What qualifications do you have?
I have over 15 years administrative experience beginning as a receptionist and continuing in varying roles such as customer service, sales management and team support, executive administration, and legal support. I began offering on-site and off-site administrative freelance services in 2003 to a handful of local businesses. After researching the industry of Virtual Assistance for 5 years I decided that working completely “virtually” or “online” was the perfect avenue. Having been a small business owner for over 5 years and a consultant for a leading décor company for 4 years, I gained a lot of experience that I use in my VA business today. In the fall of 2005, I moved to France and spent a little over a year researching how to create a truly successful online business and began the tedious steps of starting a small business in a country I was unfamiliar with. I am proud to say that I now have an International client base I’m very happy to be working with and have a fair understanding of the system here in France (thanks to the help of my support team).

Certifications obtained in the following training and will continue to train as software changes or new services are added.

Executrain, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Certification in Windows, Word, Excel Presentation Skills/Advanced, PowerPoint

Skillpath, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Certification in Desktop Publishing

Microsoft Access 2003 Step By Step



Do you belong to any associations or organizations?
I am a member of the International Virtual Assistants Association, Virtual Assistant Networking Association, The VA Insiders, and served for the past two years as a volunteer for the Virtual Assistants Day Committee and the OIVAC Registration Committee to help The Alliance for Virtual Businesses organize the Annual Online International Virtual Assistants Convention and celebrate Virtual Assistants Day.

What services do you offer?
I offer administrative support, marketing support and design services. For a complete list and details, please see the secretarial services pages of my web site.

What are your specialty services?
I specialize in web site development/maintenance, blog updates and shopping cart support services. I offer several other administrative and marketing support services as well.

Are there any services you do not provide?
I do not provide bookkeeping or copy writing although I do have colleagues who provide these services and I am happy to provide a reference.

What are your strengths and weaknesses?
My strengths are honesty, diligence, and respect for the confidentiality of clients and colleagues. Equally important is my ability to recognize potential business growth and how I can help my clients achieve their goals.

My biggest weakness is that I tend to let my passion for my work bleed over into my personal life. I keep this to a minimum by setting limits and creating systems that enable a peaceful flow both professionally and personally. By keeping these two aspects of my life separate I am able to appreciate and participate in them both without feeling like one is taking away from the other.

Who are your ideal clients?
My ideal clients are positive, professional, courteous, respectful and passionate about their business or job. They are people with a vision and a plan for turning it into reality and understand the value of outsourcing. They are often coaches, speakers, authors and Internet entrepreneurs.

For what type of professional is this kind of business relationship not going to work for?
This kind of business relationship most likely won’t be good for people who don’t have a clear vision for the future of their business or are struggling financially. It has been my experience that in order to get the most value from my services, the client usually has a business that has grown to the point that delegating certain tasks, whether they are revenue generating or not, has become necessary to their continued growth and success instead of spending seemingly endless hours with administrative tasks.

What kind of partnership do you expect to have with your clients?
Partnership is the keyword here. I do look at my client relationships as partnerships because we work closely together to reach goals and have a mutual respect for one another.

I need to be able to plan at least a week or some days ahead for the most part, so it’s important to not have too many last minute projects. In these cases, I have to move my work around or scramble to get the job done and can end up making mistakes I normally wouldn’t make. I realize that sometimes things cannot be predicted, but I can’t allow it to become a habit.

Regular communication to review projects, set priorities and brainstorming new ideas, are an important part of keeping things operating smoothly. I feel that problems and misunderstandings can be avoided by defining a working relationship and setting boundaries in advance, for both parties. If a problem were to arise, my preference would be to have a meeting or conference to discuss the intent and impact for both parties before reacting or taking action.

Will you be devoted entirely to my tasks?
I do offer programs so that my clients are able to “reserve” a certain amount of my time each month. Within the scope of our agreement, I will be entirely devoted to your tasks during any predetermined amount of time. I track all of my time with clients individually and if something urgent arises that is unrelated to the client work load I’m currently handling, then the timer stops and I deal with the situation as quickly as possible so that I can return to the job at hand.

