E-mail Courtesy

A friend who is a computer expert received the following directly from a system administrator for a corporate system. It is an excellent message that ABSOLUTELY applies to ALL of us who send e-mails. Please read the short letter below, even if you're sure you already follow proper procedures.

Do you really know how to forward e-mails? 50% of us do; 50% DO NOT.

Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail? Do you hate it? Every time you forward an e-mail there is information left over from the people who got the message before you, namely their e-mail addresses and names. As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for some poor sap to get a virus, and his or her computer can send that virus to every E-mail address that has come across his computer. Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit. That's right, all of that inconvenience over a nickel! How do you stop it? Well, there are several easy steps.
Try the following if you haven't done it before:

(1) When you forward an e-mail, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message (at the top). That's right, DELETE them. Highlight them and delete them, backspace them, cut them, whatever it is you know how to do. It only takes a second. You MUST click the "Forward" button first and then you will have full editing capabilities against the body and headers of the message. If you don't click on "Forward" first, you won't be able to edit the message at all.

(2) Whenever you send an e-mail to more than one person, do NOT use the To: or Cc: fields for adding e-mail addresses. Always use the BCC:(blind carbon copy) field for listing the e-mail addresses. This is the way the people you send to will only see their own e-mail address. If you don't see your BCC: option click on where it says To: and your address list will appear. Highlight the address and choose BCC: and that's it, it's that easy. When you send to BCC: your message will automatically say "Undisclosed Recipients in the "TO:" field of the people who receive it.

(3) Remove any "FW :" in the subject line. You can re-name the subject if you wish or even fix spelling.

(4) ALWAYS hit your Forward button from the actual e-mail you are reading .. Ever get those e-mails that you have to open 10 pages to read the one page with the information on it? By Forwarding from the actual page you wish someone to view, you stop them from having to open many e-mails just to see what you sent.

(5) Have you ever gotten an email that is a petition? It states a position and asks you to add your name and address and to forward it to 10 or 15 people or your entire address book. The email can be forwarded on and on and can collect thousands of names and email addresses. A FACT: The completed petition is actually worth a couple of bucks to a professional spammer because of the wealth of valid names and email addresses contained therein. DO NOT put your email address on any petition. If you want to support the petition, send it as your own personal letter to the intended recipient. Your position may carry more weight as a personal letter than a laundry list of names and email address on a petition. (And don't believe the ones that say that the email is being traced, it just ain't so!)

Some of the other emails to delete and not forward are:

1. The one that says something like, "Send this email to 10 people and you'll see something great run across your screen." Or sometimes they'll just tease you by saying 'something really cute will happen.' IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!!!!! (We are still seeing some of the same emails that we waited on 10 years ago!)

2. I don't let the bad luck ones scare me either, they get trashed.

3. Before you forward an 'Amber Alert' , or a 'Virus Alert', or some of the other emails floating around nowadays, check them out before you forward them. Most of them are junk mail that's been circling the net for YEARS! Just about everything you receive in an email that is in question can be checked out a Snopes. Just go to www.snopes.com < http://www.snopes.com/> . or www.truthorfiction.com < http://www.truthorfiction.com/> It's really easy to find out if it's real or not. If it's not, please don't pass it on.

So please, in the future, let's stop the junk mail and the viruses. Sorry this post is so long, but I thought all the information was important. As a virtual assistant, I live by e-mail. I always think that I'm utilizing it correctly, but it never hurts to view a reminder now and then.

Pat Zappavigna is the owner of Instant Office Assistant, an administrative support services company. You can contact Pat at pazappa@verizon.net or through the website. www.instantofficeassistant.com

Backup Plan

Do you have a backup plan? I don’t mean backing up your data on your computer, although that’s extremely important for any business. I mean in case you are sick or hurt – what’s going to happen with your business? Who’s going to take care of your clients?

This issue rushed up to greet me this weekend when I broke my arm – my right arm no less! As new small business owner, I have no employees, but still have clients and commitments. I had no idea if I would be able to pull off my existing tasks, much less try to take on new clients that were finally responding to my marketing efforts. Do I stop marketing and lose the momentum I have gained through months of hard work? Do I take on new clients and hope I can handle it? Would that be a disservice to my clients? These questions were swirling through my mind all week.

Luckily, I chose the perfect business! Or it chose me. I’m still not sure. As a virtual assistant and a member of Virtual Assistant Networking Association (VANA), I have people! I love that line because it sums up my experience with this wonderful network. You have a question? There are over 7,500 very talented and experienced people in this network who rush to help you get an answer. I have never experienced anything like it in my 30 years in corporate America. The motto at VANA is “Remember, no question is ever stupid; stupidity comes from not asking when you have the opportunity (VAnetworking Forum) to do so.”

For those of you who have not heard of this fast growing industry, a Virtual Assistant (VA) is a business owner who works from their own office providing professional support, services and skills to their clients via phone, fax and internet based technology.

I had backup available and did not realize that until I actually needed it. Not every small business owner has that cushion. How many businesses do you know that can call their competitor and say “hey, can you help me out with this client?” What a relief to know that I can continue to grow my business and still assist my clients to take their business to the next level with the assistance of many qualified VA’s.

As it turns out, I was able to complete all my commitments this week, including my volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity. No, I don’t build the houses – my family would laugh at that one. I provide VA services – contact management and Desktop Publishing services.

