vWhat’s The Next Step In Your Business Plan?
November 1, 2008
Have you ever felt like you’ve taken on too much in your business, but yet you haven’t reached that top goal?
Do you remember that time, when you first started your business and you didn’t have enough “work” to fill your schedule? Now, fast forward a year or so and your business is booming! Your schedule is so full that you can’t even take that next step in your own business plan because you’re so busy taking care of everyone else’s work.
Well, I was introduced to a book titled “Becoming An Online Business Manager” by Tina Forsyth. She explains in great detail what makes a great “Online Business Manager”, what their role is, how they can become one, and there’s even a “test” that you can take to see if you are “OBM” material!
Whether you’re looking for your own Online Business Manager or are interested in becoming one, this book is a great investment that you won’t regret spending your hard earned cash on!
This post was part of a blog tour.
Yesterday the blog tour stopped at Key Business Partner
Click the link to purchase Tina’s book,Becoming an Online Business Manager
And tomorrow the blog tour continues with Craig Cannings at VA Classroom
While you’re here sign-up for my newsletter and learn about the “Top 15 Outsourced Tasks” www.buckeyeva.com
Feeling The Holiday Stress Already?
October 31, 2008
The recent snow flurries reminded me that winter is upon us and that means added stress, particularly due to the fact that the Holidays are right around the corner. Can you believe that November 1 means that Christmas is only 8 Saturdays away!
When I start to count down the weeks until Christmas I start to feel over-whelmed and that can cause anyone to get lost in the chaos and loose focus of their business goals.
Right around this time of year, business owners start to take on added stress. They may have to deal with the stress of meeting end-of-the-year deadlines, clients and customers added demands (after all, they are feeling the stress from their clients and customers) and not to forget, the stress of pre-planning for the upcoming new year!
Whew! That’s enough stress to throw even the most calm business owner into a tizzy! By outsourcing just one task, such as article marketing, you can save yourself up to 10 hours in one months time. Just think what you could do with those “unspoken” for 10 hours?
While you’re here sign-up for my newsletter and learn about the “Top 15 Outsourced Tasks” www.buckeyeva.com
God Bless!
P.S. Don’t forget to vote!
Holiday Marketing Starts Now!
October 11, 2008
I’ve just sent out 5 highly recommend tips for Holiday marketing, the only people that get to read these tips are my subscribers!
If you’re a business owner who could use more marketing, then I welcome you to sign-up for my mailing list and I will send you my subscribers-only marketing tips!
This year will prove to be a very competitive business market and the sooner you get your business seen by your prospective customers, the better your chances of getting increased sales. There are so many low-cost and no-cost marketing tactics available to you, you just have to make sure they are done correctly and in a timely manner. This is why you need to know who your target market is, where they are blogging, what they are buying and what they are reading!
God Bless!
Stephanie Fish, owner of Buckeye V.A.
Virtual Assistance for business owners in need of marketing and research!
Visit my homepage www.buckeyeva.com to signup for my newsletter!!
Financial Woes Forecast? Not For Your Business!
October 4, 2008
Every time I turn on my computer, radio or television I hear how our nation is in a terrible financial mess. These news stories may be true, however, I’m not letting them bring me down. As a business owner I am determined to take the good and bad times all in stride, by stepping-up my business marketing.
As a business owner you can take some active steps toward your own marketing success by:
1. Article Marketing- Make a goal to submit 1 article per week for 2-3 months and see if you have an increase in clients and/or customers. Make sure that your articles are educating your target market and not just promoting yourself.
2. Interviews- Are you actively seeking opportunities to be interviewed? Online radio (podcasts) are increasingly popular because people can be surfing the internet while listening to your interview. This is a great way to reach your target market by educating them through voice.
3. Blog- Are you adding fresh content to your blog? This is so important, yet it seems that so many business owners have a difficult time with this task. Don’t forget to add your articles, press releases and interview links to your blog!
If your already full schedule doesn’t allow for you to do the above items yourself, by all means, find a virtual assistant who can assist you in doing these important marketing tasks. Just remember, the entire world isn’t having financial difficulties, even though it might seem that way.
God Bless!
Stephanie Fish, Owner of Buckeye V.A. virtual assistance for the physical product seller. If you are serious about building your business without sacrificing your family, please contact me at buckeyeva@gmail.com
Article Marketing=Success
September 25, 2008
Articles+Customers=Success
O.k. I can hear you saying “Steph, come on..how is article writing going
to get me customers?” Well, I’m here to tell you that the correctly written
article can help you succeed in your business.
Articles are like blood types; they come in positive and negative.
