PA, VA, what's it all about?
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Q.
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What is a Virtual Assistant?
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Someone who works from his/her own office doing the tasks of
an in-house member of staff without being "in-house". They work
via the internet, phone, fax, computer-disk and mail systems to
do your tasks for you. They never set foot in your office unless
a meeting is requested by the client.
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Q.
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Who needs a Virtual
Assistant?
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Small business owners utilize the services of a VA as opposed
to bringing in a temp. The projects are usually varied and may
be sporadic or insufficient to warrant hiring an employee. Consultants,
Trainers, entrepeneurs, who travel about and are uncontactable
for long periods.
Students who may want their thesis' proofread, individuals who
may want to publish a club website or produce club flyers.
Medium to large companies may need the services of a VA for occasional
projects that require immediate and experienced attention, and
when they don't have equipment available to bring in a temp.
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Q.
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Why should I use a
Virtual Assistant and not a Temp?
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With a Virtual Assistant, you pay only for the time and services
you require without having to worry about tax and NI contributions,
holiday and sick pay, etc.
As well as cutting out the cost of an agency, you don't have to
provide extra space, hardware, software, or insurance cover as
you would for permanent or temporary staff.
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How? What? When?
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Q.
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Can I combine several
of your services?
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Yes, of course. We are flexible when it comes to how our services
are utilized.
For example, if you need a website designed, you may require content
to be typed, or your own content proofread or copy-edited . You
may need pictures scanned, resized, etc. This would be utilising
skills from Merlin, Cyber Guinevere and Cyber PenDragon. Keeping
all these tasks under one roof ensure consistency in tone and
layout, and means you don't have to deal with Tom, Dick AND Harriet!
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Q.
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What if I have deadlines
to keep?
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We will always do our utmost to get work back to you well within
your deadlines. We are able to offer an overnight service on really
urgent jobs.
So, if your meeting finishes at 6:30pm and you need your report
typed up and ready to go by 8:00am the next morning, fax us your
notes and we'll do the rest.
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Q.
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How can I send my document
to you?
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You can send documents to us on floppy disk, CD-Rom, via fax,
and hardcopy by post or courier. E-mail should be used only for
small documents (under 500k). Larger documents can be uploaded
to our server by arrangement.
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Q.
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What file formats do
you accept?
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Documents: MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint v.4, Wordperfect,
Claris, QuarkXpress .rtf, .txt, .pdf, .html (if your fomat isn't
mentioned, contact us we may still be able to help)
Images: .jpg, .png, .tif, .bmp, .pict, .gif, .psd, .eps,
.pdf, .swf (basically, most of today's popular formats)
Audio: .wav, .aif, .SD, .au, .MP3 (most formats really,
it's best if you contact us to see if we can accommodate you).
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Q.
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I have a manuscript
I typed out on my trusty typewriter, I now need to send it to
the publisher in digital format. Can you help?
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Yes. We would be able to run it through our scanner and OCR
(optical character recognition) software.
I would, however, like to say that even though they do a fantastic
job, sometimes the OCR can mis-read things ie. switch an 'S' for
a '2', or an 'l' for a '1'. This means that we have to compare
it to the original, so if there are hundreds of pages you need
to give us ample time to do the job properly. If you're on a budget
we can provide the scanned digital document in it's bare form
for you to go through. The choice is yours.
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Q.
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Who owns the copyright
if you design our project?
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You do. (Subject to third party rights). We are commissioned
by you, so the copyright is yours.
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Q.
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I'd like to have my
calls directed to you when I'm in training sessions, but I don't
want to have to give different numbers to clients.
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No problem. We can set up a 'follow-me' number which you can
configure as you go. You have one number to give out to clients
(a choice of 0870, 0845 or 0800). When you want us to answer calls
we'll just set the number to redirect to us.
You can also direct the number to voicemail which will then be
recorded and sent to your e-mail address as a .wav attachment
(you can also have faxes delivered to your e-mail through the
same number). The whole system can be set up in advance as you
like it. You need never miss a call again!
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Q.
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I need to clean up
some speech recordings I've made for a project. Can you do this?
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Yes. Send us the audio in whatever format it's in and we can
remove sounds like coughs, pages turning, chairs scraping, etc.
If required we can also 'time-shrink' audio, ie. reducing the
time taken to listen to a recording of a speech (by removing the
silences, and quickening the delivery without creating a squeaky
helium cartoon voice).
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Q.
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I've a collection
of recordings on old 78rpm vinyl. Can you re-record them onto
cd?
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Yes! Providing there are no copyright barriers. We can accept
all three common vinyl sizes of 33.3, 45, and 78rpm. We also accept
audio cassettes, compact disks, and DAT.
If your audio is recorded on a format other than these, please
let us know as we might be able to accommodate you.
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Q.
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I want to use a song
from my favourite artist as theme music for my project. Can you
help with obtaining the necessary copyright permission.
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Probably. As a member of the Performing Rights Society and Mechanical
Copyright Protection Society, Midi Minstrel is well placed to
apply for such permission. Obviously, the costs of obtaining such
permission vary from £0 to millions - depending on your intended
use and choice of artist/s.
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Money, Money, Money
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Q.
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I'm located in Louisiana
how do I pay you in US$? (applies to all customers outside the
UK)
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It's easy. You can pay using your credit card or by e-cheque
through Paypal.com. If you are already a member of Paypal you
can send money to our account using info@freelancealot.co.uk.
Or go to the page whose service you used eg. Cyber Guinevere and
click on the 'purple purse' image. If you're unsure about paying
on-line, please contact us and we can arrange a more suitable
method.
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Q.
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What kind of payments
do you accept?
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We accept Sterling cheques, BACS and on-line payment via NOCHEX.com
(become a member and use your UK debit card, this is the fastest
method of making payments).
If you are already a member of NOCHEX you can make payments using
our account freelancealot@talk21.com.
International customers can either use Paypal, or arrange a bank
transfer. EUROs are accepted at Paypal.
Long term customers can set up BACS payments through our bank,
The Royal Bank of Scotland.
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