Meeting Goals for Your Virtual Assistant Business in 2010

It's the time of year when everyone seems to be setting their goals for the new year. That's a great idea, but when you're setting new goals, remember you also need a plan that will help you reach those goals. Here are some tips from Sophia McIntyre to get you on your way:

4 Pointers To Reach Short-Term Work Goals by S McIntyre

Setting short-term work goals is important to each of us whether you're an adult or a child. Without setting attainable goals it's hard to be motivated each and every day. It's natural for people to want to feel a sense of accomplishment. It makes us feel good and it makes us feel like we've contributed.

How we reach those short-term goals rely on these four key tips.

Accountability
The first thing to decide on is what is your goal? Be realistic when you set it, but make sure it's not too easy that your goal is not challenging enough. Let's say your goal is to write X amount of articles by the end of the year. It's easy to say to yourself you're going to write this many articles, but really who's going to push you and motivate you when you're stuck?

If you belong to a networking group, a writing group or you're a member of a work at home forum then publicly announce your short-term goals. Don't just announce it to anyone, but someone you know and who will hold you accountable. They will also be the ones checking on your progress, keeping you on track, offering you support and encouragement.

Focus
There are so many things that can distract us daily. From kids to surfing the Internet we're surrounded by distractions. Some distractions are beyond our control so there's nothing we can do about those, but go with the flow. The other distractions we have control over and we need to put those in their proper places.

Get your emails and phone calls out of the way before you start writing. People with young kids are a bit disadvantaged that they have to work around their child's schedule, but parents have learned long ago how to multitask and make the best of their time. If you can only write in 15 minutes increments that is better than not writing at all.

Putting your full focus on your goal writing task around the same time each day and knowing what topics you're going to write about makes a huge difference. If you're losing focus, remember the reason you set your goal in the first place.

If you're stuck in your writing and you're doing some other task, it means it's time for a break. Taking 10 minutes and focusing on a no-brainer task will re-energize your mind.

Execution
Many people set goals, but often set them aside and save them for tomorrow, but there's no tomorrow. When you've prepared, defined and organized your goals, the next step is taking action. Just do it!

Reward
It's the sweetest deal on what you've set out to do. We've learned from a young age that positive reinforcement encourages us to challenge ourselves and set higher goals. Whatever your reward is it's well-deserved.

These four key tips can help you reach your short-term goals. Remember focus and execution are two of the most important things to do in achieving your goals.



S McIntyre is the founder of WorkAtHomeSpace.com, a free work at home resource focusing on work at home companies, daily telecommute job leads, articles, business resources and other work at home related topics. If you need help in setting short-term goals or need work at home support, register for free on Sophia's forum.

Sophia co-owns WorkAtHomeBusinessOptions.com, a comprehensive work at home business resource focusing on helping others who are looking for opportunities and ideas to work from home. You will also find tips and articles on how to balance work, family and play in your daily life.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

Is This the Year You're Going to Be a Successful Virtual Assistant?

Have you been dreaming of becoming a successful Virtual Assistant for a long time now, but still haven't figured out how to make it happen? The old saying really is true:

If you want your life to be different, you have to do something different.

Here are some things you can do to take positive action and make this the year you really do start becoming the successful Virtual Assistant you know you can be.

1. Make the tough choices. What services are you going to offer? Who are you going to provide them to?

A lot of people get stuck on this very first step. I think they're overwhelmed by all their choices, and afraid of making the wrong one. The worst choice you can make is not to choose anything! If you choose to serve a certain niche, and later on decide it wasn't the right one for you, that's not a mistake. It's a learning experience, and an important part of becoming a successful and profitable Virtual Assistant.

2. Start saving your pennies. Very few Virtual Assistants make a profit immediately. Start saving now so you can afford to invest the time you need to get your work at home business up and running. You may even want to take a part time job so you can afford your startup expenses. Some additional yet wise investments would be programs like the Virtual Business Startup System or a paid membership at VAnetworking.com

3. Build relationships with successful Virtual Assistants. They may be in your local business community or online. You can connect with them on Twitter, Facebook, or in a Virtual Assistant forum. Ask them what they're days are really like, and for any advice they have for you. Knowing how others make it work may give you the kick-start you need.

4. Seek out quality information about being a successful Virtual Assistant. Make sure your information comes from reliable sources, and has actually worked for the people who are giving it to you. When I started out, I spent hours reading the posts at VAnetworking, and I know I really benefited from the wisdom I found there.

5. What has been keeping you back from being successful in the past? Do you have a fear you need to address? Are you lacking confidence? Or do you need to develop a skill? Evaluate what has held you back from making this move, and come up with a strategy to overcome it.

Let's make this the year you become a successful Virtual Assistant too!

