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Inside VA Training September 2005 |
The Inside Scoop |
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My heart breaks for those affected by hurricane Katrina. The city of New Orleans is unrecognizable as are parts of Alabama and Mississippi. What can we do to help? One of the first things we can do is donate to the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts. Secondly is there a VA service that you can offer to businesses hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina? I have listed three Chambers below if you would like to get more information about how you can help.
New Orleans Chamber of
Commerce
Biloxi, MS Chamber of
Commerce Sharon Williams of The 24 Hour Secretary is also coordinating with VAs to provide VA services to the Red Cross and the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce. Whether on your own or part of a group, this is a great opportunity to help make a difference in the lives of those affected by the hurricane. We are very excited because a new session of VA Training will be starting at the end of this month (click here for more information). I look forward to hearing from you. If you have any questions or comments, please drop me an email. Becki ;)
I cannot begin to express my gratitude for Dale and Becki and VA Training. Upon entering the program, I had been a VA for seven months. Having done the initial research and already having a fairly keen business sense, I thought that I had things under control. While I did, I was shown that I could do better and more, and to always strive to take things to the next level. Through the group and one-on-one calls, I was presented with ideas, not instructions. I was pushed to really think about myself, my business, and where I wanted both to go. Over the course of eight weeks, I saw a dramatic improvement in my confidence as well as other areas of my business. I now have a firm grasp on where I want to go, who I want to be, and how to accomplish both. I’m leaving the program with a new outlook on myself and my business and I wouldn’t be where I am right now had it not been for two amazing individuals who take pride in the industry and enjoy helping others succeed.
Heather
Jacobson
I had been trying to start a VA business for a number of months before I came across Dale and Becki Noles and the VA Training program. Although I have all the technical skills necessary to perform the tasks of a Virtual Assistant, I was floundering when it came to marketing myself and the skills required to run my own business successfully. Dale helped me to really focus on my strengths, identify a niche for myself and gave invaluable practical advice on marketing strategies I could start using immediately. The confidence I have gained since attending VA Training is unquantifiable, and I want to thank Dale and Becki from the bottom of my heart for all the knowledge, expertise and ideas they shared during the coaching calls and on the VA Training web site.
Yvonne McCoy
De-Mystifying Marketing: 10% of Your
Brain Can Mean 100% Growth The biggest issue for most small businesses and entrepreneurs is marketing effectively. There are numerous pieces to the marketing puzzle that are seldom utilized and often lay dormant. The main reason for this is the lack of understanding associated with what can actually be done with a small marketing budget. You may have heard that humans, on average, use only ten percent of their actual brain capacity. There are a handful of people who can tap into much more than what the average Joe or Jane does on a regular basis. Most of them are geniuses in some area or another. Yet, why is this information important to you? Simply put, because you can be capable of so much more, if only you exercise your greatest asset, your brain. Neuron Workout Like any muscle, the brain gets stronger when you exercise it. The more you use it, the easier thinking becomes. As a business owner attempting to market your business to your potential client/customer base is as easy as thinking about it. No, I am not saying that just thinking about it will make it happen, but it will help speed the process up. Get Inside Their Head Let me explain. If you truly understand whom you are marketing to, you can begin to make decisions that will increase the likelihood of drawing more of your targeted potential clients to your business. The main key is to think in terms of whom it is you are marketing to. What do they like, want, need, desire, experience and how can you “speak” to each one? Imagine that your business is a coaching practice and your ideal clients are women between the ages of twenty-five and forty, who make an average income between twenty-four to seventy-five thousand dollars per year and juggle a career and a family. You may have ten to fifteen clients throughout the month and your marketing strategy is mostly website visitors who sign up for your on-line newsletter. You may only be spending around two hundred dollars for your monthly marketing, which is not very much. This example shows very little in the way of creativity. In other words, there was little thought that went into planning a strategy