VACOC Monthly Guest Expert Teleseminar Series:

The Top 10 Mistakes That are Killing Your Brand

Presented by Rob Frankel

DATE: Thursday, October 18, 2007
TIME: 5pm PST / 6pm MST / 7pm CST / 8pm EST
LENGTH: 60 minutes (please call in 10 min. early)
COST: FREE!

This class is open to all Virtual Assistants and business owners. Feel free to invite your colleagues and clients.

“Branding is not about getting your prospects to choose you over your competition; it’s about getting your prospects to see you as the only solution to their problem.” ™ –Rob Frankel

Branding is a lot more than just a name and a logo. It’s how users and prospects are turned into evangelists for your business. But even more important than what you know about branding is what you don’t know. It’s costing you real business and real dollars. Branding expert Rob Frankel will be telling you–yes, you– the 10 ways you are currently killing your brand. He’ll also tell you how to fix every one of them.

Join us on Thursday, October 18, for a special hour with Rob Frankel, author of the groundbreaking bestseller, Revenge of Brand X: How to Build a Big Time Brand on the Web or Anywhere Else.  Rob Frankel has been called “the best branding expert on the planet,” advising, consulting and speaking to Fortune 500 companies, funded start-ups and major media such as CBS, CNBC, ABC, NBC, FOX, WSJ, NYT, LAT and many more.

Branding is relevant to every business, and to every part of your business. Rob is the only branding consultant who can show you how creating and implementing brand strategy directly increases your bottom line revenues–and profitability. Be sure to catch a spot at what is sure to be one of our most fascinating, eye-opening events.

Register Now!

About Rob Frankel

Rob Frankel has been called “the best branding expert on the planet,” advising, consulting and speaking to Fortune 500 companies, funded start-ups and major media such as CBS, CNBC, ABC, NBC, FOX, the Wall Street Journal, New York Time, LA TImes, and many more. (For clips, visit http://www.robfrankel.com/videos.html).

Rob is the only branding consultant who can show you how creating and implementing brand strategy directly increases your bottom line revenues–and profitability.

He is also the author of the ground-breaking best-seller, The Revenge of Brand X: How to Build a Big Time Brand on the Web or Anywhere Else, (ISBN 0967991218) and founder/authority on the revenue-generating Branded Community® via http://www.i-legions.com. Details at http://www.robfrankel.com.

VACOC Monthly Guest Expert Teleseminar Series:

The 5 Strategies to Earning Your Worth

Presented by Mikelann Valterra

DATE: Thursday, September 20, 2007
TIME: 5pm PST / 6pm MST / 7pm CST / 8pm EST
LENGTH: 60 minutes (please call in 10 min. early)
COST: FREE!

This class is open to all Virtual Assistants, independent professionals, small business owners, micropreneurs and solopreneurs. Feel free to invite your colleagues and clients.

Are you earning your potential? Or are you struggling against an “internal income ceiling?”

In this powerful teleseminar, Mikelann Valterra, founder of The Women’s Earning Institute, explores the psychology of why even successful women undersell themselves and what to do about it.

From having lower pay expectations than other people, to difficulty in asking for what you really want, women who “underearn” deal with complex emotional issues around making money. Learn the five crucial skills to earning what you are really worth, and start making more money today!

Participants will learn:

• How to make asking for what you want easier;
• How and why women underprice themselves, and what to do about it
• How to conquer “The Good Girl Syndrome”
• How getting in touch with “resentment” can make you more money

And much more… Reserve your seat today!

Register Now!

About Mikelann Valterra

Mikelann (pronounced “Michael-Ann”) Valterra is the founder and director of The Women’s Earning Institute and author of the book, “Why Women Earn Less: How to Make What You’re Really Worth,” and the workbook, “How to Set and Raise Your Rates.” As a specialist in earning issues, she speaks and consults widely on how to overcome self-sabotaging beliefs about money. From KOMO News 4 to the Washington Post, she talks about transforming one’s relationship to money, and how women can earn at their potential.

To subscribe to the free monthly “Earn Your Worth” e-newsletter, go to http://www.womenearning.com.

Change Your Focus, Multiply Sales!

Presented by Silver Rose

DATE: Thursday, August 16, 2007
TIME: 5pm PST / 6pm MST / 7pm CST / 8pm EST
LENGTH: 60 minutes (please call in 10 min. early)
COST: FREE!

This class is open to all Virtual Assistants, independent professionals, small business owners, micropreneurs and solopreneurs. Feel free to invite your colleagues and clients.

Focus has always been a critical component of business success. When facing a multitude of choices and distractions, those who consistently move toward achieving their goals have mastered the ability to focus.

In this teleseminar, Silver Rose will take you on a laugh-filled journey of how she has used the power of focus to double her income every year since 2003, and how you can, too.

You will learn how to gain success quicker and with less effort by leveraging the Law of Attraction (you get what you focus on), and you will be challenged to investigate your own approach to business to find out what you are focused on (you may be surprised).

