Businesses owners hire Virtual Assistants to take on supplemental and administrative tasks, such as editing and proof-reading webinar presentations, sending thank you notes to customers and scheduling appointments, freeing up time for to increase profits and enjoy success with friends and family.

The Virtual Assistant community is a group of professionals who are largely former corporate employees committed to the highest level of service and quality. Becoming a Virtual Assistant is not an entry level role. Virtual Assistants bring years of administrative experience and knowledge who already “know the ropes” as opposed to a full-time employee who may be new to the business world.

Nowadays it seems that having more than one computer at home is the standard rather than the exception. And for those of us who either work from home because we own our own business or because we take work home (that’s yet another blog) we need to share files.

For small businesses who have a shared server, the virtual space may, believe it or not, ‘run out’ and it may be too costly to acquire more. Small Business can benefit from Dropbox and use this dynamic software as a cost-efficient business solution. And let’s not forget your Virtual Assistant (VA). As a business owner, you can establish a folder that is shared with your VA for simple and efficient file sharing.

I signed up for my Threadsy account fully expecting to be unimpressed. As a busy Virtual Assistant who manages multiple emails and social media accounts, I already use the top-rated tools out there. However, I found that Threadsy has some elements that are really interesting.

Email

Like all email applications, Threadsy does pull in emails and folders from multiple accounts. It shows them in one stream, much like Google’s Gmail. However, there is the option to view one email account stream at a time. Once an email is open, one can easily get back to the email stream by simply scrolling down, rather than using a back key or extra click somewhere. This simple feature removes a step, which is always an A+ in my opinion.

According to the Newsweek article Social Media Trends for 2010 social media is still on the rise. Twitter alone has over 7 million unique users and growing monthly. The biggest trend predicted for 2010 is the increased use of social media in corporate marketing structures. The small business sector is not excluded from these trends. Researchers from University of Massachusetts Dartmouth show that small businesses are utilizing social media more than their larger counterparts.

These studies clearly show that social media is here to stay and should be added to your marketing plan in 2010. Here are a few easy steps to get your social media presence started.

Printed sales collateral is a staple for most Virtual Assistants. Your printed piece provides more information than a business card, and (if held in hand) is more immediate than a website. But which is better? Brochures or Flyers? Let’s start with a definition:

Brochure: A folded leaflet with an advertising or promotional message. Typically a high-quality piece with a stylized layout, typography, and illustrations. Can also be bound and have two or more pages.

Flyer (aka circular or sell sheet): an inexpensively produced circular used for promotional distribution.