Thursday, September 8th, 2011
This is the 4th and final post in Pepper’s Virtual Teams Series. In case you’ve missed the first three posts, you can check out What is a Virtual Team, How to Effectively Work with a Virtual Team, and Online Collaboration Tools for Virtual Teams.
 Everything has an upside and a downside, and this includes working with virtual teams. Being part of one, I can objectively list down the benefits and challenges of doing things the virtual way.
Benefits of working with a Virtual Team
- You can work with the best set of skills – Because virtual work is not limited to a geographical time and space, you can choose to hire the best person for the job, no matter where they are in the world. Even if they are scattered all over the globe, your team members’ skills and expertise are still available to you.
- Lower overhead costs – Since your staff is not physically in the office or your place of business, you can save on office space, rent, equipment, utilities, and other costs that go with renting, leasing or owning physical property.
- Flexible team scheduling – Work hours are more flexible for those who work with virtual teams. Members can choose their hours as long as they deliver on the tasks assigned tot hem. As long as schedules, leaves, and days off are pre-arranged and agreed upon, team members can enjoy the benefits of flexible work scheduling.
- Reduced Commute Time – You and your virtual team need can avoid the rush hour commute to work. Since less time is wasted on commuting to and from the office, you can devote more of your day to actual work. On top of this, you get to save on gasoline, parking, and other transportation costs.
- Work life balance – Your team can have a better quality of life with a balanced work schedule. The flexible schedule allows them more quality time for themselves, not to mention their spouses and children.
- Work measures become more reliable – Since there is minimal to no actual physical interaction, work metrics need to be used to determine just how much work is done. This is a more accurate way of measuring work results than the showboating that sometimes occurs in offices because you see results that are based on set quantitative metrics.
Challenges of a Virtual Business
- A lot of room for misinterpretation – Since interaction is done in a virtual work environment, it is harder to express and read emotions accurately. Emotions and expressions that cannot that we usually read well during face to face interactions are not as easily read through messaging, email, or phone conversations.
- More challenging to visually represent thoughts and ideas – Let’s face it – gathering people in front of a whiteboard is one of the most efficient methods of brainstorming and communicating ideas. With no (or limited) face to face conversations, we have to rely on online programs or tools, and sometimes, these limit the visual presentations that an excited team member may have regarding a project plan or idea.
- Team members may not be as transparent – Team members may not readily level with the other members regarding their project issues or difficulties. Granted, this is also a problem with physical offices, but it’s a lot easier to hide when your interaction with others is limited to online tools.
- Time Zone Management — This is almost a given. While working in different time zones allows you to work around the clock, having people spread across multiple time zones also poses a scheduling challenge.
- Fewer Opportunities to Bond Away From Work – Team rapport is harder to build when there is no option for the members to have a bottle or two for the road when the work day ends. Activities that build camaraderie such as break time conversations or meal breaks that serve as bonding time are not available to virtual teams.
- Over communication becomes a work standard – In the virtual environment, it is better to communicate, clarify, and confirm everything to make sure that all members have the same understanding about the task at hand. This produces of ton of paperwork and files that could quickly fill your archives.
We’ve walked you through the what, the why, and the how to make virtual teams effectively work for you. If you ask me, the biggest advantage of having a virtual team is the resource pool of talent, skills and varied expertise that each member of the team brings with them, that you can readily access from behind that virtual work space. Perhaps you can add to our list of pros and cons, or share with us your personal experience of having worked with a virtual team.
Having read this series, and maybe even some more of Pepper blogs and client testimonials, do you think a Pepper virtual team can help you do your business better and faster?
Tags: pepper, productivity tools, series, virtual teams
Posted in Outsourcing, Productivity Toolkit | 9 Comments »
Wednesday, August 17th, 2011
This is the 3rd post in Pepper’s Virtual Teams Series. In case you’ve missed the first two posts, you can check out What is a Virtual Team and How to Effectively Work with a Virtual Team.
