Mega Teleclass: The Future of Business From the Minds of Ten Top Professionals
Date: Monday, July 14, 2008 from 7:00-8:00 p.m. Eastern
What happens when you get ten top professionals on a call together to discuss the future of business and leadership? You walk away inspired to change the way you think, live and operate in business. Join Bea Fields as she shares this open call with her partners from EDGE: A Leadership Story for a call you dont want to miss. Fields will be joined by Michael Gerber, Michael Port, Corey Blake, Dave Buck, Carol Dickson-Carr, Eva Silva-Travers, Kimberly George, and Roger Dewitt. Each professional will be asked a question they have never been asked before about the future of business, and you dont want to miss their answers. This is BIG!
Register Here
Learn about the presenters here.
Do you remember M. VEM. J. SUN. P.? The planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
ROY G. BIV? The colors of the rainbow: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet
Or some of the crazy stuff we put to music in our heads so we would remember?
I found the SEO Rapper today and I am rolling on the floor. Brings back memories of childhood, when I put the state capitals to music so I could remember them all. LOVE IT!
By: Janet Slack
There is a lot of information available about how to market a coaching business and yet many coaches still struggle. How do you know which idea to follow and how to make it work for you? The answer is in what I call the pre-marketing work that needs to be done to build a successful coaching business. At the heart of your pre-marketing work are The Four Questions. This is the contemplative work that you must be willing to do as you begin your business and again periodically throughout the life of the business. The four questions lead you to know how to market what you do because they are at the core of your business.
First lets address who you are as a person. This is the Who Are You? question. It is a tremendous help to know yourself inside and out in order to succeed in the coaching business. If you know yourself well there is less chance that your stuff will get in the way of the client so you will be a better coach. As an entrepreneur, knowing yourself well allows you to get the most out of your abilities and compensate where needed. What are ways to describe your own uniqueness? What is the combination of experiences, personality traits, history and values that makes you who you are? Who Are You is the vital piece that makes YOUR coaching business different than the other thousands that exist.
What do you do? is the second question. This addresses having the ability to talk about coaching and what it is. If you can describe your work in a genuine, impactful way, you will be seen as attractive by those people who you are trying to reach. The more practice the better in terms of learning to talk about coaching. Make sure to talk about coaching with anyone who will listen, research what others say about coaching, read widely about coaching and get your own coach so you truly understand its impact. What you are doing is collecting knowledge so that you can express the results that your potential clients can expect to get from coaching.
What do you have to offer? is the third question. This question delves into who you are as a coach - what are your skills and strengths as a coach? Begin to answer this question by asking for lots of feedback about your coaching. Your clients will have some insights into your style and what is most helpful for them. Remember to ask your coaching partners, supervisor, or peers for feedback on your coaching. Spend time thinking about how your personal beliefs and values impact the work you do as a coach. In particular, consider what you believe about motivation and personal change. Think about how your belief system affects your presence with your coaching clients.
The final question is What is your passion, purpose, and path?. The driving force that makes your coaching come authentically from your soul is your passion. This is some of the contemplating you must do in order to find your niche. Your purpose is the spark within you that makes you want to be a coach. Spend time considering all the things that you think are great about coaching. The way that you put all the elements together in a business that is unique to you is your path. This includes knowing what the essential elements are for the business to be authentically yours and how you will measure success. Consider how these two factors will impact the way you run the business.
The pre-marketing work of The Four Questions will build a solid foundation for your business. Make sure to revisit this periodically in order to ensure youre your business continues to flourish. Spending time on The Four Questions will make your marketing easier, give you a foundation for attracting clients, increase your income and keep you motivated.
About the Author Janet Slack of Life Adventure Coaching is a specialist in helping new coaches, therapists and consultants create the thriving business of their dreams. Find more business building ideas and learn all the details that you need to know as a coaching entrepreneur at www.biztipsforcoaches.com/blog/. She recently released Mind Your Own Biz: Discover the Secrets to Creating a Successful Coaching Business a step by step guide to starting your coaching business right.
It’s kind of ironic that my previous post is about the support VA communities provide. Because only one day later our darling Miriam, aged 24, died whilst her father and I were away in the country. We rushed back home as soon as we heard.
