the 3 Cs on any day. All it takes is putting these 3 things into action.

No, I don’t profess to be a master teacher, by any means, on how you can achieve success this year. From looking at our own small virtual assistant business, I’ve found that for us, there are 3 Cs you can incorporate into your action plan to achieve success this year.

Communication

Communication is key to achieving success. Every day, you are working with staff, colleagues, competitors, clients or vendors. Talk to each other for heaven’s sake! Whether you use a smart phone, a telephone, email, Skype, in person or internet messenger, don’t leave room for misunderstanding which can lead to ruffled feathers, hurt feelings, or worse yet, cause you to do irreparable damage to the reputation of your business.

Don’t misunderstand. You should not have to be the only one to demonstrate good communication skills. This is a two-way street. The client also needs to communicate so we can provide them with the best service they want and expect. This, of course, would apply to the other groups I mentioned — your staff, colleagues or vendors need to speak up too.

Customer Service

I had a real dilemma as to whether to put this as the 1st C because it is so vital in order to achieve success this year, but I decided to put it second because it really only makes sense. One of the items you need in order to provide excellent customer service is good communication. You could say they actually go hand in hand.

Take the time to understand your clients’ needs. This key element pertains to whether you are in the virtual assistance industry, information technology (IT) industry or whatever other field you are in. You MUST provide superior customer service. You must provide a comprehensive customer service experience for your client!

Commitment

So based on the first 2 Cs I gave you for what you can do to achieve success this year, that brings in the element of commitment as our third C. You’ve got to be in this for the long haul. You are going to have up days and you are going to have down days. You need to be committed and work hard for that ultimate success you want to achieve. You can do it! As Margie Warrell, the best-selling author of Find Your Courage:12 Acts for Becoming Fearless in Work and in Life said, “Your failures don’t define you. Your response does.”

So repeat after me. The 3 Cs you can do to achieve success this year are communication, customer service and commitment. If you want, take each C one at a time and work on it so it becomes a habit. Then slowly incorporate the other 2 Cs so they become a way of life. Be diligent, consistent and look forward to the success you know you can achieve this year.

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

Clients are even more precious than gems. Client retention is critical for small- to medium-sized businesses.

Once in a while, a really great piece of technology arrives on the scene that is economical, versatile and useful. Such is the case with the Samsung Galaxy Precedent™, powered by Android™ 2.2 Froyo OS.

Features

The Galaxy Precedent has a 3.2″ touch screen with 320 X 480 pixels of resolution and is GPS enabled. Some other features that are worth mentioning are the 3G Wi-Fi connectivity capability, 2 MP camera/video recorder and Bluetooth. In addition, the smartphone is powered by an 800MHz application processor, further advanced by 384MB RAM, microSD card slot to hold memory expansion up to 32GB and is also pre-installed with a 2GB microSD card and MP3 player.

Other features that users may want to know about are that it comes preloaded with a Gravity sensor with tilt/shake, the Android Market, and of course, a wide variety of Google, as well as carrier services. Speaking of carrier, the Galaxy Precedent, also officially known as Model Samsung M828C, is on the Sprint network.

Service Plan

This is the first Android phone being offered on the Straight Talk service. One thing that I do want to bring to your attention is that in order to activate your new phone, you must purchase the Straight Talk Unlimited Service Plan for $45. You won’t be able to get the $30 All You Need Plan that Straight Talk offers; the phone just won’t work with it. The purchase of the phone can be done without signing a contract – isn’t that wonderful? And, there are no hidden fees that you need to worry about. The 30-day unlimited service plan will provide you with:

• Unlimited Talk & Unlimited Text / MMS messages Nationwide
• Unlimited Data / Mobile Web Access / Email
• Unlimited Calls to 411

Pros and Cons

Even though the new Precedent uses an earlier OS, the reviews I have read do not seem to indicate that while being moderately slow, speed is not a major drawback. Yes, it will be slower than the newer OS out there, but as long as you’re patient, you’ll be able to enjoy the phone. One definite positive note is that you can choose out of 5 options what you’d like to have as your Home Screen.

Some of the people did mention that the sound level on the Android is just average. They recommended having a good set of headphones or speakers so you can hear better. Battery life seems to be substantial. According to the write-up, the battery talk time life is touted to be estimated to be at six hours with standby time lasting up to nine days.

