What is a Virtual Assistant?

As I read over my first few posts I realize that maybe there are people out there that are wondering "What is a VA - Virtual Assistant?" So I thought maybe I would include that description from my brochure. The following is reprinted with permission from VANA.

What is a Virtual Assistant?

VAnetworking.com: "A Virtual Assistant (VA) is a highly-trained independent entrepreneur who provides a myriad of business support services virtually via phone, fax and internet based technology to support and meet the growing needs of businesses worldwide.
Partnering with a VA reduces stress, protects cash flow, eliminates administrative hassles, and enables business people to find the success they originally set out to achieve.
A VA is your right hand person helping you to succeed in your business. The irony is you may never meet your VA as odds are they live nowhere near you!"
*Source: Virtual Assistant Networking Association (VANA) Virtual Assistant Definition

Benefits of Hiring a VA

• No additional office space
• No additional office equipment or furniture
• No special training
• No payroll responsibilities
• No extra overhead
• Real time billing

Genealogy on the Web

A day late but better late than never!
I developed a keen interest in genealogy about 15 years ago when my mother first found out that she had cancer. I began searching on the internet for some of her lost relatives and my father's lost uncles. The resources available on the internet are unbelievable.
There are millions of websites out there and some of the most useful and free ones that I have found are
http://www.familysearch.org/
Family Search is the largest genealogy organization in the world and is a service provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is open to everyone and access is unlimited.

http://www.genforum.com/
Is part of Genealogy.com and is part of the Generations Network. This is the place where I discovered a great uncle's descendants that no one had a clue as to where he went after leaving Canada. It is also the site where I found my mother's first cousin which lead to an impromptu family reunion in Washington state. I found people from my Grandfather's birth place who gathered information for me from the local library and mailed it to me. It is a fantastic community and is sorted not only by family name but also by country and topic.

http://www.rootsweb.com/
Rootsweb is another fantastic resource. It also can be searched by name, country, topic and just about any other type of search you can think of. It is an ancestry.com community but is a free resource. It allows you to join mailing lists that you can watch specific to your search.

Any of these 3 genealogy websites is well worth the time spent searching. The amount of information and long lost relatives that I found on them was phenomenal.

I was able to trace my Whitcomb ancestors back to the 1400 England. The Lindsay side wasn't quite as successful, only to 1800 Nova Scotia - Scotland has been a little hard to infiltrate using free sites but I am working on it.

There are thousands of other websites out there an one that lists many of those genealogy sites is Cindy's List found at http://www.cyndislist.com/

Until next time - Have a GREAT day!

Alberta Weather

I blinked and sure enough the weather changed. Got to love Alberta weather. Woke up this morning to rain, turned to about 4" of snow and more falling. Good day for me to get some work done which is exactly what I am going to be doing in about 30 minutes. Catch you tomorrow when I plan on sharing my internet genealogy search resources for those who are just starting out.

In the Beginning

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.....
Yep, today it the beginning of my very first blog. So I think to start with I will introduce myself.
I am a mother of 3 gorgeous girls and married to a small farmer living in East Central Alberta. I am just beginning home-based business as a Virtual Assitant and Bookkeeper after working for 25 years in a retail store. I grew up on a small farm with 4 brothers and grew to love the country. The 2 years I spent living in the city confirmed that I was a country girl at heart and could only be happy there.
On our farm we have 80 cows, 5 horses, 13 cats, 20 some chickens and a dog - quite the menagerie. At a later date I hope to upload pictures of my favorite animals. On top of all this I also sell 5th Avenue Collection jewelery part time and am an avid genealogist.
But enough of that for today, catch you later.