 An important aspect of effectively managing virtual teams is the collaboration that goes into the work. Many online tools are available for seamless communication and coordination so that the virtual team manager is always on top of every team member’s tasks, schedule, and work results.
Here are some of the useful online collaboration tools for virtual teams:
Basecamp – Pepper uses Basecamp, an online collaboration tool which can be used to effectively manage projects, tasks lists and team communication. Less complicated than other collaboration tools, Basecamp is easy to use to optimize workflow and project management. For the virtual team manager, the dashboard feature of Basecamp is useful for tracking work progress, messages, file uploads, and work time logged by each member.
Skype – Another communication tool staple for Pepper is Skype. With its simple and easy to use features, not to mention, FREE features, it has now become the standard for voice calls over the Internet, as well as chat, video conferencing and file transfers. Skype is free to use for just about every operating system and mobile device. Skype can be used for training, client calls, daily meetings, and screen sharing.
Google Docs – If you have a Gmail/Google Account, you can make use of Google Docs for free online spreadsheets and document management. The spreadsheet feature is particularly useful when you need to have multiple people working on the same spreadsheet at the same time. It may not have all the features of Microsoft’s Excel, but it’s very useful for collaborative editing of documents (including text files). Work files that need collaborative work by multiple members such as domain management, financial reports, feature suggestions, performance appraisals, directory lists and online resources can be managed with Google Docs.
Dropbox – Dropbox is tool that allows online file sharing. Team members can create their own accounts and invite other members for file sharing. Whenever you add something to your Dropbox folder it will automatically update to the other people that you shared the folder with (or another computer that you might use at home). Sharing training materials, files and back up documents is made easy, and is readily accessible from multiple computers.
Jing Project – For collaboration that needs screen or video capture, Jing allows voice annotation that can help you easily explain something. All you have to do is upload the capture to Screencast.com and it will send a link for the members to view. Just like Skype, Jing is free to use except when you want to make use of advanced features. This online tool is perfect for graphic or design collaboration or any communication that needs visual and vocal instructions.
There are many other online collaboration tools and programs available for virtual team management, and you may choose to use tools other than the ones we’ve recommended here. What tools do you prefer, and why? Please share them with us in the comments.
Before we end this though, we’d like to remind you that there is another post in the series. We hinted at it in the last post, and now we’d like to introduce the next topic: The Pros and Cons of Working with a Virtual Team. Come back soon to learn more!
Tags: Basecamp, Docs, Google, Jing, pepper, productivity tools, series, Skype, virtual teams
Posted in Outsourcing, Productivity Toolkit | 11 Comments »
Wednesday, August 10th, 2011
This is the 2nd post in Pepper’s Virtual Teams Series. Before reading on, we suggest you check out the first post in the series, What is a Virtual Team. You can also read the next post in the series, Online Collaboration Tools for Virtual Teams.
 Communication and collaboration are two key success factors of effectively managing virtual teams, and ultimately, making the team work efficiently for you.
Virtual teams are linked together by communication technologies that allow them to interact electronically by email, instant messaging, and Voice over IP technologies like Skype. For US based businesses, an internet-based telephone service (VoIP) is an essential tool for real time communication. Conferences can be done through telecons and video conferencing as well.
Managing virtual teams effectively and efficiently
If you’re the leader of a virtual team, keep in mind that you’re managing a set of individuals with different personalities and eccentricities. More often than not, they will be working from different time zones, at different hours. For virtual teams to work effectively, the virtual team leader should:
Set clear team goals and objectives – make sure that each team member has completely understood and accepted project goals.
Define work responsibilities and accountabilities of each member – team members should be clear with each member’s role, and how a member’s inaction or delay can affect the work that the other members are responsible for.
Supplement team conferences with one-on-one time with each member – regular online meetings should be followed up with individual discussions with each member of the team. This ensures that each member is clear with project goals and timelines. Individual issues and questions that are of a more personal or confidential nature can be addressed during this time.
