Hiring A VA

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Please welcome my guest blogger, Elizabeth Tobin, JD, C.R.R.P. of LizTobin.com Elizabeth shares her story of what led us to working together and speaks about how using virtual support has helped her to grow her business and the positive effect our working relationship has had. Thanks Elizabeth!

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I have a big vision for my company as a pioneer in using Resonance Repatterning® remote distance healing proxy groups to facilitate personal and global transformation. I always knew that I’d have to hire help if I wanted to manifest my vision, but I was reluctant to take that next step. When I went to a seminar and the presenter said, “If you want to play a bigger game, you have to have a bigger team,” I knew it was time to take a leap of faith and hire help.

I have to admit that taking on a virtual assistant was a big leap of faith for me. My first assistant was a college kid whom I paid $12 an hour. He was so eager during the interview and he knew all about marketing and web 2.0. But I soon discovered that he didn’t have the attention to detail that my business requires. Any savings I thought I was realizing due to his low hourly rate were quickly expended on the high number of hours it took him to correctly complete a task. Needless to say I was relieved when a couple of months later he emailed me saying that he no longer had time to work for me.

After that experience, I spent months researching outsourcing companies and sites like Elance. I realized that I was getting stuck in analysis paralysis, so I repatterned my fears and limiting beliefs, and got clear on what I wanted. I decided that I didn’t want to always be putting out bids and interviewing people. I wanted to build an ongoing relationship with a competent and trustworthy professional who would get to know me, my business, my systems, and the tasks involved. I may be paying a higher hourly rate, but the continuity of relationship that I have with my VA is worth it to me. Now that we’ve been working together for a while I don’t need to spend much time explaining to her what I need done.

In addition to the expense, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to lead and delegate effectively. In order to make the most of my VA I have to give her tasks in advance to allow enough lead time so she can plan her work week. It took me a while to get over my resistance to this because I was used to flying by the seat of my pants. But as a result I’ve had to get more organized, do advance planning and manage my time better. I now have more time to devote to the things that I am the expert at in my business. I’m doing a lot more writing — articles, e-books, blog posts, social media, etc. I used to dread writing because I was always under pressure to get it done. Now I actually enjoy writing because I have the time, and the more I write the easier it flows. Since hiring my VA I’m averaging about 2 radio interviews a month, developing new joint ventures, using social media more, and I now have an active affiliate program.

I’ve developed new skills that I wouldn’t of have had the opportunity to develop had I stayed going it alone. Rather than feeling bogged down by administrative details, I am able to do the creative tasks that I love and this keeps me energized. In short, I would say that building your team is a way to not only grow your business, but to grow yourself.

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About the Author:

Elizabeth Tobin, JD; Certified Resonance Repatterning® Practitioner, calls herself a multi-dimensional cosmic closet cleaner. Internationally respected as a caring and gifted healer, her clients experience successful outcomes with physical conditions, trauma, abuse, weight loss, increasing abundance and overall health & well-being. Download a Free audio on how Money Archetypes are affecting your level of abundance at http://LizTobin.com

How To Create a Yearly Business Plan And Achieve Your Goals

As entrepreneurs, most of us have prepared a well-thought out business plan.
It is essential if you are looking for any sort of financial assistance when
starting up and will keep you focused while building your business. Having a
plan to follow will also increase your chances of success. However, a few
years into your business, is your original business plan still relevant? Probably not.

A yearly plan for an established business is an essential organizational tool
if:

* you’re looking to grow your business

* there is a lot of activity going on in your business every day and you
tend to bumble-bee, jumping from “flower to flower” not knowing where to
focus your time

* you don’t have a clear plan and consider different options every day

While there are many templates and varieties of business plans available on
the web, your yearly plan does not need to go into as much depth as your
original. Here are the 5 main areas you will need to cover when planning for
the year ahead:

1. Where are you now? List the services that you are providing, the
products that you are selling, the number of hours you work in your
business, and the number of hours you work on your business.

2. What are your goals? List the goals you wish to attain. We all have a
financial goal so write your specific money goal for the year and the
top 2 or 3 priorities that will get you there.

