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10th Annual IVAA Live Summit

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Many of you may know I’ve spent last week in Portland, Oregon at the 10th Annual International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA) Live Summit. It was a wonderful week of learning and spending time with good friends, getting to know current acquaintances better (turning some of them into friends) and meet new ones. But, I wonder how many people understand how much of ourselves committee members put into an event like the IVAA Live Summit.

Planning for an IVAA Live Summit literally starts 2 years prior to the event. Since the venue for the next year’s Summit is announced 1 year prior (at the end of the current Summit) multiple venues must be researched (including estimated travel costs for attendees); availability, food, beverage, lodging and venue rental prices must be quoted by potential locations; the final venue location must be chosen and the contract must be signed 1 1/2 to 2 years prior to the actual event date.

While for many people a week at a business conference is almost a vacation, when you’re on the planning committee, that week is anything but a vacation. After literally 2 years of planning, many of the committee members arrive a day early – some 2 or 3 days early – to make sure everything at the venue is ready for the attendees; walking through with venue staff making sure all the tables, chairs, food & beverage plans, audio/visual is set up, swag is ready for attendees, sponsors have what they need, all shipments have been received and accounted for, etc.

The IVAA Live Summit Committee members do all this without pay. We volunteer countless hours of our time, pay our own travel, lodging and registration fees, then, many of the committee members miss out on attending the sessions taking care of the details.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I’m about to begin my 3rd year on the Summit Planning Committee. Your IVAA Live Summit Committee works hard to make sure those connected to the Virtual Assitant industry have a top-notch conference to attend so they will have a place to learn about the new trends in the industry, learn new skills, connect (or re-connect) with others in and around our industry. One of the best ways to show your appreciation for all the hard work is to attend an IVAA Live Summit.

The next IVAA Live Summit will be April 17 – 20, 2012 in Memphis, Tennessee. Show your support and invest in your virtual assistant business by attending the Summit in 2012. Registration will be open after the IVAA Online Summit and there are generally big discounts for IVAA members who register during the “early bird” registration period. Attendee registration prices for 2012 have not yet been set, but historically, early registration has been in the $250-$280 range with full registration in the $500 range. Travel varies greatly depending on where you’re coming from, but average airfare is in the $300 range if you book early, and the IVAA attendee price for a room at the Peabody (where the Summit will be held) will be $169 per night (most attendees get together with a roommate or 2 and split the cost of the room – plus it’s more fun with a roomie!). Two lunches and 2 – 3 breakfasts are generally included in the price of your registration as are beverages and light snacks during sessions.

There are 48 weeks until the beginning of the Summit in Memphis. For most attendees, all costs could be covered by putting aside $22 per week starting now. That would net $1,100 in your Summit Savings by the first day of the Summit. Breaking it down into milestones you’d have $528 set aside by the time early registration begins – more than enough to pay for your early registration. Depending on where you’re coming from, you’ll probably have enough to pay for airfare by Thanksgiving – which is when you’ll probably want to start looking for flights. By the time Summit starts you’ll have enough put aside for a room at the Peabody without needing a roommate to split the cost. But, again, it’s MUCH more fun with a roomie!

The committee works hard to put these events together for us, so attend, learn, enjoy, connect! (And think about volunteering!)

How do I find a virtual assistant?

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This week I’ve been posting about what a virtual assistant is and the cost of a virtual assistant.  Your next question may be, “How do I go about finding a virtual assistant for my business?”

There are several resources for finding a VA to partner with to help you grow your business. Since virtual assistants are, well, virtual, odds are you will not find a VA in your local yellow pages. Also, because they are virtual, that means you are not limited to a VA in your local area. Other than doing a web search and wading through the thousands of VA web sites, you can turn to virtual assistant associations. All VA associations have a section of their web site dedicated for potential clients to submit a request for proposal (RFP). Once the RFP has been posted to the private, members’ only portion of their web site, individual VAs then respond directly to the business owner who has requested VA services. It is then up to the individual business owner to screen the proposals and begin a conversation with who they believe would be the best fit for them and their business needs.

So, what VA associations are there? There are hundreds of VA associations (local, regional, national, and international). Two good places to start are VAnetworking and the International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA). Both are international organizations, but the majority of their members are in North America.

What is a Virtual Assistant?

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“A Virtual Assistant (VA) is a highly-trained independent entrepreneur who provides a myriad of business support services virtually via phone, fax and internet based technology to support and meet the growing needs of businesses worldwide.” – VAnetworking.com

Although the virtual assistant industry has been around for many years and has been utilized by speakers, business/life coaches and real estate professionals, it has only recently been brought into mainstream business world. Entrepreneurs often find they need assistance with business related tasks but often do not have the space, resources or budget for an employee. Enter the VA.

A VA can help with virtually any aspect of your business. Although many virtual assistants are generalists, many VAs offer specialized or niche services. Services range from general administrative services such as data entry, calendar management, email management, transcription and proofreading to specialized services like bookkeeping, email marketing campaign management, desktop publishing and website design and maintenance. Partnering with a VA can significantly free up your time to focus on the money making aspect of your business.

“Why wouldn’t I just hire an employee?”

  • If you run your business from home you may not want someone else inside your home.
  • You don’t have the budget or space for an extra work station (desk, computer, printer telephone, etc.).
  • You don’t want to deal with employment taxes.

“Why wouldn’t I just hire a temp from an agency?”

  • Temp employees do not have a vested interest in seeing your business succeed.
  • Temp employees are just that – temporary!
  • Employment taxes are included in the fee you pay to the temp agency, but you still need the extra work station, have the issue of having someone inside your home (if you’re home based), and many times temps have only basic office skills and are limited in the scope of the work they can perform.

Outsourcing Doesn’t Have to be a Dirty Word

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When the topic turns to outsourcing, many times thoughts immediately turn to outsourcing “overseas” and immediately dismiss the thought, thinking it takes jobs away from your country – forgetting about the option to outsource locally. The definition of outsource according to Merriam-Webster.com is:

to procure (as some goods or services needed by a business or organization) under contract with an outside supplier <decided to outsource some back-office operations>

Virtual Assistants do not need to be in the same geographic location as their clients, but sometimes clients like that little extra security of knowing their VA is close. So where do you find a Virtual Assistant that is “close to home”? Most VA’s do not advertise in the Yellow Pages, but there are still ways you can find a local VA. You can visit the directories for VAnetworking.com or the International Virtual Assistant Association and search your state (or province, country, etc.), or you could submit a request for proposal (RFP) on either of those two sites requesting your VA be in a particular geographic region.

But, again, it is not necessary for a VA to be in the same town, state, or time zone for the VA/Client relationship to work. Although I am in South Carolina, I have clients in Massachusetts, Maryland and California.

So, the next time you hear the term “outsource”, don’t immediately think it’s a dirty word – you can outsource locally!