May 9th, 2011
by Luis Cruz
 Hey gang, we’re back, and this time we’re tackling another aspect of web usability. This week’s topic: navigation and information retrieval – specifically, how to make that simple and easy. Before we get to that though, let’s discuss something pretty important: the fold.
Stay above the fold
The fold is the imaginary line where your web page meets the bottom of your browser window. What your readers see on your page without scrolling down is above the fold. Anything that requires scrolling before showing up is below.
Different experts may disagree on the origins of the term, but we like the one that compares it to a newspaper. The top half of the front page is the very first thing you’ll see on a paper, and this is where you find the most important items: the name of the paper, of course; the headlines, weather updates, and other things the paper wants to highlight. Items on the bottom half, below the fold, sometimes get lost or just glossed over.
On your web page, items that show up immediately on your web page attract more attention. The links up here – the ones your readers see immediately – are the ones that your readers are most likely to click through. This is where you want to keep the things you want to highlight, like your navigation bar, subscription options, and recent comments, among others.
Don’t get me lost
Since we mentioned it already, let’s talk about navigation. Some of the things most websites have in common are: a link to the home page, an about page with information on the owner of the site, and a contact page. Though some try to come up with creative names for these links, they are usually labeled “home,” “about,” and “contact,” respectively. The main reason they’re labeled this way is to avoid confusion – not everybody will understand, for example, that “Take me back to Kansas” means take me home, or “Gimme a holler” means contact me.
On a similar vein, many sites use the main banner or header lead back home. Clicking on that blue pepper up top, for example, will send you back to our home page.
Walk with me
You don’t want to limit readers to just a few pages on your site, do you? To help them navigate around your site, you need to give readers an idea of what else you have to offer. One suggestion is to put a list of related topics at the bottom of each post or article. You don’t have to do this manually, by the way – this function might be built into your CMS already.
Another way to help your readers get around is to add links for your categories, tags, and archived posts. This helps them find other articles related to the page they’re on, or quickly find posts from a specific time frame. Of course, another great navigation aid is a search bar – they’re often (though not always) found on the upper right corner of a page.
Put up some signs
Yet another way to help your readers navigate your site is by adding descriptions to your page titles. Our page title, for example, suggests what you can do (or what we want you to do) if you need an assistant. Indirectly, it also describes our company and what we do.
Adding descriptions to your titles tells your readers about you even before they land on your page. Your page titles show up in search-engine results pages (or SERPs, as they’re commonly called) – having a description there means your readers know a bit more about you immediately, making them more likely to click through.
Lay out a map
You can’t plan every single action your readers make on your site, but you can definitely make it easy for them to get around. Even better, you can nudge them to certain pages by highlighting certain paths or locations on your site.
The main point is to help your readers find what they want on your site. The navigation options, archives, search bar, and other elements on your site serve as a map that helps your readers get around your site.
This part four of Pepper’s Web Usability series. You can check out the other posts in the links below. Before you hop away though, we’d like to know: how do you make sure your readers don’t have trouble getting around your site? Share your ideas in the comments section.
- Keep it simple: the basic philosophy for web usability
- Don’t be a snob: make sure that everybody can access your site
- Identify yourself: don’t make it hard to figure out who’s behind your site
- Show me around: make it easy to navigate your site
- Say it, and say it well: make sure you get your message across
Tags: fold, navigation, pepper, web usability
Posted in Creative Toolbox | 2 Comments »
April 27th, 2011
by Pepper
 Yup, you read that right. We’re giving out FREE HOURS of Virtual Services. Are you interested? Details are on our Facebook Page.
As a token of our appreciation for your continued patronage of our services, we are thrilled to announce that we will be offering FREE HOURS of Virtual Services to everyone who will write a Review of our services!
- For our New Clients – 5-hour free trial + 2 more hours for a total of 7 FREE HOURS.
- For our Current Clients – 5 additional hours for their current month’s billing.
Excited to get started? Here’s how:
- Post a Comment on our FB Wall that you are interested.
- You will then receive a Private Message from our Company with the Promo Code (for new clients) and instructions (for current clients) in exchange for your commitment to write a review of our services on our FaceBook Page after your free hours.
- Once you get the code, you can sign up in our website.
Let’s get your free virtual services started!
