From the Desktop

Social media in only one part of a total marketing strategy. Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube are the top four social media applications.

Recently, I gave a seminar at the Kanawha Valley Community and Technical College, Workforce and Economic Development open house. The first thing we discussed was the definition of social media. Run a basic Google search on the definition and you will get over 10 million responses.

Employee or Contractor In our final installment of the contracting series, I will help you understand some key differences in being an employee and an independent contractor. Many small business owners and first time contractors get these wrong.

Confidentiality The issue of confidentiality between a client and contractor is critical. The relationship is based on privileged communication between the two. You, as a contractor, may be privy to information that should not be discussed with the general public, or a competing firm. Likewise, you may discuss fees or billing practices that you do [...]

Ownership It may sound silly to address ownership in a contract. However, the client has a right to feel secure in knowing that any document, image, audio file, database, program, etc. that is being developed for them, is theirs.

Illness/Acts of G-d: Including Force Majeure in your contract. What happens if you become seriously ill, experience a natural disaster, or other event beyond your control and you are unable to fulfill your contractual duties? Without Force Majeure you may be liable to the client for any damages that results.

Part 3 – Alterations It has been said that the only constant in the world is change. Part three of our series is going to focus on the need to make changes to contracts after you have implemented them. I have struggled with the problem of changing a contract because the scope of my work [...]

Part 2 – Delivery Schedule Part 2 of our series on contracts deals with delivery schedules. You may not think this is worth much time, and you may be correct. However, sometimes a client assumes you knew, and sometimes you didn’t. The point of specifically addressing delivery schedules in a contract is so everyone will [...]

Part-1 Compensation We all know what contracts are. They provide written proof of the agreement between two parties. If there is a disagreement, the parties refer back to the contract for guidance. When working with a virtual assistant, consultant, or service provider, contracts are essential. Never, under any circumstance, work without some form of contract! [...]

Conferences are a fact of life. Even in the virtual business world, there is no escaping the need to participate in a conference from time-to-time. As a small business owner, I have to be very selective in the conferences I attend. I am a virtual administrative service provider. I promote the use of online conferencing. [...]