If you live on PEI, you will see that the feature article by Mary MacKay in the Guardian today is about the virtual assistance industry. It’s impossible to miss the huge picture of myself and my daughter, Casey.

When I started my business in June of 2006, I sent a press release to the local paper. It was picked up, but it was not printed in it’s entirety, and it was just a tiny little piece in the paper - nobody would have noticed it. I also received press in the Eastern Graphic later that year, but it didn’t attract any new business, and it focused more on me than what I do for my clients.

Forging ahead, trying to educate as many Islanders as possible about the VA industry, since there are so many small businesses here, I kept writing the Guardian.

Back in late September, I sent an email to one of the reporters to pitch a story about virtual assistance. He put me in touch with Mary and finally…the article is in today’s paper.

I hope that many business people will realize that there is another option if they don’t have the means to hire a full time employee.

I’m very pleased with the article. If you are interested in reading it, the electronic version is here.

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Here on PEI, many people are without power and have been since Monday (this is Thursday). We had some freezing rain on Monday that did extensive damage to the power lines and it’s just a terrible situation. The Maritime Electric crews are working around the clock, and it might be into the weekend before power is restored to everyone.

Once again, this makes me think of how important it is to have a backup plan in place when you operate a business. Many businesses can’t open here because power is needed for almost everything.

We have a generator that will power our heat, coffee maker and our internet connection (three important things!). That being said, it is costing quite a bit to keep up with the amount of gas needed to power the generator.

It’s mostly business as usual, but we can only have the generator going for a couple of hours at a time because of the cost, and the house will stay warm for a little while once the rads are shut off.

We don’t have enough juice from the generator to use our stove, so it’s mostly grilling being done, but we’re a lot better off than some people.

Are you prepared for a power outage in your business? You might want to check out Yvonne Weld’s guide to making a plan for your business, including a disaster plan.

For anyone not living on PEI to see the devastation, check out the Guardian’s website to read about it and see some pictures of the ice that covered everything yesterday. Mother nature is truly remarkable.

So, are you prepared?

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On Saturday evening I attended an intimate party in ‘downtown Pownal’ PEI, hosted by my client and friend Maureen Kerr, owner of Kerr Consulting. It was a very nice evening, and the focus of the event was a private Thai cooking lesson from Chef Stephen Hunter of the historic Victoria Village Inn. It was a great excuse to wear the delicious cashmere sweater I got for Christmas, and a much needed outing for a work at home mom! I was only able to stay for a couple of hours, but I really enjoyed myself….and the spring rolls were amazing.

What a fabulous marketing opportunity for Chef Stephen. He had a captive audience of women that were sipping wine and learning a ton of facts about food. Laughing and having fun. I’m sure that evening will lead to a lot of new business for his Inn.

I think it’s very important as a business owner, and especially a virtual business owner, to get out there and meet some non-virtual people once in awhile. I had a few new people to talk about my business with and introduce to the industry of virtual assistance, which is one of my favorite things to do. I also met a financial advisor, and I think everyone needs one of those. I set up an appointment to speak with her tomorrow morning to see if she can help us become debt free. Networking isn’t just about telling people what you do and attempting to drum up business for yourself. It HAS to work both ways. The best way to get a person interested in you and what you do is to be interested in them and what they do.

It’s interesting how much more confident I am now than I was a year ago when it comes to situations like these. When I walk in to a room full of business owners, I actually feel that I am among my peers rather than feeling nauseous because I do not belong. Why is that? Is it because I have a roster full of paying clients? Is it because I’ve gone to enough networking events to get the hang of it?
Hmmm…maybe it’s just the cashmere

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I had lunch today with my friend/client/marketing maven at the Urban Eatery - a hip new eating establishment in Charlottetown, PEI. If you live on PEI and haven’t yet checked out the former food court of the Confederation Court Mall - what are you waiting for?! Chef Gordon Bailey has done an outstanding job, offering a great variety of food items at great prices. I had two delicious beef skewers, a mountain of fries which I didn’t come near being able to finish and a bottle of 7-Up (don’t judge me it was a treat) for under $8.

The food was great, but that’s not what this post is about. Living in a small province, it’s rare to go to a public place like that and not run into someone you know. Today’s trip to the mall for lunch turned out to be a networking event! Two lovely gentlemen joined us for lunch - both friends of my lunch date, Moe. Two people to introduce the virtual assistance industry to! One was the editor of a local paper and the other a financial planner. When they left, I saw another of my clients having lunch and she came to talk with us on her way out. Turns out she recognized Moe from her former business and said she could use Moe’s new consultation services. That’s networking and I love it!

We don’t all live in such a small community, but as business people we should always be armed with business cards and an elevator speech (30 second pitch) whenever venturing out in public.

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