for marketing. How can you break out of this cycle and increase the “traffic” to your practice? Put Your Money When Your Desire Is Determine a marketing budget that you can live with if you double your business per month. You might be able to increase your clientele on your current budget, but it would take longer. Am I suggesting that you scrap your newsletter? No. I recommend keeping your newsletter. This marketing tactic can be a phenomenal tool if you have more than six or seven hundred subscribers. But do not let it be your only marketing tool. Your Well Oiled Machine In order to be able to handle more clients/customers, you will need to prepare yourself for an increase. What I mean is set up systems that will allow you to grow your business without adding any extra strain. Some examples would include utilizing a system that will handle online transactions, filter your subscribers through your commitment funnel (a system that is described in the book Get Clients Now!: A 28-Day Marketing Program for Professionals and Consultants, by C. J. Hayden), create forms, write relevant articles, submit articles to on-line and off-line publishers, utilize the expertise of a virtual assistant, etc. An objection to this could be, “But this is an extra expense.” And you would be correct, at least at first. After these systems are in place, you can begin to focus on growing your practice through other means. The article writing and submission will help get your name out there as an expert on your topic. But do not expect to get instant results using this form of marketing, as this is typically a slow process. But, we strongly recommend it. Pick Their Brain To see a boost of clientele, we recommend proactive marketing. Since, you already have a target market; you need to actively seek out ways to attract your ideal client. What works best for your clientele? If you do not know, ask them. Consider only the clients that fit the mold of your ideal client. Ask them what magazines, books or publications they read. Ask them what attracted them to you. How did they find you? What online and offline venues are they actively involved in (Toast Masters, NAWBO, IWMF, etc.)? Get Your Oxygen Pumping After you have a strong base of information to work from you will want to exercise your thinking muscle. This is where you will want to get creative. A good way to get creative is to increase the oxygen flow to the brain. There are many ways to achieve this; caffeine (my personal favorite), exercise (like a brisk 10-minute walk, yoga, treadmill, etc.), crossword puzzle, creative writing, etc. I am not endorsing one method over another but merely indicating a way to get the creative juices flowing, you can choose whatever works best for you. Synapse Power Once you have stimulated your brain, you should be able to start thinking creatively. Have fun. Start with a question like, if there were no limitations on attracting your ideal clients, what would it be? What other ideas can you think of that will be exciting and enticing to you and your clients? Write them down. Now imagine how to implement one of your ideas. What would it look like? How would it feel? What does it smell like? Utilize your senses and incorporate them into your idea. What can you do today that will help you move toward this goal? Write it down and plan to do it! The end result will be a fresh approach to attracting your ideal client. This is where your systems can work to your benefit. Incorporate your new idea into your marketing strategy. In the end, if it is exciting to you, there is a good chance that it will be exciting to your potential clients. About the Author: Dale Noles is the President of The Selon Group. His businesses support the coaching community by offering marketing, branding, streamlining coaching practices including administrative, executive and technical support. For more information visit http://www.TheSelonGroup.com or http://www.VirtualAccuracy.com.
VA Training welcomes articles
and suggestions from our readers. If you have information that you feel
will be a benefit to our readers,
drop us
an email. We cannot
guarantee that all submissions will be accepted for print. VA
Training will notify you via email if and when your article will
appear. All written information included in Inside VA Training is the opinion of the individual author. Readers agree to hold VA Training, Virtual Accuracy and its subsidiaries harmless for its content. Most article writers are not attorneys or accountants and the content should not be construed as legal and/or accounting advice. If an article is written by an attorney or a CPA it will be clearly stated in the byline of the article, however please consult your legal counsel and/or CPA firm before utilizing the information contained herein. We appreciate you taking the time to read Inside VA Training. If at any time you wish to unsubscribe please go to VA Training and follow the unsubscribe instructions. Copyright © 2005 by VA Training and Virtual Accuracy. All rights reserved. No part of this newsletter or website, including but not limited to copy and graphics, can be reproduced by any means without written consent from Virtual Accuracy.
