Category: resources

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Free QR codes

free QR codes

I got a QR code for my  VA business! So yep, I had to research it.

Back up; I got a QR code a couple of years ago for my direct sales business. I never used it, but I went ahead with the same QR code generator.

I’m going to tell you about the one I used, while also checking out some options. But first I’m going to tell you about static vs dynamic.

I hope I’m happy with my choice! I haven’t paid for anything yet, but I plan on it because I already made a code and added it to an ad that will go in my daughter’s dance recital yearbook. So I kinda walked myself into a corner, and again, I hope I’m happy with my choice! 🤷‍♀️😂

QR code – static vs dynamic

Static codes can’t be changed once they’ve been made and printed. On the other hand, a dynamic code can be changed. But why does it matter?

Say you make a code for your business but then you change the website, so you have a new URL. Or maybe you have a direct sales business but you change to a different direct sales company. I mean, face it, some people want your product, but some people want YOU. By changing the URL, your loyal followers can easily follow you to your new business.

I feel like a dynamic code is important so nothing happens to my code! But why would it? I have a website and I don’t plan on changing it. 🤷‍♀️

Do free static QR codes expire?

Based on my research, static codes do not expire. They only go bad if the URL changes or something physically changes the pattern. I should be fine with a simple, free, static QR code.

Why a dynamic QR code might be better

I already mentioned that you can change the URL that the dynamic code points to. This of dynamic as alive. The code itself doesn’t change, but the destination can.

Another reason you might be interested in the dynamic code is because of the tracking that comes along with it. You can see the total scans and the country and city location of the scans.

Tracking will also allow you to test out code designs. You can see which one performs better. Since you can change the color, framing, and add text and arrows, you might have a code that performs better than others.

Last thought about static vs dynamic codes. If you’re going to print it, for example, on a business card or a print ad, a dynamic code is your safe bet.

Free QR codes from QR Code Generator

I got mine from QR Code Generator. You can do a 14-day free trial. When you click on the plans, scroll all the way down and click on the dropdown “do you offer individual plans?” In the fine print, you can activate their free plan and you’ll get a free dynamic code! Yay!

This will work for most people. The free plan also includes 5 static codes. So if you add another business to your lineup, you can quickly make a new code for free. Remember to follow through with the activation so your code doesn’t expire at the end of your trial!

The paid options start at $9.99/month but I really think the free plan will work for me for now. Though I may add the next tier at $15.99/month at some point so I can offer dynamic QR codes with tracking to my clients.

Free QR codes from QR Code Monkey

QR Code Monkey is another free QR code generator. Oh, this is interesting!

First, I entered my direct sales website address. It said it wasn’t a valid URL. Yikes! I finally typed it into a browser and then copied the URL as it appeared – you know how they re-formulate into something a little different? That one worked.

What is really cool is that I was able to make a gradient color image! Check this out:

Qr code for my direct sales business, Thirty-One

Then I clicked to sign up so I can keep this cool-looking code and it said I already have an account. What?? It appears to be the same as the QR Code Generator that I just signed up for this morning!

Sadly, I can’t figure out how to save it. But I did download it so I suppose that I can keep using it. It’ll be interesting to see if this code lasts forever like it says that it will! 🤞

Tip, if you want a gradient code like the one above, follow the link to the QR Code Monkey, make it, and download it. Done. You can’t change it, but you can use it as a free static code.

Free QR codes from The QR Code Generator

I found another free QR code generator, The QR Code Generator. This one appears to be different. You can create a one-time code without ever signing up. If you want a dynamic code, you have to sign up.

I’m constantly signing up for things, so I just want to reiterate that you don’t have to sign up! You can download and keep using the free static code. I would just check it periodically to make sure it’s still working.

Summary

After my research, writing this, and several times re-reading it, my first choice, QR Code Generator, is the one to go with. I say this because you can activate their free plan and have 1 dynamic code as well as 5 static codes. All for free! Just remember to follow through with the activation so your code doesn’t expire at the end of your trial!

Here’s the ad I made for my daughter’s dance yearbook.

Ad for a dance yearbook

I used Canva to make it. I’m kind of chuckling because I really enjoyed making it. 😂 This is what I call “work”.

I spent an hour this morning making this ad, which my business paid for, btw😉.

I decided I should add a QR code, so that’s how this whole post came about. Then while communicating with the owner of the dance studio, she mentioned that she may be contacting me for my services! I call that a good day!

