A Virtual Success!

Last August we held an event for virtual assistants in Vancouver British Columbia while house sitting in the area.

Kathy had found our event online and registered. We’ve kept in touch over the past year by email and calls. Today we received this email from Kathy:

Hi Sue & Joel,

Just wanted to let you know how appreciative I am for the encouragement you gave me last year when you were in Vancouver and the few months after when I was so unsure.

I have just landed my first “big” contract.  It is for a business coaching firm in San Jose.  We got together because of a LinkedIn VA discussion.  They were asking if it was possible for their meetings to be transcribed live.  All of the VAs that answered said, no, you had to record it first.  They said their meetings could not be recorded.  Then I came on and said it could be transcribed live.  I did a test run for them to show how it could work and we are now working together several times a week.

I never would have had the courage to go to these forums let alone say I could do it if it was not for the encouragement you had given to me.

Again, thanks, and enjoy your nomad life.

Kathy Andrews

Kathy told us the company was looking for 80% accuracy and she got 90% so they were very impressed! And as Joel told her, “Real-time transcription has to be nearly unique. In cases where there’s a need, you probably have NO competition!”

We’re glad to have been a part of helping Kathy succeed as a transcriptionist. Visit Kathy’s website at http://andrewsvirtualtranscripts.com/

 

Meetup with a Virtual Assistant at Vanillas Coffee and Tea Cafe in Grand Rapids

Tuesday we drove from Jackson Michigan to Madison Wisconsin. Along the way we were going right through Grand Rapids Michigan where Pam Thompson lives. She’s a virtual assistant that has joined us on mentoring calls and just became a member of The CVO Source for virtual assistants. We couldn’t pass through her town without meeting in person. Pam suggested we meet her at Vanillas Coffee and Tea.

We arrived shortly before Pam and were greeted by the friendly staff, Lisa and Zach. Lisa had seen us pull up, saw our van packed and wondered if we were traveling. So we explained how we are traveling while working virtually. Lisa and Zach made us feel welcome, took our order and impressed Fiona with a complimentary order of mini cinnamon rolls. A bit later the owner, Beverly Ault, came in and we had a nice chat. We saw they were going to have live music Friday night. So of course Joel had to bring in his mandolin and play a couple of songs for Pam. Lisa asked if they could get a picture of Joel, the traveling musician, playing so they could post it on their website. We readily agreed and asked if we could get pictures of the staff to post at our blog.

After a great conversation with Pam, she had to leave. She didn’t leave empty handed; she also purchased a copy of The Commonsense Virtual Assistant – Becoming an Entrepreneur, Not an Employee. After we mailed off postcards and paperwork to Fiona’s teacher from the Postal Annex three doors down, the staff at Vanillas sent us off with a complimentary package of cookies for the road. Thank you to Beverly, Lisa and Zach at Vanillas! You made the ride for Fiona a lot of fun.

Connecting With Virtual Assistants in Canada

Now that we’re here in Quebec for four weeks, we’re taking some time to reach out and .connect with virtual assistants in Canada. Cristina (we’re staying here with her and her family) has been a virtual assistant and VA coach. This morning I reconnected via Skype with Roslyn D’Souza, a virtual assistant in Toronto.

Our virtual assistant coaching business, Chief Virtual Officer, has provided valuable information to help new and aspiring virtual assistants start and grow their businesses. If you are a virtual assistant in Canada, we’d love to hear from you. What’s working in your business? What challenges are you facing?

Visit our Chief Virtual Officer website for additional resources to help you in your virtual assistant business.

We’re Almost There

We leave the day after tomorrow – finally! We’ve been going non-stop for over four weeks preparing for our nomadic life. I’m so glad we’re almost there – ready to drive away. We need a nice long drive to unwind and let go of all the stress!

Today and tomorrow we finish getting things ready. James and Rachelle will come over Wednesday afternoon to say goodbye. Then Thursday morning we pack the van and drive off to Phoenix.

Our first stop will be for two nights in Phoenix, Arizona. We will be staying with our friends, Terry and Virgie Wilson, who recently moved from Roseville. Then a night in New Mexico to stay with Sonja. The next night in Colorado with a former workmate of Joel’s. On Monday October 4th we will reconnect with Joel’s Uncle Denny and then stay with Mimi and her family in South Dakota. Mimi is a virtual assistant who we met in person a few weeks ago when she came to visit her sisters in Sacramento.

