The Virtual Wire

Thank you and good bye!

After giving it a lot of thought, I’ve decided to say good bye to The Virtual Wire as one of its bloggers. It was a difficult decision, but the ebb and flow of my business and personal lives make it a necessity.

That said, I want to take a moment to thank Stacy and my fellow AssistU bloggers for their kindness and support since the beginning of this grand adventure. Stacy held our hands as we took her vision and made it our own. Our six very different voices brought so many stories to the blog each week and I’ve been so proud to be a part of this incredible team.

At the onset, I couldn’t have imagined how much I would come to enjoy putting my thoughts on paper and sharing them with whoever happened to read them. After being a technical writer for over two decades, it was intimidating to step out of my comfort zone and write for such a different venue. But write I did and it’s been a joyous experience!

A big thank you to all those readers who took the time to send me their comments about something I’d voiced. You truly can’t imagine how much it means to hear that your words connected with someone.

Writing for The Virtual Wire gave me the opportunity to discover that I had the ability to write about something other than software, hardware, processes, etc. It’s been so exhilarating to contemplate a posting and then create a picture with words! We’ve been posting for over a year now and I have to say that this has been one of the best experiences of my life.

And one last thought… “This is the challenge of writing. You have to be very emotionally engaged in what you’re doing, or it comes out flat. You can’t fake your way through this.” ~ Real Live Preacher

Giving thanks and giving back

I was recently introduced to a charitable organization of which I’d never heard. It’s called Heifer International and their tag line is “Ending Hunger, Caring for the Earth.” The movement was started by a Midwestern farmer named Dan West during the Spanish Civil War. As he gave out rations of milk to hungry children, it dawned on him that the children didn’t need a cup of milk…they needed a cow!

The Heifer International website goes on to state that “West, who was serving as a Church of the Brethren relief worker, was forced to decide who would receive the limited rations and who wouldn’t – literally, who would live and who would die. This kind of aid, he knew, would never be enough.

So West returned home to form Heifers for Relief, dedicated to ending hunger permanently by providing families with livestock and training so that they ‘could be spared the indignity of depending on others to feed their children.’

In 1944, the first shipment of 17 heifers left York, Pennsylvania, for Puerto Rico, going to families whose malnourished children had never even tasted milk. Why heifers? These are young cows that haven’t yet given birth – making them perfect not only for supplying a continued source of milk, but also for supplying a continued source of support. That’s because each family receiving a heifer agrees to ‘pass on the gift’ and donate the female offspring to another family, so that the gift of food is never-ending.

This simple idea of giving families a source of food rather than short-term relief caught on and has continued for over 60 years. Since 1944, Heifer has helped 7 million people in more than 125 countries.”

My hero…My Papi

Every little girl needs a hero in her life and mine has always been my Papi (“daddy” in Spanish). I’ve shared so many memories with him during the 60 years of my life and I’m so thankful for each and every one. The older I get, the more I realize that I’ve had and continue to have a unique and wonderful relationship with my parents. I wish everyone were as fortunate as me.

As a little girl, I could hardly wait for my Daddy to come home at night. When he walked in the door, I would jump into his arms and wait for him to say, “How hard can you hug me?” Then, with all the strength a little girl could muster, I would clench my jaws, wrap my arms around his neck, and hug him as hard as I could. In my mind, the harder the hug, the more he would know I loved him.

One of my first memories of Daddy-and-me time was when he took me out to dinner when my Mom was in the hospital after giving birth to my younger brother, Peter. That night was made that much more special because going to a restaurant was a rare event in 1949. We went to Johnny No Bones Steakhouse in southern California. Salisbury steak (aka hamburger steak) was my meal that night. I was just three years old and yet I can remember feeling very grown up. I was out on the town with my main man and I did my best to be very grown up. My maturity bubble burst when, as we were leaving, the waitress asked if I wanted a lollipop.

Getting back to basics

As one of the first-year baby boomers (1946…gasp!), I was raised in an era during which we didn’t have so many choices in cleaning products, frozen foods, fast foods, beauty treatments, etc. So, when I recently thumbed through the Reader’s Digest book, Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things, I learned some new uses and remembered some old uses for everyday items and decided it would be fun to share them here.

I’m blown away by all the choices we have in the way of cleaning products! So, that was one of the first topics I searched out. Well, here are some things to consider:

• Need to brighten up your dingy, white summer shoes? Just mix a solution of half ammonia and half water, dip a cloth in the mixture, and rub the solution all over your shoes!
  
• Shine up your dull stainless steel sinks and chrome trim by rubbing them down with a few drops of baby oil applied to a soft, clean cloth. Use another cloth to rub away any excess oil and to rub dry. This will also remove stains on the chrome trip of your kitchen appliances and/or bathroom fixtures.
  
