Delegation Is Dead
By · CommentsI found the following post by Tina Forsyth, and it fits exactly how I work with my clients. So, why is delegation dead?
Sounds like a crazy thing to say, me being a proponent of “hiring your virtual team” and such… isn’t delegation a part of that?
I actually have a bit of a different perspective on this and it is based on my belief that:
Your virtual team should be taking stuff OFF your plate, not adding work to your plate.
Delegation is actually a lot of work when you think about it. In order to delegate effectively you need to be able to decide – usually on a day to day basis – what needs to be done, who is best to do it, give specifics on how it needs to be done, set deadlines, answer any of their questions, follow up to make sure it is done, etc. Phew!
I’m actually a fan of coming at this from a slightly different but hugely significant angle – releasing instead of delegating.
I recorded a video a few weeks back that talks about the two different mindsets of virtual support professionals – the business mindset vs. the employee mindset. (If you haven’t seen the video yet you can watch it here.)
In a nutshell, someone with a business mindset really gets that they are the expert, they are the specialist and are providing a valuable service to you. When you talk to someone with a business mindset they are going to say something like “here’s how I can help you” – they will TELL you what they can do for you.
Someone with an employee mindset usually has the best intention at heart and really wants to help – but they don’t yet have the understanding, experience or knowledge to approach you as an expert in their field. Instead they approach you from the perspective of “how can I help you?” – they ASK you how they can help.
If you consider this for a moment you can actually feel the difference here… if someone TELLS you how they can help that actually takes work off your plate. They are clear on what they are doing and what needs to be done – it’s like a sigh of relief!!
When someone ASKS you how they can help that actually adds work to your plate. It now becomes up to you to tell that person what to do, how to do it, when to do it, follow up to make sure it gets done, etc… this is A LOT of work for many business owners (and quite frankly something that many of us do poorly as it’s not our strength).
Most of the business owners I talk to would love to have someone with a business mindset – we are hungry to get this stuff off our plates!
Now when you have someone in place who has a business mindset your “job” is no longer about delegation… it’s now about release. You don’t have to tell them what to do – instead they are telling you! Your job then is just to learn how to let go, how to release what needs to be done so someone else can take care of it for you.
Aaaaaahhhhh… love that.
Ready to start releasing? Give us a call and see if we can help. We’d love to give you that Aaaaaaaahhhh…. so many of our clients get once they hire us.
Have a great day!
“Tina Forsyth is the author of Becoming an Online Business Manager: Playing a Bigger Game with Your Clients and Yourself. She writes and consults in advanced online marketing and business systems for business owners and their support teams. www.OnlineBusinessManager.com“
Why I Do What I Do
By · CommentsSo, last month started out so innocently when one of my clients called me and said – “Can we do one of those online events you were talking about? I think it would really help out my business.” And of course I replied – “Of course we can. It’ll be a blast,” all the time knowing just how much work was headed my way.
But of course, my job is to make whatever needs to happen, happen effortlessly and smoothly. So that’s what I did, put in all the extra time, all the extra effort to make sure what needed to get done was getting done and done right. But you know what, even with all the extra work piled on me this month, I wouldn’t change a thing. Because my client is happy, her email list is growing, her products are selling, and we’re both getting to know a great group of women we wouldn’t have otherwise. So this is really why I do what I do. Seeing the end result, knowing I played some part in making it happen, and making it successful.
If you’re interested in attending the event – it is free. I’m going to hear all the interviews, after the fact, but I can’t wait. Women like Fabienne Fredrickson, Rosalind Gardner, Christine Gallagher – just to name a few of the 12 women involved. And an unexpected side effect of doing what I already love – I get to be included in this group of absolutely amazing women. If that’s not a reason to listen right there, I don’t know what is!
Anyways, check it out at thewisewomenoftheweb.com and you too can benefit from the results of me just doing what I do every day. It just so happens that this one is showing up in a bigger way than some of the others, so I had to share it.
Why do you do what you do? Let me know. I’d really love to hear it.
Have a great and blessed day everyone!
