The Savvy Entrepreneur

Today marks the kick off of MaestroMonth ‘09 where you can choose up to 3 FREE trainings by some of the today’s best-known teachers.

Some of my personal favorite presenters are (including their topic and presentation date):

• Maryam Webster — July 1st
  The ETHOS Method: Better Sex, More Profits & True Bliss
• John Gray — July 6th
  Why Mars & Venus Collide: Gender Specific Nutritional Insights for Reducing Stress
• Jack Canfield (of course registration is full!) — July 7th
  The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be
• Marci Shimoff — July 14th
  Happy for No Reason
• Bea Fields — July 15th
  Blogging 80/20 Style! The Fastest Way to Get New Clients in 90 Minutes a Day
• Milana Leshinsky — July 16th
  Turning Your Knowledge Into a Multiple Income Stream Empire
• Terri Levine — July 21st
  To a Million and Beyond: Principles for Breaking the 7-Figure Barrier
  
• Hale Dwoskin– July 21st
  Introduction to the Sedona Method
• Michael Port (I secretly love to hate him!)– July 22nd
  Think Big Revolution
• Jennifer Louden– July 23rd
  Dissolving the Blocks to Self-Care and Self-Kindness
• Morgana Rae — July 27th
  Financial Alchemy: Proven Steps to Be a Money Magnet
• John Assaraf — July 29th
  Neuroscience of Success
• Mari Smith– July 29th
  Supercharge Your Business with Social Media
• Dave Buck– July 29th
  Thriving in the Inspiration Economy
• Molly Gordon– July 30th
  Thriving in the Sweet Spot: Why You Don’t Need a Niche to Succeed

Like I said, you only get to pick 3 of the 60+ seminars to attend during MaestroMonth.

So… which 3 will you be attending?

There is always an element of chance and you must be willing to live with that element. If you insist on certainty, you will paralyze yourself. — Jean Paul Getty

Really quick post. Today is a holiday in Quebec, and we’re getting ready to go out biking. I didn’t have time to type out this post, so I recorded it for you to listen.

Click here to listen to today’s post. [a little under 11 minutes -- I know!]

It’s not edited, not scripted, and I did it in one take. So there are lots of “ahs,” “ums” and long pauses. I hope it makes sense.

I’ll write it out later on so you can all read it! Enjoy!

Have a great one!

So You Want To Be An Entrepreneur: How to decide if starting a business is really for you by Jon Gillespie-Brown

I’ve had this on my shelf for a while, mostly because I didn’t think it would apply to you or I.

It is primarily written for people who are in a job, thinking about venturing out as an entrepreneur.

However, it will also remind those of us already in business why we started in the first place! You’ll be reconnected with your passion.

It’s written as an 8-part mentoring session, so the language is very reassuring, but the harsh truth of running a business is laid out in plain language.

By the end of the book (or before) you’ll know if you’re cut out for this whole entrepreneurship thing or not. You’ll know if your idea is in line with your passion and aligns positively with all aspects of your life. Deep stuff, really. Important stuff.

You’ll have access to free resources, tips and worksheets.

My favorite feature are the powerfully inspirational quotes found throughout the book.

You even get to help other entrepreneurs when you purchase a copy (quoted from the SYWTBAE website):

“I plan to donate the proceeds from the sale of this book to an organization that I feel is making a meaningful difference, the Grameen Foundation.  Grameen Foundation is a US-based nonprofit that seeks to empower the world’s poorest people to lift themselves out of poverty with dignity through access to financial services and to information. Learn more at www.grameenfoundation.org”

Find out if you’re cut out to be an entrepreneur, or develop a sharper focus on the vision and future of your current business. Either way, you’ll come away thinking about yourself in ways you never have before.

Happy reading!

Welcome to this edition of Weekly VA Marketing Tip! This series is specifically designed to help virtual assistants avoid marketing insanity. Every Monday, my posts will prompt you to accomplish one specific marketing action to promote, brand or position your professional virtual business.

Implement these tips each week and I guarantee you’ll sustain your marketing momentum, increase credibility and visibility in your field, build stronger relationships, boost your ‘know, like and trust factor,’ get more ideal clients looking for you, and have a consistent marketing game plan for your virtual assistant business.

You might even start to like marketing!

“What Else?”

So, last week’s Weekly VA Marketing Tip was a heavy one, so I’ll go easy on you this time ’round! (Now you have more time to continue working on your small report!)

This week, it’s really simple. I want you to send an individual, personalized email message to each of your current clients (include past clients if your list isn’t long enough) and ask this simple question: What else can I do for you?

That’s it.

It’s all about creating front of mind awareness — which also goes by its ugly acronym, FOMA.

Some may have nothing for you now, but you may be surprised what comes your way because you took the initiative. If you get a positive reply, call them right away to find out more.

