The Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce has joined forces with Kiva, the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, to create a philanthropic lending team for Virtual Assistants worldwide to unite in the fight against poverty.

The VACOC Kiva Lending Team is free to join and members can make a loan at any time to help a fellow entrepreneur out anywhere in the world. Lenders are repaid 100% in full when the loan is paid off.

Here’s how it works:

Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique enterpreneurs in the developing world. Members can lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur in the developing world, and they get to choose who to lend to–whether that’s a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq. As they replay the loan, the members receive his or her money back.

“In honor of the Oct. 15 Blog Action Day theme on poverty, this was simply a perfect match,” states Danielle Keister, founder of the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce. “As a Virtual Assistant organization, we are a group of women and men supporting each other’s entrepreneurial dreams and success. We passionately believe in independence, financial freedom, self-sufficiency and self-determination; creating this team just makes sense and allows us to share that spirit in circle larger than ourselves.”

By joining the VACOC lending team of Virtual Assistants, members will be joining forces with one of the most respected organizations in the industry to work together in alleviating poverty. Once a part of the team, members can choose to have a future loan on Kiva “count” towards the team’s impact. The loan is still the member’s and repayments will come to him or her, but each member can also choose to have the loan show up in the VACOC team’s collective portfolio, so that the team’s overall impact grows.

Signing up is quick and simple. Anyone who wishes to join is welcome. For more information and to sign up, visit http://www.kiva.org/community/viewTeam?team_id=2197

 Led by Suzanne Evans and Barbara Luther.

Are you a VA who would like clients with these traits:

• Creativity, imagination and humor
• Hyperfocus (the ability to focus on a task and block out all external stimulus)
• Boundless energy and spontaneity
• Ability to be a problem solver and think “outside the box”
• Intense passion

Clients with those amazing traits may also have:

• Inconsistent performance in jobs or careers; losing or quitting jobs frequently
• A history of career underachievement
• Poor ability to manage day-to-day responsibilities (e.g. maintenance of tasks, paying bills, organizing things)
• Relationship problems due to not completing tasks, forgetting important things, or getting upset easily over minor things
• Chronic stress and worry due to failure to accomplish goals and meet responsibilities
• Chronic and intense feelings of frustration, guilt or blame

That’s because there are approximately 8 million diagnosed individuals with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) in the US and millions more that have ADHD traits, but are undiagnosed. If you have ever worked with clients that embody some of the above, you know how much fun they can be, AND how frustrating they can be.

Our next ADHD VA Training Program for VAs will be starting November 5th and will run for seven consecutive Thursdays (with a slight scheduling adjustment to allow for the Holidays). We have already been overwhelmed with requests from ADHD coaches, entrepreneurs, consultants, business owners and families longing for a VA that understands them, supports them, and has the resources/skills to support their success. The clients are ALREADY there–YOU just need the training!

Join us for a FREE teleclass on Wednesday October 29, at 9:00 p.m. EST, that will:
 

• introduce you to the ADHD market
• provide you with a VA ADHD index to see if you are right for this market
• explain our training program step-by-step
• inspire you to work with this amazing market and understand the incredible possibilities for a full practice… FAST… with ADHD clients!
   

If you have any questions about this exclusive training program, or about ADHD, in general, send an email to Suzanne@BlueprintLifeCoaching.com

Barbara Luther is an ADD coach, ADD instructor and writes on the subject of ADD. Visit her website at www.windbeneathyourwings.com 
 

Suzanne Evans is a VA coach and a client-based business coach. Visit her websites, www.thevablueprint.com and www.blueprintlifecoaching.com
 

To register for this teleclass, just click the link below and hit “Send”. We hope to “see” you there!

CLICK HERE to register for the FREE Teleclass

 

VAClassroom presents this FREE webinar,

“Seven Profitable Social Marketing Services To Offer Your Clients in 2009″

Date and Time: Tuesday, October 28, at 5pm EST (2pm PST)

Presented By: Craig Cannings, Owner of VAClassroom.com

In 2008, Social Media took a giant leap forward in its growth, prominence and interest among the business community. Social Network sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.com saw rapid increases in traffic and user over the last 12 months. Experts predict that Social Media and the participation by small business will reach unprecedented numbers in 2009.

Craig Cannings noted: “We saw a growth in the number of businesses taking Social Media Training Course in 2008. They are excited about the potential Social Media has for their business. But the fundamental issue is that many simply are not able to find enough time to maximize the potential of this fast moving social media channel.”

As a result, Cannings believes Social Marketing will become one of the most “in-demand” skill and services requested by businesses in 2009. He commented: “At VAClassroom, we have extensively researched Social Marketing over the past five months and have determined the Seven Top Social Marketing Services for 2009.”

On October 28, 2008, VAClassroom will be offering a free social media webinar to further address this issue titled:

“Seven Profitable Social Marketing Services to Offer in 2009”

This live webinar will uncover 7 different Social Marketing Niches that Virtual Assistants, Freelancers and Online Professionals can profit from as a Social Marketing Specialist in 2009.

