Todays VA Magazine July 2012

because it’s all about you!

AVBN Under New Management: Meet the New Team!

Tools, Tips Ideas and Competitions!

Take Notes and Action:

tips for following through with ideas

Step Up! Consider your presentation when you step outside the office....

Virtual Angels:

Turbo-Charge your Service Offering todaysva.com.au

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FEATURES 8

Take Notes AND Take Action

by Diana Pettie

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Stepping Up Casual: by Suzanne Dekyvere

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There's Exciting Times Ahead for Virtual Business In Australia!

by Monique de Groot

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Industry News

by Renee Chapman

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What not to do when you start a Virtual Business

by Rosie Shilo

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Virtual Angels

by Debra Rhyon

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Virtual Assistants: How you can benefit by using one

by Renee Chapman

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What I want Wednesdays A Virtually Yours Project

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Balancing Act

by Chris Crowe

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Money Makes the World Go Round

by Renee Chapman

editors note:

Hi and welcome to July’s edition of Today's VA! Magazine, that you all take time out, grab a coffee or cuppa tea and enjoy this Edition of Today's VA! Magazine! Welll as you all know it’s been a hectic 6 months or so and we have been busy with new business opportunties, business events, projects and everything in between. We are really excited to be able to share all of our news in the past six months and give you some much needed reading material so that you can relax, take a break and catch up onsome much needed helpful stories.

We really are looking forward to making more editions and we hope you enjoy that articles and features we have in store for you in this edition and don’t forget the Virtually Impossible Competition for you chance to win a prize! Please feel free to contact us about any of the articles, competition details, stories or advertising and sit down in your fave chair, print a copy or read from your computer and just chill out, remember this mag is all about you, because you’re worth it!

Cheers

Renee & Rosie 4

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IN EVERY ISSUE

MEET THE TEAM

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Editor's Note

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Letter to the Gorgeous Editors

Managing Director (co editor) Renee Chapman www.theadminchick.com.au

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Online Toolbox

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5 Minute Profile

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Industry News

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VA Congratulations!

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Virtually Impossible!

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Trades & Services Directory

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Rosie's Revelations

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Feel Good Factor with Renee

Design Director (co editor) Rosie Shilo www.virtuallyyours.com.au Contributors: Monique De Groot Monstar Documents www.monstardocuments.com.au Chris Crowe C Squared Virtual Admin Services www.c2admin.com.au Diana Pettie Hopscotch Coaching www.hopscotchcoaching.com.au Suzanne Dekyvere Air of Distinction www.airofdistinction.com.au Debra Rhyon The POWA www.thepowa.com Enquiries www.todaysva.com.au info@todaysva.com.au Find us on Facebook too! facebook.com/todaysva

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This whole page could be Yours!

Contact our sales team for Cheap and Effective Advertising Options in Today’s VA! Magazine. info@todaysva.com.au

toolbox: ONLINE TOOLBOX

www.biz.gov.au Business Australia Government

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Well I don’t know about you but we love free stuff and good resources. So we have dedicated a page to give you some of the websites we’ve visited which are worthy of a mention for their content, information and the resources you can use.

Here is a list of many great websites you can visit with loads of info,

www.flyingsolo.com.au Flying Solo

www.rrr.wa.gov.au Rural, Regional & Remote Network

free stuff, resources, and all kinds of other interesting links and content.

Enjoy!

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www.nett.com.au

www.adminology.org

NETT Better Business

Adminology

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Take Notes AND Take Action

by Diana Pettie Hopscotch Coaching www.hopscotchcoaching.com.au

What do you do with your training/seminar/meeting notes?

Have you had good intentions to implement what you learnt and found that you didn’t?

I have always been a note taker. It helps my brain to write things down. I remember things better, it was how I studied and over the years I have taken pages of notes in training sessions and seminars. Now here is my confession ..I often never looked at them again. I’ve also not always implemented what I learnt.

Is that a problem? Not if the notes don’t mean anything, however if I have taken the time to write something down it meant something.

There was also possibly some new thinking or a great idea I wanted to implement however I got back to “Planet reality” or my “Normal life” and didn’t make any changes.

In previous management and leadership roles and now as a Professional Coach of Managers

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and Leaders, I’ve noticed attendee’s having amazing insights, great learning and new ideas they wanted to try and only a few weeks later, nearly all new thinking has gone. At least until the next training or seminar.

What has happened here? A couple of things come up for me 1. What do people do with the notes once they have taken them?

2. How do we turn the notes into taking action?

Let’s deal with these one at a time. What do you do with your notes? Without having a system to process notes they get put in the pile. There is after all some comfort in knowing “I have those notes somewhere!”

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Here are some tips on what you can do to take them from being notes on your page to action: 1. When you take a note that requires action, put an “A” for action next to it. Or a Star. Just use some kind of system to identify it from all of the other notes.

2. When you return from the training/ seminar/meeting, put the notes into your in tray for processing. Not in the cupboard.

3. Process them! Your in tray should be processed regularly and cleared at least once a week.

4. When you process, ask yourself “What is the next step? “When will I do this?”And schedule it.

5. Understand what your brain needs to create a new habit.

What does it take to create a new habit?

Attention, energy and focus. When your brain experiences new thinking, it enjoys it and there is a release of feel good chemicals. To turn this new thinking into hard wiring, you give it attention energy and focus beyond the training/ seminar/meeting.

