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What is virtual assistance all about?

Those who have read about the Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris know it all, often referred as a VA Service.

A Virtual assistant is someone whom you can hire to work for you at a very low cost, usually based in a different country and does not necessarily work for you on a full time basis.

What can Virtual Assistants do?

Virtual assistants can virtually do any type of tasks that does not require physical presence in your office , e.g:

- Internet based research
- Article posting, spinning and bookmarking.
- Web Maintenance
- Customer Service via email or phone
- Document processing
- Audio Transcription
- Ghost Writing
- Recruitment
- Booking Appointments, flights, hotels
- Taking orders, processing orders
- Book keeping and accounts

These are just a few of the list which goes on…

What are the benefits of using Virtual Assistants?

The main reasons of using a Virtual Assistant is because it allows you to optimise your time doing what you do best and outsource the rest. You can leverage world class talents for 10 hours a week at half or a third of local costs and this at no contractual risks. You certainly do not want to waste your valuable time on repetitive boring tasks, you would rather outsource it.

If you employ a full time secretary in your office to basic tasks, you need to provide with a computer, internet connection, phone, pay for her tax benefits, cater for leaves etc.

A virtual assistant is someone that you hire on hourly rates and you pay only for the amount of hours they work. In a way you can have a whole Virtual Team working for you and helping you grow your business, this means less risks at the end of the month. You don’t have to worry about paying someone a fixed salary. So you can have a team member doing different things in different parts of the world, all bringing tremendous value to your business thus giving you time to grow and work on your core competenticies.

All that said, hiring virtual assistants will bring value to your business, minimize staff costs, expand your workforce and give you more time for yourself.  Time waste is life waste and you want to spend most of your valuable time doing what you love doing, not boring, repetitive administrative tasks.

I personally started working as a virtual assistant doing web maintenance and now I work with a virtual assistance team based in Mauritius. We would be happy to help if you have any questions or just let me know if you want to try a couple hours of our services.

Wish you the best.

Rajeev

” Do what you do Best and Outsource the Rest “

Hi Guys

Thanks again for checking out my post today.

I have been thinking over this subject for a quite a while and am dying to get the right answer.

Most of you have certainly heard about the Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris. I actually made my online based 6 figure income business after reading this book, but now I am still thinking if I would ever reach or would ever want to work four hours a week. For those who don’t know ; The Four Hour Work week talks about using the principles of outsourcing and virtual assistance to work less and produce more.

In my opinion this would never happen, it might be an aspiration, it might be possible that some of you have actually been able to realise this number of hours coupled with a decent income.( if this is the case I would love to hear from you ) I know I am might sound a bit pedantic as Tim might not really have meant to work STRICTLY FOUR HOURS a week and skying, dancing or enjoying life the rest of his time. No doubt about everything else in the book about, he definitely gives great tips and would inspire and ambitious business owner.

I currently use virtual assistance services to do my accounts, bookings, social bookmarking, social networking, online marketing and stuff. It is true that there is tremendous amount of output and I could never have done all this alone and the price that I am paying for it is so insignificant in front of the returns I am generating. But for me to be able to run a safe business, I need to keep an eye on things all the time and averaging 3-4 hours a day.

I would love to have comments on this from you guys.

Thanks so much

“Accessibility” is used to describe how easy something is for everybody to use, regardless of impairment or disability.

It is crucial for web designers to understand what makes site difficult for some people to access, and what we can do to make this easier.

There is a lot of good documentation on the web about accessibility. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the body that draws up standards to guide the development of the web, and has published a very thorough set of resources on the subject through its Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). The WAI documentation is the best place to get a complete and thorough understanding of the problems we face, and guidelines on what to do. However, the documentation is very lengthy and pitched for a pretty technical audience.

In this section, I intend to boil down the mass of advice available on this subject into a few manageable techniques that all web designers need to know and employ.
The argument for accessibility in web design

There are 3 main reasons we should all strive to make our web sites accessible:

1. Because there is a significant proportion of people using the web who have one kind of disability or another. This includes people with impaired vision. Making a site accessible to everyone is not just the right thing to do - it’s good business too.
2. Because going through the process of making a web site accessible makes a better site. A lot of the things you have to consider, and techniques you’ll apply, will make your site easier for everyone to use.
3. Because there are legal requirements to do so. Government sites in many countries are already obliged to make all web sites accessible, and this legislation may soon extend to the private sector.