This offer is available to the FIRST 20 PEOPLE who will be posting on our wall only. So what are you waiting for? Start posting now! And get ready to have a FREE Virtual Experience!
We’ve already had 5 people sign up, leaving only 15 slots open. If you’re interested, hop over to Pepper Virtual Assistants on Facebook and tell us before the rest of the slots disappear!
Of course, whether or not you end up as part of the lucky 20, we’d still like to hear from you. If you’ve already worked with us, please head over the Reviews Section (also on our Facebook Page) and tell us (and the rest of the world, too) what you think. We’d really appreciate it.
image: Gift Box by Ken’s Oven via Flickr — Creative Commons License (CC BY 2.0)
Tags: pepper, promo, virtual assistants
Posted in Announcements | 6 Comments »
April 27th, 2011
by Luis Cruz
 Think of the these three things: a swoosh, a splash of red with a white curve, and golden arches. If you can identify the brands associated with these things, then you understand the power of colors, symbols, and other ways of establishing your identity.
Wear your badge proudly
When you first meet somebody, one of the first things you do is introduce yourself. Without a name, you’re just another face in the crowd. Your site works in much the same way. You want to make sure it’s one of the first things a visitor sees on your page is your brand.
If you don’t introduce your brand first, your page will simply get lost in a sea of other pages. Once you’ve established who you are, then you can start tying other things to that identity; and one of the first things you can do is establish your brand’s colors.
Find your true colors
Try to think of the major courier services in your area. Can you identify the colors of their trucks, packages, and uniforms? Without looking at their logos, can you tell them apart?
Consistent use of colors helps establish your brand’s identity, and can even set you apart from others in your market. We’ve already hinted at two great examples of brands that are intertwined with their colors. A splash of red with a whit curve has most people thirsting for Coca-Cola, and many of us know that golden arches lead to McDonald’s.
By identifying your brand’s colors and sticking with them, you help ensure that your brand and your colors are inextricably tied together. On your site, this means sticking to a color scheme that matches, or at least complements, your brand colors. Choose a background color that fits your brand and format your headers, links, and other text to appropriate colors.
Stay consistent
We’ve hinted at this in the previous paragraph, but consistency isn’t limited to colors. Keeping your logo in the same place across different pages assures your visitors that they’re still on your site. Our blue pepper up top, for example, stays in place wherever you go on our site.
Other things that you probably want to keep in place are navigation bars and other frequently visited links. Most sites have a search bar on the upper right, as well a Privacy Policy and other important links on the bottom. Going back to your logo for a moment, clicking the logo leads back to the home page on most sites.
One other thing that you want to keep consistent is your voice. The Pepper bunch is a lively, bubbly group, and we’d like to think that shows through in our writing too. Your brand may have a different personality, and you want that personality to show up consistently on your website. Even if you have several people writing on your site, you probably want it to feel like there’s only voice coming through.
Introduce yourself
The main idea is that your website should clearly identify your brand. This means more than simply stating your brand name – it means letting your brand’s personality shine through, whether through colors, words, or other cues.
This is part four of Pepper’s Web Usability series. You can check out the other posts in the links below. Before you head off, we’d like to know: how do you highlight your brand’s personality on your site? Share your ideas in the comments section.
- Keep it simple: the basic philosophy for web usability
- Don’t be a snob: make sure that everybody can access your site
- Identify yourself: don’t make it hard to figure out who’s behind your site
- Show me around: make it easy to navigate your site
- Say it, and say it well: make sure you get your message across
Tags: branding, brands, color, colors, consistency, identity, pepper, virtual assistant, web usability
Posted in Creative Toolbox | 3 Comments »
March 29th, 2011
by Luis Cruz
 Ok gang, it’s now time for part two of our web usability series – time to learn more about keeping your website simple and easy to use. Today, we’re tackling accessibility – a website that nobody can see isn’t really much use now, is it? We’ve listed a few tips below that will make your website more accessible.
Watch your speed
Research has shown that most people will wait up to 8 seconds for a page to load. Make them wait any longer, and they’re likely to head elsewhere. The key here is to optimize your site to speed up load times. This could involve cleaning up code, installing caching software on your server, and other things that you can discuss with your designer and site administrator, so we’re not going into too much detail on that.
