Know No Fear…
“If you doubt you can accomplish something, then you can’t accomplish it. You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.” Rosalynn Carter
If you are in the process of just starting your Virtual Assistant business, have been in your business for a while, are changing your business in some way or another, are making the choice to go back and work for someone else, or are going to go back to school, have the confidence to do it.
We’re all afraid to take that first ride on a bicycle with no training wheels, but we do it. As a child, we know fear but have that “we know no fear” attitude. Our parents assisted us by building up our confidence levels high enough to get on that bike and follow through. We showed our parents, our family, our friends, and ourselves that we could get on that bike and ride like the wind.
That’s the same thing for our business. The only thing is we aren’t children. We have a different kind of mindset. As adults, we become afraid to try new and different things. Most of us have that “I’ll try but I don’t see it really working out” kind of attitude. We’re not as carefree as we were when we were children. But, if you want to succeed, have the mentality of a child.
Have that “We Know No Fear” attitude and you will soon see that you can accomplish the things you set out to. You just have to have that confidence and follow through.
Anything you can do…I can do better!
Notwithstanding their bent toward grandiosity, these words (from an Irving Berlin 1946 tune for the “Annie Get Your Gun” Broadway musical) easily set the stage for the argument that as a Virtual Assistant (VA) you really can do many if not all of the things (just as good as or) better than those performed by an “in-house” administrative assistant, executive secretary or similar personnel.
No, you can’t.
Yes, I can!
Of course, there are many factors, occurrences and mechanisms that must be in place in order for this to be achieved. However, if you have the skills, the knowledge, the experience, the technology, the wherewithal, and especially the sticktuitiveness, there’s really no reason why you can’t accomplish a good many of the tasks like those of your “brick and mortar” counterparts.
No, you can’t.
Yes, I can!
If given half a chance.
Yes, I can! Yes, I can!
In fact, in many ways a VA can surpass the accomplishments of her onsite equivalent.
In addition, as a VA you have the “luxury” of performing the work from home on your schedule. You also have the opportunity to work for many different factions, learning new things and keeping abreast of cutting edge technology as a result. And, you can choose what work (or tasks) you want to do. You “set the rules” so they meet your needs and wants. And you can say how much.
Sooner or later…I can do anything
With opportunities like these, the end result is that you provide quality service to your current clients and those yet to be.
And, in the long run you really can do it for them–for less.
Anything you can do, I can do better…
An Open Invitation…
Recently Added to the Download Section of the Rev….
- We’re continually adding things to the Rev that are not available anywhere else or things that you’d have to pay for elsewhere.
Recently added are:
- Adding RSS Feeds to Wizz RSS (Firefox Addon) — Video Tutorial — 7.5 minute flash based video giving a quick and easy tutorial for adding RSS feeds to Wizz RSS which is a FireFox add-on. The video tutorial was done by Becki Noles for one of her clients, but Rev members can benefit from knowing about the add-on as well.
- 15 Quick Blogging Ideas — Not knowing what to blog about is one of the most common ailments for bloggers. For some, this has caused them to abandon their blog. Others are afraid to start a blog because they fear they won’t have enough to share. To help you jump start the process, here are 15 things you can blog about.
- 21 Strategies for More Response From Your Email Marketing
Yeah, we’ve all heard it.
“The money is in the list.”
“The money is in the list.”
“The money is in the list.”But that’s really only part of the story and here is the real truth:
“The money is in a targeted list of people that you create a trusted relationship with and successfully sell stuff to.”….and none of those 3 things (building a list / trusting relationship / selling) are that difficult to do because:
a. You don’t need a huge list to get a great response.
b. Gaining trust is as simple as being honest and having your audience’s best interest in mind.
c. Using the strategies in this guide will show you that selling is a natural thing.To help you reach that ultimate goal, here are 21 strategies that you can use every single day.
To access these files, simply log in and download!
What? Not a member? Why not join today and get these files as well as many more, worth far more than your $25 monthly membership!
Until next time…
Heather
Contest Winners!
We hope you enjoyed the OIVAC as much as we did. It was great meeting alot of you and getting to know more about your businesses.
As promised, we’ve got some winners to announce and some exciting things planned in the future!
Here are the winners….
