One of the most interesting and valuable-to-me blogs I read is The Fluent Self. Authored by a woman named Havi and her promiscuous duck, this blog provides great intellectual and business insights in such a way that it feels like your best friend is gently but honestly nudging you in the right direction.
This particular post [...]

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And with a VA, you’ll have more time to nip out to Starbucks. This article, via the Examiner, goes through some more basics of finding and using a VA.
My favorite points from the article, quoted below, address the versatility of a Virtual Assistant versus having on-site staff.
I will admit that previously visions of Sci-Fi men [...]

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It’s a scary time right now for everyone- starter-uppers, employees, employers. But another great article on using the current economic climate as a springboard for your dream career comes via Smarterware.org- an interesting case for making the leap now.
Leaving your full-time job in the midst of a recession is either a really stupid or really [...]

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Interesting piece on Web Worker Daily on how smart talent is adapting hard and fast to the changing economy and career trajectory they inevitably face. This post dubs the phenomenon “Giganomics.”
Most of the web workers I know tend to be college educated people with reasonably good incomes, and I suspect that most of the people [...]

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I see this a lot, in real life and online. There’s a local hair salon with a ridiculous name. I won’t mention it for obvious reasons, but every time I pass it, I think about how silly the name is. That, and their “Grand Opening” sign was misspelled and displayed for months.
While I was skimming [...]

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From Laptop Hobo, a list of basics to do business any time, anywhere. Just in case you were feeling your office was underequipped.

Hardware:

Laptop (preferably “ultra-portable”)
Back-up medium (external drive or disks)
Power-surge protector
Mobile/cell (tri-band) phone w/Bluetooth
Bluetooth, Wlan capabilities
External mouse or trackball
Headset (for telephony access)
Carrying case (preferably a hard-shell case)

Non-Hardware:

Dial-up access (Access the [...]

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I’m still amazed corporations aren’t luring top talent like this in droves- staffing firms can serve a purpose, but focused virtual workers and virtual assistants are infinitely more economical for big and small companies in this economic flux period. And, as the writer below keenly observes, perhaps when the dust settles we’ll all be left [...]

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Most of the article centers on pharmaceuticals, science and such, but the idea itself is interesting and a great outlook in this economy. For better or worse, forward thinking employers and employees seem to be thinking this is a real bend-or-break time for everyone.
It may seem counterintuitive that in the midst of this global economic [...]

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“I had an admin assistant that wasn’t doing a very good job and wasn’t working fast enough,” Lee recalls. “To take on other projects, I needed to find other resources.”
So she started e-mailing out work for the GlobeTask team to do – PowerPoint presentations, online research requests, weekly reports on Web traffic, and a laundry [...]

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Via Lifehacker, this handy post on making the most of your indie business expenses lists several tax tips to boost your yearly net. Don’t forget to write off your Virtual Assistant! (Via Lifehacker.)
Virtual assistants and other freelancers
You’ll want an invoice from whoever you work with, as well as a record of when you paid the [...]

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