If you’re interested in what I do, you could do it too! Check out this free course I made. It’s delivered for 5 days via email and walks you through the steps of starting your own virtual assistant business. 👍

 

 

 

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WhatsApp Business messaging app small business review

WhatsApp Business review

I do content creation for a client and one of the topics I worked on recently was WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business. I learned a lot of interesting things about the app and played around with it for quite some time. So I thought I would write up my own review.

While I was working on the articles, I kept thinking about how I could use this for my virtual assistant business or a direct sales business. Other small businesses kept coming to mind with how they could use it.

What is WhatsApp?

First of all, what is WhatsApp? It’s an instant messaging app. And it’s FREE. Worldwide, it’s actually more popular than any other messaging app. Yep, more than twice as popular as Facebook Messenger. Pow!

WhatsApp vs WhatsApp Business

Standard WhatsApp is the personal account you might have, whereas WhatsApp Business has features that would help small businesses have better communications with their customers.

When I first started playing around with WhatsApp, I simply installed the regular WhatsApp app. I used my phone number. As it turns out, I was able to receive a message from someone in another country (another work thing). I gave them my phone number and received their text via WhatsApp. So just in that instance, I totally can see why, worldwide, it’s the most popular instant messaging app.

Then while I was working on this latest project, I installed WhatsApp Business. It has a whole slew of features that are awesome for a business.

WhatsApp Business with one or two phone numbers

It’s important to note that you can use WhatsApp Business with your personal phone number. But you can only have one WhatsApp account. So if you want to have a separate account for personal use, you would need to use a different phone number for WhatsApp Business.

As I mentioned, I used my personal phone number for the WhatsApp account. When I installed WhatsApp Business, I decided to get a free Google Voice number and use that for the business account. It’s so cool!

Using my phone number and the Google Voice number, I had two separate WhatsApp accounts. Then I decided to un-link the Google number and merge my WhatsApp accounts. When you do this, you essentially lose some stuff, unless you back it up. So I recommend thinking that through before you spend time setting things up on WhatsApp Business.

WhatsApp Business features

There are a lot of features. I am only focusing on the features that I think would be especially beneficial to a small business. Here goes!

  1. Catalog – that’s right, you can add a catalog of your products or services. They allow you to add up to 500 items.
  2. Greeting message – this is an automatic message that you can set up to send to new customers who weren’t already on your contact list.
  3. Away message – this is an auto-reply you can set up for times when you’re not available, such as vacation, or illness. But you can use this anytime. If you’re a solopreneur, you probably spend a lot of your time creating your product or providing your service. You can’t always respond immediately, but you can have automatic responses set up so that people always receive a prompt response from you.
  4. Quick replies – these are messages you create that help you quickly respond to an FAQ. If people always ask the same question, you can save yourself a lot of time, and reduce errors, by setting up quick replies.
  5. Labels – labels allow you to organize your customers and messages. Adding labels to customer messages also allows you to send targeted promos to specific customers.
  6. Status – much like a status update on social media, when you update your status, all of your contacts will see that. This could be a powerful tool for someone who provides a service. For example, a personal trainer, massage therapist, or beautician; say you have a cancellation. You can update your status so that you might fill that time slot on short notice.
  7. Starred messages – you can “star” any message that you want. Then you can filter to look at the starred messages. This could be used as a to-do list of sorts.
  8. New broadcast – you can send a broadcast to anyone in your contact list that has your number also in their contact list. This is another awesome sales tool for contacting a large group.
  9. Convenient – you can log into WhatsApp from up to 4 different devices. So you can work from your desktop, phone, or tablet.
  10. WhatsApp API – as your business grows, they have resources that some larger businesses need.

WhatsApp Business is like a mini CRM. You can organize your clients and messages in a variety of different ways. Labels can help push customers through a sales funnel. I think it’s an incredibly useful messaging app.

Tell me, are you already using WhatsApp Business? You can download WhatsApp here. But before you go,  have you looked at my templates?

 

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Most important resources for a new virtual assistant

Free resources for a new virtual assistant

Are you a new virtual assistant? Maybe you’re a virtual assistant wannabee? Good! You’re in the right place! I’ve been a virtual assistant for close to 6 years! I’ve tried many-a-tools over the years and I’m going to share my list of most important resources for a new virtual assistant!

Thankfully, there are sooooo many apps out there that are free! I have chosen to pay for a few along the way, but you don’t need to do that getting started.

How do you even begin to figure out what you need?