Copy of Expanding Your Business…One Subscriber at a Time by Heather Jacobson
http://www.7dollarbusinessbuilders.com/create-a-newsletter
Winners: Jenny Benton
Peggy Reavie
Two hours of coaching with Becki Noles http://www.vatraining.com
Winner: Krista Gable
Two hours of coaching with Heather Jacobson
http://www.heatherjacobson.com
Winner: Shauna Reed
And the GRAND prize….
A one year membership ($240) value to the Virtual Assistant Revolution http://www.virtualassistantrevolution.com
Winner: Dusty Warren
Becki and I will be contacting the winners shortly!
Stick around, subscribe… join our mailing list by clicking on the FREE eBook link above…
more contests to come!
Until next time….
Heather
I can sleep tonight!
I did something completely outside the box…for me. But it took a few major “boos boos” before I managed to “get with the program!”
More is always better right? Un unh!
That’s a NO!
Over the weekend I ran into “issues” with my anti-virus software, anti-spyware, internet security-ware and some other stuff relative to opening and closing my browsers and programs. Somehow, I had all my anti-bad guy software so that none of it could talk to itself or to each other, and do the job right. Because, among other things, several months ago I tried to uninstall one software application.
But, it didn’t go away. After all!
Consequently, I experienced a whole litany of computer ills; including the almost demise of Firefox. It would not open. I also spent an inordinate amount of time trying to correct the problem by turning my computer on and off. Then my Outlook wouldn’t open, nor would Word. Or if it did, it wouldn’t load properly. When an internet page would open, it wouldn’t load entirely.
And the “error” messages I received looked like a cross between Japanese, Chinese and chicken scratcheese.
Oy!
So the big questions became how do I get this fixed? Do I take my computer to a computer fix-it person? Or do I call someone to come in to take care of it? In either scenario, how do I choose someone? And do I really want to clean house to get my computer fixed?
In one of the rare moments when I was able to get Firefox to open–by the way, IE didn’t work so hot either–I decided to do a search of computer repair/tech shops in my local area. In the process, I eventually came up with a really great idea that worked for me!
I decided to choose a company that provided “remote assistance,” having found two specific places that I felt could fit my needs and my pocketbook. I called one of the places Monday morning, although I could have completed the transaction without a call, via the web. The technician connected with me remotely and two hours later (give or take a few minutes) with my “tutelage” (I watched him work the whole time—it’s one of my fun things to do on a Monday morning), my programs and browsers were working. The offending “bad guy” software was gone and a few other adjustments were made to things I had done over the couple years since my computer had been in my ownership. Things I didn’t even know about!
And now I’m good to go
Moral of the story is two-fold. I really don’t have to have every piece of anti-spyware, anti-virus software made, and when I don’t want to clean house, look for online solutions.
Failure is not an Option!!
“What would you attempt to do if you knew you would not fail?” ~ Robert Schuller ~
I love this saying, but it wasn’t until the other day that it really brought it’s true meaning to light for me. As business owners, we often worry about taking a chance and going out on a limb. We worry about the repercussions of trying a new service, changing our target market or trying a new marketing idea. However, the majority of those with truly successful businesses are the ones that believe that failure is not an option.
I recently attended FoVA (Forum on Virtual Assistance) and when there I was surrounded with Virtual Assistants, both new and veteran, as well as aspiring VAs. Many of these VAs were all leaving with new ideas that they couldn’t wait to implement into their businesses, however I wondered how many actually would “put their money where their mouth was”, so to speak, and actually follow through on those plans that day.
We often times get these great ideas in our heads and then we do nothing to follow through and implement these ideas. We become complacent with the way that things are going and never think about “stirring things up” and taking a “leap of faith”.
So this brings me back to the quotation that I shared with you. Fear can be a very powerful force if you let it. It can stop you from achieving great things. So this is my vow for my business in 2008 … I will not accept failure as an option and I will not let fear stop me from moving forward. This year I am going to take those leaps of faith. I am going to be willing to try new things and to be open and honest and more importantly when something is not working I am going to figure out how to make it work before I accept failure.
Does it have to be perfect?
I spent the better part of this weekend working on science fair projects. Not mine, of course, but on those of my children.
Gone are the days of simple cut, paste and color activities. Yes, we’ve moved up to actual projects that require thought AND creativity in addition to the general knowledge of basic science concepts.
I don’t know about you, but it’s been a long time since I’ve needed to challenge my brain like that with a science application.
My daughter’s was easy. We simply had to determine how much salt needed to be added to a cup of water to make a fresh egg float. I say fresh because we also found out this weekend that bad eggs float regardless of what additives are in the cup of water.