Participants will walk away with the tools for:

• Landing clients versus gathering prospects;
• Qualifying potential clients instead of merely scheduling appointments; and
• Attracting profit instead of income (she who keeps the most wins!).

By focusing on the results you want instead of the process for getting them, you will achieve results as quickly as you’ve always dreamed you could.

Register Now!

About Silver Rose

Motivational speaker Silver Rose specializes in working with individuals who want work that they love and organizations that want employees who love their work. She has devoted the last 18 years to the study of the impact of optimism in the workplace. During that time, she has worked with numerous organizations committed to fully utilizing the resources of their employees and creating a competitive advantage in their marketplaces.

Silver’s customized programs combine timely information with humor and fun to produce results. Her track record of success in Human Resources has made her the “go-to” expert in the field of business/employee relationships. Happily at work on her fourth book, Silver is committed to all individuals having work that causes them to say, “Thank God it’s Monday!”

Visit Silver Rose’s website! 

It’s survey time again!

Last August, the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce conducted its first annual survey of the Virtual Assistant profession. Over 3,000 Virtual Assistants worldwide, primarily from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia were personally invited to participate, and we had a tremendous response!

Our survey yielded over 71 pages of data. It’s the best representative cross-section taken and most in-depth, comprehensive information available in the industry today.

FREE Copy of the Completed Survey to Everyone Who Participates (you don’t even need to be a member!)

You must participate in order to receive a free copy. Participation is completely anonymous to ensure the highest level of participation and the most candid, forthright responses. The only data we collect is your IP address (which is tracked only by the survey software we use, not by us), and that will only be used to fulfill free survey requests to those who participate (so be sure and submit your request from the same computer that you use to take the survey). We collect no personal identifying information; all information collected is used in aggregate form only.

Membership is NOT required. The survey is open to anyone who:

• Self-identifies as a Virtual Assistant;
• Has an open practice (not closed or in planning stages);
• Has at least 5 years secretary/administrative assistant experience of some form;
• Works for themselves and is not a member of a virtual staffing agency; and
• Offers primarily services that are administrative in nature.

There are 97 multiple-choice questions in the survey, and three optional free-form questions. The survey is very fast-paced, should only take you 20-30 minutes tops to complete.

Survey sections include:

• Individual Demographics
• General Business Demographics
• Experience & Credentials
• Clients/Target Markets
• Hours
• Pricing
• Employees & Subcontractors
• Services
• Marketing
• Training & Continuing Education
• Success, Profitability & Entrepreneurship
• Industry Organizations
• Industry Training Programs
• Professional Standards & Ethics

Be Part of History; Tell Your Friends

The VACOC is contacted constantly by the media for information on Virtual Assistance. The information collected by our survey has been absolutely instrumental in creating more awareness about Virtual Assistants, getting more accurate articles written about the Virtual Assistant industry and better educating our marketplace–all of which helps YOU get more clients.

By participating in this survey you become part of that history and play an instrumental role in helping us make Virtual Assistance a household term. Please pass the word on to your colleagues by posting in your blogs, newsletters, forums and listservs and direct them to our survey page here. The more Virtual Assistants who participate, the better results and exposure for the Virtual Assistant industry overall!

Request Copy

As promised, the survey results report is available at no cost (yes, FREE!) to any Virtual Assistant who participates. At the end of the survey period (September 1), simply check back here as we will update this page with a request form. Submit your information and a copy will be emailed to you–easy as pie. (Please note that this will opt you in to the VACOC mailing list.)

A fellow Virtual Assistant posted a question on the VACOC forum today. It went something like this:

My business is growing but I’m overwhelmed with daily requests from clients. I also have a hard time concentrating on larger projects, although they always get done on time.

What do you consider “expedited work” and do you charge more for it?

This is what I said:

When I first started my practice, my policy was a 24- to 48-hour turnaround for work and anything that needed same-day turnaround would be charged at one-and-a-half times the normal rate. Fortunately, I never had to implement those policies because if I had, I would have been pulling out my hair. I’ve learned, in the last year, that there has to be order. I can’t provide order to anything with constant 24- to 48-hour turnaround or same-day delivery policies. Order is a hallmark of virtual assistance.

I’ve also learned that multi-tasking, of which I was so proud to be proficient, doesn’t work for a client-based business owner. The best service I can give my clients is focused time and that doesn’t happen in spurts and starts. Focused intervals of time are scheduled to be at least one hour in length. That’s how I can legitimately charge in 15-minute increments. I don’t bounce from one client’s work to another or try to do both at the same time. That’s not an efficient use of my brain or talent nor is it fair to my clients because it will cost them more money. Efficiency is also a hallmark of virtual assistance.

Concentrated time on a task is more effective because interruptions cause the thought process to break and then it takes 15-20 minutes to recapture the same thought process. I know that wasn’t part of your original question but it goes to the same issue. If you’re allowing clients to interrupt you with same-day requests, you’ll find it increasingly difficult to get those big projects done.

