Have you been approached to join LinkedIn yet? You most likely have, but like me, knew very little about it, joined and then nothing much happened, except for the occasional email from a stranger asking to connect with you. And so for a year I’ve just let my membership sit, with less than 50 contacts, from a few people in my own database and the occasional other. But recently I read a post in Des Walsh’s blog about LinkedIn that made me sit up and take notice. I had seen a post earlier in the year by Guy Kawasaki and I began to follow that up, but it came at a time when I really was rather busy and so couldn’t spend time reading and following links. Easter and a 4 day break meant that Des’ post was better timed for me and I began to explore.What I found most interesting was the story about Stan Relihan who is Australia’s ‘most connected person’ through LinkedIn with over 5,000 connections. Stan is a Head Hunter and originally saw LinkedIn as an opportunity to view people’s resumes and find people for roles he was filling but it has grown far beyond that with the result of many overseas connections and people clamouring to get connected with him. Stan was interviewd about his experience with LinkedIn and how it has worked for him and you can hear the Podcast for this at GDay World Podcast Network. If you want to learn more about LinkedIn then listening to this podcast is a good start. Click on icon immediately under the title of the post.

Des’ post on his blog further highlighted other posts to read and other networks worth considering - which are sub-networks of LinkedIn. One is for bloggers. It is with yahoogroups and, of course, I joined them to find out more about LinkedIn and Bloggers in general.

When you get invited to join networks of this kind it is worth doing the homework and exploring. I’ve been invited to join many and you don’t always see what’s under the surface on first look. So perhaps seeking out articles, Q&As or people who have been using those networks for awhile is an ideal way of learning more. The more I read the more I realise that I have been missing what LinkedIn is all about and it is a good way of remaining connected, or being reconnected, with people you have worked with in the past. Let’s face it, we all know that often it’s not what you know, but who you know when connecting in business. If you’re good at what you do, and people know it, they will refer you to others if they have the ability to do so. LinkedIn will help assist that process.

One thing that Stan was asked that I had also been concerned about and that was the possibility of spammers. He told the listener that LinkedIn is about connections with existing relationships, either direct or through someone else you know. Anyone found doing the wrong thing can be reported. And I doubt that will go down very well if people are working at building a profile to help develop business or career options.

Why not go back and explore it again? And if you wish, you are welcome to ask to be connected with me via LinkedIn - my profile can be found below.

LinkedIn, networking, business networks, connections

I saw a post on a ‘Start a Home Business Blog’ recently that indicated engaging a virtual assistant was an expensive option. He ended up hiring someone else but didn’t explain what it was he wanted done or any indication of what he was looking to pay.It is true that there are VAs at the high end of the market and others in the low end so you can shop around. You could engage a high school student or a uni student at the low end rate and providing they have good computer skills, and know their alphabet and numbers, then you could get a reasonable job done. You will, however, need to spend time supervising and checking the work, to make sure it is done as you wanted it. It really depends on whether you’re seeking someone to do some (basic) typing and filing for you, or whether it’s work that involves a lot more thinking and planning, and knowledge such as bookkeeping, database management, transcriptions, website management, graphic design, internet research and so on. When you engage a VA you need to consider a few things such as:

1. What are YOU earning per hour and is it worth sacrificing this if you either do the work yourself and/or engage someone with low skills and then have to spend time to monitor or supervise the work?

2. What is the work you want done? Consider that a VA is usually someone who has worked in the corporate world in a senior role. This means that after you’ve spent some time explaining your business and how you do things, they can be left to get on with the work, make decisions, and even suggest better ways to do things. They will usually be able to complete the work in much faster time than you can. So what might take you 3 hours to do at whatever your hourly rate is, could take a VA half that time at their rate.

3. VAs do NOT need micro-managing. That is, you don’t need to be constantly checking on every little aspect of the job and watching over their shoulder. For this reason VAs do not need someone sitting by their side dictating how the work should be done.

These are just three reasons why a VA can help your business but there are many more. However, just looking at these, I encourage you to do your sums and see how a VA can save you time and money - not cost you time and money. Engaging a VA is a good investment for your business and remember, they are also in business. So they become a taxable expense providing a business service, and should not be considered an employee. KMT

virtual assistant, work at home, typist, computer trained, virtual support, VA, PA, business owners, happy customer