You’re going to figure out what you need as you go. You’ll start to work on something, you’ll Google it, and you’ll find new potential resources. Maybe that’s even how you found this article!

You’ll figure out what you need, literally based on your needs! If you’re trying to design an image for a Facebook post, you’ll Google something like this: best free image creation apps.

What’s first on the list? Canva. YESSSSSS!!!! I 100% agree! If you haven’t tried Canva, you have to! I used the free version for years. I enjoy the perks of using the paid version, but I promise you’ll be happy with the free version of Canva!

Most important resources for a new virtual assistant

Canva aside, my two favorite resources are Trello and Clockify. Let me tell you about them…

Trello

Trello is an amazing free app that you can use to keep track of your projects and your clients. I have this app open all day long and skip around to whatever I’m working on.

It’s broken down into Boards, Lists, and Cards.

A Board would be your client. Inside each board, you have lists. My lists are titled Credentials, Daily to-do, Ongoing tasks, Brainstorming, etc. Then for each list, you can add multiple cards to fill out the list. Within a card, you can add links to anything with a URL, you can add attachments, and you can chat with people who you’ve added to the board.

Trello also has a mobile app (I’m on android but I’m sure iPhones have it as well). It’s very handy to be able to look things up on the go!

Clockify

A way to track your hours is a must! I used a time clock app on my phone for the first 5+ years of my business!

A couple of years ago, a client suggested I start using Clockify. I looked at it, but I was so used to my time clock app that I couldn’t get into it.

I kept on using the app on my phone until just recently. I was having an issue with the app and my go-to solution when I have a problem with my phone is to uninstall the app and reinstall it.

I don’t recommend doing that!!🤦‍♀️

When I went to re-install it, the app was gone!! I understand that’s probably why I was having an issue, but, I was still quite disappointed that I lost my favorite app!

I tried several other time tracking apps that day, all on my phone. None of them were worthy!

Queue the solution! Clockify!

What I love about Clockify

What I love about Clockify is that it’s a Chrome extension. So I don’t even have to log into the site to start using it! But don’t worry, if you don’t like extensions, you can use the website.

I spend a lot of time on business activities that aren’t billable. Sometimes at the end of the day, I feel like I haven’t gotten anything done. That can be a very crushing, defeating feeling.

But I have this handy timeclock that I can click on and keep track of EVERYTHING! I set myself up as a client and I now know where my time goes. It might not be billable time, but I’m still being productive and it’s important to see that!

I hope you discovered something new and useful! Let me know what you think! Do you have a free resource that you swear by? I’d love to hear about it!

 

 

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Branding

BRANDING YOUR BUSINESS

The branding you choose for your business is the distinctive design that you use across all marketing channels. It’s how people recognize you!

In this article, I’m going to show you some resources to help you create your brand from scratch, or to rebrand.

Why create a brand

You choose a brand because you want to be consistent. Brand recognition is when people recognize the product or service because of the brand.

If you’re just getting started,  you might not have any idea what you want for branding. Don’t let this hold you back from moving forward in your business!

Rebranding

We’re approaching the new year, so I’m looking at re-branding my business. My business isn’t just me anymore and I want to consider a fresh brand for my virtual assistant business.

Actually, I just recently worked on defining my brand for my side gig – a direct sales company. As I worked on it, I created a template which you can get here.

TIPS FOR BRANDING YOUR VIRTUAL ASSISTANT BUSINESS

YVA Branding Template

In this template, I walk you through how to pick the vibe, name, colors you like, and potential icons. In this case, I was trying to choose a name for my direct sales team.

But you can totally apply this to any small business! I have a pretty good idea of what I like for my virtual assistant business (Your Virtual Associate, or YVA for short) but I will fill out the template and show you a couple of examples.

Branding Template Examples

First, you see the completed template for my direct sales team. I haven’t chosen a team name yet, so you’ll see in the logo ideas that the text still says “team name.”

Branding my Thirty-One direct sales team

Next, you’ll see my Branding Template filled in with my goals and ideas for Your Virtual Associate. As you will notice, I added an extra color dot. I couldn’t decide so I just added in another space and grabbed colors from the images I used.

Your Virtual Associate re-branding worksheet

When you purchase my Branding Template, you’ll receive instructions to walk you through the whole process!

Free Logo Design

Free Logo Design allows you to, fairly quickly, design a logo and download a low-resolution copy for free! I made a logo that I like and then I popped it into my template.

