Tag Archives: blogging

What DO you do?

A question I get a lot is, “So what DO you do?” Answering that question tends to stump me a bit. How do I explain what I do exactly when its kind of all over the board?

Then, I recently got introduced to the title “Virtual Assistant” and I went, “AH HA! THAT’S what I do!” My problem is two-fold: I don’t have enough jobs and what jobs I do have tend to end up being for free. This is head meeting keyboard, over and over again. I love what I do. I can easily make a living doing what I want to do. People do it all the time! My problem for awhile now has been having a hard time explaining what I do, and within that conveying that I should get paid to do it.

So here I am to explain what I do, and within that say, “I am at your service!”

First off, I have my degree in Journalism. I have a serious love for writing, photography and page design. All of these were easily wrapped up in my journo degree, and I am proud to say I found a knack for it! I actually held an award-winning column when I worked at a newspaper, and this blog has become my continuation of that column. My readership is definitely up, and I hope people enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

I am a blogger.

I aim to be starting on a book proposal within the next couple of weeks to pitch. I have an interest in fiction writing, but I have a non-fiction book hanging out over my shoulder poking me with its sharp edge going, “Write me! Write me NOW!”

GOAL: Pitch my book to agents and preferably have one secured by the end of the year. There is absolutely NO reason why this is not an attainable goal.

I design flyers, business cards, and any other various items. I’ve designed laminates, postcards, programs and invitations as well. A few samples of my work:

See more in this Facebook photo album. I guess its pretty obvious, I’m proud of my work. Note that I use my own photos on a majority of my work.

I’ve also designed and handled various web-sites. I don’t do anything super fancy, though. Not to downplay my work! I am proud of what I have done! I’ve even successfully converted one site into a WordPress Blog that’s increased its traffic and usefulness. However, I don’t do anything with Flash, etc. I’m still fairly basic in my web-page design work, but I also think that sometimes basic is all you need. I also have done MySpace pages. I feel those are on their way out of favor, but I am still very comfortable working in that venue.

Some of my sites:

My husband’s MySpace Page || Fiddle & Steel Guitar Bar MySpace Page

Trim Polish || From the Ground Up (BRAND NEW… VERY rough site. WIP)

Middle Tennessee Texas A&M Club || Schoppe’s Bookkeeping & Tax Service, Inc

I write and edit letters and email. This can be personal or business.  I’ve taken technical writing courses, and I do have the knowledge for how to put together business letters. I have recently handled multiple cease and desist letters, cover letters, and other correspondence between an agency and their clients.

Everything is guaranteed to be completely confidential.

I also offer the ability to send out Electronic Blasts, which are basically full-color flyers and announcements sent via email using your own mailing list.

I also offer any number of typical office-assistant services. Excel spreadsheets, word documents, fax cover sheets, etc. are something I can handle.

I already offer many of these services to various people, but up until now its been on a more casual level. I plan to soon have a full web-site with all of this information available, along with price lists. If you are interested in any of these services, though, please drop me an email!! With email, fax, Paypal, etc. I work with anyone any where. Most of my current clients are still based out of Texas!

Feels good to put together “on paper,” finally, “This is what I do.” Its the first step on making this truly take off!

So long, month seven

It’s the last day of July, and I, for one, can’t see it end fast enough. This has not been a good month for anyone, as I’ve talked about in previous posts, and its not totally over just yet. We have to get through today before we can breathe a sigh of relief as this month to passes. But, I am definitely going into August with optimism.

Times like July has been can either get you down or motivate you to make things better. I’m opting for the latter of the two.

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.
— Henry David Thoreau

I see opportunities everywhere I look, and I see Aug. 1 as a chance to turn over a new leaf and pursue those opportunities with even MORE vigor. Take the positive changes I’ve had happen in July and build upon them. I refuse to focus on the negative aspects. I acknowledge them, and I work towards fixing them. But I won’t focus on them. I plan to turn those negatives into a positive force to push forward.

Tonight, I sat and did a brainstorming exercise. I plan to participate, for the first time, in NaBloPoMo in August to jump start a good habit of posting daily. I listed out 50 blog ideas. Then I kept going. I’m up to 54 with atleast two of them holding the potential to be a recurring weekly theme. I’m excited! But I want to open up the comments to anyone with blog ideas… any topics that others would be interested in seeing me explore? I welcome suggestions, and I welcome August. Here’s to making it a far better month than the one before.