Squidoo, Twitter, Flickr, Google, Yahoo, and so on and so forth! It seems to me, if something has a funny name these days, it’s bound to be big.

One of my clients has been using Kijiji to post classified ads, and he’s gotten great responses from it. I thought I’d check it out since it has a funny name. It looks just like ebay, except it’s not an auction, but an online classified site. I learned this: “The word “kijiji” (pronounced like key-gee-gee) means “village” in Swahili. This name was chosen because it captures the essence of what we are creating - a site where people can connect with others in their community.” Great concept, right? It’s been done to death, but Kijiji is a much more memorable name than most classified sites have, isn’t it?

I posted a free classified ad on there promoting my administrative services. There are categories for almost anything. You should check it out. Your product or service will probably fit in somewhere! And because it’s called Kijiji, chances are it’s gonna be a household name eventually.

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I’ve been reading ever since I can remember. I have always been an avid reader, and it annoys me to no end that I don’t have time to read for pleasure anymore. I mentioned in another blog post that I have a few books on the go right now - I have started seven books recently and at this rate, I will never finish one. They’re all business related - blogging, PR, marketing, copywriting, and on and on. The only quiet time I get to read is when I’m driving and that’s frowned upon. How about audio books?, you say…don’t think the kids would go for that - let alone the husband. I do manage to find time throughout the day - not every day, but most days - while I’m waiting for dinner to cook or when I’m giving my baby a bottle, or if I’m waiting for something to download.

If there’s a book I’ve heard good things about, or something I really want to read, I will check it out at the library to ‘try it on’ before buying it. I usually do buy my books, but I almost always take them out on loan from the library first.

For any of you who love to read but don’t use the library service - try it! I usually don’t finish my book before it’s due back, but I can renew books online, or if I’m digging the book, I’ll buy myself a copy.

If you’re not much of a reader, and haven’t read many business books there are a couple you should read or find on audio that are absolute MUST reads!

Real estate agents and REVAs: The Millionaire Real Estate Agent

Entrepreneurs and anyone that owns a business (or plans to): The E-Myth Revisited

As I searched for the above links on Amazon, I discovered ‘Kindle‘ the latest ‘wireless reading device’. I don’t get it. Why would a person rather read on a little computer than from book pages? I’ll have to look into that later, but can anyone enlighten me?!

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Two words: ‘thank you’. They mean a lot, don’t they? When was the last time you said those little words to your clients or customers? It’s one of those things few of us do enough, but don’t we all love to hear it?

Lately, I’ve been hearing ‘thank you’ quite a bit from satisfied clients, and it means just as much as the money they pay me. Before I started my business, when I was an employee, those words weren’t spoken to me all that often, but when they were, it made such a difference! Now, as a service provider, when someone thanks me, it reaffirms that I’m doing what I want to be doing. I’m helping people, and the satisfaction that comes upon completion of a large project is that much greater when it’s accompanied by a ‘thank you’. It’s like a natural high.

When I first started my business, I sent thank you notes and gifts every now and again to my clients, but I’m afraid I’ve fallen into a rut when it comes to that type of thing - that darn ‘too busy’ trap. I really have to get back to regularly thanking my clients for their business.

Thursday is our American friends’ Thanksgiving and it has me thinking about some ways that I can say thanks to the ‘oh-so-important’ people who are keeping me in business. One of my goals for the New Year will be having one of my VAs send out thank you notes and research thoughtful gifts to send to my clients on occasion.

This is only one example of the type of thing all business owners should be doing, but probably aren’t, on a consistent basis-which makes it a perfect item to hand over to a virtual assistant to do for you.

For any of my clients reading this, thank you. To any of my associate VAs reading this, thank you. To the virtual assistance industry for existing and all of you helping to make it mainstream, thank you.