10 Ways Showing Gratitude Now Can Increase Your Future Income

by Alicia Forest

As we head into the season of giving, now is a great time to show appreciation to your clients and customers. Taking the time to give thanks to your clients will set you apart, increase loyalty, improve retention, inspire more sales, and deepen relationships that last long after the initial sale.

Here are 10 easy ways you can say thank you to your clients:

1. Greeting Cards

My husband often teases me that I should own stock in Hallmark for the amount of money I spend a year on cards. I love to send cards, for a specific reason or for no reason at all.

For business, you've probably heard of SendOutCards (and no, I'm not an affiliate or a distributor). I get a lot of cards this way, from colleagues, and it definitely deepens the relationship for me. And it is a super-easy way for you to do that with your customers too.

2. Personal Notes

I love to send personal notes too. I have specially designed notecards that I send when I just want to connect with someone after a particularly powerful coaching call, when someone makes an investment in Platinum, when I've made a special connection with someone in person, or when a client just needs a little cheer.

3. Invitations

One of the things you can do for your top clients is to invite them to a special event just for them. It can be a lunch or dinner at an event you'll all be at, or carve out a portion of your own live event to spend time just with them.

You can also invite them to special teleseminar or webinar where you offer them free content just for being your top clients.

4. Small Gifts

Flowers, books, a mug, or something more specific are all thoughtful gifts for clients. They can be sent for certain occasions or just because (that's actually my favorite way to send a gift).

5. Gift Cards

These days you can get gift cards for almost any product or service. Some companies, like Starbucks, offer having your logo or business name imprinted on them. Other ideas besides coffee include restaurants, movies, bookstores, office supplies and online vendors like Amazon.

6. Referral and Affiliate Rewards

Even if your referral or affiliate programs offer a commission on each referral, sending a personalized note along with it will go further in encouraging your network to continue to promote your offers into the future.

7. Reverse Referrals

Whenever appropriate, refer your clients and customers to others whom they will benefit from. Making this a part of the way you run your business will come back to you ten-fold as it shows the Universe your belief in abundance.

8. Customer Appreciation Days

Pick one day a year to designate as a Customer Appreciation Day to celebrate your clients. Make a special offer only to them and make a lasting impression.

9. Host Events

Host a gathering at the next event where your clients and customers are likely to gather. A Tweetup is a popular way to connect with both current and prospective clients and they are super-simple to set up and cost you nothing but a bit of time. You can also hold a virtual event anytime you want to bring your clients and customers together.

10. Life Events

Weddings, baby showers, major moves, book contracts, big speaking gigs, TV spots, or any other major event warrants an acknowledgment. A nice card or personal note, or even a quick phone call, will make you memorable for sure.



Alicia M Forest, MBA, 6-Figure Business Breakthrough Mentor, teaches self-employed professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create wild abundance in your business, visit http://www.ClientAbundance.com

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

Setting Holiday Hours for Your Virtual Assistant Business

As a Virtual Assistant, once of my biggest challenges has been remembering to give myself regular time off throughout the year.

When I began my VA business, I was even guilty of working up to seven days a week. My reason, although not very sound, was, "The internet never sleeps, so how can I?" I had this idea that if I looked away from my computer screen for a nanosecond I might miss out on an opportunity I could never get back.

You can imagine how long it took until I completely burned out, and I was ready to throw my laptop and all my Virtual Assistant clients out the window!

Since that moment of crisis has passed, I've been pretty good at giving myself at least the weekends off. And I know it's been a healthy schedule change for me. I'm much more creative and more energized when I come back to work after a relaxing weekend away from the computer.

Something I haven't done as faithfully is give myself scheduled holidays - large blocks of time to get out of town, or just spend on things not business-related. I know it's important to set aside a few weeks each year to spend with my family. When I worked outside the home, it was those few weeks each year that made my job bearable.

But since I've been working at home, something has always held me back from giving myself regular vacations. I worry...

What if a client has an emergency and her business falls apart because she can't find me?

What if I miss out on a new client because I didn't get back to her in time, and she finds someone who responded more quickly?

What if my website has a technical problem or gets hacked when I'm not paying attention?

All these and myriad other concerns race through my mind whenever I think about taking a significant block of time off. But these year, I'm putting those worries aside and giving myself the holiday I need. I know when I come back, my business, myself, and all my clients will be much better for it.

Here is how I'm handling these nagging concerns.

Client emergencies. Are my clients' businesses really going to fall apart because I'll be unavailable to them for two weeks? In all honesty, I'm not THAT important. I'm giving them all a head's up that I'm going to be offline for some family time, so we can address any concerns before my vacation starts. But other than that, I think my online world might be just fine without me for 10 days or so.

New clients. It is possible that I might miss out on a new opportunity while I'm away. But if they're looking for someone to help them ASAP, is that person really a good fit for me? My ideal client plans ahead and takes her time considering whether I'm the ideal VA for her. I'm more interested in taking the time to build strong relationships than taking on a bunch of new clients I'm not 100% sure about.

