7-tips to Work at Home Successfully

Topsie Egbetokun ~ ~ Business Strategist, Speaker, Coach, & Social Media Strategist & Social Entrepreneur.

So, you’ve decided to start a home based business. Congratulations! and welcome to the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship. While there is a lot to learn, your effort will be worth it. The thrill of growing your business, the freedom and flexibility to set your own hours, and the possibilities of ever-increasing financial rewards are all wonderful reasons to start your home based business.

Now that you’ve decided to start your business, you might be wondering “How can I get it off to the strongest possible start?” These seven tips will help:

1) Set up a separate working space in your home. It doesn’t matter if this is a small bedroom, one part of the garage, or a corner of the living room. The important thing is to have some space that you can designate as your working area. This will give you the space and room you need to craft your dream.
2) Stock your working space with materials. This sounds basic, perhaps, but one underlying element of success is that you have easy access to the tools, materials, and other resources you need. Gathering everything close by also keeps you from wasting time searching for it, so this step can be considered a time management strategy, too.

3) Speaking of time management, your third step is to define the parameters of your business. What days and hours will you work? When will you market? When will you provide services or products to clients? How will you keep all of this straight?

4) Balance action with planning. One of the most common pitfalls to successful entrepreneurship is getting too caught up in action without enough planning. Stated another way, this means that you confuse “being busy” with “working on important projects.” The best approach is to plan your next couple of goals and then work backwards to create step by step action plans to reach them. Once you have the plan, then it’s time to take the action.

5) Network like crazy. One of the fastest ways to grow any business is to make connections with other people. Be sure to share your passion and enthusiasm with others at every opportunity. Let people know who you are and what you offer. Remember, people can’t buy if they don’t know you’re selling.

6) Present a professional image. If you want to be treated professionally, present a professional image. Set up a separate bank account for your business. Install a separate phone and fax line. Create professional marketing materials. Be courteous and pleasant in all your customer facing interactions. Basically, be someone people want to do business with.

7) Automate your business as much as possible. Granted, you are just one person (right now) and might have a lot of extra time to take care of all the details. This might work for now, but won’t work into the future as you get busier and busier. It’s best to set up automatic systems and processes right from the start to free up your time to concentrate on the most profitable activities.

These seven tips will get your home business started (and growing) in the right direction.

Entrepreneur Buddy ~ http://www.entrepreneurbuddy.net

African Virtual Assistants Network(Afrivan) ~ http://www.afrivan.org

Business Without Boundaries ~ http://www.businesswithoutboundaries.net

5 Social Media Lessons for Small Business - by Mike Hallaron-- Hallaron Public Relations

Small business got a taste of social media in 2010. Following the lead of Fortune 500 companies and big brands, small business owners were probably introduced to social media on a personal level first: joining family on Facebook, taking note of Twitter on ESPN or Tosh.0, or someone e-mailing a funny video from YouTube. Of course there were also the e-mail invitations to connect to former colleagues on LinkedIn, checking out personal photo albums on Flickr, and for a few, even adventures on Foursquare. The average “Joe” or “Jane” with a locally-based small business was indoctrinated into the “social” world in 2010.

So there it is. Social media has pervaded our lifestyles and the lexicon. After recognizing the networking and communications potential of social media on a personal level, “Joe” and “Jane” decided there must be a business application for all of these free, web-based tools. Some have already added social marketing to their business arsenal and a small percentage are doing it well. Many more have floundered awkwardly into untested waters. One thing is certain, more small businesses will try to use social marketing to create new prospects and new sales in 2011. Here is what we have learned, so far.

Five Things We Have Learned About Social Marketing

1. Social marketing is not free. It requires time and that means money. Setting up your company account is typically free, but that’s only the beginning. Blogger Lyndi Thompson says you need “someone that is customer focused, understands how to write headlines and reaches out to the right audience”. If you don’t have the time or skills to manage your own social marketing then consider hiring someone qualified to do it.

2. Don’t think of social media as a way to sell online — at least not directly. Many social marketers use the 80/20 rule — 80 percent useful, content, commentary, education, or PR versus 20 percent direct sales ads. I prefer maybe 5-10 percent sales messages. Personally I don’t think they are that effective anyway. Social marketing is akin to networking at a business after hours. You wouldn’t shake hands with everyone over a scotch and soda then slap them in the face with a sales pitch at the same time. Not for long anyway. That is the definition of spam. True social marketing can ultimately lead to increased sales but the crux of this strategy is making yourself helpful, sharing useful content, and caring about people within your target audience.

