Small Claims Revisited

It happens. We’ve recently worked for someone who, after accepting and complementing us on our work, has decided not to pay. We’ve been in business for about eight years and this is the second time [see previous post]that we’ve had a dishonest client. Dishonesty is a problem for all businesses, especially online ones, and I’m told by other virtual assistants (VA) that two dodgy clients in eight years is a good ratio. The first time, back in 2006. We did learn from the experience though, adjusting our method of delivering completed work and introducing a booking form.

This time we have decided to make use of the Small Claims procedure. The following is an account of the process, written in the hope that it will better inform fellow virtual assistants and freelance workers, allowing them to decide if the courts are the best way of enforcing payment of small invoices.

Brief details
Someone [we’d like to say who, but we’re told we shouldn’t mention by name, so we’ll call him Mr Sunburn] from a company [who we’re also told we shouldn’t mention by name, so we’ll call them First Metal], contacted us by phone to ask about our services. A few emails were exchanged, a booking form sent and received back signed, a few phone calls made. Mr Sunburn informed us that his client was ‘chuffed to bits’ with our work. We sent an invoice which was not acknowledged or paid. I phoned to be told by Mr Sunburn that he’d sent a cheque to the wrong address. Since then, despite numerous phone calls and emails, Mr Sunburn has not responded.

We've previously written about Money Claims Online, a website offering to speed up the legal claim process by allowing claims to be made over the Internet, as well as the Better Payment Practice Campaign website that offers advice on issuing reminders, collecting information, and charging extras such as interest and debt collection fees. We duly sent all the appropriate reminders, letter of intent to take the matter to court, etc. Still no response.

On 27 May, 2008, we paid £25 [which we’ve added to the interest and debt collection costs] and submitted the form at Money Claims Online. A few days later we received a Notice of Issue from Northampton County Court stating that the claim had been issued and sent to the defendant (aka ‘First Metal’) on 28 May, and that it would be deemed to be served on 2 June. The defendant has until 16 June to reply. He can delay the process by 28 days by filing an ‘acknowledgment of service’; pay up; dispute the claim (We’ll be sent a copy of his defence; admit the money is owed, whereupon we can ask the court to enter a judgement; admit that part is owed; not reply at all (in which case we can ask the court to enter a judgement).

So it’s a case of thumb twiddling until the 16th. We’ll update this blog when developments occur.

Finding Your Virtual Assistant — It’s Not Rocket Science!

I recently came across a post on Digg entitled ’25 Projects You Can Outsource to a Virtual Assistant' which is originally from on an online agency that allows freelancers in a variety of fields to bid on projects. This prompted me to do a little research about virtual assistants and agency/employment sites. This type of service is basically acting as a financial middleman between you and your Virtual Assistant (VA). Fair enough, they’re providing you with a list of virtual assistants to choose from. However, it’s not quite clear if or how they vet their registered VAs, so there is no guarantee of quality — some of these online agencies do have a feedback/rating system, such as Elance.com.

If you’re looking for a virtual secretary, virtual PA, or an all-round virtual assistant to support your business, help organise a special event — such as corporate hospitality at the upcoming Henley Regatta — or proofread your newly written book, then why not just do a search for ‘Virtual Assistant’. If you want a VA in your area, type in ‘Virtual Assistant’ +Staffordshire, for example. Another route is to visit the Alliance of UK Virtual Assistants, a directory of established Virtual Assistant businesses in England and throughout the United Kingdom.

Choosing your new virtual assistant may seem daunting: you want someone professional, efficient, reliable; someone with initiative who is flexible in their working methods and will thus be able to integrate your business procedures into their working day. You want your virtual assistant to be confidential, interested in your business goals, and up-to-date with new technology and web-based developments. So give them a call and talk them one-to-one!

Most virtual assistants will have their contact details on their website. Pick five from the results of your search which match your criteria of skills (wordprocessing, audio transcription, proofreading, DTP, call handling, etc) and experience — and location if absolutely necessary, and give each one a call. The best way to approach this is to let the VA know:

• what services you require
• how many hours of work you think you’ll be sending them per day/week
• what your business is about — it’s a bonus if your VA has worked within that industry.

The questions you need to ask are:

• how long have you been in business?
• are you able to provide the services requested?
• do you have the time in your schedule to accommodate the workload proposed?
• what are the costs involved?

‘It’s not rocket science!’ as the saying goes, and you’ll benefit from having chosen the perfect virtual assistant to support you and your business long into the future.

One tip I would like to add: if you can find a VA who’s done a fair amount of temping out in the ‘real’ world, you’ll find one who’s flexible, quick to adapt, and with initiative in bucket loads.

As an industry, virtual assistance is not new but the take-up of virtual assistant services is increasing as businesses — entrepreneurs, start-ups, sole traders and big businesses alike — realise the benefits of outsourcing certain tasks and projects, leaving them free to do what they do best.