Make each team member feel his or her ownership in the project – A sense of ownership leads to commitment and focused action. Allow collaborative effort for team members by involving the whole team in the decision making processes that need consensus and commitment. Set group goals and do regular group discussions of possible solutions and outcomes.
Ensure seamless communication lines – make sure there are no blocked lines of communication and each member of the team is kept fully informed of all developments at all times.
Strengthen team rapport and camaraderie within the virtual team environment – make it a point to incorporate team building activities and opportunities for extra social time with each other into your schedule. The benefits for your team are invaluable. Among other things, this smoothens relationships among team members and encourages open lines of communication.
These are just some tips that can help you effectively manage and get the most out of your virtual teams. Working with virtual teams can be a challenge, but also provides several benefits, both tangible and intangible – but this is a topic for a future post.
For the next post in the series, we’ll discuss collaboration programs or software that can further help you manage your teams and ensure seamless coordination on project goals and timelines. Until then, do you have any tips for effectively working with a virtual team? Share them in the comments.
Tags: pepper, productivity tools, series, virtual teams
Posted in Outsourcing, Productivity Toolkit | 6 Comments »
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011
 Purpose, people, and links – these are the three main aspects of a virtual team. Purpose, being the most critical aspect among the three, is what links the virtual team together. This purpose is defined by individual tasks that result to a common goal.
The number of organizations and businesses that choose to work with virtual teams is growing. This is primarily because virtual teams defy time and geography, providing continued productivity across multiple markets and varying time zones.
If you’re considering hiring a virtual team for your business, this series of posts will walk you through the whats, whys, and hows of making your virtual team work effectively for you.
WHAT is a Virtual Team
A virtual team, or what some call a GDT (geographically dispersed team), is a set of people working on the same project but not in the same physical location at the same time. With many companies going global and doing business in multiple locations and time zones all at the same time, setting up virtual teams is fast becoming a reliable way of ensuring that projects get done in a timely and efficient manner.
WHY work with a Virtual Team
Put simply, the main benefit of setting up a virtual team is increased productivity with the use of expert skills at a cost lower than having a physical work force.
Benefits of a virtual team to your business
- Increased productivity – with a virtual team, work on the project is not limited to the traditional 9-5 work day schedule. In fact, your business will never have an off hour because the team member on the other side of the globe can simply pick up where the other team member left off. You are assured of round-the-clock coverage by team members working across different time zones. This translates to faster time to market for new products and services of your business.
- Extended market opportunity – with work teams located in different parts of the globe, your business is able to directly access different market opportunities in a wider scale. Your business will be able to establish worldwide presence to customers and markets. For small business owners, this is added competitiveness on a global scale, without being limited to a particular customer base.
- Knowledge transfer – a virtual team is a pool of skills and talents from around the globe. You are able to choose and work with the best talents and skills you need regardless of your business’s physical location. With uninterrupted communication and online interaction, each member provides easy access to a virtual pool of knowledge. Members from the west can benefit from what the easterners have to say. Definitely, each member of the team brings along with him or her all the competencies and know-how from his or her part of the world.
- Lower overhead costs – You cut down on office overhead costs when team members work from their own locations. With a virtual team, you need not invest on office space, rent, utilities, equipment, and even the usual employee compensation and benefits. Additionally, you have the benefit of cost effective and flexible resource scheduling – you can scale up or down depending on what your business needs.
Having a virtual team that you can rely on allows you to focus on the more important aspects of your business’ development. Of course, this only holds true if you can work with your virtual team effectively. We’ll tackle this in the next post in the Pepper Virtual Teams Series. Stay tuned!
Check out the next posts in the Pepper Virtual Teams Series: How to Effectively Work with a Virtual Team and Online Collaboration Tools for Virtual Teams.
Tags: pepper, productivity tools, series, virtual teams
Posted in Outsourcing, Productivity Toolkit | 10 Comments »
Friday, October 1st, 2010
We’re a team of virtual assistants, but that doesn’t mean you can’t meet us in the real world. In fact, a few of our clients have visited Pepper HQ already.