3. Keep it “social”. Social marketing means building relationships and shaping how people view your brand. Don’t be afraid to talk about things other than your products or services. Be real or your followers will see through your thin, trivial facade. Just like when you engage people offline, learn to listen. Address followers/fans concerns, comments, and criticisms as quickly as possible. Your audience will know what you sell. Then when they need your products or services, who do you think they will think of first? The brand they share a relationship with, of course.

4. LinkedIn connections are very different than FB friends and Twitter followers. Unique social audiences call for unique messages. Your social audiences are not all the same. LinkedIn connections tend to be more corporate, B2B, and career-driven. The tone is more business than Facebook for example where content is funny, friendlly, and more casual. Understand your audience, the culture of each social site you utilize and shape your messages accordingly.

5. The 500 lb. Gorilla in the Room. Who is going to be your social voice? Who will make the actual updates, respond to questions, control your message? I am convinced that 90 percent of small business owners are too busy to teach themselves how to use social marketing and maintain it. Most “Joes” and “Janes” have neither the marketing expertise nor the time to manage their daily social marketing strategy. Try finding a social partner who can help develop your voice and content, deal with technical account issues, and write, edit, spell check , and post updates, photos, and video. Again, effective social marketing is not really free. The business owner can still login to Twitter or Facebook and make their own individual posts. A healthy combination will work best so posts don’t come off as canned or lack authenticity. Either way, decide up front who is the social driver on your business team.

No doubt other small business marketers will have their own tales to tell of social marketing successes and failures. Please fell free to share your experiences.

Lynn Berowsky (Lynn) on Myspace

Lynn Berowsky (Lynn) on Myspace

Speech by Anna Quindlen - Inspirational

This was a speech made by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Anna Quindlen
at the graduation ceremony of an American university where she was
awarded an Honorary PhD.

"I'm a novelist.  My work is human nature.  Real life is all I know.
Don't ever confuse the two, your life and your work.  You will walk
out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has.
There will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree:
there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a
living.   But you will be the only person alive who has sole custody
of your life.  Your particular life.  Your entire life.  Not just your
life at a desk, or your life on a bus, or in a car or at the computer.
 Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart.  Not just
your bank accounts but also your soul …

People don't talk about the soul very much anymore.  It's so much
easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit.  But a resume is cold
comfort on a winter's night, or when you're sad, or broke, or lonely,
or when you've received your test results and they're not so good.

Here is my resume:  I am a good mother to three children.  I have
tried never to let my work stand in the way of being a good parent.  I
no longer consider myself the centre of the universe.  I show up.  I
listen.  I try to laugh.  I am a faithful friend to my husband.  I
have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say.  I am a good
friend to my friends and them to me.  Without them, there would be
nothing to say to you today, because I would be a cardboard cut out.
But, I call them on the phone and I meet them for lunch.  I would be
rotten, at best mediocre, at my job if those other things were not
true.

You cannot be really first rate at your work if your work is all you
are.  So here's what I wanted to tell you today:  Get a life.  A real
life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger pay
cheque, the larger house.  Do you think you'd care so very much about
those things if you blew an aneurysm one afternoon or found a lump in
your breast?

Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself
on a breeze at the seaside, a life in which you stop and watch how a
red-tailed hawk circles over the water, or the way a baby scowls with
concentration when she tries to pick up a sweet with her thumb and
first finger.

Get a life in which you are not alone.  Find people you love and
respect, and who love and respect you.  And remember that love is not
leisure, it is work – hard work.  Pick up the phone.  Send an email.
Write a letter.  Make an effort.  Get a life in which you are
generous.  And realize that life is the best thing ever, and that you
have no business taking it for granted.  Care so deeply about its
goodness that you want to spread it around.  Take money you would have
spent on beer and give it to charity.  Work in a soup kitchen.  Be a
big brother or sister. All of you want to do well.  But if you do not
do good too, then doing well will never be enough.

It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, and our
minutes. It is so easy to take for granted the colour of our kids'
eyes, the way the melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears
and rises again.  It is so easy to exist instead of to live.

I learned to live many years ago.  I learned to love the journey, not
the destination.  I learned that it is not a dress rehearsal, and that
today is the only guarantee you get.   I learned to look at all the
good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed
in it, completely and utterly.   And I tried to do that, in part, by
telling others what I had learned.   By telling them this: Consider
the lilies of the field.  Look at the fuzz on a baby's ear.  Read in
the back yard with the sun on your face.

Learn to be happy.  And think of life as a terminal illness, because
if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be
lived".

New Years Message

Well 2010 has come and gone. I still cannot believe how fast the past year flew, faster than a bullet. However, I am sure like me; you are looking forward to a bigger and better year for 2011. A year filled with happiness and success. 

