MBSN schedule updated for the remainder of 2010
Chocolate or Vanilla? Apple pie or Pumpkin pie?
As we approach the holiday season, these choices can seem overwhelming. As small business owners, we face choices on a daily basis that can also be overwhelming, and crucial, to the success of our business. How can we make the right decision at the right time?
Whether you are just starting your business, or at a crossroads in growing your company, it’s important to make the best decision and act on it, even when it’s difficult. Most decisions involve conflicts or dissatisfaction. The challenge is making a selection that increases the positive and decreases the negative.
Virtual assistants face many opportunities for decision making. Should you offer general administrative assistance or focus on a niche area? What is the best marketing tactic for you to build your business? How can you balance family and business demands without becoming overwhelmed in either arena? How do you determine if you should take on a particular client or drop one that has been difficult to work with? Should you subcontract assignments that are outside your realm of expertise but would produce a satisfying income? The list goes on.
Good decision making, like any learned skill, requires knowledge and practice. Following these steps can help you make informed choices that work for you.
- Identify the problem. Should you keep a problematic client?
- Gather information. What value does the work you do for this client add to the success of your business?
- Brainstorm possible choices with your peers. Exploring different perspectives gives you a feeling for your most desirable options. Decrease the interaction time with the client. Stand your ground only on key issues. Accept that which you cannot change. Dismiss the client and move on.
- Determine the pros and cons of each alternative. What are the risks of each? Keep in mind, decision making is choosing from among alternatives, not between right and wrong. Weigh the impact your choice will have on your workload, your income, your reputation, your sanity.
- Keeping your goals in mind, commit to a choice or course of action.
- Take action on your decision. Start to make it happen.
- Evaluate the outcome.
Conclusion:
Circumstances change. A past decision may no longer be the best path for you to follow. Ice cream or pie choices won’t change who we are (unless we decide to indulge too often). However, the result of our business decisions will reflect our work ethics and impact the value we bring to our clients.
Now, what about that ice cream and pie choice? Recent studies conducted at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab directed by Dr. Brian Wansink showed that people underestimate the number of food related decisions they make each day, by an average of more than 221 decisions! This study found that the average participant made an estimated 226.7 food related decisions per day. That’s more than 10,000 food choices we face each year. Happy eating!
The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.
Flora Whittemore
Submitted by:
Rosemary Yourtee
Mark It Done Freelance Proofreading and Copy Editing Specialist
859-384-4572
www.markitdone.com
proof+@markitdone.com
How to Organize Your Life Online
Ever since starting my virtual assistant business early this year I have struggled with organizing all of the new information that I collect everyday. New contacts, new project proposals, notes from seminars, and all the different social media names and addresses! I love Google’s Apps and I use Gmail for the bulk of my contacts but I found it wasn’t exactly what I needed. I also use and love Google Calender for appointments but there again I didn’t find the perfect match for following conversations and to-dos together.
Well I did some research and after speaking with a new friend of mine, Michelle Ward from When I Grow Up Coach, I found my new favorite time management tool – Batchbook! It may not be all encompassing but it has all the tools that I was looking for to organize my stream of information.
You can visit the BatchBook website for a look at everything they offer but here are a few of the options that really got me excited!
- Contact management with sync ability with Freshbooks and Survey Monkey!
This means that every time you create a new contact in BatchBook you will also be creating a new contact in these 3rd party applications. Such a time saver!There is also a web form option that is handy when you want to create a form for a website and collect the information. You can link the form with specific contacts and have all of the information in one place!
- Communications Tracking
With BatchBook you can link contacts with conversations and To-Dos so you can have all the information in one neat bunch!They also have e-mail forwarding where you can forward messages and attachments from you inbox to BatchBook and link those to a specific contact as well. I use this feature a lot to follow a conversation and link with my To-Dos instead of having to rewrite everything or link back to another program.
- Super Tags
Ok it sounds like a superhero and it kind of is, except for information instead of damsels in distress! Tags are like labels or folders, so you can tag conversations or contacts that are related together and then by looking at that tag you can see everything associated with a specific group or project.The cool part is the Super Tags. These are special tags that will add additional information to that contact. For example, the Social Media Super tag will add the option of including a Twitter name, blog feed, and even Flickr feed! Not only do you now have the names and web addresses in their contact, BatchBook actually places the feed into the contact so you can see their profile and their latest blog posts! Very Cool!