1. Negative: if your article is written poorly, bad grammar, incorrect
information, misleading or promotional.
2. Positive: written correctly, no grammar mistakes, correct information,
educational.
All of your articles should be written to educate your target market. This
why your research needs to come first! Remember way back when I said you
need to focus your business? This is one reason why you have to have a
focused business before marketing your business, otherwise, you’ll waste a
lot of time and money.
So you’ve reseached your target market, your business if focused and now
you’re saying “I just don’t have the time to write my own articles” or
perhaps you’re saying “I need help getting started!”
Well, if you decide not to write your own articles for whatever reason you have 2 choices:
1. Ghost Writer- This is a more expensive option in which you hire/contract with a professional writer to write exclusive articles that you are for your use only.
2. PLR (private label rights) Articles- These are articles written by professional writers, that give you the right to rewrite them anyway you want, the distribute them to your readers, blog, newsletter and website. These are both great options to help you get the content you to educate your target market and help you in your quest for better SEO results!
Please use my affiliate link for EasyPLR.com
Remember, your virtual assistant is willing and able to help you succeed in your business and is most likely a great source to go to for help with your marketing efforts.
God Bless,
Stephanie Fish
Buckeye V.A.
*If your looking for a Virtual Assistant, may I suggest you contact me to see if my services can help you with your small business needs.
Article Writing Challenged? How About A Challenge?
August 29, 2008
I must confess, I do write articles, I just don’t ever let anyone read them! So what possessed me to sign-up for the challenge? Carrie Lauth over at Blah,Blah,Blog is hosting a “30 day 30 article challenge” and something in me screamed “I HAVE TO DO THIS!!”
I am going to submit my articles on my blog (here) and at the following article directories:
WAHM-Articles.com
1888articles.com
Articlebase.com
talkinmince.com
If you’ve been around me and read my ezines then you know how important article marketing is to your business. To sign-up or learn more about this free challenge go here http://carrielauth.com/blog/2008/08/29/30-days-30-articles/
Leave me a comment and let me know if you’re joining the challenge so I can root for you!
Have a blessed holiday weekend!
God Bless,
Stephanie Fish
Article Marketing…Ghost Writer and More!
August 1, 2008
You can find your perfect ghostwriter by looking for a lot of the same things your clients look for when they need a virtual assistant.
One of the most important things to look for is how well you and the ghostwriter communicate with each other. Someone may be a good writer, but that won’t matter if the end result is all wrong because they didn’t understand what you wanted.
A good ghostwriter will ask questions about your project, your business, who’ll be reading the article, and what you’ll be doing with the content.
These types of questions show that the writer wants to know what you need the content to do.
Here are some other things you’ll want to consider when you’re looking for a ghostwriter.
Writer vs. writing service. If it’s just one writer working alone, what happens to your project when she gets sick, or falls behind? A writing service is usually a team of writers and might be more reliable.
Ask for writing samples. When you’re looking over the samples, you’ll want to check the writer’s spelling and grammar. Ask a friend to review the samples with you if you’re not sure.
You also want to look for a writer who writes in short chunks or paragraphs. These are easier to read online.
Does the writer offer revisions? At WAHM Articles, we offer up to two revisions on each piece of content, but not everyone does. If it’s not stated anywhere, ask.
Does the writer require payment up front? It’s common for writers to ask for at least part of the payment before they’ll begin a project. You can protect yourself by paying through a third party, like PayPal.
It’s also a good idea to “try out” a ghostwriter by contracting them to write a short article or blog post, before outsourcing a bigger project like your e-book.
If you and the ghostwriter don’t work well together, you’ve only lost a few dollars. And if you turn out to be a good fit for each other, you’ve just made a wise investment!
Question 2: How often should a business owner submit articles?
As often as you can.:)
How consistently you submit articles is far more important than how often you submit articles.
For example, let’s say you decide to submit an article every day (which would be fantastic, by the way) but after 30 days you’re burned out and can’t stand the thought of writing another article ever again. You have 30 articles out there, and you might never write another one.
On the other hand, let’s say you’ve decided to go at a more comfortable pace and submit one article a week. After 30 days, you will have submitted only 4 articles.
But, if you can keep up that pace consistently, in a year you will have 52 articles in circulation. If you can keep going, in five years you’ll have 260
articles. As long as you’re writing and submitting articles at a pace that’s comfortable for you, you will continue indefinitely, and that number will keep growing.
The more frequently you can write and submit articles, the sooner you’ll see results. But you need to balance that with creating a momentum you can maintain.
