Thursday, May 31, 2007

A Graduate-Level Course for Assistants , Virtual Assistants & Interns

And why I say: Thanks, but no thanks!

I admit, I am not perfect and certainly not somebody who knows it all but reading the newest “training” program designed to “help” the VA industry just get’s my blood boiling…

There is no need for “my” client to send me to a course to help him write better press releases or to write a media kit for him BECAUSE that’s not what I offer in the first place. Would I be interested in offering such a service I certainly would not chose a course, which consists of a total of five (5) days training course, featuring 10 hours of live training. It took me years to perfect the knowledge I have now – how can someone in his or her right mind believe that they can learn enough to be a "Lean, Mean Publicity Machine " in just five days ???

Don’t get me wrong, I am all about learning and educating myself,which is a lifelong process, but I know where my strengths and limits are as well as I do know that courses such like the offered one by a well known publicity ‘expert’ is nothing but another way of making big bucks in a quick way. And no, I am not talking about you making money :)

If you ara a VA in the making and you come across any of those courses, think long and hard before you spend your hard earned money !

If you are business owner and you are looking for somebody who knows what they are doing without sending them to "courses" because all of the Ladies presented there are experts in their field simply visit VACOC

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

The $8.00/hr Virtual Assistant

I come across plenty of ads on craigslist.org and other places for a Virtual Assistant or an Administrative Assistant on a contract basis – the job requirements go from simply taking or making phone calls to a list a half-page long.

What really blows my mind is if the qualifications and knowledge request is as long as half a DinA4 page, how can the pay offered be only $8-15.00/hr?

Here is a great example :

“QUALIFICATIONS:
• Must have Microsoft Word experience and knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite
• Types at least 50 wpm with tremendous attention to detail (grammar & spelling)
• Relevant degree or equivalent
• Minimum of 2 years working experience in a business environment with a customer service focus
• Professional and polished image a must
• Excellent written and oral language skills
• Ability to multi-task with confidence
• Familiarity with Website maintenance
• Understanding of and adherence to standard business protocol
• Can establish, develop, maintain and update filing systems
• Research various topics and collect information to support various projects, at the President’s request
• Create PowerPoint presentations, and occasionally work with the Designer to put together client materials and information
• Can manage the backend operations for teleclasses
• Prepare frequent web statistical reports as requested
• Has a computer at home for 'home work'
• Has dependable transportation

“The starting rate is $12-$15/hour and bonuses are possible. The person will be paid as a 1099 and will have a current/valid business license within Scottsdale, is bonded and has their own liability insurance. There is no benefit plan. Start date is June after 6/11 (hopefully sooner if we find the right person right away).”

How can they expect someone in his or her right mind, with a solid education AND business knowledge to accept work at pay like that? How is it that they want to “hire” the person on a contractor basis? This is an oxymoron in itself, by the way.

Now for anyone out there who is thinking about signing on as an independent contractor for a low hourly rate, I would like to ask you to have a look at the free service-pricing sheet offered by the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce. It is a great tool to discover what you need to charge to cover all your costs including insurance and taxes.

If you go to through the process, you will quickly realize that a rate of $8-$15/hr is anything but realistic, especially if you have to pay your own taxes, insurance etc.

Monday, May 28, 2007

Most of the important

things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.

~Dale Carnegie ~

This is one of my favorite inspirations :)

Friday, May 25, 2007

On a different note -About saying “Good Bye”….for good

Tonight I got the message that a friend of ours died yesterday after fighting cancer for almost two years. Our friend was only 47 – a loving Husband and father of three; the youngest is only six years old!

Two years ago, I met my mother in law the first time on the funeral of her Husband! Just four weeks ago I had to say “Good-Bye” to my father during my visit in Germany, which took me completely by surprise and the current news brought all the sorrow ,which was quietly bottled up, to the surface again…..

Its funny how you always think people live forever –especially your parents and friends and sometimes they are gone before you were able to say what you had to say.

Please remember, no one lives forever and if you care about someone – let him or her know TODAY!!! Tomorrow might be too late.

And if you feel like it, you can always light a candle for your loved once – alive or dead on my favorite site, Gratefulness….

It gives me peace and hopefully it does the same for you!

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

I got tagged ....What is my secret on being productive ?