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*New VA Training
Session*
At
VA Training,
we take a
unique
approach to one-on-one coaching and to the
area of mentoring Virtual Assistants. Our
ultimate
goal
is to make
training
affordable,
yet provide a
comprehensive
program
to emerging Virtual Assistants.
Analyzing your website traffic is an absolute must because you need to know where people are going and how they find you. Website stats can be extremely confusing so this month we are offering our Special Report: Analyzing Your Website Traffic to you at no charge. Just send us an email and you will receive it shortly in your in box. Click here to receive the Special Report: Analyzing Your Website Traffic.
If you haven't made plans yet to attend the VA Conference in St. Louis, it's not too late. You can register at VAConference.com. If you are attending the VA Conference in St. Louis, MO on October 14th and 15th I (Becki) would love to meet you. Send me an email and let me know that you are attending. If you are still undecided, check out VAConference.com for more information.
Not a member yet?
"VANF welcomes you to join and
participate in this Virtual Assistant networking forum to help
educate ourselves and each other via various topics of discussion,
as well as promote the new business concept of hiring a Virtual
Assistant. It's time to twist people's belief from in-house staff to
virtual staffing."
VAS System Do
you use the MS Word text editor regularly? How about learning the
most important keyboard shortcuts by heart? The shortcuts are much
faster than using the mouse and toolbars or menus. Now you can master
these shortcuts and speed up your work. SuperMemo will take
care that you will never forget them, even if you do not work with
MS Word for some time. Download a free
copy of SuperMemo's MS Word shortcuts
here.
Goal Getting: 5 Steps to Get You There
Quickly One of the things
that frustrated me while in school was that most of the psychology
books specialized in complicating things. It's the same with many
self-help books as well. I always wondered why relationships, change
and meeting goals couldn't be made much more simple. To that end, here
are five simple steps to making goals attainable: 1. Write it
down We all carry
around in our heads great ideas, intentions and goals. The problem
is that is where they often remain - floating around in our heads,
taking up space and never being acted upon, much less realized. If
you really do want something to happen, write it down. In fact, the
simple yet powerful act of writing down your goals automatically
increases the chances of meeting them. This is because even the
weakest ink is so much more powerful than the strongest memory. Another advantage
to writing down your goals is that you now have them in front of
you. Reading your goals on a regular basis can motivate you and keep
you on course each day. We all have full days with lots of
distractions. Having your goals right in front of you allows you to
focus on the activities that push you toward your goals and tune out
the distractions. 2. Break it
down This is the first
place people often get stuck. You've set some attractive goals. Then
you look at how much has to be done and how distant the goal seems
to be, and you stop there. Break down your goals before you break
down. Many of the things
we do on a regular basis are broken down into smaller chunks. A week
has seven days, a day has 24 hours, an hour has 60 minutes and so
on. Even a pizza is cut into slices and then eaten a bite at a time.
Take your goals and break them down into small, manageable pieces
that can be handled one at a time, a day at a time, a week at a
time, and so on. 3. Take small
steps Here's the second
spot where we tend to get stuck. Now that you have broken down your
goals into manageable pieces, begin to take one small step at a
time. As you begin to take and complete small steps, both your
confidence and motivation will grow. Most people don't begin. You
begin. 4. Take the
next step This is the third
spot where people tend to get off course. You get off to a good
start and then fail to follow through. Ask yourself "now that I have
accomplished this step, what's the next step I need to take?" Then
either take that step right away, or at least get started on it. This builds your
momentum and can carry you through to the completion of your goals. 5. Take one
more step This is sometimes
called "going the extra mile," and it's the major difference between
winners and champions. Winners take all of the steps listed above.
Champions take an extra step, run one more block, lift one more
weight, read one more page. When you don't believe you can take one
more step and then do, that's when you become a champion. So, here is what
I'd like to invite you to do: Choose a goal you would like to
accomplish, write it down, break it down, begin to take small steps,
take the next steps and then take the extra steps. Then enjoy what
you have accomplished. About the Author: Your source for past issues of Inside VA Training. |
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Listen
to an audio message from Dale...
From
the Desk of Becki Noles...
