From the Desk of Janet Barclay

It really shouldn’t surprise me, because it happens every year, but there is just no comparison between life before and after Labour Day. I’ve just had one of the busiest weeks I can remember in a very long time.

It started with my presentation Monday night at the POC Toronto Chapter meeting on Maximizing Your Internet Marketing. That was an amazing experience which combined the thrill of speaking about a topic that excites me; reconnecting with Karen Shinn, with whom I had my first meal at my first Conference back in 2002, and Lisa Rosen, one of my early website clients, among others; meeting some of the organizers I network with online face to face for the first time; and, of course, making some new contacts. Being in Toronto also gave me an opportunity to enjoy a meal with my dad and his friend, and to drive in areas of the city I’d heard of all my life but never seen. (I didn’t learn to drive until I’d moved out of town, so most of my travelling was done by subway.)

Thursday night was the Golden Horseshoe Virtual Assistants Group Special Evening Event, and the days leading up to it were filled with last minute registrations and cancellations, keeping track of the various door prizes that had been offered and received, and other related activities. It was definitely worth all the effort when I saw and heard that room full of VAs and guests thoroughly enjoying themselves. The staff and the food at Paradiso were outstanding, and our speaker, Canada’s Diamond Coach Adele Alfano, was as sparkling as ever.

In the meantime, we were also facing the deadline for exhibitors registering for Face to Face in order to be included in the event guide, and with Scott and I both working on the project this year, it seemed the phone would never stop ringing! Our hard work has paid off once again, as nearly every available spot has been booked, and we discovered that Face to Face has been nominated as Best Employment Service in the Hamilton Spectator’s Readers Choice Awards. Voting takes place on their site until midnight on September 25, if you would like to support us.

If that wasn’t enough, I also learned that I’ve been nominated for best organizing website and blog for the LA Organizing Awards! I don’t know too much about that yet, but will share more information when I do.

While all this exciting stuff was going on, it seems that when the kids went back to school, all the small business owners went back to work! All of a sudden clients I hadn’t heard from during most of the  summer were ready to have me get started on new projects, and I’ve been contacted by at least four potential new clients. Two were people I’ve worked with, and one was a referral from someone I know quite well, confirming the value of traditional networking. The fourth was a bit more of a surprise. When I answered the phone, the voice on the other end said, “You retweeted something I said this week, so I went to your profile and saw that you are a virtual assistant, and I’d like to try your services.” Just like that. So social networking works too!