For example, my goal for each of these settings would be to take at least one thing away that I could implement. I capture thinking throughout the session and afterwards choose which I want to give my focus to. What will serve me best? Once chosen I then think about what my options are to implement this. What does this look like in my week? Once I have explored some options, I choose the best one for me and set myself a specific action.

In taking these steps you are giving more attention, energy and focus to the new thinking which supports creating hardwiring in your brain. Maintaining a focus by checking in on how it is going you further support the creation of hardwiring until such time it is a habit.

Easier said than done! Some people find it very easy to do this, others find it quite challenging with “planet reality” occurring all around them including constant interruptions. Think about ways you can maintain focus. Taking on a coach is a brilliant way to get the most out of your training.

A Coach will help you clarify your thinking and support giving you certainty about what you are going to do next and create some new, sustainable changes.

Diana Pettie from Hopscotch Coaching works with Managers and Leaders to make the most of their time, talent and abilities.

Diana is an ICF Professional Certified Coach, Trainer and Mentor and is trained in Neuroleadership.

Her passion is for people to have professional success with balance and fun.

Visit www.hopscotchcoaching.com.au or phone 0419 887 481.

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Stepping Up Casual

by Suzanne Dekyvere Air of Distinction Do you work from home and go to the occasional meeting when you struggle to get out of your casual clothes? Do you ever feel like your casual wardrobe is too plain or dull? Do you envy others who can make a casual outfit look so pulled together?

Here are five easy ways to step into a great casual wardrobe.

Color your day with new hues Are you shy about wearing bright colors? Try fun color combos like these: turquoise and yellow; pewter and tangerine; purple and royal blue. Or use color strategically with neutral colors that are already in your closet, such as these: pink and grey; violet and chocolate brown; fuchsia and khaki.

Get into a smart pair of jeans If you haven't shopped for a pair of jeans in the last two years, put some cash in your wallet and go shopping. A good looking pair of jeans that fits and flatters you while being current and in style will make casual combinations easy to put together. Go super casual when you roll up the jeans to your ankles, add a good fitting tee and a cute ballet flat. Dress up your jeans with platform wedges or heeled booties and add a slinky silk top and blazer and you're off to the networking meeting!

Get easy to wear outerwear No need to wear corporate work blazers or cardigans unless you want to. You can take the blazer idea and put it into a more casual fabric like cotton or linen. It can also be in a lively colorful pattern to suit your fun personality.

If blazers aren't your style consider a denim jacket, a short trench or a long woolen vest. All of these outerwear pieces could look great with skirts, pants or dresses.

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Slip into a stylish shoe Give your gym shoes a rest. Wear a metallic sandal with slim jeans and loosely woven sweater knit top to the farmer's market. Try wearing a wedged shoe or boot with a opaque tights and colorful dress to lunch with the girls.

Or add a colorful pump to jeans, a long sleeved t-shirt, coloured scarf and a casual blazer for a late afternoon coffee.

Top it off with accessories Accessories can be fun, playful, bold or alluring.

If your outfit is simple, layer on the necklaces and/or bracelets. Consider big dramatic earrings.

If your outfit is colorful and full of pattern, wear simple long necklaces in your favorite metallic colors. Reach for a bag that's colorful or softly structured. Crossbody bags are great for weekend activities with kids.

Need some help with your casual wardrobe?

Let's get you looking great every day. Give me a call and we'll work at putting some great outfits together. www.airofdistrinction.com.au

5 Minute Profile!

Gail - Virtual Assistant & Bookkeeping

I'm Gail, a newbie to the VA world - just started my business this month Virtual Assistant & Bookkeeping Solutions. I'm doing some subbie work at the moment and have a few clients lined up as well - busier than I was expecting to be this early so it's all good.

I like some variety so ideally I would like a little bookkeeping, some business planning/processes etc. a little CMS website setup and some general admin - don't want to get bored.

I have a free ebook on my website which you are welcome to download - Time for Success. I've been an associate of one of the authors, Paul McCarthy, for about 10 years and he is amazing. I'm attending the AVAC conference (can't wait) and then the following weekend I have another 2 day conference with Paul. My head will be spinning!

Alice - Virtual Me My names Alice and I am the creator of My Virtual Me. I decided to start my own business because I wanted to be a stay at home/work at home mum for my 2 & 1/2 year old daughter - she has been my motivation to keep going with my original venture of starting a business.

My working background is admin/transcription and market research (CATI). The main service I offer is digital transcription, but I also do general typing and data entry. My ideal clients are solicitors and psychiatrists/counsellors.

Being a full-time mum I can't do face-to-face networking, so I'm trying to get the most out of online forums and networking sites.

I very much look forward to building some strong connections with some, if not all of you. I wish you all the best of luck with your ventures, whether your established or just starting out.

Linden - Vine Lines Administration I'm Linden from Vine Lines Administration.

I really love administration and assisting people to put procedures in place to make their administrative tasks run more smoothly so they can focus on what they love doing.

I'm sitting here at AVAC and my ideal client had been cogitating away for some time. My ideal client is the professional craftsperson, particularly quilters. Quilting and knitting are my passions and there are a number of professional crafters out there who I'm sure could use my services, I just have to find then now!