3. How are you going to get there? Work backwards from your financial goal
and identify the steps necessary to achieve it. For example, if your
goal is to make $75,000 for the year, how many clients do you need, how
many products do you need to sell, how many workshops do you need to
conduct and what do you need to charge for these things? Break these
goals down monthly and then weekly and tweak until you have reached a
realistic and attainable financial goal and plan that sync.

4. When are you going to do what’s needed to achieve your goals? Take your
monthly and weekly goals to create your action plan. This will
determine the number of clients you will work with and when, what
products and programs you will create, how many you need to sell and
when etc. The action plan can be transferred over to your weekly
schedule.

5. Who do I need help from to achieve my goals? List what tasks you can no
longer continue to handle. Consider outsourcing things like your
accounting to a bookkeeper and your technical and administrative tasks
to a Virtual Assistant to free up your time for the profit generating
tasks.

Going through this process helps you to identify your intentions and forces
you to paint a realistic big picture plan for the year. Each small step
taking you towards your bigger goal. This strategy may be the one business
activity that helps your business to grow more than any other.

F’REE REPORT: The Top 10 Words that Say Buy and Why They Work

I have been following The Internet Marketing Sweetie for a few years now. Melissa always provides ethical and valuable Internet Marketing information on various topics related to small business, from Copywriting and Outsourcing to Email Marketing and Working from Home.

I just finished reading a new report from Melissa and I wanted to pass along a copy to you. The topic is keywords and how they work to increase your sales. If you’re looking for a practical and simple guide to putting together written material for a product or a sales page, I think you’ll find this information useful.

Click here for your copy of “SWEET Marketing Lingo: The Top 10 Words that Say Buy and Why They Work”.

Find out how certain keywords when we hear them, make us want to purchase the item that is associated with the keyword.

I hope you find this report useful and I encourage you to share this report with others who you think would find it useful too.

Outsourcing–The Answer To Small Business Owner Burnout

As a small business owner you are involved in all aspects of your business from bookkeeping and marketing to customer service. At some point you realize that it is no longer possible to do it all and still grow your business. How do you know when it’s time to stop trying to do it all yourself? How do you determine what work to outsource and what to continue to do yourself? What if you’re concerned about the financial investment?

First, have a look at the following checklist to determine if outsourcing is what you need now.

You know it’s time to outsource when:

• You’re burned out from working too many hours a day and too many days a week
• You feel like you can’t take time away from your business and you don’t (and friends and family are noticing this too)
• You are spending less time on your core revenue generating and business building tasks and it’s costing you money
• Key administrative functions that keep your business running are not getting completed

If this sounds like you then it’s time to hire someone. But first it’s important to get clear about what you need help with. Here are some general guidelines.

Do outsource:

• The work that supports and builds ongoing relationships with your clients
• The back end work that contributes to the growth of your business, generates profits and passive streams of income

Some examples of these tasks are:

• Newsletter creation i.e. the formatting, set up and distribution; you supply the content
• Setting up and managing your shopping cart i.e. putting ‘buy’ buttons on your web site
• Creating/Managing your website
• Posting to your blog
• Handling customer support
• Article submissions
• Graphic design

As the business owner, you should continue to:

• Do the things that will help grow your business and the things you enjoy
• Speak with potential clients, attend networking events
• Plan and create your next product or service

How do you know if outsourcing makes financial sense?

You can determine what your hourly rate would be by dividing your monthly profits by the number of hours worked and compare that to the rate that you would be paying to outsource. Remember that it may take you twice as long as a Virtual Assistant to complete some of the tasks that you want to outsource.

What do I do next?

Now that you know what your needs are you can start looking for a reputable Virtual Assistant. Someone who will become a partner in your success and someone you will work with long term for a mutually beneficial working relationship. You may want to check with fellow business owners you know and respect for referrals. Do any clients or colleagues know of someone who might be able to help? You can also find assistants through VA associations, forums and social media sites.

You need to be willing to let go of the control and give them your trust. After the initial learning curve your assistant will know your business well enough to work proactively with little or no direction from you. When you outsource and stop trying to do it all yourself, you’ll have the potential to become more productive, offer more services, increase revenue and grow your business to become more profitable.