So if you’re looking for a good quality pay-as-you-go phone, why not consider getting the new Samsung Galaxy Precedent™ Phone from Straight Talk. It will set you back for roughly $150 for the phone itself (the service plan is in addition). Just think; you’ll have over 250,000 Android apps. What could be better than that?
—–
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.

Buy an Android-Powered Samsung Galaxy Precedent at Straight Talk today!

Do you realize that first quarter is gone? Did you achieve your goals for article writing? If not, it’s time to get smart with article distribution. How do we do that, though? Let’s take a look.

First of all, it’s a good idea to implement an overall action plan for your writing. Write down your goals for 2nd quarter, if you haven’t already done so. You don’t want to lose any more time than you already have. Then get busy writing.

Once a virtual assistant has the articles written, what is the best way to distribute them far and wide on the Internet. My recommendation would be to use a proven model for your article distribution. This model should be comprehensive, as well as being easy to use. The one that I’ve recently read about that I really like is the SmartDistribution PlatformTM that has been developed by Distribute Your Articles (DYA).

DYA has developed a model that incorporates all the finer points of ensuring that virtual assistants get smart with article distribution. Below I’m going to break it down for you.

To Spin or Not To Spin

Now before you bring up that I said before that spinning was not a good thing to do, I’ve since found out that spinning can actually have its uses — if you do it the right way. If you use the SmartDistribution Platform™, then you will have just the tool you need to spin your articles effectively. The beauty of SmartSpin™ is that you make the decision on whether to use it or not, depending on how comfortable you are with it. You hold the power to spin or not to spin.

Preparation Tools

There are many things we should do to make sure we not only get smart with article distribution, but also stay smart. One way we can do that is by careful preparation. Now DYA provides resources to you to do this in three different ways:

1) SmartFlow™ – When do you want your content to be distributed?

2) SmartCheck™ – It never hurts to be extra careful that your content is fit for publishing. Have it checked against a series of ad/spam filters, format checkers, link tests, and thin-content detectors.

3) SmartMatch™ – Have your content compared against the overwhelming sea of content out there on the Internet and evaluated for relevancy.

Distribution and Reporting

What wouldn’t we all give to have our articles show up as a feature article on well-known sites. Don’t think it’s possible? I can attest that it is possible with SmartFlow™. This happens with continuity in bite-size morsels – a little bit at a time.

But wait; what good is all this if a virtual assistant can’t determine the success rate of their article campaigns? Distribute Your Articles has taken care of that, as well. Called SmartTrack™, VAs can get all the information they need to know where the articles have been distributed, as well as when remaining articles are still left in the queue awaiting distribution.

Good Matches Yield Superior Results

SmartMatch™ is the very essence of SmartDistribution. Beyond a simple article marketing system, SmartMatch™ organizes your content into precise, individually- owned niche sites over time. With Google and other search engines tightening up their relevance requirements, it only makes sense to include this into your arsenal of article-writing tools.

Good article distribution can drive traffic to your website or blog site. Now more than ever, virtual assistants need to get smart with article distribution and implement a well-thought-out plan of action to get the best results. This process within this article is just one way. Whatever method you use, you need to start now. What are you waiting for?

—–

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.

Improve your chances of having your articles receive the recognition they deserve. Maximize!

An article writer has many tricks of the trade that they use to entice their readers into reading their good quality content. But do you know where they get their research from?

While we wish it were so, we’re not all able to have the gift of gab and be able to write an article or blog post on a whisper of a prayer and have it sound right. Most writers need to do some degree of research before sitting down and putting good quality content to a word processor or text editor. So here are 4 sources for research I use as an article writer.

Wikipedia

I consider Wikipedia to be my best friend. You see, I usually start with this resource first. Why? Wikipedia is my stepping stone to gain an understanding on a particular subject. It’s never my plan to rely wholly on this online encyclopedia. I can still remember my English teacher telling me never, ever use just one resource when writing. You need to make sure that your facts are accurate.

From within a particular Wiki page, I can usually gain valuable insight into locations, meaning, history and trends, all wrapped into one neat little package. After I pick and choose the information that I want to use for my notes, then I’m ready to proceed to another source to either back up or argue the points I might wish to emphasize in my article. But hmmm, what’s a good direction to go from here? Oh, I know. I can go to the web search engines.