Don’t get too flashy
One aspect of optimizing your site that you should definitely think about though is the use of Flash. Statistics vary on how many people have Flash installed on their browsers, but the key point is that not everybody has it. Flash can give you slick animation, a unique interface, and other tricks, but it does have its pitfalls too. The biggest pitfall is that you could keep some users from even seeing your site. If you really want Flash, then make sure you have an HTML version available too.
Other potential problems with Flash include slowing down page load times and straining your users’ computers. Another big issue is that Flash isn’t very SEO friendly, but that’s a topic for another post.
Stay in line
Browsers like Opera and Firefox introduced us to tabbed browsing, which allows users to keep several pages open at the same time. Some people love it, myself included, but not everybody has caught on. In fact, research has shown that majority of Internet users stick to one tab or window – they navigate using the back button and forward buttons.
What this means is that you probably don’t want your links to open to new tabs or windows. For some users, the back button is the only way back to your website once they click a link. If you send these users into another tab, they might never return. Now we don’t want that, do we?
Invite your grandma to visit
I guess the main idea you should take away from this post is this: make sure your least tech-savvy relatives can still navigate your site on their ancient computers. You don’t want people to feel like they’re not welcome at your site, do you?
This the second post in Pepper’s Web Usability series. You can check out the rest of the series in the links below. Before you go though, we’d like to ask you if you have other ideas to make sure your website remains accessible to everybody. Leave your tips in the comments below.
- Keep it simple: the basic philosophy for web usability
- Don’t be a snob: make sure that everybody can access your site
- Identify yourself: don’t make it hard to figure out who’s behind your site
- Show me around: make it easy to navigate your site
- Say it, and say it well: make sure you get your message across
Tags: Firefox, Flash, Opera, pepper virtual assistant, SEO, speed, virtual assistants, web usability, webpages
Posted in Creative Toolbox | 5 Comments »
March 23rd, 2011
by Luis Cruz
The multi-part Pepper guide to creating simple and elegant web pages that people will visit
Most of the things we use daily are pretty simple. They’re so simple, in fact, that we barely give them a second thought. Take, for example, markers. We use them, as their name suggests, to mark things. Touch a surface with the tip, and leave a mark.
Most of the websites we visit often are simple too. Google is probably the best example of this. Just type in what you’re looking for, and get a bunch of pages that match your search terms. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out, and that’s a big part of the reason Google has grown as large as it is today.
This simplicity, when it comes to web pages, goes by the name web usability. According to Wikipedia, you can define web usability this way:
“Web Usability is an approach to make web sites easy to use for an end-user, without requiring her (or him) to undergo any specialized training. The user should be able to intuitively relate the actions he needs to perform on the web page, with other interactions he sees in the general domain of life e.g. press of a button leads to some action.”
That’s a mouthful, we know, so we don’t really try to remember this definition. Instead, we think of web usability in the simplest terms possible. We think of it as simplicity.
A simple (and therefore ultimately usable) website, we believe, is one that anybody and everybody can navigate. It is a site that answers questions, sometimes even before they’re asked. A simple website is one that, and we’re borrowing one of Steve Krug’s thoughts here, doesn’t force people to think.
Ironically, achieving simplicity in your website isn’t quite so simple. It took Edison over 10,000 tries to produce a working light bulb, arguably one of the simplest appliances we encounter daily. We hope it doesn’t take you that many tries to get a usable website up and running, and that’s part of the reason why we’d like to share a few web usability, we mean, simplicity tips for you.
This the just the first post in Pepper’s Web Usability series. You can check out the rest of the series by following the links right below. Before you click away, we’d like to ask you: what are some of the sites you visit most often? Have a handful in mind? Now think of this: what do they have in common? If you’d like to share what you have in mind now (and we hope you do), leave us a comment below.