If you haven't been to AVAC, you should. I have really crystallized who I want my ideal client to be, and it's quite different to who I thought it "should" be. I can now do some real work on creating my niche and doing some focussed marketing.

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There’s Exciting Times Ahead For Virtual Businesses In Australia!

by Monique de Groot Monstar Documents www.monstardocuments.com.au

If you’ve never heard of The Australian Virtual Business Network (AVBN) you’re about to discover how this network has set the standards for all Virtual Business in Australia.

AVBN was founded by an award-winning Virtual Assistant Lyn Prowse-Bishop (of Executive Stress Office Support) in 2006. The purpose of the network was to help Virtual Businesses partner with their ideal client, showcase their services and to be a support for business by providing resources pertinent to running a business in Australia.

‘I wanted an Australian-only network that was not just for VAs, but also any business in the virtual space. I wanted to be able to guarantee to clients the quality of the virtual businesses who were members as it has been a bit “hit and miss” for clients up to this point’, said Lyn.

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The AVBN’s mission is to set the standard for virtual assistance in Australia. When a business is approved for membership of AVBN, they can proudly show they have achieved a standard of excellence which is benchmarked against strict core competencies.

Clients recognise AVBN businesses to be the best in the industry. Would your business qualify? http://www.avbn.com.au/pages/for-vasvbos/ membership.php

And Now AVBN Is Set To Grow Further Under New Management! continued next page...

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Lyn, being one of the VA Industry’s role models due to her years of experience and successes, felt it was time to hand the reigns of AVBN to the ‘younger’ generations of VAs to step up. It is with great pleasure that the AVBN can now introduce the new co-owners, Rosie Shilo (of Virtually Yours) and Chris Crowe (of C Squared VA Services).

AVBN is about to enter an exciting growth period where members will be given further growth opportunities through learning, networking and ongoing business development and support. Both Rosie and Chris agree that they would like to see AVBN become the community voice for Virtual Businesses in Australia.

‘We plan to build some fantastic opportunities for our members to be involved at a number of levels including development of business courses designed to help them grown their own business and share their knowledge in their areas of expertise’, said Chris. Stay tuned everyone!

Lyn Prowse Bishop

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If you already know Rosie, you will know she is the ‘mother hen’ of the Virtually Yours network.

She is constantly looking for opportunities for her network of VAs to reflect what they ask or express a need for. This won’t be any different for Rosie and AVBN. ‘Chris and I will always be interested in hearing ideas from other VAs and looking at ways we can collaborate with them’, mentioned Rosie.

Find Out More Information Today If you’re interested to find out more about AVBN, visit their website: http://www.avbn.com. au/. Check out their membership offerings and see if your virtual business would meet the certification standards. If you prefer to chat, give Rosie (0408 500 688) or Chris (0425 292 688) a call. They’d love to hear from you.

Chris Crowe

Rosie Shilo

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The Ecotainer

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Cool, Transportable, Affordable

ING M O C N SOO

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The House In A Box

Innovative Flat Packed Building System

In response to government and private sector demand for affordable, energy efficient and quick to erect housing solutions, The House Factory is established - a first for Northern Australia.

The benefits of The House Factory include: Community capacity building

Affordable quality housing

Complete Value Chain Management

Money stays local

Employment Training opportunities

Working with indigenous groups

A Sustainable Industry

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STOP PRESS: THE HOUSE FACTORY WINS LANDCORP TENDER TO SUPPLY WORKERS CAMP FOR ORD STAGE 2

Visit our display homes and office at: Lot 25 Ivanhoe Road Kununurra WA 6743 Ph: 08) 9168 1075 www.thehousefactory.com.au

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INDUSTRY NEWS A4VB SURVEY The latest A4VB Virtual Assistant Survey has been e compiled and the results are in! To get your copy of the summary or full results and find out what some of the Aussie VA benchmarks are how you and your practice fits in, why not head over to the A4VB Website and follow the links at www.a4vb.com.au

VIRTUAL ASSISTANT E-BOOK JO SAUNDERS from Wildfire Social Marketing has been busy creating a great resource for clients and VA’s with templates, contacts, and information on what a virtual assistant is, what we do, how we do it and more! As well as conducted a presentation on LinkedIn Leverage for the OIVAC. Why not head over to her website to find out more today at www.wildfiresocialmarketing.com

FACEBOOK FOR PARENTS LYN PROWSE-BISHOP has been busy writing a great resource for parents on how to help empower parents in their efforts to protect their kids and influence teenager and pre-teen behaviour. Available in PDF download and for iPad, the book is an easy read with plenty of screenshots to help readers navigate Facebook settings. Head to http://www.execstress.com/pages/store.php for more info.

VIRTUAL ROUNDTABLE The Australian Chapter of A4VB recently hosted its first Virtual Roundtable, for members and guests that have a challenge in their virtual business and are struggling to overcome it. Held the last Thursday of each month, members & guests can participate in brainstorming sessions to discuss ideas around a 15 particular business challenge. Head to www.a4vb.com.au for more info!

EVENTS NEWS INDUSTRY OIVAC 2012 and IVAD OIVAC is the proud sponsor of International Virtual Assistants Day (IVAD)— a celebration of the Dedication, Experience, Expertise and Determination to Succeed (DEEDS) of all practicing VAs. Friday, May 18, 2012 was designated as IVADay and was commemorated as part of the Convention festivities. The theme: Innovate, Integrate, Motivate…with its multilevel course offerings, is designed to help VA’s learn to navigate the pressures and complexities that come with creating and maintaining a virtual business.