Web Search Engines

You’re probably all familiar with the most familiar web search engine of Google, but did you know that there can be lots? For example, just from doing research for this article, I found a brand new site How Many Are There. To my amazement, just written and posted today was an article that seemed to be very apropos for what I’m writing to you about now. The name of the article is How Many Search Engines Are There? According to this article, there are over 30! Listed among them were some of my old familiar friends amongst a wide array of new ones that I had never heard of.

Since it’s never wise to rely just on one source of information, I will be checking out other sources on the Internet as well to make sure that I’m not printing information that will misguide my readers. Remember, I alluded to the fact that I want to write good quality content.

YouTube

YouTube is a resource that I have just started using. While I’ve noticed that not all videos are good quality, I have found some that can be used to substantiate a ‘how to’ process to make it easier for me to explain the different steps to my readers. A word of caution I might add here is Do Not Plagiarize. Give credit where credit is due.

Social Media Sites

Now some of you might be saying, “I can’t believe you are going to recommend using social media as resources for information. Let me explain. Especially with the social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, you can gain some valuable insight into corporate profiles, websites, missions and goals and new quality content that they are posting to their pages. In addition, you can get a sense of upcoming events that might be useful for what you are writing on.

Now I’m not suggesting that everyone use the same 4 sources of information for research in order to write good quality content. What I am saying is that these resources work for me and give me a sense of organization that I can use for gaining good quality information that I can write about. After all, I really don’t know everything there is to know about every subject. Everyone can use a little help somewhere.
—–
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.

A new SmartDistribution Model is here! It’s now possible to increase your brand visibility, increase SEO and increase the potential for higher sales and sign ups through your website. Check it out now!

Virtual Assistants can find themselves in a bind and not be able to find the time for writing articles due to their clients’ demand on the VA’s time. Do you know any other ways to post quality content to the Web? I do. Let’s check it out.

I’m sure you have all heard me lament that I just don’t have the time to write articles anymore. You see, as a virtual assistant, my clients are my priority. With working from dawn to late in the evenings, there just aren’t extra minutes in the day for personal writing. I had to find 3 things I can do to post quality content to the Web and do it fast!

Share

Did you just read an article on the Web and really, really like it and you think your clients or colleagues might enjoy it? Share it through one of the popular bookmarking and sharing services that you can find on the Internet. There are some that you can get a share button to add to your popular Web browsers like Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Safari. Reading an article pertaining to your niche? Share it!

Talk it up in social media

Okay, so maybe you don’t have a lot of time to write an article. But, if you can take five minutes out of your day, you can post to LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or some of your other favorite social networking sites. Here are a couple of benefits for doing that:

1. Increase your brand image:

It stands to reason that the more you post, the more chances you will have of having your logo, photo, business, etc. visible in the eyes of the public. Seeing can lead to their talking YOU up (watch out; it can work in reverse also) and spreading their feedback.

2. Become more widely known as an expert in your field

If you continuously offer valuable input on Facebook Pages or to your social media in response to questions pertaining to your niche, the chances are very strong that they will look to you to solve their needs in the future. You will gradually be recognized as a go to person for help in solving issues.

Offer input in forums

In my opinion virtual assistants or anyone that has a niche that they write about should have at least one forum that they are a member of. Why? Here are just three benefits of becoming part of a niche forum:

• Sharing opportunities

After all, if you like horseback riding (yup, that’s me), then you want to be able to talk with other people that have the same interests and get new content for writing blog posts or articles when you get more time.

• Brainstorming opportunities

If you have an idea, you can bounce that idea of another member or even all members of the forum and ask for advice on what the members think. It’s a great way to receive, give, exchange, recommend (I’m sure there are more words I could think of to describe this if I thought about it, but let’s go on.)

• Networking opportunities – The more people you know and like you and hear of your virtual assistant services, the more they will spread the word to their business associates. Who knows? You could gain some new clients yourself in the process as their business associates come to you for services you offer.

A virtual assistant has to be alert to new opportunities to take advantage of managing their time. There are several ways you can post quality content to the Web, even though you may not be actively writing articles or blog posting. Some of those methods can take as little as five minutes. Good luck!
—–
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.

A new SmartDistribution Model is here! It’s now possible to increase your brand visibility, increase SEO and increase the potential for higher sales and sign ups through your website. Check it out now!

