There are days that I sit here and I’m so engrossed in what I’m doing that I lose all track of time.

Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do. I love the drive that I have when I’m “in the zone” but along with that drive comes the difficulty to stop working.

There was a time that I saw the internet going down as a curse. It added pressure. How was I possibly going to get my work done? Who had emailed me? How could I blog?

And then? One day I did see it as a blessing.

Because on that day, there was no choice but to go outside and play. While I was waiting for the kids to get home, I played with the dog. We played fetch, or rather, I played fetch. I have the only labrador retriever who doesn’t retrieve. She likes for me to throw the ball and then she’ll run and get it and drop it making me go and get it.

It was a great day and I wouldn’t have taken the time to enjoy it had my internet not gone down.

So how about you?

What do you do when the internet goes down?

Until next time…

Heather

Writing is a skill that doesn’t come easily to everyone; some people have a natural writing flow that almost bursts off a page while others stumble and trip over the words they write. If you happen to fall into the second category, don’t let that stop you. You can improve your writing skills by using the following tips.

Like it or not, your grammar skills play a big part in your writing. You may not want to think about nouns, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions or prepositions, but if you want to be a good writer you need to know what they are and how to use them correctly. Using the proper punctuation will ensure that people are reading your sentences correctly. For instance, if you intended a sentence to end, but didn’t end it with a period, your readers wouldn’t be able to make sense out of your writing. Don’t forget to use the spell-check function that came with the word processing software on your computer.

This may sound backwards, but to be a good writer, you need to be a good reader. Try to read something everyday. Expand your knowledge by reading different types of writing. If you are primarily a fiction reader, start reading the newspaper or non-fiction books. Read articles online versus magazine articles and see if you notice the differences in writing styles. If you happen to read something that you really enjoy, study the article or story. Use the tips you find to improve your own writing. On the other hand, when you read something you don’t care for, make mental notes of the mistakes the writer made and try to avoid them when you sit down to write.

To become a good writer, you need to practice, practice, and practice some more! Writing something everyday, even something as short as a few sentences can improve your writing over time. There are many websites targeted to writers that offer daily writing exercises. For example, the site may ask you to write the opening paragraph of a romance story one day and the next day it could ask you to write a “how-to paragraph” about grinding coffee. Experimenting with different writing genres will greatly improve your writing.

Save your writing and re-read it from time to time. You will see the improvements you have made. As your skills and your confidence grow, you will find that writing not only comes easier to you, it becomes something you enjoy doing!

To improve your writing skills, check out the Everyday Guide to Writing Wisely at http://www.valleyva.net/writing-wisely.html

Until next time…

Heather

“When is John going to get me that report?”

“What is going on in marketing? When are they going to finish that project?”

“I can’t believe Mary is so late in making those phone calls.”

“Okay…who dropped the ball this time?”

“Hey…that’s not MY job.”

Does this sound familiar? If so, your team and company may be faced with a very big challenge with accountability, which results in finger pointing, frustration and broken trust. Personal responsibility and accountability can put an end to the blame game, saving your company thousands if not millions of dollars by increasing productivity, customer service and job satisfaction. This article offers leaders five basic approaches to increasing accountability, which are simple, yet they require actually building a culture of accountability or even going so far to adopting accountability as one of the core values of your company.

Communicate the big picture- Accountability stands a better chance of succeeding if everyone in your company embraces a larger responsibility for the success of the entire organization. Spend time talking individually with team members about how his or her project affects the vision and mission of the company. With this communication, people can make wiser decisions from the context of the “big picture” rather than from the perspective of what may seem to be a detailed and boring task.

State clear expectations- If one person on the team does not meet your expectations, the entire team can fail. It is important from the very beginning of any new project to state the expectations clearly and repeat them over and over again until your team really “gets it.” These expectations need to be crystal clear, including dates, who is responsible for what, the details of the task and how you want the finished product delivered. If your expectations are fuzzy or confusing in any way, your team can break down, and the fine and very important details can fall through the cracks.

Accountability work groups- One of the best ways to achieve accountability is to develop shared accountability among team members. Accountability within the team can be accomplished by what Morris R. Shechtman calls “accountability groups,” groups which give team members the permission to speak and listen in a way which is frank and open. This accountability group can then serve as a small unit of people working together to confide in with struggles, weaknesses and insecurities and they relate to the goals and growth the team intends to achieve.