For many, 2010 was a tough year, one filled with uncertainty. For me 2010 was a year held with new beginnings, starting my own business was a huge step in my journey towards financial freedom as well as work/life satisfaction. 2010 was spent shaping my business and the idea of going it alone. Joining as many Networks as I possibly could to link with likeminded business people was high on my list of priorities. Marketing, marketing and more marketing was key, and believe me this is ongoing. 2010 was also a year spent researching the world of Virtual working, I never knew that there was so many people out there trying to get a foot into this very exciting and rewarding business. I am however not naive enough not to know that some will fail and some will fly. I for one intend to fly no matter how big my wings are, I am determined to soar and make a success of what I have set out to achieve. 

I see 2011 as being a year of great things for me personally. For want of an analogy I see it as a journey, starting to build a Pyramid, setting my foundation, which I have already begun and slowly raising the foundation until I reach the Pinnacle. I see it as a year of building on what I have started which for me is so very exciting. I cannot wait to reach the Pinnacle. It will take time and allot of hard work, however I am determined and passionate enough to soar to the highest point. 

“From small beginnings come great things” – Chinese Proverb

I have learned that building a successful business takes time, effort, and a well thought out plan to achieve your goals.

I have also learned that a good Virtual Assistant can be a vital asset in any organisation,  however for the business owner wishing to work with a VA, knowing what to consider when collaborating with a VA will ensure that he/she makes the right choice for their situation in being able to find the perfect fit for their company.

So this is my message for you for 2011, may it be a year filled with every success and happiness. May all your hopes and dreams for 2011 manifest themselves for your personal lives as well as your professional lives. 

Take care, I look forward to building a more meaningful relationship with you and perhaps opening the door to meaningful dialogue and possibly collaborating with you during 2011. 

Lynn Berowsky

Want to be a Virtual Assistant - 15 Steps to take right now!

By Karen L. Reddick, MVA, author of The A-Z Guide: The Best Ways To Work With A Virtual Assistant

With the virtual assistance industry being one of the fastest growing administrative services on the internet, many people are ready to jump on this well-reputed band wagon. But can you just wake up one day and say, “Today, I’m going to become a virtual assistant”? Sure you can, but will you be successful? Probably not.

One thing is certain; you should have at least three to five years of administrative experience, preferably working with top-level executives, before even considering a career as a Virtual Assistant (VA).

Here are 15 other crucial steps to think about before, during and after starting your virtual assistant business.

1)         Research, research, research! What do other VAs offer? Pricing? Certifications? Memberships? Take the time to research other virtual assistant web sites. Make notes of what you like and dislike. Mimic (but not copy) what appeals to you.

2)         Get a web site – I hope it goes without saying, that you will need a website. It doesn’t have to be flashy. Simple, professional-looking, with benefit-oriented copy wins out over bells & whistles every time.

3)         Network – Join, at the very least, three virtual or face-to-face networking groups. No one will know you are “open for business” if you don’t tell them. Google networking groups in your immediate area as well as worldwide.

4)         Be excellent at what you do – Not mediocre, not halfway, but excellent. The VA industry continues to grow and there is a lot of competition out there; you have to do or be something above the rest.

5)         Get certified – There are several virtual assistant training and certification programs available. Take whatever steps you need to get some type of VA certification under your belt and stand one step above the crowd.

6)         Define your services – Do you provide a niche or special services, or do you prefer to be open and a generalist? (Examples of niche services would be: bookkeeping, graphics, web design, transcription, writing/editing.) Choose what you do best and then market to clients in that group.

7)         Before you take the leap – Purchase all the needed equipment and software upgrades you’ll need to run a professional office, which would include a high-quality all-in-one fax/printer/scanner/copier, extra phone lines, high-speed internet access, domain name and website.

8)         Think virtually – Everything you do now will be technology based. The computer will become your best friend. All of your correspondence will be done via phone and email. Make sure your computer skills are top-notch. Learn as much as you can about the latest technology and continue to stay abreast of what’s hot in your target market.

9)         Market like a prospective client – When building your business, think like a client. What would you want in a VA? Then offer these skills and benefits.

10)       Read, read, read! – This is right up there with research, research, research. There are an abundance of “How-to” books on starting your virtual assistant business. If you can find free advice, all the better, but invest in a few quality books and learn all you can before you land that first client.

11)       Get some training – If you want to do it right, set aside a few extra dollars to work with a coach or take classes at an online virtual assistant university or community college.

12)       Be patient – It will take, at the very least, four to six months of networking and marketing before you will land your first client.

13)       One word: referrals – Word of mouth and referrals are what make your company grow. Doing quality work with a strong business ethic will get you referrals over and over again.