What results can I expect?
You can expect to improve the flow of your daily activity, create a more productive business, improve your professional web presence, get your info products off the drawing board and into the public market, maintain your public image and as a result of all that you will have more clients and availability to work with them.

If you want to read about the benefits others have found, you can visit my article directory you will find several articles there by writers from websites like CNN and Business Week describing what it’s like to work with a Virtual Assistant.

Can I contact some of your former clients to see what it’s like to work with you?
Absolutely! I encourage you to take a look at what some of my clients have to say about their experiences working with me. Feel free to contact them and ask questions.

How can we communicate?
In addition to email, I think it’s important to schedule regular sessions via telephone or Skype. If you have another form of preferred communication, please let me know so we can discuss it and make arrangements that will work for both of us.

What hours are you available?
9 AM - 6 PM (CET/ Paris) - Local time

If I have an emergency/rush job after your business hours, what happens?
Work necessary after my regular business hours, weekends or holidays will incur additional fees.

What is your turnaround time?
24-48 hours for project work unless other arrangements are made.

How are project files delivered and received?
At this time I use email and www.sendthisfile.com to transfer files. I am currently testing Windows Sharepoint Services with my provider and in the event that this program would be beneficial to a new client, I will be happy to set up an account to make use of collaboration, file sharing and project management.

For hard copy materials, our regular mail carrier's express service may suit your needs best. I have availability to receive packages from FexEx and USPS.

If I ask you to use software you don’t have, how will this be handled?
If the software is a product that will enhance my business in general or be of use with other clients then I will assume the expense. However, if it is something that is specific to only your business then the expense will be yours and I will charge for the learning curve. Rest assured that I am a quick study when it comes to software and the learning will take place simultaneously while working on the projects specific to the software in question.

Is your geographical location going to be convenient for me?
I have clients in the United States and Australia as well as in France. The time difference can be used to your advantage with careful planning and that is something we all need anyway.

For example, you make notes of the things that need to be added to your to do list all day, and at the end of the day you decide which of those things can be delegated and send the information to me. I receive instructions in my morning while you are sleeping and in most cases the finished work can be ready for you when you wake up the next morning. This can also work vice versa. Each case is different, so if the nature of the work you need done is ultra time sensitive, then we can discuss the situation and decide if I my services are a good fit for you.

What are your rates?
My rates vary depending on the type of work. Do you need Basic Administrative, Marketing Support or Design/Publishing services? Please check my secretarial services and marketing support pages for details about those categories and we can discuss your needs in a get acquainted call.

Do you offer packages or options?
The Starter Package includes 5 hours of administrative services for $160 or 5 hours of marketing services for $200; available to new clients only.

You can take advantage of my Create-A-Package series designed to allow you to stay within your budget and plan wisely which tasks to delegate to me. You can even design a new package each month as your needs change! These packages require a 50% deposit before work begins with balances due the last within 2 weeks.

The Retainer Packages are for accounts prepaying more than 10 hours each month and a 10% discount applies. They are available in 10 hour increments and can be set up in any combination of administrative or marketing services.

Are there any other fees I should know about?
Work neccessary after hours, weekends or holidays will incur additional fees. Rates and Plans are subject to billable expenses. Billable expenses include supplies and postage for bulk mailings, courier services, excessive long distance charges, etc.

Late payments will command a 5% fee per month.
Returned checks will command a $30 service fee.

What are the available payment methods?
Major credit cards and debit cards are accepted through PayPal. You are not required to open a PayPal account in order to pay me.

Are there any agreements to sign?
I do have a policies agreement that states hours of operation, service plan options, billing terms, payments, etc. Its purpose is to ensure that I have communicated my business procedures to my clients so that there are no misunderstandings and I ask that a copy of it be signed and returned to me before work begins and again IF changes are made it will be on a quarterly basis. I will provide a confidentiality agreement on request and in the case of project work; an agreement may be required to specify the particulars.

I know which package I want, how do we get started?
Great! I’m so glad you are taking the initial step to clear your calendar so that you can get back to what you do best.