Category: Perspective

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Home Work – Wisdom behind the monster

Is home work really such a bad thing, a monster to be feared, an act to be condemned? I don’t think so, for the fact that it is the “home work”, that really teaches one “to be there – in that instant”, for our ever wandering aimless mind. Teachers / Lecturers / professors ( call what you may !) who religiously gave home work were never in the good-books of students and parents alike. He/ She was always scorned for “passing the buck” , and washing his / her hands off the responsibility of “teaching”. Little does the parents ( past , present and most likely the future too) realise that “Home work is also a part of the learning process”. Now, Isn’t that supposed to be a teacher’s final objective.?. How can he / she be blamed for “doing the job”?

Few things happened in the past week, that triggered these thoughts in my mind.Basically, I am not surprised by emails, especially those who request information and guidelines to be an independent freelancer. I am only too willing to help them.For this i have set up an Orkut Community, for open sharing of concerns. Yet many prefer to be anonymous.Please be assured,all the freelancers can ‘grab’ an average of 5 projects a month, and still there will be projects waiting in queue to be awarded. Freelancing is a huge sector, where every skill has a market, and there is a client for every market.

Normally, when I receive a request form a reader (read aspiring freelancer), I try to provide relevant links and referrals so that he / she knows where to start. I also make a point to tell them that it is important they do an extensive google search on the industry they are familiar with / have expertise on. Being a Virtual Assistant, I am able to share the “aspects” in being a freelance VA , but i may not be the right person to answer industry specific technical queries with respect to Virtual Assistance.

After the initial pleasantries , mail requests takes a turn saying ,

“I have done [Edu.Qualif], I am working in [ This industry] for the [n] years and I also know [Some application / etc]. Can you help me with what kind of jobs I can do online as a freelancer. Then I can also become a freelancer like you.”

Now, correct me if I am wrong, isn’t this sender asking me to send job profiles along his / way ? ( oh! By the way… you can recruit a VA to do just exactly this for you.)

This is where the ‘concept’ of Homework kicks in. Having the desire to do something off the beaten track is good. But unless this desire is fuelled by the inherent urge to seek answers.( ie without waiting for the answers to drop on your lap), there is no room for development. Freelancing ( virtual / real) is a tough job. It not like the regular office work, where you slog from 9 – 5, and then forget all about it.

The first and foremost attribute of a freelancer is to be a self-motivator. If you are not motivated enough to search for answers, then how would you convince your client about your problem solving abilities?

As a virtual assistant, I am more than glad to give you some pointers on what to look for, and how to interpret your results. But this does not mean that I will do it for you (unless ofcourse, you are willing to pay me for this ). As I said earlier “Home Work” is a part of the learning experience. So, don’t harbour the tendency to shy from homework. Google throws more than what we ask for. Now how hard it is to sit through the rubble and sift for something that could be an answer to your question.

I am willing to help, but I will not do your homework for you.

Deepa’s
Virtual Assistance
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Award Function – Mike please …I want to thank my…

And the Award goes to… “Deepa” , said Priya . I must say, she is a very patient girl. Very religouly she messages me everynow and then, eventhough she knows the brat I am.
Oh!.. comming back to the Award…

This award is given by bloggers to other bloggers whose blogs a blogger finds interesting enough to read – giggle – comprehend- and to blog about it again.
( got Lost !… rewind and read again !!) So you see, Priya being her all generous self, has given me this award from her blog.

Being an award function, mike please …
“Thank you Priya, It was so sweet of you!”
“But before i leave i just want to say few words”.

“First of all i want to thank the blogger who first thought about this award named Brilliante weblog.If not for that intial blogger, the chain would not have had so many links ( literally and figuratively)”.

“Next i want to thank blogger for letting me use their server space for penning my whacky thoughts whith no rhyme and reason”.

“Next i want to thank google for having let other bloggers find my blog.. and Once again thanks to Priya for reaching me here”

“Not to mention, i want to thank Technorati, Sitemeter, STatcounter for keeping tab in the visitors in my times of non-action at my blog”

“I surely want to thank my parents, and family and real-time friends for not interfering with my blogging activities ( or more non – blogging endeavours)”.

” and I want to thank my Internet service provider.. my computer guy …… …. … .. (Trails away..)