My son’s on the other hand?
Well, he decided that he wanted to see what types of fruits and vegetables could power a clock. We found the instructions on the internet. We watched numerous YouTube videos of other children successfully completing this experiment. But do you think that we could do it?
And I say we, because after Matthew tried, unsuccessfully, I stepped in.
I’m not a dumb woman by any stretch of the means. I made numerous trips to the hardware store making sure that our nails really were galvanized and obtaining different types of alligator clips and various gages of copper wire.
To no avail, our clock still won’t power up. (Neither will the MP3 player or calculator we tried either.)
Matthew documented everything that he did. He took time to create his project board. Not once did he give up on this project and this morning when I dropped him off at school, project in hand, he was proud of what he did.
And so was I.
At any point in time this weekend, either of us could’ve given up, but we didn’t. We kept going. We exhausted every resource that we had, called every person in my phone book, made multiple trips to stores, tried various combinations until we were fresh out of ideas. Even this morning, we were fiddling with it, trying to make it work.
He completed his project and it was good. The effort he put into his project was leaps and bounds better than many of the projects that I saw on display this morning in the gym.
When I spoke to the teacher and explained to him that it just didn’t go right, his teacher told me that the grade is not in the outcome of the project itself, but in the actual work done to complete the project.
So for Matthew? His less than perfect clock powered by a spud will receive a good grade.
Because he didn’t give up.
Because he tried his hardest.
And for that? He will be rewarded.
So, I ask you today, what have you been struggling with in your business? What makes you want to give up? Have you exhausted all of your resources yet?
If you answered no, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and see how else you can attack this. What else can you do to try one more time?
Then ask yourself, does it have to be perfect? Is what you have right now the best that you’re going to get and what can you do with it?
Don’t give up. Find a different angle.
For that? You will truly be revolutionary.
What in the world is RSS?
What is RSS?
And why should I care?
Good questions. First, here’s why you should care.
Unlike getting website updates or ezines by email, RSS feeds give you absolute, 100% complete control over the situation.
You don’t have to reveal your email address. If you want to stop receiving content, you don’t have to request to be “taken off the list.”
One click, and poof… the subscription is gone.
Plus, since there’s no email address involved, there’s no way a publisher can sell, rent or give away the means to contact you.
That’s right… no more spam, viruses, phishing, or identity theft. And best of all, no reason to put yourself at the mercy of the publisher’s intentions.
You won’t need to suffer through the legalese in the privacy policy (if there is one) looking for loopholes that will send you deeper into that inbox pit. No more setting up dummy Hotmail accounts “just in case.”
Again, if you don’t like the content, you can make it disappear as fast as you can change a TV channel. With just one click.
Pretty cool, huh?
That is cool! Umm… What the heck is RSS?
Alright! Now we’re ready to get to that part.
RSS is simply an Internet technology standard allowing busy people to receive updates to web-based content of interest.
You might have figured that much out by now. But basically, that’s the essence of an RSS feed – you subscribe and then receive new content automatically in your feed reader.
If you actually want to know how RSS works, click here.
What in the world is a feed reader?
You may already be using a form of feed reader, and not even realize it. If you use personalized home page services like My Yahoo or My MSN, you’ve got RSS capabilities built in. That’s how syndicated content like news, weather and stock quotes appears on your personal page. You can also add content from any blog or other site that uses RSS to provide updates.
Other web-based tools are primarily dedicated to feed reading only. One of the most popular web-based feed readers at this point is Bloglines, and it’s also free and easy to get started with.
If you use the Firefox browser, you can also receive RSS feeds from your tool bar by using the Live Bookmarks function. The newer version of Internet Explorer adds this feature as well.
Finally, there are desktop-based feed readers. These function somewhat like an email program for feeds. Examples include Newsgator and Feed Demon.
If it sounds complicated, it’s really not. And things will get even easier when the next version of Outlook integrates feed-reading capabilities. So, you’ll have the same convenience that email subscriptions offered in the old days, without any of the terrible consequences of giving out your email address to potentially unscrupulous characters.
Sounds good. So how do I subscribe to a Feed?
First of all, look for the subscription or feed options (some bloggers make this difficult for some odd reason). You might see a variety of buttons (amusingly called chicklets).