I'll add an autoresponder to my email so potential clients will know I'm on vacation and will reply as soon as I come back. And if they can't wait until then, I'll know I haven't missed out on anything at all.

Techical problems. These are a little harder to escape. If I ran a brick and mortar business, I would have to have the building checked while I was away to make sure no one broke in, or that the plumbing didn't break. So, I'm going to pop by my websites and blogs during my vacation and make sure everything is still standing.

I'll be by a computer during my entire time off, so it won't be a problem to do so. If I was going to be traveling, I would just hire another Virtual Assistant to look after those things for me.

I'm really looking forward to my holiday this year! I hope these thoughts have inspired you to plan a vacation for yourself too. You know you deserve it. And although you'll be missed, the internet will go on without you!

Marketing 101 for Virtual Assistants

One of my clients recently told me she was giving up on her business because she just didn't feel good about promoting herself.

No, no, no, no, no! And no! That is NOT what marketing is.

Marketing is talking to other people about THEMSELVES. Well, that's not all there is to it, but basically that's it.

You're also gonna need a plan . Ivette Muller has put together a simple marketing plan that any new Virtual Assistant can follow.

Marketing 101: Have a Plan by Ivette Muller

One of the very fundamental keys to success is marketing is having a plan. You have to know where you are going to determine if you have gotten there, or what you need to do to get there.

In order to have a good marketing plan, you need to know who your target audience is. I have been in some form of direct sales for over 10 years and almost all companies give you a list of everyone and anyone you can sell the products to. They say that everyone can be a customer and give you all the great reasons you should show them your product.

While it is true that almost anyone with a pulse can be customer, that doesn't provide a solid foundation for your marketing efforts. You need to pick one or two target audiences to get started. Once you do that, your target audience will naturally lead you to other potential customers through referrals and guests at their home parties.

No matter what home-based business you choose, you need to know who you are talking to. Who do you want to help with your product or services? Who do you want to share the opportunity with? Who do you want to interact with? Who is your ideal client?

Knowing this information will help you plan your marketing endeavors and your presentations. Remember, presenting your product or service is not a one size fits all approach. That's why knowing your target audience is critical to your marketing success.

Here are 5 steps to get you started on your marketing plan:

1. Pick your target audience - while the information above goes into detail about why you need to pick your target audience, you also need to know how to pick your target audience. You need to be really specific, for example: WAHM, age 25-35, participates in social media. The reason you need to be specific is that it will help you choose your marketing endeavors more wisely. If this was your target audience, you wouldn't place an ad in your local paper - you would advertise on one of the social networks where your ideal customer or client is hanging out.

2. What are your specific goals? It's good to know that you want more sales, leads or recruits. But what exactly is your goal? Do you want $10,000 in sales over the next three months? How about 100 leads in 2 months? Or, 2 recruits in one month? Getting this specific helps you evaluate your performance and gives you ideas on how to change and improve for the next time.

3. What is your promotional vehicle? Decide what your primary focus of advertising and marketing will be. Then, assign some kind of code so that when people contact you, they can give you that code which will tell you how they heard about you. For example, if you place an ad on a website, you could put the code on the ad itself.

4. How will you track? Tracking is a necessary task to determine your effectiveness in marketing. By assigning a code to your advertisements, it will allow you to track where sales, leads and recruits are coming from, as well as allow you to accurately calculate the ROI (return on investment) for that advertisement.

5. What is your budget? Set a budget in advance and stick to it. It is so easy to go over your budget in advertising and marketing expenses when you get caught up in the momentum. That's why tracking is critical to your success so that you can stop advertising or purchasing marketing tools if they are not working. Just because it works for someone else, doesn't mean it's the right thing for you to do.

If you haven't had a detailed marketing plan before, now is a great time to start! Make 2010 the year to pull your marketing efforts together for one productive and profitable year!



Ivette Muller is a proud corporate mom dropout who has enjoyed transitioning her skills as a successful work at home mom. Ivette wants to help others fulfill their dreams of being a WAHM. Visit her website at http://www.wahmbahm.com for business advice and work at home opportunities and, http://www.remembergreetingcards.com/ivette, to learn how to start a profitable custom greeting card and gift, home-based business.

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

Is the Virtual Business Startup System All You Need to Start a Virtual Assistant Business?

Recently, a local woman emailed me about starting a Virtual Assistant business part time. She had a question about the Virtual Business Startup System:

Will the VBSS give me all the information I need to start a Virtual Assistant business?

I purchased the VBSS when it first came out over 4 years ago and even then it was everything it promised to be, and more. A lot of goodies and extra business tools and resources have been added to it since its debut.