Russ Meuchel of Ember Recording Studios
Our first client visit was in February when Russ Meuchel of Ember Recording Studios came over with his friend, John Frazier. They wanted to meet up and discuss Pepper’s services, so Nikki Romero, Pepper Business Director; and Via Enriquez, Russ’ VA met up with them at EDSA Central Mall and headed over to Shangrila Mall. Over a hearty lunch at Via Mare, Russ, John, Nikki, and Via got to know each other, discussed their respective businesses, and worked out future business plans.
Tim and Joana Totten of SouthGain Enterprises
Back in February, Tim and Joana Totten of SouthGain Skin Care came over for a visit. Here they met some of the actual people behind our fabulous virtual service, namely: Miguel Ramos, President of ASPAC Advertising, which is Pepper’s mother company; Nikki Romero; Paulo Nasol, Republika Worldwide Business Director; Paula Gesmundo-Uy, and Verna Austria, Tim & Joana’s VAs.
 From left to right: Tim Totten - President, SouthGain Enterprises, Joana Totten - Vice President, SouthGain Enterprises, Paula Gesmundo - Pepper Senior VA, Paulo Nasol - Republika Business Director, and Nikki Romero - Pepper Business Director While the Pepper team handles several tasks for SouthGain, including customer support, blog and social network updates, research, and other administrative duties, this visit found us tapping into our networking skills as well, scheduling meetings with local contacts to help Tim find potential suppliers and manufacturers for SouthGain’s products. Of course, since we had some face time already, the gang also discussed options for SouthGain’s expansion.
Tim and Joana returned in June, this time with more than business on their itinerary. The business, of course, came first – that’s part of what makes us great assistants, after all. Discussion at Pepper HQ centered around new opportunities for SouthGain, namely, a new label.
After this came the other, more fulfilling (emphasis on filling) part of their itinerary. Tim and Joana had planned a trip to Balayan, Batangas, a province a few hours south of the capital of Manila for Joana’s birthday celebration, and the Pepper crew was invited.
We knew were in for a feast because the Parada ng Lechon was in town. The lechon is a whole pig seasoned and slowly roasted over hot coals that famed chef Anthony Bourdain describes as the best “of all the whole roasted pigs I’ve had all over the world.” Now imagine seeing hundreds of them parading right in front of you – are you hungry yet? You can bet we were.
But the fun didn’t end there. You see, part of the Parada ng Lechon tradition is to throw water to practically anyone you want. So while walking and looking for Tim and Joana, we found ourselves dripping wet, with people throwing water at us wherever we went! Imagine a whole town playing water fight the whole day – adults and kids alike, complete with the firetruck hose on and policemen with water buckets. There is nothing like it, and everyone had a blast.
Ric and Liz Thompson of Transperience Network
In August, Ric and Liz Thompson (as well as their two adorable kids Chandler and Stefan) came over to visit Pepper HQ. This time, the Pepper welcoming committee consisted of Miguel Ramos; Nikki Romero; Mejie Yamamoto and Apolz Fabros, Liz & Ric’s VAs; Paula Gesmundo, Pepper Senior VA; and Luis Cruz, Pepper writer.
 From left to right: Miguel Ramos - President, Aspac Advertising, Nikki Romero - Pepper Business Director, Liz Thompson - Co-Founder of Transperience Network, Stefan Thompson, Chandler Thompson, Ric Thompson - Co-Founder of Transperience Network, Mejie Yamamoto - Liz/Ric's Lead VA, Apolz Fabros - Liz/Ric's Lead VA, Luis Cruz - Writer, and Paula Gesmundo - Pepper Senior VA As expected, business matters dominated the discussion – this was, after all, a business meeting. One of the topics covered was Pepper’s role in the continued growth of Ric and Liz’s ventures, which include Healthy Wealthy n Wise Magazine, Small Business CEO Magazine, the Association of Small Business CEOs, and the Transperience Network. Discussion also included ways in which we could help achieve the Thompsons’ goal of providing others with the necessary tools to build successful lives. Once work was done though, we moved on to the more important things.
