I belong to a Virtual Assistant association called the Virtual Assistant Revolution. It has been one of the best investments I have made for my business. Just this past week they announced a contest for the Revolutionary Business of the Year and it got me to thinking … What is Revolutionary?

To me revolutionary means that you have had great successes and done things that revolutionize not only your business, but the industry. Looking back, the revolutionary things I have done are:

1. Written two books, in my thriving business series.
2. Added subcontractors to my business and turned it from a “one-man” show to a multi-VA business, which allows me to best service all my client’s needs
3. Become a Success Partner with the Canadian Virtual Assistant Network

These are all very important ways that I have Revolutionized my business, but perhaps the biggest thing I have done is to take each thing that happens in my business and learn from it.

I hadn’t shared with many that I was having a troublesome month and was very frustrated with the way things had been going in my business. Through no fault of my own or my team’s, a couple of my clients ended their relationships with my business; one sold his business and the other decided to close the doors for good. I went from racing down the speedway back to riding my horse in a leisurely pace. It was only then that I realized what revolutionary truly means.

To me, revolutionary means being able to look adversity in the face and not allow it to beat you. To be revolutionary means you can ride out the downs and enjoy the ups knowing that even when you are in a down the next up is right around the corner. Want to know why it’s right around the corner?

Because I am a Revolutionary business owner. I have a plan and I know that in no time I am going to be up at the top of that hill bigger, stronger and more successful than I was when I was on the top of the last hill. Even better I am going to climb an even higher hill this time, because the ideas I have for my business to take it to the next level are truly revolutionary!!

This year, mark my word, I will:

1. Add more clients to my client list to the point that I will need a full time Project Manager to assist me.
2. Write even more books in my thriving business series
3. Mentor other Virtual Assistants who are afraid to come out of the closet with their downs for fear that others won’t see them as the success that they are

So there you have it …

REVOLUTIONARY (to me) MEANS HAVING A PLAN TO BE A SUCCESS!!

When you first start your business, your list of “wants” will probably be quite long. Identifying what you must have as opposed to what you really want is critical to responsible financial management. In other words, you’ll never create a thriving business if you spend all your money on everything you want.

Although we may really want EVERYTHING for our business, we must know how to determine a must have versus a really want for our business – budgeting is important. Did you hear that? Budgeting is important. No business can survive without it…well, not for very long at least. Make a list of what you have coming in as income, what you have going out in expenses and what you have leftover. Then from what you have leftover, determine how much of that you can spend on things that you need for your business. Based on how much you have to spend, prioritize the purchase of things you really need, not things you really want.

Determining what we truly need today and what can wait for tomorrow can be hard at times. We all want to have the latest and greatest software, computers and accessories, but do we really need them? Now make a list of what you really need to run your business versus what you really want. Put them in separate columns. Be sure to think about each one and be honest about whether or not you really need it or you just really want it. One way to make a decision is to look at the numbers.

Determine the return on investment of each cost associated with your business. For example, buying a $2,000 software program that will be utilized to bring in revenue of $400 per year is not a good investment, but spending $200 for a product that will make life easier and save hours each day is a good investment. So determine the return on investment for each of the items in your “really need” list and see if that process results in any of those items being moved over to the “really want” list.

Once you’ve moved everything you can from the really need list to the really want list, prioritize your really need list. Again, be honest and use the information from the return on investment analysis you performed earlier to assist you in your decision making. Careful planning and smart spending are critical when developing a thriving business.

Hopefully by now your really must have list is probably much shorter and much more manageable. On the same token, your really want list is probably much longer and more overwhelming than you had originally planned. That’s fine – just perform the same process and move some of the items to a new list. Call it the stuff you really don’t need list. There are bound to be several things you can move to that list.

Remember creating and maintaining a thriving business means planning carefully and spending wisely. When you carefully consider what you need versus what you want using a process, you’re business is sure to thrive as is your bottom line. Budgeting is important!

There is so much debate about the subject of niching … I wanted to share an article that my friend Dale wrote that I included in my book because I thought it was so well written. I would love to hear your comments. Do you have a niche? Why or why not? What are your thoughts? Please share.