I’m not yet ready to resurface to all the forums. Her funeral will take place next Monday here in Melbourne, Australia. We have family with us from around the country and they’ll stay on for a few more days thereafter. But I did want to let everyone know how much we’ve appreciated their prayers, emails of support, phone calls, cards, gifts and flowers from all over the world. You have overwhelmed me with your love and support and if ever I was in doubt of just how many people really connected and cared through our industry, I’m in doubt no longer.
Miriam was my stepdaughter and had been in my life since she was 5 years old and so she was a big part of my life and she leaves a big hole. She was so vibrant, full of energy, lived life to the full, always pushed the limits - she was our tomboy who followed her dad around everywhere. She was his mate and they rode their mountain bikes together and did so much together. It will be a long time before the pain and ache begins to subside.
If you’ve tried to get in touch with me, please bear with me for another week or so as I’ll be tending to my husband and our family but I will resurface and be back amongst you all again soon. Thank you all once again, as you have shown me another reason why I love our industry so much. And knowing that I’m home already has been such a blessing.
Today, on our forum at ‘Virtual Assistants International Group’, a member shared some challenges she was having in getting her business off the ground. This wasn’t a rare comment, we’ve had others say similar before; they’ve come to seek help.
What was really special, and important, is the way the community rallied round to support and encourage this new VA during her time of feeling fragile and unsure.
That’s what I love about our industry. The way everyone gets together to encourage, support and motivate their peers. I know of no other industry like it although I’m sure there probably are.
I love how many VAs, who have only been in business a short time themselves, step up to help others newer than they. There is something about being able to help others that helps you as well. It is as though it moves you along the road of experience - just being able to share experiences you’ve already had.
I loved watching the conversation as it unfolded and so many shared something of their lives with others on that list. It makes me proud to be a member of this industry and know that there are always many available to help, whether they’ve been involved just a few months or several years.
I’m usually up early checking for messages that have come in overnight via email, whilst having my breakfast and first coffee for the day. However, it’s rare I answer client emails early, preferring to keep them within business hours, so I can spend time networking with forums and friends during my reading time instead.
However this morning proved an exception as I received a ‘help’ message from a client at 6.46am. He’s a business coach and speaker and he’d left home without his memory stick. Aaaggh! Disaster - he didn’t have his presentation and neither did the IT folk at the event. Enter his VA - me - who saves the day!
He sent a message via his blackberry saying: If you are at your computer, can you send me the powerpoint I did for the xxx conference? I answered straight away and sent it to him. He was due to begin his presentation only 15 mins later.
A speaker’s nightmare - not having your electronic presentation with you.
Just another demonstration of how a VA can save your day!
VA saves the day, virtual assistant, business coach, speaker, Powerpoint
Since the birth of my latest venture DanaWallert.com, I’ve been very neglectful of my eldest child, this blog! Instead of writing an apology, making excuses, etc. I thought it I would just highlight the latest posts of some of you all who have been so kind in keeping an eye out for Virtual Insanity or Virtual Reality!
So I encourage everyone to check out:
Thanks for babysitting VIVR! I’ll be doing my best to make more time for this old gal
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I am pleased to announce the birth of my newest blog DanaWallert.com My focus on the new blog is to have a place to bring together DW Office Solutions and DW Web Solutions and also have a place to blog about blogging and social media.
I fully plan to continue my virtual assistant and small business blogging here, and I apologize for the scarcity of my posts in the last week as I’ve been working on the launch! I assure you I have several posts in the works for Virtual Insanity or Virtual Reality!
I have recently been a little StumbleUpon-obsessed (feel free to ad me as a friend!). I have found some really great stuff. But without question, one of my most valuable finds was the Positivity Blog written by Henrik Edberg.
His stated purpose for blogging is helping you:
Creating new and better habits. Increasing self-discipline. Using mindtechnology such as guided meditation to your benefit. Expanding you consciousness and realising your possibilities. Reducing procrastination, becoming more productive and feeling less stressed through better time management. Setting goals that you can go through with. Understanding what is stopping you today from doing what you want, and removing those obstacles. Improving your people skills, communication and relationships.
