BUCKEYE V.A.

Archive for May, 2009

Do you need a virtual assistant? If you answer ‘YES’ to 5 or more of these questions then you need a virtual assistant! Please contact me today for your free 30 minute consultation.

To Your Success!

Stephanie Fish

TEST

1. You work long hours IN your business but not ON your business?
2. You can’t leave your business or it would fall apart without you?
3. You want to delegate more tasks so you can pursue other streams of revenue?
4. You have plans to grow your business but you can’t due to time constraints?
5. You’re completely stressed about business and have lost the joy of running it?
6. You find yourself late or missing appointments more than once per week?
7. Profitability isn’t where it could be?
8. I want to take more time off with family without guilt or stress.
9. I can’t turn my business brain off  and my sleep and health are suffering as a result.
10. Your business lags behind in online marketing which I’m sure means lost business.

Please contact me, Stephanie Fish, today if your are serious about contracting with a Virtual Assistant.

Does your business send out ‘Welcome Letters’ to new forum members, clients or customers? If so, here are few important aspects to consider including:

• Invite your readers to connect with you on your social media accounts, such as: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg and Hub by placing your active links within the body of your email message
• This is a great time to introduce them to your affiliate program and give them the link to your affiliate page for more information
• If you have a virtual assistant handling the customer service emails, introduce her at this time and let them know she/he can handle any issues OR place the direct link to your helpdesk ticket system
• Now’s the time to let your new readers know if you are looking to interview or be interviewed or need a suggestion on a hot topic (make sure you give them credit if you use their suggestions!)

That’s it for now!

P.S. Catch Me Here:

LinkedIn

Twitter

Facebook

P.S.S If you’re looking to outsource your business tasks please contact me today for your free consultation!

The BIG Question

Before I even opened my virtual assistance business I heard other business owners talk about ‘elevator speeches’, I honestly didn’t think much of it..that is until this past month when I had some local business owners ask me what it is I do from home, exactly.  I told them I was a” virtual assistant servicing small and home-based businesses with their online business needs”, in return I received some blank stares and a quick ‘oh, that’s interesting.’  Needless to say, I completely failed the ‘elevator speech’ guidelines!

Enter challenge!!

Do you have a 30 second ’speech’ memorized for potential customers/clients? It sounds like an easy question, but once you think you have it down and then repeat it out loud, what does it sound like? What is the reaction of your potential customer?

I’ve done that for my virtual assistant business over the past month and it just doesn’t sound right. It doesn’t sound natural. So my challenge this week, for you and myself, is to get your 30 second speech down without a hitch.
So the next time someone asks you ‘what do you do from home’ you can give them an intelligent answer that catches their attention and gets them to ask more questions about your business.

Good Luck!

P.S.Don’t forget to subscribe to my feed (on the home page).

P.S.S. I’m currently accepting new clients. This is the perfect time to outsource the day-to-day business chores, especially if you plan on taking a vacation and spend time with your friends and family! Contact me today for your free consultation!

Today’s small and home-based business owner has to pay closer attention to their marketing dollars, making sure that every dollar spent is a ‘dollar returned’ (they want to see a return on their investment). One way to see that return on your ‘outsourcing’ dollar is to outsource on a consistent basis. If you are not consistently outsourcing, but rather you’re always in the ’stop, start,stop,start’ mode, you’re really not going to get a good return on that initial investment. I’m not saying that you can’t or shouldn’t change the tasks you’re outsourcing  or the amount of time you outsource, what I’m saying is to be purposeful in the way you outsource. By picking specific business related tasks, such as marketing, to outsource in a specific number of hours per month you’re more likely to see a return.

If your  business budget only allows 5 hours a month towards outsourcing, then that’s great! If you have one month that allows 20 hours and the following month 1 hour, then that’s fine also. There’s no ’set’ hours that you have to outsource, its just the fact that outsourcing  consistently allows your business to stay  ’infront’ of your clients/customers and in time, you should see an increase in revenue. And that’s the reason you’re in business, right?

Be a Blessing and Be Blessed!

Stephanie Fish, owner of Buckeye V.A. offers a variety of marketing and research services to small and home-based business owners across the USA and Canada. If you’re looking to outsource or learn more about outsourcing please contact me today!

ABC NewsI entered the Startup Nations “Leading Mom’s in Business 2009″ competition (thank you to everyone that voted for me). Although I didn’t make it to the top 200, I still have a great time networking with other mommy business owners.