You know, I’ve had a rough time this week. I was doubting myself and my capability to reach some of those giant, audacious goals I’ve set for myself. But just as this doubt and lack of confidence began to reach it’s height – I realized something. The real point of my business, of what I do, isn’t to make millions, it’s not to reach everyone in the world – it’s to make a real difference, a real impact in those people’s live, those businesses that truly resonate with me, with my message, and who I am – and how I run my business.
I see so many people (and believe me, I’ve fallen into this trap myself) chasing after what someone else has, trying to be just like someone who has made it big (what most people think of as making it big), buying their systems, copying what they do, trying to reach the same market. And you know what I’ve come to realize, copying what others do, trying to get a piece of their market, following someone else’s system – if it doesn’t match up with who you are, your personality, your voice – people are going to sense that and it’s going to come off as feeling fake, not real.
This has been my big a-ha this week. And now I’m going to make a real effort, a conscious decision to truly be me in all that I do. With my friends, my family, in my business, with my clients, and when talking to prospective clients. If I don’t think what I have to offer is going to work for you – I’m going to tell you. In fact, I’ve told a couple of people that this week. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not running my business for free. I do want to make money, but I’m not going to do it at the detriment of someone else.
So, after all my rambling, what I really want to get across is this – Just be yourself, be you. State your opinion, work the way you want to, run your business the way that works for you, market in a way that feels good for you. Some people won’t like it, in fact some will hate it. But who cares! Do you want to attract clients you can be genuine with, that get you, that like the way you think and the way you work and can’t wait to work with you? Or do you want to work with clients you have to pretend with, that you have to beg to work with you, and that maybe you wish you had never taken on? I know for me business is much more fun when I’m working with the first.
I realized this week that right now, every single one of my clients is somebody I wouldn’t mind hanging out with, having coffee or just hanging out and chatting. And that makes my work fun, makes my business enjoyable, and just helps make my whole life a blast! So I’m not chasing after clients any more. Of course, I’ll follow-up and let people know what I do. But it’s their choice to decide that what I offer, what I do is what they want to. And if they’re lucky, I’ll decide that I want to work with them too. I’m pretty excited about this and can’t wait to see what comes from it.
So what do you think? You might agree, you might disagree – but either way I’d love to hear your thoughts. So let me know.
Have a great, authentic day!!
New Social Media Assistance Package
By · CommentsI love what I do - helping service-based entrepreneurs develop an overall marketing strategy and then assisting them in implementing their plan to effectively market their businesses online. Lately, as I’ve been talking to some business owners, especially those who are just starting out, I’m hearing from many of them that they really want help, they really need to know which direction to go, but for some reason or other – they just don’t have a huge budget right now. I’ve been there, so I completely empathize with anyone in that situation. Knowing you need help, not quite sure what to do next.
So I’d like to see if I can help out some of you who might be in this situation, and need assistance in figuring out how best to market your business online. To do this, I have put together a smaller version of my monthly packages, which will allow you to take advantage of my once-a-month strategy sessions along with getting some help with those monthly tasks that go along with marketing your business online.
What this means for you is that you will be able to take advantage of my expertise and get help with building your business for $200 per month. (Open to the next 10 individuals that sign up.)
Here is what you get for that $200 per month with a 3 month minimum commitment:
• Customized Online Marketing Strategy
• Monthly 30-min status update session
• 1-2 status updates/day on Facebook & Twitter (M-F)
• Basic setup of Facebook Page, Twitter & LinkedIn profile
• 2 Article submissions/month (content to be provided by client)
• Accepting friend requests/following back
• Basic profile management
• Adding Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter connections/followers/friends
I would also appreciate you forwarding this on to your connections and network. Contact me at crystal@timesaversvirtualsolutions.com if you’d like to get started or with any questions. Let’s get started on your program ASAP!
A while back, I found a blog post on using Twitter and copied the text to read later. It had some great ideas on some different things to do with Twitter. Yesterday when I was looking for another document I needed for one of my clients, I ran across it again and after reading through it thought, “Hm, this would be some great info for my readers.” So here it is, with the disclaimer that this is not my own original post. But I can’t remember where I originally found it, so unfortunately I can’t give the writer their due credit. So, if you’re reading this and it was your original blog post, please let me know so I can give you the proper credit. So to my readers, enjoy this post. It really does have some good ideas on how to use Twitter to get more followers and eventually more clients. A lot of them I use myself and for my clients, and the few I forgot about using I can now pull back into my Twitter strategy.
