If It’s Not Working, Change It

Posted on May 18, 2012 by

We often talk about the importance of measuring results in our business. This can come in many forms – maybe you want to measure how many people are visiting your website, or joining your Facebook page, or opening your newsletter – or signing on as clients.

Whatever the case may be, when you have something that has a measurable result, make sure you measure it.

If it’s not working, change it.

Many small business owners go through the process of setting up a program – or even their website freebie – and then just leave it at that.

In order to make sure that you are relevant and interesting to your audience, it’s important to measure your results regularly to ensure that your processes are working for you.

For instance – do you measure your website visits? If you do, you will know how many people are coming to your website on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. If you also look at your mailing list signups, how does that number compare to the website visits? How many people who visit your website are actually signing up for your mailing list (free gift, newsletter, video series, whatever it may be)?

If your conversion rate is not good, then your opt in set up is not working for you. Change it.

Whether that means changing where you place the box on your page, or whether you need to change language or even your freebie itself – the idea is that when people come to your site you want to have an irresistible offer for them – that they will sign up for. If that’s not happening, change it.

Another example – do you check your newsletter opens? What about your clicks on your calls to action inside your newsletter? It’s great to have a big list, but if you are not engaging them then you could be just going through the motions each time you send something out.

If you aren’t getting your newsletter opened by at least 25% of your list, change something. You might need to change your subject lines, your topics, or maybe even your layout or your content. If they are opening but not clicking on your calls to action – change those. Especially those!

If they are opening your mail, but not taking action on what you are sending them, then you are not providing the right information or message to them.

Measuring your results in these areas and more in your business will help you to better engage your audience – and that will earn you their trust … which always results in more clients.

I’d love to hear your comments on this article!

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7th Annual Online Virtual Assistant Convention

Posted on May 16, 2012 by

I’m very excited to be a speaker in this year’s OIVAC event – the 7th Annual Online Virtual Assistant Convention.

It’s an online, multi-day event that takes place this year from May 17 to 19, 2012.

The theme this year is: Innovate, Integrate, Motivate and I’m happy to speaking in the Motivate category with my topic: 5 Tips to Strategically Market Your VA Business.

By setting up a strategy to market your VA business, you will experience more growth and development, which is what the approach is for this year’s OIVAC conference: to help innovate you with the latest trends and ideas, to help you implement with the latest tools and technologies, and to motivate you to take action to achieve your goals!

Don’t miss out on this amazing event – there are more than Check out their website for more details, and to register: www.oivac.com

I’ll see you there!

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Build a Referral VA Business

Posted on May 14, 2012 by

Are you:

  • working long hours trying to get it all done by yourself in your VA business?
  • working with (and drained by!) clients who are not ideal for you to work with (but are afraid to give up their money?)
  • finding it difficult to keep your client pipeline full?
  • experiencing ‘feast or famine’ each month on your work schedule?
  • unsure of how (or even scared!) to raise your rates to what you deserve to earn?
  • doing things you don’t love to do on a daily or weekly basis?
  • still trading dollars for hours with your client work?
  • wanting to specialize your services and don’t know how to implement that?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, I am excited to introduce this program to you!

If you have been operating your VA business for any length of time and you don’t have a clear plan to connect with new, great clients who pay well … you probably aren’t making the money you thought you would make as a VA. In order to build a successful business, you need to do more than just wait for clients to come to you.

Picture this. You work only with clients that you love. You only perform tasks that you love. You get to help people who really appreciate you. You get to charge what you KNOW you deserve, and clients pay willingly. In fact, they are willing to wait for you to have time in your schedule to work with them.

In just 12 weeks it’s possible. You can get the training and education you need to get your business on the right track to success.

Build a Successful, Busy, Referral VA Business begins May 24th!

Register now: Referral Biz

It’s a 12 week live training program where you will get weekly training calls, live weekly Q&A sessions, email support and more! All for just $197!