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A lot of people ask me if I feel lonely or isolated, working from my home office. These people apparently do not have two children under the age of two. Not really lonely around here! However, it is tough not having co-workers to chat with, and I think that’s where the isolation question comes from. Many VAs do have feelings of isolation, but I can only hope for an hour or two of loneliness each day when the girls go for a drive with their father or - when the stars align - have a nap. Loneliness=productivity.

Anyway, what many people don’t realize about our industry is how extremely networked it is. There are quite a few virtual assistant networking forums on the ‘net and they serve as a source of information, and support.

I belong to most of them!

• VA Networking is a great one. It’s the biggest out there - as of right now there are over 7400 members. Up until the 1st of November, membership was free. Now you can still have a free membership, but it’s limited. There is a ton of information in the forum at VANA, and it truly is a friendly place to go!
• IVAA is another large VA organization. It’s a paid membership, so you get people who are a bit more serious about their businesses. I find people are really quick to respond to questions, and there’s a pile of resources available that I still haven’t come to the bottom of.
• The Virtual Assistant Revolution, is my favorite. It’s also a paid membership, and only people completely serious about their business end up as members. The support you have access to within its ‘walls’ is tremendous. Can’t say enough about them. We’re even having our second annual Secret Santa gift exchange this year! I’ve made actual friends through the ‘Rev’.
• CVAC is a Canadian forum, and a great place to find Canadian information. The group is extremely helpful, and you usually receive an answer to your question within minutes.
• IREAA is a forum specifically for real estate assistants. For industry specific information, there’s no parallel.

There are more, but these are the ones I frequent the most. The greatest part of belonging to these organizations is if you hit a rough patch in a project (or in life) this is where you turn for help. The members of these organizations support one another like you wouldn’t believe. There are conferences for virtual assistants a couple of times per year, and I can’t wait to attend my first one ‘FoVA‘ in May 2008. I hope I will get to meet many of my ‘friends in the box’ there.

You might not believe this, if you are unfamiliar with the industry, but it is a small world, even though it’s virtual!

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I’m reading (scouring really) my first ‘for Dummies’ book - “Marketing Kits for Dummies”. It’s actually one of five books I have on the go right now - one being about blogging, one about PR, one on copywriting and another by Seth Godin called “Small is the new Big”. I’ll review them all in detail as I finish them, but I read one part in the ‘Dummies’ book last night while I was watching ER that I wanted to share (Is it just me, or is that show going downhill?). It was about business cards. The author was saying how, as business people, you try to ensure that if you’re meeting with a client or a prospective client, you take care with your appearance. Professional clothes, nice hair, no body odor (he actually said that) and a nice smile. He went on to say that while there is often great care taken with your physical appearance, sometimes people don’t put as much thought into their marketing materials - which is a big mistake. When a person meets you in person, you are there to help give a great impression, but when you’re not there and your business card is doing all the talking, it has to be fabulous.

Your business card is a very important (and underrated) marketing piece, and I agree with the author of this particular ‘for Dummies’ book. Although it might set you back a couple hundred dollars, it is money well spent when you consider that it is often the first impression a prospect has of your brand.

What does it say to a prospect when they turn over your card and see advertising for the company that printed your business cards for free? What about the ones that were printed at home and still have the perforated edges? Go look at your collection of business cards - which ones stand out to you. Which ones made you say, “Wow, that’s a great card!”. The ones with raised ink? Vertical layout rather than traditional horizontal? Double sided? Some stand out and others are…well…dull and boring.

A good business card is memorable. It is an important piece of your branding and more thought should go into it’s design than often does.

If you are on a budget, as most of us are, this is one thing you should not scrimp on. You can get a business card designed very inexpensively by a virtual assistant - Mann Made Time offers this service, as do many other VA companies. Printing doesn’t have to cost a fortune either. There are a lot of companies online that are very inexpensive, and if you prefer to go with a local company it might cost a little more, but it is a legitimate business expense and the service is often better.

Bottom line is this. You want your card to be better than your competitors’. Take a look at your business card. How does it stand up?

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