Many people look at January 1st as not only the start of a new year, but also as a start of other things … a new outlook, a new project, a new idea …

Others view August/September as not only the start of a new school year, but the start of other things.

Without meaning to, I “started” over this September. I was speaking with the coach that is in my business networking group and she asked me when the last time I looked at my business plan was. I told her that the last time I reviewed it was when I wrote it 2 and a half years ago. She encouraged me to have a look at this plan and to “make some changes”. See when we start our business we spend a lot of time planning what our business will look like and how it will work, but once our business is actually started, we forget to take the time to see if it looks like what we had first pictured.

I am not saying that it is wrong if our business isn’t exactly as we plan (as we all know businesses evolve and change), but there is a lot to be said for taking the time to review our plans and “freshen them up”.

We don’t need it to be the start of a new school year or the start of a calendar or fiscal year. Today is just as good a day as any to decide that it is time to “start over”. Give ourselves that chance to try a new project, review our business as it is and determine if there are changes that might grow our business …

I have spent a lot of time since that conversation with that coach doing just that and I have been amazed at the results. Without even trying, my business is moving forward and growing … some of those ideas that were in my head have been committed to paper and I am striving to make them happen!!

So my question to you is this … what are you waiting for? Why not “start over” today and try something new with your business? You might be amazed with the results!! Then take some time to let me know what you tried and how it worked out as I would love to share in your success with you!!

First I blamed it on the stress of trying to sell my house, then I blamed it on the children being home for the summer and finally I blamed it on being too busy, but finally I realized that no matter the reason it was time to pull up my socks and “smarten up”.

Yesterday at my BNI meeting our President said something that really made me stop and think. “You have to feel your way into a new way of acting not act your way into a new way of feeling”. In other words instead of acting as if everything is great, it is time to change the way you feel about things and other things will fall into place … so that’s just what I did.

I took some time to think about why I was feeling the way I was and decided it was time to stop “feeling sorry for myself” and start remembering that I am a successful business woman for a reason. I can put on whatever show I want to, but unless I start feeling better about myself and about what I am doing people will eventually see through the “veil” I have created.

So once I came to this realization I realized it was time to “brush off my goals”, re-write my schedule, and start working on all those ideas in my head instead of just leaving them there. So watch out world because I have a new attitude!!

I can’t believe how far behind I am at my blog. I come in with good intentions, but it seems that blogging seems to be at the bottom of my totem pole of important things to do. (Well actually me time for hobbies and interests is actually at the bottom!!) I don’t intend for that to happen, but it just does … it seems that when life happens the things that we begin to not “keep up” with are the things we enjoy the most!!

I love to write and I love to blog, but finding the time seems to be a challenge. See, in the hierarchy of tasks I tend to put them in this order …

- client work
- family time (especially now that the kids are home for the summer)
- promotion of my business (ie networking events, meetings with potential clients)
- household chores and tasks (especially now that we are renovating our new home and trying to sell our present home)
- writing, blogging, working on other projects for my business (oh if you only knew the ideas that are swirling in my head, but I don’t have the time to implement!!)
- hobbies and interests

As you can see, although blogging is not at the bottom … it just seems that the days seem to slip away one at a time and although my intentions are good ……..

So to all my faithful readers I do apologize for not keeping up and when life seems to get back on track, I promise to be back and I am sure you will be excited when I finally find the time to get these things moving!!

London, Ontario, Canada - The Virtual Assistant industry is gearing up for the 3rd annual Online Virtual Assistant Convention (OIVAC), which will be held from May 15, 2008 through to May 17, 2008. The highlight of the event will be the International Virtual Assistants Day (IVAD) celebration on Friday, May 16, when the announcement of the winners of the prestigious Janet Jordan Achievement Award and the Thomas Leonard International Virtual Assistant of Distinction will occur.

Co-Authors of the book “Managing Your Thriving Business for Success”, Sally Kuhlman and Yvonne Weld, have each been recognized by their industry as nominees of these awards. Kuhlman for the Thomas Leonard International Virtual Assistant of Distinction and Weld for the Janet Jordan Achievement Award.

The OIVAC website states that the Thomas Leonard International Virtual Assistant of Distinction is to “honor a Virtual Assistant who has been in business for at least 5 years and who has contributed to the industry in such a way that it has provided a positive impact on many others and helped them to build a successful business.” The OIVAC website also states that the Janet Jordan Award is to “honor a newcomer Virtual Assistant who has been in business for less than 5 years and has reached a milestone in their short career in the industry. This milestone needs to be an accomplishment that has helped to boost their new business to an overwhelming success.”

These nominations that prove that Weld and Kuhlman truly know what they are talking about and they also give their book credibility. Many books on the market today are filled with repetitive materials that are unsubstantiated. In other words, not too many authors “practice what they preach”. The fact that these authors have been nominated for these awards goes to show that they are truly running successful businesses and are being recognized by the industry as leaders and role models.

“My goal in writing the book was to share with business owners the elements of my business that have attributed to my success such as goal setting, boundary setting and good time management”, Weld stated. “Many business owners struggle to determine why their business isn’t working without first looking at themselves and the management style they bring to their business.”