14)       How do we contact you? – Your contact information should be listed on everything. Business cards, website, email signature, blog. Every time you send out any type of communication, always be sure to have all of your contact information easy to find and read.

15)       Once you do land a client–communicate – Remember, your clients cannot see you sitting at your desk. A two-second email reply to clients’ inquiries can make all the difference in creating trust in their minds, which will put them at ease and instill the necessary competence it takes for success.

3 Simple Ways to Create a Steady Stream of Referral Clients

"By Sydni Craig-Hart"

Wouldn’t you love to receive a phone message or an email like this?

“Hi [fname], my friend Jane gave me your number. You’ve been helping her with ________ and I’ve been having a similar problem.  She’s really enjoyed working with you and has been raving about the results.  I’d like to hire you to help me too! Can you please let me know when is your next available appointment? I’m eager to get started!” 

Of course you would! That would mean because of the great work you’ve done to serve your client and solve her problems, she’s become a raving fan and is telling others about you.  So, what would it take to create a steady stream of such referrals in your business?

Here are three PROVEN strategies:

1. Create referral agreements with like-minded “Power Partners”.  “Power Partners” is a concept taught by BNI (Business Networking International) where you partner up with complementary service providers in your networking group.For example, if you are a professional organizer, reach out to a real-estate agent, an interior designer and a personal chef to create a referral agreement. Each of these individuals could be considered one of your Power Partners. All of you are committed to making sure your clients have a comfortable, functional home space and lifestyle.  And likely your clients will at one point or another need the services of these other professionals and vice versa.  Wouldn’t it be great if each time one of your Power Partners enrolled a new client they introduced you as a way to complement the service they provide?  Do you see the potential if each of your Power Partners enrolls an average of 1 new client per month?  That could mean 3 HOT leads for you EACH month!Here are some other examples to consider: 
• Nutritionist → Acupuncturist → Yoga Instructor → Pilates Instructor
• Financial Advisor → CPA → Bookkeeper → Insurance Agent
• Virtual Assistant → Bookkeeper → Web Designer → Business Coach
2. Ask for referrals. Yes, I know this seems simplistic.  It may even feel intimidating.  But, asking your existing and past clients to introduce you to those in their network is a perfectly acceptable way to grow your business.This is particularly easy to do when a client has just experienced a noted significant success in their work with you.  Perhaps their office is now completely organized and functional.  Or you’ve helped them to get rid of a nagging pain in their shoulder.  Or you’ve just helped them to successfully launch a new product or service.While congratulating them on their success, you can simply ask, “I’m wondering, do you know of anyone else who would like to experience similar results?”  They’ll likely say yes and excitedly tell you all about their friend or family member.  More importantly, they will introduce you to that person so they can enjoy the same results. (Plus, it gives them another opportunity to share their story!)
3. Offer a gracious and generous thank you to those who do refer business to you.  When someone in your network does refer a client lead to you, don’t take that lightly! Show your appreciation by promptly sending a thank you card and a gift.  Whether it’s a gift card, a delivery of flowers or another gift of your choice, make the time and extend the effort to let that person know how much you appreciate their confidence in your services.  Even if the lead doesn’t become a client, you could send a Starbucks card or something similar to thank the referrer. We all love to receive an unexpected gift and you can count on your grateful gesture to keep you top of mind when the referrer connects with other leads.  Plus this is just a GREAT way to do business!

To accomplish this, of course, you must focus your attention on delivering top-notch service and creating a VIP experience for your clients.  By adding these simple strategies to the mix, you’ll enjoy an endless flow of highly-qualified leads who show up at your door, ready to purchase your solutions.

Your Action Plan for the Week:

1. Make a list of people you know (or want to get introduced to) who can become your Power Partners and reach out to them to set up a referral arrangement.
2. Ask your existing clients for referrals to others in their network whom you could assist.
3. Decide NOW how you’ll thank your referral partners and purchase a few gifts so you’ll have them on hand and ready to send the next time you receive a referral.

Do you have a success story about how you’ve created a referral based business? Or an idea about how you plan to implement this strategy? Do tell by posting your comments here on the blog! http://smartsimplemarketing.com/3-simple-ways-to-create-a-steady-stream-of-referral-clients/

Sydni Craig-Hart, The Smart Simple Marketing Coach, teaches solo service professionals how to attract more clients, create more money and work less in their business. Known for her simple, integrated approach to marketing, she also has the unique ability to find untapped profit centers in her client’s businesses so they can increase their revenue NOW.  Visit www.SmartSimpleMarketing.com  for your F.R.E.E. marketing tools and to schedule your F.R.E.E. “Profit Breakthrough” session with Sydni!