This ultimate guide to productivity meme was started by Ben Yoskovitz at Instigator Blog followed by Vickie Turley of A Balanced Alternative. Now my fellow VA friend, Karen Del’Marmol of KDM Business Support tagged me and Tracey Lawton - I guess it's my time to explain how I stay productive ...

For me, it's important to have an outline on what I intend to accomplish each day.

The outline will be drawn out the minute I wake up and includes all tasks for the current day, starting with my work schedule ending with some time for myself:)

After I had my coffee, took our dog for a walk and went through my e-mails, I start with the work I need time and concentration for. I prefer to do the time consuming and tedious tasks early in the morning, seeing that this is my personal most productive time of the day. If those tasks are accomplished, I am happy and deal with everything else which comes along.

And I follow one trait I claim on my German upbringing : If there is a task I can do today I will not postpone it :)

And just for the books - most times my outline works out perfect :)

Now it's my turn to tag someone...and the lucky winner's are : Victoria Miles of VA Argentina and Christina Haas of Zenith Business Solution.


Now, here are the rules of this project from Ben’s Instigator Blog forwarded to me by Karen Del'Marmol:

1. Write a post on your best productivity tips. Challenge yourself by picking your single best productivity tip (although this isn’t a requirement; you can give us more if you want).

2. Include links to other people that have written posts, or include their tips in your post with proper attribution.

Note: I’m not asking that you link to everyone in the group writing project meme; pick the ones you want to connect with. You certainly can link to everyone, but it’s not a requirement. I like leaving more decision making power in your hands so this isn’t just a link grab, but you’re thinking about what your audience & community wants to read about.
A link back to this post is appreciated though, to help spread the word!

3. If you use Technorati Tags then tag your post “ultimate guide to productivity”.

4. Tag others in your post to spread the meme. Tag as many people as you like!

5. If you link back to Instigator Blog and email me at byosko@gmail.com, I’ll make sure to include at least 2 links back to you. But this isn’t a requirement, it just helps me keep track of what’s going on.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Working from home - Dream vs. Reality

Honestly, if you ask my Husband about what I am doing, his answer will be something like: My wife stays at home.

In his mind, I go back to sleep after getting up with him early in the morning to prepare his coffee and will probably wake-up again around 10am – most certainly to let in the maid who, of course, I pay with his salary. The maid takes care of the house, gets the laundry and the ironing done, as well as taking the dogs for several walks, and prepares the food shortly before she leaves the house. If I could only train her to do the Virtual Assistance work as well :) . . . Oh no, let me correct that -- I am NOT working, not really. Working from home means sitting on the sofa, eating chocolate and watching all the newest shows and soaps. Did I mention lying at the pool as well?

Reality looks a little different though. Yes, working from home gives you more freedom and you can indeed make your own schedule BUT . . . if you want to be successful, you have to take your work seriously! You have to be disciplined, get organized and find your routine.

Remember, it’s much easier to get distracted while working from home, so make sure you have your priorities straight.

There is a time for work, for household chores, for the kids, and for the TV! Make sure you have them all separated. It’s nearly impossible trying to complete an important project while watching the Oprah show!

You have to make sure that your friends and family know and accept that while you have your “Office Hours” you will have no time for small talk, at least not more than you had while you where working at your last job.

If you have kids, make sure you explain to them that yes, you work from home now, but it’s work nonetheless. Make sure they understand and respect the hours you need to spend on work.

Know that no one will tell you how to do your job nor will anyone check whether it’s done right. It’s up to you to make sure that projects are delivered to your client on time, finished the way he needs it.

Fact is, working from home is not for everyone!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Business Ethics...

Yesterday, while reading the Gritty Business Buzz, I ended up on the website of a fellow VA-friend and she has that link on her page, saying that she had signed the business ethics pledge , which made me curious ...What is that she is standing for ?

So certainly I clicked on the link and ended up on that amazing website of Shel Horowitz ....

Why The Business Ethics Pledge Campaign

By Shel Horowitz

"Can one self-employed guy working from a farmhouse in Massachusetts actually have an impact on the way business is conducted in our modern world?

Some people seem to think the whole Business Ethics Pledge campaign is misguided, or at best tilting at windmills. I can tell you this: It's gotten incredibly positive feedback. The last project for which I've gotten so many thank-yous was when I started the movement that saved our local mountain from a very poorly-conceived housing development, a campaign that involved several thousand people. That campaign confirmed the idea that one person can indeed make a difference, and that difference is most easily achieved if the lone individual joins with others into an organized force. Oh yes, and people told me right at the beginning that we could never stop that monstrosity—so I've had some experience with achieving the "impossible".