You will learn how to:

  • set up a plan for your business growth
  • set and market your specialized services
  • find and sign the clients you want to work with
  • build your list easily and authentically
  • work with subcontractors and team members
  • work less and make more money
  • build a referral network of colleagues and clients
  • and so much more…!

It’s not hard to do, but there are a lot of steps to make sure you don’t miss along the way … let me teach you what I do in my business every day, to work with great clients in my very busy referral-only VA business.

Register now:

Referral Biz

Wouldn’t you love to learn what you need to know to build a solid plan so that you can work with better clients, earn more money and really love your business again?

And when you apply the strategies in the class, the $197 investment will pay for itself many times over.

With the training and support pieces that this Referral Business program contains, you will be able to do that! Not only do you get support for the duration of the program, but you also get 30 days of support after the program ends, while you are busy implementing all the things you have learned. That’s four full months of VA support for your business. That works out to under $15 per week to get solid training and personal and private support to grow your VA business.

We start May 24th! Check out the program details and register here:

Referral Biz

I look forward to having you join me!

~ Tracey

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Build Your Business Plan Easily

Posted on May 11, 2012 by

When I start mentoring a new VA, the first thing we talk about is the business plan.

I am never surprised to hear that someone doesn’t have their business plan done. So many VAs just start their business by looking for clients and hoping to sign them.

Writing a business plan is an essential part of any small business. It helps you to clarify everything about your business, and if you don’t have one yet you should look at sitting down and just doing it.

A business plan will help you:

  • plan what you are going to do
  • realize how you are going to do it
  • set goals and achieve them

You don’t have to put together a complex business plan – especially if it’s your first time – but by putting pen to paper and actually writing things down, you will find clarity about what your business looks like, and you will be able to make adjustments where necessary – and your strategy for everything you do will become easier, because you have the plan to back up your decisions.

A simple business plan should include:  Executive Summary, Business Overview, Products and Services, Market and Sales Analysis, Management Plan, Competitive Analysis, Financial Plan

Executive Summary: this is your front page – and it summarizes the other parts of your plan into concise language. It’s typically written last, after the other pieces are complete. Try to use one to two clear sentences to summarize each section of your business plan here.

Business Overview: detail everything about your business setup – how it’s organized, where you are located, things like legal structure and your mission statement. This is a detailed description of how your business is set up and generally what your offer to your clients.

Products and Services: this is a comprehensive view of every service you offer and how you have it set up in your business. So, what you charge for the service, if you have any overhead or expenses, setup costs, that type of thing. Be as detailed as possible here, and make sure you include everything. You also need to detail your features and benefits for each service in this section. It will go a long way to show you where your strengths are, and where you may need to make some changes.

Market and Sales Analysis: this section expands on the Products and Services section, and details who you are going to be marketing and selling to. You need to indicate who you are going to market to and where you are going to find them. Be sure to include your promotional strategy and budget in this section.

Management Plan: you want to be clear about who is working with you in your business, and how their help affects you – whether that’s financial impact or through support or professional services. Indicate who is responsible for what, and how everything fits together. Policies are a good idea for all partners, especially if there are expenses involved.

Competitive Analysis: a most often avoided section, in my experience. You need to find out who your actual competition is in your field, and determine what makes you different from them – in what ways are you better? In what ways are they better, and how can you surpass that? Knowing your competition doesn’t have to be competitive in nature – but you do need to look at who is doing things right and how you can strive to plan for success in your business.

Financial Plan: ah, the money. Here’s the part that means so much. Take your products and services and really do the math. Figure out how many clients you need, how much revenue you need, how much your expenses will be – use the information in the other sections of your business plan to really figure this out. It will make or break your success (and it’s often very eye opening!).

By setting up a simple business plan, you will often uncover things that you haven’t thought about – and it’s a good way to be sure you are covering all the bases regarding your business strategies.

Set it up, and refer to it often. Change it as you need to keep it current. It’s an invaluable tool for any successful business owner.