Summary: For whatever reason, virtual assistants (and small businesses in general) come to the realization that their customer list is dropping. Are you doing all you can to get those customers to come back to you?

What we have found is that customers can and will come back to you if you follow three steps to get back those customers that seem to be lost. Let’s take a look at each of them individually.

Own the mistake

What this means is that you can’t blame the customer for a falling out. You need to take ownership (at least part of it) for what caused them to go to another provider. Were you rude? Maybe you irritated them by always pushing ‘I’ instead of ‘you.’ Maybe the customer left because of personal reasons. Trying showing a little empathy.

Do a reality check

Have you checked back with the customer to see how they’re doing? Do a reality check — ask them for their input as to what could have been done differently if they felt the falling out was due to something that you did. Clients generally are very good about giving you feedback about what ‘coulda, shoulda’ been done.

Our virtual assistant small business has come to realize that customer feedback is great because the client appreciates being included in decisions (makes them less cranky when something’s not going their way). Not only that, what a wealth of information you could receive to help you improve how you operate your business. Who knows; maybe their answers won’t hurt as bad as any solution you would have implemented.

Go above and beyond to fix what YOU did

Personally, if the customer shows you that you or your small business was the culprit in helping them to make the decision to leave, apologize. That’s right; I said apologize. Then discuss with the customer a possible action plan that you can implement that will ensure a healthy business relationship with you should they agree to return. Make sure that you are integrating a good comprehensive customer service action plan. Finally — Follow through on that action plan.

Clients (and/or customers) are the core of any virtual assistant’s or small business. Take care to provide A-1 customer service and satisfaction to those clients you have. However, if a client should tend to stray and go to another small business provider, be proactive and contact them. First, own up to any mistakes you might have made if they should suggest that you were the problem. Do a reality check and get their advice on how they think things could have gone better. As a last step, go above and beyond to fix what you did. By following these three steps, virtual assistants can get back those customers that seem to be lost. Being lost doesn’t mean they have to stay lost.
—–
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.

Reward your customers with comprehensive customer service tactics in order to improve customer satisfaction.

Everyone has been talking about it. Since Google changed their algorithm, there’s been a lot of concern whether or not article writers and virtual assistants should stay away from writing good wholesome articles altogether.

So what is Google’s purpose?

Google is intent on improving ranking for article writers. What will happen is that quality should take a big step up. I’m sure you’ve noticed trying to search in your favorite search engine for a term and getting very low-quality articles. Some of them don’t even pertain to the search keyword(s) you typed in. Google believes that this is just the start and readily admit that new updates will be coming down the pipeline that should improve quality even more.

What Is a Content Farm?

According to Wikipedia, a content farm as it relates to the World Wide Web “is used to describe a company that employs large numbers of often freelance writers to generate large amounts of textual content which is specifically designed to satisfy algorithms for maximal retrieval by automated search engines. Their main goal is to generate advertising revenue through attracting reader page views.” Unfortunately, many of these content farms can promote articles of low quality due to excessive spinning or poor writing abilities.

How will this affect article content distribution sites?

Places like Distribute Your Articles (DYA) believe that content farms are in trouble. DYA has always encouraged their members to always submit original content. Their coaches are put through an extensive training program so they are comfortable recognizing errors that can cause an article to be rejected by publishers and site owners. Included in the training is how to correctly apply Article Alchemy™ technology. The end result is that the article writer can rest assured that their articles have been intensively reviewed to make sure that high quality is maintained.

Other content distribution places are raising the bars in their review process to ensure that they are not penalized by Google with a low rating. This will include places like EzineArticles who has recently announced several changes they have implemented to improve their ranking. One of the biggest changes was to increase the minimum length of articles from 300 to 400.

So what is my strategy going to be for me, as well as my clients? I will follow the course of DYA and recommend to my clients that we only submit original content to multiple sites, depending on the client’s memberships. However, my advice to them will also be to blog, and post their articles on social media like Facebook and LinkedIn.

Do I believe that Virtual Assistants (VAs) should be concerned with Google’s new algorithm? I would more say that VAs should become aware but not necessarily concerned. So, for me, that means business as usual. What do you think?
—–
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.

Market far and wide and use the Internet to promote your products and services.

I’m sure you all remember the article that my virtual assistant mom wrote previously, Don’t Call ME Uncommon to Arizona. If you haven’t read it, go check it out so you get the background for this article and then see below why I say that a certain so and so should get off my feeder.