Itching for a Niche:
Finding the Right One and Finding It Quick
By Dale Noles

In the fast paced business circles on the Internet where entrepreneurial businesses owners pursue the success that they long for, find that a key player to their arsenal of business tools, quite often, is missing. The sheer numbers of entrepreneurial business owners that are marketing their businesses in vain are more prevalent than you may realize. The sad fact is these business owners pump dollar after dollar into their business with little to show for it at the end of the month.

Three Killers

The reason that these unfortunate business owners are coming up empty month after month usually can be attributed to several things. Three of the larger culprits are; inferior product or service, substandard customer service and the most common is lack of an identifiable Niche Market.

While having an inferior product or service can make a business stall faster than a 757 without gas. It does not mean that the business is doomed for failure. How many times have you bought a product or used a service that you thought or even spoke out loud that you would not ever do that again? Yet, occasionally you buy into it again anyway.

Similarly, when was the last time you bought a sandwich from a fast food restaurant (and I use that term ‘restaurant’ loosely) and commented at the rudeness of the cashier? Customer service is sadly lacking in that particular industry but it does not hold exclusivity rights by any stretch of the imagination. This kind of disservice tends to stick in your mind until the hunger pains return, whereby the passion for the anti-service looses the battle to the urge to splurge.

This leaves the third business killer coined “Shotgun Marketing” as the last of the topics to discuss here and the forerunner for issues that can easily be avoided without much pain and suffering. This by no means indicates that a business cannot be successful without a Niche Market. It does mean that a lack of Niche Marketing can hinder and make success somewhat elusive to very passionate business owners with the best intentions. They may have a fabulous product or service and impeccable customer service relations but come up short on connecting with the right crowd. Why is this so and what can be done to rectify the situation?

Target Practice

While the process of actually determining a Niche (Target Market) is a fairly simple and straightforward process, the implementation can be a bit more confusing to engage than one would hope. In VA Training, my coaching business, I have found the easiest way to coach business owners to realizing what Niche Market is best suited for them is by helping them through a series of steps where the end result is a better understanding of themselves and their potential Niche.

The first step in the process is to get an accurate depiction of what product or service you provide. Does this bring you joy? Do you get excited when you tell others what you do? The illustrations below help to show how this process is put into effect. Understanding what it is that brings you the most joy and fulfillment in business will help you work through the next step.

Who Knew You Were a Guru?

Just because you like doing something does not automatically make you masterful at it. The point is to find the common thread between what talents you have and what brings you happiness. Where the two of these overlap you will find your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), that is, what makes you stand out from the crowd. Your USP is what makes your business unique. Your USP is a marketing tool when wielded like the weapon that it can be.

Strong Enough for a Man

Having the wherewithal to realize where the overlap occurs of your best product or service, your love of what you do and knowing the kind of businesses, industries or individuals that would or could use your product or service will begin to clarify the direction you should be focusing on in regards to marketing. Your USP becomes a more valuable asset as you hone in on specifics.

This is where you can begin to formulate your Niche. Simply, they can be described as a Potential Client base. If there is a possibility that a business or individual would fall into that group, then there is a better than good chance that your product or service will have an appeal to them. If a business or individual does not fall within the group of those who would or could use your wares, they would not be considered a potential client. However, that does not mean that they cannot use your product or service, it is just means that it is unlikely.

Scratched that Niche

If you follow the plan close enough you should have effectively identified a Niche. Recapping what I mentioned above, the process is simplistic. The work behind the process can get daunting. Essentially you must get inside the heads of your Potential Clients and Non Potential Clients and think through them. Because this can be a long and sometimes tiresome task, it may take hours, days, weeks, months or even years before some business owners finally figure out whom their business attracts. Research is crucial to shorten the time it can take to get to the point of having and identifiable Niche Market.

The research that should be done to get the best possible idea of your Niche Market is called a Marketing Plan and is part of a larger puzzle called a Business Plan. If you are serious about your business, you should have both. The Marketing Plan is paramount to effectively selling your business to your Niche Market. These documents are not designed to be wall placards, either. Their purpose is to keep your business on track.