Henrik’s writing style, in-depth posts and no-nonsense view of life and positivity are truly amazing to me. To be completely honest, the first time I read a post of his I went to check out his about page expecting to find some aged guru living in the mountains of Tibet or something. Imagine my surprise to find that my newest blogging idol is actually a Swedish student who is a year younger than me!
Instead of attempting to describe to you the brilliance of this man and blog, I thought I would simply wrap this up by giving you a few of my favorite Positivity posts so far:
PS I am not in anyway related to or associated with Henrik or the Positivity Blog, nor is this a paid review of any sort!! I just absolutely love this blog!
Like many small developers, I built a number of websites between 1998 and 2002 using the then standard approach of hand-coded HTML and, later, a web editing program. Then, there were a number of sites created between 2002 and 2005, built on amassed HTML knowledge and reflecting my earliest flirtation with with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), when no one knew if that “new” approach would catch on or ever be supported by browsers.
These older sites are interesting in that if you use “View Source,” you can track the progression of the technology behind how used to work. Other than their timeline value (questionable!), they are beginning to show their age. Perhaps archaic and obsolete are more apt descriptors of their functionality as viewed through a 21st century lens.
Some of these sites have benefited from regular content updates over the years, and others have been completely redesigned since their earliest versions. Then there are those clients who proudly display 14-year-old sites which they’ve never changed (go figure) since the original site files were ftp’d to the host’s server. For ALL of these, an overhaul of the back end is way overdue.
Whether table-based or rife with other deprecated (or soon to be) tags, these sites should all be updated and be completely modernized using CSS. In particular, if your client’s site is a teenager now, you should help him prepare a budget for an update (kind of like paying for orthodontia, but maybe not as expensive).
If you haven’t been providing web design for long, you won’t have this problem, UNTIL a new client asks you for a site update or redesign of his older site, and you discover that you’re going to have to start from scratch. Hence, you have what seems like an ethical conundrum.
Let’s say your client is basically happy with the way her site looks, but you know better. How do you persuade her that the parts she can’t see, and that she knows nothing about, need to be changed without sounding like an smarmy snake oil vendor?! Not only that, how to explain to the client that it’s not simply a matter of taking her 250 pages of HTML and changing it all out in just a couple of hours’ time.
Have you devised a successful strategy for explaining that your original technology was “best practice” way back when, but no longer technically viable, and that you will need to charge them to bring it up-to-speed?
The Virtual Assistance industry began as a spontaneous migration of like-minded but unacquainted people with administrative assistance backgrounds away from their corporate jobs to reinvented careers as independent contractors.
As our industry gained momentum, it acquired its name, and along the way people from other backgrounds (like me!) got on board offering services beyond the initial admin focus. Eventually, some practitioners realized they needed some additional training to round out their skills or to learn how to market their newly founded businesses.
Some of the industry’s most entrepreneurial and talented pioneers answered this need by developing complete training packages for those wanting to learn how to break into the industry from the ground up. Meanwhile, other established VAs realized they could teach others with a one-on-one approach, and the VA coaching/mentoring movement sprang up.
If you are interested in this career and have decided the best means to get up and running is to pay someone to teach you, you’ll have your hands full researching all the training programs out there. Take a deep breath: there are a ton to choose from.
To help you select the program right for you, I contacted sixteen companies who offer VA training and/or coaching, and asked them to tell me about their approach. Here’s an initial list of respondants, which I’ll add to as I hear back from those who were invited to share details on their programs.
NOTE: This listing does not constitute an endorsement for one program over another. Those mentioned replied to my request for a concise description of their program. You’ll need to do your own research to determine the final choice that’s best for you. Good luck, and let me know which programs worked for you!
VA Trainer owner, Kathie Thomas, says:
“I am certainly happy for you to mention my program at www.vatrainer.com. It’s a 10 week course, fully delivered online and I’ve had really good feedback from those who have taken the course. I have several VAs on it at the moment so new graduates will go up on the site soon. Please note that the figure [pricing] quoted on the site is in AUD.”