Deepa is being whisked out of the stage for the offence of hogging the mike and not complying to the rules of the award

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Email ettiquette and Body Language

Often I come across projects where I have to scout for talent depending on my client’s project requirements. This would require me to initiate a contact via email and gauge the candidate. The resume mostly holds information on their academic and work related credentials. This is indeed useful to filter out those who are not “qualified” for the project (but then, I would never initiate a contact with someone who does not have requested skill set)

The actual test of professionalism comes after I see their very first response to my mail requesting their participation in a certain project. There is not much to say about those who dot care to reply. But, for those who reply back, the way in which they present themselves in the emails is a major determining aspect towards their participation in the said project.

As a virtual assistant myself, I completely understand that we never have a face-to-face session with the candidate. Emails are the only means of communication for official correspondences and online chat are scheduled after the short listed VA and the project are put in place.

We would not dare to attend a formal interview in pyjamas and slippers. Yet, not many consider that one need to maintain an air of dignity and decorum while communicating via email with clients and business associates.

Here are some basic email etiquettes that come handy for your business correspondences, If done right, they take very less time, but guarantee more profits in the long run.

  1. Respond within 24 hrs of receiving an email ( even if it says, ‘I will look into this, and let you know later.)
  2. Don’t use SMS-type texts in emails ( such as ur , c dat 2mrw etc). This is highly unprofessional
  3. Don’t write in CAPITALS , It appears to be screaming at the top of your voice
  4. Don’t overuse “Bold”, When used aptly, the message is conveyed in a more effective manner.
  5. If you have a series of queries, use the Numbered bullets / List. This will show how articulate you are with the matter being discussed.
  6. Don’t colour code the email message – unless “absolutely” necessary. Undue emphasis will only reflect badly on your perception of things.
  7. After composing a mail – “Read them again for spell check and grammer”. It may sound unimportant to you, but take it from someone who handles several emails a day, it is an important aspect when it comes to gauge how professional you are. This is almost seen akin to “body language” in a face-to-face interview
  8. Check for attachments if any. Shooting a second mail telling , “Oops, I forgot the attachment”, may go fine for the first time or so, but repetition is indeed a unprofessional behaviour
  9. Use an apt subject line and avoid “URGENT”, “IMPORTANT” for every mail you send. These are strong words and use them wisely.
  10. Be sure that Cc is used with complete understanding of who-needs-to-know-about-this. Else, this could backfire and it might be difficult to get out of a tough situation. Don’t leave someone out of the Cc thread deliberately just because you don’t like the person.
  11. Use BCc with discretion.

Your emails are seen as something similar to your body language in a facet-to-face interview, and remember, If you goof up with emails, you don’t have the excuse of “Lost in mail”. What has been done cannot be undone. Emails might be short and apt, but it is necessary that they address the issue in an equally apt manner.

Deepa’s
Virtual Assistance
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Every Skill has a market , & there is a client for every market

As, a virtual assistant, I come across all kind of projects and enthusiastic candidates who wish to work as a virtual assistant from the comfort of their home. However, the reason to do so may vary from person to person. But I do notice something common in almost all of those in the initial phase attempting to make a foray into the virtual assistance industry, which is reluctance.

Many newcomers are reluctant to express their skill in a genuine manner. Or, rather, they have a misguided notion “requisite skills” for a Virtual Assistant. This is how it goes. Hours of painstaking googling and watching freelance sites, newbies arrive at a conclusion that , I can only do data entry work because,

  1. I don’t know Photoshop, flash and web designing
  2. I don’t know accounting and statistics

I must agree that graphics, web designing and accounts management are coveted and most placed projects in the job board along with copious data entry jobs. But this is not all.

You could be a graduate, post graduate or perhaps even a retired professional. Don’t fear to mention that you have a degree in aquatic biology, or did some thesis on a certain chemical assay, or were actively involved in the astrophysics workshop. Remember, every skill has a market, and there is a client looking for the very same skill in the market. Unless you make it clear that you have the experience, the client will not know.

Data entry and web designing seen at the corners … in the Virtual Assistance job spectrum. Perhaps your skills fit better in the middle. Revamp your VA Profile and express your core area , the one you are best at. This little tweak in your VA-Resume should give you an added edge when the right client passes by.

There is no steadfast rule on “requisite skill of VA”. A Virtual Assistant is hired for the skill he / she performs best.You may not be rocking as a data entry specialist, but you could be a great content generator for scientific journals. The trick is to identify what you do best, and tap that market as a virtual assistant. Remeber, Every skill has a market, and every market has a client.

If you wish to discuss this further focussing on your area of expertise, here is the orkut community where you can share your apprehensions.