So back to my initial point: why incur the additional cost of using an agency or online bidding service to find the person you’ll be working with on a regular basis (hopefully, well into the future), who will most likely have quite a lot of confidential information about you, when you could just have a quick phone conversation and exchange a couple of emails to find your perfect virtual assistant?

Quiet Period... Don't Panic!

The phones are quiet and when you do get an email it's spam... as a freelancer or VA you'll have 'quiet' periods and that's when panic can set in!!

Don't... it's just the ebb and flow of business. Most, if not all, businesses have them - I don't imagine the deckchair rental businesses get much trade in England once the summer's only hot day has been and gone!

On the opposite side of the coin, there are those busy periods when you wish the phone would stop ringing and that the only mail you were getting was spam!! Accountants, for example, will probably find themselves snowed under as the date for paying the Taxman starts bearing down on us!!

That's the nature of our chosen work status - freelance, ad hoc. We're here to provide support when businesses are in their busy period and they have an overload of work. Of course, this is not the only nature of freelance work but I want to keep this post short..ish.

We seem to be experiencing a 'quietish' period at the moment with regard to new enquiries, and I have recently been receiving more enquiries from VAs and freelancers asking if we have any work to outsource... yes, it's a quiet period.

Settle in until the December rush, when everyone will suddenly want the projects they started at the beginning of the year completed - done and dusted, in the bag - before they get round to singing 'Auld Lang Syne'.

So, embrace the quiet periods (hoping they won't be too long!) and take the time to do those things you've be putting off - deleting all those sent mail messages still in the system from six months ago, getting rid of those bookmarks in your browser that lead to information you can't even remember why you needed... get your invoices/receipts ready for that taxman... learn something new that will enhance the services you already offer your clients... get in touch with old contacts, do some marketing, submit your website to directories...

Once you start to think about it, there will be all sorts you need to do... and then the quiet period will end while you're still making a check-list of things to do in the quiet period...!!!

I'd be interested to find out if these 'quiet' periods are universal, it would also be handy to build a calendar of these times - so that we can get our Quiet Period To Do lists done before they arrive!! :)

So when are your quieter times, let us know and we can build the first iQuietTimes Calendar TM!!

'Virtual Assistants of the Caribbean'...

Freelancealot has just had it's annual summer holiday - a week in Grenada (that's the Caribbean country, not the Spanish city) - and although happy to be back in the UK for our clients, we'd rather be looking at a view of the sublime crystal-clear, turquoise Caribbean Sea.

I'm not going to sell Grenada to those reading this blog, Freelancealot wants to keep it as tourist-free as possible - we're selfish like that! However, I must praise the Grenadians for their hospitality, friendliness, and general care for their fellow man whilst we were there - it made the holiday a much more relaxing and inspiring one. So much so that Freelancealot is thinking of moving it's operation to that most beautiful (and HOT) island.

With it's colourful history - of Arawaks, Carib Indians, French vs British colonisation attempts and successes, slavery, and the 'rescue mission' by the US (amongst others) from it's brief socialist leadership - and it's varied topography - mountains, waterfalls, volcanic lakes - Grenada is not only an island to visit for sun, sea, and sand.

Rum is the local tipple and is distilled on the island - we at Freelancealot can say from personal experience that it certainly makes for a strong rum punch and some killer cocktails (served in our case by Delroy at the Spice Island on Grand Anse Beach). The Spice Island Beach Resort is the first class sister hotel to The Blue Horizons Garden Resort, which is where we stayed - and we can highly recommend the self-catering studios which were clean and had air conditioning, a must when you come back from a long, hot day at the beach! The staff were friendly, courteous, and helpful - from tips on where to go for lobster (yum) to how much we should expect to pay for buses (which were a marvelous experience in themselves ).

We went scuba diving with Aquanauts - two dives in one day - and saw the underwater sculptures at Moliniere Bay along with countless brightly coloured fish (no sharks!), eels, sea fans, coral... And to prove what a small world we are, our instructor was from Barton-under-Needwood, a village not far from Freelancealot's office in Staffordshire! On this note, we also met a couple, Elaine and Mark, who were on their honeymoon and it turned out she'd worked with a very good friend of mine - I now believe in the concept of 'Six Degrees of Separation'!

We hired a jeep for the day and drove through the mountains and forests to the north end of the island and found Almost Paradise at Sauters Bay, with it's terrace high on a hill overlooking the sea and the Grenadines in the distance. We also stopped at Annandale Falls and had swim in the cool water and, of course, stood under the fall itself. After a stop off at a beach watching the fishermen bring in their catch and a chat with Livingstone, an artist with his workshop on the beach, we made our way back to the hotel via the west coast road. With the sun setting and the locals getting ready for their Saturday night evening - people gathering at the local bars and huge PA systems blasting out reggae music - it made for a memorable drive around the spice island.