I do wonder at times if some Twitter users have any time to get any work done. Several of the more prolific ones that I follow swear they spend no more than 30 minutes a day on Twitter, but I really find that hard to believe. Many times it seems they are twittering just to say something, like “Good morning Twitterverse” when they begin their day, give more details than I want to know about what they had for lunch, what their children said to them, or when they take a nap.
I realize that this is part of the “like, know, and trust” process that enables people to get to know each other, but sometimes it’s simply too much information..LOL. I’m Twittering primarily to market my business. Consequently, I try and limit my personal twitters to no more than 2 per day. My clients, who create Twitter accounts for marketing, as well, tell me, “I’m signed up. Now what in the world do I Twitter about? How do I market my business with this tool?”
Here are 10 strategies that I use regularly to marketing my business and my expertise via Twitter. Remember, you have only 140 characters for your tweet (Twitter post).
1. How you’re helping clients. Talk about specific ways that your business helps clients and use their Twitter ID if you have their permission, i.e. “Just finished @clientname brainstorm great Internet marketing plan for 2009″ or “Finally finished setting up Quickbooks for local hardware store — now they can invoice their clients”
2. What you’re doing in your own business. This is a perfect time to tell others when you’re blogging, writing an article, creating your weekly ezine, recording your podcast, i.e. “Had great interview with Jane Smith today on speaking to grow your biz. Great ideas! Subscribe to podcast & listen here “
3. Useful tool or resource you’ve found. I run across these all the time in my daily activities, and Twitter is a perfect place to share,. i.e. “Found great new Firefox plug-in to monitor & check multiple Gmail accounts at same time at ” or “Read great blog post on working at home with kids under 5 at (URL here)”
4. Ask a question. Need some ideas or some quick brainstorming? Twitter is an ideal place to gather opinions, i.e. “Help! Desperately seeking new laser printer. Recommendations?” or “How do I find training organizations online?”
5. Conduct a survey. What do your Tweeps think about a particular issue? Ask them via Twitter, i.e. “Quick poll: Do you get more clients from Facebook or Twitter? Respond at (URL here)”
6. Report on live events. The latest Twitter trend seems to be tweeting what’s happening at conferences or workshops. In order for Twitter users to follow a particular event, it’s usually referred to by a name preceded by a # sign, as in #JVAlert, for example, to make it simpler for people who want to follow those posts. So, if you were at an event, you might tweet “#JVAlert John Smith speaking on affiliate programs. Just got great idea on training affiliate managers!” Just don’t get so wrapped up in tweeting that you ignore the content delivered in the conference!
7. Product or service launch. If you’re about to launch a new product or introduce a new product, let your Twitter followers know, i.e. “Pre-launch pricing for new DVD set about how baby boomers can start an online biz. Get $100 early bird discount at (URL here)”
8. Responding to others with advice or answers. The way to build professional relationships on Twitter is to help your tweeps. So, if someone asks a question, comments about something to which you have a response or an idea, or you want to ask a followup question, this is the perfect place to do so.
9. Acknowledging new followers. I’ve noticed a recent trend of acknowledging people who’ve decided to follow a Twitter user in the past day or so. I initially thought that others were doing this as a measure of popularity, but what I’ve come to realize that it’s actually helping out the new followers because it exposes their Twitter profiles to others who may have never heard of them and who might like to follow them. So, to thank your followers, you’d tweet, “Welcome new followers @twittername, @twittername, etc.”
10. Automate your tweets. Many of my tweets have been automated and connected to other things I do. TwitterFeed turns all of my blog posts into tweets. aWeber turns each ezine issue into a tweet. EzineArticles.com tweets my followers every time I publish an article through their service. Typically all that’s involved here is connecting the particular service to my Twitter account. Once all the services are connected, I get free and automated Twitter posts with no additional effort on my part.
Twitter can be a great time-waster or a wonderful way to market your business and leverage your expertise online. Follow these 10 strategies and you’ll begin to attract more followers and get more clients through social networking.
A couple of days ago I talked about focusing on results and not so much on what you do. So how can you start focusing on results and talking about what your ideal clients really want to hear from you? Here’s some simple steps you can take to get clear on exactly what you should be talking about to your prospects.