You see, the Thompsons stayed in the Philippines for a few months, so being the helpful assistants we are, we decided to help them plan their stay. We suggested a number of places to visit, and more importantly, we gave them a list of dishes that they simply had to try – Ric & Liz, we expect a report on this, by the way.
Other items on the agenda included teaching kids to save, the genius of individual video monitors on long flights, and siblings pushing each others’ buttons. Yes, the two Thompson boys had their voices heard in the meeting too.
Client visits definitely liven up the already spicy lives of the people at Pepper HQ. It’s always great to meet new people – even if we’ve worked with them online for quite some time already. Seeing the faces of our clients, and shaking the hands behind the emails and chats that pop up on our screens – there’s something very satisfying about that. Yes, we’re a team of virtual assistants, but we provide a very real service – and meeting our clients in real life only makes us want to serve you better.
Tags: Joana Totten, Liz Thompson, Pepper Virtual Assistant Clients, Personal Assistants, Philippines Virtual Assistant, Russ Meuchel, Tim Totten, virtual assistants
Posted in Announcements, Outsourcing | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
It is true that you can explore more activities you’ve been craving to do if you have a Virtual Assistant (VA) working at your back. From filtering your mails, updating your twitter, writing your blogs, editing your manuscripts, drafting letters to your clients, fast tracking your marketing strategies, filing your documents, conducting product research, arranging your vacation, ordering your camera phone at Amazon, scheduling a coffee date with a friend, and so on!
Here are a few things worth noting in order to maximize her time for you.
Know your needs. Did you hire an assistant for marketing aid? For customer service? Administrative work? For time-consuming and routine tasks? Understanding your own purpose of hiring a VA ultimately improves your expectations and eases up your manner of delegating a project.
Platform for instructions. We do not recommend giving instructions over the phone or via chat is as a lot of the information may easily be lost there. Email or the project management system that we use, Basecamp, are still the best options. Phone calls and chat are great for clarifications though. However, if you prefer to do it over the phone, your virtual assistant will be taking down notes and will email back the minutes of the conversation to make sure she got everything right and didn’t miss out on anything.
Make it clear. Provide detailed instructions on the primary information that your virtual assistant must know in order to work on the tasks at hand. If you want her to send emails to your selected contacts about a particular subject matter, be sure to provide your email access; inform her of the complete lists of people you intend to send it to, then give her the full details and sample pegs of what she needs to write for you. Unclear instructions eat up the time of your VA and your help can assist her to spend it more efficiently. If instructions are not clear, expect some back-and-forth as your assistant will need to clarify things to make sure she understood it properly and efforts are not wasted.
Learn her background. The VA will be giving you her background and what she specializes in so that you know how you can gain more from her expertise. If you need other skill sets, ask your virtual assistant and see if she can work or get trained on it. We have a backup team in Pepper that may provide training for a VA so she can acquire the skills needed.
Share your objectives. Or simply give her a heads-up regarding the tasks given. Knowing the goal of an activity stimulates her thinking and she may even render relevant inputs. Remember that your virtual assistant is highly-educated and she can probably aid you with more than just the basic assignments.
Itemize your tasks. Delegating a project in long paragraphs to discuss what she needs to accomplish for the day (or for the week) may be good but can be better if you can bullet or arrange in numbers the specific items that need to be done.
Set the priorities. You can always give your assistant a series of activities but it helps if you identify which task you would like her to work on first. Is it the research on quantum physics for the school project of your son? Or bookmarking your webpage in various social media sites? Setting a deadline will also help her manage her time well.
Define work schedules. Most likely, your virtual assistant is working in a different time zone and if this is the case, your morning is her wee hours and vice versa. It is okay if you give her a certain time plan indicating your preferred hours of working for you. Or at least identify a specific schedule to send your instructions so she can work on it promptly rather than on the next shift. If you have something urgent after the shift, you can call or send her an SMS so that she can attend to it right away.
