I have spent today putting together my submission as to why I deserve this award and in reading over the testimonials from my clients and reflecting on my business, I’m feeling a huge kick to my self-esteem and am very happy indeed!

The award winner will be announced on Saturday 21 May (Eastern Australian time) at the International Virtual Assistant Day Celebrations at this years Online International Virtual Assistant Conference (OIVAC).  If you are a VA or even a business owner and haven’t checked out OIVAC yet, then head over there and have a look at the schedule, it’s always awesome and has something for everyone.

See you at OIVAC!

Sue Gross
Butterflies Secretarial Solutions

Happy Birthday/Anniversary to us!

The Oscar Speech

I love this business, this industry and all the opportunities and avenues that have been opened up to me since I began in 2006. I never imagined what a world lay beyond my beige employee walls and I’m so glad I went out into the sunshine to find the ‘something better’ that I knew must be out there somewhere.

I don’t regret my 20 years as an employee, after all I learned valuable skills and gained an enormous amount of experience which I now bring to my clients with confidence that I know what I’m doing and that I’m very good at what I choose to do. The key word there is ‘choose’. Being in business for oneself is liberating and envigorating. The power to make my own choices moves me to be better educated, better aware of my industry’s movements and better able to service my clients.

Thank you to my wonderful clients and to the fantastic VAs that I have or do currently do sub-contracting for. Without you all, I could not operate and I’m grateful that you continue to come back to use my service time and again.

What does the next year hold?

I’m hoping to launch a fabulous new service in the first half of 2011 which is very exciting for me as it’s something I’ve not done before and which, to my knowledge, not a lot of VAs in Australia currently do.

I’ve been busy training and learning over the past months – a bit here and there as time allows but I’m starting to champ at the bit to get it out as a service.

In the grand scheme of things four years might not seem like much but when you work so hard at it day in, day out, it’s a pleasure to be here and still looking to the future for bigger and better things.

Sue Gross
Butterflies Secretarial Solutions
http://www.butterfliessecretarial.com.au

How long do Virtual Assistants (VAs) store your electronic files?

It depends on the VA. Some have continued to stockpile files and are now reaching a point where they need to make a decision about what to do with so many electronic records whilst others make a point of culling after six months, 12 months or other such period of time. You should check any agreements you have signed and see if it appears there or just speak to your VA about it.

In my case, it is written into my Terms and Conditions and mentioned in my Confidentiality Policy that I don’t keep files for longer than six months after a client relationship expires. There are of course exceptions and these things can always be negotiated. For example, I have one particular client who I pretty much see once per year. I proofread and format a large training manual which is produced annually. Naturally I retain their files for longer than six months as it helps to have a previous version to refer to when that job comes around. Files are still routinely culled albeit at a later date than is usual in this office.

VAs cannot be expected to hold files for an infinite period of time. Generally we have home offices with limited space and don’t run large servers for unlimited storage of files. Can you imagine the storage one would need if in one year you might have seven regular clients and perhaps nine semi-regular clients? That’s an awful lot of files and space!

Apart from the records I am obliged to keep for tax purposes and signed copies of work agreements, terms & conditions or other arrangements related to tasks, it is simply not efficient to retain electronic or paper files after a relationship has terminated or a one-off job is complete.

So what is the solution?

There are a couple of simple options.

1. You can request all files be provided to you on CD or USB drive. There may be a fee for this service but it’s usually small.  Of course if you have had all documents emailed to you this won’t be a problem at all.
2. Your VA can set-up an account with an online storage facility such as Dropbox, Carbonite or the like and upload all your files there for you. For the client this will mean a monthly fee is payable to the storage facility relative to the amount of storage you require.

If you have any concerns about the storage of your files, talk to your VA and find a solution that works for you.

Sue Gross
Butterflies Secretarial Solutions
http://www.butterfliessecretarial.com.au