The Virtual Advantage Ezine June 2005



http://www.assistu.com/	Email: tva@assistu.com

June 2005
The Virtual Advantage, TVA, is a free ezine published bimonthly.

Mission:

The Virtual Advantage is a free bimonthly Newsletter for entrepreneurs, consultants, and small business owners who are dedicated to virtual working partnerships. Virtual means employing technology to collaborate and contribute to another's business without being present physically. We will explore what it takes to make it work and how it's done in all industries from coast to coast and around the world.

Your Volunteers:

TVA is edited by three volunteers, all AssistU (www.assistu.com) VAs. They are:

	Diana Baker, CPVA Key Triad (TM) www.keytriad.com
	Kristy Schnabel, VA It's Virtually Done www.itsvirtuallydone.com
	Kathy Sparks, CPVA Your Virtual Resource www.yourvirtualresource.com

Upcoming Issues:

	Blue Tie Web Collaboration
	Gotomypc

Article Submissions :

We welcome article submissions if you are an AssistU VA or a client of an AssistU VA. Please contact one of the three editors above with your article idea.

"Never, Never, Never give up."

-- Winston Churchill

In This Issue:

	Welcome
	Getting in the Groove (Groove Web Collaboration Tool)
	The Blog
	VA/Client Spotlight: Shane Bowlin (VA) and Ann Vanino (Client)

Welcome

We're in the Groove this month with VA, Kathy Berona. Collaboration tools, like Groove, enable virtual working partnerships to work seamlessly. The TVA Spotlight is with Veteran VA, Shane Bowlin and her time-tested partnership with author and business coach client, Anne Vanino. Virtual Working Partnerships Work! (TM)

Still working on that ezine? Wait. TVA co-editor, Kathy Sparks demistifies the latest trend: blogging. Please take part in our poll at the bottom of the page and let us know what you think. By reading TVA in a blog you will be able to peruse the TVA website with past and current issues at your convenience. We would continue to email you and let you know when a new issue has been published.

Getting in the Groove
by Kathy Berona, VA, Executive Virtual Assistance (R)

One of your first priorities when working in a virtual environment is to create seamless collaboration between you and your clients. Using technology to its fullest is paramount to achieving that goal. A tool I use in order to create a private "virtual office space'' is Groove Virtual Office (Groove). Groove is software you download from http://www.groove.net/. It allows you to create private "virtual offices." You can create as many office spaces as you need with only one license.

In the simplest terms it works by sending packets of information from your computer across the Internet to another computer or computers. Your data does not reside on a server somewhere. It resides on the computer of each member in the private virtual office.

I use Groove to do the following:

Share Contacts - You can import contact files from other programs (for example, .vcf files from Microsoft Outlook) as well as export Groove contacts (.vcg files) into your personal contact list or a Contact Manager tool in an office space.
Share Files - Simply upload any file to any office space and in seconds your client has the same file. The software's latest version enables the sharing of entire folders via a Shared Folder feature. I use it to share QuickBooks and any MS office file.
Share Calendars - When Groove is downloaded it places a button in Outlook enabling any or all events to be sent to a Groove calendar. Or you and your client can work straight from a Groove calendar without using Outlook.
Manage Projects - A month or so ago I upgraded to Project Edition to use with a client. The visual timeline display is very helpful and "team dashboard" enables tracking of the status of other team member's portion of projects. It's very much like MS Project. It is different than the Task Manager tool in Groove.
Manage Tasks - Task Manager is a simple task list with start date, finish date, assigned to, priority and status headers. I use this with my assistant in our office space so I can routinely check the status on tasks I've delegated to her. It has its limits though; it does not have an audio reminder feature.
Hold Meetings - I love this tool! You can create a meeting agenda, assign responsibility to agenda topics prior to the meeting, type minutes during the meeting, attach files for discussion and create action items as the meeting is being conducted. The phone is used for the audio portion of the meeting. It's fabulous!

There's so much more I'd like to share, as there are many other great features and tools of Groove, but I'm working within a limited space for this article.

Groove offers four editions:

A free edition, which is a 60-Day trial with limited features
A File Sharing edition for, what else, file sharing ($69 license fee)
A Professional Edition ($179 license fee)
A Project Edition ($229 license fee)

For a quick product comparison, copy and paste this link to your browser: http://www.groove.net/index.cfm/pagename/VO_Compare and for more information, please visit http://www.groove.net/ and be sure to look at products for small business and not the Enterprise products.

The Blog
by Kathy Sparks, CPVA, Your Virtual Resource

The Blog--What in the world is it? Should I have one? and Why would anyone want to read my journal? Hmmm b-l-o-g = Weblog. Just in case you haven't heard.

I've been wondering about all of these issues for the past six months. I'm here to tell you, I still don't know if it is what it's all cracked up to be. I keep thinking it's just for "The Big Guys," you know, MSNBC or FoxNews, or for someone who doesn't have anything better to do than sit around and write a journal about what they are doing.