Deepa’s
Virtual Assistance
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Vista's Security concerns – For a common Man

Today,I happen to read a news-item which says ” Windows Vista security ‘rendered useless’ by researchers” which greatly reminded me of how this would affect the outlook of a common man who “just want to get a new PC”. To cite my concern, I would like to introduce you to Alex, whom I consider to be a typical average computer user. He is not tech-savy, but just wants things to done via his computer. More simply said, I would say he has traded ‘ His Notepad’ for ‘Notepad.exe’

Alex Finkelstein is a senior citizen who blogs his way happily about real-estate and related news content, after retirement. Unlike many senior members of our community who start out late with “computers”, he too had his share of roadblocks. His enthusiasm is infectious, and I get to see a regular stream of mails from Alex asking how to “make this work”, or “why this is not working” etc and I would respond accordingly. Slowly but steadily he gained more control over “things being done on a computer”, and now has fewer queries to clarify. This is the time, he was just about getting things right in XP. But as providence would have it, he too faced a hard-disk crash and had to go for a new desktop.

Eventually he did end up buying a Vista (as XP is no longer available). Lets bear in mind that he is a senior citizen, and has reached a certain comfort level with XP. Now forced to use Vista, he feels completely lost and the increasing delay in understanding how to go about folders and icons only added to his frustration. His requirements are minimal and, is certainly not interested in the frills and fireworks of vista.

Now, back to the article, ” Windows Vista security ‘rendered useless’ by researchers” . You can read the technical mumbo-jumbo in the original article, while I quote,

“The genius of this is that it’s completely reusable,” said Dino Dai Zovi, a well-known security researcher and author. “They have attacks that let them load chosen content to a chosen location with chosen permissions. That’s completely game over.

A common man like Alex may not have “sensitive information pertaining to national interest” on his desktop. Nevertheless, this piece of information cannot be ignored Going by the details, I presume, anyone with the appropriate knowledge can use an unsuspecting commoner’s PC/Laptop as a virtual command center for sensitive and perhaps malicious actions. All that is needed is to find an open Wifi-spot , with lot of unsuspecting commoners who are unwittingly taken for a ride.

Wonder what Microsoft has to say about this ?. Maybe I will just go in for Mac.

Deepa’s
Virtual Assistance
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Delegate when you are overwhelmed.

Small business owners in their zeal to expand their business, tend to bite off more than they can chew. I am not saying that is wrong or unacceptable. It completely gets them by surprise when more than 5 marketing leads display symptoms of maturing into business deals, all during the same time. The business owner is indeed overwhelmed at the good news of a new business deal, or, should I say “few” new business deals. This is indeed a happy moment for the team.

It is normal to see the in house activities take a backseat during these times. Most times, it is the last minute scramble for getting things done for ourselves when we are overwhelmed at work. I have witnessed that the same goes true for small business owners as well. The fact of the matter is, existing staff is already working on the newest deal and it is difficult to get a new recruit and train him / her within a short time.

I would recommend that you seek virtual assistants who have prior experience in the kind of tasks that is causing a backlog in your business. This does not completely eliminate the training period, at least you now have some one who speaks the same business language. My bet is, with just a couple of mails, outlining , ‘What need to be done’ – ‘ When it has to be done’ – ‘Any particular way in which you want it to be done’. With these, the induction programme is complete.

Think about this, you can be overwhelmed about your new deals without having the nagging thought about in-house backlogs. Now, isn’t that a better way to be overwhelmed?

Deepa’s
Virtual Assistance
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Reflection of Success – A Virtual Assistant’s perspective

Most small business owners look out for assistance on their niche area of business. But they are wary of using skilled professionals as their virtual assistants for the fear that , they might have to engage them for a fairly large duration of time ( 100 – 200 hrs ). However, this may be true for some virtual staffing agencies, it definitely does not hold true for most of the independent service providers, aka independent virtual assistants.

Being independent providers, virtual assistants are flexible with their time. Depending on the need of the project, a genuine virtual assistant would provide you an estimate of number of hours required to complete the said project, and also provide you with the projection of “pay per project” cost. Given the choices, it should not be difficult for you to decide the method that suits best for the project , and the urgency of its completion.

Unlike any other business, this too has a catch. This is. . . you need to be completely upfront with the requirements of the project. Make a complete list of requirement and the projected results that you wish to attain from a virtual assistant. Include maximum details that will allow the virtual assistant to work on the project without having to get back to you every other day during the course of its execution. And last but not the least, try to avoid last minute inclusions to the task list by saying, “Can you do this one more thing, and this, and this”. While most Virtual Assistants would comply, it is still a bad business practice.

