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Networking is now considered an essential business tool for any small business and even for some of the larger corporations. It provides a platform for business and takes strength in building business relationships. There are various ways to network; face to face over breakfast, lunch or dinner, or online via various sites and forums. One of the leaders in online business networking is Ecademy, which not only caters for all types of business and industry; it is also home to the Virtual Assistants Club, or VAC.

There are lots of clubs and associations set up for Virtual Assistants, and it seems there are more popping up by the day. The VAC aims to offer something different. To start with it is run through Ecademy which means it has a direct attachment to a vast amount of potential clients. It is also FREE to join. By nature of the job, the life of a VA can be a lonely one, and the VAC also aims to bring VA’s and their clients, closer. In essence, it has been set up as a support group for VA’s, to offer advice, tips, and referrals. To join you need to register with Ecademy as a basic member, which is free. As with all clubs, it’s only as good as its members, and every time a message is posted the club is taken up to the top of the clubs list on Ecademy, bringing it to the attention of other Ecademists.

Although in its infancy, the club already has 40 members, from all over the world, and it is growing daily. It is a friendly club, and as well as being a portal for meeting potential new clients it is also proving very useful among its members for answering queries, so the next time a client asks you to research telephone systems, why not check with the VAC to see if someone else has completed a similar project and could help.  As with anything worthwhile, you have to work at it. It’s no good signing up and just putting a web address on your profile and hoping that it will do the work for you or, worse still, leaving your profile blank for people to stumble across and wonder if you really have nothing to say about yourself. Of course, once you’ve written your profile, nurture it and make it work for you by keeping it up to date. Don’t be too formal; make sure you get some personality across, and include a photo if possible. People like to put faces to names when they are outsourcing their work.

Of course, if you are stuck on writing your profile there is another club available to help you. One of the greatest things about Ecademy is the wealth of information available whenever you need it. From finding new suppliers in marketplace to finding information on improving your marketing or business performance; if it hasn’t been talked about on Ecademy then it probably isn’t worth knowing! A good way to use Ecademy is to find your target market by conducting a search on specific words, like consultant or coach. This usually results in a substantial list of people that you can send a message to introduce yourself. Remember, the aim is not to sell to people, but to form relationships first. Once people have got to know you better you could find them passing your details onto their associate who is getting bogged down in paperwork!

The more you use Ecademy and the VAC the more you raise your profile. You will find your statistics at the top of your home page. The better your statistics the higher you appear on the member page. So, what are you waiting for?
For more information visit http://www.ecademy.com/club/Virtual+Assistants+Club