You can find many business plan templates on the Internet – just pick one and get started! Or, if you want support getting your business plan in place, email me at tracey@yourvamentor.com. I’d be happy to talk with you about how I can help!

I’d love to hear your comments on this article!

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Social Networking to Find Prospects and Clients

Posted on May 8, 2012 by

This month at the Your VA Mentor membership group, we are talking about Finding Clients Online.

  • Do you find it difficult to find and connect with prospects online?
  • Do you even know where they are spending their time?
  • Wouldn’t it be nice to find large pools of prospective clients that you can network with, all in one place (or two?)

That’s what we’re going to talk about on our May call – Social Networking to Find Prospects and Clients.

You can get access to this call by joining our membership now!

http://www.yourvamentor.com/join-us/

Let’s face it, most of spend more time socializing online than we do actually networking. In this call, we’ll talk about how to put a plan in place to actively network so that you can fill your pipeline with really great prospects that you would love to work with.

It’s not as hard as you think!

The call will be live tomorrow (May 9th) and our live Q&A session takes place on May 23rd so you can ask your burning questions!

Join me … I’d love to help you find and network with your ideal clients online!

http://www.yourvamentor.com/join-us/

Membership is open now!

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What’s Your Marketing Strategy?

Posted on May 4, 2012 by

When you look at how you are marketing your business, what do you see?

Is there rhyme and reason to it, or do you just ‘fly by the seat of your pants’? If that sounds like you, don’t worry – you are definitely not alone.

Many VAs I talk to don’t really have a plan in place to market their business. But if you don’t plan, it’s a bit like throwing spaghetti at a wall – you put it all out there and just hope something sticks. It’s not a really effective plan.

Marketing strategy isn’t difficult – it just takes sitting down and thinking about what you want to do, why you want to do it, and what results you expect to get.

Here are a couple of tips:

1. Know your goals - You need to plan the goal of your marketing in order to be able to effectively set up your strategy, and also to monitor the results. You need to set some goals – both short term and long term – of what you want to get out of your marketing efforts. Whether you want to build your list, get more clients, expand your network, gain expert status in your industry, connect with others, or sell products, you need to look at each goal individually and then figure out how you are going to strategize to make it happen.

2. Know your plan - Once you decide what you goal is, then it’s important to strategically decide how you are going to achieve it. Things to think about include what combination on online and offline marketing you will use, what parts you can/will automate and what needs to be spontaneous. Also, don’t forget about planning to give yourself enough lead time to successfully market what it is you are focusing on.

3. Know your content - The words you use to get your message out are always key. You need to be able to plan what you are going to say, and how you are going to say it. Figure out what kind of messages your audience will hear from you – whether that is in the form of blog posts, articles, audio, video, or whatever – and then provide the information you want them to have in that medium.

4. Know your Call to Action - Finally, with every piece of marketing that you put out there, be sure to have a clear call to action. Ask your prospect to do one thing – whether that’s to direct them to your website, ask them to opt in for your freebie, or purchase your services, be clear about what it is you want them to do.

Making time to plan your marketing strategy will save you time and money. A little planning goes a long way, and by just considering the few steps above, you can make sure that your marketing efforts will be working for you.

For more information on how to market your VA business, check out my free audio: 5 Tips to Market Your VA Business www.yourvamentor.com/teleclass

I’d love to hear your comments on this article!

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5 Tips to Market Your VA Business

Posted on May 2, 2012 by

Your VA Mentor Free Teleclass: 5 Tips to Marketing Your VA Business

Date: Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Time: 4:00 p.m. Eastern
(not your time zone? Convert here).

Register here: www.yourvamentor.com/teleclass

Do you find yourself so busy working IN your business that your own marketing efforts get shuffled off to the side?

If so, you are not alone.

Many virtual professionals get so busy working with their own clients, that they don’t regularly market their own business.

This can lead to dry spells in bringing on new clients, or even lost networking opportunities.