Give her feedback. Or at least acknowledge the receipt of the accomplished tasks. If there is a need to revise the copy of your brochure, tell her. If you like the way it was written, commend her. She will surely appreciate the comment and will be happy if you make some suggestions on how she can further improve the service.
Keep in touch. If you have a scheduled seminar and will be out of the internet the whole week, let her know. If you plan to skip some days and then use most of your hours for your next big project next week, inform her. Leaving her in the dark of your schedule is inappropriate considering that she too has other activities; she will continue to reserve a time for you unless you tell her otherwise.
Spend time wisely. Following your subscription, hours allotted for the given month cannot be carried over to the next so make full use of it. If you got a virtual assistant for part-time services, that means your VA is also handling other clients and will need to spend some time for them as well. She blocks off a chunk of time specifically for you so it’s better if you can help her make use of it properly.
Option for training. For some tasks that are also new to the VA (like the CRM program that your company uses), providing her your actual training may be needed. Gotomeeting, Dimdim, and Skype are good ways to teach her online as they have screensharing programs so you can chat while training her.
Remember … your virtual assistant is your ally. She will be happy to assist you in any way she can so you can enjoy the extra time that comes in availing her service!
Tags: how to work with a virtual assistant, virtual assistance, working with a virtual assistant, working with online assistants
Posted in Outsourcing | 6 Comments »
Monday, December 14th, 2009
On the days before Christmas, my VA (Virtual Assistant) gave to me…
12 months of meetings
It’s never too early to get started on getting next year’s calendar filled up with your red letter days. Ask for your VA’s help to get your reminders set-up, whether it be for important meetings, birthdays, anniversaries and other important dates.
11 Jobs with Typing
For any transcription work or encoding that need to be done before the end of the year, seek your VA’s assistance in getting those important papers ready for you.
10 Sent e-greetings
Christmas greetings are a must for anyone so enlist help organizing and maintaining your email database, as well as sending out your Holiday wishes. Also consider having your VA reply to the greetings sent to you. You wouldn’t want your friends and family to think you’re a Scrooge.
9 Planned Parties
Find that perfect party venue, set up the caterers, send out the invites and mind those who have sent in their RSVPs. There is nothing more stressful than being a gracious host on top of planning and setting up an event that would make Martha Stewart proud. Cut yourself some slack and get a VA to do all that for you.
8 Lists for Shopping
Keep track of your Christmas gift lists – and more importantly, your budget – this Christmas season. Research the best online shopping deals, the hottest toys for your kids and even grab that much-coveted Hermes bag at a low price for your wife. Never mind who’s been naughty or nice, simply ask and your VA will even check for you twice!
7 Plans for Marketing
Get a head start on next year’s marketing campaigns before year end and impress your boss. Your VA can assist you in doing the necessary research and even do the preliminary set-ups to successfully implement it. Their know-how, equipment and creative flair may just be what you need to get you ahead in your field!
6 Year-End Reportings
There is no reason why you need to be stuck behind a desk doing your number-crunching, word processing and spreadsheets during the Holidays. Give your brain its much-deserved vacation and let your VA handle those mundane tasks for you.
5 Organizing
Most virtual assistants are experts in multi-tasking and organizing. If you’re starting to feel overwhelmed by the amount of paper work you have to catch-up on or bogged-down by daily tedious tasks, a VA might just be the answer to your prayers.
4 Calling Leads
Expand your market-reach by asking your VA to call prospective clients to inform them about your company. More importantly, let your existing clients know how special they are by getting a personal call to let them know about your special offers on your latest products and services exclusively for them.
3 Set Vacations
If you’re hard-pressed for time to book that special holiday vacation with your family or with that special someone, let your VA assist you in arranging your trip: get the best airline and hotel deals, book the best tour packages, or even get that rent-a-car to get home to your loved-ones.
2 Holiday Promotions
You have a Christmas sale to do? Get help getting your website ready for its Christmas promos, or sending out your brochures and flyers during the Holidays. Let your VA help you update your webpage, blog, or social networking sites to spread the word fast and easy!