Get specific about what you really DO for clients: The Results! This is what your prospects really want to hear about. Not about the PROCESS of what you do, but what it is that your clients will receive as a benefit of working with you. Until you can tell people what’s in it for THEM to work with you, they’re not going to pay attention to you or what you have to say. I’m sure you’ve all heard the phrase “features vs benefits,” but maybe you’ve really never known what it means or how exactly to apply that to your business to get clients. Well, a FEATURE would be things like your product’s color, size, shape, usage or capacity, etc. A BENEFIT or RESULT is what that product or service does for you – its SOLUTION. For ex, it helps you lose weight, it saves you time, makes you more money, helps you get more clients, solves your particular frustration, ends that ongoing back pain you’ve been struggling with. These – the RESULTS – are what you want to focus on when describing what you really DO for your clients or customers, not the features or how you do it.
Focus on the Top Ten Reasons People Buy. According to Jim Edwards’ and David Garfinkel’s ebook, “Ebook Secrets Exposed,” there are 10 reasons, results or benefits that make people buy. So you want to focus in on the motivators that are appropriate to your business, and make sure you’re addressing those reasons when you talk (market) to prospective clients. So here are the top 10 most powerful motivators – see which ones are applicable to your business.
Figure out who your competitors are and what makes you unique. Get very clear on who works to get the same results with clients as you do, essentially who’s going after the same market. In other words, “Who do you lose business to on a regular basis?” Start making a list. Now look at this list and start thinking about what sets you and your business apart from these competitors? What is your USP (Unique Selling Proposition)? Take some time to think about what you offer as opposed to what your competitors offer and write this down. Then work on being able to clearly communicate your USP, your uniqueness whenever you speak to a potential client.
The BIG WOW – make your business truly noticeable and start adding value with “client extras.” Think about how you could make your business so remarkable, so unusual, and exactly what your clients or customers wanted, that clients and prospects can’t help but talk about you, recommend you, and want to work with you. If you’re stuck on what this might be, then ask your current clients or customers to see what they say. Your big wow could be something like your customer service, or your turnaround time, or going above and beyond what the clients would even think to expect. Those extra little touches, that big wow – that is what will get people talking to other people about why your business is so great. Also think about what little extra special touches you can add to your business. A “client extra” is something you offer, at no additional cost that is of great value to the recipient. So some examples could be – open office hours one day a week to answer any questions at no extra cost, a hot lunch in your office’s waiting room, free articles, free attendance to a workshop, quarterly mastermind groups, etc. Once you have some of these ideas, put them in your marketing materials. This is all part of creating that uniqueness that will make you stand apart from your competitors.
Finally, get clear on your Niche and your Expertise. One thing to remember is that a niche doesn’t always have to do with a particular type of client. It can sometimes be about a particular situation you solve or some RESULT at which you’re considered an expert. For example – my niche is helping service based entrepreneurs accelerate their online marketing success and get the results they want faster than they ever imagined. Another example is a graphic designer who is know for delivering graphic design projects in one day or someone who’s known for lowering your phone bill up to 90%. Also, the clearer you are about this niche or expertise you have, the more clients will seek you out, the more referrals you’ll receive and the more money you will make. Another benefit of coming up with a niche and thinking “small” rather than thinking “wide,” is that experts are sought after more than generalists, they get paid more by the hour, and they get better results for their clients.
So get started. Start thinking about your USP, how you can “WOW” your clients, and what special RESULTS or EXPERTISE you bring to the table. By focusing on the results of what you do, you’ll start attracting those ideal clients and getting more clients online!
Have a great day!
One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is that they tell people about what they do, instead of the results the client wants to receive. Why doesn’t that work to get clients? Well, people don’t necessarily want to know what you do, they want to know what RESULTS they’ll get, first and foremost!
Everyone (including you and me) is walking around thinking “What’s In It For ME?” So, when you start talking about what you do in terms of some boring process or describe what you do using a label (“I’m a Virtual Assistant” or “I’m a financial planner”) – the person you’re talking to is going to immediately tune you out, because you’re basically talking about yourself. You’re not talking about them or how you can help them get the results they’re looking for. And that’s not going to get you very many clients.