But Made for a Woman

In order to maximize your effort in marketing, you have to understand your Niche Market. You have identified the group that could or would use your product or service but now you should pare it down to the groups, companies, industries, individuals that will more than likely clamor after what you do. This group should consist of specificities to the teeth. Why would they buy from you, how would they use it, why is it important to them, what do they read, how do they dress, what is their marital status, what is their gender, are they animal lovers, what vehicle do they typically drive, etc.? I am talking about doing your homework and getting demographics.

The more specifically you can define who is most likely to really need you the better chances you will have of making your business successful right from the start. The reason that most new businesses fail in the first five years can be attributed to lack of funding and poor marketing. Poor marketing is a result of not knowing your Niche Market like you should.

Swoon Them

Every letter that you write, business card you hand out, flyer, brochure, clothes, web site, e-mail or anything that can be thought of, heard, seen, tasted or touched that comes from your business should be done with your Niche Market in mind. Make them aware of just how much you know and care about them. Make their experience of your business a personal and pleasurable experience that is consistent. Eventually, you marketing will begin generate a pulsating, living, experience for your Niche Market. Entice your Niche Market with the love and care that you have for them and you can expect success.

About the Author

Dale Noles, of the Selon Group has a background which includes corporate training, MIS, marketing, branding, advertising and radio media. He has extensive knowledge of all aspects of e-zine construction / distribution, web production, SEO and graphic design. In an effort to assist aspiring Virtual Assistants, Dale developed a unique mentoring program through VATraining.com.

My dear friend Heather has just developed an e-book which is just awesome. For anyone thinking of starting a newsletter, this e-book tells you how to start a newsletter, how to find content for your newsletter and provides a number of invaluable tips and hints in how to market and publish your newsletter.

Newsletters are a great way to keep in touch with clients and other colleagues and everyone should have one. Please take a look and the best thing …. it is only $7.

Expand Your Business One Subscriber at a Time

The old saying “you’ll never get to where you’re going if you don’t know where you’re going” couldn’t be truer when it comes to running a business. Every business should operate by a plan, a plan that pulls all your goals together and can serve as a blueprint of your business. Why is this important? There are many reasons. What if you needed someone to step in and help you run your business for one reason or another? What would you do? What would they do? If you document your business procedures, anyone can step in and help. Documenting your procedures also gives you an opportunity to examine and improve them. It can help to improve communication throughout your organization and communication is important when trying to keep customer service in the forefront. Let’s take a deeper look at some of these areas.

Documenting your business procedures and policies is critical because it allows anyone to step in without the fear that they can’t do it as well as you can. It can give you the chance you need for a well-deserved break or help you out in the event you are sick or injured. Imagine the time saved, the frustration alleviated and the confusion cleared up when everything that needs to be done is written down – available for all who need it. The benefit to your clients is obvious. They would continue to purchase product or services with no break in service or quality. But that’s not the only benefit of documenting your procedures; it gives you a chance to look for ways to improve or enhance and is critical in reaching your goals.

When documenting your procedures look for ways you can improve your operations and procedures – how you can become more efficient. If you work with others, or others work for you, talk to them and ask them if they have ideas for ways to improve products or services. Often, they have feedback that can be very beneficial. Don’t be afraid to look at other company’s procedures for new ideas or different ways of thinking. Sometimes the combination of the two can result in higher efficiency and lower cost. Most importantly, be sure to listen to your employees or subcontractors. Not doing so can lead to miscommunication, frustration and inefficiency.

Take this opportunity to examine areas where there seems to be a lack of communication. Are you finding differing opinions and ways things are being handled or done by your employees or subcontractors or from client to client? If so, you’ll want to address that immediately. Customer service is crucial to creating and maintaining a thriving business and consistency is one of the keys to great customer service. Your customers or clients need to know that what they expect to happen will happen – every time, without failure. This creates a confidence in your clients that you can’t buy.

So create a plan, pull all your goals together and then you’ll know exactly where you’re going. Documenting your procedures and policies lets others know where you’re going as well. That way, if need be, they can help you down the path.