And here is a short bio you can publish with the post:
Denise Willms is the head writer of WAHM Articles, a ghostwriting service that helps online business owners reach the “mom market.” She is also owner of http://www.WAHM-Articles.com, a directory of free reprint articles for moms.
Are You Organized Enough For A Virtual Assistant?
July 18, 2008
Good Day!
I’ve been asked “What information does my virtual assistant need and how do I organize all of it?”
As a virtual assistant for almost 2 years I have seen how important it is to be very organized. Any small business knows this, but if you run your small business from home, then its even more important.
Outsourcing to a virtual assistant is crucial if you find yourself overwhelmed with “too much growth” and not enough time in your week to complete important projects.
Here’s a sample of what I use when starting a relationship with a client. If you are searching for a virtual assistant, feel free to print this list and keep it pinned to your office wall for future reference.
Remember, your virtual assistant should be able to help you get organized. Don’t feel that you have to have everything already organized BEFORE you contract with a virtual assistant.
Let’s Begin:
Open a new excel spreadsheet, give it a name, and then save it in a new folder (this will save you time from having to search each time you need to access it.)
1. Make a list of all your press release and article directory usernames and passwords
2. List all articles and press releases that have been submitted; include the date and topic for each
3. Did You outsource your article and press release writing? Write down that persons contact information
4. Write down the contact information of your hosting company
5. Make note of your CPanel username and password
Just a final thought:
Organization is just as important as communication when it comes to building a successful relationship with your virtual assistant. If you have been in business for any length of time you know how fast you collect accounts, usernames, passwords, and a million useful links so having all of this information together in place will make your life and business run more smoothly!
Good luck with your organization and remember, its never too late to start gathering all that information.
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Stephanie Fish is the owner of Buckeye V.A. virtual assistance for the physical product seller. I invite you to take advantage of my free 30 minute consultation to see if my services will compliment your business. If you are serious about building your business without sacrificing your family, please contact me at buckeyeva@gmail.com
Overwhelmed By Success? Learn To Outsource
June 29, 2008
As a virtual assistant for online physical product sellers I see a reoccuring question:
”Do I really need to outsource?” The only way I can answer this is by asking you a few questions.
1. Have you seen a growth in your business?
2. Do you feel you are stuck-in-a-rut?
3. Are you so consumed with fulfilling orders that you don’t have time to restock your online photos, grow your social network or get publicity?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you need to learn “how” to outsource and “what” to outsource.
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Stephanie Fish is the owner of Buckeye V.A. virtual assistance for the physical product seller. I invite you to take advantage of my free 30 minute consultation to see if my services will compliment your business. If you are serious about building your business without sacrificing your summer, please contact me at buckeyeva@gmail.com
Don’t Waste Money On A Virtual Assistant!
June 27, 2008
I’m not saying outsourcing to a virtual assistant is a waste of money, I’m saying Don’t Waste Money On A Virtual Assistant when you’re not ready for a virtual assistant.
Let me explain, as a virtual assistant I know that not all small businesses need to outsource, but I would guess that the majority of small businesses will eventually need to take this next step. The problem that I’ve seen in the past is a small business owner might wait until they have become so over whelmed with their business that they either (1) give up, sell the business or just close it or (2) try to stuff an exorbent amount of tasks into a very small time span and hope the virtual assistant can pull off a years worth of work into 30 days.
Whether you’ve outsourced in the past, are presently seeking or plan to outsource in the future here is a “Don’t Waste Your Money On A Virtual Assistant” check list:
1. Plan: What would you like to do for the next 30, 60, 90 days to grow your business? Do you need to have a press release and some articles written? Do you need to set-up or add content to your blog? Do you need to get your website out infront of your target market?
2. Prepare: Do you have a current list of account information readily available to you and your virtual assistant? Do you have a list of questions for your virtual assistant? What about concerns for your business?
3. Pause: If you said “no” to any of the above questions, don’t worry! Your virtual assistant should have a set of questions for you during your initial consultation that should help you sort out all of the important information to get you started on your new relationship.
4. Party: Rejoice once you have found the virtual assistant that fits your business perfectly, I’m sure you won’t want to let them go.
Communication is key in all relationships, even business relationships. As a virtual assistant I try to keep in touch by updating my clients on a weekly basis. This has helped us move through many hoops and reach new levels for her business.
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Stephanie Fish is the owner of Buckeye V.A. virtual assistance for the physical product seller. I invite you to take advantage of my free 30 minute consultation to see if my services with compliment your business. If you are serious about building your business without sacrificing your summer, please contact me at buckeyeva@gmail.com
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