Challenging Tradition May 15, 2008

I first read about the company Fairway Divorce Solutions a few months ago in Alberta Venture magazine.  Now I see an article about it in the Financial Post and I’m so glad.  Divorce is a sad and often ugly process and I love that there are alternatives coming into existence.  I’ve worked as a legal assistant in a couple of firms that did divorce law and I enjoyed certain aspects of it but always felt that mediation would be very helpful to a lot of clients.  It’s pretty tough in an emotional and volatile situation to step back and really come to a resolution that works for everyone but it’s definitely the best choice, especially when children are involved.

I would so enjoy working with a company like this, or lawyers that try to  use a similar approach (it certainly can be done, although the legal process often brings out the adversarial nature of people).

I like to think of virtual assistant and paralegal services as being another way of challenging tradition.  We all need to remember that there are many ways of accomplishing tasks and goals - just because we’ve always done things a certain way doesn’t mean it is the best solution for our businesses or our clients.  Virtual professionals can be so cost effective and efficient it is a wonderful alternative to traditional office models of practice.

VA Blog Carnival May 15, 2008

I participated in a blog carnival over at VagabondetteVA this week.  I think a va carnival is a great idea and hope more va’s participate next time!  And I better get a good post or two going so I have something to submit!

Solos Need Staff May 10, 2008

Often, it seems many of us small business owners try to do everything for our business ourselves.  I know I’m guilty of it - I’ve been trying to design my own business cards and brochure instead of paying someone to do it right and quickly.  We think we can’t afford to pay for the services we need, but the truth is that we usually can’t afford not to pay for them.  Wasting our valuable time costs us more in the long run than appropriately delegating tasks will cost.

I read this CBA article

yesterday and while it mostly discussed how solo lawyers need to “hire” staff, the main point of the article was completely accurate.  Solo lawyers (or any solo business owner really) will be more successful if they hire appropriate help and I think a freelance secretary is definitely one of their best options.  It allows them the ability to get the assistance they need without taking on full-time staff, with all of the responsibilities that come with employing someone.  A freelancer will be responsible for themselves and will give true value for the precious money and time of the solo practitioner.

Now I think I need to go research graphic designers for those business cards…

Networking May 8, 2008

This post from Self Made Minds was a great one about networking. I find it interesting that on my va boards a lot of people think of networking as connecting with other va’s. I enjoy that form of networking but don’t expect much return out of it. I hang out on those boards for interest and a little bit of education. I plan to network for my secretary/paralegal business in several ways:

1. local Chamber of Commerce
2. Women’s Enterprise Centre meetings in the nearby city
3. Connecting with fellow bloggers (especially lawyer bloggers)

I definitely think networking in person will be the best strategy for me (but hey, I could be wrong!) to start out with.  I am the type of person who enjoys the contact so it will benefit me by giving me a place to meet fellow business owners/entrepreneurs.

Call Me What You Like May 7, 2008

As I started making plans for my business I of course thought long and hard about my business name. I chose to use “Secretarial Services” as the descriptive portion. I frequent a couple of virtual assistant message boards and this topic comes up a lot. Most on those boards seem to prefer the term “virtual assistant” but at the same time there are many threads discussing how they always seem to be explaining what a virtual assistant is. I didn’t want to waste valuable time explaining what I was, when I could spend that time explaining to potential clients how I could help them. That’s what it is about for me - helping the client grow and improve their business. Secretaries help their bosses in that way. They are behind the scenes but on the front line all at the same time - that’s what I will be to my clients - a helpful presence who makes life easier!!

I was therefore thrilled to read this post by Carol Ann Wilson about being proud to be a legal secretary. It reminded me of the virtual assistant discussions and it also reminded me of my days working in lawfirms. Our names kept changing - legal secretary, legal assistant, paralegal. And yes I know they don’t mean *exactly* the same things (depending on who you ask especially) - essentially we all worked to support the lawyers and the clients. Personally, I say call me what you prefer - as long as I get the chance to show you how I can help you and your clients!

I Almost Have it All May 5, 2008

All the things suggested by Telecommuting Diva as needed to start a home based business that is. I just need a better printer (preferably one with a scanner) to use in my home-based secretary/paralegal business.

Personally though I’d add a few things to her list:

• Business cards
• marketing plan
• website
• accounting software (open source is fine)
• chocolate for the stressful days!

I’m working on these things - business cards are designed, marketing plan is ongoing, website started, planning to buy quickbooks this month and I ALWAYS have chocolate around!!!

Virtual Paralegals for Hire, My Thoughts April 18, 2008

I loved this post over at The Great American Lawyer blog. In my career as a legal assistant/paralegal I mostly worked with lawyers who lacked innovation - they were great lawyers but it took years for them to adjust to changing technology in the law office. Most of them wouldn’t be fond of p/t employees let alone telecommuting ones!

I am glad to see in the blogging world that there are many out there who already are using virtual paralegals or law clerks though - it certainly gives hope to those of us who aspire for a home-based paralegal practice.

The Convenience Business April 13, 2008

Loved this post so much I had to share it!

Right now one of things I’m focusing on is creating a tagline for my business - especially as I want to finish designing my business card and I think it’s important that my tagline be on my business card. The tagline is important to me as I think it will help businesses see why they should contact me and how I can help them. Gritty VA in the above post helped me with some ideas for this! I’m thinking maybe of using something like - We’re in the Business of Creating Time for Your Business. I’ll keep playing with it and looking around some more but my business goal of the week is to finalize my tagline and business card design.

Working from Home - Away from Home? April 11, 2008

In planning out my home-based secretarial services business, I’m trying to decide right now how much time I will put in from my actual home and how often I’ll be working on the go.  I have a laptop and will be able to do my work on the go regardless, but I am also trying to decide if I need a really good smartphone or not.

In researching smartphones I realize that I would spend almost as much on a great smartphone as an inexpensive laptop.  And as fun as a smartphone might be, that’s an awful lot of money for something with such a small screen.  I think I might just get a good cellphone and save my money for a second laptop!

“Greening” My Business March 30, 2008

So in my family recently we’ve decided to really work on living in a more environmentally friendly way - we’ll start with little steps and just keep working on it. This made me think about my new business venture - can I be a “green” entrepreneur? I sure hope so and I’m going to keep track on my blog of my efforts to run my business as green as I can. I’m happy for any tips in this regard!!

Here are my current thoughts on running green (or at least greener!)

• recycled paper for business cards
• I’m going to use as my webhost Greenest Host (solar based energy)
• keep my home office as paperLESS as possible
• walk or bike when possible (and hey I’m not commuting anymore simply by starting my home-based business instead of working my old job - it was a 45 minute commute each way)

I’ll keep working on my list (and stuff for my home since that’s also my place of business!) I’m also hoping to help educate businesses I work with so they can also do a little for the green movement.