So let's go through this logically. First, if you are dedicated to a subject, maybe a political issue or a medical issue and you find a blog focused on the subject, I'm sure you can learn about your issue, connect with others interested in the same subject and gain new friends (or enemies, depending on the issue).

What would be the advantage for someone like me to have a blog? Believe me, I have a hard enough time telling people about my business and my services without writing about it three or four times a week, hoping someone will be interested enough to read it. Let's back up to the newsletter revolution--yes, I started a newsletter, Connected Virtually, because I wanted to promote my business, get visitors to my web site and generally share all of the stuff I was learning being a Virtual Assistant. My newsletter was monthly. I had plenty of material, but eventually it became a little stressful to have to produce the thing every month. Newsletters are time consuming and must be rather formal and precise.

Ohhhh, that's the big difference! Blogs are relaxed, less formal and more spontaneous and can be fun with photos, side bar comments and spur of the moment opinions. So I can take all the stuff I want to share in a newsletter and post it to a blog. The theory is that if it is easy writing, I'll want to write more often.

Just because I'm a VA and have lots of stuff to share about being a virtual assistant doesn't mean I have other information I'd love to share. I can sneak in things I find "on the way to" something else. And what would this do for me? For one thing, it will add a whole new set of keywords for search engines to consider and most importantly, generate some conversation, opinion and more visits to my web site.

Also, your network has just been stretched to a whole new dimension. And what does networking do--oh wow: potential new clients. This could go on forever. Well, we hope. Your credibility will be built and your network will constantly reach beyond current boundaries. You will have new sources of support, possibly create joint ventures, link exchanges and your arena of influence will expand.

I thought we VAs had bumped up against the wall for finding new clients with working "The List of How to Attract Clients."And along comes yet another wonderful experiment for us - ahh the Internet, "it's really just a web, isn't it."

If you want to fool around with your own blog, first visit a couple of the "Big Guys," that I've mentioned above, then visit www.milana.com a coaching blog with lots of great information and please see how mine is coming along at www.thevablog.com.

I started mine with the free service www.blogger.com. It was pretty easy to set up and I know there is a lot of room for improvement, but that will take a little time. The second resource I can share with you is a wonderful Tool called "The Non-Techie, Quick-Start Guide to Setting Up a Blog for Your Business" at www.coachinglab.com found under Marketing Coaching.

Happy blogging!

VA Spotlight
VA: Shane Bowlin and Client: Ann Vanino

Shane Bowlin, virtual assistant, and her client Ann Vanino, author and business coach, have built a strong, time-tested partnership.

Ann:
Shane and I have worked together for six years now. Shane is a business partner, muse, my very own search engine, and a guide. When I asked Shane to work with me as a Virtual Assistant (VA), I had no idea what a brilliant decision that was. I originally hired Shane to work on a database and financial tasks.

Shane:
Right from the beginning Ann understood the potential power of partnering with a VA. She was clear in her goals and expectations. Creating a database and developing systems for financial tasks were only the beginning. Soon I found myself helping her more and more--managing tasks such as web site creation and upkeep, marketing, graphic design, travel, and research.

Ann:
A few years ago I began focusing on writing a book. Shane has saved me years of learning and has supported me all along the way. She has other clients who are authors and are a bit farther down the road than me. I benefit from their experiences all the time. Shane can tell me what has worked for them and what hasn't. She also has an innate creativity and resourcefulness that is invaluable. The proof: my first book, "Leadership on Trial: Lessons From The Apprentice" will be released in May!

Shane:
Together my clients and I have created a unique virtual business community of sharing and friendship. It quickly became apparent to all of us that a collection of like-minded individuals sharing information and experiences is a very powerful business model. (All of my clients have met at least two other clients either in person or via the telephone.)

Ann:
What makes my relationship with Shane work is her willingness to tell me the truth even if I'm wrong, her insights and knowledge regarding marketing and the publishing world, her researching skills, her even temperament even when I'm panicking, and her belief in me during the rough spots. I can honestly say Shane is a key player in where I am today. I can't imagine building my business without her!

Shane:
I have been working with most of my clients for over 6 years. When I'm asked about my "typical" day, I have to chuckle. There is no such things as typical in my office--the tasks I perform range from booking speaking engagements to finding a calligrapher to doing wedding invitations, coming up with marketing ideas and implementing them to finding creative thank you gifts and shipping them, maintaining financial records to doing the layout for a book.

Supportive and wonderful clients like Ann make my business a dream come true!

ANN VANINO founded Moving Forward Personal and Professional Coaching in 1996. She has worked with hundreds of people, from entrepreneurs, to new coaches to corporate executives, helping them empower themselves and their organizations to achieve success. Ann's new book "Leadership on Trial: Lessons from The Apprentice" is a voyage through the leadership lessons in the popular reality TV show The Apprentice. Ann's web site is MovingForward.net.

SHANE BOWLIN is a highly skilled Virtual Assistant, who has owned and operated a successful VA practice since 1997. She specializes in helping authors, musicians, and celebrities manage their personal and professional lives. Shane is also the iVillage.com expert on Virtual Assistance. Shane's web site is AskShane.com.