And a whole lot more time for me… The best part of hiring a VA is that it maximizes your productivity while maintaining efficiency in your business processes. In the business world, time is money and freeing up your schedule to do more important things is the key to succeeding in your endeavors. This Christmas season, give yourself the gift of time and spend it on those that matter most to you.
Tags: how to delegate to your virtual assistant, making use of your personal assistant, virtual assistant, virtual assistant services, what to outsource
Posted in Life Management, Outsourcing | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
White sands, clear blue water, softly muted sounds of birds along the cliffs, ice cold fruit drink on one hand and the sea breeze on your face…
AND then your phone rings with your client asking why the shipment hasn’t arrived yet. AND your 50 new emails from suppliers, clients and sales team all haven’t been answered yet. AND your alarm goes off for Junior’s piano recital at 3pm.
BUT all you want is a few more minutes to get back to your dream.
Need help?
There seems to be so much that needs to be done to get your business going.
But there’s so little time! And so much competition!
There are people and entities that are capable and more than willing to help you get your job off to a good start, and follow up on those clients when there seems to be not enough hours in your day.
The world is evolving is such a fast pace that we all cannot afford to get left behind. Establishing connections with people from across the world has never been as easy as it is now. And for sure, ways by which to make it easier is underway.
Get started.
Start from getting some help – getting someone to help understand where you’re coming from and will be a partner in your vision for your success. While you want to have it all, you can’t do it by yourself.
Finding someone to help, who has the competence, skill, mindset and understanding is tricky. And quality often comes at a steep price. So again, you feel like you’re back at square one.
There is a very delicate balance between cost, price and profit. As business owners, on one hand, you want to serve your client’s needs by offering a price that is affordable, and a product with quality at par with the finest. On the other hand, you want to serve your needs by making sure your cost is low, to make sure you gain a decent profit without sacrificing quality of product and service.
See? Very delicate.
High profit and low price SHOULD NEVER BE EQUAL TO low quality.
Smart Solution
One smart solution to business dilemmas such as sourcing quality products at low cost is LOCATION. Same product, same quality but different source = different prices. The downside to this is stereotyping. If one sees a product coming from a place with a notion of producing low quality goods, the likelihood of sourcing from that place is low. If we however, keep an open mind and test products, skills and services carefully and patiently, we will eventually hit a goldmine. Help and assistance with quality comes from the least expected places. Perhaps diamonds from coal and gold from dirt?
Making life easier for you does not mean giving up on your dreams to run a profitable business. Nor does it mean making do with whatever first thing you come across, or whoever is nearest you. Somewhere, in some part of the world, someone is best suited to partner with you and help achieve your goals.
Geographic boundaries are no longer hindrances to connect with those skillsets and wisdoms you need for your career. No longer do we feel trapped within our little worlds, and narrow understandings of how things are done. And racial differences are evened out and opportunities are shared more equitably.
Virtual assistants from developing countries, for example, who have acquired knowledge, education and training at par with the world’s best – are given the same chances to prove that they can help make life better for CEOs of the Western world. A very even two-way street that erases prejudice, helps businesses succeed and creates a very meaningful relationship both ways.
What then is the key to having it all, for all of us?
We can’t do it all by ourselves. Keeping informed and open minded to the strengths and skills of others are the keys to having your cake, and eating it too.
Tags: have it all, outsource your life, philippine virtual assistants, virtual assistants
Posted in Business and Marketing, Outsourcing | 1 Comment »
Monday, May 11th, 2009
 There are tasks better done with a partner. Save time, money, and effort with a Virtual Assistant.
What will you do if someone capable reaches out a hand to lessen your workload? Someone who can devote 10 full hours that you can stretch in a week? And at no cost at all!
De-loading your huge pile of things-to-do is a lot easier when you have a helpful partner ready at your disposal. Whether it’s a simple client follow-up call, an important research documentation that needs thorough proofreading, or a big project management assignment, it’s good to have a partner-specialist who’ll have everything ready and right when you need them.
