Bill Gaganis
VEES Accounting Pty Ltd

AREA OF EXPERTISE: Accountant

A LITTLE ABOUT BILL

Over 10 years’ experience in public practice.  Assist Small businesses

TIPS FROM BILL

If you could provide one tip to small business owners who are starting out, what would it be?

Make sure you obtain the right advise in relation to choosing the correct business structure for your business and needs.

If you could provide one tip to small business owners who have been established for some time, what would it be?

Conduct an annual business ‘health check’. i.e. Review your current business structure, cash flow and ensure debtors are up to date and not more than 12% of your turnover.

What is the one thing you wish you knew before you started your business?

Debt collection and following up slow paying debtors routinely.  This is one of the major reasons why small businesses struggle with cash flow.

Peter Treby
Treby and Associates

AREA OF EXPERTISE: Lawyer

A LITTLE ABOUT PETER

Experienced lawyer, looks after small businesses.

TIPS FROM PETER

If you could provide one tip to small business owners who are starting out, what would it be?

Structure the business properly.

If you could provide one tip to small business owners who have been established for some time, what would it be?

Watch cash flow intently.

What is the one thing you wish you knew before you started your business?

Understand the client and the facts, the law can be confirmed later.

Steve Morrison
The Loan Operator

AREA OF EXPERTISE: Mortgages

A LITTLE ABOUT STEVE

Owned and worked in music retail for over 18 years the last 9 of those years as owner of Revolver Drums. I have always had an interest in wealth creation via shares and property and thus mortgage broking was my next port of call. People often have lot’s of equity tied up in their own house and this can be the very vehicle from which to launch into wealth creation.

TIPS FROM STEVE

If you could provide one tip to small business owners who are starting out, what would it be?

Have a business plan and know who you are targeting it will save you heaps of marketing $$$$$

If you could provide one tip to small business owners who have been established for some time, what would it be?

Surround yourself with good people and be open to new ideas

What is the one thing you wish you knew before you started your business?

How to properly set up my database to utilize to maximum effect…so it virtually tells me what to do each day. Got to love automation!

by Rosie Shilo
Article from Run Your Business Life

As a network manager, I’ve seen many start-up Virtual Support (or Virtual Assistant – called VAs) businesses come through Virtually Yours. I’ve seen new VAs who are unsure of what they should or could be doing, and others that leap in and give everything a go with a smile.

One thing I have seen on occasion though, are VAs who start up their new venture, and begin by emulating the VAs they admire. Personally, I think this is a good idea, however, there are a few golden rules to consider when starting up in the VA Industry.

Respect copyright is the first. You may admire another VA for their products and promotions, but be inspired by it and create your own.

Your business name needs to be unique and reflect who you are and what you want your business to become. Your products are unique to you and your skillset. Stand out by being you. As they say, ‘everyone else is already taken’ and ‘you are best at being you than anyone else’.

Join networks and get involved. Work isn’t going to just come to you, you need to build up your networks both in the VA Industry and in the Industries you would like to target as clients. People hire people they trust.

Don’t just sell your product. Sell yourself too. You can sell yourself by being active in your Industry, dedicating yourself to enhancing your skills and supporting those around you.

Don’t just see other VAs as ‘the competition’. The VAs with the most successful businesses are those who have worked alongside other VAs, lending a hand when needed, collaborating to build better ideas and products. There is plenty of work to go around if you are good at what you do.

Love what you do. Don’t just provide a service because you can. This might get you by when you are employed – you still get your paycheque at the end of the month even if you didn’t push yourself to be the best you can be. But when you run your own business – loving it is the key to success. If you love it, you will care about what your clients think of your work and you will be energised by it. If you only do it because you can, it can be easy to be uninspired and not really care so much about the end product and how it helps your client. Plus, it’s not as much fun!

And finally, ask questions! Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Ask friends, peers, mentors. Listen to their advice and use what you think best suits you and your situation. You don’t have to do it on your own.