- Keep it simple: the basic philosophy for web usability
- Don’t be a snob: make sure that everybody can access your site
- Identify yourself: don’t make it hard to figure out who’s behind your site
- Show me around: make it easy to navigate your site
- Say it, and say it well: make sure you get your message across
Tags: Google, Pepper assistants, simple, virtual assistants, web pages, web usability, Wikipedia
Posted in Creative Toolbox | 7 Comments »
March 17th, 2011
by Pepper
Work-Life balance - the phrase was first heard in the late 1970s, describing the balance between an individual’s work and personal life. Now, almost half a century has passed, and just when the world started believing that the conveniences of modern technology would mean an “easier” life, consumerism and fast-paced competition tipped the scale to the other end. Meaning, more time is needed to work, work, and work. The technological advances of today hasten everything that can possibly happen in 24 hours – e-mails, VoIP calls, SMS. When these breakthroughs were newly introduced, we were amazed and impressed by what fast-paced communication could do! Figuratively speaking, technology made the world smaller, and business opportunities greater. Alas! For many of us now, today’s breakneck speed can only mean tons of work that get piled on us faster and heavier. No wonder why weekend spas and exotic vacation resorts keep calling on us to take “that much-deserved,” or aptly, “that much-needed” break. And when the holiday ends, we all groan at the thought of going back to reality, going back to work. There is no clear-cut definition of what is good and balanced. What is ideal depends on the person’s age, marital status, or domestic situation. Whatever it is, we are all in search of that elusive work-life balance that we read and dream of. We all have our ways and systems in managing and coping. What else haven’t we tried and done?
1. Compartmentalize your day. Many career women have domestic obligations to attend to at the end of the day – husband and kids, ailing parents. Most days, these so-called superwomen find themselves with little superpowers left, even to take care of themselves. Break your 24-hour day into chunks and make sure you stick to the schedule: 8 hours – sleep; 8 hours – day job; 4 hours – for the hubby or the children; 4 hours – me time. Adhere to your time blocks and minimize mix-ups. It’s when we squeeze in work at home, or domestic chores during our personal time that the scales become unbalanced.
2. Be humble enough to know you can’t do it all. It’s when we try to do it ALL, and all at the SAME time, that we get overwhelmed and end up not accomplishing much. Granted, there are tasks that we would rather do ourselves, knowing that no one else can do them better. There are tasks too that we’re afraid to delegate to others, thinking, “If I want it done right, I better do it myself.” Alright, give yourself that. But at the same time, learn to accept and let go – some other tasks can be better done or faster accomplished by other people. Let them.
3. Get good help and delegate. At home, good help can mean an extra pair of hands. At work, good help is taken to mean another head on the shoulders with a working brain to help you think. For both the home and work front, don’t just make do with extra help that you’re unsure of. If you can’t leave your house without fear that it won’t catch fire once you’re gone, or if you can’t leave the office without constantly worrying if he’s doing things right, keep looking for the one that you can confidently bank on.
4. Set a “me” time, and keep it sacred. We all need our personal alone time to recharge our tired selves. Whatever it takes – having a good long nap, taking a road trip down to the valley, or getting lost in a book or a movie. Some people tend to feel guilty while enjoying brief moments of indulgence. Don’t! And some people, as they head on out for that massage appointment, opt to cancel and do more work (goodness gracious!) instead. A bigger don’t! Respect that 2-hour break you set aside for yourself. Put into perspective that in the many on-going things happening in your life, the 2 hours for yourself will not cause your big upcoming deal any harm or delay. Let the other things wait; your 2 hours are due.
5. Simplify your life. As attractive as it may seem to us to take on too many tasks and responsibilities, to try to do too much, and to own too much, find a way to simplify. Make a lifestyle change – say no to some requests, and decline some invitations. Declutter your space, organize your environment, and more importantly, get rid of all those baggage that weigh you down. Focus and prioritize. Keep things simple.
Tags: delegating tasks, productivity tips, time management, work-life balance
Posted in Life Management, Productivity Toolkit | No Comments »
March 2nd, 2011
by Pepper
Happy new year!
We’re two months late, you say? Not quite. In the early Roman Calendar, March 1 was designated as the start of the new year, and the calendar had only ten months. Then around 700 B.C., the months of January and February were added, but it wasn’t until the time of Julius Caesar (around 46 B.C.) that January 1 officially became the start of the year.
Unfortunately, not everybody followed this. Some stuck to celebrating the new year on March 1. Some even went as far as abolishing January 1, and celebrating the new year on Christmas, on Easter, or on some other date. In fact, it took over a millennium to get everybody on the same page.
