“Everyone wants to have a good day, but not many people know what a good day looks like – much less how to create one. And even fewer people understand how the way you live today impacts your tomorrow.” John C Maxwell
That is why Today Matters!
John Maxwell wrote in his book, Today Matters that you can create success in your life by focusing on what you do TODAY. Unfotunately, most of the time we miss that success, because we . . .
- Over-exaggerate yesterday – we dwell in the past and constantly think about the things we did or could have done better;
- Overestimate tomorrow – we expect things to be better in future;
….and then we underestimate the importance of today.
What we need to do is to Read more »
I recently read about an ingenious offline marketing campaign and I quickly want to share the story with you. So here it is:
One day a man was riding his bike to work and was about 10km into it when he stopped in a usual rest spot under a tree. There on the ground was a folded 50 Euro note. He picked it up in a millisecond and put it in his pocket.
When he got home he told his wife about his good fortune and got out the folded ‘fifty’.
When he unfolds it, he saw a total new picture.
The ‘Fifty Euros’ was in fact, as you can see from above, an ingenious and effective way of “God- marketing”.
In a country where openly spreading the gospel was prohibited, the underground church had to come up with a way to effectively reach more people. With the knowledge that people will always pick up money, they printed this flyer (simulating a 50Euro note) and ‘left’ thousands of these “notes” lying around across the country – effectively spreading the message of Jesus.
This is an ingenious example of knowing your target market and then directing your marketing efforts towards them. Read more »
Is marketing one of those things that you know you should do, but you just never get to do it properly because there are so many other things taking up your time?
As a self-employed person, you have to wear a number of different hats. You’re the one doing all the client work and managing your clients. You’re the one doing your own admin and keeping your back-office in order. You’re the one managing your finances and trying to build your business. Because of all these different roles, marketing and getting clients can often be put on the back burner.
The problem is, when you put marketing on the back burner and you only focus on it once in a while (when all the other fires are put out), you never really get to do it properly.
People often don’t realize that if you don’t market your business consistently you won’t have clients consistently. Thus, marketing should be a priority in your business because attracting prospects and converting them into paying clients is the lifeblood keeping you in business.
Make marketing a priority in your business this year by using the following 5 tips….
Read more »
Increasing your income significantly, getting more clients and enjoying a thriving business, doesn’t always require a major overhaul. Sometimes it only requires two simple things:
Clarity AND Action!
It is all about getting crystal clear on your goals and what you want from your business and your clients, and then taking action to achieve it.
Read more »
A business that attracts lots of clients is a business that focuses on service excellence.
Any VA can give a service and find some clients, but a Virtual Assistant who focuses on service excellence, will have a business that prosper and will attract clients into long-term relationships.
Now the question is: what is service excellence and how can you ensure your business delivers it?
Well, service excellence is about having:
- Solid beliefs in what you do and how it can benefit your clients;
- Exceptional behaviours and applying those to your client relationships.
- A great attitude;
Service excellence is all about finding ways to make your clients feel good about your services, your business and themselves because they simply feel good when dealing with you.
Here are some great ways to create service excellence in your business: Read more »
As we approach the end of the year, it’s always a good practice to take a look back at the last 12 months and to take stock of what happened in your business. Were you thrilled by all your successes or perhaps disappointed in how it turned out in the end?
No matter where you are in your business and what the results looked like over the previous 12 months, NOW is the right time to assess everything and create the success you deserve.
Setting aside some time for a little planning is a best practice ALL successful entrepreneurs apply and it will work for you too, even if you’re not the “planning” sort.
So why not take some time RIGHT NOW and use the 4 steps below to outline what you are going to accomplish to ensure you have an even better year in 2012. Read more »
Have you ever taken the time to pat yourself on the back?
Do you give yourself credit for your successes and do you take time to enjoy your business as it grows and develops into your dreams?
Many of us simply worry about where we want to go and how to get there and then we forget about how far we have already come.
So, no matter the stage in your business, take a minute today to reflect on what you have accomplished so far and pat yourself on the back.
You’re doing GREAT!
Getting long-term clients in a Virtual Assistant business is very much dependent on the following 3 key elements:
- Clients first knowing about you
- Then liking you enough to work with you and also
- Trusting that you will be able to do the work.
This is what I call the “know, like and trust” factor.
Building a Virtual Assistant business and getting clients to fill your business has a lot to do with building solid business relationships. When you “sell” a service it usually brings a more personal dimension into your business (since you work more closely with a client) than when you purely sell a product. Thus relationships with people become a key aspect of your success. Read more »
Do you sometimes feel that you spend endless hours and loads of money marketing your services, but just never seem to get any clients from all your efforts? Are you frustrated because it feels you’re battling this uphill struggle which really takes you nowhere?
If you do, it might be that you are running your business “blindly”, because you don’t really know and understand who your ideal clients are and what they really want. As such your marketing doesn’t really “speak” to people and they just don’t understand how you can help them. So, they’re not interested in working with you. Read more »
One of the biggest mistakes virtual assistants make when they’re starting out is to think anybody can use their services and everybody is in their market.
Are you making this mistake?
Although VA services can be universal and anyone in the world can use it, the question should not be if everybody CAN use your services, but if everybody WANTS to use it? And the obvious answer is no.
Let me explain and let’s take water for example. Water is a universal product. Everybody in the world NEEDS water to live. So you can pretty much argue that when you put water in a bottle and sell it in a supermarket, you will have a pretty big market, won’t you? Everybody drinks water, so anybody can buy it.
Again, the question is not if anybody CAN buy bottled water, but if everybody WANTS to buy bottled water. Read more »
General, VA Business | Francis, 2 Feb 12 | 
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