I highly recommend giving BatchBook a once over, especially if you’re looking for a really simple tool to organize your conversations! Compared to other project management options out there I found that BatchBook was a great price. Plus, if you follow @batchblue on Twitter you get an additional 30 days free! Be sure to let me know what you think!
Happy Organizing! 
Sara Carbaugh is a wife, a mother and a virtual assistant working with entrepreneurs. Visit her website at www.rightclickofficeservices.com for more information on Sara and how she can help take some of the stress off you and your business!
Lean into the dip and get out when it serves you.
So, I’ve just finished reading Seth Godin’s “The Dip” for the second time. It’s an awesome book and every time I wonder “Why am I doing this?” I go back and re-read the book. It’s a short read and well worth it for anyone who feels like they are struggling in their business.
You see, we all get into business to fulfill our dreams. I’m fulfilling dreams of financial freedom, time independance, and changing the world. I haven’t reached those goals yet, but I work towards them every day. I want to make smart decisions in the process too. I don’t have time to deal with huge setbacks or starting over when I could have kept going. That’s why I love the book “The Dip.”
Last year, I changed my target market to what I figured would be a more lucrative market. So, I changed my brand, I invested in a new website, and I launched a new business name. I thought within 6 months, I’d be able to start attracting those kinds of clients. There I was 14 months later and I didn’t even have ONE on the roster. I was beginning to wonder if I’d made a wise choice. I wondered if I had picked a market I could never get my hands on.
In reading the book, I realized that this is what “The Dip” is all about. There are others who have chosen this path. Others who didn’t stay the course. They left, moved on, and never got to reap the benefits. After reading the book, I know that I’m totally IN that dip and I’m leaning in. I’m creating things that I believe will be beneficial to these clients. I’m heavily investing in my own education on how to reach this particular niche. I’m also making sure that my team and I are ready for when we get to the other side and these clients DO start coming in. It may be slow right now, but I know we’ll get there.
Sometimes it’s not the best idea to stay. Sometimes you have to get out when the gettin’ is good. Seth talks about that too. He describes my previous career to a tee! There came a point where I looked at my odds, I looked at where I was, and I closely examined what I really wanted. That’s when I decided that I didn’t want to BE in the dip. I wasn’t willing to lean in. I didn’t want what came with being there. Seth says it’s best to get out the moment you realize you don’t want to make it through to the other side. I hadn’t read the book yet, but I’m grateful I figured that one out before I spent another 10 years living a life I didn’t want to live.
I think there comes a time in every virtual business, like ours, that you wonder whether it’s worth it to continue. I’ve recently spoken with several Virtual Assistants who are revamping their business or leaning into the dip as they continue to move forward on their paths. All of them are choosing their paths and making sure they WANT to be where they are.
If you are wondering what direction you want to go, I highly recommend Seth Godin’s book. It makes a whole lot of common sense!
Are you in a dip? Are you leaning in? Read the book and share your experience of “The Dip” with us.
Kristen Beireis
Kristen Beireis works with affluent coaches who are expanding their business to include a marketing implementation team. Kristen and her team help these coaches earn hundreds of thousands of dollars more, while working less. For Kristen, her work is all about helping coaches change more lives in hopes that someday it will bring peace. For more information, visit http://www.coachesmarketingsource.com.
To be a successful VA, do what you love
Welcome to the new MBSN blog! Each month one of our members will post their comments or tips and tricks on the VA industry.
My name is Jill Claire, president of MBSN and owner of Secretary to the Public. I started my VA business in 1996 and over the years have developed my niche in association management. It is a labor of love and that’s always my advice to new VAs; do what you love.
It takes self-discipline and drive to be a successful VA. If you are considering starting your own VA business because you think it’s sweet to work from home and set your own hours, think again. VAs who depend on their business for steady income know that is the gravy. Hard work and dedication to the client are the meat and potatoes. That’s why it is so important to love what you do – it’s the best motivation.
MBSN is a great place for VAs to exchange ideas and we challenge each other to grow (see me blogging?). MBSN is a valuable resource to business owners seeking administrative assistance of all types. We’re glad you stopped by and welcome your feedback!
Jill Claire
www.SecretaryToThePublic.com
Welcome!
Welcome to the redesigned MBSN web site! We invite you to learn more about us by reading our Members page.
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