Finally, don’t be afraid to use customer surveys and questionnaires to determine the areas that your procedures and protocols are lacking in customer service. Again, remember customer service is one of the biggest keys to creating and maintaining a successful thriving business. Your clients use your products or services so they know.

Recently I met with a photographer friend and we were discussing my Virtual Assistant business. I had never thought about the benefits that a photographer could gain from partnering with a Virtual Assistant until I spoke with her. Our conversation opened my eyes to a whole new market I had never considered, but the more I thought about it, the more excited I became by the prospects. I started to make a plan and make a list of the ways that such a partnership could be best utilized.

1. Website Maintenance

Utilizing a Virtual Assistant to upload recent photographs, set up client galleries and maintain pricing and availability schedules on a photographers’ website is an invaluable service. Many photographers spend so much time maintaining their website; time they would much rather be utilizing behind the camera. Other photographers utilize their web designers and find that the prices are much higher than a Virtual Assistant’s price and the turnaround time is often longer than a Virtual Assistant’s is.

2. Blog Maintenance

Many photographers have begun to blog about their experiences and share their personalities with prospective clients. Virtual Assistants could easily upload articles, photos and stories to the photographer’s blog and also insert links to helpful information for the photographer’s prospective clients. For those photographers that are not as computer savvy, but realize the advantage of the personal contact a blog can provide, can use a Virtual Assistant that can provide services to, not only maintain your blog, but install a blog as well.

3. Client Contact and Follow Up

Virtual Assistants are a great asset in maintaining client contact on your behalf. A simple greeting, sent in the photographer’s behalf, on a wedding anniversary is one of those touches that not all photographers have the time to provide. Your Virtual Assistant can keep track of the important dates and make sure that your clients are never forgotten. Christmas cards, thank you notes and birthday greetings are just a few other contacts that your Virtual Assistant can make on your behalf. Perhaps you have always thought of sending a survey to your clients. Wouldn’t it be great to have this taken care of for you? Your clients are more likely to provide honest feedback to your VA and your VA can provide you with a summary of the survey results for future marketing and business operation decision making.

4. Email Management

Many photographers would love to have someone reply to the many inquiries they receive via email. Simple messages of unavailability, directing potential clients to online portfolios and a thank you for inquiries are just some of the emails that could easily be answered on a photographer’s behalf. Imagine only having to deal with one email each day with a summary of the emails received and how they were handled on your behalf.

5. Scheduling and Appointment Setting

Virtual Assistants can maintain a calendar on your behalf of availabilities, bookings and appointments with potential clients. By allowing someone else to schedule your appointments, you can spend more time being creative. Your Virtual Assistant would simply work with an online calendar of which you would both have access and would also provide you with daily, weekly, monthly and yearly agendas. Reminder calls are just another way that your Virtual Assistant can assist you in making sure that potential clients are never left waiting and appointments are never missed.

6. Marketing Materials

A Virtual Assistant can work with you to create a portfolio, promo package or other marketing materials required for meetings with potential clients, trade shows and networking events. Virtual Assistants can also create and maintain a newsletter to update past clients and provide potential clients with great information on what is happening in your business.

7. Basic Administration and Research

Typing of contracts, filing, proofreading services, formatting documents and voice mail management are just a few of the many secretarial type tasks that your Virtual Assistant can provide on your behalf. Your Virtual Assistant can also conduct market research to see what your competition is up to and find out what potential clients are looking for.

8. Database Management

A Virtual Assistant can not only create a database of your past and present clients, but they can also maintain this database. They can track important dates and maintain contact with your clients. They can also track prospects and leads, as well as referral partners and potential joint venture partners. Other things that can be maintained in a database are inventory, pricing and promotions. Any data you would like to maintain a list of can easily be accomplished by your Virtual Assistant.

9. Bookkeeping

Even those Virtual Assistants that don’t specialize in bookkeeping services (and several do), can still provide bookkeeping services such as creation of invoices, tracking of deposits paid and accounts payable management. Your Virtual Assistant can work hand-in-hand with your accountant or bookkeeper to ensure that your financial matters are kept up-to-date and worry free.