If the site you want to subscribe to uses FeedBurner to aid in the subscription process (like we do here and many other popular sites), you’ll likely see the standard RSS icon. This link takes you to a page that will give you an array of the most popular feed readers so you can select yours, and you’ll go from there. This is the new standard RSS icon which we use in the top right area of this blog:
Sometimes there will be a chicklet for your particular reader right on the blog that will take you to the appropriate subscription page. You may see these (among others):
Finally, you may also see little orange buttons that say XML or RSS. Often these chicklets will take you to a page that looks like code gibberish. In this case, you simply cut and paste the page URL from your browser window and manually paste it into your feed reader subscription box.
Hopefully this last method will soon disappear, never to be seen again.
In summary: RSS solves BIG problems.
So there you have it… RSS is being adopted at a phenomenal rate, because it’s a good thing for everyone.
The benefit to readers is obvious. And it’s good for publishers too, because we want to make sure that people feel comfortable subscribing, and that our message is not nuked by an overzealous email spam filter.
If there’s anything here that is confusing, or you have a question, please contact me and I’ll be happy to help!
Thanks to Copyblogger for a helping hand with this tutorial.
Register for the Online International Virtual Assistants Convention
If you are unable to attend industry conferences and forums this year, don’t fret! OIVAC is right around the corner. For 3 days, Thursday, May 15 through Saturday, May 17, 2008 (US), 8 a.m. to 12 midnight EDT, we’ve scheduled 38 seminars, conducted by professional VA and non-industry experts. Convention attendees can network with friends and even make new acquaintances; participate in the annual industry workshop and browse the exhibitor halls. In addition, visitors can join in the International Virtual Assistants Day(IVAD) celebration, witness the awarding of the Thomas Leonard Virtual Assistant of Distinction and Janet Jordan Achievement awards, and be eligible to win enough prizes and giveaways to fill a suitcase (if we were traveling, that is).
OIVAC 2008’s theme, “Pathways to Successful VA Practices: Using Communication & Technology to Enhance Business”, highlights various communication and technology resources virtual assistants can use to enhance productivity and increase profits.
This “live” yet virtual environment can be experienced from the comfort of your own home via any Internet connected computer. Imagine attending a world class event without incurring travel/ airport hassles, airfare costs, hotel bills, fatigue or exorbitant registration fees or most important, precious time away from your home, family and business!
And everyone is invited!
This year’s schedule includes topics both emerging and veteran VAs can benefit from. We’ve assembled experienced and knowledgeable speakers, offering informative presentations that can positively impact productivity and increase business. For example:
Jonathan Bailey ~ Dealing with Plagiarism: A Realistic Guide to Fighting Content Theft. An overview of how to protect your writing, images and other media on the Web including techniques for preventing, detecting and stopping copyright infringement.
David Beard ~ Insurance Guide for the VA. Participants will receive a how to guide to the essential insurance coverages required by professional VAs to make sure they stay in business and maintain their incomes when faced with the unexpected.
Anita Bruton ~ Creating a Company & Personal Profile that Attracts Clients. Learn five important points that will help create an engaging and polished profile as an effective, attention-grabbing marketing tool.
Jeff Herring ~ The Article Solution - Endless Waves of Prospects, Publicity and Profits. Discover how to write, submit and market your articles for endless streams of prospects, publicity and profits.
Christina Hills ~ How to Automate Your Business (or Your Client’s) with Autoresponders. Learn how using email marketing with Autoresponders and Broadcasting can help you automate your business by letting the computers do your follow up for you.
Annie Jennings ~ Create A Website To Showcase Your Talent, Land BIG New Clients & Build A Powerful Community. Annie Jennings shares the secrets of creating a website designed to propel you to the next level of success.
Andrea Kalli ~ Offering Podcasting and Audio Services to Your Clients. Learn why you should offer podcasting and audio services to clients for business marketing purposes and the various ways clients can use podcasting for their business.
Paul Wagner ~ 7 Smart Ways that Outlook Can Save You 4 Hours. This webinar will show you how to better serve your client by using more of the amazing power of Outlook to build and grow both your businesses.
Kathryn Williams ~ Providing Virtual Assistance to Corporate Clients. Participants will learn how to access the lucrative corporate market and practical strategies that they can apply in they own businesses.
And many, many more.
Visit the Speaker’s List for a complete breakdown of presenters and topics. Visit the OIVAC Seminar Schedule for dates and times.
OIVAC 2008 is right around the corner. Register now, you won’t want to miss it!
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