The Holidays and the Virtual Assistant

A conversation between two amazing VAs prompted this post. It was about what a virtual assistant can do to help ease the stress of the holiday season. The answer – a VA can help or even take over some of the things you don’t have the time to do.

• Gifts – Researching and purchasing gifts for family, friends, and business associates.
• Holiday Cards – Hand sign, address, and mail your holiday cards. Send a holiday email to your contact list.
• Holiday Party - I can help in selecting the menu, providing the recipes and the grocery list. Or, find you a caterer.  Going bigger? I can research and secure a banquet room and food service.
• Holiday Travel – Are you planning to travel this holiday season? Let me handle the flight and accommodation details for you and your family.

If you have holiday needs that are not listed above, contact me to discuss them.

Business Planning: 4 Steps to Creating Your Online Business Model Blueprint

I’m in the process of completely rethinking my business model, and that will be my primary focus as I plan this year’s business retreat for myself.  Your business model doesn’t have to be at all complex, but should provide the guiding force for all that you do, like guiding you to the opportunities to accept (and those to decline), the joint ventures and strategic alliances to pursue, and the new ideas you should retain and develop, as well as those to let go of.

Here’s are the 4 steps I’m following as I create the blueprint for my business model:

1.  Make clients pay well for your most valuable commodity — your time.  I see many service business owners tying themselves up with (and tying themselves down to) far too many 1:1 clients.  You have only so many hours in the day, and at some point you’ll hit the wall and not be able to expand the number of 1:1 clients you see.  Sure, you can hire and train additional staff to handle the overflow, but in many cases, you make less money in this model while tripling your headaches.  Make your 1:1 time with clients your highest-fee service, charging a premium fee to dispense your expertise.

2.  Ongoing recurring revenue is key.  Feast or famine seems to shape the life of the service business owner, regardless of industry.  Wouldn’t your life be much more sane if you knew that you could count on recurring revenue each and every month, rather than having to  constantly go out and find new clients?  This was one of the models I adopted early on in my virtual assistant practice, i.e. working exclusively with clients on retainer rather than a “pay as you go” model.  What is it that your clients need from you that you could provide on an ongoing basis with them that isn’t time-intensive for you?

3.  Always have an upgrade.  Never offer a stand-alone product or program that doesn’t have a natural tie-in to the next level of program or service that you offer. If there’s no way to leverage what you’re offering into some type of upgrade, don’t offer it! For example, a free teleclass can lead participants to enroll in a paid short-term group program.  From that program, plan to enroll a certain percentage of those participants into a recurring revenue continuity program. You can then upgrade a percentage of these participants into a live event or small ongoing mentoring program, and from there make an upgrade offer to your premium 1:1 time.

4.  Design the blueprint.  Brainstorm all of the types of programs, products, and services you might offer in your business.  Your list might look like the one below:
 

• Consulting

• 1:1 Service Provision

• Group Coaching/Mentoring/Continuity Programs

• Sale of Info Products

• Private Retreats

• Strategy Sessions

• Live Events

• Speaking

• Information Products or Books

• Licensing/Certification Training

• Teleseminars/Webinars

• Subscription Membership Website

Pick 3-5 of these items that will make up your business model, and then determine what percentage of income you want to derive from each.  Your total needs to equal 100%. Then, determine the order in which you offer the components of your program over the next 1-2 years.  This becomes your blueprint for action.

How do you determine your success? If your business still suffers from feast and famine, take a long, hard look at your business model for the solution. Every offer you make in your business should flow seamlessly into the next, which will result in a steady, predictable income that you can increase over time as you become more expert at designing and following your blueprint.

Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps baby boomers create profitable online retirement businesses by demystifying the steps needed to successfully market a baby boomer business online. Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at == > http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com

The 11 Most Crucial Emotional Triggers That Convert Prospects Into Customers

It’s called “The 11 Most Crucial Emotional Triggers That Convert Prospects Into Customers.”

(In a hurry? Sign up for this complimentary call now here)

The important thing to know is that Sue’s methods work – she’s helped everyone from home-based moms to seasoned business owners double or triple their revenues by ramping up their business marketing.

You see, there’s a monumental shift happening in marketing, and in business.

Previous marketing models are failing and fading. Entrepreneurs who are continuing to operate as they have previously are finding the same old strategies are not working anymore. In fact, they are likely hurting their business.

The “traditional” paradigms for marketing are collapsing. And those who know will be leading the way as they listen to Sue talk about…

Sue will explain it all on this one-time call.  Again, learn more and register for this free teleseminar on August 18 here.

Register Now!

Make Sure You Snag your User Name

I read an article yesterday that came through my Facebook or Twitter about social networking squatters. Today I’m not able to find it. If you posted about this yesterday, please let me know and I will give you the kudos for this one.

Maybe you’re on LinkedIn or Facebook, maybe more. But have you considered or even know about all of the other networking sites out there? Even if you aren’t doing the social networking thing right now, you’ll want to register your name on the various social networking sites. Why? Because if you don’t someone else will!

Imagine your potential or current customers looking for you and finding someone else using your name or your business name. You have no control over the content coming out with your name on it.

Quickly check the availability of your name or your business name using KnowEm.

Work at Home without Distraction

My friend Mike Michalowicz, of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, has combined a list of 155 strategies to eliminate distractions while working at home, called The 155 Ways To Work At Home Without Distraction.  Great ideas if you work from home!

You can’t buy this type of publicity

I watched a video yesterday that Ashton Kutcher tweeted. It’s a great video, see it below. When I watched there had been about 5000 views. This morning I get up and Good Morning America is promoting a story about this couple and their video. I check the views and it has gotten more than a million views since last night. Say ‘Thank you Ashton.’

