Virtual Assistant Blog by The Virtual Link

Aweber E-mail Marketing

2008-08-23T22:07:00.003-05:00

Aweber is perhaps one of the most power e-mail marketing tools that I use, not only for my business but for my clients as well.

Aweber is an email marketing tool with all of the essential (and powerful) marketing features that will enhance your online marketing efforts. Whether you are new to email marketing or a seasoned veteran looking for advanced tools and systems to enhance your current marketing efforts, Aweber is by far the most powerful online email marketing system I've used.

Perhaps my favorite feature of Aweber is the ability to create multiple databases for your marketing efforts. By using multiple databases, you are able to customize your drip mail campaigns for more effective results in your online marketing efforts.

Best of all, you can try Aweber out for 30 days absolutely free! Visit the Aweber web site for additional information.

GeekGyrls

2008-08-19T11:01:00.002-05:00

Take a peek at my new forum called GeekGyrls.

GeekGyrls is for anyone geeky. You speak geek - we want you! Graphic designers, web designers, SEO gurus to programmers and coders. It's not just for real estate virtual assistants, such as myself, nor is it for just the typical virtual assistant.

If you're a geek, we want you! We need you...and deep down inside...you want us to!

Be sure to review the $100 contest for those who join and refer people to the forum.

ReadNotify to Confirm E-mail Receipt

2008-08-18T08:23:00.002-05:00

As a Virtual Assistant I sometimes run into issues with clients and colleagues who claim to have not received an invoice or an e-mail I had sent. After several instances of this, I began using a service called ReadNotify.

ReadNotify is a chep and affordable service ($24-$36 per year). More than once it has been a resource to prove that e-mails were indeed received. Sometimes this can be offensive to the client, but my experience is that the clients that are getting upset are the ones who are indeed receiving my e-mails, sometimes multiple times, and simply ignoring them.

Here are some of the features of ReadNotify. They tell you:

date/time your e-mail was been opened
how long the e-mail was open or read
tracks and forwarding of your e-mail
notes if attachments web URLs were opened

To test out their service, sign up for a free account.

Boosting your business with an ezine

2008-08-17T11:22:00.002-05:00

Alexandria Brown, the Ezine Queen, has a couple of amazing newsletters that I have read for years. Her newsletters are a fun read and I almost always pick up some useful nugget of information to apply to my business.

Recently I purchased Boost Business with your Own Ezine and wanted to share with you just how impressed I was with this product. The information and resources that I found in this product has helped me apply new techniques to how I do business online.

If you haven't heard of Boost Business with Your Own Ezine Head then head on over to Ali's products page. While you're there, check out her other cool tools to make money online with.

And don't forget to sign up for the newsletter!

Cuil - a new search engine

2008-07-28T10:04:00.003-05:00

A few months ago, I was really excited about SearchMe (www.searchme.com) , a visual search engine that had been launched. I still think it is a cool concept but to date, it has not taken off as expected.

Today I saw an article on Cuil (www.cuil.com) regarding a new search engine developed by Anna Patterson. Anna Patterson developed and later sold her Internet search engine to none other than Google. She has now launched Cuil (pronounced cool).

I took the new search engine out for a spin and honestly, I am not sure what I think about it yet.

For instance, when you Google the term real estate virtual assistant you will generally find Cheryl Allin (www.virtuallin.com), REVAnetwork, The Virtual Link (www.thevirtuallink.com), Kim Hughes, Assistant for Real Estate, VA4RE, and others. None of these companies appear on the first page of results for this search engine. The first company to appear is Amber Drake with Essential-Admin.com on the second page followed by Kathy Goldman and Ruth Ann Macklin.

Another thing that kinda irritates me is that my graphic for the Boot Camp for Virtual Assistants ebook seems to appear several times next to results for companies that are not related to mine and do not sell my ebook? Which is confusing.

I am sure the search engine will get the kinks out of its system as it gets fine tuned, but be aware of Cuil as it is predicted to do quite well.