VAClassroom co-owner, Craig Cannings, says:
“VAClassroom.com offers an innovative online training center designed to equip Virtual Assistants with the skills businesses are seeking in 2008 and beyond. Our certification programs have been designed in collaboration with professional Virtual Assistants and the entrepreneurs and businesses that regularly hire them.
We are currently very excited about the response we are receiving from the graduates of our ten-module, video-based program called the “Internet Marketing VA Training Certification”. With over 50 videos, a 70-page resource guide, practical quizzes and assignments, a class discussion forum, live coaching and job search resources the skills developed through the IMVA training and certification program will help you win more ideal clients, increase your income and expand your services into a profitable and in-demand niche! In addition, this course provides you with the Internet Marketing know-how that will allow you to effectively promote your own Virtual Assistance practice.”
Virtual Business Training owner, Gretchen Berg, says:
Virtual Business Training was established in 2006 as an advanced yet affordable training option for those seeking self-employment in the virtual associate industry. Our unique hands-on training program was designed to assist VAs launch viable, sustainable virtual service businesses through peer collaboration and client simulation exercises in a dynamic learning environment.
The program covers Business Niches, Skills Assessment, Website Basic Training, Hardware and Software, Marketing Materials, Business & Marketing Plans, Rate Setting, Contracts, Working with Clients and Industry Certifications. Training is held live via our online, interactive training room. Tuition includes an e-book, an extensive reference library, sample contracts, individual coaching and client exercises. For more information, contactinfo@virtualbusinesstraining.com or 877-524-3524.
AssistU Chief Operating Officer, Dawn Goldberg, says:
“AssistU was created in February 1997, and was the first formal training program for people wanting to become VAs. Almost 12 years later, we’re still going strong, having trained and coached nearly a thousand people to create and maintain successful VA practices.
You can learn more about AssistU here: www.assistu.com/va/aboutus.shtml. AssistU’s founder, Stacy Brice, also publishes a blog on moxie for VAs (and business owners) here: www.virtualmoxie.com/.”
VAstartup principle, Anna Baron, says:
“When I started I knew what I wanted to do but needed guidance on just a few areas this is what I REALLY wanted to get going. I think someone who wants to be a VA has to have that drive to succeed anyways.
I offer newbies various levels of assistance. They can start with the Boot Camp for Virtual Assistants How to Start a Virtual Assistant Business. This an ebook that covers the basics that takes them from determining services to offer to setting up their office, creating marketing materials and how to market for clients.
I also offer one-on-one coaching/mentoring which is not structured. This is flexible and they can be coached on EVERYTHING or simply purchase an hour or two of coaching to fine-tune or discuss certain areas that they need further direction or assistance with.
Further that, I offer marketing packages at insanely ridiculous prices to help them get their businesses going. This covers everything from web sites to business cards, letterheads to presentation layouts, etc.”
JERPAT Training and Coaching Owner, BA, and Certified Life Coach Patty Benton says:
JERPAT Training & Coaching was established in 2005 as an affordable, quality coaching program helping new virtual assistants get started with a solid foundation and support system. We also have a program for virtual assistants who have been in business 6 months or more and have had at minimum 1 client and are looking to take their business to the next level. Aside from helping give our participants the solid foundation for their business, we also go the extra step to ensure every participant is comfortable making the transition from corporate to
Sometimes publishing a blog is a drag.
Unless you are fortunate enough to be paid to blog, keeping on top of it can become another admin nightmare for any entrepreneur. Weighed against getting your client work done, checking in at the Social Media you use, and doing all your other admin chores, it can be hard to justify the time it takes. Even if you love doing it.
If your blog generates some income, you may be able to outsource some of your other admin work and use subcontractors to support part of your client load. But if you DON’T reel in revenue, and if your blog isn’t visited enough to warrant the time it takes you, AND you feel it dragging you down, why not throw in the towel?
I asked a few Linked In friends to weigh in on this subject. For the shot in the arm you need, or to help you render your final decision, read their replies on LinkedIn.
If you DO reach a decision to end your blogging career, consider looking for someone who might pay you for your domain name, or who would like to take over your blog.
What about forging a partnership with another person who would share the blog load and share in revenue with you? Teaming up with another like-minded person could help you take your blog in new directions, grow its following, and be just the impetus you need to stay the course.
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