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered several changes in the calendar to synchronize it with the real solar calendar. Among the changes instituted was the celebration of the new year on 1st of January, which we still follow today.
Thanks to good old Greg, we can be sure that our days are pretty much in sync wherever we are in the world, give or take a few hours. This makes it pretty easy for us to inform you, our clients, when Pepper Virtual Assistants go on holiday.
We know you’ve got a lot of work for us, and we want to make sure that you can plan ahead and finish any urgent or pending projects before the holidays. We’d like you to go over the calendar below, but don’t worry – you don’t have to memorize it. Whenever a holiday is coming up, we’ll make sure to remind you about them a week before.
In 2011, a lot of holidays fall on weekends. Further announcements as to treatment of these Philippine Holidays will be made closer to its date. However, from previous years, these holidays are normally moved to the Monday closest to the date.
National holidays are also declared for the observance of Eid’l Fitr and Eidul Adha, but there is no exact date yet. We will make sure to inform everyone once these are made official.
Our holiday process remains to be flexible. If you think you’ll need your VA to work on the holiday, just get in touch with us so that we can make a special arrangement for you.
We hope you find this helpful.
Feel free to contact us anytime you have any questions or concerns. As always, we’re happy to hear from you!
Tags: Holiday process, pepper virtual assistants, Personal Assistants, Philippine Official Holidays
Posted in Announcements, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
February 22nd, 2011
by Pepper
QUIT THE MORNING RUSH
There was a time when my rush hour would start even before I hit the road – when all I had time for was a quick shower and two sips out of my coffee mug. For over a year, my mornings seemed like that of a tazmanian devil running in and out the bedroom, the bathroom, and the doorway. Most days, I would run back in to pick up something I forgot, then run back out to the car. Then I “floor it” like Michael Schumacher, aiming to keep a 30-minute drive down to 15.
A year of this and I realized how stressful I was making my life, by starting my day wrong. This crazy, rushed routine was bad, bad, bad for my health, body and mind. My stress barometers were way up so early in the morning that shutting them off during the day was close to impossible.
It took a bout of flu and some kind of respiratory infection to make me listen to my fatigued body. With no choice but to stay in bed for three days, I realized how mercilessly I abused myself. It was time for some lifestyle modification. I needed to learn how to start my day right.
MORNINGS SHOULD BE CALM
My idea of a “good morning” is this:
• a slow rise out of bed, with time to curl back a little and stretch, if I want to…
• waking up to the sights and sounds of the early morning: birds chirping, lawn mowers, slow engines…
• an alarm that goes off a good 5 minutes AFTER I have opened my eyes…
• listening to my ipod’s “good morning” playlist while brewing coffee, slicing bananas and pouring milk on my cereal…
• leisurely eating on the breakfast nook while I leaf through a magazine…
• switching to my “meditate” playlist and listening to it for a good 15 minutes as I quietly look out the window seat, even out my breathing, say my morning prayers and plan my day…
• time for an unrushed shower, getting dressed, blow drying my hair, putting on make-up and accessories…
• heading out of the door with an organized carry-all with everything I need…
• a pleasant drive to work that takes me to my office with a 15 minute head start before the rest of the office walks in…
There’s nothing like the calm of the morning to send us out into the day. Not everyone can enjoy the luxury of a peaceful morning.
Or so we think.
Think again. Here are some adjustments I made to my day, just so I could make the scenarios I listed above, into an everyday reality for me:
THE NIGHT BEFORE
• Plan your tomorrow. Make it a habit to check your calendar for the next day’s appointment. This gives you time to prepare for them. (I.e. The printed documents for tomorrow’s meeting, the birthday gift for your client, etc).
• Make your To-Do-List. Making them the night before saves you a lot of time the next day. You end the day with clear directions as to what you want to accomplish tomorrow.
• Pack your bag. Put everything you need together in your carry-all – your laptop, your document folder, the bills you have to pay, etc. Line up all the other things you’ll have to carry out with you in one place – your keys, your umbrella, your cellphone.
• Choose your outfit. This will save you a lot of time in the morning when you do the planning and choosing tonight. Complete down to the shoes and the accessories. Hang them out ready to wear for tomorrow.