Take A Real Vacation With The VACA System

You set your own hours and choose who you work with, however, as a solopreneur you may feel trapped in your business. If you can’t remember the last time you were able to get away on vacation then it’s time to have a look at putting a system in place that will allow you to take some much deserved time off.

Use the VACA system to create your back up plan allowing you to get away from time to time without your business suffering:

V = Virtual Assistant. Outsource your administrative tasks to a Virtual Assistant. By partnering with a professional who manages your core business functions regularly you are covered during periods of absence. A reputable VA can handle both the basic administrative and the highly technical functions of your business and almost everything in between. If you’re just getting started, hire someone to manage your voicemails and emails ensuring that customer service is uninterrupted. As your assistant learns your business she can proactively suggest more ways to help.

A = Align yourself with like business owners. Is there someone your clients can call on if they have an urgent request or to continue work on a project in your absence? Through online and offline networking you should be able to find someone with a similar work ethic who can take over for vacation or any period of extended absence. Then notify your clients in advance that you have handpicked a reliable associate that is available to assist them if required. You could arrange this as a subcontractor relationship or even negotiate a barter.

C = Create processes. Document your processes on a regular basis. List all the things that you do in your business with step by step instructions. This only has to be done once and refined when necessary. Do this for each client, product or process. Your Operations Manual will be a useful tool to anyone providing back up in your absence and if you outsource to a VA. It shortens the learning curve and is a valuable reference and time saving tool.

A = Automate your business. Set up a shopping cart system that integrates with your website. Anytime someone wants to make a purchase from you it’s a simple click of the mouse. If you are communicating regularly with your clients, you can schedule your weekly newsletter in advance to send to your list while you’re away at the cottage. All this and more can be done within the shopping cart.

Once you have set up your VACA system, the business can run without you to a certain degree. Now you can concentrate on other aspects of your business that will allow your company to grow and you to achieve the freedom you deserve and take a real vacation.

The Top 5 Ways To Balance Your Commitments

Are you at the point of overwhelm in your business? Do you have so many clients or commitments that you’re not sure how you’re going to meet everyone’s demands? With too many commitments the quality of your work can suffer along with your good reputation and sanity. Does this overwhelm spill over into your personal life? If you work from a home office, others may not respect the fact that you have valid work to do and may put unreasonable demands on your time. Are you saying ‘yes’ to these requests too often?

If you’re at this point of frustration, it’s not too late to restructure a few things to achieve work, life and family balance. After all, as a business owner you have a highly sought after benefit that employees in the corporate world value highly – a flexible schedule. It’s time to get things back into perspective and enjoy this perk.

How? Here are the top 5 ways to balance your commitments:

1. First, start by setting boundaries: Solopreneurs working from home must have clear cut business vs. personal time. Set your business hours and stick with them. Ensure personal time is spent away from work-related activities. Don’t run errands during working hours or answer your business line when you’re about to sit down to dinner.

2. Next, start a waiting list: Too many clients may seem like a good problem to have when in reality it’s better to have fewer clients that get your full attention than more than you can handle. Never promise what you can’t deliver. There will always be an ebb and flow in your business which means that you can offer to put potential clients on a waiting list and contact them when you are available to fully accommodate their needs.

3. Or refer the work to others: Chances are that you have business relationships with others in your industry. Some potential clients may not be the right fit and you can choose to work only with those who are a good fit. Be honest and let the client know that a fellow business owner may be more suitable. Make the introduction.

4. Or build a team by subcontracting and/or outsourcing: Do you have a close knit group of colleagues that share your skill set, work ethics and standards that you would feel comfortable working with? Put together a team that you can subcontract out the overflow work to. And/or outsource to a Virtual Assistant rather than spending your own time on administrative and technical tasks. When you stop trying to do it all yourself, you’ll have the potential to offer more services, increase revenue and grow your business. Not to mention you’re helping others by employing them.

5. And last, but not least, make commitments to yourself equally as often as you do to others: What really matters to you? Make a commitment to yourself today about what you want to achieve. In my yoga classes we have been practicing making our ’sankalpa’ (a Sanskrit word meaning to set an intention using a short phrase or sentence). When you incorporate your intention into your daily routine, in time you can bring about positive change.

