Cloud Computing – what is it really and how can it help you run your business from just about anywhere or use a distributed staff/sub-contractor base to deliver service?

How do you integrate mail, document handling and smart phones – to provide an effective and efficient way to manage your business in a distributed fashion?

In this presentation, Charly Leetham will discuss what ‘cloud computing’ is in simple terms, email/document distribution and management and smart phone integration!

Thursday, 15 March 2012 at 9:00 pm EDT

Friday 16 March 2012 at 1.00pm AEDT

 A link to the meeting room will be provided to all registered attendees the day before the webinar.

About Charly Leetham – Ask Charly Leetham

Charly Leetham’s goal is to assist small business owners realise the power of the Internet as a channel to market their organisations in an appropriate and cost-effective manner. She helps solopreneurs and small businesses map their business processes and plan their web presence.

Charly has a passion for IT and helping people overcome their technology challenges. She has more than 20 years experience in the IT industry, ranging from hands-on technical, to high-level business management.  This experience in IT and running a successful business from home is what attracted the Women’s Ecommerce Association International Board of Advisors to invite Charly to be an adviser for Women in Ecommerce.

Charly has also won the MCEI Women in Business Marketing Award 2010, was shortlisted for the Telstra Business Woman of the Year 2010 and 2011 awards and was awarded Best Entrepreneur – Service Businesses – Up to 100 Employees – Computer Services in the Stevie Awards for Women.
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Have you ever wondered how you can build stronger relationships with business owners and convert them into paying clients, much more easily?

There is a key element that business owners look for in a Virtual Assistant … they don’t know what it’s called, they only know how to describe it.  Yet, it’s the most critical piece to building a long-term, successful relationship with a business owner.

It’s Business Mindset.

Join Cindy Greenway and learn the step-by-step formula that you can easily and immediately implement into your business that will completely revitalize your connections with potential clients (and current clients too!).   Confidently!

In this session, participants will be asked to work through the various strategies and also practice the specific strategies live with Cindy on the call.

This session will instill you with increased confidence to:

• head out to network with your target market and start new strong relationships
• take the lead on conversations with potential and more easily convert them into current clients
• showcase yourself as a highly skilled and professional VA who offers the solutions your target market needs
• increase your relationship with current clients -  creating increased long-term commitment and a stronger bond
• better leverage your time and expertise to support more growth and revenue

This class is for beginner and seasoned VAs alike.

Thursday, 1 March 2012 at 7.00pm EDT/4:0pm PDT
Friday, 2 March 2012 at 11:00pm AEDT
Online – sign up below
Free! Yes, free!

Check for the corresponding time in your local area.
A link to the meeting room will be provided to all registered attendees the day before the webinar.

About Cindy Greenway:  Hot Skills VA Training

Cindy Greenway is the author of Virtually Successful: 8 Simple Ways for Virtual Assistants to Find (and Keep) Clients.

Since the start of her business in 2003, Cindy has worked with highly respected and successful online-based business owners by implementing and managing technology, automating and streamlining various processes, overseeing and managing current marketing strategies, building a virtual team, and contributing to the development of new products, programs and services. Her focus now is in helping Virtual Assistants build consistent and continuous success – from startup to launch to smashing success.

We look forward to your participation.

One last thing, don’t forget to check us out on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  MS. LYN PROWSE-BISHOP
EMAIL: INFO@A4VB.COM.AU                                
PHONE: +61 (0) 417 648 172

Industry First – Alliance for Virtual Businesses Australian Chapter (A4VBAU)
Publishes 1^sr Comprehensive Australian Virtual Assistant Industry Survey Results

A4VB AU completes first national comprehensive study of the Australian Virtual Assistant industry to document its development, growth and impact on small businesses, entrepreneurs and solopreneurs.

Sydney, Australia (January 23, 2012) – The Australian Chapter of the Alliance for Virtual Businesses (A4VB.com.au) has tabulated results of the 1^st national study of the Virtual Assistant industry, consisting of statistical data ranging from best practices, operations, marketing and processes used in running a successful, professional VA business. Survey participants included individuals transitioning from administrative, executive assistant and corporate office manager positions to seasoned, Internet-savvy entrepreneurs providing administrative, marketing, secretarial and web-based services from their home offices.  Examples of responses to the 110 question survey include:

• 81% reported flexibility/freedom to control hours, income etc. as the reason they launched their home-based business
• 86.6% possess extensive on-the-job experience/training in employment
• 51.9%  work in a specific niche specialty and identified 40 niche markets where they utilize their skills
• 92.4% use some type of time tracking system, 90.8% depend on mobile phones as their telephone system of choice, and 59.5% do not use collaborative software.

