I have not been great about posting on this blog lately! It’s good in a sense, because I’ve been busy actually being a virtual legal assistant, not posting about it!! Still this blog was one of the first things I did for my business and it is a valuable tool well worth spending my time on, so I’m taking up the Blawger Survivor Challenge for the next three weeks and hopefully I’ll be able to post every weekday during the challenge.

One of the best aspects of this challenge is that it includes a component to link to the other competitors. What a great reminder that really, we aren’t competitors in the blawgosphere, but rather a community where interaction and inspiration come together to create a whole that is better than the individual parts.

So check out the other competitors (like Only 3 Years, TaxGirl or Hope and Change or any others listed over at Sean Carter’s blog in the right sidebar), then come back here every weekday for my posts about the law, virtual legal assistance, community and working from home (plus whatever else I can come up with to write about, lol!)

It’s been a hectic week here at Halo Secretarial and I know when things get hectic here a little inspiration is in order to help me take some deep breaths and remember why I started my virtual legal assistant business! So here’s my inspiration tip for today: find a quotation (or two!) and post them somewhere around your desk and read them in moments when you are feeling stressed or unhappy or you are simply lacking motivation. You can write the quote on a sticky note, or frame it or whatever idea your creativity finds!

I bought some cool wall rub-ons that are inspirational and this is the one in my office (I love that it is huge-makes you really notice it!):

Perfect for a day when the kids are running a little crazy and you haven’t been outside in days even though it’s sunny and you stayed up late one too many times this week! Not that I’m saying my week was like that or anything

Hope my little inspiration makes you smile or motivates you to do something similar!

I recently had a potential client ask me a question about how “good” I am at being a virtual legal assistant. It was actually a hard and easy question to answer all at once, and I thought I’d share here what my answer is.

I am good at what I do. In fact, I think I’m really, really good at what I do. Most days. I’m a human being so I can’t offer perfection all the time. I can offer customer satisfaction. I can fix things that aren’t done perfectly (at no additional cost) to make sure my clients are never left feeling unsatisfied. And I tend to get much better at working with a client once we’ve had an opportunity to develop our relationship and I learn their style and understand their needs better.

But there are things I’m not good at. Sometimes, I don’t have a particular skill a client might be interested in, and I may or may not be able to learn it to help with the task. I’m always upfront about such deficiencies and I think my clients appreciate that. I’m also not good at reading minds! Who out there is? (I could use you on my team if you are, lol) I need clear communication, especially at first, or I might not provide exactly what someone is looking for.

I’m also not very good at working without sleep or food. Mmmm, food. I love food! Oops, off topic! That means that I am not always available, I can’t take every call or answer every email immediately. I promise to get back to you asap though, so if you are looking for a human virtual legal assistant, who will not be perfect but who WILL be committed to providing customer satisfaction and who will be invested in your law practice’s success, then I am the right VLA for you!

p.s. the potential client did decide to work with me and I think we’re on a good path so far!

I recently decided to order some personal calling cards for my mom blog, as I’m traveling  to BlogHer in July and have heard that having cards there really helps keep track of who you are meeting in the huge crowd.  While making my selections for cards I decided I should maybe update my business cards for Halo Secretarial as well. My first set of cards, while not out of date, are fairly bland looking and a bit too pink! They mostly matched my original website, but since I had my logo and colors updated this winter I realize that I needed a classier looking card to go with it.

My first card also emphasized the title of Virtual Assistant, and my new card uses the term I’ve since used more often to describe myself, Virtual Legal Assistant. I love both parts of what I do (admin and legal assistant work) but for the purposes of my business card I prefer to distinguish myself by adding in the “legal”.

With that said, check out my new cards and tell me what you think!

Virtual Legal Assistant business card

Sorry, I didn’t get them onto the scanner very straight!

I was interviewed some time back for an article in the Canadian Bar Association Practice Link and today I’ve seen it for the first time, thanks to a tweet from Kate Kerans, another Alberta-based virtual legal assistant. The article title is Invisible Assistants and while I’m not sure I like that (somehow it seems a little cold) it is a nice informative article about virtual legal assistants and the value they can provide to a solo lawyer or a lawfirm. For example, a quote from the article:

A VLA’s tasks could include preparing a rough draft of affidavits or agreements, proofreading and formatting documents, conducting and summarizing legal research, liaising with clients, and transcribing audio and digital files. And the advantages of lawyers hiring VLAs are proving tangible.