• Faced with burned on food in your casserole dish? No problem! Fill the dish with hot water and place three or four used fabric softener sheets in the water. Soak overnight and, when you remove the sheets the next morning, you’ll have no trouble washing away the residue. Don’t forget to rinse the dish very well.
  
• Ever wonder what to do when the little ones in your family gets chewing gum tangled up in their hair? Don’t reach for the scissors! Spray the area with WD-40 and the gum will comb out easily. Just make sure you’re in a well-ventilated area and that your child’s eyes are protected.

Want to learn how to support an author?

Recently, several AssistU Virtual Assistants (VAs), including me, took a class called “Tame the Publishing Process.” Presented by authorsmart.com, the class is “Training tailored for experienced Virtual Assistants wanting to become Authors’ Assistants. This training will prepare them with practical skills, knowledge, and resources they will need to assist and guide authors in all stages of the publishing journey.”

I have a client who is planning to write another book and since I’ve always been curious about what goes into writing and publishing a book, I thought it would be a good class for me to take. The list of topics scheduled to be covered seemed like a good fit for someone like me who knew nothing about how to take an author from point A to point B, much less beyond that. Plus, the amount of time required seemed workable and it appeared that we would be provided with a lot of “take-away” materials. And last, but not least, the price seemed reasonable.

I believe there were approximately seven AssistU VAs in the class and I had the opportunity to speak to a couple of them during and following the class. So, for those of you contemplating taking the course, I wanted to use this posting to share some thoughts about it.

The course consists of three, two-hour teleclasses. But you have the opportunity to “peek” at the course contents prior to the start of class when you receive your binder, poster, and three CDs entitled:

• The Author’s Companion: A Self-Guided Course on Book Promotion
  
• Publishing Pathfinder: Blaze Your Trail From Concept to Successful Publication
  
• Be Your Own Publisher

Believe me when I say it’s a boat load of material! And, while it’s valuable, for someone like me, it’s initially a bit overwhelming!

The class basically covers three topics:

• Class 1: The publishing process
  
• Class 2: Self-publishing
  
• Class 3: Book marketing, promotion, and sales

In remembrance and with thanks...

Yesterday was Memorial Day and, as always, it makes me stop and think. Even more so because I spent the weekend with someone I’ve known since he was born 59 years ago and Vietnam played a big role in his life.

His name is Enrique Gonzalez. He and his brother, Alfredo, are the brothers of my heart and definitely a part of our family. Enrique’s trip to New Mexico was primarily to visit with my parents. Just as his mother is the adoptive mother of my brother and me, my parents hold a special place in his heart. My brother joined us and it was a weekend filled with love, laughter, and reflection.

One of the people he made it a point to visit while he was here was an army buddy, Dave. Dave and his wife, Bea, live in Albuquerque. The two men served in Vietnam together and, although they speak by phone periodically, they hadn’t seen each other in 15 years. Seeing them together pointed out how close two people can be when they’ve been in a war together.

Enrique brought pictures he had taken of the two of them and other soldiers during his tour of duty and which Dave had never seen. Looking at those pictures made me realize just how young they were when they were there. While I know it was more difficult than I can possibly imagine, it was clear that they had some good memories as well. As they looked at the pictures, they talked of old friends…some living and some not. However, it soon became obvious that while Vietnam brought them together, it’s not what sustains their friendship.

While I’ve never been in favor of a war, I’ve always been a great supporter of our men and women in uniform. My former husband, Richard, was also in Vietnam and it saddens me to remember that when he returned home, people spit at him, threw eggs at him, and called him hurtful names. He was 19, was coming home on an emergency leave for his brother’s funeral, and, less than 24 hours earlier, was in the jungles of Vietnam.

It takes a village!

When you are a small business owner and solopreneur, you look for support of all descriptions from friends, family, business acquaintances, and the like. When you’re an AssistU Virtual Assistant (VA), you have another group from who you can seek support…your AssistU community (aka the "village").

Periodically, one of The Virtual Wire bloggers writes about the incredible support we receive as AssistU graduates from our AssistU “villagers.” It’s such an important part of my business, yet I often find myself taking it for granted that I can turn to AssistU for the answer to any of my questions.

Sometimes asking the question comes in the form of a Forum posting. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…AssistU VAs are so-o-o-o-o-o-o generous with their information and skills. My requests on the Forum have been wide ranging…from trying to locate a good travel agent to identifying the best task tracker to buying a special and unique gift for a client and more! It’s become a natural thing to turn to the Forum whenever I have a question and I always come away from the experience amazed by all that I learned in the exchange.

