Holistic Business

I’ve gotten to the point that I get soooooo many newsletters, tips, etc. that I’ve told myself I need to cut some out.

There is a publicity “expert” that I have been getting information and tips from for quite some time. Some of it has been useful, some of it I already knew but was probably useful for others.

OK - this publicity “expert” has made it easy for me to unsubscribe from one list - HERS!

She is now selling a training seminar geared towards Virtual Assistants (OK, we’re used to being sold to), and interns. But she’s not really selling it to us - she’s selling it to . . . I guess she thinks - our employers????

When did a VA get into the same boat as an intern? And why is she not really selling it to us, but to our clients (who she is obviously thinking of as our employers)? “Send me your Virtual Assistant . . . ”

EXCUSE ME!!!! . . . but my clients don’t “send me” to someone for training. They may ask me if I can do something and if I answer no, they may ask if it’s something I’m interested in doing. If my answer is yes, and they offer to pay for training, well, that’s one thing. But, really, I will be the one to determine what services to offer my clients. I have absolutely NO PROBLEM in paying for and getting the training *I* need for the services I decide to offer.

This is just so icky. And to add to the ick, the professional Virtual Assistance association I belong to, the VACOC (Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce) - had this woman as a guest expert and she spoke to and probably garnered some sales from the seminar. Did she come back and speak to our founder or any other members? Nope, just went on her merry way and really pissed a LOT of us off with this demeaning and not well thought out sales copy.

Of course, there are some VA organizations that are behind her.The old affiliate links and “we’ll promote your crap if you promote ours” sort of thing.

Ick - ick - ick (this is me with the eebie jeebies)

tfu-tfu-tfu (this is me spitting 3 times)

ahhhhhhh (this is me cleansing to rid myself of all these negative thoughts and demons)

Technorati Tags: publicity, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistance, VACOC, Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce

I shake my head an awful lot thinking, “it must be me”.

My 17-year old stepdaughter lost her cell phone. Most likely in the Newark International Airport. Yea, right - gone. Called and had the number shut off - no big deal. Maybe it will turn up in her bags . . .

Ten days later upon her return, off we go to the cell phone store. Well, she’s had a phone for a few years and is really, really careful - so last upgrade I did not go for the insurance. Ouch! Unless you are signing up for a new service agreement, the phones start around $200. Ouch!

Well, the young man waiting on us was looking at the account and noticed the phone that my 14-year old stepson has is insured.

Get this - he tells me to call the insurance department, hands me a card with their number on it, and report the insured phone missing. Then for just $50 they’ll send me a replacement.

WHAT??? But that’s not the phone that is lost. His reply - oh, don’t worry about it - people do it all the time.

Well, if that’s true it’s a crying shame. My mother’s voice actually played in my head at one point asking if everyone was jumping off a bridge would I do it too?

So, we had a discussion about ethics, honesty, and integrity and I hope the kids got something out of it. I explained that I didn’t really care if I was one in one thousand people who wouldn’t do that. It was not a matter of “getting caught” either. I’ll be the first one to complain about feeling as though I’m getting ripped off right and left (and I’m really pissed at Cingular right now for blocking calls to free conferencing numbers) but that still does not make it right in my book.

Is it me? Am I odd? Would you have done it?

P.S. We ended up finding someone selling the same model phone she lost on eBay for $50 and all ended well.

Technorati Tags: ethics, honesty, integrity