Answer Guy Central

There are lots of reasons to contract out pieces of the work that keep your business in business. We’re talking flexibility issues, liability issues, expert-availability issues, and more.

But it can be hard to know who to hire as you execute business change. You really no more want to spend your days continuously scouring the earth for talent than you want the liability of having employees sitting idly on your payroll.

The United States Congress is now considering a law that will make this issue all the more difficult to navigate. Under proposed Senate bill S. 3254 Employee Misclassification Prevention Act, (EMPA), it will become harder than ever to hire independent contractors and maintain their classifications as non-employees.

This is an old issue. Microsoft was famously forced to reclassify a large number of their contractors as employees over a decade ago, and in reaction have gone so far as to make a free spreadsheet template available to help you avoid the same fate that befell them.

S.3254 will make the issue even harder. But we’ve got a simple way for you to short-circuit the process.

Hire Virtual VIP.

Yeah that’s self-serving, so I’ll amend it: hire whatever corporate-organized Virtual Assistant Service you like. But S.3254 points out one (more) reason to hire us, and underscores a point I made in this post: you can’t really do business unless you are a business.

When you hire Virtual VIP Virtual Assistant Services and The Answer Guy to handle your overrun, you’re engaging not me, nor any of the people who get work through Virtual VIP, but a corporate entity. There’s no 1099 contractor relationship to maintain; you’re engaging a Nevada-based C-Class Corporation via W-9. The onus of making sure you aren’t hiring employees comes out of your hands and becomes the responsibility of PC-VIP Inc.

And we manage the people who do the work, so your Human Resources expenditures go down, too. Employment management just doesn’t get any easier.

Thank you, United States Congress, for S.3254 . It isn’t often that we get free commercials like The Employee Misclassification Prevention Act.

Have a great Business Change Friday!

Virtual VIP Tips April 2009
PC-VIP Inc./ Virtual VIP Business and Computer Care for Those with Better Things To Do New York City . . . and Your Desktop!

Social Media is Like Teen Sex

Everyone Wants to Do It . . .

. . . No one actually knows how. When finally done, there is surprise it’s not better

WOW, I wish I had written that. For that matter, I wish I could tell you who did.

Welcome to the new reality.

I came across that line here. The author I was reading found it on this blog. And that person acknowledges that he read it on Twitter, but has (intentionally!) chosen not to reveal who wrote it originally.

I expect I could find the author if I cared enough to check. I don’t, even though I think that quote is brilliant, and that’s (part of) the point.

We’re now operating our businesses in a world where everyone is talking at everyone else, quoting and requoting, sometimes revealing sources and sometimes not.

The curmudgeon in me wants to rant about “these kids today”, or complain about the strange new way we’re creating an even stranger new world. That’s not my point, though. This is:

PAY ATTENTION TO ALL THOSE SILLY ARTICLES ABOUT TWITTER. And Facebook. And LinkedIn. The Virtual World is not virtual any more. It’s here. It’s Real. And you live in it.

Oh: and you need to wear a condom. Even though it’s Virtual.

Virtual VIP can help you manage your changing world, but nothing happens until you decide it’s time . . .

Well, just keep talking, please . . .

About Virtual VIP

PC-VIP Inc.

Business and Computer Care for Those with Better Things To Do

Virtual Assistants, Business Coaching and Consulting, and Rent-a-C.O.O. Services

New York City, and On Your Desktop

PC-VIP Inc.

+1 646 827-3800

http://pc-vip.com

http://answerguy.com

Virtual VIP Tips March 2009
PC-VIP Inc./ Virtual VIPBusiness and Computer Care for Those with Better Things To Do New York City . . . and Your Desktop!
Welcome to the March 2009 issue of Virtual VIP Tips. We like to say “hi” about once a month, and I want to say that I’m always here if you need help, too. Read on, and have a great day! Sincerely, Jeff Yablon President & CEO PC-VIP Inc./Virtual VIP

Financial Corner
Sell a Thing-a-ma-jig, Pay Your Taxes Ever wonder what the government thinks of you buying and selling stuff in Virtual Worlds?Of Course not. You’re not a kid; you don’t even know what that means. Well listen up, because you may be digging into your pocket.

On Page 213 of the US Taxpayer Advocate’s Annual Report to Congress, there’s a recommendation that the IRS get aggressive about collecting taxes on income earned when one user sells things to another while playing on-line computer games. Yes, seriously. Sell something that doesn’t exist, pay taxes with real money. And this is from your advocate.

I’m not sure I even understand it. Except for the part about the government reaching into my pocket. Again.

Sure do hope your accountant is up to date on THAT part of the tax code!

What’s the lesson? One we preach all the time: Things are changing. And you have to pay attention, and change, too. And maybe pay taxes, as well.

Here’s a simple, fairly inexpensive idea: try selling at a trade show off in the far reaches of the dimly-lit booths. Talk about a Virtual World! Not a trade show in your industry, by the way . . . trade shows from other industries where your services might be needed. DO SOMETHING. Now.

The world is in a constant state of flux. Virtual VIP can help you manage that change, but nothing happens until you decide it’s time . . .

	Spotlight Guilt Enslaves. Responsibility Liberates. Think about it. Shut off the voices you’ve been listening to since you were a child and start moving toward what you want, not what you’ve been told you’re supposed to want. Forgive those around you for the things they’ve “done to you” . . . and move forward. You’ll feel great, and your results will be great. And matter. To you.

