Well, we do sort of look like Sonny and Cher!

Thirty-four years ago today, my sweet hubby and I said, “I Do.” No it wasn’t your traditional wedding, we actually went to the court house and got married by the justice of the peace, a real Andy Taylor wedding. It was snowing that morning, when I dressed for work, knowing all the time that I wouldn’t be showing up for work that day.

As we reminisced last night, about going to tell my parents that we were married, we both still shuddered at the thought! I was an only child for goodness sake! My parents could have killed him!

Our story begin on January 19, 1975 when we met at a local restaurant. Just six short weeks later, I become a wife and although it’s not always been a smooth ride, it has been one that I would do again in a second.

Now as we celebrate 34 years, people are asking, “What’s Your Secret?” And we tell them, it’s not a secret, just love God, keep Him first in your marriage, love and respect your spouse, never take the other for granted and start each day as if it was your 1st date! Keep the excitement going and your marriage will bloom and grow for a long time. Maybe even 34 years!

What’s this got to do with working with a virtual professional…nothing. I just wanted to share my happy day with you.

My husband says, I have been “running the roads” a lot lately. That’s a southern thing if you don’t understand that phrase. But he is correct. I have been going a lot of places in the last couple of weeks and according to my calendar, I’m not going to slow down until around Christmas.

Now for a virtual professional, that’s a bit of a culture shock to actually go outside of your virtual world. But I love getting out of here. I love to visit and talk with people and network everywhere I go.

I shared a booth with one of my clients at the National Philanthropy Day luncheon in Knoxville last week and enjoyed catching up with old friends and making new ones. And of course, sharing my business and the services I provide for administrative support and online marketing. I walked away with a great list of people to follow-up with this week.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the East Tennessee Veteran’s Memorial was being dedicated this past weekend and I was honored to be invited to a reception and the dedication ceremony. The Mayor’s were there, as well as other politicians, high-ranking military personel and many familiar faces from my time with the organization. The ceremony was incredibly moving and I was proud to be an American and to have been involved in the early stages of the memorial’s planning. And it proved to be a great place to network. I was invited to be on a local radio show and several people are interested in learning more about my business.

I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks and the many networking opportunties to share what I do and how I can help other business owners with their administrative and marketing needs.

So Honey, I have a few more “roads to run.”

My work as a virtual assistant began in 2003 with a local nonprofit organization, East Tennessee Veteran’s Memorial. When I was hired, I was the first and only employee and I worked from my bedroom office. I set-up a database, marketing materials, assisted with a website and ran the local office right out of my house. At the time, I had no idea that I was working “virtual.” I just thought I was lucky to be able to work from home and still accomplish the goals for erecting a memorial and learning center for the men and women of East Tennessee that gave their lives for my freedom.

I think back to this group and the man that made it his purpose in life to see that the memorial became reality. Retired Colonel J. William Felton, III, (The Colonel to me), is the man who walked on the beaches of Normandy with his wife Betty and reflected on the lives that were lost during WWII. As he returned to the hills of East Tennessee he wanted to thank the local men and women for their sacrifice, but could find no place in which to do that. Thus, the vision of the East Tennessee Veteran’s Memorial Association was born.

Saturday morning, November 15, 2008, the finished memorial will be dedicated in downtown Knoxville, TN. I am honored to be attending the dedication and also honored to have been involved in this extraordinary accomplishment to our brave service men and women.

Just to think, that my journey as a virtual professional began with one man’s dream of a Forever Memorial to our Forever Heros.

How many signs have you seen lately for Fall Festivals? In my neck of the woods, they are around every corner. Especially around Halloween. There’s apple festivals, tomato festivals, water festivals, you name it, there’s probably a festival for it.

I was blessed to be asked to coordinate our church’s Fall Festival and Trunk or Treat event last Sunday. As a former event coordinator for several non-profit organizations and a virtual event planner, it was a perfect fit for me. I love planning and coordinating events and working with the incredible volunteers. I had a fabulous team that helped with the event. Although many of the aspects of this event was “hands-on”, a large majority of the work was done virtually. We communicated through email and phone. We ordered supplies and this cute banner online and we submitted our press release through email.

I’m pleased that we had around 120 families attend our event and served more than 240 hot dogs, caramel apples, nachos and cheese, and popcorn. We had blow-up games, hayrides, pie throwing, bluegrass music, cake walks, Kids on Parade Costume Parade and great door prizes.

I love my virtual job, but sometimes it’s nice to be hands-on and work closely with others to make things happen.

Need help with an event? Contact A Virtual Business Solution

OK, I will admit that I’m not really much into politics, but I have to say that the debates have been pretty interesting only because I log into Twitter and watch all the comments that come through. It is hilarious!!

In the last presidential debate the Twitter community was actually keeping up with how many times Sen. McCain said, “my friends.” This time it was all about Joe the Plumber. Who is Joe the Plumber? Maybe is one of the “my friends” club.

Anyway, I loved keeping up with the debate through Twitter. How about you?

[polldaddy poll=1001237]

That is an autoresponder I received from a friend of mine when I recently sent out my ezine Gifts. At first glance, I thought that was the funniest thing I had ever read. I thought, how clever she is. She has decided to retire early from her job and has left a comical message for her co-workers and friends.

Well, unfortunately, that was not the case. She happened to call me that same week and after laughing hysterically about the autoresponder, she told me that she had been laid off from her job because of what else? Downsizing due to a lost contract (she works for a governmental agency). She had been with this company for 18 1/2 years! She was devastated, but I told her to stay positive, that God was in control of this situation.