Lots of people achieve the "impossible." Could anyone have predicted to Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1955 that just ten years later, segregation would be outlawed? Would anyone have believed as Soviet tanks were crushing dissent in Prague that 20 years later, the entire Soviet Union and all its totalitarian satellites would come crashing down along with the Berlin Wall?

Jack Canfield (co-author of the Chicken Soup books and the Success Principles) tells the story about motivational speaker Tony Robbins, who tried to rent a van in New York City to deliver supplies to poor people in Harlem. His staff told him there were no vans to rent in all of New York City—so he went out on the street and started flagging down van drivers. Eventually, he flagged down the regional captain of the Salvation Army, who not only agreed to help, but improved the project.

I wrote my book, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First, to help change the world's attitude about business. And when I realized that the book by itself wouldn't reach enough people to create the social change I want, the Pledge was a logical next step.

The Ethics Pledge campaign is deeply meaningful to some sectors of the business world, and I will continue pushing the Pledge and everything it represents, both to attempt to actually accomplish its (admittedly ambitious) goal, and to offer support to those who've placed their trust in this campaign and who have helped spread the word about it.

Since the 1950s, the concept of the "hundredth monkey" has been used to describe a paradigm shift that happens when a certain very small percentage of individuals shift their actions or beliefs—and then, like a wave, the new behavior or attitude spreads rapidly through society. Malcolm Gladwell calls that point of critical mass "the tipping point." Usually, a movement starts small, builds for some time while nobody's noticing (often in another culture), and then explodes into the public consciousness. We've seen it over and over again, in every sphere of our lives: politics, art & culture, and yes, business:
The Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott created the tipping point in national consciousness to begin the end of segregation, after 50 years of quiet behind-the-scenes activism in small groups.
The original Earth Day, in 1970, moved the consciousness of American society so that we began to pay attention to our society's effect on the environment. But remember—Rachel Carson's Silent Springwas published back in 1962; the nuclear test ban movement was even earlier.
The collapse of European Communism in 1989-90 probably wouldn't have been possible without Prague Spring and the brave resistance to the Soviet invasion, two decades earlier.
Business innovations like Kaizen (continuous improvement) were based on the writings of Western business thinkers but pretty much ignored here at first. But they were adopted widely in Japan, and brought back successfully to the US only after the Japanese automakers started cleaning the clocks of the American giants.

Will the Pledge campaign actually succeed? I don't know; it doesn't resonate with everyone. 25,000 each influencing at least 100 may or may not be enough to create the "tipping point"; there's really no way to find out other than to do it. I believe it will work--or at least help lay the necessary groundwork so that when the second wave arrives, the consciousness is ready to shift. At best, the pledge could be a catalyst for rapid change throughout society.

After all, I've been involved in "impossible" movements my whole life. When I started in social change, segregation was a very recent memory, the war in Vietnam was raging, and Nixon was calling for 1000 nuclear power plants. Segregation, the Vietnam war, and the (extremely dangerous) nuclear power industry were all brought to a halt by the power of ordinary human beings working together.

I'm an ordinary person who happens to have a combination of organizing skills and marketing skills, and I'm willing to tilt at this particular windmill to see if in fact I can move it around on its axis. When the housing development on the mountain was announced, the experts all said "this is terrible, but there's nothing we can do." It was actually that powerless response, rather than the project itself, that inspired me to form Save the Mountain—I knew I could prove them wrong. I fully expected that campaign to take five years; we defeated the project completely in just 13 months.

Is this goal really important enough to devote ten years of my life? I believe it is. I believe business has the power to transform society for good or for evil, and that too many of the transformations it has created have been for evil. I see an eventual ripple effect that results in improvements to the environment, to working conditions in developing countries and at home, in the way we are treated by politicians, the way the media covers the world and in the cultural consciousness that we are not just consumers, but citizens--people who stand up and step forward to create the world we want to live in. I hope you'll join me in this movement. the first step is very easy. Just sign the pledge. "

And here is the pledge I took :

I pledge allegiance, in my heart and soul, to the concepts of honesty, integrity, and quality in business. I recognize that the cornerstone of success is treating all stakeholders fairly, with compassion, and with a commitment to service. Working from abundance, I recognize that even my competitors can become important allies. I will not tolerate crooked practices in my business, from co-workers, direct or indirect reports, supervisors, managers, suppliers, or anyone else—and if I encounter such practices, I will refuse to go along with them and report them to appropriate authorities within and outside the company. I pledge to support the "triple bottom line" of environmental, social, and financial responsibility. And I pledge to participate in a serious effort to focus the business community on these principles, by sharing this message with at least 100 other business leaders.

