If you have ever accidently deleted a file or a whole folder of files here is a tip and trick to save your bacon!

I was recently reading an article about how the lack of confidence can negatively affect you on a job interview. This was of particular interest to me because I am not a natural extrovert. Although I am highly confident in my skills and talent I don’t always show that confidence to others. The first months of my business were wrought with woes of me not selling my services confidently to clients. This certainly presented challenges to growing my business.

Now the years have passed and I was recently contacted by a newbie Virtual Assistant. She wanted to subcontract with Olinda Services. I replied to her with my usual “Thank you for contacting Olinda Services. Please share with me your strengths and what salary range you…” I received a response back which made me sigh. The poor dear had no idea she had stumbled upon several items that aggravate me. I decided to give her answer a little time before I responded so that I could provide creative, supportive but challenging feedback.

What did her response have to do with confidence?

I am so glad you asked! This list is composed of items I see on a regular basis even within the corporate world. My goal is build you up to show your confidence and wow your potential client.

1. No Signature Line | Do you ever receive an email with no signature or only the first name. You then refer to their email address only to find out that it does not give their name. If your email address only contains a generic string of characters and numbers I have no way of knowing who you are. Be confident when sending out emails. Shout from the roof top who you are! If you are a business owner and have a domain use your domain email. Using a domain email says to the client “I am a real business”. My second choice would be to use my business name such as olindaservices@gmail.com. There have been rare occasions that my Exchange Server has gone down and I had to resort to using my Gmail account. The email address though immediately notified the client with my branding.  Have your first and last name, business name, email address, phone number and web address at the minimum in your signature line. You never know when someone might forward that email to someone else and you are just the person they are looking for. They have all the information to contact you!
2. Know Your Strengths | If you know Microsoft Office tell me what your strengths are in Office. Some people have basic knowledge and some people have advanced knowledge. A client needs to know that to make an informed decision about hiring you. Do you have fortes in customer relations, travel arrangements, video editing, document management? List out what those strengths are. If you have a strength with a particular software or online product give more details. The client may not know what the program Jing is. Say instead “I have a strong talent in producing short informational videos to show customers short cuts to make their lives easier.” You are speaking to a direct want the client has. They may use a different piece of software, but the result is the same.
3. Research Your Client | Before responding to any potential client I research them. I want to know as much about them as possible. Is their business one I want to associate with? Be confident and feel free to say no to a client that is not a suitable match. They will be happier in the end, and you certainly will be!
4. Research Your Rates | Whether you set your rates as hourly or project do your research and have a rate available for the potential client. I remember those first 6 months of my business when I would give my rate out and hold my breath. “They are going to think I am nuts!” It did take some doing, but I found out that the clients who were uncomfortable with paying my rates were not optimal clients for me. Again that confidence comes into play. You have to believe that your services are worth every penny. If you don’t believe it, the client won’t believe it. Jeannine Clontz just posted and excellent article about setting rates. On my LinkedIn Virtual Assistant Tips & Tricks group someone recommended a rate calculator at http://freelanceswitch.com/rates/. I decided to check it and after entering the data it came up with my current hourly rate. A Pretty cool tool.

For all of your seasoned professionals out there what was your worst mistake in starting out? In spite of all of our growing pains and lessons learned while building our confidence, it is all pressing toward the goal of seeing your business grow and prosper in 2012!

I contacted a large software provider earlier this month about a glitch with their program. The first time I called I was told I had to purchase customer support at a hefty price tag. I tried to solve the problem on my own and finally purchased the customer support plan. After spending 1.5 hours on the phone with the company support and speaking with 5 different specialists, the problem remains unsolved. Since their customer service closed at 9 a.m. and they put me on hold at 8:45 p.m. and never picked up I figured I was beat!

I have found that to be true when personally dealing with Amazon. Just a few weeks ago, during the Holiday rush, I ordered some items on Amazon, expecting a delivery in two days. The boxes were on my doorstop in about 18 hours. I was a extremely satisfied customer, and I have retold that story to at least ten friends. And I spread the word electronically to perhaps thousands of friends online. Word of mouth is extraordinarily powerful.

By contrast, a local business recently served me terribly, and I told others in person and online as well. I try to give a favourable report, but sometimes companies don’t try terribly hard to fix customer service problems. The local business called me and left a message on my home phone after I had posted on their Facebook page. Somewhat clueless, since a response on their Facebook page could have solved my problem and shown many other people online how they were trying to help a customer. After that one phone message, they never tried to reach me again.

When I first started out in business, it was drilled into me that the customer is ALWAYS right. Do whatever you can to keep the customer happy and loyal. The rules seem to have changed. Are customers now disposable? What can your business do to enhance the level of customer satisfaction? Do your customers/clients feel that your product or service has met their expectations? A customer service experience can change the entire perception a customer has of your organization, and that can be beneficial or awful, legendary or disastrous.

Do you have a story of outstanding customer service? Please share it with us!

I had a logo and website header designed through a company named Logonerds in May of 2010. I was very pleased with the end results. They worked closely with me and developed a product that I have been very happy with. Great job right?