This year’s IVAD Celebration, held as part of the OIVAC Convention, was open to the public completely online. Janice Byer (www.docutype.com) and renee Chapman (www.theadminchick.com.au) are recipients of the VA industry's most prestigious awards, bestowed during the 7th annual online international gathering and program held in honor of the worldwide professional virtual assisting community. These honors were bestowed in memory of Janet Jordan, a pioneer in the VA industry and Thomas Leonard, identified symbolically as the industry's father. All nominees were of exceptional class and bring expertise, experience and high quality gifts to the Industry.

AVAC The Third annual Australian VA Conference was held in May 2012 and was another huge success with a wealth of knowledge and essential information for any new or veteran virtual assistant. AVAC was held in Melbourne and everyone who attended the event left feeling inspired, wiser and with the event being held in Melbourne there was talk of the venue changing next year to Sydney and other capital cities for a bit of a change. The networking opportunities were also fantastic. For VA’s to finally meet virtual colleagues & online friends in-real-life which further cemented the connection. There were virtual assistants who flew in from all over the expansive nation from WA, NT, NSW, ACT & QLD it was truly a national event.

Stay tuned for next years AVAC as it is very highly recommended for any budding VA out there.

For more info visit www.australianvaconference.com

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To all the Virtual Assistants and business managers out there Congratulations for all your hard work and efforts in the last three months or so, we thought we would share your success with everyone out there to show others what you can do with a bit of determination.

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Contact us at info@todays va.com.au

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Donna Brown, the Work From Home Queen, specialises in helping people become VA's, helping VA's grow their business and helping businesses to work more virtually in general.

For more information on how you can best take advantage of the VA industry, call her office on 1300 451 944 for a free complimentary chat to see how her solutions can help you today. www.donnabrown.com.au

Are you looking for a Motivational Speaker to fire up your team?

Do you need a secret weapon to get the results you want?

Are you looking for ways you and your team can "Get More" in uncertain times? www.warwickmerry.com

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What not to do when you start a new Virtual Support

by Rosie Shilo business.

Virtually Yours As a network manager, I’ve seen many start-up Virtual Support (or Virtual Assistant – called VA’s) businesses come through my network. I’ve seen new VA’s 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 VA’s who start up their new venture, and begin by emulating the VA’s 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 skill-set. 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 VA’s as ‘the competition’. The VA’s with the most successful businesses are those who have worked alongside other VA’s, 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.

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Virtual Angels

by Debra Rhyon Unlock the POWA www.thepowa.com

Imagine for a moment: • What if the work you do as a Virtual Assistant was only a fraction of what you were capable of?

• What if you could turbo-charge your service offering.

• What if you took the shackles off?

The shackles you know are there, clanking away when the going gets tough and you get frustrated about your ability to deliver to a deadline?

These shackles are largely emotional in their origin and generally have a defined root cause event. Believe it or not, these highly charged Four years ago I decided it was time to take my greatest gifts to the world. It was at this time I was introduced to the concept of the Virtual Assistant.

Actually I prefer to call you Virtual Angels.

What you bring to my life is amazing - from 18

the know-how, the resources, the practical how to, not to mention the friendship and companionships that have been created over the years.

But what I also realised quickly was that Virtual Angels also live complex lives, managing multiple priorities, often to

cover story:

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deadlines and having to deal with customers with various personalities!

It got me to thinking about what I could offer to the VA community through what I do so I could give back to you!

Waters Secrets Revealed Today I would like to share a secret that could change the way you live your life and do your work - it did for me... It is a secret because it is hidden from plain view although the world is gradually waking up to it!

Here it is: Every moment of every day we are creating the future we walk into.

Through my studies with Dr Emoto I got to witness first hand how our thoughts, words, intentions affect water by forming various crystals.

Here is an example of water exposed to the Japanese words 'Thank you' and 'You fool'.

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Thank You

You Fool.

Hmm... doesn't it make you wander about the words you use or think on a daily basis especially to ourselves!

In our 5 day mini series Waters Secrets Revealed we go more into depth on how water crystals are captured and different research done using words, prayer, intention and pictures. For those of you who are new to the work of Dr Emoto or need a refresher, I highly encourage you to discover more about what water is telling us about our life and our world though our mini series.

cover story: So if everything in the world around us contains water it follows that what we think, say, do will directly affect our destiny!

Now if that is not amazing enough, as a result of this study with water I began to work with emotions and past imprints. I began using a technology that could measure someone's limiting patterns - whether that was emotional or behavioral.

We recognise that we are the sum total of our past experiences and that we have layered our decision making processes with emotional imprints of these experiences.

These become our emotional 'hot-buttons' and when pressed, we immediately go into automatic mode and the reactive dragon in us comes out of hibernation. Suffice to say, we are not at our finest during these times.

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these emotional imprints and deal with the root cause while not rousing the dragon?

What I found was when I began working with clients who were seeking answers to their health and well-being, that after discovering their limiting imprints and healing them, other areas of their lives started to change including their relationships with loved ones, colleagues and clients.