You have to be a hummingbird to LAND on a hummingbird feeder

This bird is not even a hummingbird! As a matter of fact, I have TWO Gila Woodpeckers that are brash enough to drink out of my feeder. Yes, I guess you could say that they really are beautiful with their little red dot on the top of their head; and they’re even kind of cute in their own way; however, they are big oafs compared to me and should not be on my feeder.

by .Larry Page

Creative Common License

According to Whatbird.com, Gila Woodpeckers can be a resident of southeastern California, southern Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. They are supposed to prefer low desert scrub with saguaro or mesquite trees for nesting. So what are they doing at my adopted mom’s house slurping all my food?

The hummingbird feeder is for a small — hummingbird!

Remember how big I am? I’m a mere 3.50 inches, and I’m a little bit bigger than some of my other friends. This big oaf that my mom calls Rufus is a gigantic 8-10 inches. Yikes! At 2.5 oz, when he lands upside down on the feeder and then tries to right himself so he can drink, he almost spills the nectar. My mom can see all this when she’s gazing out the window when she’s working and doing virtual assistant tasks like writing, transcription, and other things.

Gila Woodpeckers are supposed to eat — not drink — food.

Gilas are known to eat insects, bird eggs, fruits, and berries — blech. Do you see there anywhere where they are supposed to drink nectar specifically made for me? I just can’t, for the life of me, see why they want what’s rightfully mine. Can you? I mean, gee, just because they have a sweet tooth, and quite the sweet tooth.

Gila Woodpeckers are just plain bullies.

I get so mad at Rufus. When I go to drink out of the feeder, he actually chases me. That’s not fair. I’ve seen where he and his friend actually park in the tree in the front yard and guard the feeder so that I or my best friend can’t even get in a drink edgewise. So my mom hung another feeder thinking I and my friend could get some food and now they guard BOTH feeders. Yesterday, my mom saw both of them on the SAME feeder. Where’s the justice in that?

In conclusion, I repeat — Rufus, get off my feeder, you big oaf!
—–
Borlok Virtual Assistants has the global expert services with quality, on-time delivery that you require. We have been freelancing since 2006 and are based in Phoenix, Arizona.

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.

Okay, so there might be a lot of things that fit this description and that are uncommon to Arizona. What I’m referring to, though, is commonly found nesting on the east side of the Mississippi River. My name is Ruby; my secret admirer calls me this because my name is Ruby-throated Hummingbird. She’s the one that is convinced that I’m not uncommon to Arizona.

Location

Reference guides out there like iBird Explorer Pro say that Ruby-throated Hummingbirds spend most of their time in the tropics. Now for the life of me, I can’t figure out why they would say that. I certainly would not call Arizona a tropic area, especially when it hits 110 degrees in the shade in the summertime.

Tiny but mighty

Remember when I said I was tiny but bigger than a bug? You see, I’m only 3-5 inches full grown and don’t weigh much at all — only about three grams — and I’m considered to be medium-sized in the hummingbird world!

I’m so pretty!

Aw, come on. I’m not being conceited. I’ve got four colors to make sure I look my best (five if you count the brown in my eyes). My forehead, crown, and nape are an iridescent green; and since I’m a male, I’ve got just the prettiest red on my throat, and to go along with the red, I’ve got a black chin. To top off my suit of colors, my upper and under tail are a dark green, and I’ve got black legs.

My mom (that’s what I call my secret admirer) calls me her favorite bird. She’s told her partner that I so thrilled her the day she was out filling the bird baths in the front yard so the other birds that I share my territory with could have a cool drink in the above-100-degree temperature. You see, she had the water running real slow in the hose to kind of get the lead out of the hose, and I went and took a good long drink. And hmmm good — it was a good long drink too. I sure was thirsty. She rued the day that she didn’t have her camera with her.

Now if only I could get listed as a common bird of Arizona. I think it’s pure nonsense that the major bird guides like iBird (http://www.ibird.com) don’t list me in either the common listing nor the uncommon listing for Arizona. After all, my secret admirer and her partner saw me, right? Don’t Call ME Uncommon To Arizona.

—–
Borlok Virtual Assistants has the global expert services with quality, on-time delivery that you require. We have been freelancing since 2006 and are based in Phoenix, Arizona.

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.

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?

—–
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