There were other special moments such as playing the guitar, singing along to Bob Marley tunes, and drinking a rather nice wine on the Grand Anse beach with Benjamin, Best, Davido, and others as the sun was setting over the Caribbean Sea, a very late night session in the Owl Bar with Chester - quantities of Carib beer and local rum being involved! - eating lobster and Caribbean Chicken on the beach by lantern at the Coconut Beach Restaurant (and even being offered a lift home by the gracious owner Pat - now that's what I call service!).

Will we be going back? You bet we will!

Ever Been Kicked Out of a Forum...

I’m outraged! I’ve just been booted out of a forum for not participating enough! Sheesh... Now one can’t give out advice when one has it but at regular intervals whether you have anything to say or not!!!

Can’t complain, their rules are “ No lurkers allowed. Membership to this organization is free, and we want to keep it that way. The only "dues" you are required to pay is your active membership in the networking forum. Participation is mandatory. Lurkers will have their accounts deactivated.”

I’m an avid forum lurker... And this type of thing does not bode well for me... Is it really all about generating income these days to the point of kicking out people who only occasionally have something useful to say?!

Anyway, just had to get that off my chest... Right, I’m off to give copious amounts of advice to strangers... Beware lurkers, your time is coming to an end... ;)

Websites: Valid Code, SEO, and Linking

I am committed to website accessibility and, as such, valid XHMTL and CSS code. When I changed my site to a validated, accessible website I began to see results. After around two months of having propagated the Internet I began to reap the rewards. My web rankings are better, although I am lazy on this task and could do more to improve them. Just before Christmas we had three new clients and it's all due to higher rankings because, I assume, my site's content can be read more easily by the bots and spiders out there!

Validating your code is important, but not to the detriment of your website's reason for being. The legal stand point in the UK is that you must do all you can 'within reason' to make your site accessible for those with visual impairments and other disabilities.

There are some things that just won't validate, eg -moz-outline to take borders off images, links, etc. Although, I include it in my CSS when necessary as I don't like those ugly outlines when you mouseover pictorial links.

As for linking, again I am not an avid linker. I have had people contact me to exchange links, and have done so. I also use a few affililate links on my links page. My business is Virtual Assistance, that's what I do... I don't have time to exchange links, play with the SEO tricks, etc... my clients' work must be done!

My advice? Validate your XHTML and CSS as much as possible. But don't cut off your nose to spite your face... if you need something on your website, but it just won't validate, then let it be... as long as the rest of your code is valid and it doesn't stop a user/visitor from knowing what services you provide, then go with it. But if you do some research, you might just find a 'hack' (or workaround) and get your code validated that way.

Your website content does just as much for you as playing with linking - read up on 'copywriting for SEO' and try to write your website content in your own style, but including the tips other people have found work for them.

Good luck!

Alchemy - Our Latest Website Project

We'd like to announce our latest website design and build project - PurpleAlchemy.co.uk. The site is written in XHTML and CSS and has been fully validated via the W3C Markup Validation Service. We have built in SEO optimisation and have taken reasonable steps to make the site accessible. By building a small back-end control panel using PHP and MYSQL, Susy (our client), is able to make changes to certain sections of her site as and when she chooses.

We work closely with our clients at all stages of the design process to make sure they're happy with their website - we'll listen to what you want, design a mock-up for you to look over and come back with any comments and changes... we have to say, that we haven't yet had a client say: 'Oh no, that's not it at all...!' In fact, we've managed to be in tune with what our clients imagine their websites to look like, whilst making suggestions that will help their website run properly and - very importantly - be found by the major search engines, such as Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc.

Just read what Susy has to say by visiting our Web Services page.

Count Down to Launch of VoIP Call Answering Service

Freelancealot.co.uk is about to launch their service, TeamVA™. TeamVA™ is a VoIP-based call answering service for sole-traders, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and the like.

If you're going out to a meeting for a couple of hours, nipping out for a day of golf, or off to the spa to pamper youself, what happens to important phone calls? Do clients get an endless ringing tone, or do they have to a leave a voicemail message... for the upteenth time? If so, you need a reliable call answering service to divert your phone to when you're not available.

The TeamVA™ MESSAGEPAD service could be the answer. Just divert your landline phone, mobile, or VoIP number to your dedicated TeamVA™ assistant and they will answer your calls with your company name... in a friendly and professional manner. Not only that, but the service comes with free out-of-office hours voicemail-to-e-mail.

TeamVA™ MESSAGEPAD isn't the only service available. There are various accounts including TeamVA™ CONNECT, which provides your company with a 'virtual receptionist' who can transfer your calls to you (and others within your business) wherever you may be. TeamVA™ RESPONSE provides you with an 0800 number on a monthly basis for your marketing/advertising campaigns, plus a professional online CRM system to keep track of your leads and opportunities.