For the virtual angels who are dealing with customers all day long it is important to know where your hot buttons are. Once you are aware of them then you can use a simple process of recognising when they have been pushed and replace the automatic reaction with a freely chosen, considered response that generates more of what you wish for in your world - delighted customers, being more productive, generating more abundance and success and being happy!

How then, do we defuse or earth ('ground') To learn more about how our thoughts, emotions and imprints can affect our world we invite you to join our 5 day mini series Waters Secrets Revealed. At the end of this series you can choose to get a Personal POWA Reading to know for certain your unique hot buttons that keep you from your true success and wellbeing.

Debra Rhyon is committed to raising the vibrational consciousness of humanity. She believes that the seeds of greatness are inherent within each of us, lying dormant, waiting to germinate. Through her studies with Dr Emoto she found that we all carry emotional imprints that are programmed from birth. These imprints lead us to believe that we are less than we really are and that we are only a small, lonely and irrelevant voice in the Universe.

Debra's gift is her ability to help people recognise and remove these limiting imprints to allow the seeds of greatness within each of us to grow, blossom and bear fruit. She has developed simple and easy to use tools that allow people to find their voice and muster the courage to live the life they were meant to live.

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Virtual Assistants, How you can benefit by using one!

By Renee Chapman A Virtual Assistant is someone who can provide administrative support to businesses directly from their location, using email, the internet, postal or courier services, video-conferencing software or the telephony. They are able to do the day-to-day tasks that keep your business running smoothly while you can concentrate on growing your business and having time to do other activities that are essential to your success.

Virtual assistants have made the time & effort to set up their own workstation from home (or another location) and have all the experience, qualifications, equipment, and materials needed to provide this service to you. They manage their own tax records, Superannuation contributions, Annual Leave, training required and so on, so that you don't have to worry about the hidden costs of employing extra staff members.

All Virtual Assistants are unique and have a range of different skills that they are able to assist others with. Every client is different and what we do really depends on what your business needs for growth. It could be typing up letter, working out how your business can save money, bookkeeping, data entry or setting up a social media profile. It's always going to be different.

There are many times where a virtual assistant can come in very handy for you or your business. Just imagine you have a huge week on your hands where you need to organize a meeting for the coming month, including creating documentation, such as agendas, invites, organizing accommodation, catering, attendees etc. You also have a huge amount of priority paperwork that needs to be entered into a database and processed by the end of the week, as well as having to answer the phone and address client inquiries and a status report for two other projects that needs to be done ASAP. You may not have the time to do it

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all in the deadline you have.

A Virtual Assistant could help you out by doing one or more of these tasks and have it completed by the end of the week for an agreed price, a package price or a rate specified in a contract. It may take 1 hour or 5 hours but at least you will know that when you delegate a task to a VA it will be done within the time frame you specify and the job is done and dusted and there's no need to worry about it anymore.

Let's take another example. What about if you have your own business and you are having a lot of trouble with keeping up-to-date with your financial records because you're just too busy. You don't have time to do it as there are just not enough hours in a day but you know it needs to be done. You could hire a Virtual Assistant to take on this task for you for a couple of hours or if you wanted to, a few hours a month. They would do the work you need, prepare it for you, deliver it to you when you require it and it's one less task you need to concern yourself with.

You don't have to be in business or have a job to gain help from a VA either. You could need someone to help you draft a copy of your resume or CV, or even a letter that you may need help with writing. The list of when you might need a Virtual Assistant is endless. It's also cost-effective, 100% productive and worth a try.

Virtual Assistants, How you can benefit by using one!

By Renee Chapman Virtual Assistants work from an office location of their choice. This means that they may be located in a home office, they could rent an office, or they can even conduct work from the local library or cafe if they wanted to, with the new technology that is available now, the ways of getting work done can be maximized and more efficient by using devices such as mobile devices, laptops, Blackberries or Net-books.

Most Virtual Assistants work from a home office and/or on a mobile basis. If you live close by to where a Virtual Assistant is located, some may also be able to offer a service where they come to you and perform your requested work on site. Virtual Assistants work this way because it makes sense. If you think about it realistically, as a business owner or manager, employee costs are fairly high.

Now, we don't want to take employees jobs away, not at all, we are just offering an alternative for you so that if you need a trained professional, who has their own office space, equipment, takes care of their own training and professional development, can work unsupervised, pay their own taxes, look after their own insurances and superannuation obligations and work confidentially and possess the knowledge of running their own business, then maybe a Virtual Assistant might be a better alternative to hiring someone who you may need to train, provide employee benefits and allowances, tea breaks, leave loading, Superannuation Payments and more.

Of course the concept of a Virtual Assistant or Virtual Professional isn't for everyone and there are still many, many businesses in Australia who don't even know what a Virtual Assistant is. In saying that Virtual Businesses are increasing in popularity in states such Victoria, New South Wales and

Queensland. Plus, the need to get work done faster, better and easier is seeing many more virtual businesses on the rise. So why not give it a go, see what it's all about and you never know it may be the solution you've been needing for a long time.

Renee Chapman is The Admin Chick Supportive, Professional, Real Virtual Assistance!

Helping you and your business grow virtually!

For small business owners and non-profits in Regional and Remote Australia. Visit: http:// www.theadminchick.com.au

TODAYSVA.COM.AU

What I want Wednesdays Below are the goals that some of our VA’s have for their business. We’d like to help them achieve those goals!