It’s time to set a new policy in motion.

I want to let you know about another upcoming FREE teleseminar sponsored by the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce.

VACOC Monthly Guest Expert Teleseminar Series:

You’d Protect a Human Child, Why Not a “Brain Child?” Intellectual Property for Solopreneurs

Presented by Nina Kaufman, Esq., Wise Counsel Press

Date: Thursday, June 21, 2007
Time: 5:00 p.m. PST/6:00 p.m. MST/7:00 p.m. CST/8:00 p.m. EDT
Length: Sixty minutes
Cost: FREE!

This class is open to all Virtual Assistants, Small Business Owners and Independent Service Providers. Feel free to invite your colleagues and clients.

Do you know the difference between a trademark, a copyright, and a domain name — and the rights each one entitles you to?

Do you want to avoid messy (and expensive) disputes with other business owners?

Want to know how to protect your valuable intellectual capital so that you’re the one to profit from it?

Just as human children need our protection, our “brain children”– or intellectual property — also need our protection. Unfortunately, solo professionals often don’t realize (before it’s too late) that they had protectable intellectual property and what they could have done to protect it.

Given the fast pace at which information flies in the Digital Age, forethought and intellectual property planning is absolutely necessary.

Join me to learn how you can identify your “brain children” and protect yourself economically. A few of the scenarios that we’ll cover include:

• What’s the difference between a copyright, a trademark, and a domain name?
• Can I get a trademark once I have a domain name? And what if someone tries to get a trademark using my business name?
• What if my articles appear on someone else’s website (or blog) without permission?
• Who owns the program that I collaborated on with someone else?
• Can I use ideas in my business that I generated for a client?

And much more!

Free giveaways will be provided to four lucky call participants, so be sure to register today to reserve your spot!

Sign up here: Teleclass registration.

About Nina Kaufman: Nina L. Kaufman, Esq., is a rare combination: a small business attorney, entrepreneur, and stand-up comedienne. Through her humor, wisdom, and legal acumen, she helps entrepreneurs and small businesses protect their companies and develop a solid legal foundation for growth and success. She specializes in working with service-based businesses. Her mission is to help demystify legal concepts and mumbo-jumbo so that business owners can make smart legal decisions, protect their companies, and save money . . . wisely.

For over a decade, she has worked with solopreneurs and small business owners through her NYC law firm, Paltrowitz & Kaufman, LLP. A prolific writer and legal blogger, Nina is the founder and President of Wise Counsel Press, LLC, which produces legal information products for entrepreneurs. She blogs regularly on business partnership and partnering relationships in her Business Partnership Central blog and is a regular contributor to Entrepreneur magazine’s new online portal for women business owners, WomenEntrepreneur.com. Her new book, The Key Questions: 100 Questions to Ask Before Going into Business with Someone Else, is soon to be released through iUniverse and will be available online through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com. She is married and lives in New York City.

Sign up for the teleseminar! I think you’ll enjoy it and don’t forget . . . it’s FREE!

When I decided to start a Virtual Assistance business, I wondered if I could do it. I mean, I knew I could do the work. But could I run a business? See, I’m what is known as a free spirit; in other words, I’m undisciplined and easily distracted. That flies in the face of being very organized, which I am (no wonder the person I fight with the most is me!).

I wrote in my business plan that I would take a project and turn it around in 24-48 hours. Pretty unrealistic plan because what if I got six projects at once? And who knew what the complexity of those projects would be? I had guaranteed failure. So, for months, I was in the frame of mind that if I got a lot of projects to do, I would fail because I couldn’t do them all at once. My subconscious mind was not letting me find clients. Thus my business was failing. I was miserable. During that time I joined the VACOC and subsequently left because I didn’t have time for it. I was too busy failing.

When I came back to the VACOC in October, I decided to purchase their forms. I had to do something besides get a full-time job. Those forms, along with actually participating in the forum this time, has made all the difference. I now realize my limitations are not that I’m undisciplined and can’t run a business. I am running a company and being undisciplined spurs my creativity. My limitation is time and time can be managed. The best way to manage time as a VA is to have retainer clients and the equivalent of one day dedicated to taking care of the business. Take care of the business . . . take care of yourself. They go hand-in-hand.

Two weeks ago I changed my hours from Monday-Friday to Monday-Thursday. Friday belongs to my company. The past two Fridays I haven’t spent a lot of time on the business, per se. What I have done is cleaned out and cleaned up my home. I removed nine large trash bags of clothing and linen, threw out enough stuff to fill three wheeled bins, moved two pieces of furniture to the basement (The cellar will receive the same cleansing at the end of June.). Yesterday I cleaned the house from top to bottom - that was a really good thing because the cat hair was getting kind of thick - lol!

Suzanne Evans of Blueprint Life Coaching started me on this quest. Now I feel so much cleaner, organized, lighter, refreshed. And because I got rid of so much, I have room for those two or three other retainer clients I want.

Have you made room for what you want in your business and your life?