So when are you going to join us ?

Saturday, May 12, 2007

My thoughts on Mother's Day

I alway's wondered why we do need a Mother's Day. Shouldn't we show our appreciation for our Mom (and Dad) all year around ?

Isn't it true that we are all so busy, that we sometimes forget to appreciate those around us ? Do we really need an official Mother's Day as a reason to slow down and say : Thank you ?

With that thought I would like to share some beautiful quotes from Mother Theresa with you :

-Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents. Parents have very little time for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of peace of the world.

-It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.

-Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.

-Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone !

Friday, May 11, 2007

This is about loyalty . . . how far will you go?

How far will you take loyalty towards your employer, a client or even friends and family?

Are you willing to bend or hide the truth, or even lie under the “umbrella” of loyalty ?

What triggered my thoughts about that subject, was a conversation with a very good friend of mine.

I know my friend is a very hard-working, serious and definitely a loyal person. She does not mind working twelve hours a day, if necessary, as long as she thinks YOU – as a boss – worth all the trouble . . . . She certainly always worked hard and is still doing a great job.

Last night, I got an e-mail from her telling me that her boss was fired. Of course, I picked up the phone and called her right away to get the scoop and, no, I am not nosey but very empathetic with people I care about. :)

So, apart from the fact that he got himself fired because he couldn’t produce any profit for the company for the last two years, he is also trying to take away clients from this company to a new company he has already founded. Nothing wrong with trying BUT he is asking my friend to give a false statement about a contract with one of their current major clients, which was already sealed, signed, and delivered in February. All this because he wants to take this client with him.

In short, he expects her to lie to the board saying that this contract has not been signed yet and to forget to remind them (the Head Office) about the situation.

I have to admit, I was furious! Not only about her taking into consideration to agree to that plot but mostly about her soon-to-be ex-Boss who expects her to go for that scenario under the promise that she will soon follow him to his new company.

Loyalty . . . a small word with a big meaning that often becomes underestimated and/or twisted but for me, loyalty to someone always means to be loyal to myself as well. If I am forced to make a decision, which makes it hard for me to look in the mirror, I will stay away from it!

As for my friend, I hope she will make the right decision ...an ethical one !

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

My perfect client…..

Is open to changes and don’t mind that our communication will be mainly via e-mail, IM and/or fax.

He will share his goals and visions with me and will often ask me about my opinion.

He knows which task’s are not his favorite and has no problem to delegate those.

He is able to tell me what he expects from me and which tasks are a priority but leaves it completely up to me HOW I get them done as long as I get them done on time and deliver a great job :)

He think it’s great if I tell him : "Sorry I haven’t done that YET, but I am willing to look into it and if I think I can’t do it, I will know someone trustworthy who can ."

He is willing to take suggestions on how things can be done a different way without being offended.

He accepts my boundaries and understands that he might be not my only client, which does not mean that he is NOT on my priority list – the opposite. All clients are an equal priority to me.

He understands that I am not always able to pick up or return a call within a minute but he knows I will get back to him ASAP.

My client has some sense of humor and does not mind to share laughter with me.

My perfect client is someone who is willing to trust me and the best thing is – he pays me on time! :)

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Are you ready to take a risk ?

This morning I had a conversation with a friend and during that conversation, the question was raised whether it is a good or bad thing to take a risk . Is it better to stay in the safe corner or to take the leap? I am one to say, if you don’t try you will never know what the outcome might have been and you might end up asking yourself “ What, IF …”

After that conversation I took a "trip" on memory lane , and realized that I took quite a few risks in my life; some with very small others with life altering affects.


If you ask me whether I have any regrets, my honest answer is NO!

One thing I have learned is that achieving our goals requires taking risks. However, to be effective, we need a positive attitude toward risk taking that allows us to learn and grow from them.