Here is the article if you are interested in reading it:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/28/technology/cuil.ap/index.htm?cnn=yes

Service Providers...

2008-07-25T09:59:00.002-05:00

No matter what industry you're in, if you provide a service, there's at least one person out there that appreciates you, depends on you, looks forward to seeing you or getting what service it is that you offer.

This week it's been pretty evident that I have come to depend on certain people being in my life and when they're not, my week just doesn't function as well. And from my lips to my hips to my toes, all of my service providers have decided to go on vacation on the same week! ARGH!

My lips: My favorite barista, Coral, up at Starbuck's is on vacation this week in Florida. People, love your barista and they will love you back! Every morning after boot camp, M-F like clockwork I am there around 6:40am. No longer does she ask what my order is, just rings it up, and 4 out of 5 times, she's noticed me walking up and has started my drink before I even get to the counter! She's priceless I tell you!

I can always count on Coral to razz me about how crazy I am for getting up at 5am to go workout and to tell me about her morning or how her previous evening went. Funny, funny lady and always has a story to tell. I've come to count on this girl - without my daily venti caramel machiatto w/ 4 shots and extra caramel, I simply could not make it throughout the day.

My hips: My boot camp instructor Chris for some odd reason thinks HE needs a vacation! Seriously? And while he's left an equally narcissistic replacement who's a mini-nazi such as himself in charge (her name is Diane and I love/hate her by the way) it's just not the same. I like goofing off with Diane at boot camp, challenging each other, giving Chris a daily dose of crap together...but when he's gone like this and she's in charge, it's a much different story.

My toes: I need a pedicure. And guess what? Even my nail guy (yes, mine is a guy LOL) is on vacation! What the heck? Tony is ALWAYS working. I know he hasn't seen his family in Vietnam in 2 years but he took a whole month off of work to go home! I mean, seriously? A whole month? You don't understand - this man is amazing - my nails never break, the designs he paints on my toes are THE coolest ever... Pfft, I can have one of "the girls" do my mani/pedi...but it's just not the same. Plus, Tony is always humming and singing along to the tunes on the radio - I keep telling him I'm going to put his butt on American Idol and he just laughs.

So there you go - from my lips to my hips to my toes, this week, I'm missing my people! A lot!

And in the future, if you all could coordinate your vacation schedules to NOT be on vacation at the same time, it would save me a lot of grief! :) Miss ya'll!

Monday, Monday

2008-07-21T07:16:00.002-05:00

Is it really Monday already?

As a Real Estate Virtual Assistant working from home and loving it, at least I don't have to face the road rage out there today...I'm sitting here at my desk sipping my Starbucks coffee and deciding where to start...so much on the to-do list.

Here's a video for the rest of you facing the Monday morning blues...

The Calvinator

2008-07-11T17:40:00.002-05:00

At what point do you tell yourself that you've lost your mind? That your actions sabotage the possibility of ever getting work done again?

My son, Calvin, turned 5 yesterday. He wants to be in a band so he asked for some drums and a guitar for his birthday. Well, he got the drums.

I put his drums in the unfinished media room, upstairs, all the way in the back of the house. I'm in my office, downstairs, all the way in the front of the house...and it's like I'm in the room with him. Seriously, what was I thinking? The media room is getting ready to be sound proofed and a door added to it to block out some of this noise!

He did melt my heart when he smash-face hugged me today and said I was the best mom ever. I think it's more like the craziest mom ever.

Here's a video of his first day on the drums...I think he has potential...and yes, I am the best mom ever!

Tying Up the Loose Ends

2008-07-08T08:27:00.004-05:00

Right now I'm sitting here sipping on my addiction, a venti caramel macchiato w/ 4 shots and extra caramel from Starbucks. And can I just say, it's damn tasty!

I'm sending a special thank you to my virtual assistant buddy, Katie Baird over at Loose Ends. Katie, an avid stalker of my blogs (and I say that with all the love in the world) read my blog from yesterday on Getting Distracted, Getting Focused and not only did she send some virtual support, but the lady sent me some love through PayPal to go buy a cup of coffee...and that's just what I did this morning!