That’s why Virtual Assistants or VAs exist. And if you could hire a VA for free, here are top eleven things that can introduce you to its advantages and give you more coffee breaks by having someone else help you with your work:
1. Encode data. Relatively an easy task. But delegating the work to somebody else can give you extra time to think about that next marketing technique to boost your market share.
2. Call your clients and suppliers. For follow-up, introducing your latest service, or ordering new products. Keep your contacts updated without even lifting the phone.
3. Chat live with your customers and prospects. You can ask your VA to do support service, handle queries, or gather feedback that you can use for assessing your business approach and how you can improve it.
4. Book your next island-hopping escapade. With all the hard work, you deserve some pampering…right from choosing an excellent hideaway destination to landing a generous holiday deal.
5. Do research for you. So you can enjoy your getaway to the fullest, and still have an impressive output by the time you’re back for work.
6. Prepare your next presentation slides or spreadsheets. Deal with the facts and figures you have to dole out to your team while your VA ensures your slide contents are placed as you instructed.
7. Transcribe minutes of your meetings. Unless you’re still in for a “bored meeting” with your recorder.
8. Proofread and edit your existing articles. Delete from your worries box typos and grammar blunders on your write ups.
9. Write articles, blog posts, or press releases. Why just let VAs proofread when they can write compelling articles for you?
10. Manage your appointments. Whether it’s a luncheon meeting reminder or a wake up call for your child’s weekend recital, your VA will keep you posted.
11. Search for things. Anything! And have them delivered to you right at your doorstep.
It’s easy to see what Virtual Assistants can do for you and your business—make your work easier so you can focus more on the big picture. This collaborative effort has helped a lot of companies, business owners, and individuals to increase productivity, save time and effort, and reduce costs. It’s no surprise the popularity and service range of Virtual Assistants have grown in great progression over the years.
See for yourself how a Virtual Assistant can help you. Try one for free now!
Tags: advantages of having virtual assistants, free virtual assistant services, virtual assistants, what to delegate to virtual assistants
Posted in Outsourcing | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
When I started working as a virtual assistant, I thought it would be a temporary thing for me. You see, five years ago I was very skeptical about this industry. I didn’t think being a VA was a real career. But I was dead wrong.
The first job I landed as a virtual assistant was with a start-up company. My boss and his accountant, who both live in the US, and myself located in Manila, were the only 3 people running the company at the time.
But the company grew so fast, that the accountant had to hire another person dedicated to doing the payroll and handling the staff schedules, after only eight months. That company now has more than 50 regular employees working virtually from the Philippines. What worked?
When he put up his company my boss had little capital to start with, so he couldn’t afford to pay a decent salary to a full time employee in the US. A really smart guy though, he knew that in order for him to successfully build his company, he has to offload the most tedious tasks and just focus on his marketing strategy and client relations.
So he looked for options that would fit his needs. He went online and found resources for offshore hiring.
In a matter of weeks, he was able to find the right people to run his business operations smoothly. This allowed him the freedom to focus on conceptualizing ideas to further his business success, plus more time connecting with his customers to gain their loyalty and trust. Time is money.
My boss attributes the success of his company for having the luxury to focus on constantly improving his business and establishing client relations. Offshore hiring allowed him to afford a team of professionals to handle his business operations. His time is solely used on things that would ensure his business success.
He’s able to achieve his ambitious goals through using his time wisely. If you’re ready to take the plunge, now is the best time…
Start using your time wisely and reap the benefits from hiring a virtual assistant. A Pepper Virtual Assistant is trained to act as a partner and not just an employee. They will understand your business and work with you to achieve your company’s success.
Stay tuned!
We are launching our new site tomorrow. Besides our 10-hour free trial offer, we have a special surprise to all those who sign up for our free trial. Tomorrow, we will be announcing the surprise, here on the blog, and we promise you won’t be disappointed. Hint: it’s worth big bucks.
Tags: Free trial offer, offshore hiring, Pepper assistants, success story, virtual assistants
Posted in Outsourcing | 2 Comments »
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