How Has Virtual Assistant Forums (VAF) Impacted Your Business?

In April, the Virtual Assistant Forums celebrated three years online with the VAF Bash. The Virtual Assistant Forums is a free online community offering  friendly support,  endless information and  business resources for aspiring, new and established Virtual Assistants. I had the pleasure of being the event coordinator for this event again this year. It was a great experience and I worked with several awesome VAs.

Among the several contests take took place  during the VAF Bash was the special monthly blog challenge question. The featured question was “How has VAF impacted you or your business?” After being inspired through recent events; I thought I would take this opportunity to answer this question just for fun.

You may already know that VAF is a wonderful starting point for aspiring or new Virtual Assistants. VAF was definitely the number one resource I used in starting my business. Besides, great information, it offers great friendly support. I have formed several trusted relationships since  being a member in 2008. What you may not know is that almost 2 years later VAF continues to impact  my business but in different ways.

As I mentioned, I was inspired to write about VAF because of recent events. In May my WordPress website was hacked. Yikes! Unfortunately, I was only one of many that were afflicted by malicious hackers. Shame on them! Through the ordeal of repairing my website I turned to others to help me. I received encouraging emails and support from several VAs; however, I would like to highlight two of them.

One of the first people I turned to was Christina Nelson of Vital Office Solutions. She is the resident VAF WordPress guru. She even has a WordPress Q & A blog entitled: Dear Christina. I sent Christina a panicked email early one Monday morning. I know that we all love to receive those HELP ME emails first thing Monday morning. Well, Christina without hesitation searched my website trying to locate the problem. She offered several tips to rectify the situation before leaving for a prior engagement. (Sorry Christina for interrupting your morning.) I also found out later that she had been suffering from laryngitis. I did not even know she was sick; she selflessly squeezed me to her schedule without complaint.

I have another example of a VAF member that went above and beyond to help me out of my predicament. Her name is Pam Deyerle, owner of A Perfect Word. Pam is a veteran Virtual Assistant offering transcription services for over 10 years. She sent me a Private Message (PM) explaining that she received an error upon trying to enter my website. I told her that I knew there was a problem but did not know how to fix it but I was open to suggestions. Well, Pam came through in a big way – the next PM was a solution on how to repair my website. The direction that I received from her was right on point.

Needless to say, that VAF continues to impact my business through other supportive members’  that freely give of their time and knowledge. I hope I can return the favors in the future – what a great community!

Please feel free to share your comments or stories below.