Fiona will get to meet her grandma, Joel’s mom. We’ll stay with her three nights and then with our friend Charlie in Michigan. Finally we’ll stay one night in Ottawa with Shawn and finally arrive in Montreal on October 13th.

Stay tuned for updates as we travel!

Nomadic Travel: What Are We Really Doing?

You’ve heard that the Canfield family is going to travel and live a nomadic lifestyle. What does that mean? What are we really doing? Let me explain.

We are no longer renting a place to live. We’re packing our Kia Sedona minivan with our clothing, Joel’s musical instruments and equipment, important books and papers, Fiona’s books, toys and school books. The few important possessions we want to hold on to but don’t need on a daily basis are being stored by our close friends. They’ve also told us that anytime we’re back in the Sacramento area we have a place to stay with them.

We’re taking our packed van and we’re going to travel the U.S. and Canada for the next year or two.  We’d like to spend extended periods of time in one area or location before moving on to another location. That would allow us time to get to know an area and the people. To accommodate that we have plans to house sit for people who need someone to care for their house and even their pets while they’re away for an extended period of time – perhaps vacationing or traveling themselves. Our house sitting service provides the homeowner with peace  of mind and provides us a place to stay and work. So no, we do not charge a fee for this service.

How will we make money? The way we always do. We will continue to run our virtual businesses as we always have – creating and maintaining websites, running my virtual assistant business, coaching and training new and aspiring virtual assistants, writing books, helping people find their ‘why’.

Will this be a good thing for Fiona? We think so. Already she’s made new friends in British Columbia. And in October she’ll get to meet her great Uncle Denny and Grandma Mumsie who’s never seen her. She’ll learn about places, people, different cultures – not just from a book, but from real life experiences. We will continue to read the Bible with Fiona at bed time and teach her God’s values. She’s going to meet other members of our worldwide spiritual brotherhood and make new friends.

How long will we do this? Who knows. When we decide to stop, we’ll let you know.

I’m sure you have other questions. We’d love to answer them for you. So just post your question in the comment section and we’ll post our reply.

Guest Post by Sara Gaffney: You Have My Blessing and Envy

Sara is a virtual assistant who founded the Northern California Virtual Assistants Meetup Group. We’ve been able to get to know Sara quite well over the last year or two. She recently sent us a couple of emails that she has agreed to let us share as a guest post.

Hi Sue & Joel,

I have been following your blog. I think it is great what you guys are doing! I am enjoying reading your posts :) Where are you heading next? Do you have your two months planned out?

Make sure you have a good GPS, and good set of tools with you and your battery is always charged on your cell phones. Never take a detour if you are not sure if the weather is bad, and always let someone know where you are heading to. OK, those are my motherly tips for the day :) BE safe, have fun, enjoy, and experience life as it was meant to be experienced; meeting people in their own environment, face to face, seeing life through your own eyes; instead of what you hear on T.V, or in books.

This is an experience every child and adult should have.

What a history lesson. Fiona can really experience how others live, not just those in Roseville California. It is not always easy when your child/children asks you those difficult questions that most parents try to protect our children from. When you pass through a town that you want to lock the doors or a city that looks deserted because all the factories and businesses have closed down. Or where the majority of people have different skin color then you. If more people were able to get out of their back yard and travel around we would be a better place.

I would add that you make time for play groups. I would hate to think she has an imaginary friend :) That could be fun too… I seem to remember I had an imaginary friend. I didn’t turn out too bad!

This is from the Webster Dictionary: Guilt is a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that violation. It is closely related to the concept of remorse

Wow, for some reason I don’t see how you fall under the category of guilty.

So don’t have any guilt. You’re giving your family an opportunity to live outside your backyard and make friends with people that have all different kinds of stories to share about their life. And for a person to grow, they need to get out of their own backyard sometimes. Who’s to say when that time is? Live in the moment, who knows if there’s a tomorrow?

You have my blessing and envy.

Take care,

Sara

P.S. One more thing, you are not cheating the system… We created virtual businesses so we didn’t have to work for any one. That we could work on the beach if we wanted to. Well, you have choosen to work driving around in your car right now, home to home. What’s is wrong with that? You are working, making money, doing what you like, while others are hating life, losing their home, fighting with their spouse and getting fired.

