You all know how convenient Straight Talk is by now after hearing me talk about them. For those that don’t know, the convenience of Straight Talk has just been expanded with a global reach — big time!

Straight Talk is a service provided by TracFone Wireless,  America’s largest no-contract cell phone provider in the U.S., with over 19.3 million subscribers. What makes Straight Talk a big hit among the wide expanse of users is the pay-as-you go prepaid wireless phone service that requires no long term contracts, no credit checks, no activation fees, no monthly bills and no age limits!

Straight Talk Service Plans have gone international!

Straight Talk has always provided an excellent choice of having service plans to fit almost every budget. Now they offer a new Unlimited Nationwide AND International Service Plan for only $60 per every 30 days. No longer are you restricted to not being able to call outside the US. What could be better than that?

Is your country of choice included?

To determine if Unlimited International is available for your requested destination, all you have to do is go to Straight Talk (http://www.straighttalk.com/unlimitedinternational) and type in the phone number you want to check using the following format:

Country code + city code + phone number (For example: 501201302514).

For calls to Canada or the Caribbean, enter 1 + area code + phone number (For example: 12135845847).

Extra bonus

Straight Talk has always been good to me. They offer a wide variety of phones, as well as service plans and accessories. Did I mention that the International Global Reach works with any phone, and not just your Straight Talk cell phone. All you need to do is register as many phones as you choose that you want to make International Long Distance calls from. Shazam! Now, I call that a super deal.
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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.

It’s time to refill your Straight Talk service plan. Do you know how?

Mention change to Small to Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs) and nine times out of ten, there is no urgency to adapt and bend like a Gumby to embrace SMB change management. I’m here to tell you that there are many reasons why you should stand firm and not run from it.

Change or be left behind.

There are many Information Technology (IT) businesses that are looking at the predictions of mobility, cloud, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), and more, and sitting on the fence wondering if it’s worth the expense and effort to change what they’re doing now. Let me put this in front of you: if you don’t change, your competition is going to leave you in their dust!

Change management fosters open communication.

If everyone is comfortable in doing their roles and responsibilities, there is risk that they will fall into a status quo way of thinking. Handling business in a status quo manner over time will eventually kill creativity. Introduce change and everyone needs to think about better ways of doing things.

Cost savings can be substantial.

In the economy we’re in, we’re always looking for ways to save money. Change management will allow you to do just that. By properly managing change within your organization, you can increase efficiency and productivity within your staff. As you work with the individual teams and help them gain confidence that the change will be successful, their morale will consistently be on a high level. This can in turn allow you as a leader to manage the costs of change considerably.

Your company hierarchy will become stronger.

Managing change is not always such an easy process for SMBs. I understand that; however, by introducing change of any kind to your organization, you will be able to test the strength of the formation of your company. Is it strong in some areas but weak in others? Change management gives you an opportunity to test, monitor, re-evaluate and implement improvements that will ensure that your company is as strong as it can be.

Your corporate relationships will improve

Embracing change means that your relationships with your clients, partners and vendors will also change as they look at you with new vision. Be strong. Communication will be key here as you explain your reasons for effecting change within your organization. Handled properly, everyone that interacts with you will see an improvement in how you interact with them and will therefore gain greater confidence that you are doing the right thing. At that point, you will be able to realize an increase in your revenue stream.

Change management is not something that you need to fear. It can be a good thing in many ways. Embrace it; don’t run from it. It may take time to realize the benefits — but you will, I’m sure.

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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.

Are you overwhelmed with business processes right now? It’s okay; I understand. A small business can benefit from outsourcing. See how.

One virtual assistant collaboration solution that Borlok Virtual Assistants has recently been introduced to is Trello. Trello is a cloud-based project management tool that virtual assistants can use to organize their projects with clients. So let’s take a look at some of the benefits of Trello.

Cost effective

As we as virtual assistants need to be concerned with our expenses and watch every dollar that goes out of our business, Trello is cost effective. As a matter of fact, you don’t need to pay anything to enjoy the versatility of this powerful virtual assistant collaboration solution.