For one thing, there are none of the overhead costs associated with having a staff person on hand. Kerans’ hourly rate may be higher than a regular legal assistant’s, but it doesn’t include paying for office equipment, benefits, sick days, vacation days, bonuses, and so on. Plus, she bills for only the time she works. “I find my clients are usually quite surprised by how much I do in an hour,” she says.

The writer of the article, Alison Arnot, definitely seems to have “gotten” what a virtual legal assistant can provide in the way of value. So nice to see!

Only one little comment about what she took from interviewing me:

Mapp’s clients, however, are not in Edmonton, where she lives, or even in Alberta, but in the United States.

Most of my current clients are in the United States, but I am of course totally open to working with Albertan or Canadian lawyers! In fact I would love local clients (have had a couple for general admin, but not legal yet!) it’s just an opportunity that hasn’t come up quite yet. Maybe soon?!

I’ve been perusing my google reader tonight searching for inspiration for blog posts. I’ve been (happily!) so involved in the actual “doing” of my virtual legal assistant work, I’ve spent little time blogging about it or even reading about it. Whenever I need inspiration I turn to my lovely google reader and the many, many legal blogs I subcribe to. I almost always see something within the feeds that inspires me or motivates me. Reading someone else’s exciting blog post can definitely be a great way to get the creativity flowing!

Tonight I came across so many interesting posts, for example, loved the idea for a regular Twitter Column from Donna Seale’s Human Rights in the Workplace Blog. I definitely post more frequently on Twitter than I do on my blog! Might as well make sure those tweets are “duly recorded”! I was inspired by the most recent post on Scylla’s Law & Motherhood Blog – a good reminder to those of us who are self employed!

I actually saw, and posted, about this amazing post on Twitter a few days ago, but it caught my attention in my reader tonight nonetheless and is well worth sharing today: The best and the brightest comes from Jordan Furlong at Law 21 and is in my mind a truly thought-provoking post that I wish could be required reading for anyone thinking about applying to a law school – ever. Yes, I liked it that much.

Linsey Krolik had a post from earlier in June  on her Me Too You blog that I only just managed to catch up on. School isn’t out here for a little bit yet (7 days of school left actually!) and I totally can’t wait. Just found out about yet another school activity for the very last week, a grade one garage sale. I need to send both items and money, fun, fun!

Loved PHAT Mommy’s blog post about her Life/Blog Happiness Project. What a great idea!!

You can see why I find so much inspiration in my reader now, right?! I have a huge variety of blogs that I subscribe to, although many have a legal slant, I also of course follow tons of interesting mom bloggers, general business or entrepreneurial blogs and blogs that just fascinate me regardless of their “niche”.

So what’s in your reader that you feel like sharing?

Previously I’d mentioned hosting a teleseminar session with Andrea Cannavina (Legal Typist) about locating and working with a Virtual Legal Assistant. I’m thrilled to announce that a new date has been chosen for the seminar and even better, the seminar is now to free to attend!!

If you are a lawyer in need of some expert assistance, but you aren’t sure how to go about working with a virtual legal assistant you definitely should consider joining us on June 9 at 1pm EST, 10am PST.

This session will specifically cover:

* What a virtual legal assistant is and. more importantly, is not
* Which tasks, duties and processes are most easily outsourced
* In house, in country or off shore – does it really matter
* Confidentiality and security
* The right tech for the job

I’m really looking forward to being a part of this event and I hope to “meet” you there!

My poor neglected blog. I was away for a week and while I fully intended to try and get a post or two up while on vacation it totally didn’t happen! We got in later each day than I had expected and there just wasn’t time for much at all, let alone blogging about virtual legal assistance! Disneyland was great though and we got in a couple of trips to the beach, although the weather wasn’t so hot!

I learned a couple of lessons about attempting to work while on vacation with three small kids and two other adults. It doesn’t work so well. I definitely was able to check my email 1-2 times per day and respond to urgent messages. I also was able to complete a couple of projects and tasks for clients. I felt guilty about missing so much work time and would have liked to have made more time for my business, but also felt guilty about holding up the rest of my group when I was trying to get things done. So first lesson is that vacations of one week should probably include as little work as possible!