I have been wondering a bit lately about e-books and what useful resources might be out there.
Recently a VA on a VA forum asked the questions about e-book cover software – something that would make creating a good looking e-book cover for promoting the e-book.
I’ve always created my own in Illustrator but was keen to hear what easier options there were.
These came recommended by other VAs.

Quick 3D Cover Maker – http://www.nervepreserve.com/ – is very quick, simple and productive graphical tool for developers, authors and designers who need good quality 3D cover illustrations. The program makes 3D pictures of boxshots, CD, DVD, Blue-ray boxes, eBooks covers more. The program allows to create professional level web illustrations literally with a few mouse clicks.

E-book Generator – http://www.armandmorin.com/ebook/ – Our New eBook Software gives you all the features you could ever want in an ebook software now or in the future. Here’s the real deal…

My e-cover maker – http://www.myecovermaker.com/ – MyEcoverMaker is an extremely easy to use point-and-click online software to create ebook covers without the need for expensive software like photoshop and plugins to create stunning 3D eCovers

I’d love to hear your thoughts on these and other useful tools for people looking at creating e-books.

Do you provide assistance to your clients, in some shape or form, from your own offices? Do you communicate with your clients, send your service, promote your business, all online? Or at least mainly online?

In the past, a Virtual Assistant was someone who uniquely, provided administrative services from their own office. It was a hard concept for businesses to get their heads around – how do we utilise someone’s services if they don’t come in and see us?

Nowadays there are a significant number of services and industries that rely heavily on, and indeed require, the internet to run their business and it’s much easier for clients to understand how that can work.

Businesses network online, they promote their business online, and using online services they share files, access off-site computers, and provide information.

Do you need to go to someone’s office to have some artwork redesigned? Does your bookkeeper need to visit you onsite every time you need bookwork done? Do you need to sit beside your transcriptionist as they type up your thoughts and notes?

Not anymore.

So through my work, managing a Virtual Assistance Network, I’ve come to realise that limiting this title to administration is simply not accurate anymore.

The Virtually Yours Virtual Assistants provide exceptional Social Media support, Bookkeeping, IT support, SEO and Website design and management, Author Support, Speaker Support, Event Management, Copywriting, Editing, Marketing, Human Relations, Legal Secretarial, Video Editing… and the list goes on.

So think about it – are YOU a Virtual Assistant?

Do you use, like so many other people, dropbox?

Dropbox is a fantastic program which can be utilised either for free using the basic service or for a small subscription fee. Using dropbox you can so easily share files with your co-workers, colleagues, clients etc. Anything that you have in the folder that you share with them, is in their folder. You update it, it updates on their PC as long as it’s connected to the internet. It’s fantastic!

For organisations working on event documents, for example, or project files, where sharing and avoiding duplication is a real time saver, dropbox can really be a godsend.

But what about conflicting files?

What if you have a file open and are editing it, and someone starts editing the same file from their own PC? You end up with conflicting files and it can be really frustrating determining what changes were made in each.

That’s where notify box comes in.

While dropbox claims to notify you if someone is using a file or has it open, I don’t find that it works.

So I set up notifybox and now when a file is being used by someone I am sharing that folder with, I get told! It’s wonderful! No more conflicting files.

Do the Sums

With a Virtual Assistant you pay only for the hours worked and you receive 100% productivity 100% of the time.

Sourced from AKA Virtual PA

Please note that some of these figures may be outdated but the savings remain the same.

Edit your business listing:

Click on Members Area (top nav area)

Click on “Business Listings Admin”

Using ‘Connections’ you can select ‘Add new entry’.

Make sure you only tick categories you offer or live in.

Make sure you select “public” and “organisation” in the settings on the top right.

On right hand side ensure you have selected “organisation” and “public” so your listing shows.

Click “update” after any changes.

Any time you see “you are not permitted to view this area” please contact me asap so I can reset the settings and ensure it’s all good to go. Hopefully soon you will only be able to see your own entries (the plugin creator is working on this as we speak) which will make it even easier.