As a small business owner, I understand how much your business means to you. You have invested more than just money to see it thrive and flourish. Similarly virtual assistants are skilled people who have invested in their time and skill so as to provide services over the internet. Unlike other professionals, Virtual Assistants also have working and non-working hours. We do take our weekends off but we also take our work more seriously, because, the success of your project reflects our success in executing them for you.

Deepa’s
Virtual Assistance
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Being a Virtual Assistant.

A simple search in google for the term “Virtual Assistant” might lead to a conclusion that anyone with a computer , internet connection and a decent knowledge of MSOffice can be a virtual assistant. However this is the popular notion, this is far from truth. Unlike other profession, this too requires careful deliberation and in-depth research and information gathering – sharing – and eventually learning.

Being a Virtual Assistant almost happened to me by accident. My educational background and academic credentials, did give me a fair chance to involve in the corporate environment. But , for various multiple factors on a personal level, I could not progress with my corporate dream. I was bombarded with advice from self proclaimed know-it-all on do-at-home, data entry jobs. I knew my skills were worth more than that.

A casual glance at this article on Virtual Assistants kindled the spark and I rolled up my sleeves and got into research. I had to separate the chaff from wheat from what Google has placed before me. It was about 2 weeks of rigorous search and cross references, and more googling, when I finally came to a conclusion on what virtual assistance is all about. Having a computer, internet and MSOffice skills does not even begin to define virtual assistance.

MSOffice suite caters to those virtual assistants who are inclined towards publishing articles and e-books. For these Virtual Assistants, MSOffice is indeed the most needed tool for their business. But for the rest, MSword , and MSexcel will allow us to keep track of events for a certain project and compile reports. So you see… there is more to virtual assistance than just MSOffice skills.

Most Virtual Assistants show case their resume which reflects “I – can – do – anything – that – can – be – done – online “.This gives the impression that “They have lot of time – but nothing to do “. I really feel sorry for them, because , either they have been badly advised, or they are less-informed. Friend, take this from one VA to another. Start by being your own virtual assistant, before becoming someone else’s VA. I am sure that you must be have at least three strong marketable skills as a virtual assistant. Tap into those skills and showcase a demo in your profile. You are not begging for job, neither are you a distraught employee. Express confidence in your resume by being self assertive. By deciding to be a virtual assistant, you are stepping into the path of entrepreneurship.

Virtual Assistants are self motivated individuals who have decided to provide services (over the interent )for a decent remuneration. Virtual Assistants, in addition to their respective skills, also have to manage finance, PRO , marketing all by themselves. A Startup company employs at least 5 -10 people to take care of these activities separately. But with virtual assistants, this is a one man / woman show. This should only emphasize the fact that Virtual Assistants are not just “on call or a stand by temp” who is always at your disposal. Virtual Assistants command more respect than that.

Deepa’s
Virtual Assistance
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A Surprise that Met me Half way Across the Globe

It was not until I started drafting this post, I realized that it is already two years since I first posted at Horizon. There have been a frenzy of activity when I used to make 3 posts per day, and , also the times when there would be no postings for more than 3 – 4 months. I have come across some wonderful people along the way like Ramdas , Vishesh , Priya , Arthi , Kumar , Ramya , Shiva , ExpatGuru , Prashanth , Marcia , Bruce , Alex , Lisa , Frederick , and many others through blogger.

Here I must mention that the seeds of acquaintance bloomed into friendship on account of an unwritten code of ethics that each of us followed up to the tee. None of us have requested the other person’s personal details, and we do not flood each other’s inbox with mindless fwds. If only the rest of the cyber-population would follow this, internet would be a much safer place. But then, where there is light, there is shadow.

Slowly, without even realizing, I began to stray towards niche blogging. Poems by Priya , Vishesh , Arthi , & Shiva had such a strong influence on me, that even before I knew it, I was penning my own poems as comments in their blog. Unlike prose, poetry is not mindless chatter. It requires deliberation and involvement of intelligence and intellect.

Priya and Arthi continuously insisted that have my own poetry blog where I can keep a record of the verse that I had penned in reply to their poems. They would reason with me telling that , “With every new post, the previous post and its comments gets buried deeper and deeper into the archives. There is no way you can get back your poems even if you really wanted to”. It took them almost 2 months of gTalking to convince me and ” Appreciating Poetry ” was born.

Many of you might be wondering over the lack of activity at ” Appreciating Poetry “. It would be dishonest to say that I am no longer inspired. I am more than inspired.. I am awed. Presently, I am in europe, and the hotel wifi is highly unpredictable ( connectivity lasts from 10 min to 2 hrs only per day). And for poetry, I require to stare right into those words, only then they would rhyme intune with my thoughts. With limited internet, it was becoming extremely difficult for me to “connect with poetry”.