As more and more people are “downsized” and asked to take early retirement, home-based businesses will become increasingly popular and almost the norm. When I decided to start a home-based business more than a year ago, I had no idea if it would work, if I can handle the stress of running my own business and taking care of my family from the same space and if the services I provide would be needed. But I’m happy to report that all is good in my virtual world! My business is growing day by day. I am providing a very beneficial service to other business owners, freeing them up to manage their business. And my plans are to utilize the services of other virtual professionals to assist and support my business as part of my virtual team.

If you have been thinking of starting a home-based business, I would highly recommend it and there are many great resources out there to guide you along the path. If your background is in administration, like me, check out

or visit our website at www.avirtualbiz.com for other links and resources to help with your online success. Take charge of your career, and always be In The Office and In Control of your future.

My husband and I were in the grocery yesterday and ran into a former neighbor. As we were catching up on family happenings and neighborhood gossip, she asked me where I was working now. I told her I had my own business and that I provided administrative and management support to small businesses and entrepreneurs. Sometimes, people give me that “deer-in-the-headlights” look when I say this, so I in an attempt to make it a little more understandable for her, I told her I developed databases and websites for people. That got an “Oh, great” from her. Just over her should I noticed a lady at the meat counter who turned around and smiled at me.

After we said goodbye and I made my way to the meat counter to select a juicy steak for dinner, the lady that had smiled at me was still standing there. She turned and said, “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation and I heard you say you built websites. I need one.”

Well, who would have ever thought that just catching up with an old neighber would produce a new client, but it looks like it just might. I exchanged information for her and asked her to give me a call and I would discuss developing the website. She told me that her daughter is in high school and wants a website that she can use as her online portfoilo as she begins to apply for colleges. What a great idea!

Later, as my husband and I were sitting down to enjoy those delicious steaks, I told him you just never know who’s listening or where you are going to find someone that needs your services. Even at the meat counter at the local grocery store.

After a wonderfully long weekend where I didn’t step foot into my home-office, I re-entered my virtual workplace this morning and visited several of my local hangouts. One is VAnetworking.com. We have an incredible forum where we can share ideas, ask any question without the fear of feeling stupid and on occasion, VENT!

This morning as I weaved my way through the threads of the weekend, I came upon one by a fellow VA who had encountered a terrible experience with a client. As most of us in the US know, this past weekend was Independence Day…July 4th. We typically don’t work on July 4th. Which is exactly what this VA had in mind. Not to mention that she was feeling under the weather too. However, she had a client call her at 11 pm on July 4th! If she had been feeling OK, she would have been out enjoying fireworks at this time of night, but because she was sick, she was asleep. But wait…the story doesn’t stop there.

The next day, she was feeling better and went to see a movie with her children. This same client called her six times and the last time with some pretty colorful language included in the voice mail.

Needless to say, she is terminating the contract with this client. What this particular client didn’t understand or appreciate is that Virtual Professionals are real people with real feelings and real lives!! We are small business owners, who just happen to work from home. We can be the best partner a small business or entrepreneur can have. We are dedicated, hard-working, motivated and knowledgeable in our specific area of expertise. We respect each of our clients, their time and their business, and we expect that same respect back.

I’m very proud of my fellow VA, for taking a stand and not accepting this kind of behavior. She has no regrets and by sharing her ordeal with us, we can better prevent this from happening in our business.

As a virtual professional, I am very thankful that I can get up every morning and make the long trip down the hall to my office…and I don’t spend a dime in gas!! When I first started this business gas was a mere $2.50 per gallon, which was bad enough, but to think of the millions of people whose job requires that regular morning fill up…I’m sorry.

Working as a virtual assistant or in some other type of home-based business is just one of the ways to relieve the pressure of today’s high gas prices. Another one is the ability to purchase items online. You can buy just about anything online, even greeting cards.

I have found an incredible system called . I log into my account, select the card I want, write my heartfelt text to the person I’m sending it to, upload my personal signature and click send. Taking maybe 5 minutes and no gas, out of my day! I can even upload photos, attach gift cards to places like Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, and Starbucks, or I can attach a wonderful basket of gourmet treats, including a box of mouth-watering brownies! It’s a one-stop shop!

I have found that I use Send Out Cards for my business to follow-up on leads, remind potential clients that I’m available to assist them and to thank my current clients for their trust in me and my business. I also use it to send cards to family and friends for birthdays, anniversarys, holidays and when someone is under the weather.

You know, most people have a kind heart and would send a card if they could remember to pick it up the next time they went shopping. With Send Out Cards, you can go shopping anytime; day or night and you have more than 10,000 cards to select from, right at your fingertips.

I love it so much, I’ll give you two free cards to send to anyone you wish. Just click here Send Out Cards and see what you think. And you don’t even have to start your car.

How many times have we said that? How do you pronounce that?

While talking on the phone with clients, I am always taking notes to make sure I follow-up and keep track of the tasks I need to do for them. Many times they will communicate a word, that I am just not familiar with. So the famous question pops out, “How do you pronounce that?” And then the next one is, “How do you spell that?”

Well, I have found the coolest site to help you out! I stumbled upon this incredible website today and I love it! The Free Dictionary.com I was doing some research and typed in the word Mushroom and up came The Free Dictionary. It not only gives you spelling, many different definitions, translations, thesaurus and the best part is that it Pronounces the word for you!! Yep, it sure does. I was blowned away! I could play with the site all day, but that doesn’t make me any money. However, it can save me a great deal of time now that I know about it and I thought you would like it too.

Go check it out. It will (mush·room To multiply, grow, or expand rapidly) your vocabulary!!!