The logo I designed is in my template above, in the “biz logo ideas,” the first and last images. I downloaded the first one which I received by email. Then I edited it and promptly downloaded the new version without the text.

While we’re looking at the template I created, notice that the first image in the “images that inspire” section is the banner image on my website. I chose the other images searching in Canva for “work from home” and “home office”.

I think I chose the last image because of how clean it looks! Haha! Seriously, choose something that inspires you – either your current environment or the environment you aspire to!

Looka

Looka is another free logo creator.  It’s not free to download though. But you can get a ton of digital materials starting at around $60.

I’ve enjoyed playing with this tool, but I just happen to be happier with what I created in Free Logo Design. Hey, it’s always nice to save a few $$$!

What do you think

YVA re-branding options

What do you like for YVA? I’d love to hear your thoughts! I’m thinking Color group 2, B, and X. What do you think? When I decide on A vs B, I’ll probably go back and spend $39 to get the high-resolution copies. But in the meantime, I’m pretty happy with free!

Thanks for reading! If you haven’t joined my mailing list, please do! I send out weekly business tips geared towards small business owners!

And remember to grab the YVA Branding Template so you can hash out your own ideas!

 

 

 

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Intro to Client Portal

Here's why freelancers should use client portal

I want to share a quick introduction to Client Portal. Have you heard of it? It’s a WordPress Plugin that was created by my client (there’s the first half of my disclosure;-)) Laura Elizabeth. You see, I’m a virtual assistant and Laura is my client!

So not only am I using it, but I’m working on the back side of it. I have quite a grasp of how it can be used by all different types of businesses. But since Laura created it for herself to use with her design clients, she has a very large design audience. What I want to focus on is how freelancers such as myself, can make use of Client Portal.

Top 3 reasons Freelancers should use Client Portal

  1. Professionalism
  2. Organization
  3. Convenience

1 – Professionalism

Think to yourself – what does my business process look like to an outsider? That outsider being a new potential client. What do they see? Do you give them a contract? Are your invoices and documents neatly organized? Now think about what your competition is doing.

Impress clients with your organization!

What if you present a portal as soon as you get off the phone with a potential client? Just a follow-up – “thank you for your time” message.

Hey, Potential Client ABC, I set you up in my system just in case we decide to work together. When you get inside my client portal, you’ll see our preliminary discussion, which you are free to add comments to if you feel I didn’t understand something exactly as you intended. You’ll see some grayed out sections which will become active if and when we start working together.

This shows Potential Client ABC that you are a professional, serious about your intentions to work with them, and organized!

2 – Organization

Client Portal will allow you to organize all of the documents that you use for your clients. I am a fan of both Dropbox and Google Docs. But I find I’m using Google Docs more and more. So what I’m doing is linking my doc right into the portal.

I can work on the doc from my Google Suite. But anytime the client wants to look at it, all they need to do is log in to their Client Portal.

I also have a link to their invoices. I’m still using PayPal to create my invoices, just like I always have. But I’m adding the URL to my client’s project.

So again, I look incredibly organized and professional. AND my client only has to go ONE PLACE to see everything that I’m working on for them – it’s so convenient!

3 – Convenience

I have a small handful of clients right now. If you’re a freelancer, you likely have a small handful of clients too, or maybe more. I have them all lined up in my Client Portal dashboard in WordPress. As I work on things for my clients throughout the day, I can easily switch to their project if I need to make any changes, like adding a module to keep track of a new project they just assigned to me.

But for the most part, I’m just working along like usual. The difference is that everything I’m working on is linked to their project. So any time they want to see what is current, all they have to do is log in to their secure project (password protected and private to each of them individually) and they can see the current version of basically everything we’re working on together!

I’m receiving fewer emails because my clients know they only have to look one place to find what they’re looking for. It’s convenient for them and I spend less time out of my day looking for something I sent them two weeks ago!

Do you want a Client Portal Discount?

Lucky for you – I have one! Follow this link to see more details about Client Portal and to purchase your copy today! If you follow my link, I will get a little kick-back for telling you about it, but it doesn’t change your price (and there’s the second half of my disclosure). If you’re gonna try it anyway, please help out a fellow freelancer and use my code!

When you get there, use discount code CARRIESdiscount to receive 10% off!

If you have any questions about Client Portal, you’re welcome to email me at carrie@yourvirtualassociate.com. Or you can send your questions straight to support@lauraelizabeth.co. Maybe I’ll still be answering your questions!