Target Market?

Are you stuck for new marketing ideas for your handmade product? Let’s go back to the basics of your target market:

• When you’re crafting your product, who do you envision using it?
• What age is your product geared towards?
• Is it for men, women, children, teens, tweens, sports fan, casual dresser, professional, traveler, photographer?
• Is your product for the frugally minded or the no-budget necessary, type of person?

Let’s say your product is a handmade, custom designed watch. You might think that “all mom’s” could use this fantastic watch, but that may not be the case at all. Even though your custom made watch is beautiful and useful to women, a mom that stays home with kids all day and works in the garden, may not want to or care to have, a custom watch. However, a mom that runs a business from home and networks locally with other businesses may indeed want that custom made watch.

One thing I do on a regular basis is envision my target market and picture them actually outsourcing their small business tasks to me. I go as far as including their age, their customers, and what hobbies they enjoy! Just remember, you may have a great product, but it can’t be everything to everyone (this rings true to service providers as well).

Stephanie Fish, owner of Buckeye V.A. enjoys working with authors, life and business coaches, and small business owners at all stages of their business. You’re invited to schedule a free 30 minute consult with me today!

Marketing Offline is just as important to growing your business as marketing online, but there is a difference between the two. When you are marketing online you’re pretty limited to how you can get your product into the hands of your potential customer so they can “see, touch,taste, hear and feel” the product. So here are a few tips to take advantage of your offline marketing.

The 5 Senses of Offline Marketing :

• Wear it (See) - If your handmade product is something you can wear such as jewelry, organic socks or natural make-up then make sure you (and your closet friends and family) are wearing your product everywhere you go. You have to take on the role of being your “best” customer, not only is the a free way of advertising, but this will also allow your potential customer to use all of their senses before making a purchasing decision.
• Carry It (Touch)- Do you make and sell Bible Covers, Purses, Hand Bags, Coin or Checkbook Covers or Diaper Bags? Make sure you (and your friends and family) are ONLY toting your goodies!
• Offer It(Taste)-Do you sell handmade cakes, cookies or another edible product then you could check with your local Chamber of Commerce or local Fair Authorities to see if you could set-up a table and sell your item for say 25c (1 quarter) per slice. This will allow your potential customer to “taste” your product before making a decision to place an order.
• Donate It! (Hear)- Do you have a product that you can donate to a non-profit auction? Its been my experience that all donated items are listed along with the business name. Make sure to chose a non-profit that is close to your heart and that serves your target market.

Last but not least, is FEEL. If you do all or any of the above suggested offline marketing tips, your potential customer will always end up using their sense of “feel”. Always make sure to carry your business brochure and/or business cards and be ready for anything!

To your success!

Stephanie Fish, owner of Buckeye V.A. fellow crafter at heart! Primitive crafts have been my “love” for many years and I still turn to my prim dolls as a way to express myself and to “think over things”. I’m currently offering a free 30 minute phone consultation for the small and/or home-based business who needs to outsource their online marketing or administrative tasks. Call me today!

Marketing your business and/or products can be a time consuming task since you know you’re supposed to constantly be in the ‘marketing’ mode…right? So here’s some tips to help you remember:

1. Give Up! Trying to run your business by yourself isn’t a great idea. Since you’re only one person how can you possibly research and schedule interviews, submit your articles and press releases, respond to emails, and take care of your family and still grow your business? That’s why it’s time to ‘give up’ some of that responsibility and outsource it to a virtual assistant.

2. Get Out! In order to grow your business you’ll not only need to outsource some tasks but you’ll actually have to ‘get out’ of your office and meet other people face-to-face! Yes, online social networking works, but it doesn’t replace physical networking such as conferences, chamber meetings or expo’s.

3. Get Noticed! I’m pretty sure if you ‘give up’ and ‘get out’ you’re going to ‘get noticed’. If you are outsourcing to a virtual assistant then that means that your business related tasks are being handled while you’re out networking in physical locations with real people building real relationships and that means you’ll ‘get noticed’.

If you’re looking to get the 3 G’s going in your business please contact me today to schedule your free 30 minute phone consulation.

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Stephanie Fish is the owner of Buckeye V.A. and loves to help fellow business owners with their marketing needs and other administrative business tasks.

I wanted to share my latest interview with you. If you are looking to be interviewed please let me know…I might be able to work something out for you.

Tracy Zdelar of Hall of Fame Moms interviewed me, you can read it here