Posts Tagged ‘Small business’

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.

Technorati Tags: efficient business, Small business, Social Media, social networking, virtual assistant

Last year James Mielnik of the Halifax Area Chamber of Commerce asked if I was interested in becoming a Charter Member of the Nova Scotia Come to life program. I jumped at the opportunity for two reasons;

1 – I love Nova Scotia and talking about how great it is to live, work, study, invest and play here is very easy for me (Just ask any of the recent participants at the Forum on Virtual Assistance ~ Everyone who attended now knows something about Nova Scotia.  No one left there wondering where I came from, though technically it is Alberta!)

2 – It seemed a good way to do some more networking, which I truly enjoy.

That opportunity presented by James has turned into many more; a networking event where we signed a ‘charter’ document with the Premier of Nova Scotia, a day of media training, as well as meeting other contacts which has lead to new clients for my business. I also ‘gave back’ by helping the Come to Life staff customize their Twitter profile and showed them how it can help connect their program with more people.

Recently, I was contacted by a journalist, Marie Weeren of 10th floor Solutions. She was assigned by the Come to Life program to “Tell my Story”.  It was slightly daunting being interviewed for this; complete with tape recorder, notepad and all.  However, my story has now been told and is published on the Come to Life website should anyone like to take a read.

Thanks to the people who helped Ms. Weeran with by providing background information about me for her story – Tawnya Sutherland of VAnetworking , Donna Toothaker of 1stVA and David Eisnor from the Centre for Entrepreneurship, Education & Development (CEED).  Your time is also appreciated!

For any business, joining in similar type programs (although this one is very unique) may take a bit of time and effort, but you’ll always find rewards in  the end!

Technorati Tags: be thankful, Entrepreneurs, Nova Scotia, reward, Small business, virtual assistant

Well… I am back from Niagara Falls and the FoVA (Forum on Virtual Assistance) and have had a little rest to gear myself back up at work again.

What I find most different about this morning as I sit at my desk is that I have a new outlook on how I plan to run my business and work everyday.

The people I met at FoVA were so very inspirational and full of experience and insight into running a successful VA business! Virtual Assistant Leaders from all over the world came and shared and taught us so much invaluable information! I would like to thank each one of you for taking time out of your own business so that new people like myself could meet and learn from you.

As I said in my anticipation blog post about going to this conference, I was really looking forward to meeting so many people in person. People who I have been connecting with online for the better part of this past year, mostly at VAnetworking and CVAC, and they did not disappoint! I have solidified relationships that had already started and created new ones as well.  And many of these relationships, I feel will turn into more than that – friendships developed as well.

I said it before and will repeat again – Conferences are so needed and valuable for any business owner, but even more so for those of us working from remote or home locations.

Off I go to start working with so much more motivation and ideas than ever before!  Thanks FoVA and friends!

Technorati Tags: motivation, Small business, social networking, thanks, training, virtual assistant

One very good place to market your business is right in your email signature line, yet many people never use this to their fullest. That’s right, this simple act of placing your information in there and having it automatically go out in every email you send, can actually bring you business.Emails, even personal ones,  should should always be seen as a way to network and tell someone new about your business and how you help your clients. They are your elevator speech included in every email you send.

You’d be surprised how often people will make comments or ask you about your business when you do have something unique at the bottom of each email.  I personally have had at least 10 inquiries this past year on what I do for a living, all from email contact.

Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: networking, promote business, Small business, social networking, virtual assistant

… but I don’t want to mix my personal Facebook with business.

This is one of the most common statements I hear when clients are talking about expanding into Facebook for their business.

You should know however,  when Facebook made their upgrades and changes in February, they did some great things with their Business Pages.

They now run as a separate page from your own personal page. There is no longer a crossover and you do not see your name on the Business Page activity. Your personal page can remain very separate from your business.

To make it work well, you should try to move your ‘business friends’ over to your Fan Page by sending them a note and an invite to join you there.

The Pages have so many benefits for businesses; no limit to the numbers of fans who can join you, the ability to import your blogs, post events, send updates to all fans, have discussions, post videos, links to your YouTube account, badges and links for your Linked In or Twitter profiles and the list goes on…

Some businesses work with Facebook more than they do their website…and for some people that works well. It’s all dependant upon your business, your marketing plan and your ability to take some time and join in social networking.

If you need help setting up a proper Business Page, please get in touch with us and arrange a no fee and no obligation consultation.

Technorati Tags: facebook, promote business, Small business, Social Media, virtual assistant