We were running a team meeting for a client recently who said “I am the Boss, I don’t have to follow the rules but I expect my team to”.

This is true – you are the Boss HOWEVER does this mean you are not accountable to your team?

There of course are many reasons for staff turnover, but one of the biggest problems we see with Virtual Teams (any team for that matter) is that people start off good, but then things don’t seem to change, you wonder what is happening and why they aren’t performing, they lose morale and you have to replace them.

Let me tell you a little story about Steve (names have been changed to protect the innocent). Continue reading

I always enjoy the final month of the year because it is a time most people are in a happier mood and everybody is thinking about the next year.

Right now you may be thinking, “NEXT YEAR!!! I am still trying to get through this one!”

Well it’s never too early or late to start thinking about your goals.  Even if you are busy, start getting the brain thinking in the background about a couple of things.  When you do start planning here are some things that will help: Continue reading

One of the biggest challenges we have had in building and managing a Virtual Team is understanding the different personalities.

Let me ask you these questions (depending on which country you are from):

• In baseball, how many star pitchers is there that are also star hitters?
• In soccer, how many goal keepers can run the ball through the opposition and score a sensational goal?
• In the Decathlon, how many sportsmen are exceptionally good at ALL of the events?

The short answer is NOT MANY.  There are all-rounders, but they are few and far between.

Along this same line of thinking – I have seen virtual business owner’s time and again say “My Virtual Assistant is just not doing a good job; I need someone to handle……”

In a lot of cases we found that the Virtual Assistant or Virtual Employee was doing a great job in specific areas (which they were originally hired) but struggling with other skill-sets that were added later.

So many people will get rid of one Virtual Assistant however this might not be the right move.  You will most certainly hire virtual employees with exceptional skills in some areas but will have other weaknesses.

So before you do personality tests, hire a consultant or sack your Virtual Assistant/Employee here are some questions: Continue reading

It’s a classic love story – Boy meets girl.  Boy likes girl. Boy pursues girl.  Boy courts girl – dating is so exciting, they have a whirlwind romance – flowers, dinners, day trips, picnics.  Love blossoms and so does the relationship. Then marriage and the honeymoon – and it all stops! 🙂

It shouldn’t of course but sometimes with the pressures of life couples do stop “courting”.  No, this is not a relationship counselling session but it has a lot to do with the sales cycle.

You see the excitement of pursue and “courting” a new client is fun.  As you develop that connection and start working for them, and you are able to help them, a mutual feel good connection happens.  After some time though, when the honeymoon is over – the shine can start to wear off – and the relationship starts to go cold.

Over the past few weeks we’ve talked a lot about how to bring in new clients to your Virtual Assistant business.  Bringing in new clients is one thing.  But once they are in the door how can you retain them?  How can you “keep the love alive”? How can you score those lucrative, long-term paying clients? Here are some tips that you can use in your Virtual Assistant Business plan to implement in your own business. Continue reading

WARNING – This article is not for the budget conscious.

“If you pay peanuts you get monkeys” ~ Anonymous

I remember a conversation with a potential client who was taken back when I mentioned how much I charge. His response was “Well you better be really good for that price”.  Although it could have been my selling skills :-), however this person was obviously not used to paying for quality skills, knowledge and experience.  He was also not used to working with a Virtual Team.  If you want to outsource and are asking yourself how much should I pay for a Virtual Assistant? Let me help you navigate through this problem.

Firstly let me ask you, would you pay the man who mows your lawns the same price as your brain surgeon?  Of course not!  Why?

The answer is obvious, isn’t it?  Now if you were shopping for brain surgeons and saw an advertisement in the newspaper that said “We will undercut any surgery by 50%” – would this be attractive to you?  Now a Virtual Assistant is not a brain surgeon, HOWEVER there are services you should want to pay top dollar for and other services that you could possibly outsource to a budget under-cutter.  Here are some key questions for you to consider before outsourcing: Continue reading

It is one thing to setup a website; it is another thing to actually have people visit it. Creating a website with no plan for getting traffic is like setting up a water stall in the middle of a desert and hoping someone passes by.

Disclaimer – you do not want to get traffic for your site if your site copy cannot sell them on being a client.  I am not talking about describing what you do; I am talking about SELLING your services.  We touched on this in our last article.

You will get sick of me saying this but your traffic strategy depends on your target market.  The internet is not a magical money maker; it is like any other medium like newspaper, junk mail, television or radio. The million dollar question you must ask yourself is…“Where is my target market hanging out?”  This is an important question because you don’t want to waste time with Twitter when your target is better suited to Facebook.

Here are some of the key ways to drive traffic to your website: Continue reading

The second biggest pitfall on the internet is thinking you can setup a website and that business will automatically come to it.  You have to drive traffic to it – but that is a conversation for another article.

This brings me to the biggest single crime, the biggest waste of time and money that is done on the internet and that is the WORDS you put on your website.  I have worked in this area for so long, and I see people time and time again put so much energy into the look and feel of their site, but when it comes to the words, well, that is the thing glossed over. Continue reading

Think bottom dollar, think big fat wallet, and think big fat income. If you want to free yourself up and continue to make more money and increase your income you’ll need a team to support your dream. Try this formula for cloning yourself, (don’t forget special ingredient #3, without it, the whole thing is gonna flop!

Systemise

Systemise your business or hire someone to help you systemise your business. Eliminate anything that isn’t contributing positively to your life or business. Focus on the areas that free you up and/or make you the most money the easiest way possible. The systems you establish are the key to automation. Automation is the key to sacking yourself and having someone else step into your shoes.

Outsource

Having systems makes outsourcing easy. You can outsource the various key functions to technology and/or skilled virtual assistants or other team players that fit in with your overall business model. You’ll want to make sure you work with a virtual assistant that will be a trusted business partner in your business.

The best and quickest way to find a virtual assistant is within your own network. You can also check out www.myvaspace.com. Continue reading

Imagine this scenario for a moment. You’re a Virtual Assistant, looking for an additional client to expand your virtual assistant practice. On the other side of the country a small business marketing entrepreneur is looking for a new personal assistant online to provide additional support for his rapidly growing business.

My question is…how does this new potential client know you’re available and ready to work with him TODAY?  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if he already knew your virtual assistant services were available BEFORE he started to seek out his new virtual assistant?

So what can you do to make sure your potential clients know about you? What can you do to make sure your potential clients come to you first before they consider working with anyone else?  It’s a hell of a lot easier to have them come to you, rather than you struggling to find new clients and struggling to pay your bills.  Master the 3 tips below and you’ll soon be in a position to “pick and choose” the clients you work with… Continue reading

3 Actions you should take BEFORE you hire an online secretary

So you’re a small business owner, ready to take on some extra assistance, and you’re considering hiring an online secretary or online virtual assistant.

There are many online recruitment sites available to make hiring quick and fairly easy.  Sites like www.freelancer.com have many an eager online secretary / virtual assistant waiting to be of service.  Now you could get really excited and rush in to hire your new online secretary, just like many other small business owners have done before you!  That does sound nice and simple doesn’t it?

The thing is, are you looking for the RIGHT online assistant or secretary to help you?  If you quickly go ahead, and just jump in without the right preparation you’ll end up blowing loads of precious hours and dollars mis-hiring (just ask anyone who’s tried it). You’ll waste time interviewing, hiring, training and re-training your new online assistant. Only to find out that the match isn’t right and you’re starting the process over again. Putting it bluntly…the old hit and miss, gut-feeling hiring method doesn’t work.

The good news is, by taking a few simple steps in preparation, you can set yourself up for recruitment success.  Here are 3 key things you can do when preparing to hire an online secretary. Continue reading