Linden Vine I am launching my business on 1 March 2012, and I want to replace my income by 1 September 2012. I’m currently on maternity leave with my second child and don’t want to go back to working outside the home.

Lara Thomas E-assistant services is slowly but surely growing in the direction that I want but I would like to get more fitness industry clients (Personal Trainers in particular) and would also love a couple of long term retainer clients (don’t have to be fitness industry people/companies) to ensure a regular income from month to month. Things are a bit too erratic at the moment, one month will be great and then the next really slow.

Below are some of the things our members want from VYVA: •

•

•

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At the moment, I would like to gain ideas that may help me in my business as well as learn things I wasn’t aware of. I’d like to network with other VA’s, and eventually be able help others through my experiences.

I did wonder if a directory of VYVA members’ expertise could be placed somewhere for other members to access, so for instance, if I needed advice from somebody in relation to setting up a Facebook account for my business, I could go to the VYVA website and find the people who had listed their names as people who offer that service or are willing to just hand out advice for that particular thing, so everyone’s expertise listed in an easy to find place. Or if I was willing to assist people wanting to get into transcription, I could add my name as someone they can contact and ask questions. Or if we get queries from clients and we don’t offer the service they are asking for, we can immediately hand them a contact by searching the VYVA website and referring them on.

Continued support and company from the great group that makes up this network. I’m not 100% sure that I utilise the site to the best of its ability so maybe a re- introduction to using the site for people like me who just want to check that they’re making the most of it and also for new joiners. I seem to remember something like this did used to happen?

TODAYSVA.COM.AU

News from Virtually Yours With over 100 Virtual Assistants now members of Virtually Yours, we have a great pool of experienced and giving VAs who are helping each other grow.

Working from a home based office can be a lonely experience. It can be easy to lose motivation or to get distracted by day to day tasks - especially when there are kids in the picture!

So to realise that I very rarely lose motivation and passion for my business was a really lovely feeling, and one that I attribute to online forums for sole traders working 'virtually'.

Members of Virtually Yours provide a variety of services but tend to categorise themselves as 'Virtual Assistants'. This simply identifies that they 'assist you remotely'. They work from their own offices. But it doesn't say much about what they actually do.

We have sole traders on the Virtually Yours network who are qualified bookkeepers, website designers, event managers, medical transcriptionists, writers, formatting experts, tender writers, social media experts - and so much more. We can see that the concept of the 'Virtual Assistant' is so much broader now than it used to be, now that almost everyone has accepted the benefits of online service provision.

The thing that is really amazing about the 23

Virtual Assistant Industry is that while the roles are so varied, the support and encouragement that VAs often show each other belies how different their skills and experience are.

Where else would you expect a bookkeeper to willingly share information about GST to a medical transcriptionist, who is not on their books? And to share said information with 100 other home-based professional?

And where else would you expect a social media expert to share a 5 minute chocolate pudding recipe to a web designer to cheer them up after a day of html horrors? - on a VA forum of course!

So if you are working from home, and feel a bit isolated at times, I highly encourage you to join an online forum that has dedicated professionals in your field (usually a network of some kind) that you can turn to for advice, support, laughs and friendship.

Virtually Yours!

Rosie Shilo VA Network Manager www.virtuallyyours.com.au

TODAYSVA.COM.AU

Time Management

by Renee Chapman - The Admin Chick Good time management is essential to success in business. Planning your time allows you to spread your work load, avoid getting caught up, and cope with work stress.

Being in business often involves meeting deadlines, and unless you plan ahead, you’ll find it impossible to manage. To meet your work demands you need to spread your workload over a specific time period. Work out what needs to be done and when. Work out how to use your available time as efficiently as possible. God knows, in the last few months I have been in need of a second self and found these tips useful so thought I would share them with you.

Plan Ahead and Prioritise The first step to good time management is to prioritise your tasks. In other words, deciding which task is most important and should be completed first. For example, in a choice between typing correspondence for a report due in four weeks or preparing a webinar presentation in two weeks, choose to prepare the presentation.

To prioritise successfully you must develop weekly and long term time management plans. Many people find long, medium and short term planning useful for organising their work. Planning ahead saves time, stress and energy.

Use a Yearly Planner A yearly planner you can place on your wall or by your desk allows you to plan your workload over an entire session and helps to remind you about deadlines and upcoming commitments.

Place the planner in a position where you have easy access to it.

Write in the dates that work and jobs are due and important dates are scheduled.

Work out how long you will need to complete each 24 task. Allow yourself plenty of time.

Remember to allow for extra workload. Set start dates for each task and write them on your planner.

Draw lines back from the due dates to ‘start’ dates. Use different colour pens for different clients, jobs or events. Doing this will give you a good indication of how much time you have to complete tasks and cue you to start them.

Be Flexible Some weeks will be busier than others, and unforeseen things can happen. Remember that a timetable or weekly planner is only a guide. You don’t have to follow it religiously every week, but try to stick to your plan as best you can. If you plan a time slot and miss it, don’t panic—look at the schedule and rearrange your time.

Be Realistic A great deal of time management is really about taking responsibility for your business.

The best plan is to be aware of how much time you have and to manage it effectively.