But going back to four years ago, I had been trying for a year to get a Virtual Assistant business up and running on my own. I ran smack into obstacle after obstacle:

• What services should I offer?
• What should I charge?
• How do I write a business plan?
• How will I get my first customer online?

I had run a home business before, but it turned out that starting an online business was surprisingly different than anything I had previously done.

The first thing I appreciated about the system was that it really was everything it promised to be. I had invested a lot of money in this, so naturally I was skeptical. I was going to hold Tawnya Sutherland to her money back guarantee if it wasn't everything she said it was....

But once I looked through all the templates, coupons, and oodles of information she had packed into that box, I knew I had nothing to worry about it. It was everything she had said it would be, and more.

Another important thing the system did for me was help me pinpoint which VA services I could offer right now, and which I could leave along for now and offer at a later date.

Here I had been thinking I had to cram all the knowledge I could into my already overloaded brain before I could call myself a VA! Not true, I discovered. I could start right then, with the skills I did have, and add the rest as they developed over time.

Besides that, the biggest help it provided was the website templates, the website hosting package and the domain registration for my first website. I had to know a little bit of HTML to get my spanking new website just the way I wanted it, but that was something I wanted to learn anyways. (And about that first VA website I built from a template - even my hubby's web savvy friends said it was pretty spiffy.)

And then came the test of how robust this program truly is.

Shortly after I purchased the system and set up my VA business, I was invited to attend a networking lunch with other VAs in my area. Yikes!

I was so nervous. I didn't even have my first client yet. From visiting the other VAs' websites and reading their bios, I knew that most of them had years of experience.

What would they think of me... a brand new VA who built her VA business out of a box?

To my surprise, and my relief, I fit right in! Because of all the information packed into the VBSS , as well as the conversations I had participated in at VAnetworking (membership comes included with the VBSS), I looked and talked just like one of them.

In fact, my first client came out of that meeting, as a referral from another VA.

Will the VBSS give you everything you need to start your VA business?

Only you can answer that. But for me, the answer is yes. Definitely yes!

The thriving VA business I proudly own today has grown from the solid foundation I built when I decided to purchas the Virtual Business Startup System.

Turn Your Business Card into a Business Weapon

Do you have a business card for your Virtual Assistant business? Most of my networking is done online, but once in a while I meet someone who asks for a card. I've learned to keep them with me at all times. You never know where your next customer will come from!

Here's another tip I recently learned about giving out your business card: Never give your card to someone who hasn't asked for it first. Have you ever been to a networking event where everyone passes out those cards? How many of those cards do you actually keep?

Business cards are expensive, so you'll save yourself money (and the recipient time from having to recycle it!) if you only give it out to those who really want it. Wait until they ask. ;-)

I designed my own cards with a template in the Virtual Business Startup System, then had them professionally printed.

Colleen Davis has some more good ideas for printing your cards and the most effective ways to use them.

How To Turn A Business Card Into A Business Weapon by Colleen Davis

Business card printing is not merely a tool in introducing yourself to other people. No sir. In truth, custom business cards can be turned into a very powerful business weapon that will help your career as well as your business to achieve success. To transform your business card into a business weapon though, you must first do a few important changes into your business card strategy.

1. The right weapon for the right job: Now you may not know this but business cards can be geared in different ways depending on your objective. There are advertising business cards for sales product promotions, corporate business cards for deals with colleagues and of course there are also personal business cards for friends and family. You will need to determine which business card is exactly what you need. This will define how your business card will be designed, and how it will succeed with your objectives. So choose the one that should get you nearest to your goal.

2. Good quality equals good results: Another tip that should turn your business card into a potent weapon is to use good quality materials in the production. Expensive textured paper, with a glossy sheen and smudge free inks are quite impressive. People will respect such quality with ease and that should give you better results in business deals and with social business networking itself. So as you can see, with the advantage of high quality, business cards can be quite effective at convincing people of the sincerity and the power of your business deal.

3. Continuing innovation: You must also know that weapons are always changing and people are always trying to come up with some innovations on existing ones. The same is true with business cards. You must continue changing and recreating your business card design, so that they will always look new and fresh. Try new materials, new formats and new techniques to make sure that your business cards can take advantage of the prevailing sense of style. You should also try to update yourself with prevailing design trends so that you can apply them to the design as well. This should maintain the competitiveness of your business card so that it can still remain as a potent weapon at all times.

4. Use it or lose it: Finally, the best way to turn your business cards into a business weapon is basically to use it. You must not let your business cards remain lying on your desk, car or your house. Always try to give it away to probable business contacts, investors and customers as well. If you do not distribute them and use them, then there is little point really in making them. So use your color business cards or you will loose them as you business weapon.

That should be all the information you need to turn your simple business cards into powerful weapons of trade. Use the weapon wisely once you make it. There are a lot of opportunities and problems connected with it. Good Luck!

Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

For more information, you can visit this page on business card printing and custom business cards