Move to action- In order for accountability to work, people have to know that failure of completion will come with certain consequences, including written warnings, loss of a bonus or extra hours served on a week-end to complete the project on the table. Without consequences, your employees won’t take you seriously. They will think that

Reward and recognition program- Employees need to know in a tangible way their efforts are indeed driving the company forward, and it is important for them to share in the fruits of their hard work. The offer of increased pay and benefits (vacations, time off and other perks) can keep accountability and morale high and can motivate employees to continue to strive for high levels of performance.

About the Author
Bea Fields is an Executive Coach and the President of Five Star Leader Coaching and Training. She is a Consultant, Trainer, Public Speaker and author of the Five Star Leader e-course. Along with Mitch Meyerson, Founder of Guerrilla Marketing Coach, she is the co-leader of the Guerrilla Marketing Coach Certification program. She is the Visionary for the Teleclass Leaders Learning Program and the Personal Environments Learning Program for CoachVille, LLC.

By Alice Seba

It’s relatively simple to gain trust with your website copy and establish yourself as the expert in your area of business. This article will help you star doing that. Whether you sell candles or mining equipment, your online customers want to know that you are a reputable business person and that you “know your stuff”.

You need to speak directly to your target audience and give them the information they are looking for.

Writing for the Web Requires a Different Approach

Internet surfers are continuously looking for information and a solution to their problems. If they’re going to buy anything from you, you need to establish yourself as a credible and informative resource, who also happens to have a terrific product. Speak directly to the needs and desires of your visitor and you will have a captivated audience.

A Few Tips:

1. Talk to your customer - Avoid focusing on yourself. You are irrelevant. Tell your customer how she will benefit from using your product. Use the word “you” and you can be certain you are speaking directly to your customer.

2. Understand your target customer - Understand what motivates your customer and write from their perspective. Don’t try to appeal to everyone. You’ll get better results when you can speak directly the pains and problems your potential customer has than trying generic copy to sell to a wide variety of people.

3. Get attention - You can do this with a good headline and sub-headlines. That way, people will know instantly if you have what they are looking for. Forget cute and clever headlines…give your visitors the straight goods.

4. Keep it simple - Use short sentences and simple words. Your visitors eyes tire easily. Be kind to them! Break up your paragraphs and create plenty of white space.

5. Be casual - The web not the place for a formal essay. Write as you speak and be friendly with your visitor. Do double-check your spelling and follow most grammar rules, but keep the tone light, especially when your target is a more casual group.

6. Set yourself apart from the competition - What makes your product unique?

7. Prove it! - Add testimonials, sales statistics and anything else that proves your claims.

8. Create a sense of urgency - If people don’t sense urgency, they aren’t likely to click on your link. Limited time offers are perfect or showing your potential customer can no longer wait to solve her problem, can be effective. Make sure your potential customers feel the need to click on your link now.

Recommended for Further Study:

For more help with your copywriting and creating a website that people will stick around to read and buy from, check out Alice Seba’s Copywriting Sweetie. It comes complete with software and training to help you sell more of your product to customers who will buy from you over and over again.

Until next time…

Heather

If you own a website that sells a service, hand-made products, or an informational product that you’ve created, then an affiliate program can help you to get more traffic and make more money in the process.

What is an Affiliate Program?

Affiliate or referral programs reward people for bringing them customers.

There are three types of affiliate programs:

Pay Per Click, Pay Per Lead or Pay Per Sale. If you’re considering paying for traffic, then you’ll want to check out our article about benefiting from pay per click traffic.

In this article, we’d like to talk about Pay Per Sale. That means that you’ll only pay your affiliates for sending you customers, not just for sending you leads or traffic. So, you pay them money only if they make you money.

I like to compare the Pay Per Sale model to Realtors. They make a commission from each house they sell. If they don’t sell any houses for six months, they don’t make any money during that time. If they sell 100 houses, they make a lot of money.

What are the other benefits of starting an affiliate program?

The benefits are great with an affiliate program. You get exposure from having others spread the word about your product or services, and your work is less than if you tried to do it all alone. You and your loyal affiliates both benefit.

How do you start an affiliate program?

There are several programs available for starting an affiliate program. Before you start, really consider how much growth you plan to have in the coming year.

If you only plan to launch one info product (or electronic product) and want to get it out quickly, then we recommend Clickbank.

Pros: Simple and inexpensive to start. They handle all payments.

Cons: Difficult to track and train your affiliates. You pay per transaction so, if your product becomes very successful, your monthly expenses may become higher than if you had a shopping cart.