Being the GeekGyrls that we are, I've asked Katie to help out with one of my projects that I'll be announcing soon - and she agreed! Thanks Katie girl...

And for all you other VA buds of mine that called to get into my business...don't. :) Send me some PayPal love instead to keep me stocked up on the carmel macchiato's so I can spend more time on my projects and less time on the phone.

Oh, and if you think you're a GeekGyrl, drop me an e-mail and let me know...maybe I'll let you help me out on my latest project.

Getting Distracted, Getting Focused

2008-07-07T08:37:00.004-05:00

The past few months have been riddled with absolute craziness. The distractions in my life have overruled my sanity, my desire to focus on work and the ability to think rationally.

In the past 3 months, I've lost a best friend over business dealings and my mother was in the hospital for almost a month.

It's been a wicked ride the past 3 months but I'm back and stronger than ever. I'm focused again.

I've got several projects underway and will post about them all as soon as they're formally launched. Stay tuned!

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-25T20:06:00.002-05:00

It's Memorial Day Weekend. As such, I have to send some love and respect out to my brother, Ranger Ethan Graves. You will ALWAYS be my hero!

If you don't stand behind our military - feel free to stand in front of them!

On Your Toes VA launches new web site!

2008-05-19T13:34:00.002-05:00

Meet Lori Cain of On Your Toes VA! Lori is a Virtual Assistant with 15 years experience who has decided to focus her niche on providing real estate virtual assistant services.

Lori specializes in Lead Management, Transaction Coordination and Listing Coordination.

We worked with Lori developing her web site and she is a real pleasure to work with. If you need a Virtual Assistant, contact Lori for additional information.

Virtual Real Estate Logistics

2008-05-18T22:02:00.002-05:00

Meet Saleta Powell of Virtual Real Estate Logistics. Saleta has 12 years of real estate experience but is now opening her doors as a real estate virtual assistant. Saleta offers the following services:

I had a blast working with Saleta on her web site. She is funny, smart and personable. If you're in need of the services listed above, give Saleta a call.

SearchMe: SEO takes a new twist

2008-03-24T15:12:00.005-05:00

Not many people have heard of SearchMe yet, but this Real Estate Virtual Assistant thinks it could quite possibly change the entire way we all view search engines.

SearchMe is a visual search engine. Type in your keyphrase and instead of results with catchy descriptions as you currently find displayed in Google, Yahoo and the others, SearchMe instead shows you a snapshot of the web site. Don't like the first view, click on the next, it's like a book of results that you flip through. Watch the video, it's really coool! It's amazing even!

Originally a web site thrived on cool design. Then it became good SEO which killed killer foo-foo designs...but now with SearchMe, it will be a delicate blend of awesome design and fabulous SEO to get good results.

I've just signed up as a beta user because I can't wait to try this tool out. If it's half as amazing as I'm thinking it is, Google better buy this company out quick!

VAstartup - How to start a virtual assistant business...

2008-02-21T13:15:00.005-06:00

www.VAstartup.com has been my virtual assistant coaching web site since 2002. Recently I revamped the site to include an ebook for Virtual Assistants called Boot Camp for Virtual Assistants.

Additionally I've created some low cost Virtual Assistant marketing materials for newbies looking to enter the industry. I offer low cost Virtual Assistant web sites and more. Check it out!

And of course, I still offer Virtual Assistant coaching to help you with your questions about starting a Virtual Assistant business.

If you're new to the VA industry, check out VAstartup!

8 Random Facts about Anna Baron

2007-08-08T10:48:00.000-05:00

I have been tagged by Kathie Thomas so here I go with 8 random facts about me.

1. When I was 23 a programmer friend of mine, Terry Ogletree who is as eccentric of an individual as you'll ever meet, tried to convince me to start my own business working from home as a secretary. It was 1992 - I laughed in his face and hugged him for having so much confidence in my skills - at that time, I didn't have that confidence. Geesh, Terry was on to it way back then and I didn't have the vision until 5 years later.... I miss you Terry - wherever you are.