10. Organizational Tasks and Business Support

Just having a partnership with a Virtual Assistant provides you with the ability to bounce ideas off someone for future development and growth of your business. Your Virtual Assistant will be open to offering you feedback and suggestions in how to better organize your files, time and business for even greater success. After all, if you don’t succeed, neither does your Virtual Assistant.

Remember, the single most important thing about partnering with a Virtual Assistant is that you are gaining an invaluable member of your team. Your new partner will be there only when you need them with invaluable expertise and a drive to succeed and make your business thrive.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Yvonne Weld is the owner of ABLE Virtual Assistant Services and offers administrative and bookkeeping support to busy solopreneurs. She is also the author of The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Thriving Business and Managing Your Thriving Business for Success. For more information and for your free downloads, visit her Web site.

The only way to stay ahead of the game – to truly have a thriving business – is to always keep your eye on your competition. You have to continually research your competition, find new and innovative ways to stay on the “cutting edge”, continually review your products and services, and make sure you can deliver. So how can you do all this and run your business at the same time? This article will give you ideas you can start using in your business today!

The best way to stay ahead of your competition is to keep your eye on them. You may be thinking that I already said that. You’d be correct. But it bears repeating. If you don’t keep track of your competition you’re setting yourself up for some problems down the road. So how can you track your competition? There are several ways. You can set up Google alerts on the Internet. You’ll receive a daily email with links to sites that mention or are published by your competition. You can also read journals, newspapers and business magazines in your industry. Often you’ll find very valuable information contained in them. Be sure to monitor business television programs, radio and podcasts if those are appropriate tools in your industry. So, essentially, the best ideas on how to stay ahead of the competition include continually researching your competition.

You’ll also need to find new and innovative ideas to stay on the “cutting edge”. You’ll need to continually update and enhance your products and services with the latest technology. If you don’t and your competition does, you’ll quickly be left in the dust. A great way to track what’s new in your industry is again by reading trade journals and watching business television shows or listening to business broadcasts. It all depends on your industry.

Not only do you need to stay on the cutting edge of technology and other advances, you must also keep current with what your clients are looking for. Continual reviews of your company’s products and services are critical to meeting your clients’ needs. If you’re not providing what your customers are looking for, they will go to someone who is. The key to repeat business is continually meeting your clients’ changing needs, effortlessly. This is largely customer service and is one of the keys to creating and maintaining a thriving business.

Don’t mislead your clients though. So many products and services overuse words such as “new and improved” and “enhanced” – make sure what you are promising you can deliver. Your reputation is on the line. Over-promising and under-delivering can be very detrimental to your business growth. In fact, your business may not survive if word-of-mouth is the primary source of your client contacts or leads. Reputation is another one of the keys to a thriving business. It’s like trying to grow a plant without water – it’s just not possible. They must have water to survive and to thrive. You must have a fantastic reputation to attract clients and succeed in obtaining the ever-important repeat business.

Staying ahead of the game is not as hard as it may seem. A careful plan – actually it should be part of your business plan – outlining how you will track your competition, develop new and innovative ideas, stay on the cutting edge, and meet ever-changing customer needs is critical to a successful thriving business. Feed and nourish your business as you would any other living thing and you will be on the road to creating a thriving business for yourself.

I am so excited to say that my friend Sally and I have officially launched our book today. “Managing Your Thriving Business for Success”. This book is the 2nd in my series of Creating a Thriving Business.

”Managing Your Thriving Business for Success” provides you with the tools to successfully manage your own thriving business through the introduction of proper business strategies. Success can be easily attributed to seven key factors which are outlined in the book:

• Good time management and scheduling
• Setting goals and evaluating them continually
• Setting boundaries and sticking to them
• Good business planning, both short term and long term
• Evaluating our return on investment for every business decision
• Ensuring that we don’t “Go it Alone”
• Proper stress management

By utilizing the management techniques discussed in the book you will reach your goal of having a successful and thriving business.

The introductory price for this book is $29.95 and you can get more information at our website at Managing Your Thriving Business for Success

So you want to start a business, or perhaps you have started a business and you feel like your business has hit a stalemate. As a business owner, it’s important to know that each and every business is subject to three stages: birth, growth and death. Without this knowledge it will be very difficult to develop and maintain a thriving business. If you cannot identify the stages, you run the risk of getting stuck or falling victim to an early end of your business. Let’s look at each stage and talk a little about how they will effect your thriving business.