If you plan to grow and have multiple products (or you have products that aren’t electronic, like food or skin care), you may want to look into a shopping cart system that has an affiliate program built in like WAHMCart or QuickPayPro.

Pros: All-inclusive. No per-transaction fees. Includes a follow-up responder.

Cons: Monthly fee.

That gives you an idea of where to begin to set up your affiliate program. How do you keep your affiliates loyal and happy? That’s another article…

Until next time…

Heather

Just Be Very Revolutionary

“Good enough isn’t good enough, because now everything is good enough. Our expectations of quality are unrealistic – and are being met every single day. We
don’t want to be satisfied; we want to be blown away.” – Seth Godin, The Big Moo

With the increased promotion of the virtual assistant industry, virtual assistants are becoming a dime a dozen. You can go to various directories to find a virtual
assistant and there we are, all lumped together. In a directory, nothing sets you apart. You are just another virtual assistant.

If you are listed in a directory and you do not have a website, do not plan on getting any inquiries. Just don’t. Business owners in search of a virtual assistant are going to look at websites before they email for more information. When they get to your website, what will they find? Will they find a “homegrown website” or will they find a quality site, filled with content that speaks to them?

Are there creative ways to spruce up the design of your site as well as the content? Research your target market and place industry related information of theirs on your site. Show them that you understand and know their industry better than anyone else.

Let’s move offline for a moment. For most of us, when we speak to “locals” and mention the term virtual assistant we get the deer in headlights look. But after
explaining what it is that we do, and how we do it, more often than not we have intrigued the other party. They request information.

Evaluate your marketing materials. Is there room for improvement? If you lack the skills to create awesome pieces, then hire another VA or creative service
professional to help you out. The canned template business cards from online printers will not cut it anymore. The brochures done in your publishing software
and printed on your inkjet aren’t good enough anymore. Your marketing pieces speak volumes about you and the professionalism of your business.

Are you just another virtual assistant? Do you want to be just another virtual assistant? If you answered yes and no (in that order) then it is time to do something about it. Stand out from the crowd by being innovative and creative. Within our industry there are plenty of ways for each of us to stand out from the
crowd and think outside the box.

What do you know about? Seth Godin states “everyone is an expert on something”. So what are you an expert in? Is it knowing the ins and outs of your target market?

If you have really defined your target market, is there a product or service that you could offer strictly to that industry that will make their business lives better? Take some time and think outside the box. Create a signature product and market it to your target market. You will be amazed with the results, the referrals and the expertise that you will exhibit.

Don’t be just another virtual assistant. Be a revolutionary virtual assistant. See the bar and raise it. Set your goals and surpass them. Run circles around the others. When you’re revolutionary, people take notice. Those are the virtual assistants that business owners will talk about and the ones that will be sought after. You want to be that virtual assistant.

To download this eBook in its entirety (for FREE) visit, http://www.virtualassistantrevolution.com/25ways.pdf

Until next time…

Heather

Making money at home by writing may sound appealing, but not everyone is suited for it. Do you have what it takes to write for pay? The following will help you deem if you are suited for this type of income stream.

Writing Enjoyment

Let’s be honest, folks. You kind of have to like to write. If English was your least favorite subject in school and the thought of writing an essay sends shivers up your spine, this might not be the way to make extra money. On the other hand, if you do enjoy writing and have a good set of basic grammar skills, writing from home could be a profitable venture for you. Simply enjoying the writing process may not be enough, though. Writers spend a lot of time at home working alone. Do you find it easy to work by yourself or do you prefer to work with a group of people?

Pressure Points

The vision of being a writer, sitting at your lake house and just writing when the mood strikes you is nice, but it’s not always realistic. Not only do writer have to meet deadlines they also need to work well under pressure. It’s possible to get an assignment for a 500 word article that must be completed that same day. Whether or not you chose to operate under those terms is up to you, however, most many ghostwriters work on an “on-call” basis.

Research, Research, Research!

Guess what? Your assignments won’t be topics that you’re an expert in. It is possible that you get a few here and there but on the norm, no. You may get an assignment to write an article on something you have never heard of, a place you have never visited, or a hobby you have never tried. Do you know how to find quality information about a subject and do you know how to take what you have read and break that down into your own story? You will need to be an excellent researcher, especially if the client doesn’t give you the points that they want you to stress.

Tough Guy

Many professions require a “thick skin”, and writing is no exception. How well do you handle criticism and rejection? As a writer for hire, you are being paid to write something for someone else. You may think it is the best piece of writing since Shakespeare, but your opinion doesn’t count. The customer is always right and if your customer doesn’t like what you have written, you will need to start over or take the article in a new direction. Is that something you could handle?

No Credit Where Credit is Due

If you are going to be working as a copywriter or ghostwriter, you may not receive credit for your work. While it is becoming more common in the “book world” to give credit to a ghostwriter, the general notion is that the ghostwriter goes unknown. The owner of a website may ask you to write several articles or blog entries for her. Would it bother you to see her take credit for your words?

Of course, these are just a few, general examples. If writing is something you want to try your hand at, by all means, go for it!

For more information on how you can use your writing abilities to earn money visit www.ghostwritingsuccess.com

Until next time…

Heather

Be a Visionary: Dream Your Biggest Dream

It is extremely easy for the majority of us to live and work in the now. But working in the now does not advance your business. It only keeps your business on the same level with minor advances and minor setbacks.

To break out of the norm and accelerate your business you will need to stop
working in the now for a short time. As a business owner, you should be spending time, on a regular basis, working “on” your business and not just “in” your business. Michael Gerber wrote a book called The E-Myth Revisited that clearly defines the distinction of entrepreneurs as the president, the manager and the technician.

Too often entrepreneurs get stuck being the technician. While this is where the work gets done, if there is not a manager delegating tasks and a president to drive the business then the business suffers. Too many budding entrepreneurs have gone out of business because they failed to see the need for distinct roles.

The part that you need to play as the president of your company is vital. When you were first thinking about starting a business you may have acted like the president more than the other two roles. The reason is because you were dreaming (“vision casting”) about all that your business could be. You spent the time thinking about what you COULD do to make your dreams a reality.

If you want your business to succeed, you will need to take time away from the “doing” and start “dreaming”. This may come off as a little odd and may even be difficult to do, especially at first. You will need to block off 10% of your schedule each week, at a minimum, to work on building your business and playing the role of president.

Once your schedule is blocked off, you might ask yourself, “Now what? My time is set but where do I go from here?” Those would be good questions, too. Don’t
worry; we will not leave you hanging. We have included some questions to get you thinking as a president.

Do you have a vision for your business? Where do you want to be in 5 years, 3 years and next year? Will you be doing the same thing that you are doing now or will you strive to evolve into someone who is bigger and better? What new service or product can you launch that would advance your business? What can you do that is bigger and better than what you are currently doing?

Start thinking, start dreaming and start envisioning what you can do for your business to catapult you to the next level.

The vision you possess should ignite a fire in you. Do not limit yourself because you think you cannot carry out your vision. You can bring your vision to fruition.
It is just a matter of how bad you want it and if you are willing to go the extra mile to make it happen. What is stopping you? Are there roadblocks? How can you get over them? Who can you ask for help? Stop making excuses for why you cannot do it and just get it done.

When you think big, you grow big. Your big vision may not come to fruition overnight but it will happen if you stick with it. Your visions do not have to be daydreams, although many may start out that way. The bigger vision may start as thoughts of “what if…?” and “I wonder what would happen if…?”. Once you have a vision that you cannot let go of, move out of the dreaming stage and set it into action.

Do you have one hundred different dreams and aspirations? It is perfectly okay. Write them down and put them away where you can find them later. For now, pick one and go with it. Plan it, think it through and replan if you have to. See it through until the end and then start on the next one.

Once you pick the vision you want to come to fruition, come up with goals and a plan of action and attack. When you think big, you grow big. Your big vision may not come to fruition overnight but it will happen if you stick with it.

The only thing between you and success is you. Be a visionary. Think big. Think outside of the box. The sky’s the limit!

To download this eBook in its entirety (for FREE) visit, http://www.virtualassistantrevolution.com/25ways.pdf

Until next time…

Heather

“That will never happen to me!” is a cliché many of us apply to a number of topics in our lives, yet many of us subconsciously take precautions to protect ourselves from unforeseen possibilities. We buy home insurance in case of theft or fire, we buy life insurance to protect our families in the event of our death and we buy car insurance in case we are in a car accident. Some of us even buy business insurance to protect our company. The problem is many of us overlook the biggest “insurance” we should be investing our time and money in from the beginning. The “insurance” provided by creating a thriving business. What does it mean to create a thriving business?