You can rest assured, though, that my backup plan is being formalized this week. I don’t ever want to be in a position where my clients could experience inconvenience, or even revenue loss, because I can’t fulfill my obligations. I urge all small business owners to put a Backup Plan on their agenda immediately. No time? Let a VA help you with it!

Pat Zappavigna is the owner of Instant Office Assistant, an administrative support services company. You can contact Pat at pazappa@verizon.net or through the website. www.instantofficeassistant.com

Friday Night Date at the ER

Friday was exceptionally busy for me. As a virtual assistant that’s not always the norm. As a solo entrepreneur, you have ups and downs and your work load fluctuates. That day happened to be very productive and I had a lot of different things going on. A possible new client, some volunteer work, preparations for a trade show that I thought would be extremely helpful for my business, not to mention regular routine household chores. Maybe I was tired or maybe just not paying attention.

I was still excited over the developments throughout the day when I went to bed. My dog, a large German Shepherd mix came over for a pet and I thought nothing of leaning over the side of the bed to scratch his back … this was a normal nightly routine. The only problem was he changed the routine. Just as I went to pet him, he moved away—but I didn’t. I wound up petting the floor with a karate chop. I heard the bone in my arm snap, but I guess I was a little shocked. I just sat on the floor a minute (where my body had followed my arm), and wondered “what do I do now?”

So here it is, Friday night or early Saturday morning (I’ m a little hazy on the time), and my husband is driving me to the local emergency room with my arm packed in ice. My friend Gloria thinks I’m nuts because I made my husband help me get dressed – I was not going out in my PJs. Now, I don’t know about you, but I dread having to go to the ER on a weekend – it is always packed and short staffed, it seems. The good thing is, our ER is only 5 minutes away (I have 2 sons and could get there blindfolded). Luck was with us that night – not many people got hurt. I guess the moon wasn’t full. I didn’t even have to sit in the waiting room. My husband and I looked at each other and he said “well, this should be quick” – ha! We waited in the cubicle instead!

At about 1:30 they finally sent me for x-rays. The tech was great – very careful about moving my arm and a great sense of humor. When I am scared or upset, I always turn everything into a joke and she went right along with it. I wonder if a lot of people do that? The doctor finally came back to tell us that the arm was broken in two spots (already knew that from the tech – she let me see the pictures on the screen) and the nurse proceeded to splint my arm. They won’t put a cast on anymore in my ER until you see an orthopedic surgeon. Find a surgeon on a weekend – I think not!

So, here I sit on Saturday evening with this stupid splint on my arm wondering what’s going to happen with my fledgling business. As I said earlier, I’m a small business owner – I have no employees – it’s just me. And I don’t think I mentioned this part – I broke my right arm and I’m right-handed. As a virtual assistant, ALL of my work is done on a computer keyboard. Not to mention the fact that I can’t even dress myself yet. I feel like a baby learning to do things all over again.

Well, I’m sitting here now typing. Granted, it’s one-handed and very slow, but I think I can do this. This is the very same attitude that got me into this business in the first place!

Who Ever Heard of a Virtual Assistant (VA)?

A few short months ago, I had never heard the term "virtual assistant". I had a J.O.B. that I loved in theory, but in actuality, was extremely stressful. On top of the actual stress encountered on any given day, I had a minimum of 100 miles a day to commute - without a highway in sight.

Little did I know that I could still do the work that I love as an administrative assistant, but without the politics and stress associated with working for a large company. To make this deal even sweeter, I could do all this while helping other people – in my pajamas if I wanted to! Life doesn't get much better.

All I had to do was go "virtual"! Sounds easy, doesn't it? It's not quite as easy as it sounds and, yes, it can be stressful to some extent. If you do not have extensive knowledge of administrative tasks, some web experience and the ability to learn quickly, you will find this a tough and competitive field. Although the field is relatively new, many very qualified and experienced virtual assistants are out there looking for some of the same clients you are. Not to mention the fact that most people don’t even know what a virtual assistant (VA) is.

One of the goals of a good VA is to educate people and businesses about this exploding field. With today’s technology, there is no reason that your personal or administrative assistant has to be sitting in the same office. In fact, partnering with a VA for remote support is an economical solution, since you don’t have to pay for office space, payroll costs, equipment and training – not to mention sick days, vacations, time at the water cooler, etc.

Within the first week of research, I found VANA (Virtual Assistance Networking Association). First of all, the talent in this forum is unbeatable. The fact that they are willing to share their knowledge to assist any other virtual assistant is unprecedented in my book. In the corporate world everyone guards their skills jealously, and would never think of sharing.

Not only can you find any information you can imagine to start your business at the VA Networking Forum, but you can join for FREE! I have to say, I was dubious at first. Who really gives anything away free nowadays? Don’t you feel that there’s always a catch? Imagine my astonishment when, after three months, there was NO catch! It’s just a great forum for anyone starting a business, not just virtual assistants. And if you are looking for a VA, that’s the best place to go. With membership of over 7,500 you can find a VA that specializes in your business, no matter what it is!

So, here it is – 3 months later and I have my website up and running, as well as three clients in three different states (none in my own state). I feel unbelievably lucky that I chanced upon VANA when I did! If not, my business would still be in the planning stages.

Some people still don’t understand what a VA does, but as long as there is a need out there, I will continue to help people build their business with remote support!

Pat Zappavigna is the owner of Instant Office Assistant, an administrative support services company. You can contact Pat at pazappa@verizon.net or through the website. www.instantofficeassistant.com