The survey also identifies the top marketing, favorite social media venues, and most active business-related clubs and associations professional Virtual Assistants join. It describes, in the respondents’ own words, reasons clients choose to work with VAs instead of hiring in-house support staff.

Lyn Prowse-Bishop, chair of the A4VBAU steering committee reports, “Survey results provide a national benchmark for practicing and future professional VAs. It documents industry demographics, marketing, technology, compensation, and prospective niche categories, as well as a thorough snapshot of services offered by industry professionals.” These results will also provide valuable information for businesses in need of virtual administrative assistance to use as a guideline as to how a VA can best assist them in and with their business. In addition, the results provide statistical data that can be used by government agencies, insurance companies, and other industries showing virtual assistance as a viable alternative to traditional employment.

Sharon Williams, chairperson of the A4VB, the Australian chapter’s parent organization states, “Our ongoing mission is to facilitate the growth of the industry, educate members and promote the benefits of working with VAs both locally and worldwide.” Williams also reported, “This survey is the first in a series of country-based studies documenting one of the fastest growing ‘work from home’ industries in the world. The results can provide cultural comparisons and other unique differentials among VA practices, on a country-by-country basis.”

For more information about the A4VB, and its Australian Chapter log on to www.a4vb.com.au or contact media@a4vb.com.au. To obtain a copy of the Comprehensive Virtual Assistant Industry Survey Results visit the A4VB Store.

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About Alliance for Virtual Businesses

The Alliance for Virtual Businesses is a volunteer-directed organisation, whose primary mission is to advocate globally on behalf of the virtual assistant industry and to promote the growth of free enterprise between virtual assistants, entrepreneurs, small businesses, corporations, associations and other business entities. TheAlliance IS the leader in promoting the VA Industry. They communicate a unified VA message around the globe, via web 2.0, print media, TV, internet, presentations and other modalities. Their goal is to facilitate the growth, education, and promotion of VAs both locally and worldwide.

Press Contact:   Lyn Prowse-Bishop, Committee Head
Tel:                        +61 (0) 417 648 172
Email:                   media@a4vb.com.au
Website:              http://a4vb.com.au

USA Contact:     Sharon Williams, Chairperson and Founder
Tel:                         1-410-521-7001
Email:                    info@AllianceForVirtualBiz.com
Website:              http://AllianceForVirtualBiz.com

**Innovation: take the lead or initiative in showcasing ideas and trends to assist with the development of a virtual business.
**Integration: incorporate cutting-edge technologies, processes, and services into a Virtual Assistant business.
**Motivation: incite and motivate VAs to take action to achieve goals throughout 2012 and beyond.

We invite VAs and business experts interested in sharing their knowledge, skills and experience with the industry to submit the below requested information to speakers@oivac.com by Thursday, January 26, 2012. Don’t delay as slots will fill quickly! A representative will be in touch after the deadline.

Name:
URL:
Email:
Phone #:
Which of the 3 Principle Categories will your presentation fall under:
Presentation Title:
Brief Presentation Description:

Note: Selected presenters will be asked to complete a more detailed application and all decisions will be made at the discretion of the OIVAC Steering Committee.

Many Virtual Assistants are finding that selling on eBay is not only a great way to supplement their income but also a great service to offer to their clients.

This class is for the beginner eBay seller and is an extensive two-hour session that will introduce you to the basics of selling on eBay and get you started into this exciting way of making an extra income from your VA service.

In this webinar you will learn how to:

- sell products, services, used equipment, supplies, etc. for clients
- do research and create listings
- choose the right listing format
- set pricing
- monitor the client’s listings
- complete transactions
- source, pack and ship inventory
- market your client’s products
- market your VA services

and much, much more…

Date:  Thursday, February 2, 2012
Time:  4 pm EDT & 1 pm PDT
Friday, February 3, 2012, 8 AM (Sydney Australia) 

Check for the corresponding time in your local area.

Linda K. Anderson has been a home-based secretary and virtual assistant since 1985 and works with her company Home Secretarial Services, A Team of Home-Based Secretaries.

One of the many services that Linda offers as a VA is the assistance of helping her clients with the selling of their wares in the online auction site of eBay.

Linda has been a member of eBay since 1999 and became a registered Trading Assistant (TA) in 2007. She obtained her Education Specialist trained by eBay title in early 2011, and teaches others in a one-on-one or classroom setting, the basics of selling on eBay.

In this session, Steuart Snooks will look at how busy professionals can eliminate the single greatest time-waster of modern business life.

Steuart will cover:

• Increasing information and the inevitable bottleneck
• Incremental changes won’t solve the problem; we need a radical approach
• The three steps to eliminate e-mail overload and triple your productivity

“What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among an overabundance of information sources that might consume it”. – Herbert Simon

Thursday 16 February 2012 at 7.00pm EDT & 4.00pm PDT
Friday 17 February 2012 at 1.00pm AEDT
Check for the corresponding time in your local area.