You are tired of the rushes of your hectic life? You want to relax and to enjoy without any tension? You are seeking for a perfect place for a perfect holiday? Well, Mauritius is the perfect spot for it! Mauritius has got everything to satisfy the needs of each and everyone.

Starting from the most famous white sand, blue sea, beautiful beaches and the greenery around, Mauritius is a little paradise for holidaymakers. The sea, sand and sun are just perfect for those who seek to relax.

For those who are seeking for some more thrills, Mauritius also offers a wide range of exciting sports such as water-skiing, Para-sailing, diving, big fishing game, surfing, mountaineering, trekking, quad-biking and many more…

When we talk of Mauritius, we now talk about green-tourism also. If you are among the nature-lovers, then Mauritius will definitely seduce you! Mauritius has various nature spots which have been attracting people. The most famous places are: the Gorge viewpoints and valleys, Nature Park, Alexandre Fall, 7 Cascades Waterfalls, Chamarel, Ferney valley, Domaine du Chasseur, Ilot Gabriel, Ile aux Aigrettes and not to forget, a good diving to see the tropical marine fauna and flora!

The hostelry industry of Mauritius is one of the best in the world. Whether you are holidaymakers, honeymooners or on a business trip; the hotels have an appropriate package to offer to everyone. The prices differ from the standards of the hotels as well as from hotels to hotels. Whether you are looking for luxurious 5 star hotels or some much more economical hotels, all is there to suit your budget!

If you want to make your holiday, a successful one; then coming to Mauritius is all that you must do and Mauritius will do the rest for you!

If we assume that Facebook is growing rapidly then the relatively similar marketshare numbers year over year indicate it’s actually the entire sector that’s growing. Though trailing in the distance of the big two, market share percentages have held steady or grown for the next services in line as well: Bebo, BlackPlanet, ClubPenguin, GaiaOnline, MyYearbook and Hi5 have unchanged or increased marketshare numbers according to the same metric.

Chart from Hitwise

These figures might be of interest to each one of your reading this post, let us see how this changes over time. For us, internet marketeers and social networkers, these platforms are definitely of great help. The big question is where do we put our energy?

Please comment.

Thanks

Rajeev

Hi All

I am writing this post out of despair and a very bad experience I just had with paypal and I don’t want you to go through the same; read on….

Paypal have permanently suspended my account for the plain and simple reason that I used my account from a different country.

My account is registered in UK as I live there, but I am currently on a Business Trip to Mauritius and using the account from here. Despite clear explanation of my situation, paypal could find no other solution than just tell me that they can do nothing but close the account.

Everytime I access my Paypal account from Mauritius, their system flags an unusual activity and automatically limits the access. I restored the account access by replying to their security questions many times, but then it happened again and again until they announced that they could not do business with me any longer. I cannot even appeal to this decision and THAT IS IT. Any money in the account will stay there for 180 days( six months???? ) and then they will charge me $40 dollars to wire it to a bank account.

I am quite disappointed and disheartened by this situation. I would have expected a big company like Paypal to provide me with a solution as I know there should be thousands of people like myself with a similar situation out there.

If you have any suggestions to resolve my problem please let me know, otherwise your comments will probably help building a thread for other people.

Thank you.

Today the web is growing more quickly than ever. Web2.0 barely came out that we are already speaking about Web3.0.

How to develop your Website, how to get closer to the expectations of the customers, how to benefit from new technologies? A solution for some who are new to the net economy, who are trying to enter the game, by hoping for the best. Later it will be necessary to engage a collaborator, and others gradually….read more..

Have you got a super ambitious plan? How many developers would you engage? Difficult question, now that you will not forcibly need everybody, all the time. Luckily, it is possible today and even easy to entrust the realization of your web service, even if they are of great value, to freelance developers or to specialized web agencies. Here are 5 good reasons:

1. You win in reactivity

In the field of the Internet, reactivity is a necessity.

How to find the specialized skills, controlling the last technologies, without wasting time and by taking least possible risk?

Answer: By Outsourcing your development, and by choosing the technology partner ( like us ) and his competences, to call upon experts. These means are readily available and allow you to win in reactivity right away.