Why not continue the email conversation? Two reasons:

1. If your clients are lazy anything like me, they figure it’s faster to actually do the task than to type an email about it. You calling them saves them the frustration of tediously typing out their instructions.
2. Your clients are busy, that’s why they needed you in the first place. They may not have time to respond to your email right away. You calling them saves you from playing the email reply waiting game.

Pick up the phone and get them to tell you what they need help with.

Let us know how it goes!

Have an awesome week.

Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. — Helen Keller

Tawnya Sutherland from VAnetworking.com has put together an exciting summertime lineup of 28 educational workshops for Virtual Assistants. The event is called Virtuosos Seminar Series 2009 and kicks off on July 6th.

The cost to attend ALL 28 presentations is $27. There are only 100 seats available. I predict they’ll be sold out within a week or so.

Find out more here:
==> http://www.vavirtuosos.com/

I have been invited to speak on July 27th at 9:00pm Eastern on How to promote your expertise, even if you don’t think you’re an expert (theme chosen based on YOUR votes — thank you!).

It’ll be the first time I give this presentation, so I’m very excited (and a little nervous) about it!

Will I “see” you there? I hope so!

If you’re anything like me, you’ve got a huge collection of MP3s, audio books and podcasts loaded on your MP3 player just waiting to be heard. The challenge I’m having is finding the time listening to everything on my iPod — including programs and audio books I’ve paid good money for!

I usually bring my iPod with me when playing outside with the kids. But, Zach, who’s almost 4 year old, is increasingly demanding my constant listening attention for his numerous observations and many more questions (the other day he asked “Mommy, how do we get hiccups?”).

So I’m either:

1. nodding my head while not really hearing what my kids are saying (how do they KNOW when you’re not really listening??) or
2. constantly pausing my iPod to hear or comment on what they’re trying to say.

And now, Jasmine (who’s 10 months old… can you believe it?) has a new hobby — yanking the ear buds out of my ears.

So the whole multi-tasking-while-caring-for-the-kid-thing is not working so well anymore.

Then I tried listening to my iPod as I made supper. In theory, this is an awesome idea. Not so much in practice — not for me, anyways.

First, I’m a butter finger and a grease magnet — NOT a good combination in the kitchen. No matter what I’m making, if it’s gonna splash, you know it’s going to splash on me. That being said, I don’t want to accidentally drop my iPod in boiling water or in my tuna casserole.

Second, when I make supper, it’s usually during the worst part of the day — you know the witching hour? Yeah, we get that at our house. Jasmine is literally at my ankles begging to be picked up and the other 2 are either getting into things they shouldn’t or quarreling. So having my iPod plugged in my ears, while giving me a much-needed break from the chaos, is not a good idea.

What’s a busy Mom by day & moonlighting coach to do?

Enter Livespeakr! It’s an ultra portable sound system for your iPod or iPhone. I LOVE it!!! The sound quality is AWESOME, the battery lasts up to 16 hours and I can listen to it while it’s recharging. (Here’s my Livespeakr in the kitchen).

While I don’t bring my Livespeakr outdoors, I play it in the house (usually in the kitchen) while taking care of the kids — giving less of an impression I’m ignoring them.

I have a few kids books on my iPod, so during breakfast, I’ll place it on the kitchen table with one of their stories while I clean up or feed Jasmine. Ditto for snack or drawing time (like Zach’s doing in this picture during his sisters’ nap time today).

While the kids are playing nicely (yes, it happens from time to time!), I’ll go in the kitchen and continue listening to one of my audio books.

This weekend, I carried it from room to room while housecleaning. Hubby took the kids outside, so I had peace and quiet to (finally) listen to my Enneagram podcasts AND clean at the same time. Talk about multi tasking!!

Last weekend, I placed my Livespeakr next to my printer (see the picture below) and listened to Brain Audit 3.2 while organizing my office. It was great not having my bulky iPod in my pocket or getting tangled up in my ear bud cord!

Those are some of the ways I’m using it.

I interviewed inventor/co-founder, Erik Groset two weeks ago, and he shared some other VERY COOL ways busy entrepreneurs are using Livespeakr to increase their productivity (and boost their coolness factor). But I’ll save that for another post! (Stay tuned to find out how you can snag one in an upcoming contest).

In the meantime, check out the Livespeakr site for all the dirt on this hip product from a hip company. Get one for yourself while you’re there. At only $85, it’s a great gift idea for your favorite client!

Click here for the audio version of this post.

Welcome to this edition of Weekly VA Marketing Tip! This series is specifically designed to help virtual assistants avoid marketing insanity. Every Monday, my posts will prompt you to accomplish one specific marketing action to promote, brand or position your professional virtual business.

Implement these tips each week and I guarantee you’ll sustain your marketing momentum, increase credibility and visibility in your field, build stronger relationships, boost your ‘know, like and trust factor,’ get more ideal clients looking for you, and have a consistent marketing game plan for your virtual assistant business.