For those more sensitive issues…like how to “fire” a client, address an awkward subject with someone, etc…I take my inquiry to a more personal level. I have a handful of VAs that I’m blessed to call friends and when I’m faced with a difficult issue, I call them. You know who you are! (-: They are never too busy to take the time to talk and they don’t candy coat the situation. They give me the strength to address those difficult issues authentically and with grace. Then, they invite me to call them back and let them know how things went. I can't imagine my business or my life without them.

No complaining!

I came across an interesting article in our local paper on Sunday. It was about how a minister is attempting to motivate all of us to stop complaining!

In July 2006, Reverend Will Bowen challenged members of his small, suburban congregation to stop complaining as a way to bring more prosperity to their lives. Although this move toward positive thinking isn’t a new concept, Bowen added a unique reminder to the mix. At the service, he passed out approximately 250 purple, “no complaining” bracelets for the recipients to wear. The premise was that, in wearing them, people would be reminded to stop complaining, criticizing, and/or gossiping. Sarcasm was also added to the list. They were asked to "...think and talk about what you are grateful for. Talk about what you DO want and not what you DON'T want."

Reverend Bowen asked those in attendance to refrain from complaining for the next 21 days, since it’s widely believed that it takes that long to break a habit. If and when they found themselves in the “complaining place,” they were to place the bracelet on the other wrist and begin the 21-day countdown again.

As Bowen explains, “Complaining draws all of its essence from negativity. You’re sending out this vibrational energy into the Universe that you’re a victim and the Universe responds with more negativity.” That was an easily-understood concept and made sense to me.

Since Bowen views himself as a “positive minister guy,” he expected to find the challenge to be easy for himself. Much to his surprise, he broke three bracelets after moving them back and forth between wrists before meeting his goal of 21 days without complaining. The process took almost three months.

Another great tool!

We learned about so many great tools in the Virtual Training Program (VTP) that many of us have not had an opportunity to use a lot of them. Well, I was recently presented with a client task that took me to Mimeo, an AssistU partner.

For those of you unfamiliar with Mimeo, they “print, bind, and put together your documents exactly the way you want.” It’s simple, easy, and, much to my delight, was done from the comfort of my home office. Plus, when compared to Staples and Kinkos for this job, I found them to be more knowledgeable, more efficient, and more cost effective. Then, there’s the added bonus that as an AssistU graduate, I received a 10% discount!

The other aspect of their service I appreciate is that I have an opportunity to build a working relationship with Matt Mueller as my Account Executive. He’s already learning about my client’s business needs and coming up with ideas and solutions for our current project.

Here’s how Matt summarized Mimeo's services to me…“Mimeo.com allows our clients to print and distribute documents without leaving your desk. You can place your order as late as 10:00 pm ET for delivery as early as 8:30 am the next morning. You can customize your document with tabs and various cover and binding options to create professional- quality training manuals, RFP proposals, brochures, posters, and more. We currently have many Fortune 500 clients who print and ship their proposals with us and we understand the importance of quality, security, and reliability.”

The merry month of May!

May is a month filled with significant anniversaries for me and anniversaries have always been important milestones in my life. Plus, I tend to be sentimental, so I like to acknowledge those dates that hold a special place in my heart and on my calendar. This month marks:

• One year since I acquired my first client (May 3)
  
• One year since I graduated from AssistU (May 9)
  
• My marriage to Jeff three years ago (May 15)
  
• My Mom and Dad’s 64th wedding anniversary (May 25)
  
• The fifth year of marriage for my niece, Jennifer, and her husband, Jeff (also on May 25)
  
• A birthday celebration for my nephew-by-marriage, Jeff (May 29)

I’m grateful that they are all reasons to celebrate and to acknowledge that I am blessed with a good and happy life.

In looking back over the past year, a lot of changes have happened in my life as well. The most significant has been my change in career from a technical writer/trainer to a Virtual Assistant (VA). Years ago, I never could have imagined such a drastic change, much less in my late 50s! But it’s an incredible journey and I’m so glad to be taking it.

I have to acknowledge my first client, Isabel Parlett of Parlance Training. She “broke me in” and patiently waded through my learning curves and mistakes with grace and understanding. From a VA perspective, Isabel has a very complex business and, even after a year, it still challenges me. But it’s getting better and I really enjoy working with her.

On Administrative Professionals Day, I received this special message from Isabel:

“I just wanted to acknowledge you today for your work helping me manage all the many details of my business. I am especially grateful for how you are beginning to be able to manage me instead of the other way around -- Happy VA Day!”