I received an email today from a Virtual Assistant colleague who is pursuing business in another direction and is relinquishing her clients, one of whom she is referring to me. I have known and worked with this VA over a number of years and we have developed a good working relationship, plus she is just a very nice person!   I was thrilled that she thought of me for looking after her client for her and told her that Net Secretary would treat her client with the same care, courtesy and attention to detail that we treat all our clients with. Networking with this VA has helped us both over the years, assisting each other during busy times and giving advice and help where required. A referral has now come about but this was certainly not the intention of my relationship with this VA - it was more about what we could do for each other as business women and this referral has been just an unexpected but welcome bonus.

I do wish my VA friend all the best with her future endeavours (she has not yet told me what she will be doing - its all very secretive!) and I am sure she will do exceptionally well in whatever field she chooses to pursue.

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Today I want to write about Linked In, an online business ‘virtual’ networking site. I have been a member of Linked In for about 18 months now but I have really only just started making the most of what it has to offer. At the moment I have 19 ‘connections’ and 1 recommendation. Connections are usually clients, customers and colleagues in the real world that you connect with on Linked In and can refer work to them, they can to you and you can also introduce other connections of yours who they may not know and you think could be useful in their industry. Recommendations are just that - testimonials by clients, colleagues or customers to tell the rest of your network how great you are. There is also a job board that members can post job leads on and a Question and Answer section. You can post answers to questions asked by other members (not necessarily in your own network) that relate to your industry - i.e. how do I print mailing labels from my Outlook contacts? (You’ll have to contact me to find the answer to that one!) You can also pose your own questions for other people to answer. The beauty of this is that it gets you known and you can add more contacts to your network. Check out my Linked In profile, become a member, add me as a contact and start growing your network!

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I attended the first WNA lunch on Friday and it was very worthwhile. We each introduced ourselves to the room and spoke about our businesses, which was a little nervewracking but also a good exercise. I met many interesting women there with some great business ideas and took away a few business cards for follow up. I also gave out some of mine to interested ladies. Robyn Henderson was great to listen to as usual and I also won a book written by Robyn about Spirituality in the Workplace, which looks to be a fascinating read. The next meeting is on Setpember 19 and I think I’ll be attending that one too.

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I am really thrilled that Womens Network Australia (WNA) has decided to open a chapter in Adelaide. Unfortunately Adelaide has a chronic shortage (read: nothing) of any networking bodies, apart from AIOP whose events didn’t really appeal to me in the main. The inaugural lunch is being held on August 17 and I am looking forward to meeting some fellow women business owners and listening to the fabulous Robyn Henderson talk to us about Forensic Networking. The VA industry relies predominantly on networking and word of mouth to get our businesses known as it is still a fairly new industry in Australia. Clients tend to be cautious about utilising services they know little about, therefore referrals are often the best way I’ve experienced in obtaining clients.

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