2. My VA business began when a former employer (Big 5 Accounting Firm) begged me to come back to work for them to head a new department as the lead secretary. I refused, I had just given birth to Alison and was for once in my life going to be a stay at home mom. They decided to start sending me work by e-mail and without putting much work into it, my VA business was born.

3. I stumbled in to the real estate niche when an agent called me one day to see if I could do a flyer for her...my passion for supporting the real estate industry came from that one lead. Thank you Kathy Drewien!

4. Kim Hughes is probably one of my best friends ever. She called me about 7 years ago wanting to know how to be a VA. I wasn't a coach back then, but I did take the time to talk to her and the friendship grew from there. We've cried together, we've laughed together and she is truly a great friend. She's now one of the premier Real Estate VAs in the business and I couldn't be prouder of her. We're going to meet for the first time ever in November when we travel to NAR for IREAA.

5. Growing up, I was always protective of my little brother Ethan who was 5 years younger than me. I beat up the kids on the block when they hurt him. Mom said one time that I yelled "That's my punching bag not yours!" LOL My brother joined the Army and during Ranger training he outlasted all the others there...his Drill Sargeants asked him in front of everyone "What makes you so strong Graves?" to which he replied "My sister sir!" :) My brother has been in the military for 10 years now, serving in Kuwait and he just returned from Afghanistan in May. His platoon lost no soldiers during his tour as a Platoon Sargeant.... Hooah Ranger Graves - you're my hero and I love you!

6. I reunited last year with my 22 year old daughter that I gave up for adoption when I was 15 - it was the best day in my entire life. Without arranging it, the day we reunited we both wore orange colored tops - how crazy is that? :) Her name is Mariah, but I named her Jessica Christie when she was born. We look just alike and she too grew up in the Dallas area. We talk daily and have a fablous relationship. Thank you God.

7. I have 3 other children, Amber 20, Alison 9 1/2 and Calvin 4. I feel like I've been raising children all my life! LOL I swear if I had a boy first, I never would have had any other kids - boys are crazy!

8. I met my husband (2nd marriage) shooting pool at a tournament. I hooked him with my bank shot and those skin tight jeans and boots. We've both been to nationals in Vegas and I've been in 4 billiards magazines. We're good, but he's the shark, seriously, don't ever bet money when you're playing "Bad Brad" cause he'll take it! My first business computer that was hand built cost almost $3,000 and he won that in one night from Cowboy Randy. Thanks Brad - and I love you! We just celebrated 10 years in July! *woot*

Virtual Assistant and loving it!

I tag -

Kim Hughes Kim Hughes & Company
Pam Ivey Visual Persuasions Canada
Cheryl Allin VirtuAllin
Laura Monroe Creative Agent Solutions

Professional Crushes

2007-05-28T20:25:00.001-05:00

Ohhh, someone's got a crush on me! A professional crush that is...and it's very flattering!

Pam Ivey of Visual Persuasions in Canada has a professional crushes page in which The Virtual Link is highlighted. The first time I saw this I chuckled and said "cool" - which sounded a little bit too much like Beavis and Butthead for my own comfort.

Just wanted to share - it sure made day! :)

Real Estate Blogging

2007-04-25T11:27:00.000-05:00

Real Estate professionals are now embracing the technology of blogging for search engine placement. This golden marketing tool is a simple yet powerful piece of fantastic search engine rankings.

Remaining consistent is sometimes a hard thing to do. Real Estate Virtual Assistant services now offer blogging writing services to help clients keep fresh content in their blogs.

If you find you're blessed with the good grammar and an interesting writing style, perhaps blogging is a service you should consider offering.

Creating a blog and and blog writing is just one more service that we offer at The Virtual Link - send us an e-mail if you have questions about blogs.

International Real Estate Assistants Association

2006-10-06T13:30:00.000-05:00

Wow, the past few weeks have been hectic - but a good hectic.