In addition, VAClassroom will be featuring a sneak preview of the upcoming training program, The Social Marketing Specialist Training Certification.

To view a video of this upcoming webinar and to sign-up for this event, please go to the below website:

http://www.vaclassroom.com/socialmarketing/

VACOC Monthly Guest Expert Teleseminar Series:

How to NOT Undersell Yourself in a Down Economy

PRESENTED BY: Mikelann Valterra, Women’s Earning Institute

DATE: Thursday, November 20, 2008

TIME: 5p PST / 6p MST / 7p CST / 8p EST

DURATION: 60 minutes (call in 10 min. early to secure your seat)

COST: FREE!

WHO SHOULD ATTEND? This class is open to all Virtual Assistants, small/boutique business owners, solo professionals, self-employed service professionals, solopreneurs and independent professionals. Invite your business buddies! If you know some folks who would like to attend, feel free to copy and paste the contents of this page and post invitations on the forums, listservs and other groups you participate in.

***

Has the economy got you down? Do you worry you won’t earn enough, but you find yourself giving away free time and discounting your services in other ways? Author Mikelann Valterra, directory of the Women’s Earning Institute, focuses on empowering women to earn their worth—even in a down economy.

In this powerful teleclass, Mikelann explores the psychology of why even successful business women undersell themselves and what to do about it. Women who “underearn” deal with complex emotional issues around making money. Mikelann will look at the emotional and financial cost of discounting yourself and your services, and the message you convey when you suppress your fees. She will talk about how to protect your time as well as what people really want to buy from you. She will also explore the hard notion that not everyone should be able to afford you and how this translates when the economy is down. Lastly, she’ll discuss ways to feel great charging your full fee.

Learn:

• How and why women under-price themselves;
• How getting in touch with “resentment” can make you more money;
• How to avoid discounting yourself;
• How to protect your time;
• How to charge your full fee and feel great about it!

… and much, much more!

Be sure to register today to reserve your spot and get your burning questions answered!

REGISTER TODAY! http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/teleseminar.htm

 

Announcement of a new blog to help those considering working with a Virtual Assistant choose the right person, learn more about what Virtual Assistants do and other tips and tricks. The blog can be found at www.vanetworking.com/blog. A new resource has been developed for anyone considering partnering and working with a Virtual Assistant. VAnetworking, the world’s largest Virtual Assistant organization is celebrating its five year anniversary by launching a new blog this week for those wanting to learn more about working with a Virtual Assistant or ‘VA’. The VAnetworking Blog is full of the ins and outs of working with a VA including what you should look for, what isn’t that important and even how VAs operate and what different tasks are easiest to delegate.  This is the RESOURCE for entrepreneurs looking to partner with a Virtual Assistant to help them succeed in their business ventures.

According to VAnetworking’s first blog post, “A Virtual Assistant (VA) is a highly-trained independent entrepreneur who provides a myriad of business support services virtually via phone, fax and internet based technology to support and meet the growing needs of businesses worldwide.

Partnering with a VA reduces stress, protects cash flow, eliminates administrative hassles, and enables business people to find the success they originally set out to achieve.

A VA is your right hand person helping you to succeed in your business. The irony is you may never meet your VA as odds are they live nowhere near you!”

Founder and CEO of Virtual Business Solutions Tawnya Sutherland, who sponsors this free online social network for VAs, states, “There seems to be a lack of information out there when it comes to working with Virtual Assistants. It’s my hope that this new blog will not only expose more people to the wonderful world of Virtual Assistance, but it will help answer the common questions almost everyone has before partnering with a VA.”

The blog will be updated at least twice weekly and is being managed by longtime VAnetwoking forum member and founder of Mann Made Time, Jaime Lee Mann.

“It’s not difficult at all to come up with posts which will help people when the time comes to choose a VA to work with. At all of my client consultations, I am asked the same questions over and over. There are many people who want to know how they pay me, or how work is actually done ‘virtually’ and most have absolutely no idea of the variety of tasks they can unload to a Virtual Assistant. This blog will be a very useful resource to anyone considering working with a VA,” states Mann whose niche specialty happens to be copywriting.

If you are considering becoming a virtual assistant, there’s never been a better time to join VAnetworking.com – the global meeting place for more than 10,000+ aspiring and successful VAs. As a member you’ll not only be eligible to participate in the most popular social network online for VAs, but you will have access to over 100,000 posts, expert advice on work-related topics, weekly VA chats, monthly contests, the VAnetworking Newsletter, discounts on products and services, and placement on a growing listing of VAs in 14 countries in the VA Service Directory.

When you visit the blog at www.VAnetworking.com/blog you are encouraged to download the free ebook Learn the Fundamentals to Hire a Virtual Assistant which will help you even further in your search for your ideal VA.