Virtually Yours, Anywhere!
I just returned from a lovely 2 week vacation – well 6,000 kilometers of driving may not constitute a vacation to many people but I loved it. My husband, son and I traveled to the East Coast of Canada (Nova Scotia primarily), to experience the beauty that province has to offer. But that wasn’t the only beauty of it; my clients also enjoyed Social Media support while I was gone.
You see, with a laptop, the wonderful world of wireless internet access and some discipline, I was able to publish client blogs, answer emails and deal with any emergencies while on the road and still enjoy my family and our time together. And as a Social Media Specialist, the bulk of the work I do is online, meaning, I have an easily transportable office! It doesn’t matter if I am sitting in my home office in Newmarket, Ontario, in an Inn in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia or in Europe for that matter. I can still meet the demands of your business remotely. And, working with a Virtual Administrator means that you pay only for the time we spend working on your behalf! It’s a win-win situation. 
I even managed to keep up to date with my contacts on Facebook – publishing pictures and video from our trip along the way and sharing some of our experiences. Many people commented that it was like being on the holiday with us! I loved that. Social Media tools have a way of making you feel you are never far from home and help you continue to build those relationships.
Another bonus on this trip was having the opportunity to meet up with Kathy, another VA from Nova Scotia. We got to know one another at a VA forum in 2009 and through Social Media, have had the opportunity to get to know one another remotely. We spent the day sharing information and ideas and learned about each others businesses. The VA community in general is a very giving, supportive group. We give referrals to one another, share knowledge and even sub-contract to each other where appropriate. I feel blessed to be part of this world-wide industry.
Virtual Administrators (VAs) come in many flavors and from widely diversified backgrounds. You’ll find VAs with pure administrative skills and others marketing or technical skills. Many business owners hire one VA or many depending on their needs. It makes it much less complicated than trying to find one employee with all the skill sets you may require.
Overall, I love the flexibility of owning my own business and I love supporting my clients in the Social Media realm. I especially love the fact that I can do it from anywhere in the world, even when I’m on holiday!
How about you? Have you been to Nova Scotia? What was your favorite experience? Mine had to be whale watching off the coast of Pleasant Bay. You can watch this short video on our whale watching tour with Captain Mark’s. The whales came within a metre of the boat. Such an amazing experience…
I love getting feedback and here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv. That’s a plug-in that allows you to leave a link back to your own site when you leave a comment.
Until next time,
Joanne
While physically located in Newmarket, ON where Joanne lives with her family, she is virtually yours, anywhere.
Hello Peter, thank you for reading and commenting on my post. I am glad you appreciated the photos. Coming from you that’s a compliment! Your site is wonderful
Yes, Social Media is a wonderful way to develop and maintain relationships whether you are in your office or on the road.
Please stop by again soon! Kind regards, Joanne
Nice photos! My wife and I took a road trip to New Brunswick 2 summers ago and we enjoyed similar scenery. Looks like yoou had a great trip.
I also agree with your comments about social media portability on the road.
It’s awesome how connected you can be while venturing out.
I’m able to say in touch with my photographic clients and colleagues while travelling. It’s really helped with maintaining client relationships.
Great post!
Hi Bob, thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment! Yes, it is sad to say that this was one of the first questions I asked too! Having said that, as I said in my post, it is nice to be able to balance work with fun…requires discipline, but it’s doable! I enjoyed not coming back to a big pile of work. It’s hard to just walk away when you are a business owners with clients to support. Where are you from?
Kind Regards, Joanne
Joanne,
I love vacations and it almost sad to think that the first question I ask before I book is” Do you have internet access in the rooms”!
But I do know what you mean. Rather spend a little time keeping caught up then have a lot of work piled up when I get home.
It’s also nice to keep up with the people back home.
How did we do it before portable computers? LOL
Bob
Bob recently posted..HD Goes For a Dive
Hi Grace, it was my pleasure…I am so glad you came along for the ‘ride’. Lots of people got to share in that with us and I think it’s great! And yes, communing with the whales was a fabulous experience. You should definitely go, Grace. The scenery is quite different from the west coast, but equally beautiful. I know you’ll love it! Kindest Regards, Joanne
Joanne, it was a treat for me on the west coast to “tag” along virtually as you on your vacation. This was a great post to wrap it all up and share the whale video. Very cool!! They are a magnificent species.
I’ll have to work on planning a visit to the area for sure now.
Thanks for including us all in your journey.
Thanks Janet, yes it was an awesome trip. You’ll have to go and experience it for yourself. Really beautiful countryside there. And the whales, yes! so beautiful and a very humbling experience to be with them. Hope you are doing well and look forward to meeting up with you again soon sometime! Kind regards, Joanne
Hi Kathy, you can be sure I’ll be back. Too beautiful not to experience more than once! Thanks again for a really special day. Look forward to seeing you in my neck of the woods sometime soon hopefully so I can reciprocate!
How can I not comment when you have such nice things to say about Nova Scotia – I am so glad we had the day together Joanne and that you had a great time on the East Coast!
Maybe you will come back one day???
What an awesome trip, and a great way to combine business and pleasure! Thanks so much for posting your video – I’ve never been whale watching but hope to some day…
Janet Barclay recently posted..Getting Your Business Organized for the Fall