2. Your website wins in effectiveness

To develop an application web with rich features and content takes time. It is therefore very current that businessman/woman like you have to make a choice between the development and the power of the software. Often, if a website is developed internally, priority must be given in the reactivity, so as to prevent the website coming out too late. The advantage of the outsourcing is therefore to be able to recruit over given period of time, several developers all at once, and to be able to choose the effectiveness without penalizing reactivity.

3. Accessibility of High End Skills at Low cost

In the life of a firm, even based on the web, do we really need developers all the time? The fastness by which modes and technologies change, proves that it is certainly appealing to always have a developer at your reach, but at what price? By Outsourcing, you pay only for the development that you need. You can choose, to the liking of your needs, competences that your firm requires. So, in other words your organisation is growing into a virtual team.

4. You lower your expenses

To outsource internal development is common practice, and sometimes desirable in terms of expenses. Notably in case the quantity of necessary development is important and effusive. Today, it is even possible to have projects developed for fixed rates which reduces the risks of seeing a big bill, which makes outsourcing very accessible in terms of costs. Outsourcing destinations are mainly India, China, Phillipines and Mauritius ( where we are based ).

5. It is consequently easy to find a Technology partner ( like me )

Finding a skilled contractor and at good price has not always been easy an easy task. How to test skills, how to measure if you will are getting value for money? There are many existing protocols to go about finding one, but do you really want to go through this? No ? Then please get in touch with me, I am happy to help in any case. I will surely put you in the right direction.

Take the decision to get things done now!! Get in Touch.

Please comment or ask questions if any.

Leveraging Relationships as a Strategy to Develop Your Business

It’s not about just getting something from the other person, it’s also about mutually helping each other. Both parties must be winners at the end of it and this is how you build a good base to an ongoing successful business relationship.

Collaborate or Stagnate

Whether you want to work with a charity, a trade association, a community group or other businesses, one secret to deliver your message is networking through collaborations.

You can use collaboration to:

• Leverage your time and money
• Share resources
• Earn passive income
• Cross promote activities
• Gain major visibility
• Break into a new market
• Establish your identity quickly
• Expand your product/service offerings

How Tos

1. Value and Resources — Value is often measured by a desired outcome. You also need to understand the difference between owning and using a resource. With strong relationships, you can gain access to the resources you need, even if just for a specific project.

   • Cultivate purposeful relationships with a true exchange of value.

   • Strong relationships are necessary to access resources you can’t purchase.

   • Building relationships is about exchanging your own value for the tools you need to serve a customer.

2. Choosing the Right Target — If you need web developers, you will not approach a stock broker. Sometimes you might need to leverage relationships with multiple parties to achieve one goal, so planning your way through is important.
   

   • Approach those people who have the things you need, but be ready for a fair exchange.

   • Soft relationships skills can help you do more with less by filling the needs of those who can advance your objective.

3. Cross promotion -Focus on solutions to your target market’s pain or desires and go win win.

• Use tools like raffles, email blasts, affiliate commissions to promote each other

• Use cobranding strategy if you are entering a new market. Find yourself an established partner who will instantly give you credibility and reduce market penetration overheads.
• Build up the name of the business your are promoting at your best, you will get it back in a way or the other.
  

Bookmark my Post

Asking for vote requests and bookmarking too often might be detrimental to you in many ways, people might even unfollow you if you don’t pay attention. Again it boils down to the frequency that you do it and also what type of information you are providing. It is always a good thing to entertain your followers by giving away different types of interesting information rather than just posting your latest blog post on twitter. Also, make sure you don’t give too much information about your personal life to your business followers, they might not want to know what you wearing or how you enjoyed sex last night. It might be an idea to use two profiles for two selected audiences if you wish to do that. I got a least 30 hits from that. Following the right people is also something to keep in mind, I do get some spammers with sexy pictures who have tinurls in their tweets that I just ignore, it is a matter of quality and not quantity.

Slow Twitterers

If you just signed up to Twitter account and got a few hundreds of followers, make sure that you put something interesting up there that gives some value at least twice a week. Just saying hey I have a new blog post up there once a week might not necessarily help. It took me at least a month go to start putting updates at least 10 times a day, but yet again I am trying to focus on quality rather than quantity. Think Think Think, be logical and see from your follower’s perspective, are you harassing or boring them?