Be realistic about your time and what you can do with it.

v

v

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Think you’re pretty good at Cryptic Crosswords? Well, why not try this one on for size for your chance to win a Today’s VA! Magazine Prize Pack, including heaps of free offers and goodies! Answers will be in the next edition of Today’s VA! Magazine, January Edition, along with the winner’s name and details. So for your chance to win simply complete the crossword and email the answers to reneech@westnet.com.au using the Virtually Impossible Entry Form on The Admin Chick’s website at www.theadminchick.com.au/page_22.html

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Good Luck!

Time Wasters

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HOW TO GET MORE LIKES ON FACEBOOK by www.theoatmeal.com

ANAGRAM How many words can you find in the scrambled letters.

COLEIMADSAI __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________ 26

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Contact: Management Team Ph: 0437 485 750 Fax: 08)6230 5294 Email: info@todaysva.com.au Web: www.todaysva.com.au

TODAYSVA.COM.AU

A Balancing Act

By Chris Crowe - C Squared Virtual Admin Services As I write this, it is 3:45 on a Thursday afternoon and I am sitting at VicRoads waiting for my son while he goes for his Learner’s Permit.

This is one of the reasons I love having my own business. The flexibility is just fantastic! I can spend an hour running around (or sitting around as the case may be today) and then do some work a bit later tonight if I want to.

Although I wont need to today because in this instance I chose to get up a bit earlier and start work earlier this morning!

There can be a bit of a trap with this though – one that I fell into late last year and from time to time threaten to fall into again.

I’d get up and turn the computer on first thing in the morning “Just to check my emails”. Before I knew it, it was 11:00am and I was still in my pj’s and hadn’t had any breakfast! I’d scoff down some food, have a quick shower and race back to the computer and sit there all day, sometimes have lunch, only to finish up about 6pm when I realised that everyone was home and hungry and it was time to cook dinner!

The thing is, I was only kidding myself that I was working hard. Mostly I was checking emails (subscriptions!), checking social media, reading blogs or interesting articles on relevant, work related things. I had some client work, but nowhere near enough to sustain the hours I was working! To put it simply, I was very busy trying to look busy.

Sure I was making connections and learning heaps but I was running myself ragged doing it. I had to find a balance.

This year, I have decided to get real!

And it is so much better. I have always said that to get more done, you need to take the time to plan properly and I realised that it was about time to practice what I preached! So now I get up, make the kids lunches, go for a 30 minute walk or it it’s raining a ride on my exercise bike. After I’ve had a shower, I sit down for breakfast with 28 a cookbook and decide what we’ll

have for dinner. I then make sure I’ve got what I need and make a list of anything I need to buy.

Work for me starts about 9am and I have a half hour break for lunch before finishing up at about 3:00pm. Then I’ll either do something around the house or pop out for ingredients for dinner. I can take the kids to their sport training and actually spend some time chatting to them about their day! Dinner’s on the table between 6:30 – 7:00, all the dishes done and a cuppa in front of the TV with my husband to end the day.

This is a much better way for me to cope. One of the hardest things about working at home can be the lack of routine and by making myself do the same thing every day, it’s slowly becoming a habit and I feel much more in control. I can still do the research and read all my subscriptions, but I do it when I know everything else is done and to be honest, if there’s garbage on TV, I’ll sit there with my laptop rather than watch TV. It’s been great to force some routine into my life and I still slip up sometimes, but I feel so much more in control and in the time that I have allocated to work, I’m actually getting so much more done.

So, busy readers – See you next time.

Chris

TODAYSVA.COM.AU

A4VB Australia is the Alliance for Virtual Businesses’ chapter in Australia and its role is to provide a local support base for its Australian members under the umbrella of the US-based Alliance for Virtual Businesses.

Any A4VB Australian Alliance members will have all the same rights, privileges and training opportunities that the host Membership Organisation has but with a local flavour and a local committee.

The role of the host organisation, A4VB, is to provide appropriate information, education, coaching, training, networking and mentoring for up and coming and also existing virtual businesses. A4VB is about learning, sharing and networking to support each other in our business goals and needs. The A4VB is also about building relationships to enable us to work together to further grow and develop our businesses and help them to become strong and profitable.

The Alliance is also a place where existing business owners can find their perfect match when looking for their virtual business needs.

If you are an aspiring, emerging, or seasoned virtual business we invite you to join our community and share your knowledge, experience and expertise with other encouraging entrepreneurs.

Not a member yet? What are you waiting for! www.a4vb.com.au 29

rosie’s revelations:

TODAYSVA.COM.AU

Rosie’s Rev lations:

by Rosie Shilo Virtually Yours www.virtuallyyours.com.au

This year I decided to participate in a Dare Challenge which is being run by Tania Usher from Dare Magazine .

I signed up with fellow Virtual Assistants, Linden Vine and Hazel Theocharous after seeing a link to it on Hazel’s facebook page.

The idea is to challenge yourself to do more than you would normally do - to identify what you’ve been putting off, what you could be achieveing, what you are neglecting - and do something about it.

Participants are sent a beautiful journal in which they write about their challenges and they are connected with other participants so they can share the journey.

What I’ve discovered is that I am naturally someone who ‘dares’. I do things that frighten me all the time! And I love it!

Since starting the challenge I have done dares that I hadn’t even realised were self-dares until I was in above my waist.

