The Virtual Business Show

I'm sure we've all received newsletters in our email we can't remember subscribing to or we tried UNsubscribing to no avail. This episode covers the Australian Spam Act and Privacy Principles: what you need to know to comply; and touches on the GDPR.

You can face serious penalties for failure to comply so it's important you are across your obligations. 

As the Act only applies to commercial messages, political parties and religious groups are exempt from the provisions of the Act since their communications are unlikely to be commercial in nature. 

Rising interest rates; unemployment; dire warnings we are sliding into another recession. Can your business survive?

A virtual assistant might just be what you need to keep things ticking over until the situation improves.

Over the years I have seen some "Oh you didn't just do that" moments from VAs. While there are certainly more, here are my 5 Top Tips for being professional when dealing with clients and colleagues. These can apply not only to VAs but anyone in business! (I've been challenged on the statistic mentioned in this podcast in the past: see References for one place it's been mentioned but many state and federal small business bodies also quote it.)

Many businesses over the past few years have transitioned into work from home, or hybrid environments - or for want of a better word "virtual" teams. Freelancers are calling themselves 'virtual assistants' and bots and AI similarly use the term. So this has raised the question should we be calling ourselves something else?

An article I read by an accountant got me thinking because some of the things in the article which referred to employing staff actually reinforced the value a VA can bring to your business.

Today is my birthday. It's also my little brother Rod's birthday - yep we shared not just the date but the exact time!  Ten months ago we lost him suddenly so this is a tribute to him. The brother, son, husband, uncle, soldier and mate who taught us how to live authentically, with compassion, honour and integrity. Severely missed; never forgotten. Love you little bro. Happy birthday!

Onsite staff don't just cost you their annual salary and on costs like super and worker's comp. Are you aware of what your staff actually cost you? Or how a professional Australian Virtual Assistant can actually save you money?

References:

When a potential client asks you if you can complete a piece of a project in order to provide a quote, be sure you're not actually giving them the work for free. Worse than undervaluing your services is to allow others to view them as worthless.

School holidays can sometimes send work from home parents into a tail spin - how do you keep the kids occupied AND work?! 

Veteran VA Lyn Prowse-Bishop shares her tips on coping - while still getting things done.

Warranties apply to all goods and services sold in Australia and in addition to manufacturer's warranties, store warranties, and express warranties, there are a set of consumer guarantees that protect consumers regardless of store policies.

So when you need to return that faulty item, do you know who's responsible and what rights and remedies you have as a consumer, and what responsibilities you have as a business? Are you using refund signage in your store? Do you know if it's legal? Did you know that the choice of remedy lies with the consumer if the failure is major not the business?

Are employers who allow employees to work from home "parasites" as Harry Triguboff contends? Is working from home "a trend" and are at-home workers less productive?

(26 min listen)

(15 min listen)