So I say, when you pack the car, smile wide and wave good-bye knowing at least for now you have done the right thing. You can always rent a place again. You can even move in with your kids :)

OK, that will be $55 hr for my counseling services :)

When we asked her if we could post this as a guest post she replied, “OK, sure. If it makes you not feel guilty and gives hope to others to see that living is not just behind four walls then go for it.”

Connecting with People and New Friends

This morning we’ll be visiting with new friends as we walk in the neighborhood taking in scenery and visiting. This afternoon we reconnect with Kathy, an aspiring virtual assistant who attended the Client Communication Clinic last Friday. We’ll be meeting her at a Waves Coffee Shop at 2:30 in North Vancouver on Lynn Valley Road. I like that name for a road. Maybe because my middle name is Lynn. If you’re in the North Vancouver area around 2:30, stop by and say hi.

Tonight we’re going to have dinner with some new friends. Their son lives in Yuba City California, approximately 45 minutes from our home base of operations in Roseville California. The husband is Irish and you know how Joel loves everything Irish. We look forward to a nice evening of good food, great conversation and some card playing.

Working Location Independent

Today has been a typical day for our family. Except we can do it as a location independent family. We did all the usual things we do when we’re living in our rented home in California – except we were able to do it from New Westminster British Columbia from the home were we’re house sitting and dog sitting.

We had our usual breakfast and lunch and the usual routine in Fiona’s non-school day. Well, we do have to make sure the dog eats and gets out regularly. Fiona loves that!

Sue was able to send out two client newsletters, Joel and Sue both had client coaching calls via Skype, updates were made to client websites, and preparations were made for next week’s group coaching call for virtual assistants. All the same things we would have done if we were in our home in California. But we aren’t tied down there as we are able to work from virtually anywhere as long as we have internet access. It’s great!

Would you like to work as a location independent virtual worker?

Meeting Virtual Assistants in Person in Vancouver British Columbia

The Client Communication Clinic we hosted in Vancouver last Friday was great! We finally met Renee Shupe, The Redhead VA, in person. We also met an aspiring virtual assistant and are meeting her again Wednesday while we’re still in the Vancouver area.

We will be in the Vancouver area until August 23rd at least. We’d love to meet other local virtual assistants in person and chat with you about your business. If you were unable to attend the Client Communication Clinic and would like to receive the instructional materials, we’d love to meet with you and provide you all the materials for the same cost as the Clinic. Today we were able to meet with Maureen of Kairos Business and had a very nice chat about business. Maureen is a virtual assistant based in Maple Ridge.

We will meet with you in person anywhere within the Vancouver area at a time convenient to you for up to 3 hours and provide:

1. Client Communication Clinic CD package ($100.00 Value) – over 5 hours audio and 7 Special Reports on the following topics:

  • Identifying Your Ideal Client and Target Market
  • Networking Creates Word of Mouth Referrals
  • Converting Prospects to Clients
  • Effectively Marketing With Your Newsletter
  • Bonus Tips: Grow Your Business as a Chief Virtual Officer
  • 7 Steps to Small Business Marketing Success by John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing

2. Building Blocks: Succeed as a Chief Virtual Officer, a 72-page action guide. ($19.95 Value) We use this action guide during the Clinic. You will also receive an Implementation Checklist to help you implement what you learn from the CD and Action Guide  in your business right away!

3. Personalized business advice and answers to your questions about your Virtual Assistant business.

All this for $100.

If you’d like to take advantage of this special offer, use our contact form and let us know where and when you’d like to meet and we’ll work out all the details.

Quiet, Relaxing, Rainy Day in New Westminster

Since we arrived on Monday it’s been non-stop work. The Client Communication Clinic yesterday in Vancouver went well. We met an aspiring virtual assistant that we are meeting again next week at a North Vancouver Waves Coffee Shop to chat with and see how else we can help her get her business up and running.

Today is the first day since we left California that we have all to ourselves to relax and not work. It’s very quiet this morning since the construction workers aren’t working next door on the weekend. It has decided to rain a bit. We’re not sure how that will affect our plans yet to walk to the Skytrain station later. Fiona really wants to ride the Skytrain and we’d planned to do that this afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the library and Fiona checked out 10 books – all of which she had read before bedtime! I’m going to do some cleaning around our ‘home’ today. And we’ll let you know how that whole Skytrain trip turns out. Stay tuned!

Updated August 19, 2010 with this photo of Brodie the Canine we were dog sitting (I think he was wishing we could go for a walk):

Brodie the Canine