Imagine my surprise, when one fine morning I see a mail from a fellow blogger ( who pens extremely lovely poems) enquiring if I will still be here in Europe. She further outlines her plans to drop by even though it is a bit detour for her. Unmindful of the fact that I am browsing from a public terminal, it was toothy-grin. Plans were laid and schedules were discussed. We have exchanged mails and had voice chat over gTalk in the past. But, never for once we requested photographs, not wanting to inadvertently offending the other person. I would call this as a tech-age-pen-friend. I was so filled with excitement the night before; it was well past midnight when I did manage to get some shut-eye.

I must say, even if we lived across the street, we would hardly recognize each other. All that was required was a squeaky “hi” from both of us, and instantly we were transformed from strangers to long lost friends. For once, our spouses were spellbound and had no idea how to react. Little did we imagine in our wildest dreams that we would meet halfway across the globe. The plan was to drop by for an hour, but eventually stayed up until dinner. Oh …boy ! we did enjoy those moments.. Didn’t we Priya ?

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Selective Outsourcing: – A Strategic Perspective

The outsourcing industry typically encounters two types of investors. Those who are willing to outsource few of their business operations, and know how to do it, and, those who nourish an inclination to outsource, but also harbor doubts because of stories about potential that portray outsourcing disasters. This (second) group of investors, falls into the category of people who would want to see for themselves if outsourcing will work for them, without relying on unreliable third party information strewn all over the internet. This means, they are willing to take the risk, but want to form their own opinion out of experience, and not draw conclusions from the contents of studies, websites and blogs.
“Selective Outsourcing” is aimed at building trust and establishing compatibility between the investor and the outsourcing partner before any long term agreement is reached with mutual consent. This means, while the outsourcing partner works on specific modules, the investor retains control over the overall function. Payroll Management is an excellent example of Selective Outsourcing. Payroll is classified as an HR responsibility. The concerned personnel has to account for each salary component such as leave policy, performance pay, overtime compensation, increment policy in accordance to labor laws, etc. for every employee in the system. The figures need to be meticulously entered and painstakingly double checked to avoid any mistakes, all under the pressure of delivering the completed report before 72 hours of salary due date. Many companies are wary of outsourcing their complete HR operations, but are more than willing to outsource the payroll management.
Payroll Management is time consuming, repetitive and a critical time-bound task. The HR department is under tremendous pressure.This creates a backlog at other HR functions. By selectively outsourcing their payroll management system, companies have saved time, money, and valuable man-hours that can now be channeled towards other HR activities that directly affect the company’s overall performance, such as recruitment and induction training, workforce management, grievance redressing and welfare schemes.
Selective outsourcing is also considered to be the most practical way of identifying the right kind of outsourcing partners. Let us consider a case, where you, as the Investor (or Small Business owner) have a series of graphic demands. With several self proclaimed graphic experts all over the internet, it gets hard to identify, who is actually qualified. In this situation, instead of handing over the complete list graphic needs to a certain “expert”, you can check them out , by having them handle just a part of your graphic needs, eg. a logo, a banner, an icon. Each will be considered as a separate project. This will allow you to evaluate your “graphic expert” on the following grounds:
Reliability:- Does the person deliver what has been promised ?
Acceptability: – Does the end product meet your requirement?
Compatibility: – Does the process of deployment and delivery suit both of you?
Communication: – Are response time and other things satisfactory to both?
In other words, Selective Outsourcing allows the investor to see beyond the “all or nothing” approach to outsourcing, and to see the development of customer specific strategies that are tailor made to suit the investor’s needs.
Steve Cameron, senior vice president of managed services at Steve Cameron, senior vice president of managed services at Siemens Business Services on his interview with IT Business Edge says,

“The number-one benefit our clients are seeking is cost savings through the innovative application of the selective service. This also gives the client transparency in the cost structure because of the fixed scope of the selective IT element under management”


t has been noted that about 80 % of Irish businesses use Selective Outsourcing in one way or another. The Outsourcing Evolution remarks that several companies struggle with the costs associated with printing and have opted to use selective outsourcing to fulfill their needs by using the services of Outsourcing partners like Ergo
A Survey conducted by Watson Wyatt predicts that steadfast growth in Selective Outsourcing will be seen among small and medium sized business in the coming years. Companies need to step back and take a broader look at how outsourcing can work towards the overall benefit of business by employing the Selective Outsourcing Model.

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