If I would have not taken the risks, I would not be where and what I am today…- Now that's a sad thought :)

Taking Risks

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool
To weep is to risk being called sentimental
To reach out to another is to risk involvement
To expose feelings is to risk showing your true self
To place your ideas and your dreams before the crowd is to risk being called naïve
To love is to risk not being loved in return
To live is to risk dying
To hope is to risk despair and,
To try is to risk failure

But risks must be taken
The greatest risk in life is to risk nothing
The person who risks nothing... does nothing, has nothing, and becomes nothing

He may avoid suffering and sorrow
But he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live
Chained by his servitude, he is a slave
He has forfeited his freedom
Only the person who risks is truly free.

William Arthur Ward


Are you ready to take a risk today? Are you dreaming about a career change, a move to another City or even another country ? What are you waiting for - take the first step towards your dream(s) TODAY!

Monday, May 7, 2007

What is your working style ?

I was just sitting here and pondering about how much we differ from other people, simply by our working style.

I know I am very organized, need things planned and lined up, while others may need the pressure of a deadline to present their best work.

So I was just searching the net and found a simple but interesting test , which I of course took ( can’t resist those …LOL) – here is the result :

Your Working Style

“You are extremely dependable and have a complete, realistic, and practical respect for the facts. You absorb, remember, and use any number of facts and are careful about your accuracy. When you see that something needs to be done, you accept the responsibility, often beyond the call of duty. You like everything clearly stated.

Your private reactions, which seldom show in your face, are often vivid and intense. Even when dealing with a crisis you look calm and composed. Behind your outer calm you are viewing the situation from an intensely individual angle. When you are "on duty" and dealing with the world, however, your behavior is sound and sensible.

You are thorough, painstaking, systematic, hard-working, and careful with particulars and procedures. Your perseverance tends to stabilize everything with which you are connected. You do not enter into things impulsively, but once committed, you are very hard to distract or discourage.

You often choose careers where your talents for organization and accuracy are rewarded. Examples are accounting, civil engineering, law, production, construction, health careers, and office work. You often move into supervisory and management roles.

If you are in charge of something, your practical judgment and valuing of procedure makes you consistent and conservative, assembling the necessary facts to support your evaluations and decisions. You look for Solutions to present problems in your successes of the past. With time you become masters of even the smallest elements of your work, but don't give yourself any special credit for this knowledge.

You may encounter problems if you expect everyone to be as logical and analytical as you are. You then run the danger of inappropriately passing judgment on others or overriding less forceful people. A useful rule is to use your thinking to make your perceptions about inanimate objects or your own behavior, and to use your perception to understand others. If you use your senses to see what really matters to others, so that it becomes a fact to be respected, you may go to generous lengths to help. “

Pretty accurate :)

If you are now curious about your work style visit: http://www.quizbox.com/personality/test47.aspx

Have fun and let me know how accurate your results are !

Saturday, May 5, 2007

The challenges about acquiring a second language

Ok, so I was born and raised in Germany and, as the government mandates, I got my English lessons during the last five years in school.

I remember our very first lesson. Of course, we were and still are taught the “British English,” which started off with: This is Ann and this is Mary, while the teacher tried to make sure that our tongue was between the teeth when we used the word “This.”

Did I like English? I thought it was easy enough to learn but then I did not like our teacher, so I didn’t pay anymore attention to it then was necessary to make it through the lessons.

After school, I started my apprenticeship as a shipping agent/freight forwarder – little did I know then how much English would be a part of my life one day. With the first caller speaking in English, I can still hear myself calling out loud: HELP! There is a caller on the phone who doesn’t speak German (God forbid ... LOL). My Boss at this time was very tolerant at the beginning but also very adamant that I took and answered those calls. Guess my thoughts back then. :)

Fast forward many years later . . . here I am, the branch manager of the courier department in Frankfurt/Main, THE HUB for freight from everywhere in the world and of course, communication with a lot of different countries in the world – either by phone or via e-mail - is just one of many daily tasks. I am having no problem understanding and communicating with any of them with ONE big exception: my Boss is from England and English, spoken by British people, will always be my biggest challenge. Or so I thought. . .