The first step to creating a thriving business is preparing an operational manual that will ensure that your business can survive any hurdle including business growth, owner absenteeism and even owner death. Most business owners never stop to consider what might happen if they were injured, sick or worse. By taking a precautionary role in your business and considering things such as: “What if it happened to me?”; “What if my spouse, child or parent was sick tomorrow – could I dedicate the time to their recovery?”

These are all things we think we won’t have to worry about, but what if? Step back for a minute and think about how your business would change if you needed to take the time to dedicate to a personal problem. Perhaps in the short term it wouldn’t change much, but what about if you needed to step back for an extended period of time? What would happen then?

The success of many of today’s small businesses hinges on the expertise and skills of the owner. What happens to the business though should the owner become ill or die? In many cases a family member steps in out of a feeling of obligation, but often they lack the skills necessary to allow the business to truly thrive. They don’t have the same dedication, determination or passion to see the business succeed as you did. In many cases, a promise to maintain a family business is made with the thought of “I won’t ever have to worry about that” in the back of the family member’s mind. After all, no one thinks it will ever happen to them.

By creating an operational manual that outlines every faucet of your business operations including pertinent company information and a full description of how daily tasks are carried out, your business could easily continue uninterrupted without fear things were not being handled in the same manner you, as business owner, would expect. Family members could easily hire someone to handle the business operations with your Operations Manual with the confidence of knowing things were being handled as you would handle them.

Step back for a minute and think about what it means for you to truly create a thriving business. Just like plants need essential tools to survive, so does your business. The ingredients may be different but providing them is no less important. Plants need water, sun and dirt in order to grow vigorously and healthily. Your business needs a successful team leader, a needed product or service and a plan in order to be successful and profitable. Most businesses only have two of those important ingredients and are missing the most important ingredient. If you leave instructions for watering your plants, shouldn’t you leave instructions for running your business?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Yvonne Weld is the author of The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Thriving Business and is the owner of ABLE Virtual Assistant Services. For more information about The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Thriving Business and how you can protect your business from unexpected absences due to injury, sickness or even death, visit the Web site at http://www.heatherjacobson.com/thrivingbusiness.html

Think about that…and I would love to hear what you’re doing to create a thriving business.

Until next time…

Heather

Thanks Bisi for a GREAT article!

Top 5 Reasons NOT to Hire a Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants are becoming extremely popular especially in the small business realm. This fast growing group of professionals often possessing a specialty in one or more of marketing, graphic design, general administration, bookkeeping, web design, event management, phone answering service… and the list goes on. Think of any segment of your business; there are probably virtual assistants out there that can provide support to you in that area. Here are a few reasons why you should not hire one.

1. You are a Jack of all trades and a master of none. You don’t care about the quality of work or service you provide to your clients or the business image you project with your unprofessional documents and work. You are happy taking on the job of 4 or 5 people even if it results in half-done projects. A virtual assistant can take a number of mundane or specialty tasks off you so that you can focus on managing your business effectively.

2. You are a glutton for stress. You thrive on stress and will rather go without vacations, downtime or quality time with your loved ones. You enjoy working when you are ill and run down. Your aim is to burn yourself out while working round the clock and you love to sweat the small stuff. Virtual assistant can take on your overflow work or cover your business during vacations or sickness. You can hire them for ongoing projects or one-shot projects.

3. Who cares about money anyway? You are a small or mid-sized business owner who would rather hire full-time staff to cover seasonal or part-time positions. You are happy to pay your staff even if the their workday activity allocation is similar to the example below:

Daydreaming – 20%
Keeping in touch with family and friends – 30%
Online shopping – 10% (20% at Christmas)
Pay personal utility bills - (5%)
Office discussion group on Survivors, American Idol or The Apprentice – 25%
Performance of duties according to job-description – 10% (75% when the boss is in the vicinity)

Virtual assistants are only paid for the work they do, not the work they don’t do.

4. You would rather use office space and equipment inefficiently. You appreciate dust-gathering office furniture and office equipment that would not operate themselves. Virtual assistants work out of their own fully furnished offices and are able to provide finished projects to you whether you are on a cruise in the Bahamas or at your home office.

5. You aspire to receive an award from your local chamber of commerce in recognition of your efforts in one or more of the above listed points.

Enjoy the humour intended in this article, but thoroughly consider and explore ways in which a virtual assistant can partner with you for success.

About the Author:

Bisi Adepo-Bassey is the owner of Business Aid, providers of business support services. http://www.mybusinessaid.com/