Work From Home as a Virtual Assistant

In Lecture 3 we'll cover how to prepare yourself for being a business owner with self-examination. Part 1 covers examining your abilities and professionalism.

In Lecture 4 we continue with self-examination focusing on confidence and worth, both self worth and professional worth.

This self-assessment worksheet is divided into the sections we covered in Lecture 3 & 4. Download it to help you in the process of preparing yourself for creating your new virtual assistant business.

In our final Lecture of the Preparation section we discuss exactly what you need for a virtual assistant office.

There is a lot more to naming your business than just choosing something you like. We'll start the discussion of how to choose your business name in this lecture.

Your domain name is critical in today's mobile society. We'll discuss how to determine if your chosen business name is available as a domain name.

Does someone else use the name you've chosen? Does it matter if they aren't in the same locality you are? We'll talk about it in this lecture.

There are some things you might not think about when choosing a name for your business. Here are a couple to think about and avoid.

A worksheet to help you choose your business name.

Do you need a business license? In this lecture we'll discuss how to find out.

In this lecture we discuss the different types of business structures: sole proprietor, partnerships, limited liability companies and corporations.

What is a trademark and how does a registered trademark differ? We touch on it briefly in Lecture 14.

A resource that includes business registration information links for the United States as well as some for Canada and a few additional countries.

Business policies are the paddle in the canoe of business. Setting them up before launching your business can save you a lot of problems down the road. This two part lecture covers what to include in setting your policies.

In this lecture we continue to cover creating policies for your business.

There's a lot more to setting your rates than just picking a number. It's important to set your rates on value, rather than on what others or charging or worse, what you feel clients can afford.

When setting rates, you must also take into consideration the costs of running your business. This is what we cover in this lecture.

It's one thing to find your value, it's another thing to claim it. We discuss ways to do so in this lecture.

This lecture gives you methods to deal with client hesitation when you quote your rates.

There is a lot more to being the boss than just declaring your a business owner. We'll talk about it in this lecture.

Worksheets for helping you find your value and set your rates accordingly.

A worksheet to estimate your business costs when setting your rates.

This lecture starts the discussion on why it's so important to find a niche.

We continue the discussion of finding your niche in this lecture.

This lecture begins the topic of preparing for clients. In this lecture we cover retainer and project based clients.

Contracts and Agreements are the topic for this lecture. What's the difference, which should you use and how important are they?

What's a professional bio? This lecture explains what it is and why you should never use a resume.

In this lecture we cover the issue of client payments and prepayments.

The importance of a business website and why free websites are asking for trouble are discussed in this lecture.

What's an intro packet and how can it help your business. Find out in this lecture. Resource for this lecture includes a downloadable version of the intro packet for my own business.

We are looking at what makes up an intro packet piece by piece. This lecture covers the Business Profile.

We are looking at what makes up an intro packet piece by piece. This lecture covers Services, Your mission and more.

We are looking at what makes up an intro packet piece by piece. This lecture covers your pricing, policies and client assessments.

We are looking at what makes up an intro packet piece by piece. This lecture covers tips for using your intro packet.

Templates for creating your own intro packet.

This lecture covers RFP's, what they are and how to create winning proposals.

A 6 page template for creating your own personalized proposal template to allow for quick response to RFP's.

How important is a contract? This lecture answers that question and shows you the parts of a contract.

An example of a services contract to help you draft your own.

A first step toward successful marketing is branding. As a virtual professional you may actually become your business brand. This lecture covers logos, taglines and being your brand.

Every services business should have an intake process for clients. This lecture gives an overview of that process.

In this lecture we cover the first step in the intake process; Initial Contact with a potential client.

A client intake form template.

A client assessment form template.

A client information sheet for use in your business. One can be filled out and kept on file for each of your clients. * Note: this is for your use, not to be sent to clients.

A form for you to use during your consultation with a potential client. *Note: this is another form for internal use in your business, not for being sent to clients.

This lecture discusses the all important client consultation part of the intake process.

The final step in the Intake Process is discussed in this lecture.

Once you sign clients, it's important to care for them correctly. That's the topic of this lecture.

Knowing the types of problem clients and how to handle them ahead of time can really relieve some stress of owning a services based business. That's the topic of this lecture.

Instructor Tina Marie Hilton shares 5 important words of advice drawing on her experience both as a successful virtual services provider and as a coach/instructor to other virtual professionals.

Should you give your clients gifts during the holidays? What are the benefits? And what should you give? These are a few items tackled in this bonus lecture which includes a podcast recording I did about the subject a few years ago. Be sure to download the .pdf for links to things mentioned in the podcast.

This lecture is a follow up with even more info about client gifting. Again it includes a podcast recording and a corresponding .pdf with links.