Increases organization

I can’t tell you how many times since I’ve been a virtual assistant that I’ve had to learn how to become better organized. Take it from someone who came from a not-so-organized background, this was not an easy thing to do.

Trello tells you in an instant what’s on your plate, what stage of the process it’s in and who is working on it. It can be effective even if you are a solo virtual assistance business.

User-friendly

Once you log into Trello, you start out with your board which is simply a collection of lists. Depending on how many clients you have, you can have multiple boards – one for each client. Your cards are the individual tasks that you need to do for that client in order to complete the project. Add an attachment, embed video, add a member to the card, specify a deadline and make checklists.

Real Time Updates

Trello is entirely cloud-based. Log in to your account from any computer. All team members can see instant updates in real time and you don’t even have to refresh your screen.

Customize your board to fit any workflow

The more I use Trello, the more impressed I am with this cloud collaboration tool for virtual assistants. In addition to increasing productivity within my firm, I can ensure that communication takes place among all members of the board. Everyone who is assigned to a card can instantly be notified of any changes taking place and provide input. Just look at some of the different possibilities to manage daily workflow:

• Event planning
• Personal task lists
• Software Development
• Publishing
• Recruiting
• Sales
• Freelance and Consulting
• Customer Support
• And much more

Cloud-based project management with Trello increases in popularity with virtual assistants – and with good reason. It combines all the tools needed to manage your projects effectively and provide global expert services. However, I would be amiss in this review if I did not bring up some of the disadvantages of using such a collaboration tool as this. While I’ll admit that I’m a staunch Basecamp advocate and awfully new at using Trello, I’m glad to say that I haven’t found any flaws yet with Trello. For the time being, I am thrilled to have found such a useful cloud-based project management tool that can make a virtual assistant’s daily workload a lot easier to manage.

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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.

Communication is just one of the 3 Cs you can do to achieve success this year. Do you know what the other two are?

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.

Trustworthy has a lot of synonyms that mean similar things; but first, let’s look at the definition of trustworthy. According to the Encarta Dictionary: English (North America) that is included in Word 2007, “trustworthy means reliable, deserving trust or able to be trusted.” Some synonyms are dependable, reliable, responsible, truthful, honest, constant and honorable.

As we work with colleagues in the industry we’re in, my partner and I would like to think that Borlok VA is a model for other aspiring virtual assistants – whether or not they are just starting out or have been in business for many years. In order to be worthy of trust, we need to demonstrate certain characteristics and traits that would show that we are dependable.

As a company that works in the highly competitive virtual assistance industry, we would hope that our friends, clients, staff and colleagues view us as being fair and dependable, that we have a good track record and that we’re knowledgeable. But, along with those qualities are the unwritten connotations that we are profitable, up to date in trends, skilled and credible.

So what are some ways that you can ensure your small business is trustworthy? Let’s take a look:

• Be honest all the time with yourself and with others – Be sincere and truthful in your dealings with vendors, colleagues and clients and friends. Go above and beyond to foster that precious relationship that you can have with your customers — and everyone else.
• Be consistent – To me, this means that our clients should be treated the same; and in our case, that means to provide global expert services with quality and on-time delivery. In addition, provide excellent customer service to ensure you don’t have issues with client retention.
• Deliver on your promise – if you say you are going to meet a specific deadline, meet it; but better yet, exceed it.
• Say what you mean and mean what you say; then follow through by walking the talk – there’s no room here for being wishy, washy, is there?
• Have an open door policy – no one should be afraid to speak with you. Foster collaboration.
• Honor your contracts – if you have a non-compete clause in your contract, make sure you honor it. The same would go for a non-disclosure agreement and all other aspects of that contract.

Becoming trustworthy doesn’t happen overnight. It takes working at it 365 days a year. The benefits of being trustworthy mean you get – and keep – more clients and build a solid reputation. So, is your small business trustworthy?
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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.

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.

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?
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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.

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

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.

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