We just launched IREAA - International Real Estate Assistants Association. IREAA was formerly CyberStarVA. We've revamped due to the increasing number of in-house assistants who wanted a place to call their own. We were always open to in-house assistants but with the name change it seems more and more are finding us. In just 5 days we've increased membership by over 20%. That's cool.

So if you're an in-house assistant, real estate virtual assistant or real estate professional needing tips, help or advice, come check us out! We're all here waiting to hear from you! :)

Maybe I'm Psychic?

2006-09-12T22:10:00.000-05:00

Maybe I'm psychic?

My last post was last Tuesday...it was a pretty random I know. It was a note to my brother, a list of things I'm sorry for...I mentioned last week that I didn't know why I felt like I had to say what I did at the time...I just felt like it needed to said...

...within hours of my post my brother's patrol was ambushed ...I knew something bad was about to happen...

...the good news is that my brother's okay, all of his men made it out alive but it was pretty bad...

...thank you God.

Top 10 I'm Sorries

2006-09-05T02:09:00.000-05:00

This is so off-base but I have to get it off my chest.

I am THE worst sister a brother could ever have...seriously.

I know I've shared my worries and anxieties about my brother, Army Ranger Ethan Graves, over the past couple of months. Short recap: My brother is in Afghanistan fighting in the war.

Over the past couple of months I have had these random, off the wall, kind of thoughts filling my head on how much it must of sucked to have me as a sister. Seriously.

Such random guilt - guilt that I've never felt in my 37 years of being me. *sigh* I'm sure you're familiar with David Letterman's Top 10's so I sent my brother an e-mail for just sucking in general - these are the top 10 things I apologized for but I think I could of gone on and on...

The Top 10 I'm sorry's from your sister....I love you!

10. I'm sorry for taking my wigs and chasing you around the house with them when you were so obviously scared to death of them. (He was like 3 at the time)

9. I'm sorry for eating the St. John's aspirins when Jamie was babysitting and blaming it on you and lying about it causing such a panic and knowing they made you throw up all night trying to get it out of your system.

8. I'm sorry for stealing all of your bubble gum and candy when I was a kid. I could eat all 4 packs in a couple of hours and you could keep your 4 packs around for weeks.

7. I'm sorry for chasing you around the front yard when your arm was fractured and making you fall which broke your arm.

6. I'm sorry for laughing so hard at you when you snuck dads car out and rolled it the same day that they left for vacation.

5. I'm sorry for purposely taking your Star Wars actions heroes guns and light sabers and throwing them away on purpose.

4. I'm sorry for asking you to help me move but conveniently leaving out that I was moving to a 3rd story apartment with no elevator.

3. I'm sorry for ramming your head into the piano in the living room.

2. I'm sorry for thinking that all the girls you've cared for were never good enough for you.

1. I'm sorry for taking you to the Phase II when you were 15 and turning you into an alcoholic during your college days!

*********************************************************************

Of course in true form my brother sent back a note saying he forgave me a long time ago for all this crap - which I knew already - but why does it bother me so much now? I'm like OCD (obsessive compulsive) about all these awful things I've done since I was a kid...it's incredible that my brother turned out as amazing as he has.

I know he'll never read my blog, I doubt he even knows about it, nor does he have time to fish around on my site to find it...I don't even know why I'm telling you this and airing it here, but it needs to be said.

When you get back, I promise to be so much better as a sister. I swear to God. Just please come home safe. I don't think I could handle it if anything happened to you dude. Please come back and give me the chance to be the sister I always should of been.

Much love,
Anna

Virtual Assistant Wanna Be's - Shout Out to LooseEnds.Net

2006-08-17T23:00:00.001-05:00

Say hello to my virtual peer/friend Katie Baird of LooseEnds.Net. Katies been around the IVAA organization (www.IVAA.org) a while. I was reading through her "Loosely Speaking" blog today and read a post that hit home this week.