You might even start to like marketing!

Create a Small Report

In order to be perceived as an expert Virtual Assistant, you must consistently provide information that your target market craves.

One of the best ways to do this is by creating information products.

Information products take many forms:

• Teleclasses, Workshops, Webinars
• Audio education
• Video training
• Ebooks, special reports, white papers, guidebooks
• Membership sites
• Ecourses
• Tutorials
• Programs
• Live or recorded training events
• etc…

The possibilities are endless.

This week, I’d like you to create an information product — a small report — no more than 10 pages, as the free offering for joining your mailing list.

If you already have a free (or pink spoon) offering, turn it into a paid product.

The key to creating a successful info product is to provide valuable, relevant, educational content! You do this by addressing a very specific burning issue for a very focused audience.

Remember the survey you conducted last week? What issue, pain, problem or challenge came up consistently? Which one will you choose as the topic for your small report?

Once you’ve decided on the topic, you’re ready for the next steps in creating your info product:

1. Choose a title.
2. Brain dump everything you know about the issues, pain, problem or challenge.
3. Break everything you came up with in step 2 down into 4-5 main headings.
4. Write 2-4 paragraph under each heading.
5. Put it aside (keep it close).

As you go through each work day helping clients this week, think of ideas, tips, shortcuts, solutions, answers, examples or case studies to support and illustrate your points. Add them to your document.

At the end of the week, you’ll have most of your information product done, or have, at the very least, a solid foundation to work from.

You could then hire a professional copywriter to add what’s missing (I personally love Jaime Lee Mann!).

Or you can add the finishing touches yourself (I’ve had great success using Small Reports Fortune tool for myself and past VA clients — you’ll love the 7-day checklist to complete your report in just one week).

Aim for completion, not perfection.

Set it up in your email follow-up program then share it with the world!

Place the “get my free report” contact form prominently on your website and blog.

If this is a paid product, set it up in your shopping cart and start promoting it.

From this one small information product, you can spin off other products and programs to fill your marketing funnel. But we’ll work on that another time!

Have an awesome week and please let us know what topic you decide on!

You will never find the time for anything. If you want time, you must make it. — Charles Burton

A huge thanks to Nicole Munoz for writing this article especially for The Savvy Entrepreneur. Enjoy!

Best Practices When Outsourcing from One Virtual Assistant to Another

Author: Nicole Munoz

It’s the best feeling in the world to get a job done to perfection for your client. Your reputation gets better, the positive feedback is there for prospective clients to see, and your business volume increases. What do you do when you need help with a client’s project and decide to outsource that know-how to someone else in your field? There are some very specific things to look for, to be cautious of, and steps to follow before outsourcing to another Virtual Assistant (VA).

For the person outsourcing to a fellow VA:

1. Make sure you know who you are dealing with. Research the person beforehand being sure to check other client’s feedback, see how long they’ve been a VA, read their profile and portfolio, and don’t be afraid to ask for sample work!
2. They should be reliable. Define what needs to be done and when it should be completed. Make a timeline of goals and the dates they should be met. Follow through with your VA and be sure projects are getting done on time!
3. Their level of expertise, quality of their work, and their skill set should closely match yours, yet be specific to their area of knowledge. Remember, it’s your reputation on the line!
4. It’s recommended that they submit all completed work to you, not directly to the client. This is to ensure that the work is done in a timely manner and that the content meets the quality you pride yourself on.
5. Consider having an agreement drawn up (if one is not already present through an outsourcing service) outlining the above expectations as well as any others you see fit for your circumstance and clientele.

For the outsourced Virtual Assistant:

1. Have integrity in the work you produce and in your communications with your hiring VA. The better your work is, the more likely you are to be hired again for a future project.
2. Become an expert! If some research is necessary as to the exact industry the client is in, do a Google search on the subject and get informed. Your content will reflect a better presentation.
3. Plan to abide by the partner VA’s rules and written directions. Payment is usually contingent on projects being completed as directed, so make it happen; get paid, and plan to get hired again when they need you next time!
4. Always check with your hiring VA before directly contacting clients or promoting yourself. Just like you, the other VA is trying to run a business and grow their client base.

Most of these best practices are common sense, but should still be stated and agreed upon prior to working together with another Virtual Assistant. It’s good to stay on caution’s side until you get the chance to know and trust the people who help you. After you’ve reached that point, the benefit is building some lasting and professional relationships with others in your field and referring business to each other on a mutual and regular basis. Both of your businesses will inevitably grow as client’s needs are met…and isn’t that the whole point of outsourcing?

About the author: Nicole Munoz is the owner of Start Ranking Now, an SEO outsourcing company providing articles, blogs, and SEO ranking expertise. She is a Link Building Expert who also conducts SEO training in San Diego.