Breakdown

I received a letter on 28 November 2011 from Getty Images informing me that one of the images used in my website header was not licensed and charging me a whopping $1,225.00 USD bill! I have reached out on several occasions to Logonerd to resolve the problem. I first used the customer login interface and communicated that Getty Images was seeking damages for the unlawful use of the image. I waited 3 days and went to log back in and contact them again. I have lost access to the customer login interface and they don’t even “recognize” my username or email address. I then wrote a polite email again stating the problem and as of today have received no communication from them.

Breakthrough

I really would like to turn this breakdown into a breakthrough. I despise unresolved items and would like to give Logonerds the benefit of the doubt that they have mislaid my email communication and that the lack of access to my customer login page is just a fluke. I encourage them to contact me and help me resolve this.

I have removed my website header designed by Logonerds from my site. Getty Images is promising to pursue me paying the entire amount since they consider Logonerds a third party vendor.

I would love to have your feedback. Have you faced a similar crisis? How did you resolve?

I spent this afternoon meticulously going through my Twitter account. I have followed over 3,900 in the past two years. I have come to realize that there is no possible way I can meaningfully communicate with that many people. Most of them I do not know and never actually “spoken” with. I did not use any of the countless tools available to blindly remove who I was following but thoughtfully went through the process deciding who had added value to my social media life over the past year.

My challenge to you for 2012 is to evaluate your social media. Is it adding value to your life or distracting you? I had come to the point that I did not even want to go into Twitter because it was all meaningless chatter. Noise! “Why bother, nobody talks to me any way.” Then I thought “when is the last time I conversed with one of my Twitter friends?” It is like going to a party and there is so much noise you can’t even talk with the person next to you. I need to get back to listening.

Free yourself in 2012 to have a wonderful circle of influence with those around you. Most of the people I left on my list were the first people I added to my list in February of 2009. I want to get back to my roots and renew and reacquaint myself with those who have added meaning and value to my life and my business.

How do you manage your social media noise?

I have been on a quest to find business insurance for Olinda Services. As a virtual assistant I have found that my business has specialized needs and my quest has proved arduous.

My first stop was to check with local small business owners for a referral. I received several and was told no by several insurance companies. Many never even returned my calls.

One insurance agent in Maryland, Bob Kuhs, demonstrated true professionalism and helpfulness. He patiently explained the different types of insurance and what I should probably be looking for. I received a quote for general liability but really felt I needed to look for E&O and find more information geared towards the VA industry. He graciously offered to review any quotes that I received. Onward my quest continued.

After sending out some feeler emails to the virtual assistant leaders in the US I finally found one company that specializes in professional liability coverage for VAs. Tawyna Sutherland of VANetworking.com sent me the link to the Virtual Assistant Protection Plan (VAPP). For more information click here.

Quite by accident I came across another resource.  I recently joined IVAA International Virtual Assistant Association and was looking through their resources. One of the business partners offers liability insurance.  For more information click here.

I filled out all of my applications and anticipate someone getting back with me. After all of that paperwork someone better get back with me!

Who do you have your business insurance through? Any tips or tricks?

Do you work 24/7? With owning my own business, my client load, my responsibilities as a wife and mother I could work 24/7! I usually handle the pressure okay but eventually it gets to me.  Here are some symptoms of 24/7 overload…

1. You are grumpy with those closest to you. You snap at the least provocation.
2. You let the client project slip slightly and don’t deliver your best work.
3. Your bills are getting paid late.
4. Your joy is GONE!

How do you cure work overload?

Determine to take at least one-day or at the least 3-hours and devote it to something you love. For me it is anything creative. That is where my joy is. That is what gets my juices flowing!

Today I determined it was time to take the kids & husband hiking and do some photography. I don’t get to indulge in that hobby often and took great pleasure in exploring a Wildlife Refuge. Below are some samples of my work and a brief description of why I enjoyed these shots in particular.

Here we found a lone mushroom reveling in the little bit of sun shining through the brush.

I love landscape paintings. My grandmother was a wonderful artistic and I am privileged to have a selection of her paintings gracing my home. Since I can’t paint I like to take pictures of landscapes and use them as backgrounds on my computer monitors.

Here is a picture of an old World War II bunker wall. I am standing in front and taking a picture through the window and you can see nature peaking through and over the back wall.

I took a few hours of my day and took great delight in capturing images that will remind me of the day and time I spent with my family. As I go into next week I will be much more relaxed with my creative juices flowing and ready to tackle the new work week.

Take a moment and share with our readers what do you to relax?

Recently my trusty companion became slack and stopped doing its job properly. I tried to shame it into submission but unfortunately my iPhone just would not connect to my mail server. All of my feeble attempts failed miserably.

I finally broke down and contacted customer support with my Exchange 2010 account. I chatted online with Sherweb and they had me delete the account and reenter my settings (steps I had already done). They sent me a trusty little worksheet to guide me through the process. Regrettably this attempt also failed.

