VA Conference ‘06 (Dallas, TX)

This is me.

(Update. I have pics of other people but don’t feel like getting permission from all of them to post their pics in my blog. I really was at a conference, there really were about 70 other people there. Choose to believe me or not, but regardless, be impressed I put a picture of myself in a *shudder* cowboy hat on my blog. That’s gutsy!)

I decided that being a walking billboard at a conference was the way to go! The hat is courtesy of VAU - a fantastic school for VAs to learn the craft and how to be effective and successful (as well as have really happy clients!) I’ll be teaching classes for them beginning in January. I think it will be a really great experience, and I’ve always had a knack for explaining things to others in an easy to understand manner. When I remember to leave the 20 point Scrabble words at home, that is.)

The hoodie is from VA Networking. They are the premier BBS-Style Networking forum on the ‘net – boasting over 3000+ VAs. The purpose of the site is to share information and resources. This is where VAs go to get answers, find subcontractors, and help one another with almost anything they need. From starting a business, to naming a business, to getting clients, to firing clients…they have it all. You can also submit an RFP (request for proposal) and you’ll get a ton of responses from VAs eager and willing to interview/work with you.

I learned herds and piles of fantastic stuff at the VA Conference and I met a lot of people that I feel will help me bring my business to the next level.

Let me rephrase.

I met a LOT of people I can subcontract minor things out to, which will help my business grow. I met two or three people that I can really learn things from in terms of where I need to be and how to run my business as a growth enterprise instead of a time-draning "me only" enterprise.

The way for my clients to be truly successful is for me to be truly successful, and while I’m closer than you might think, I’m a perfectionist and I’m quite driven…as such…success is only achieved when things are just the way I want them. If they aren’t right, it’s not success. This works great for me, because I’m constantly striving for new things. I don’t think I’ll ever consider myself successful – no matter how many people know me at a conference, and no matter how well received I am as an expert in my niche. Luckily, I don’t need to consider myself "successful" to be happy, so it’s a great goal (or stick and carrot) to keep me going. You’ll never have to worry about me becoming complacent.

A lot of fun was had at the conference as well. I shared a room with another VA and our porch was the "party area" where a lot of people congregated after dinner to hash out our business issues, get tips from others, and in my case brag horribly about what wonderful clients I have.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a name dropping session, so if you’re reading this and you’re my client – sorry no one knows specifically that you are wonderful…we are all big into confidentiality and since we work with different niche markets they probably wouldn’t have known who you were regardless. But hey, YOU know I think you’re wonderful, right?

There was an issue when a Mary Kay conference came in on Saturday and stole some things from the vendor’s area, some food from our snack area, and generally were just in very poor taste and quite unpleasant. I mean, how can you be wearing ten pounds of makeup, speak with a southern accent and still not know how to say "please" "thank you" or "excuse me"? I hate to see what kind of customer service they provide to their customers.

VAs are a very polite crowd. We are serious about our business and serious about our playtime, but we know which is which and you won’t catch us acting foolish in the middle of the time dedicated for learning and work.

On the whole, we were very respectful to our speakers. Thank you Jeff Crilley and Bryan Dodge (check out that URL, he got to the ‘net early, no?) for doing what you do to the best of your ability.