• Know what you’ll have for breakfast. Make a mental choice of what you want to eat tomorrow. Set the coffee pot ready for brewing. This will save you “choosing” time as you open your refrigerator in the morning.
• Clear your mind. The last thing you have to do before hitting the sack is to clear your mind. You can do this by saying your night prayers, by meditating, or by simply thinking of “nothing” as you drift to sleep.
• Get an assistant. Work smarter, not harder. Having an assistant allows you to have more time for the more important tasks that only you can do. Your assistant can take care of the many other little things that eat up a lot of your time. A very able and competent assistant can help you sleep well at night, without having to fret about the little details. Your assistant can help you make each morning a good one, and allow you to have that work life balance that you’ve always wanted.
Tags: assistant, calm, Michael Shumacher, morning rush, mornings, pepper, pepper virtual assistant, plan, rush, stress, virtual assistant
Posted in Life Management | 10 Comments »
October 6th, 2010
by OJ
This is the time during your mid-twenties to late thirties when you feel as if you are still waiting for your life to unfold despite having finished school for years. When you were younger, you have set your personal goals, and now, you begin to question if you have made the right decisions or chosen the right path towards self fulfillment in terms of identity, stability and even relationships. It is at this stage when you feel the pressure to find yourself, to be certain of what you will be doing from this day onwards which will make you established as an individual.
For most quarter-aged people, this quest of finding oneself is like a code that can never be deciphered. This article may not completely provide a solution but would help, at least, by suggesting small steps that you could take in dealing with this crisis.
Ask yourself and be Aggressive
It’s true that taking other people’s advice, especially those who know you well, may help you in knowing what you want out of life. But if you examine closely, the words your friends or family speak are mainly based on their own experiences and may only work for them—but not for you! You are the only person who would know the answer. Instead of conducting surveys, listen intently to yourself. Perhaps write down the things you enjoy doing and then think of ideas on how to make a career or business out of them. If you already have one, instead of thinking that there is no room for growth, find ways to expand. With the advent of technology, opportunities are limitless. Grab these prospects and work on it.
It’s more than the money
The main reason why most people end up not doing what they’re meant to do is because people usually define a person’s success by looking at the material possessions—car, house, lots of money. This does not mean that it is okay to keep doing what you want even if you earn nothing from it. This simply means that the steps you’ll take and your life should not entirely depend and be measured on the salary or the potential business returns you would get. Financial rewards would naturally flow if you continue doing your best on what you do best.
Bank on resources
Looking at your accessible resources does not necessarily pose unwanted enforcement or limitation in what you ought to be doing. In fact, this could actually help you to avoid being spoiled for choice. If you don’t necessarily want to follow your parents’ footsteps, why not try to make a career out of a business that complements your family’s company? Example, if your mom has a flower shop and your expertise is into networking and management, why not venture into wedding coordination? You can utilize your skills while helping your loved ones boost their own too. This also gives you business models that you could follow to avoid unnecessary mistakes and loss.
Set a deadline
Life is too short to be spent on thinking and rethinking. Give it a week or two—plot out your options and do a little research about each one. Ask experienced people for an in-depth understanding of your considerations. You can also spend some time on healthy conversations with people from different age groups so you can keep discovering new ideas. If you took time and weighed your options well and still are not sure whether you’re making the right decision, look at the most viable path and take it. Start your journey to being successful right away!
Beware of comfort zones
The trick with comfort zones is that you’re too comfortable that you don’t notice or simply ignore the fact that there is something wrong. You might be in a job where you are under-utilized but you stick to it because of the employee benefits. You want to pursue a business move but are afraid to take risks. If you don’t like what you’re doing, it’s unfair to you and your employer for they’re paying for mediocrity. Don’t get stuck! Maximize and even exceed your potential by trying out and doing something new.
At this stage, you might feel and think that it is a must to have found yourself in terms of career or business and that you should be on your way to settling down. Consider the fact that each one has his or her own pace to keep up with. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and repeat the whole process for this makes you more learned and experienced. If in the middle, you get wound up in a situation outside your expertise, find the right people to help you and stay focused on what you are superb at.
Tags: finding yourself, how to know what you want, personal assistant, Personal Assistants, quarter life crisis, virtual assistant
Posted in Life Management | 32 Comments »
October 1st, 2010
by Pepper
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 »
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