From participating in the “Tough Mudder” challenge, pictured, (www.toughmudder.com) chopping off all my hair and then dying it red, getting my daughter’s name tattooed to my wrist (ouch!) to taking over the management of a fabulous online network with a new business partner - all in a matter of months!

To stay excited and motivated, I find I need to challenge myself and be creative about my work and my life.

But strangely I’ve found it hard to actually identify dares to set for myself - I don’t tend to dare myself - I just do it. As my peers and friends know, I “feel the fear and do it anyway!”.

So what challenges you and what inspires you to do “more”? In business or personally, do you stretch yourself to change and grow on an ongoing basis? Do you sit in your comfort zone and watch other people fly by?

What’s stopping you?

On behalf of the inspiring crew in the Dare Challenge, I ask you to dare to face what is stopping you from being as awesome as YOU’D like to be. Not as awesome as you think others want you to be - this is about what you want for you.

Go on, I dare you!

My team at the Tough Mudder 2012 Melbourne Challenge. (me second from left.)

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Check out the dare challenge at www.dareoutloud.com

Feel Good Factor with Renee...

POSITIVE THINKING

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It’s already been determined in the hourly rate.

Let’s say you need a tender to be submitted but you just don’t have the time to do it yourself. Instead of hiring someone for hours work and having to go through the rigmarole of employment obligations, processes & conditions, you can hire The Admin Chick and only pay for the hours needed to get the job done!

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Money Makes the World Go Round!

By Renee Chapman

Money is one of those things that makes most of us crazy! You either have lots of it or none of it. It's seems that we give this commodity a lot more power than we should, to the point that it actually controls our lives and base our beliefs and values systems on it. Sometimes, there comes a time when we really need to think of money for exactly what it is, a state of mind. Our attitude towards wealth and money seems more important than any other aspect in our lives. For some it is even more important than anything else in the world.

Which, from my point of view seems very sad indeed.

Let's think about it. How we think and feel about money seems to determine how we live in society these days. If we have lots of money, and a high paying job, then it seems logical to think that we are better off and positive about our future and in turn, others in society are likely to be attracted or think highly of us. However, If we don't have a great deal of money, don't have a job, or have the security of a permanent job, then we are much more inclined to develop disorders such as Depression and such as well as the opinion of other in society looking down on us for not 'Keeping up with the Jones'.

To instigate change in our thoughts about money, either having or not, we really must start with changing our mindset and our ards predetermined opinions we have towards perity. others around money and social prosperity.

From change comes the power and e the determination to adjust and really see real value in life.

Here are some things you may like to do for those situations where you feel ey, uncomfortable when you spend money, or feel depressed about your financiall state, or at any other time when you e in need to keep positive of your outcome life.

Gratitude ay Be Grateful for what you have. This may

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sound basic and like something your parents used to say to you when you were little, but, to be honest, it works. Take a notepad and write down all the good things that you have in your life. Don't concentrate on what is lacking and don't focus of material possessions or bank balances. Think of things like: Your Best Friend, the love of your dog, a roof over your head, the birds that fly around in the garden. the heat that makes your shower hot, the family members you have in your life and so on. Once you've done this, write a list of the things that someone from across the other side of the world might have to feel grateful for in life.

Compare the two lists and really think about the differences in your answers compared to the answers in the other list. Chances are you will have a lot more to feel grateful for than you realise.

Self Esteem Whenever you feel bad or negative about money, try to see it for it really is. Whenever you receive your paycheck or you get that payment deposited into your bank account from a client sale, why not pause for a moment and think to yourself "I've earned this money by working hard for it but I will not take it for granted. The money itself is only a reward for my personal efforts, it is not an acknowledgement of my status in the world."

Money Makes the World Go Round!

To become successful is not just about how much money you have, it can also be about your reputation in your line of work. For me, being successful in my business is more about how many satisfied clients I have, rather than, how much money I have in the bank. My reputation in the business world and how far I have come in my journey is much more important to me than having money to flash around.

Money Journal Creating priorities is essential to find the money you need for your own self-care. To decide what your priorities grab a note pad and create a list with these categories: • Amount Spent (e.g. $8.50) • On What (e.g. Books, Lunch, Songs or Apps) • Feelings (e.g. Felt guilty afterwards, Felt good to read to magazine) Once you have written down all the things you have spent for one month have a look at the patterns and try to figure out what to spend your money on in the future. For example, I don't enjoy buying my lunch but I love buying apps for my PDA, so I make my own lunch and save money every week to buy a $20 music voucher so I can buy more of the things I like. By paying attention on how you feel when you buy things you can rearrange your resources to better suit your real needs and feel good about the things you buy instead of feeling guilty or feeling bad.

Intuition Next time you want to buy something, get in the habit of asking yourself: • Do I really need this? Why am I buying this?

• If I buy this will I still have enough money to pay for...?

Asking these questions will trigger your intuition and help you when you're feeling unsure if you should buy that latest item or not. If you think about it before you act, you can think about the effect it may have if you buy it or if you don't. It may leave you short for that power bill you need to pay next week or it might be okay to buy it this week but you may not be able to buy the following week.

When it comes to money, I agree it does make the world go around but I feel that there is way too much emphasis on how much of it we have and the importance that some of put on money as being seen as a successful person. If you have tips, stories or comments then I'd love to hear from you.

Next Issue

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Look out for our next issue in

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2013

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