Phase 1 – Birth

According to Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1), birth is any coming into existence; origin; beginning: the birth of an idea.

You’ve come up with an idea for a business and now you need to know what to do to make it come to fruition. Perhaps it isn’t an actual business you are trying to develop, but a new idea for your business to make it even better.

During the “birth” stage, you will need to do a lot of research and make various business decisions.

- What type of business will you have?

o Sole Proprietorship – This is the most common form of small business ownership. The liability of the owner is unlimited.
o Partnership – This is a legal relationship between two or more persons contractually associated as joint principals in a business.
o Corporation – This is where your company actually forms its own legal entity separate from you. There are many types of Corporations and it is best to do the research to ensure that you establish a Corporation that is best for both you and your business.

- What type of pricing are you going to have for your products or services?

- What type of financing, if any, is your business or venture going to need?

o Grants
o Loans

- Along with what type of financing, how much financing is your business or new venture going to require?

- What type of marketing or networking are you going to do so that word gets out about your business or venture?

- What type of internal operating procedures is your business going to require?

Phase 2 – Growth

The growth of your business, of course, is something that is very important. According to Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1), growth is of or denoting a business, industry, or equity security that grows or is expected to grow in value over a long period of time.

To grow your business, you need to make sure that you’ve decided on a target market (your preferred client) and your niche (the product/service you’re going to be offering). You need to locate your core client and then, from there, create new clients.

To create new clients, you may need to expand/diversify what you have to offer. Continue your education by:

- reading books
- attending seminars
- attending some college courses

By continuing your education, you will not only be learning, you will be learning various ways to expand/diversify your business.

As I’ve said before, you might also want to look at writing special reports or eBooks to add to your products.

And now…

Phase 3 – Death

According to Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1), death is extinction; destruction.

Indications that your business is dying could be:

- a drop in sales
- loss of profit
- competitors taking clients

Remember if your business is not in the birth or growth phase, it must be dying. To try to keep your business thriving, there are a few things you can do to avoid the death phase:

- Re-do your business plan
o Take a look at your business plan and see what changes can be made to keep your business growing.

- Reduce benefits
o If you have employees, you may want to look at their salaries, benefits and perks.
* Your employees may not be extremely excited that you’re taking benefits away from them or that they may not get a raise when they think they should, but they’ll also understand. They want to see your business stay alive and thrive just like you.

- Add competent personnel
o I know I just mentioned cutting costs and reducing benefits, but one thing you should also look at is your personnel and/or subcontractors. Make sure that the individuals you have employed or hired are competent enough to handle the tasks they are given.

To assist you with these questions and stages of your business, you can also look at http://www.sba.gov or http://strategis.ic.gc.ca. Another thing you can do for your thriving business is to purchase The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Thriving Business to assist you along the way.

Dear Affiliates of The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Thriving Business:

Are you looking for some extra spending money for the upcoming holiday season? Until December 31st, as an affiliate of The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Thriving Business, I am going to give you a whopping 50% for each and every sale that you make through your affiliate link. That is $25 for each and every sale you make!!

So how can you promote my book? Here are just a few ideas:

• Blog about my book on your personal or business blog (use the buttons or links already created on your affiliate tools webpage).

• Include an article in your next newsletter or blog post about why someone should create a Thriving Business. (An article with your affiliate link has already been created on your affiliate tools webpage).

• Add a resource button in your newsletter, on your webpage or in your marketing materials.

• Send a notice to your subscriber list about my book.

So good luck, and I will make it my personal guarantee that any books you sell prior to December 15th are paid no later than the 19th of December in plenty of time for some holiday shopping. (Note: any sales made after December 15th will be paid the first week of January as usual).

Thanks again and happy promoting!!

Yvonne Weld
Author – “The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Thriving Business”

P.S. If you are not yet an affiliate of my book, here is the link to become an affiliate:

Affiliate Program for The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Thriving Business