It’s not easy getting Ashton’s attention. He has almost 3 million followers on Twitter, but follows less than 200 people. So you can’t count on him to get your message out there. So, how can entrepreneurs and small business owners get this type of hype? Piggy back off of a hot or popular story is a great way to drive traffic to your blog (this post).

Blogging and social networking are more important than ever. If you’re not spending some time each and every day working your network, you’re missing out.

Don’t have the time? Hire a virtual assistant to help you out.

Check out the video…

Stay In Business After A Disaster

Whether it’s a natural or man made disaster, you want your business to survive a disaster with little disruption.  How quickly you can get back to business depends on the emergency planning you do today.

1. One of the first things you will need to do is to determine which staff, materials, and equipment are absolutely necessary to keep your business operating.
2. Create procedures for all aspects of your business in case someone has to step in and cover another persons duties.
3. Contact your insurance provider to review your coverage for things like physical loss, business interruption, and flood coverage.  Ask what records they will require after an emergency and include them in your emergency supply kit.
4. Create a contact list that includes all of your suppliers and business contacts.  Include back-up vendors in case your primary is not able to supply you after a disaster.  Keep this list in your emergency supply kit and at an off-site location.
5. What will your business do if you are not able to access its location?  Can you run the business from another location?
6. Define procedures for a crisis.  Make sure everyone knows what they are supposed to do.  Include emergency preparedness information in your internal communications, newsletters, employee email.  Designate an out-of-town number employees can call to leave a message saying they are “OK.”  Provide emergency information in the form of a card that can be placed in a purse or wallet.
7. Review your emergency plans annually. Your business may change as well as your procedures. 

With a little preparation you should be able to minimize the interruption in business in the event of a disaster.

Improve Your Bottom Line with What You Say

When was the last time you thought about what you were actually saying to potential clients? Are you closing the deal more often than not? Or maybe it’s time to revamp your elevator speech or introduction.

Remember potential clients do not want to hear statistics about you and your company; they want to know how your product or service will benefit them and make their life easier.

Here are some guidelines to inspire a winning introduction.

1. Do your homework. What is important to your potential clients? What do they value, what are their struggles, what stresses them out and keeps them up at night?

2. I have taken countless writing and grammar seminars, the one thing that they say is to write at an 8th grade level–the TV Guide is written at a 3rd grade level. You want everyone to understand what you are trying to sell them. Jargon will only impress other people in your field

3. Keep it short and simple-less than 50 words.

4. Start with a question that you know the answer will be ‘yes’. For example, “You know how business owners spend so much time doing their paperwork that they do not have time to do their actual work? I take care of your administrative tasks so you can focus on your billable hours.” This gives them something to relate to.

Remember the person on the other end of this conversation is either your ideal client or knows someone who is. Giving them a clear picture of what you do so they think of you when they run into someone looking for particular talents.

Manage Your Time Efficiently

Running your business takes a lot of time.  Everyone has the same amount of time each day, so why do some people achieve more?

Successful business owners realize what their time is worth and spend their valuable time adding to their bottom line.  Figure out what your time is worth, and then decide ‘what is the most productive way to spend my time?’  The little things can sometimes take up a good portion of your day.

Do you actively seek out new clients, and what about your current clients?  Do you take the time each day or week to prospect new clients and keep in touch with current clients? Or are you getting caught up in busy work?

Think of all the things that you do throughout your business day.  Can someone else be handling the things you don’t have time to learn or the things you don’t like to do?  Successful business owners delegate certain activities so they are able to focus on what they do best and they are able to achieve greater success.

Now days, you have no excuse for not working efficiently.  There are a host of programs and web sites that offer ways to streamline your business.  Take a look or hire someone to look for ways to automate some of your procedures.

When you take the time to make changes to your business, you will be more successful.

Is Your Business Running You…

Instead of You Running Your Business?

Between your clients, lenders, title companies, and trying to actually have a life; do you find that there isn’t enough time in the day? Do you worry that important issues will slip through the cracks? Save yourself a lot of time and money by hiring a Virtual Assistant.

What is a Virtual Assistant? A Virtual Assistant is an independent business owner who provides administrative support from her own fully equipped office. Virtual Assisting is a profession born from the advancement of technology. The concept is to enter into a long-term partnership with entrepreneurs and small businesses, to provide administrative and personal support. VAs are worldwide and networked. When you hire a VA you’ve actually hired a knowledgebase you can’t get by hiring a traditional employee.

What does this have to do with real estate? Today’s consumers expect to be kept in the loop and to receive immediate answers regarding their affairs. Realtors are busy people and, when available to talk, don’t always have the answer on hand.

Working with a Virtual Assistant can take your business to the next level. Having someone dedicated solely to the transaction process releases you of administrative responsibilities and allows greater productivity. Your listing presentation can contain the fact that your client can access his or her transaction 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They don’t get frustrated trying to track you down for the answer to a simple question; they log on and see the status of their transaction. Your cell phone is not attached to your ear all day long because the lender and title company have access to the transaction on-line too. And you don’t have to purchase any additional software!

With the number of people involved in a single transaction, from inception to closing, information is being disseminated multiple times, to multiple parties. Keep a common platform in control of the critical communications. How many hours do you spent on a single transaction? 10? 20? Utilizing a Virtual Assistant can save you a lot of time and make you money.

Just imagine all parties communicate and retrieve data from one centralized location via the web and your Virtual Assistant takes care of all the administration.

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