Celebrating International Virtual Assistants Day!

Today is International Virtual Assistants Day! Proposed by the online advocacy group, Alliance for Virtual Businesses (A4VB), IVAD is now officially registered with Chases Calendar of Events, the recognized authority of special days, weeks and months. IVAD will appear in the 2007 edition and will be held annually on the third Friday of May. The inaugural celebration of International Virtual Assistants Day coincides with a three-day assembly sponsored by the Online International Virtual Assistants Convention (OIVAC) running from May 18 – 20, 2006. Virtual Assistants worldwide will display the free IVAD logo and creed on their websites.

I'm so excited to be taking part in this celebration for two reasons. It's time that this industry receives the recognition it deserves. There are are more that 5,000 of us working worldwide. But also it's my daughter Chloe's nineth birthay. Afterall if it wasn't for the fact that I wanted to spend more time with her almost five years ago, I never would have discovered this great industry. So five years later and two kids later, becoming a VA is even more meaningful. Plus, my daughters are already interested in business. They don't have to follow in my footsteps, but I'm glad they already understand that going solo as a business owner, no matter what industry, isn't all that scary.

So after I speak about Online Newsroom first thing in the morning, I'm off to spend what promises to be a beautiful spring day with my beautiful daughters!

I Can Play William Shatner!

So at 1 a.m. this morning I was talking to one of my friends and vendors, Jennifer Speaker of CompuCoach back in Chicago. I was about to get into bed after a long day at the office (Boy, it felt good to accomplish every task on my to-do list!) when I heard the Skype chat feature beeping on my phone. It was Jen and I was helping her test her Skype headset for a Virtual Assistants conference we're both speaking at this weekend.

As I was talking about how much I loved my dual Skype phone and how much money it has saved me she says, "You know you're a celebrity back home! Everyone always knows you!" "No they don't, " I laughed. "Seriously, and if you don't believe me, take a look at this email I'm about to send you."

The subject line said, "THIS is why you're famous." She revealed in the body of the mail that she found the following content on one of the pages on the Skype's website.

"So, if you have a Chicago-based SkypeIn number, but you’re living somewhere in the suburbs of Paris, your Chicago area friends - or anyone! - can just dial your SkypeIn number, and your Skype on the other side of the world starts ringing... and your friends are only paying whatever their phone company charges them for making a phone call to Chicago."

I laughed so hard when I saw that. While it could be me, there are billions of people on this planet. My reply to her via email was, "Then I sure hope Skype hires me to be their spokesperson like William Shatner was for Priceline.com!" Heck, I'll lie across a piano like a lounge singer, do jumping jacks - whatever they want. Skype, if you're reading this, I can totally be your Bill Shatner - it would be a real treat!

Discovering Niki Saint Phalle

It's nice to know grown-ups can still learn something from their children. I had a nice surprise this morning when I picked up my daughter Chloe from Saturday class. (Remember, kids in France have school some Saturday mornings, which still remains a mystery to me!)

When we went downstairs to the gym to view the student art exhibits, I discovered an artist totally unknowned to me. Her name was Niki Saint Phalle, and it was a real treat learning about her life and her work.

All these weeks when Chloe had been working in plaster and drawing strangely colorful animals and women, and I had no idea why - other than the fact that it was for art class.

Chloe took to the work really easily (she likes collages, clay, mosaics and pottery). She also appreciated hearing from her teacher that Saint Phalle not only shared her background (American mom and French dad), but also grew up in Neuilly-sur-Seine, which is in walking distance from our home. Tomorrow we're off to visit some of Saint Phalle's work near the Pompidou museum. It should be fun.

Because we like Castles

Yes, I can complain about living in France, but I do love the spring time because then I can get out of the house. Because today was a holiday - these days I lose track - my husband and I hopped in the car with the kids in search of a castle. My daughter Chloe adores everything about them and is often disappointed when there aren't any moats. But Chantilly didn't disappoint and she loved it. Leave it to Jillian to become fasinated with the ducks and fish in the pond found by the entrance. Although I have to admit, they have some of the largest fish I've ever seen. They looked like catfish and they were wrestling with the ducks for bread! We went through every room and took a few tours. It was great fun and we didn't even have to travel that far. Let's see, we've already been to Versailles as well so we'll have to check out book to see how many more we can check off before September comes!

Sleep Around the Clock

Belle and Sebastian have it right. After days of Internet connections mishaps, I am so tired. I've just written a total of 30 press releases today! Ten were for client Susie Hollands and her upcoming IVY paris Art Collective. The other 20 were for the speakers who will be presenting at this year's Online International Virtual Assistants Convention. When Sharon Williams from OIVAC called today, I jokingly said, "please no mas!" But I'll just sleep around the clock and all wil be okay again.

Bad Customer Service

As an American I complain A LOT about living in France. It's usually the little things that bug me, like really bad customer service and the fact that the French seem only seem to know three phrases, "No," "Impossible," and "It's not my fault."

My negativity stems from today's events. I just returned to France after a two-week vacation back home in Chicago. As I'm packing our things, I log on to the computer (a habit I can't seem to break) only to find that I have no Internet connection. I reset my WIFI connection - still nothing. I call the ISP to find out what's going on. They just tell me to repeat all the steps I've already done. I can feel heat rising in my hair! Then begins round after round of representatives telling me what they couldn't do. Finally, after a 10 days of screaming at them (all that time I had use a AOL dial up connection) I finally get them to come out. They replace the router - exactly the problem I told them it was. Then before leaving, "Madam, you'll need to wait another 12 hours for the router to reset itself!" Normally, I would have spontaneously combusted by now, but since my trip, I've decided to turn over a new leaf. I simply resigned myself to the fact that there's anything I can do about it but hurry my trip home. I hope to move back to the States in 2007!

An Open Letter to French Student Demonstrators

Memo to French on Job Security: N'est Existe Pas

My Letters to the editors for Time Magazine, Chicago Tribune and International Herald Tribune. Some said it was bold to write from Paris. To me, it was just an honest personal opinion. Trust me, a lot of French businesss people agree with my overall sentiments. They just don't express it in public.

Dear Editor,

I am responding the piece this week’s Time International edition entitled, “Advance and Retreat” by James Graff. My only words of advice to the young students demonstrating and rioting throughout Paris are, “Get over it. Job security no longer exists.”

As an American woman in her late 30s currently living and running a business in France, I can say this with utter confidence because I come from that first generation of new workers in America, who graduated from college during the early 90s when our country was in a serious economic recession. There were no jobs for anyone let alone recent graduates. Imagine our frustration when so many of us had worked our way through college, paying expensive tuition, only to discover that temporary positions or low-paying jobs at coffee shops and copy stores were the only jobs awaiting us. Many of my friends returned to school to attain masters’ degrees. I myself spent the first two years out of college working unpaid internships. Actually to me, that’s exactly what the CPE would be for young people in France except better – at least they would be “paid” internships.

Despite the Prime Minister Dominque de Villepin’s motives, what he is initiating will actually help not hurt France. The world markets are changing rapidly. France needs employment flexibility. Without it France, Italy and Spain – all countries within the European Union with some of the highest unemployment rates among youth – would not be able to compete in the global marketplace. The youth are trying to hold on to the past, and they want their cake and eat it too. However, if France doesn’t move with the times by reforming antiquated employment and work policies, they will end up “taking part in that race to the bottom.”

At end of the day my generation learned that we’re the only ones who can secure our future. That would be a good lesson for French students to start learning today.