As a small business owner you already have many responsibilities. Setting boundaries, getting help and honouring commitments to yourself will satisfy the need for balance and boost your success.

The Top 7 Reasons You Don’t Have Time For What’s Important

One of the most common challenges I hear from small business owners is that they do not have enough time to focus on what’s really important in their business. In order to solve this problem you first have to determine why this is a challenge. Once this is clear, you can look at strategies to help you manage the little things better and free up more time for what’s important.

What’s important is unique to each business and is usually related directly to the core business activity and why the business owner started the business in the first place. Personal satisfaction and achievement, pride in the job and a flexible lifestyle are generally valued higher than wealth creation.

Here are the top 7 reasons you don’t have time for what’s important:

1. You are spending too much time on “X” – Replace “X” with one of your top time wasters. What is it that you always seem to get stuck on for hours at a time? For important but often repetitive tasks like replying to email inquiries or submitting proposals, create and save templates that can be used over and over and modified when needed.

2. You don’t follow a schedule – If you start your day by sitting down at your desk wondering what you will do today, you will not be productive and likely not accomplish anything important. End your day by creating a to-do list for the next day. You will have focus and know what needs to be done.

3. You have too many clients/commitments – This seems like a good problem to have, however, it’s better to have fewer clients that get your full attention than more than you can handle. With too many commitments the quality of your work can suffer along with your good reputation.

4. You have trouble saying “no” – Make it a rule to never promise what you can’t deliver. This means sometimes having to say “no”. Your clients, family and friends will respect you for your honesty and will trust your word.

5. You are unorganized – Your work area is a disaster zone. Papers strewn across your desk, no set schedule and you’ve misplaced your day timer. Before you jump into your work day, take 15 minutes to clear your desk and clear your mind saving you more than the 15 minutes you invested.

6. You have bad habits – You know what you’re doing wrong and you know how to correct it but you’re stuck in the habit. I’m sure you’ve heard the quote by Tony Robbins, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” Start by replacing one bad habit with a good habit.

7. You need help – You are doing everything ‘right’, the problem is that your business has grown to the point that you cannot continue to do it all and still maintain your high standards. You’ve heard about outsourcing and are ready to look into this further.

Identify what challenge has the highest impact on your time and then focus 100% of your effort on that one thing. To make the change successful, keep it simple and do not overwhelm yourself. A change will do you good!

5 Key Focus Areas Of A Successful Home Based Business

A maze puzzle is symbolic to taking our businesses on the path to reaching goals. From start (building), there is no direct route (growing) to finish (your goals) but rather twists and turns and some backtracking along the way. Your schedule is like your plan through that maze. When you take the time to contemplate your route and map it out, you get through your ‘maze’ with less backtracking. It’s easier to stay on course and reach your goals with that plan.

To help you apply this approach you must divide up your time into 5 main areas when organizing your schedule. Here is the list and some of the items that fall under each category:

1. Client Work – or the area in which you perform your revenue generating activities. If yours is not a service business, this area may be Product Sales for example.

2. Business Development - time spent working on your website, preparing marketing materials, proposals, making phone calls, correspondence, attending networking events, planning, meetings, reading/audio/video (resources for business/training), writing (articles, submissions, ezine, blog), social media activity, participating in forums.

3. Home Office – tracking business expenses, filing, invoicing, record keeping, managing emails, scheduling.

4. Personal – build this into your day to remind you to break away from work, to eat lunch or go for a walk with friends.

5. Family – spending time with kids, pets and family activities. This usually comes only at the beginning or end of my work day, but I like to have it showing on my schedule.

How you divide up your time will vary from person to person, but it’s important to assign time to each category throughout the week and work with it until you find a good balance. If you neglect one area the others will suffer. Revenue generating activities have to be consistent obviously, as well as Personal and Family time, but don’t neglect Business Development and Home Office time. You have to incorporate these areas into your week in order to effectively grow your business and prosper.

And if you don’t want to make the time because you dislike these tasks and would rather be doing what you’re good at or taking some more personal and family time, then outsource. Most of the tasks that fall under Business Development and Home Office can be managed by a Virtual Assistant (VA). You don’t have to do it all yourself. Like the saying goes, “Do what you do best, then hire out the rest”.