The main point is that it has to be about THEM, and that’s what will draw people to you. The more you can talk about them, their problems, and what solutions are out there for them, the more you’ll start getting people’s attention. And if you follow my tips on targeting your ideal client, your target market – you’ll be drawing attention from the right people for your business.
So how can you start focusing on results and talking about what your ideal clients really want to hear from you? Well we’ll talk about that tomorrow. So stay tuned!
Have a great day!
What’s stopping you from taking action?
By · CommentsI came across this post and I had to share it with my readers. I know I often get into overwhelm by all that I have on my to-do list, and this often ends up in me doing nothing at all. I know for me, when my to-do list gets out of control, it’s often easier to do nothing than to try to tackle that huge list in front of me. And that’s not good, because as this post says: “the cost in time of putting things off is far higher than simply getting them done.”
So take a look at how you can overcome some of the reasons people put things off or don’t get them done at all.
Fact: the cost in time of putting things off is far higher than simply getting them done.
The more you keep adding to your to do list, the more you feel overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done, the more that you get stressed by it all. It doesn’t take a scientist to know that isn’t ideal! And not starting is stopping your business from getting anywhere!
There tends to be four reasons why we put things off.1. Complacency – thinking it’ll only take us a few minutes to do, so it can wait
2. Avoiding Discomfort – believing the task will cause us to experience a negative emotion
3. Fear of Failure – believing we’re likely to fail in the task, so why bother starting it (and we want to protect ourselves)
4. Action Illusion – we’re very busy “around” the task doing lots of “stuff”, but none of it is meaningful, progressive or actually getting the job done
Once you’ve worked out what’s stopping you from moving forward, you can do something about it! Here are some ways of overcoming these barriers and getting going!
Complacency – if you really believe it’ll only take minutes to do, pick a time within the next 24 hours when you’re going to get it done and do it. (Better still – pick a time within the next 24 minutes, now that you’re thinking about it!)
Avoiding discomfort – the more you think about the negative feelings, the bigger and more severe they’ll feel. If it involves someone else (you’re scared of hurting their feelings, or how they’re gong to react) write down what you want to say, how you want to say it and the outcome you’re looking for. This won’t necessarily take away all the discomfort, but it’ll certainly minimize it. The more you do it, the bigger and more uncomfortable it will seem. This is the time to embrace it and go for it.
If it’s simply a job or task which you just do not like doing, set yourself a super fast time limit for getting it done and go for it. Racing through it faster will also keep discomfort to a minimum.
Fear of failure – if it’s something you’ve done before and you failed last time, look at the reasons why you failed and build in some ways of avoiding those. Was it your preparation? Your personal attitude? The steps you built in (or didn’t). Work through the process and you’ll start to see some key areas that you know you could do differently this time.
If you haven’t tackled this before but are still afraid of failing, find someone who has managed it successfully, or research what you need to do in order to increase your chances of success. Then allocate a time within the next 24 hours to get the job done and strike while the information is fresh in your mind and you’re focused on the first key steps.
Action Illusion – look at all the busyness and actions you’ve already taken in this area but have failed to move you forward. Paper shuffling. Endless rewriting of to do lists. Web surfing. What are at least three things you could stop doing and one thing you could start doing, which would increase your actual action, rather than your illusion of action? Go do them!
Whether you’ve been putting something off for a day, a week, a month or a year, you can do something about it turn it around. Step up, take control, identify what’s been stopping you and move forward!
I hope you got something useful from this, because I know I did. This whole post really plays into my strong belief that you have to take action and constantly be moving forward in your life and in your business. So get going and take action, but also be sure you’re taking the right actions. Don’t just work on the easiest task, because those ones usually aren’t the ones that will actually make the big movements for you.
Ok, have a great day!
One easy way to create great content for your website
By · CommentsSo we’ve all heard – “content is king.” But are you struggling with creating content to add to your website or having a hard time coming up with content for your information products? Here’s one simple way to generate content for your website, without doing much work at all. I actually discovered this method when I signed up for some new software this week, so I’m now sharing it with you. 