In 1998, I decided to leave the corporate world behind me to fulfill one of my lifelong dreams: Move somewhere completely different, live a different lifestyle altogether – The Bahamas. So here I am with all my English experience and I realized I was lost when it came to small talk. Is this really happening to me? Does that mean I will never have a funny conversation or I will be not able to use my sarcasm? Thank God, it did not take me long to understand the “Bahamian slang” nor to have personal conversations. About a year after my move, I realized that I even started dreaming in English and all my thoughts came in English as well – It’s kind of funny when you experience that – especially since I lived most of my life in Germany and now, not even a year later, my thoughts and dreams are coming in a different language.

For the next few years I continued to learn more words and phrases used in one’s daily life and started working for a Canadian as his personal assistant. But there were still many words I had never heard of – the learning continued.

Eventually I started having problems finding the correct German expressions when I talked to friends and family in Germany – talk about getting adjusted. :)

Three years ago I met my Husband, who is from Liverpool. If you have ever met anyone from this area you know what I am talking about. The first couple of months I had headaches just from concentrating so hard on what he was saying…One part of our conversations in the beginning of our relationship became famous in our circle of friends and at his workplace (I hate to be the reason for musings . . . LOL) but let me share with you: Here we are, sitting on the sofa, having a nice conversation and during that conversation he asked me: “Honey, how many holes do you have in your ear?” Weird question, I thought but answered anyway.

“Three in my left and two holes in my right ear, my dear.” I had not even finished my sentence when he broke out in a big laughter and fell from the sofa because he was laughing so hard. I was not all that amused and looked at him, asking, “And what is so funny about that?”

When he finally caught his breath, he said, “Honey, my question was how many holidays do you have a year?” and started laughing again and by then I joined him wholeheartedly.

Thanks to Hubby, most of the British accents are no longer a mystery to me.

Coming to the end of my reflection, I just want to let you know, that even though I have lived and worked in an English speaking country now for over eight years, dream and think in English, and am married to a man from England, there are still words I don’t know, still some dialects I have problems understanding. There are still times when I can’t find the right word to express myself and times when I am in Germany and have the very same problems…..

Friday, May 4, 2007

What is behind the meaning of working virtually ?

As a (new) VA my understanding of providing services "virtually" is, that I work from my own home office, use the latest technology to provide administrative services as well as to communicate with my clients.

By now we know it's not really necessary to sit in an office to provide administrative (and much more) services but it can be and is being done by simply using your PC, high-speed internet access and programs which are now offered in the virtual world ...No don't get me wrong being a VA means a little more than just owning a computer and having access to the internet and a phone line for your business but that's not what I am trying to get at -THIS TIME :)

What I am trying to get at is, that I had quite a few requests of prospective clients for my services BUT for some funny reason they opted out and did chose a VA in their area. Just recently, I had a request from one person to explain more about MY services and my prices BUT in the same line asking for recommendations for a VA in his area. Yes, I pointed him in the right direction (VACOC of which I am a proud member btw...) BUT what I really do not get is, that many people seem to look for a VA but actually prefer a VA close by. WHY???

As far as I know we are all working virtually so why people are so adamant to have THEIR VA in their area?As I am absolutely clueless about that I decided to ask that question to our dear beloved "Gritty VA" http://www.grittyva.com/ and I got the reply today , that I will get my answer next week - Thank YOU dear Gritty :)

If you are as curious as I am - check out her blog next week Wednesday !

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Well, it looks like it's about time

I learn about blogging ...So bear with me while I am learning :)

Funny how you always think you know alot and then all of a sudden you realize there is another complete different world out there...

I remember when I was 23, I was working with a well known express company and all we used to prepare import declaration with our pen's by hand and for the AWB's we used simple typewriters- yes, some of them where even electrical ..LOL

Computer's were practically unheard of - and no I am NOT that old - until one day when my Boss decided we will get computers - I can't even believe that I tried to talk him out of it. While my nephews grew up with them, they were still a book with seven seals for me . So the day came and there he was : our first computer in the office and I felt like an idiot seeing that I hardly knew how to control the mouse... Anyone else here remember those days ??

Of course now I can't imagine a life without my dear beloved PC but back then I wasn't that thrilled until after I realized what a time saver this "thing" was.

Eventually I found and explored the internet and later on various foren , which I thought a really great opportunity and now everyone talks about blogs and blogging- another book with alot of seals for me ....I honestly dragged my feet and decided to give me more time to look into it- but then I thought what the heck ! Let me try that...and while I am typing here, I realize I am having fun and I do enjoy it

So be it ..The next blogger is born :) Virtual world , here I come ...