From E-zine Articles' Expert Author and top-notch Virtual Assistant Tia Peterson...
"The Savvy Virtual Assistant:
Your Guide to FREE Resources
You Can Use to Become a
Better Virtual Assistant"
Where to find FREE software, FREE marketing advice, FREE tutorials and advice on how to get some FREE exposure (learn the secret!)
You can download the PDF version here...but read on!
Maximize time and cash flow with money-saving tips
that will leave you in a better position
to increase clients, pump up the marketing
and earn more revenue than ever before.
No affiliate links are used in this article. This is pure from-me-to-you pass it on knowledge that you can take advantage of. It costs you nothing and I make NO affiliate revenue off any of this information. Here's to your success!
From Zero to Hero…
Congratulations! You've decided to become a Virtual Assistant and you're ready to get to work. Awesome. Welcome to the club!
Before you get started on your journey, you should read this guide to FREE resources you can use to become a better Virtual Assistant. Why? Because otherwise you'll spend a lot of money on things that could have cost you nothing but a little bit of time, and that's unwise! In today's economy, you need to be smart – you need to be savvy. Spending your business's money wisely is essential to actually staying in business.
This isn't an exhaustive list of all the wonderful free stuff out there. It's just a place to start. Good luck with it!
Here's to your amazing success as a savvy Virtual Assistant!
Cheers,
Tia
Resource Group #1: FREE Software
That's right. FREE software. Lots of it. It's everywhere. It's legal. It's free. You need to take advantage of it. Here's my secret list. Use at your leisure. Take what you need and pass it on.
• Zoho – this awesome site is still in beta right now, and because of that everything is still free. This site includes free online planning software, free web conferencing, free database creation, free email and more.
• Gmail – if you're going to be doing a lot of data transfer – sending images and large files, for example – get a Gmail account. It's free. And now you don't need to wait for someone to invite you.
• GrandCentral – need a local number? GrandCentral gives you a free phone number in the area code of your choosing. The great news? It forwards to whatever phone you want – you can store up to four different numbers. The even better news? You can set up your own voicemail just for your Grand Central number. You can even call FROM your GrandCentral number so your clients will never know the difference. Savvy, huh?
• PrimoPDF – I use this amazing, totally FREE PDF creator on an almost daily basis. Zero conflicts with Adobe Reader and you can literally turn ANYTHING YOU CAN PRINT into a PDF with it. It's one of my most handy free tools by far.
Resource Group #2 - Marketing Guru Blogs with FREE advice
Chances are that you need marketing advice. Unless you hold an MBA with a special emphasis in marketing or currently work as a marketing manager somewhere (in which case you probably still need it) you need marketing advice.
So where do you get it? Do you go out and find the most expensive marketing coach you can possibly find? Maybe. But if you're like the rest of us and you're still working on your first cool million in the bank, you'll need to settle for some free pearls of wisdom.
Where do you get that? The secret : blogs. Most (if not all) successful marketing gurus out there have blogs! And guess what? A lot of them are handing out their candy free of charge on these blogs. You need to jump on the bandwagon!
Do you need to set aside time everyday to go out to these blogs everyday and read them? No.
Do this: set up a free account with Bloglines (http://www.bloglines.com) and search for the blogs you want. Then, make note of their URLS. Then, add them to Bloglines. That way you have all of the great headlines all in one place.
Another great place to get blogs all in one place? Alltops.com. Alltops captures the most popular (and best) blogs for small business at http://smallbusiness.alltop.com/ .
Here's my list of the best marketing advice out there for small businesses (which includes you – the Virtual Assistant). Take what you need and pass it on.
• The Young Entrepreneur Blog : Evan Carmichael generously hands out some of the best SEO and Internet Marketing advice around. Subscribe to the feed and enjoy!
• Duct Tape Marketing : Fabulous free marketing advice along with links to some of his not free but super-valuable marketing products.
• Andy Sernovitz's Damn I Wish I'd Thought of That! Blog : Yeah, really. A marketing guru like Andy Sernovitz has a blog with his free advice? Yep. Take advantage of it now.
• Escape from Cubicle Nation : I first came across small business marketing coach Pam Slim's blog via Alltops. She's excellent and her blog is noteworthy. Go see!
Resource Group #3 - Get a FREE blog of your own!
This tip may be controversial, but I don't care. I will let you in on a little secret: as a virtual assistant, your business IS the web. Practically everything you do will be Internet-related in some way. Because of this, you need to have a website. The main reason I suggest getting your own blog is because it has the potential to drive people to your website .
Is it really free? Yes, it can be. Many people have very high-ranking totally FREE blogs from platforms such as Blogger and Blogspot.
If you own a website already or are going to get one (shake your head yes because you are absolutely going to need one if you are a Virtual Assistant), you could have your blog free, technically. My blog is an example of this. I host my blog on my FREE subdomain that I get as part of my uber-cheap and uber-fabulous web hosting solution through Siteground Web Hosting .
What do you do with a blog? Well, the truth is you can do a ton of things with your blog.
• You can advertise with a pay-per-click program and earn extra money each month.
• You can write incredibly fabulous content and create a huge list of loyal readers clawing for more.
• You can link to other great blogs and make lots of really important blog friends.
• You can advertise your own business.
The list goes on and on. Pick one. Pick them all. Just do it.
Resource Group #4 - FREE Tutorials
Ahem: The likelihood that at the present moment you know everything you're ever going to need to know is pretty much nil, so start training (no pun intended) yourself now on how to find and utilize FREE training and tutorials that are great for Virtual Assistants.
The best reason to download/get all of these free tutorials and more? So that you can say, 'yes, I can do that' when a client asks you for something. The more you know, the more you can offer, and the more you can offer, the more money you can make. Period.
Here is a starting point. There are many others. Use Google as a search engine and your choices will be endless.
• Microsoft Word 2007 Tutorial—Free & Online
• HTML Email Coding & Developing Guide
Want more?
There is so much to being a savvy, smart, and succesful Virtual Assistant that it's impossible to put it all in one article.
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Upcoming Issues:
May 2008: For the Birds! How to earn what you want and work when you want by sticking to your guns. (Article will be published on May 5)
June 2008: Proposals that Work - The insider secrets to submitting a winning proposal every time.
July 2008: Earn Through Osmosis - How hanging around the right blogs and newsletters just might make you rich!
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