If you're using VoIP already, you can even keep in contact with your TeamVA assistant via your laptop, PDA, or Pocket PC using VoIP software (such as this Pocket PC SIP Softphone). The best news... because the calls are transferred from one VoIP number to another, the cost of the transferred call to you is free!

By utilising VoIP for their call answering service, TeamVA™ are able to offer their services internationally. From America, to Ghana, to Australia... if your business has access to the Internet via broadband, TeamVA™ can take your calls.

Contact them on +44 (0)1283 80 80 77 - they'll answer the call using their VoIP phone, so you can even test the sound quality. Or visit their website: www.TeamVA.biz

If you're not already taking advantage of the benefits of VoIP technology, please contact Freelancealot.co.uk for a consultation on how best to employ these technologies within your business, including setting up virtual PBX systems.

Claim Your Unpaid Invoices Online

If you have a claim for a fixed amount, ie. you know the exact sum of money, including interest (as in my case with an unpaid invoice), you can make and track your claim online using Her Majesty's Court Service Money Claim Online.

First Stop: The BPPC Website

This piece is the second installment to 'Small Business and the Small Claims Court (UK)'.

As a signed-up member of the Better Payment Practice Campaign (BPPC) website, my first step was to visit their website to see what I was required to do in order to adhere to the The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. The BPPC have provided a 'library' of sample letters to help you get paid on time, including a letter informing a debtor that statutory interest and compensation for debt recovery costs will be charged on an existing debt. I have penned a draft letter to the debtor, which will be sent by registered post (as soon as I have definitive information of the cost and process of going to the Small Claims Court (SCC)).

The BPPC is an excellent source of information on the Late Payment Legislation.

Late Payment Legislation

'In November 1998, the UK Government introduced legislation to give businesses a statutory right to claim interest from other businesses for the late payment of commercial debt. The UK was one of the first countries in the EU to introduce late payment legislation to help promote a culture of prompt payment.'

(Source: BPPC website)

Come back soon, as I'll be posting the results of my research on the Small Claims Court process and the (real) costs involved.

Small Business and the Small Claims Court (UK)

So, how easy is it for a small business in England to recover debts from non-paying customers?

As a small business owner I hoped I would never have to find out, but this could just be about to change.

I was contacted in June 2005 via the contact form on my website: the project involved copy-typing a document the customer supplied in hardcopy; he accepted the quote and sent the document via post. I duly typed up the document and sent him the digital version. Once he'd received it and accepted the work as complete, I sent an invoice for the grand sum of £183.19 payable within 14 days. After several gentle e-mail reminders I sent a reminder via registered post. He responded some several days later saying he couldn't afford to pay, and could he pay in installments? I wrote back saying it wasn't usual policy, but as he was in difficulty he could pay in two instalments - one due immediately, the other in 30 days time.

No payments were forthcoming, and there has been no response to my last e-mailed demand for payment.

Work and a lot of procrastination techniques have delayed my doing anything further, then came Christmas, the New Year, and... now?

Well, now I've decided it would be a good exercise to take this non-payer to the Small Claims Court here in the UK, but where do I start? Everyone I ask has a different response: it's not worth the hassle; it'll take up all your time; you'll never get the money if he's broke; it'll cost you more than he owes you; go ahead, I did it and got my money; it was easy; etc, etc.

I also thought it might be useful to keep a record (or 'blog', if you will) of the process, cost, and time-scale involved, and I've decided to do this online for the reference of other victims of that all elusive irritant, the non-payer.

That's the background dealt with. My next entry will describe the first steps I've taken to recovering the debt. Wherever possible I will try to include a link to any online resources I've found pertinent.

Wish me luck...

Freelancealot.co.uk Launches New Website for 2006!

We are proud to launch our new website for 2006. We have redesigned the site to make navigation easier, to make it more cross-browser friendly, and more accessible to the visually impaired and those who use the keyboard for navigation (rather than a mouse). XHTML and CSS have been used to separate content from layout, resulting in improved performance and compatibility with web standards compliant browsers. Designing web sites in XHTML and CSS makes it easier to build sites that meet the growing number of laws and policies regarding web accessibility.

We hope you find the new site easy to use and easy on the eye. If you experience any problems whilst browsing the site, please contact us via our contact form, giving the page/s and the problem (please also let us know which browser you use (eg, Internet Explorer v6) and the operting system (eg. XP Pro (SP2), OSX 10.2.8).

We'll miss Cyber Guinevere, Cyber Pendragon, Web-Alchemist Merlin, Midi-Minstrel, Lady of the Links, and Morgan Le FAQs! In fact, we're so fond of the old site that we've left it online, so if you're feeling nostalgic... click here!