Finally I pulled out a secret resource who let me in on another possible solution. They had me reset my Network  Settings on my iPhone 4. I had to beg their indulgence to walk me through the process. A word of warning before I walk you through the process. It will erase your wi-fi settings and passcodes. If that is difficult for you to recreate you may want to pause before doing the following steps!

iPhone 4 Reset Network Settings

• Click on Settings
• Click on General
• Scroll down to the bottom and click on Reset
• Click on Reset Network Settings
• On the next screen you will need to enter your 4-digit passcode

You will reaffirm your commitment on the next screen and press the red Reset Network Settings button.

You then get the Apple icon and you will wait. When your network settings are reset you will again need to enter your 4-digit passcode.

I now encourage you to retry your Exchange account. You will need to reenter your wi-fi settings and passcodes. Let me know of your success or failure. I hope of course that this will bring you SUCCESS!

I was recently asked to do a social media marketing plan presentation for an organization. SurveyTelligence is a diagnostic tool powered by Infotool. They have a great product and are trying to build their brand in intelligent survey design. I received my certification in using the tool back in May of 2011. The survey tool helps organizations uncover issues that degrade workforce performance, productivity, organizational alignment, engagement, culture, leadership and essentially the bottom line.

The presentation included a group of consultants that work with SurveyTelligence. The goal is to work together as a team to build brand awareness.

I started out the presentation by asking what their social media goals were. I encouraged them to listen to their audience, encourage questions, respond to the audience and be different than the competition.

I then encouraged them to go all the way with social media. Think of it as a stool. Every leg you put on your social media stool strengthens your message and adds stability to your company brand.

Your social media stool …

• Website
• Blog | for a professional audience try to use a domain name and not Blogspot or WordPress domains
• Advertise with free services such as Google Place, Yahoo! Local, & Bing Business Portal

I also use a free listing in the Yellow Pages directory and showed how when I Google “Olinda Services” in Middletown, DE mine is the #1 site which helps drive up my credibility as a legitimate business owner.

Add to the social media stool …

• LinkedIn – build a company profile, a professional profile and participate in groups; answer questions
• Twitter – have fun, engage you audience
• Facebook – more social and conversational; post controversial stuff, ask questions
• YouTube – promote your brand; appeal to visual learners

SurveyTelligence has some of these elements and are building their brand and broadening their social media positioning. Here are some areas that I encouraged them to focus on as they continue to build their brand.

Build the audience and the message by …

1. Branding their YouTube page to reflect their logo, color scheme and website. Specifically to build a custom page to use for their background. Encourage people to comment on their videos and repurpose the content regularly.
2. Brand their Facebook page to reflect a person, color scheme, brand the site.
   • Bring in fresh content through Google alerts.
   • Be personable
   • Show their knowledge
   • Connect with others

This is really true for all of their social media sites needing a concerted effort to tie in with in each other.

Search Engine Optimization

I advised them to look at their search engine optimization (SEO). I considered their product and thought what would I as a potential client Google to find out more about the tool. I Googled “corporate survey tool”. They were listed on page 4, mid-page. Although they have an excellent product, the search engines aren’t catching wind of it. I suggested they look at tweaking their keywords and incorporating them in the posts that they write, varying them with upper and lower case, plural and singular. I also encouraged them to comment on other blogs linking back to their blog in an organic way.

Google Alerts

Google Alerts is a wonderful tool that serves so many purposes. It monitors the web and can give you information about your business and your competition. Set it up to monitor your keywords. Set it up to find more information about potential clients. It is a great way to obtain fresh content to use in all of your social media streams and it is FREE!

Maximize Your Message

I encouraged them to produce an editorial calendar for the message of the week.

1. Produce one new blog post weekly
2. Produce one new tweet daily
3. Produce one original Facebook message daily
4. Produce one original LinkedIn message daily

I do not encourage my clients to duplicate the same content across all social media streams. Some of my followers follow me on multiple media streams. I don’t want them to become bored with my content. There are great tools available to use to manage and schedule your social media campaign but do check in regularly and thank those who retweet and post comments on your Facebook page. Respond to those LinkedIn comments and thank, thank, thank your audience for participating.

Share … don’t Shill!

I encouraged the consultants who attended the presentation and SurveyTelligence to follow a few basic rules when it comes to social media.

• Be a resource
• Help your audience
• Pay it forward
• Tell customer stories
• Speak the language your audience understands
• HAVE FUN!

What do you have to add to the social media stream?

I have spent the past four hours trying to use my Word 2010 program. I opened a document from a client that had some glitch in it. It kept wanting to change my normal template and shut down Word. Every time it shut down it saved another copy of the file as a recovered document.

I scanned the document for a virus but did not find one. After repairing my Word program, uninstalling and reinstalling the program, I Googled frantically trying to find a solution. No one had the answer!

I finally had a Eureka moment. Why not start Word in safe mode? After holding the “ctrl” button while clicking on the Word icon it allowed me to start in safe mode. Then I was able to delete the “recovered” files. After deleting the files I exited Word and went back in. It worked! I finally have my Word back.

Short and Sweet – If you are locked out of Word getting error messages, try opening Word in safe mode by holding down the “ctrl” key while clicking on the Word icon.

Do you have a Word tip you are just itching to share that will save us tons of time and effort? Please feel free to comment below!