The event is being held on Thursday, June 24^th, a full day of fun-filled activities, engaging speakers, giveaways and networking opportunities.   All Virtual Assistants or anyone who is interested in the VA profession is invited.  I hope those of you reading this will come out and join us.

The event takes place entirely online, so you won’t have to leave the comfort of your own home to enjoy the experience.  Gotta love that virtual thing!  Also, it’s entirely FREE too…you especially have to love that.

If you are interested in finding out more about the event or to register, please visit: http://virtuallyanythingispossible.eventbrite.com/

WordPress is so intuitive, it’s simple to use yet, very robust.  Did you know that you could use WordPress to create a full, functioning website?  Yes, you can, there are some awesome premium themes that you can use to create a very cool looking site that has all the functions and features of a HTML website (without having to figure out all that code).   In fact, I will be very shortly creating a website using WordPress for the launch of my new book which is due to hit the masses in June.  I can’t wait to show it to you when it’s complete.  

When I made the decision to create my site with WordPress I was pleasantly surprised with all of the resources available. I found some great tutorials and sites that offer premium themes (at a minimal cost), provide great customization ability and simply look amazing.   Again the key word here is simplicity.  With a simple upload of a theme and a few tweaks here and there, you could easily have a website in half the time (even ¼ of the time) it would take you to create an HTML site.  Trust me, you’ll be amazed.

So, if you are in the market for a new site, I want to encourage you to have a look at WordPress.  Here are a few resources to get you started:

WordPress “How to’s”

http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Lessons

Premium Themes

http://www.ithemes.com

http://www.themeforest.com

Enjoy!!!

VA Specific:

The Business of Being Virtual: Industry Leaders Reveal Their Virtual Assistant Business Secrets
By Pam Ivey and Kristi Pavlik.   http://www.businessofbeingvirtual.com/

How to Build a Successful Virtual Assistant Business
By Janice Byer and Elayne Whitfield – Parr.  http://www.howtobuildavirtualassistantbusiness.com/

The 2-Second Commute
By Christine Durst and Michael Haaren.  http://www.amazon.ca/2-Second-Commute-Exploding-Freelance-Assistants/dp/1564147924

 Virtual Assistant – The Series
By Diana Ennen & Kelly Poelker.  http://www.va-theseries.com/

 
Office Management

 Organize Your Office…In No Time
By Monica Ricci.  http://www.amazon.com/Organize-Your-Office-No-Time/dp/0789732181

 
Social Media

Social Media Marketing – An Hour A Day
By Dave Evans.  http://www.amazon.com/Social-Media-Marketing-Hour-Day/dp/0470344024/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257360635&sr=1-1

 Facebook Marketing – Leverage Social Media to Grow Your Business
By Steven Holzner.  http://www.amazon.com/Facebook-Marketing-Leverage-Social-Business/dp/0789738023/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257360743&sr=1-1

 Twitter Power
By Joel Comm.  http://www.amazon.com/Twitter-Power-Dominate-Market-Tweet/dp/0470458429/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257360810&sr=1-1

 
Hope you enjoy these as much as I did!

Not of course in the same way that my 15 year old son is, I’m on the flip side.  I’ve been an instructor at Red Deer College where I teach 3 courses for their online Virtual Assistant Certificate Program. I’ve held this position now for approximately 4 years and I have to tell you that I love every minute of it.

There is such an amazing energy in these virtual classrooms.  The enthusiasm and excitement that the students bring with them every term is completely infectious.   One may think that in a virtual classroom this may somehow get lost, but the tools that we use are really quite ingenious.

The system that we use to teach our online courses is called Elluminate® (http://www.elluminate.com/).  It allows real time interaction in a webinar type environment.  Student can utilize a chat feature, or use their mics for voice interaction. There is also a nifty whiteboard that allows you to upload your course PowerPoint’s.  You can also use the webcam feature so the students can place a face to the name!  It provides an awesome interactive and collaborative learning environment.

One feature that I love with Elluminate® is the ability to take “internet field trips” with my students. Yes, you actually can go on virtual fieldtrips…its fantastic!  There is a great web tour feature that allows you to guide your students through various websites of your choosing and a wonderful way to promote discussion on various topics.

Now Elluminate® isn’t necessarily for just academic purposes, it’s a fantastic tool to use for team meetings, group coaching, anytime you need a real time collaborative working environment! 

So, if you have the need for such a tool check them out, they provide a free web conferencing room for up to 3 users.  A great way for you to test before buying! 

Enjoy!

I didn’t quite grasp the concept of using Facebook as a tool for one’s business.  I mean, I know there were plenty of people out there “preaching” the power of Facebook, but I guess I just didn’t pay much attention…”me bad”.

It wasn’t until just recently that I really understood how a small business owner such as myself could benefit from the “Facebook Phenomenon”.  I was speaking with one of my close friends Tawnya Sutherland, founder of VAnetworking.com. Tawnya is a Certified Internet Marketer and the one thing I’ve come to know is when Tawnya speaks highly of anything related to internet marketing, you “shut up and listen”.   So I did just that! 

Next thing I knew I was on Facebook creating a group on a topic I’m extremely passionate about the Multi-VA Business.  With the support of a few of my friends who announced the new group to their facebook network, I had 30 member in the first 20 minutes.  Within an hour I had over 60 members. Today my group has 125 members, with new members joining every day. 

Well of course I was shocked (and ecstatic).  Here I was with 125 members that I could share my passion with, not to mention my products/services!  Woo Hoo!    I understand that by Facebook group standards, 125 members isn’t astronomical, but where else could you get 125 people to sign up to hear more about what you have to say in just a few days?  

The facebook group has allows me the medium to offer teleclasses, share resources, sell my products and most importantly meet new people.  Within a day of setting up my Facebook group I had three people contact me for potential speaking engagements, how’s that for the power of Facebook!

So if you’re like me, let me re-phrase this, if you’re like the way I used to be, and view Facebook as merely a personal tool oppose to business tool. Take another look at it, I think you’ll be surprised!  

BTW:  Thanks Tawnya, you’re the best!