A link to the meeting room will be provided to
all registered attendees the day before the webinar.

About Steuart Snooks – Solutions 4 Success:

Steuart Snooks is an E-mail Productivity Strategist & Expert who works with those busy professionals and organisations who are struggling to keep up with all their e-mail.

He delivers insightful, entertaining and highly practical solutions that make a real difference to personal and organisational productivity in the workplace, helping clients to make the thinking and behavioural changes needed to be more effective in the way they manage e-mail as part of their workload.

With over 15 years of ‘hands on experience’, Steuart has worked with such clients as H.J. Heinz; Daimler Chrysler; IBM Global Services; Nestle; CPA Australia; Motorola; William Adams (Caterpillar); Simplot; Catholic Church Insurances; Dental Health Services; State Government Departments; Local Government; Symbion Health; Wittner Shoes and more.

As soon as you hear one of these names, your senses kick in and you imagine that you smell the coffee, or can taste the fresh, soft donuts. Your stomach growls for French fries or you feel a sense of satisfaction because you imagine you just had a whiff of the “new car” smell.

All these reactions are a direct result of the brand image and identity campaign each company created to promote qualities they believe are attractive to the public and will result in sales.

This same strategy is used by smart entrepreneurs seeking to increase market share and separate themselves from competitors.

Steps to implement a winning authentic brand strategy

These companies follow a step-by-step process in developing a winning strategy.

• Evaluate their product or service and determine the audience that could best utilize their offerings.
• Conduct research to identify what customers really need and want and if they can fulfill the need.
• Showcase their authenticity, presenting a message that resonates with their target audience.
• Consistently ensure customers have the same experience each time they connect with the product or service.
• Be transparent in explaining what the business stands for and how they intend to deliver.
• Speak with your audience—not at them—as people respond better to a conversation that relates to them and engages them.

All of the above elements are vitally important in creating a business brand, developing and maintaining good client relationships, and establishing trust between potential customers and your business.

Integrating Offline and Online Branding

A vital part of creating an effective brand identity and nurturing relationships with prospects and customers is to integrate your brand in both your offline and online brand activities.

Smart business folks want to stay on the cutting edge and be aware of new trends in connecting with customers and building trust, offline. They continue to use traditional businesses brand identification tools such as company logos and slogans.

However, when business owners incorporate online branding tools within their offline messaging campaigns, they increase exposure and opportunities for more sales and ways to interact with potential customers.

Several online messaging tools which can be integrated into offline brand building include:

• Incorporate the company URL, Twitter and Facebook logos on written communications.
• Provide email address and phone number within all messaging.
• Direct consumers to website for value-add giveaway in exchange for email address.
• Find where your customers spend their time and capture their attention by providing access to target-audience-focused information.

Entrepreneurs that implement many of the above strategies gain the ability to retain clients who believe their story, have faith they will benefit from the product or service, and trust their problems will be solved and their lives made better.

Results

An authentic brand identity helps build lasting relationships that allows the owner to close more deals, retain clients, increase income and become known as an industry expert.

Just like Starbucks and other highly recognized brand driven companies that possess a substantial market share as a result of their unique brand-driven campaigns, the targeted audience’s senses and appetites can be satisfied if the message is presented authentically, consistently and concisely.

Bon appetite!

About the Author

For the past 21 years, Sharon Williams has specialized in business marketing and branding. She is a Master Virtual Assistant and Certified Professional Author’s Assistant. As president and CEO of The 24 Hour Secretary and her team helps busy and often overwhelmed executives and entrepreneurs with administrative, marketing and Web 2.0 support services, handling tasks they dislike or lack time to complete. She is the author of 24 Easy Ways to Create Your Amazing Authentic Brand Identity and Nuts and Bolts of Branding. Register for a 10 Day Brand Identity Challenge  to create or recreate your amazing and authentic brand identity.

Website Address: www.virtualadminservices.com

Contact Info- Becky Gregory
Email Address: becky@virtualadminservices.com
Phone: 443-557-8187

More Info about my Business: Virtual Admin Services (VAS) serves small businesses, entrepreneurs, non-profits and others who need professional administrative support but don’t need a conventional on-site employee. We provide a wide range of secretarial and business support services that free our clients to focus on business building activities while we focus on the day to day administrative work.

Welcome to Alliance Online Radio Show, where we spotlight members of the VA Industry, new trends and things and important industry announcements. We invite you to listen in as we promote the VA industry, its members and the benefits of working with a VA. Regular segments include:

•  Highlights from across the A4VB
• What’s Happening
• Something to Think About
• The VA Spotlight
• Trends & Things

Download Shows:

December 1, 2011.  A4VB Radio Show December 2011