The reason her post hit home is that just this week I received quite a ranting from a wanna-be Virtual Assistant because I wouldn’t give her advice, for free. She called me full of myself for not answering a few questions and egotistical because I offered to coach her for a fee. Had I been given the opportunity, I could explain that I get about 20 calls or emails per week of people looking to enter the VA industry. On average, each inquiry I receive that I do respond to takes 30-60 minutes to answer just a few of their questions. If I answered all of these inquiries, for free, I’d be losing 10-20 billable hours per week. What’s a VA to do?

VAs always contact seasoned veterans seeking help in their startups. Katie had a fabulous idea of putting up a Freqently Asked Questions post titled: Interested in Becoming a Virtual Assistant? Here’s your F.A.Q. to answer some of the most asked questions.

For those VAs looking to start out try reading Katie's post and see if this helps. If you're looking for more formal (paid) coaching, don't hesitate to contact me!

Virtual Siblings

2006-06-11T18:28:00.000-05:00

My brother, Ranger Graves, is off to Afghanistan. We had some delays and missing orders issues but he's set. Hopefully with the technology he took with him we'll be able to stay in contact.

He left with a hand held computer. We loaded Skype on it and now we can make internet calls to each other for FREE whenever he can find a wireless connection. Apparently they have areas there with the wireless access that he'll be able to use frequently.

I also created a web site for him: http://www.RangerGraves.com so that he can log in to see pics of the family and so that friends and family can leave him notes of love in his guestbook.

If you're reading this, please drop my brother a line in his guestbook. No matter what you or I may think of the war, my brother is in the service to make sure that we all have our freedoms when it comes to speech, religion and freedom.

Happy Hunting Bro' - we miss you!

Sis

Virtual Assistant? Real Estate Virtual Assistant?

2006-04-04T23:50:00.000-05:00

Lately I've had an abundance of questions from Virtual Assistants who are interested in directing their businesses towards real estate professionals. Many are hesitant due to a lack of experience in the real estate industry.

CyberStarVA.com has seen our members obtaining tremendous success no matter whether they are newbie Virtual Assistants, experienced Virtual Assistants, in-house Real Estate Assistants and we've even converted some former Real Estate Agents!

The answer is YES! You can become a Real Estate Virtual Assistant but you need to be knowledgeable as to what tasks you can or can not do. Additionally, you need to stay abreast of the latest trends in technology as the internet has turned traditional real estate marketing methods upside down!

90% of home buyers and sellers are using the internet to find homes and agents in their area. Thanks to the NAR (National Association of Realtors) conferences, most Real Estate Agents are seeking out their very own Virtual Assistant....people, this market is HOT!!!

Joining CyberStarVA provides members the opportunity to collaborate and learn from each other.

Taking the courses at CyberStarVA will teach you about the do's and don'ts as well as the industry specific areas such as transaction management, lead management, etc. that is vital for a Real Estate Virtual Assistant to know about.

Additionally, our vendor training programs are helpful, informative and keep you on the leading edge of technology with agents.

Look for exciting changes and new vendors being added. I look forward to seeing you there!

To your success!

Hoo-Rah Ranger Graves

2006-03-04T11:48:00.000-06:00

The past few weeks my emotions have been up and down like a wild roller coaster ride. Ranger Ethan Graves, my baby brother, is leaving for Iraq soon.

I won't get into politics or what I think of the war, but it breaks my heart knowing that my brother is going over there.

He served 4 years in the Army, one of those years in Kuwait, and has been in the reserves for the past few years.

My brother, is a typical proud-American who is ready to do whatever his country calls on him to do, and he does it with pride.

We've talked about what would or could happen and the one thing he has assured me is that they would never be able to capture him alive, they'd have to kill him first...and I know he means that.

If you're reading this right now, please take just a second to send out a prayer for my brother, no matter who your God is.

Bro, I will miss you so much while you're gone.

Hoo-rah Ranger Graves - with tears in my eyes, I want you to know, you're my hero.

Luv,
Sis