	Testimonial GREAT results. My business is transformed, and I have Virtual VIP to thank.And my family’s happier, too! -M Wildstrom, San Jose

How Do We Communicate in 2009?

An interesting conundrum:

You receive a piece of e-mail. It’s from someone you’ve never heard of. It’s blatant marketing/sales stuff. No pretence about anything else, no content that you (with any luck) find at least a little bit useful in the hopes that you are encouraged to stay in touch. Just a sales pitch. No opt-out link on the e-mail, even.

And then you notice that your e-mail address is in the “TO:” line, along with that of several dozen, or hundred, or thousand others. You can see them all. They can all see you.

You “respond to all”. You express your opinion about getting the email in this way. The fact that it was spam? No big deal. The fact that your e-mail address has been revealed to all those other people? Sloppy, unprofessional, and opening you up to inclusion on that many more lists.

A couple of people respond back, negatively. You’re accused of being as bad as the person who sent out the original letter. It’s only a couple, so you presume those were his real-world friends trying to make an example of you for having the moxy to call him out publicly.

You then do exactly what you were thinking was going to happen to you: you include your new peers on your own mailing list, and you send notes like this one.

And you hear from the same couple of people. They are angry and indignant. They demand you remove them from your mailing list. They could have removed themselves by using the “unsubscribe link” clearly visible in the email. You don’t lecture them, and you don’t ignore their wishes; you remove them.

The Big Question:

HAVE YOU DONE ANYTHING WRONG?

I’m interested in your answer, and if you have an opinion I hope you’ll share it with me.

The business world has changed. Heck, the entire world has changed. Find me a parent of a child between the ages of 11 and 19 and I guarantee they’ll tell you how they really, really, really just don’t understand this new world with texting instead of talking, multiple simultaneous IM sessions, and “C U L8R”s .

So is being opportunistic by making new contacts the way I described above cool? Or is it crossing a line. Or lines?

You may hit “delete” now.

Hi there. I’m baaaack!

I never make New Year’s Resolutions. I could explain, but my guess is that those of you who agree with me will find nothing worth reading, and those who don’t will think you haven’t, so . . . onward:

The PC-VIP Inc. Blog has laid fallow for over a year, as I’ve been busy doing other things, like building Virtual VIP into what we believe and have been told is the most amazing Business Consultancy anywhere.

Starting now, we’ll be replicating our monthly newsletter here. You can subscribe to the newsletter for immediate delivery using this link:

Here’s January 2009:

Subject: Tips and Help from Virtual VIP

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Virtual VIP Tips January 2009 PC-VIP Inc./ Virtual VIPBusiness and Computer Care for Those with Better Things To Do New York City . . . and Your Desktop! Dear Jeff,Welcome to the latest issue of Virtual VIP Tips. Our friends tell us we’re really helping by saying “hi” a few times a year, and I want to say that I’m always here if you need help, too. Read on, and have a great day!Sincerely, Jeff Yablon President & CEO PC-VIP Inc./Virtual VIP Is Your Word Good?EmbargoesOnce upon a time, and for quite a few years, I worked in the press. I did, radio, TV, print, Internet . . . everything. People quoted me on stuff. Every now and again I was asked to accept an embargo on information; I wasn’t allowed to talk about it until a particular date, but because I needed lead time to do my job and serve the needs of those I wrote about I needed information early. I signed those embargoes because I had to, and because it made my professional life better and served the needs of the people who relied on me for information. There’s been some talk lately about how the Internet has changed the world, and it’s true. If you’re a blogger and trying to get known, you must be ahead of everybody else; the days of “waiting for the next issue” are over. I accept that the world has changed. And you need to accept it too. And move accordingly. A few weeks ago, though, Michael Arrington came out publicly to say that his organization will no longer honor embargoes. They’ll sign them, but they’ll then ignore them. Mr. Arrington is very successful. But editors before him (and he is an editor) have been successful and still honored their word. So I don’t think this is about success corrupting people. I also don’t think it’s about there being a new breed of ever-more-arrogant executives out there. And I have no comment about Mr. Arrington in particular. My comment is for you: this is a tough world, and getting tougher by the minute. It’s changing at the speed of light. You’ve got to be ready to make decisions, and you’ve got to make them. And you still need to keep your word. You’re a V.I.P., aren’t you? It may stand for Important in most readings, but it’s also for Influential. Influence everyone you know. And do it the right way. It pays off. Financial Corner Dilbert and the End of Capitalism Do you know Dilbert?A very funny daily comic strip by a very smart man, Dilbert looks at the world through the eyes of a cubicle-dwelling engineer at a big company. And Scott Adams, that smart man, writes a blog that examines . . . pretty much whatever is on his mind. Recently, Scott talked about one of the many ways the (business) world is changing. Go read it. Give it some thought. And then tell me what you think. The world is in a constant state of flux. Let Virtual VIP help you manage that change. About Virtual VIP PC-VIP Inc. Business and Computer Care for Those with Better Things To DoNew York City, and On Your Desktop PC-VIP Inc. +1 646 827-3800 http://pc-vip.com http://answerguy.com In This Issue Is Your Word Good? Dilbert and the End of Capitalism Spotlight There are some rules that you just can’t ignore. We have some ideas here, and we’re happy to share, but really, it’s YOU that make these rules. So . . . start now. They’re about business, relationships, everything. They’re about you, and about your business. But until you make them, they’re . . . vapor. What are you waiting for? Testimonial GREAT results. My business is transformed, and I have Virtual VIP to thank.And my family’s happier, too! -M Wildstrom, San Jose

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