B is for Back to Basics

Sometimes in business, life happens. You get busy, you run out of steam, you get overwhelmed, you get tired. That flooded, drowning feeling can be very hard to cope with. I had it a lot when my children were little. I'd get so very envious of my sister in law, who had my inlaws running hook line and sinker around her kids and my hubby and I were just about the only support we had for our own two. It's a bit better now that they're older, but there are still days when there is just no room to move, or breathe.

A is for Africa

Hi all, and welcome to the new year, I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year celebrations. Hope that it may be a great and successful new year for you all!

I am taking part in the VA Tips and Tricks Blogging Challenge whereby we write a post twice weekly working through the alphabet from A to Z. I'll be doing the challenge across two blogs, this one and Pop Speaking, so for the other posts that make up the series, e, head on over there.

I live and work in South Africa, and I thought that to start with, Africa would be a good subject as I'm not sure how many of the others taking part in the challenge live or work in Africa, or what they know about it. It's a good topic to introduce myself to you with.

Is South Africa falling off the planet?

Is South Africa falling off the planet?

This might sound like a strange thing to say. But I've been going through business directories making sure my business is listed, and listing it where it isn't, where possible. And most of these sites ask you to state the country you're from.

And fairly often, I've found that it gives as options countries like America, Britain, France, Australia. And no South Africa.

I'm never sure what to do in this case. Often it also asks you for your postal code. I don't have an alternate address in another country. If I did, I'd probably live at it.

Luckily, my services are global and I can usually 'fool' the site into thinking I'm in the States. Sometimes not, sometimes it's too clever for me. And it's supposed to be a global directory. And this line of action is more problematic when you're trying to sell a product which is specifically relevant to our own country. So.. what does one do? I'm not really a patient person and I'm not very interested in writing to people to ask them to include SA, on the off chance that they may reply and may be able to include me. Probably it's some software they themselves have picked up and they don't have much say over it.

It's made me wonder why South Africa isn't included. What's the criteria of these lists? That they are first world countries? That the economy of the place performs to a certain standard? In any case, more and more often, I'm finding we're not there - and it makes me think we're falling off the planet.

Working during Christmas

Hey all.  This is basically just to let you know that I will be around during the Christmas period (feel free to comment and let me know if you too will be working during the holiday season).

I've got a few things in the new year I'm looking forward to - the continuation of a job with one of my favourite clients who do the most interesting documentaries, some work for an American attorney and The VA Blogging Challenge which will involve a bunch of VAs and transcriptionists from all over the world blogging on subjects ranging from A - Z throughout the year.

I'm also busy with my new blog Pop Speaking which centres around popular culture, interviews and giving exposure to celebrity causes. It explores closely the idea that there is a golden thread of humanity which runs through us all. I have some amazing interviews on there already and there are some phenomenal ones coming up with Daniel Baron, The J9 Foundation (Joost van der Westhuizen) and Chris Mann who is a leading authority on popular culture.

I'm also busy updating my ebook - Working From Home as A Transcriptionist in South Africa - for 2014. New version will be on sale in early 2014.

I want to wish clients, virtual assistants and transcriptionists a merry Christmas and prosperous New Year.

Business Blogging

I'm busy doing some fairly extensive work on my blog going through old posts, linking them up, making sure they're still relevant, etc, etc. I've added some pages to the blog to link up articles under concise headings so that you can easily go there and find what you're looking for. So I thought I'd write a quick post about the importance of blogging. 

Someone wrote a comment the other day, saying "I wish I had time to blog, I'm working on my business since 4am to 7pm" or whatever the time was. Now, personal blogging, I can understand. Don't have a lot of time for that myself. But when you're a business owner, I see having a business blog as an essential part of the business. It just is that way. It's the space where you can write your experiences, get others to share their experiences, and of course it's a marketing tool. Every piece of content you write is a bit of something that is going to go out into cyber space and be associated with you. And it's of interest to other transcriptionists, and to clients who may want to find something out about you before they employ you. It shows your longevity, your expertise, whether you can write or spell - the list goes on. Everything you find time for, or don't, depends on how much you prioritise what you're trying to do. And I think that blogging is an essential part of any small business's marketing plan. 

You don't have to blog every day, or about everything. In fact, don't blog if you don't have anything to say. That can be detrimental to your reputation. But in business, there is a lot to say, and a lot of people out there who can benefit from it. So share your expertise and share things you want clients of your industry to know. There's a lot of people in the transcription or virtual assistant field who can really benefit from the expertise of others, and it's great to educate potential clients for the benefit of us all.

Related link - my celebrity / pop culture blog