VACOC Monthly Guest Expert Teleseminar Series:

The Top 10 Mistakes That are Killing Your Brand

DATE: Thursday, October 18, 2007
TIME: 5pm PST / 6pm MST / 7pm CST / 8pm EST
LENGTH: 60 minutes (please call in 10 min. early)
COST: FREE!

This class is open to all Virtual Assistants and business owners. Feel free to invite your colleagues and clients.

“Branding is not about getting your prospects to choose you over your competition; it’s about getting your prospects to see you as the only solution to their problem.” ™ –Rob Frankel

Branding is a lot more than just a name and a logo. It’s how users and prospects are turned into evangelists for your business. But even more important about what you know about branding is what you don’t know. It’s costing you real business and real dollars. Branding expert Rob Frankel will be telling you–yes, you– the 10 ways you are currently killing your brand. He’ll also tell you how to fix every one of them.

Join us on Thursday, October 18, for a special hour with Rob Frankel, author of the groundbreaking bestseller, “Revenge of Brand X: How to Build a Big Time Brand on the Web or Anywhere Else.” Rob Frankel has been called “the best branding expert on the planet,” advising, consulting and speaking to Fortune 500 companies, funded start-ups and major media such as CBS, CNBC, ABC, NBC, FOX, WSJ, NYT, LAT and many more.

Branding is relevant to every business, and to every part of your business. Rob is the only branding consultant who can show you how creating and implementing brand strategy directly increases your bottom line revenues–and profitability. Be sure to catch a spot at what is sure to be one of our most fascinating, eye-opening events.

Register Now!

For more information - and to register:

http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/teleclass-registration.htm

Namaste ~ ~ ~

The Virtual Assistant association I belong to, the VACOC, is hosting yet another fantastic teleseminar… this month the focus is on “Earning Your Worth” for women business owners with Mikelann Valterra, founder of the Women’s Earning Institute, and you’re invited!

The Five Strategies for Earning Your Worth

Date: Thursday, September 20, 2007

Time: 5pm PST / 6pm MST / 7pm CST / 8pm EST

Duration: 60 minutes

Cost: FREE!

To Register:

http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/teleclass-registration.htm

Women business owners often find themselves struggling against an “internal income ceiling.” In this powerful teleseminar, Valterra explores the psychology of why even successful women undersell themselves, and what to do about it.

From having lower pay expectations than other people, to difficulty in asking for what they truly want, women who “underearn” deal with complex emotional issues around making money. Participants will elarn five crucial skills to earning what they are really worth:

• How women can make it easier to ask for what they want;
• How and why women underprice themselves and what to do about it;
• How to conquer the “Good Girl Syndrome;”
• How women can get in touch with “resentment” to make more money;

This promises to be a great teleseminar, I’ve been following Mikelann and she is so dead-on with her insight and viewpoints.

Be sure to register, our seminars fill up fast!

Namaste ~ ~ ~

Technorati Tags: Virtual Assistant, VACOC, Earning Your Worth, Mikelann Valterra, Women’s Earning Institute

OK, might seems pretty obvious connecting this picture to the title of this post - the whole “make tons of money so you can do this everyday” - but it’s not (that’s not my style). It’s kind of a long convuluted circle I’ll try to navigate quickly. And, no, that’s not me!

Anyway, my family just spent a week at the Jersey shore sharing a house with some other family members. We all had a great time, the kids loved it, the whole nine yards. I didn’t do anything too much more strenuous than the woman in this picture all week.

So, the day comes when we have to leave, but there are other family members coming down and sharing the house the following week. They all said, “Oh, don’t be in a hurry to leave, stay awhile and have some drinks.” We got our cars all loaded up and my husband asked if I would drive (it’s only about an hour to home) so he could drink. I said, yea, fine, but this one whole side of my body is killing me. From a point on my back around my rib cage and towards my stomach. (To cut to the chase it really only seems like a pulled muscle, but I have been in unbelievable pain for the last 3 days - getting better slowly). But, anyway, he held off and although I started the drive, within 20 minutes I was in so much pain I almost agreed to let him drive me to the hospital. Fortunately, we were prepared, and he was in shape to drive, otherwise it would have been quite a pickle.

Now, since we’ve been home I’ve been watching the tornadoes. It did look like we, as a country, and our (ahem) leaders took some initiative this time and began with some preparedness. I really wish the best for everyone out there that gets slammed by these storms. We’ve had them a couple of times in my memory in NJ, but nothing that severe where I lived.

OK, now onto where I ended up in my head with all this. You should (or maybe you don’t) know that I am a Virtual Assistant. There is a huge, huge disparity in how “Virtual Assistants” model their businesses. Some are really tele-commuters, some are work-at-home secretaries, blah-blah-blah. It ticks me off as a VA to see this, but if you are a business owner reading this that is considering working with a VA, please read on. The old saying “if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck then it must be a duck” - does not apply here. You, the business owner need to be less focused on what the professional is calling themselves and zero in on WHAT THEY ARE OFFERING.
You NEED TO BE PREPARED. What looks like a good deal at the time (you can afford it, aren’t really sure how it’s going to work out anyway) - you are being extremely shortsighted.