It’s important to make sure that you are maintaining your marketing all year round, and of course bumping it up when necessary to bring new clients or prospects into your ‘funnel’.

Join me for this free teleclass where you will learn:

  • how to strategize your marketing needs
  • the one tool that will help take the stress out of your marketing
  • how to plan an effective marketing campaign
  • regular steps you can take to autopilot some of your marketing
  • and much more!

I’ll also highlight my NEW products and services – if you have been wanting to get support in your business, but haven’t found quite the right fit – be sure to tune in. I have set up lots of new ways to invest in yourself to get the support you need. I’m very excited to share them with you!

Register here: www.yourvamentor.com/teleclass

Plan to join me live for this call – I’ve got some great prizes available for those who are live on the call – and I’d love to give them to you! If you can’t make it live, please register anyway, the replay will be available once the live call has ended.

Register here: www.yourvamentor.com/teleclass

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Join me each month!

Posted on May 2, 2012 by

I have an exciting announcement for you (one of several this week, as you may know!).

I have just launched my new membership program … and I’d like to invite you to check it out.

http://www.yourvamentor.com/join-us/

The results of the survey I put out to my community indicated that many of you are interested in getting support on a regular basis, but that not all of you are ready to make a big investment … so that’s what I’ve tried to provide with this program.

The membership fee is $29/month and here is what you receive with that:

  • a monthly teaching call (coming up May 9th)
  • a monthly live Q&A call (coming up May 23rd)
  • email support from Your VA Mentor
  • replays of teaching & Q&A calls in case you can’t attend live
  • other free content and hand-picked resources to complement our monthly theme*

* May’s theme for membership program content is Finding Clients Online

Membership is open now – so check it out and I hope you will join me!

http://www.yourvamentor.com/join-us/

There is also a free level that will provide links to content consistent with the monthly theme, but to get the full benefits of the teaching, the Q&A calls and the email support, invest in yourself and in your business!

I look forward to seeing you there!

~ Tracey

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Invest in Yourself To Grow Your Business

Posted on April 27, 2012 by

If you are like me, when you started your business, you probably didn’t think you’d have to go back to school, or get more training. After all, you were already the expert at what you were doing. It’s what made you set up your business in the first place.

But once you’ve been around the block, you realize that the only way to grow your business is to keep on top of industry trends, learn new technology, and basically … plan to keep educating yourself in various ways. To not do this can leave you in the dust, especially in the virtual world.

Learning can come in various forms – and at various price points. Here are a few examples to help you thing about what might be right for you:

1. Free Teleclasses – Many online professionals offer free teleclasses to provide you with basic information about many topics. If you just need to know something specific about how to set up a Facebook page, or use a mobile marketing service, or learn the difference between several kinds of bookkeeping services, you may look towards a one-off free class like these. Be careful not to fall into the free learning model for everything though – you can spend a lot of time getting just the basic information, without really getting to the root of what you need to learn.

2. Low Cost Ebooks or Training Programs – Another way to gather some new knowledge is to purchase a low cost ebook or program that teaches more detail about what it is you need to know. The self study model has become more popular as more virtual business professionals ramp up their knowledge in various areas of their business. Low cost products can be great because they are affordable and the level of investment can make it an easy decision to implement something like this in your business. These are great for self-starters, but be aware that getting support for what you learn is often not included.

3. Membership Programs – A membership program is simply a monthly subscription fee you pay to access training materials (and sometimes support) for your business. One common model for a membership site is to provide a training teleseminar each month, along with a live Q&A call. Membership programs are generally not on the high end for investment, but their value is often higher than purchasing a one-off ebook or self-study product. This can be very good for you if you are looking to get new training and to be able to get your questions answered by a mentor or a professional who knows what you want to know. Just because membership programs aren’t usually too expensive, doesn’t mean that you can’t get great benefit out of them – the key is to be sure you participate once you join!

4. Group Support or Workshops – Joining a group program or workshop that is specifically designed to teach you something is a very popular way to invest in yourself to get some higher education in your field, or in an area of your business that you want to focus on. Group programs also provide training and usually live or at least email support, and you are even able to get the support of some colleagues who are part of the same group. Groups can be great for expanding the conversation of a particular topic, due to the range of questions that people ask. Sometimes you will hear questions you didn’t think of, even though they are relevant to you as well. Groups usually require a lower investment than getting private support, and though you are still responsible for your own homework (!), for some people it’s the best way they can learn new things.

5. Private or One on One Support – The highest investment of learning your best path to success in your business comes in the form of private support … that is, one on one support from a coach, mentor or trainer. When you are in a private relationship, you get the undivided attention of the person you are learning from. There are different levels of private support as well – depending on the length of time you need, you can often get single sessions or packages of sessions. You can even find VIP days where you get someone’s support for the entire day. The level of private support you decide on really depends on what it is you need at the time.

Investing in yourself and in your business makes good sense, no matter how you choose to do it. Some advice for investing anything at all in yourself and your business – be sure it’s relevant to what you want to accomplish right now.

Many people make the mistake of taking a class when it’s available, with no intention of using the knowledge right away (saving it for a rainy day!). When you get support or take new training, be sure you plan to implement it into your business right away. You will get a better return on your investment when it fits with what you need, and when you implement the changes you need right away.

For a few tips on how to be sure you are choosing the right time for your support. read my article: Are You a Good Student.

I’d love to hear your comments on this article!

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Marketing Tips for your Virtual Business

Posted on April 20, 2012 by

Do you find yourself so busy working IN your business that your own marketing efforts get shuffled off to the side? If so, you are not alone.

Many virtual professionals get so busy working with their own clients, that they don’t regularly market their own business.

This can lead to dry spells in bringing on new clients, or even lost networking opportunities. It’s important to make sure that you are maintaining your marketing all year round, and of course bumping it up when necessary to bring new clients or prospects into your ‘funnel’.

Here are a few ways you can bolster your marketing efforts:

1. Network regularly. Think about what it is you want to accomplish, and make a plan to get it done. If you attend a live networking group, ask yourself what it is you want to get out of the group – and what you want to give. Analyze those results regularly. Is the group an effective source of networking for you? If not, what can you do to increase your participation or your results? If you are networking online, do the same thing. Weigh the time you are spending networking against your results. If you are not seeing results, assess what it is that you are doing wrong. If you aren’t interacting enough, plan to do that. Networking is supposed to be something that enhances your business – but it doesn’t take the place of all of your marketing activities, so be sure to give yourself a scorecard and make changes where necessary to make it an effective use of your time.

2. Plan, plan, plan. Get out your calendar and literally plan to market your business. If you are planning a product launch, set your date and work back so that you can market it properly. If you want to add some new clients to your business, do the same thing. Select the date you want to have those clients come on board, and then work back to set your strategy to bring them on. You will know how much time you need to do that based on how many you need, and how well you are communicating with them already. Proper strategy will yield you faster results, but planning is essential.

3. Nurture constantly. Once you bring people into your circle, you want to be able to stay in contact with them so that they get to know you. It’s not enough to meet someone in a networking situation and then three months later contact them to see if they need support. It’s important to nurture the relationships you are building – otherwise your efforts will be lost. People will most often choose to work with a person that they have gotten to know (even briefly) because the trust factor can get built up quickly by a nurtured relationship. Get to know the people you network with, and you will be farther ahead of the pack when they are in need of support.

Marketing your business is much more than just directing people to your website and hoping they will buy from you. As a small business owner, you want them to buy YOU, so you need to be sure to show them YOU.

Through careful planning and regular contact with your prospects, you’ll be the name on their lips when they are seeking support.

For more tips on marketing your business, check out these blog articles: www.yourvamentor.com/blog/tag/marketing-your-services

I’d love to hear your comments on this article!

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