1. Decide on a few key words you think your clients may be searching for on google to find solutions to their problems.
2. Go to www.amazon.com and enter those key words.
3. Check out the names of the top-selling books in your niche.
4. Contact some of the top-selling authors and ask to interview them about their area of expertise.
5. Record the interviews and add each one to your website. You can use the interviews as a free gift to gather emails, or set it up as a product to sell.
6. If you’re turning the interviews into a product, offer the authors an affiliate commission if they would like to help you promote the product.
Think about it. You’re getting great content for your website. Or think about how quickly could you be up and running if you used just this one technique to create a product? You already know there’s a market for your product (the authors’ books are best sellers) and it’s a great way to build contacts in your field and establish yourself as an expert.
There’s tons of other ways to create good content, so if this isn’t quite the method for you, don’t worry. I’ll give you some more ideas down the road.
Have a great day!
7 Great Reasons to Use WordPress to Create Your Website
By · Comments
I’ve created about 4 new websites just this month alone. Before I found WordPress, there’s no way I would have had the time or the knowledge to do this and make a pretty nice looking website. So as I finish up my latest website, which is the one I’m really excited about, I thought I would talk about 7 really excellent reasons to use WordPress to make your website.
1. It’s FREE, and when you’re starting a business or adding another website to your business, this is a huge benefit. The wordpress program itself costs you nothing, whether you use the self-hosted version (wordpress.org) or their hosted version (wordpress.com). I recommend you host the site yourself, but this post isn’t about that, so we’ll get into why that is another time. I’ll tell you now, that almost all of what I’m going to talk about below has to do with the wordpress.org (self-hosted) version.
2. It’s EASY, which is a huge part of what made it possible for me to build so many websites in such a short amount of time. If you’re using the wordpress.com version, it’s incredibly easy. You can set up a basic blog in just minutes, literally. I’ve done it to test it out. And if you’re using the self-hosted version of wordpress.org, you can usually have your hosting company do it all for you – with a few simple clicks of your mouse (it’s called Fantastico, ask your hosting company about it). Don’t get me wrong, if you’re technically challenged, you might need some help, but this brings us to reason #3:
3. Technical Support. Ok, so you can’t email wordpress or give them a call, but that doesn’t really matter. There are so many forums, places you can go to get questions answered that this really isn’t a problem. And most of the major hosting companies are very familiar with wordpress and can help you with any questions too. Go to wordpress.org, type in your question, and most of the time you’ll find your answer. A very detailed, step by step answer. And you can always hire someone to walk you through how to use it, which won’t take too much time, because really most of wordpress is about typing and clicking some buttons.
4. The Themes. This is what allows you to make your website unique and different. It’s like a template for your website. There are free ones and paid (premium) ones. You can install and switch themes relatively easily. If you get bored of the look of your site, just switch to a new theme. And you don’t have to worry about any of the content, images, pages disappearing. Going back to our “It’s Easy” reason.
5. The Plugins. These are yet another way to personalize your page and make it do things you never thought you could. Many of the interesting things you see on my site – a plugin. My membership site – a plugin. The tweets on the side – a plugin. My members forum – a plugin. And there are plugins that do things behind the scene that you probably would never be able to figure out how to do on your own. Pulling back in our FREE reason, almost every single one of these is free. And again, you can install the majority of them with just a few clicks of the mouse.
6. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Love. Search engines love blogs. And when you create a website with wordpress, your blog is automatically created right along with it. And add on some of the free SEO plugins available to really ramp up your Search Engine juice!
7. FREEDOM! My number one reason personally. You’re no longer tied down by having to hire someone who knows how to set up a website. Someone who actually understands css, php, and all those other initials that don’t make so much sense to the rest of us. You can change the look of your site, the content of your site, the pages on your site, the pictures on your site, almost anything you want on your site all on your own and whenever you feel like it. And if you decide you still want someone to do all the heavy lifting for you, because WordPress is so easy, it won’t cost you near as much as those expensive web designers (no offense if you are one of those).
So those are my reasons why I use WordPress. Now I know that sometimes WordPress isn’t going to cut it, and then yes, you will have to hire someone who understands all that stuff I really don’t have time to learn. But for the majority of small business owners/work at home moms – WordPress will do everything you need it to.
If you have any questions about WordPress and how you can use it to build your website, just leave a comment below.
Have a great day!
