Welcome back to Dotgs Virtual Assistant Podcast for this October 2006.
Can you believe its already October?

Before I begin to today I wanted to announce the winner from out last podcast call to action, but before I even do that I wanted to thank all of you who submitted your entries they were really great to read and done with a lot of feeling....so thank you! Our winner was Jean Darrand all the way from Alaska, I hope you enjoy your DOTG Gift Bag you definitely earned it!

I am not going to spend a huge amount of time this week as I know that everyone likes to listen and go but let me ask you what do you think a Virtual Assistant is? Or Virtual? Send me your thoughts, answers, and remember there are no right or wrong replies this is your call to action.

I hope that all of you have a great week and keep your questions and thoughts coming in I really enjoy receiving them and answering them. Please also remember to check out www.documentsonthego.com and also please check out http://web.mac.com/dotgs
& lastly remember to check out www.brilliantonline.ca

Okay, go surf and listen and have fun!

Thank you for everyone's submission from last weeks podcast the winner will be announced this coming week.

I am posting this extra podcast as I wanted to share with you an amazing client of mine...Listen On!

Look for next weeks podcast and please remember to check out www.documentsonthego.com and http://web.mac.com/dotgs.

Lisa

Dotgs Virtual Assistant Business Podcast

This Podcast comes with a prize…read on to find how you can win!
The Prize will be awarded to the best submission!

Welcome back to Dotgs Virtual Assistant Business Podcast, I have been working diligently to prepare this podcast and to answer some of the many questions that I have received regarding my last podcast and also to answer some of the questions about becoming a Virtual Assistant and opening your very own Virtual Assistant Business. Obviously, I am not going to be able to answer everyone’s questions in just one podcast but I will do my best to get everyone whether a new listener of this podcast or a veteran listener off to a great start.

The most obvious place to start is to define what a Virtual Assistant is, I have done a lot of research to try and find a good definition of what a Virtual Assistant is but I have to admit I have yet to find one that actually describes a VA in its entirety. A VA is someone who performs administrative tasks for a person or business from a different location. Is that too simple? I would have to say it sounds simple but as a VA I can honestly say it just isn’t that simple….That is what most of the ‘definitions’ I have found describe a VA as but in reality a VA performs such a wide array of administrative tasks in many different ways and those tasks are always done virtually. One of things that I always try to stress to both clients and those who want to become VA’s is that the first task of becoming a Virtual Assistant is to be able to understand that you are different to each business/client that approaches you about work and that your skills and tasks will always change and never truly be set to one particular skill set. Its really important to be knowledgeable about many of the different aspects of administrative tasks and skills that are required as your going to be working for many different types of businesses/clients, the need to be able to deal with all areas of any given type of business is critical to being a Virtual Assistant. Often times I see many companies advertising how to become a VA in 1 month but I am certain that those same companies cannot address the issues that many VA’s face when starting their VA business. Which leads me to my next point, its great to have the desire to become a VA and to have the desire to want to open your own business but ultimately you really have to like what your doing in other words you really have to like working in an administrative capacity and in a virtual capacity and at the same time like owning your own business. From past experience I know that many Administrative Assistants only like the 9 to 5 and are not truly interested in anything beyond that, but in owning your own VA Business you will have to work long hours and different hours so if you’re a 9 to 5 person then I would suggest changing your career direction before you spend time and money on something that truly isn’t going to make you happy. If on the other hand you know that becoming a VA and opening your business will truly make you happy then you have definitely come to the right podcast! You have definitely made the right decision!

As for training, I have been asked if I offer training and what kind of training etc.. I do offer training to up and coming VA’s who want to open their own business what I don’t offer is a diploma and huge promises just my experience in working as a VA and owning my own business. I encourage all of you to ask questions through this podcast I also encourage all of you to check out Dotgs Virtual Assistant Business Blog. By asking questions your not just helping yourself but you are also helping other future VA’s

Homework Assignment:
For this weeks homework assignment…Ask yourself if this is really what you want to do in your career write down your thoughts , dreams and aspirations, read it over and decide if this is what you want to do.

If you find that through your assignment that this is in fact what you want then I encourage you to subscribe to Dotgs Virtual Assistant Business Podcast and to submit your writings.

Until next week this is Dotg signing off and remember to visit our website at www.documentsonthego.com and don’t forget we will be announcing the Prize Winner on next weeks show. Remember to take us wherever your business is going…

Welcome back to DOTGs podcast. My last podcast was definitely lacking in a lot of things so I have really been doing a lot of thinking about how to improve on it for all of you. A lot of you have already checked out my website and have a decent understanding of what it is that I do, and some of you have written me to say that you want to know more about what I do and how you can do it too. This of course is giving me the inspiration for today’s show and future shows. I am the president of Documents On The Go or DOTG, I am a Virtual Assistant, a VA, an Administrative Assistant on the go! Each of my clients likes to call me something different (nice of course) and each prefers to think of me in a way that accommodates their own administrative needs.

I started my business 3 years ago as a part-time business to make some extra money while I worked on a full-time basis. The business began to grow so quickly so I finally decided to go full-time and I gave my notice….I have never looked back! I provide administrative support both on-site and off-site depending on the client that I am supporting and depending on their needs. I provide many different services to my clients in an VA capacity from typing a standard document to checking their e-mail for them and I do it an PC and MAC environment.

Some of you in your e-mails have asked me what do I need to get started? What do I have to have to open my own VA business? Is there special training that I have to have or courses that I have to take? I will be addressing these questions in future episodes of DOTGs Virtual Assistant Podcast so I encourage all of you out there that are looking to start your own VA business to tune in weekly and to find out more….and I encourage you to keep writing those e-mails I will do my best to reply to each of them. This is DOTG signing off for this week….please check out our website at www.documentsonthego.com…and reminding you to take us wherever your business is going!

Just A Thought…

Hello everyone and welcome back to DOTG. Its been exactly 42 days since my last podcast…my bad, but I have a really great excuse I wanted to really think about what I was going to talk about on this podcast, I wanted to talk about something that would spark some interest and to get some listeners inspired.

To my dismay I haven’t really come up with anything? I mean I have some ideas but its kind of like “Podcasting Block” you just don’t have anything inspiring to talk about. Its funny sometimes you have lots of thoughts and lots of ideas and you can’t get them out fast enough and then other times your struggling for that one great idea that will give you the inspiration to get something positive in your business accomplished. I like to think of myself as creative and I am usually never without an idea but I have to admit Podcasting really puts your business brain to the test! When I started doing this podcast it was with the intention of bringing more people to my website and my online store @DOTG Domains but where some of my podcasts have been really easy to write and produce this one in particular has been more difficult…I am not really sure why. I really like using podcasting as way to share my thoughts, business experience, tech knowledge, etc. I don’t think that there truly is a better medium than this I just wish sometimes it would be easier to think about new topics to discuss…this was Just A Thought…

Thanks for joining DOTG’s podcast this week and thanks to all of you for your comments and thoughts I appreciate the POSITIVE feedback and look forward to hearing more from all of you. Join us again next time and please do check out our website at www.documentsonthego.com and remember to take Documents On The Go wherever your business is going!