I also learned I should communicate a little better with my clients. I let them all know I’d be away, but didn’t send out last-day reminders which I think would be an improvement they would appreciate. Not that I’m planning another vacation for this summer (other than a long weekend to BlogHer in July!), still it’s important to plan a little better.

I’m very happy to be home though and once I’m caught up on a couple of things I might even have more time to blog and twitter again! In the meantime, here are a couple more vacation pics that I thought I’d share.

The startup phase of business is hard, and it will be even harder if you haven’t planned properly for your expenses. Whether you, like me, are running a virtual legal assistant business or you are opening your first law practice, there are a number of things you need to consider when you sit down to establish your start-up budget.

Clients

I’ve been in business for approximately 9 months. I still am nowhere near full-time billable hours – and billable hours are the key, as you aren’t being paid for all that marketing time!! You may already have leads on clients, but in all likelihood you need to give yourself at least 6-12 months to really build up a decent clientele.

Also in relation to clients, you need to realize that funds will take time to start flowing. You may choose to invoice on a weekly basis to have some cash in hand, but many virtual legal assistants bill on a monthly business.  Once you send out the invoice it may take a week or two to receive funds.

Startup Expenses

You will always have some expenses, but never quite so much as at startup. You may need to invest in equipment like a good computer, a printer or a scanner. You will want to consider adding specialty software like accounting software or graphic design programs. Then there is the cost of your website, hosting and the design of a logo or marketing materials. For some more detailed info about start-up costs for a virtual assistant business check out this article I wrote for Virtual Assistant Hub – there’s even a spreadsheet to help you plan!

Money in the Meantime

Once you’ve spent some time planning how much money you need to start your business you’ll want to spend some time planning where you are going to get that money. Maybe you have personal savings you can access, maybe you have family willing to loan or invest in your business, maybe you can talk to your bank about a small business loan. According to this article, lack of sufficient start-up capital is the cause of more than 70% of business failures.  Even if you have a supportive spouse, family or friends to back you financially, you will need to keep a close eye on your income versus your expenses, to make sure your new venture does not become a money-sucking pit.

It is wonderful to have a positive attitude and a strong belief in your ability to succeed when you embark on the adventure of entrepreneurship, but don’t let financial issues drag you into reality. Be prepared and know exactly what it’s going to take to help you truly succeed in building your business!

p.s. this post was inspired by a great article at Law Practice Today written by Erik Mazzone. His tips are well worth checking out, especially if you’re starting a law practice. Erik is an experienced practice management advisor who blogs over at Law Practice Matters.

Mostly this is just a note to let you know that I’ll be taking a quick vacation at the end of this month, just for a week! It should be a wonderful time, we’re travelling as a family to California! It’s the first time on a plane for two of my boys, and the first plane trip my oldest will remember. He went to Mexico when he was 13 mos old, but of course doesn’t recall anything!

This will also be a first for me – the first time I test working while being so far from my home base. I think it should go well, I’ll have internet access at the hotel and plan to be in early most nights so the kids can keep to their general sleep routine. This should give me a couple of solid hours of worktime at night, and I can definitely squeeze in a bit of time in the morning to check on email etc. I don’t really spend more billable time than that yet, so mostly I’m reducing (or oh my goodness eliminating) my networking/socializing/blogging time. Yes, that’s right, I’ll barely be seen on Twitter those days! Normally I could easily twitter from my phone, but unfortunately Canadian cell phone rate plans don’t carry over to the US, so while I will of course have my phone with me I won’t be using it for fun activities like Twitter!

While considering my options for work/vacation, I was reading blog posts and saw this one about answering emails on vacation over at BlogHer. I actually am happy to keep up with my work while on my vacation, I would definitely find it a little stressful to think about being completely unconnected while away! The ability to work anywhere was something I was excited about when first starting my virtual legal assistant business up after all!

I also read this post about going on vacation in a wired world. It has some great tips and I’m trying to follow many of them! For example, I’ve already let my clients know that I’ll be away, shared what I could handle and suggested that I won’t be able to do “extra” work that week above what has been agreed. I wanted to give them plenty of warning so that I could do any work needed ahead of time.

I’ll be taking a couple of other mini-vacations this summer, but only for 3 to 4 days at a time, hopefully this longer first time goes well and doesn’t leave me anxious about the other short trips!