I’ve had consults with clients who walked away when they heard my rate and how I work. They’ve told me that “for the time being” they are not looking to spend that much money, but hopefully the first VA they hire (at $15/hour or so) will help them grow their business to a degree where they could hire me - because they would really love to work with me and know I would do a good job.

Huh? What?

This is YOUR business. Play this through your head. A “VA” that charges low rates will not have the skills and business sense of one charging a higher rate because they have NOT INVESTED ANYTHING THEMSELVES IN THEIR OWN COMPANY. Is this really the person you want to hand your administrative work off to? Do you want to spend a miserable 6 months of trying to plunder along with them and after they’ve totally mucked everything up to the point that we have to start from scratch (and maybe you’ve lost people from your list in the meantime, too) and expect me to offer you the same package I did when we first spoke?

BE PREPARED. It’s your business, be prepared and manifest your growth by realizing that it will only happen with the right administrative partner and thank the Universe for having found them.

Isn’t Holistic Business all about seeing the parts in the whole???

Namaste ~ ~ ~

Technorati Tags: Virtual Assistant, manifest your growth, Holistic Business

OK, I should have an excuse or a reason for not blogging. Sorry, don’t have it, won’t expend the energy to make something up.

So - what’s the deal? I’m really not sure. It certainly is not a lack of something to say, I’ve always got tons to say. I guess it boils down to not following my own advice. My clients and I talk about blogging - about how they ought to be doing it. I rave about all the things it will do for them: help their potential clients get to know them in a personal way, drive up their ranking, expose themselves to a larger audience, etc. One thing I do warn them about though is that once you start - you need to keep up with it. Nothing worse than getting people to look forward to what you have to say and then having the same old post up there for weeks on end.

Hmmmmm. Seeing my picture in that frame.

I’ve been hanging my head in shame over at the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce, where there is a blogroll post. I’ve avoided it like I’ve avoided my blog.

TODAY IS A NEW DAY!

I’m going on vacation next week and have vowed to myself that I will come back more organized in my own business and take the 20-30 minutes it takes to post here and keep with it. I have the time.

Time - what a hot topic. My belief has always been that you have the time for what is important. It’s just a matter of knowing that and accepting that whatever you find you don’t have the time for is something you really don’t like doing. Maybe you just plain old don’t like it, maybe you don’t feel as though you excel at it. But we all need to “own” those feelings and deal with them.

So - do I not like blogging? No, I really do. Do I not excel at it? No, I generally like what I’ve written, it comes from my gut and is shot right off the top of my head. That’s my personality and I’m cool with it. I’m not blogging for a six-figure income, more for fun and conversation.

So - why have I been such a bad blogger?

Habit. I think that’s what it boils down to. I need to get into a routine where I do this every day. Or almost everyday. AND STICK WITH IT.

OK, feeling better now. I can go over to the VACOC and put my blog link up on the blogroll and pick my head up a little higher - LOL!

Namaste ~ ~ ~

I’ve gotten to the point that I get soooooo many newsletters, tips, etc. that I’ve told myself I need to cut some out.

There is a publicity “expert” that I have been getting information and tips from for quite some time. Some of it has been useful, some of it I already knew but was probably useful for others.

OK - this publicity “expert” has made it easy for me to unsubscribe from one list - HERS!

She is now selling a training seminar geared towards Virtual Assistants (OK, we’re used to being sold to), and interns. But she’s not really selling it to us - she’s selling it to . . . I guess she thinks - our employers????

When did a VA get into the same boat as an intern? And why is she not really selling it to us, but to our clients (who she is obviously thinking of as our employers)? “Send me your Virtual Assistant . . . ”

EXCUSE ME!!!! . . . but my clients don’t “send me” to someone for training. They may ask me if I can do something and if I answer no, they may ask if it’s something I’m interested in doing. If my answer is yes, and they offer to pay for training, well, that’s one thing. But, really, I will be the one to determine what services to offer my clients. I have absolutely NO PROBLEM in paying for and getting the training *I* need for the services I decide to offer.

This is just so icky. And to add to the ick, the professional Virtual Assistance association I belong to, the VACOC (Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce) - had this woman as a guest expert and she spoke to and probably garnered some sales from the seminar. Did she come back and speak to our founder or any other members? Nope, just went on her merry way and really pissed a LOT of us off with this demeaning and not well thought out sales copy.

Of course, there are some VA organizations that are behind her.The old affiliate links and “we’ll promote your crap if you promote ours” sort of thing.

Ick - ick - ick (this is me with the eebie jeebies)

tfu-tfu-tfu (this is me spitting 3 times)

ahhhhhhh (this is me cleansing to rid myself of all these negative thoughts and demons)

Technorati Tags: publicity, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistance, VACOC, Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce