training
Business Magazines, Reports and Whitepapers
I was browsing through my emails this morning and came across one mentioned a new Whitepaper available for a free download. The topic was the State of Social Media 2010 – very applicable to my business so I followed the links.
Yes, I did sign up my email/info in order to download a copy but I also discovered there were a variety of publications available to download as well. They come from different sources. Some of the topics were:
- Target Marketing
- Online Brand protection
- Convert Internet Visitors into Sales
- Social Media ROI
The two reports I received this morning looked very valuable and full of applicable content/information. It may be a site you want to bookmark and visit on a regular basis. Just thought I would share.
The website is called TraderPub and this link is for the Free Trade Magazine Subscriptions and Technical Document Downloads
Learning to Market a Blog
A Mini-Course on Blogging! Great idea to learn more about marketing your blog and all in 2 weeks!
VAclassroom is a favourite learning place of mine, much of my social media training was done with them. This month they have rolled out another innovative way to learn virtually – the Mini Course! The first one is all about Blog Marketing! What a timely topic too considering that more than 10,000 blogs are started everyday according to WordPress
The 2-week mini-course titled, “Blog Marketing Tips, Tools & Tactics” and starts on August 10th, ending Aug 24th. The program includes self study as well as live components.
The registration doors are officially OPEN NOW and seats are going fast. They have 60 32 3 seats still available for this training program. You can use this discount code VABLOG to knock $10 off their special price of $67 when you register.
Whether you are looking to learn for yourself as a blogger or new to blogs, or are looking to add to your services offerings – it’s a fantastic way to learn more about blogging and in a condensed time period at a great price!
Training is vital to Growth
I realized the other day after finishing a consultation with a new client, that my business has grown almost 40% since completing a certification course this past April. It was kind of a wake up call on how important training is to growing your business.
Of course training is always beneficial in that you gain new knowledge and skills. As small business owners, we sometimes forget that it is these very items that make us more valuable to our clients.
Bringing in new ideas and abilities helps clients, and in my line of business the primary goal with any client is to help them get their work done, no matter the task and doing so in a way that saves them time and money. For most the goal of having a virtual assistant is to free up time to devote to generating more revenue or in some cases to having more time for family and life.
What training did I complete? A Certification course for Social Media Marketing. The course from VAclassroom gave me deeper insight into this type of work. Social Media Marketing is quickly turning into my niche, or niche, as some people say (…sorry, I couldn’t help that, so many people pronounce that word differently!)
This training taught me how to focus on my clients, their targets and goals; creating a strategic plan for them. It helped me clarify and define a process and system with my work in social media. I discovered how to be as efficient as possible for my clients and to be always thinking of new ways to use social media in order to help my clients grow their business.
Will I stop at this course? No way, as more opportunities to learn arise, I will sign on! This past year I have taken a bookkeeping course, have taken weekly seminars at VAnetworking and joined in many other courses that saw me making improvements in how I manage my own business or work for my clients. I’m even going to lead a class myself on July 16th as part of a Summer Speaker Series. I will be teaching others – exciting and scary at the same time!
There is always more to learn to improve yourself, your work and your business – and by doing so you will grow and prosper your business.
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If you’d like to partake of 28 Seminars for $27 this summer, please check out the VAvirtuosos site. The topics are varied and very applicable to many types of businesses.
If you are interested in taking VAclassroom’s Social Marketing Training, it is a self study and open to anyone. If you use the coupon code SUMMER09, you can save $100 off the course.
The Anticipation is building…
Well… here it is Tuesday and I am all packed and ready to go to my first ever conference with fellow virtual assistants.
I am heading to Niagara Falls, Canada for the Forum on Virtual Assistance (FoVA) to learn and share and connect with many people in the VA industry.
I have been networking online for almost a year now at VAnetworking, CVAC and several other places. I have also been working with, or creating friendships with, other VAs that I met online.
Networking online can be scary for some people but I love it. In fact, in my banking days, I had several jobs that had me connecting with others via telephone – and really it is the same principle, even if it was in the days before cell phones or email. I encountered these people daily in my job, but never face to face. I met my husband from a friend I worked with ‘virtually’ in 1988. She and I finally met, a friendship was created that still exists today; and her fiancé introduced me to my husband. If I had never taken the time to meet her at the bank function for all the departments, my life would have been very different.
My favourite aspect of online or telephone networking is when the time comes that you finally have an opportunity to meet those people in person – face-to-face. I find this really solidifies any online or remote relationship and takes it to another level.
So, my bags are ready, the family is kicking off school early to drive me to the airport and I cannot wait to get there and meet all my ‘friends’.
Watch out FoVA here I come!
Networking and Conferences ~ a Perfect Match
FOVA (Forum on Virtual Assistance) is only 5 weeks away, and I CAN’T wait! I’m ready to learn and network and this conference is a perfect place to do both.
I think I am most anticipating all the people I know I will be meeting. Since last summer I have been very active with my online networking (primarily at VAnetworking, CVAC and VAClassroom) and I am going to meet several of these people face to face. I love connecting a face with a name or a voice!
Generally you don’t attend any conference unless you have an interest in the topic and there are always many sessions available to learn new skills, ideas or trends and more. The agenda that Barb Lang and her organizers have prepared is chock full of great topics and speakers from all over the world, and topics that will help us Virtual Assistants in our daily work. However, in my humble opinion, the biggest benefit you get from a conference is the networking aspect of it.
So many opportunities are available at conferences to meet and talk with new people, to match a face to a name, or connect with old friends. Being virtual, a large part of our daily work is done online and by phone, Instant Messenging chat or email. To be able to meet in person all the “usernames” I deal with on a regular basis, really adds another foundation block to our relationship.
I almost feel like I need to make a list of all the people I anticipate meeting in order to ensure that I don’t miss them as to me that would be a tragedy.
No matter what your line of work, and especially if you work from home, I urge you to find a conference in your industry and attend it every year. You’ll return rejuvenated and having met many new contacts and with a brain full of new information relevant to your work. ALL of this will help you excel in your job and your life.
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Get your social media questions answered during a live call every month PLUS learn new tricks and tips to using Social Media for your business. Forum support as well for help throughout the month.