Kuhlman believes “most people can be taught good management skills and, by utilizing those skills, run a successful and thriving business.” “We don’t want others to make the same mistakes we have and wanted to provide a resource that would give entrepreneurs the tools they needed to run a successful business.” Both Kuhlman and Weld have learned their management skills through trial and error and life experience.

About Yvonne Weld
Yvonne Weld is the owner of Canadian based ABLE Virtual Assistant Services which opened in April 2004. Yvonne brings knowledge from a number of resources including personal experience (8 years in her previous employment as an Office Manager), education (graduate of several courses at the Small Business Centre, London, Ontario) and her love for information through reading and internet research. For more information visit the Web site at www.ableva.com.

About Sally Kuhlman
Sally Kuhlman is the owner of Virtual Simplicity located in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has been providing virtual support to entrepreneurs since 2002. For over 15 years she has been professionally engaged in business management and administrative work. Sally has a bachelor’s degree in Social Ecology specializing in Psychology and Human Behavior. For more information visit the Web site at www.virtualsimplicity.net.

About Managing Your Thriving Business for Success
For more information about Managing Your Thriving Business for Success and how to start organizing your time better, visit the Web site at www.thrivingbusinessmanual.com/managing.

About OIVAC
The 3rd annual OIVAC is to be held from May 15-17, 2008 and will include several training teleseminars and workshops as well as an opportunity to network with Virtual Assistants from around the world. For more information visit the Web site at www.oivac.org.

Hi all,

I thought it might be easier to have a “purpose” to my blog and something for you as my reader to look forward to, so this year I am going to start something new. Beginning next week I am going to have something each day of the week for you to look forward to.

Manic Mondays - This will be the day that I will talk about ways to take the “manic” out of your business. Such things as scheduling, boundary setting and work/life balance to name a few.

Top Ten Tuesdays - This will be a series of top 10 articles that I will write. They will be everything from 10 ways to use a VA, 10 things to grow your business, and other top ten articles. Each week will be a new article that will get you thinking “outside the box”.

Wishful Wednesday - This is the day that we will talk about wishes and hopes for our businesses and how we can make those wishes and dreams come true. I will talk about the importance of goal setting and other important tools for growing a thriving business.

Thankful Thursdays - This will be my day to really stop and think about at least one thing that week that I am thankful for. I hope that you will do the same thing too and post your items you are thankful for too.

Freebie Fridays - Finally this will be the day that I will offer a free tip or idea for your business. It might be a simple tip, a quote to think about or it might be a review of something that I utilize in my business.

So here we go … I will promise to try my best to keep up and be diligent with these topics for you.

I thought I would take some time to reflect of those memories that I hold dearest to me from 2007:

January
• Writing my first book The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Thriving Business - Although I didn’t think I could do it, I proudly launched my first book in January of this year. I have had a great response from those that have purchased the book and I am excited about everything that it is able to do for others to create a thriving business.
• Joining BNI. This has been one of the best marketing investments I have made for my business and I am also proud that I have met so many great and supportive business associates.

February

• Being nominated the REV Business of the Month from my friends at the Virtual Assistant Revolution.. It meant a great deal to me to be honored by this group.

March

• Being asked to be a Success Partner with CVAN. What an honor considering that this designation is meant for VAs that have been in business for over 3 years. I have only been in business for just under 2 years.

April

• Starting this blog. What a great way to have a voice in the VA world and to those small businesses looking to create a thriving business.
• Becoming President of my BNI group. This was an exciting way for me to show the members of my group my organizational and business development skills … two keys that are important to having a successful and thriving VA business.

May

• This was the month that my business really started to take off. All of my hard work with networking and marketing was working. I started to see an increase in the number of referrals, the number of clients and I was really excited with where I knew my business was going.

June

• Launching my multi-VA business. I am so excited that I now have a team to assist with my client’s needs. In 2008 I plan to take that multi-VA business to the next level so just you wait and see …

July

• My husband joined the world of self-employment and launched his own business - K.W. Office Cleaning. I am so proud of him and so glad that my business was successful enough to allow him to take that leap.

August

• Meeting my Virtual friends Heather, Becki, Dale, Terry and Patty in Ohio. This was one of the best times I have ever had and it was so great to meet these people in person after having known them only virtually for over a year.

September

• Being asked to be a facilitator at the Forum on Virtual Assistance in May of 2008. I am so excited to have this opportunity and also to be seen in the Virtual Assistant industry as someone that has some great things to say. Also, this will give me an opportunity to see some of my virtual assistant friends in person again and meet some others that I have yet to meet.

October

• Being asked to join the team of Women of Today. It has always been a dream of mine to start a networking group, but to have the opportunity to be on the team is even better. I have always loved this networking group and I am very excited to be able to provide some ideas for growth and I know that myself and the other team members will be able to make this networking group awesome.

November

• Launching my second book Managing Your Thriving Business for Success with my dear friend Sally. Although we have never met face to face, we were able to collaborate on this book which I know is an awesome tool for those wanting to succeed in business.

December

• Experiencing my first “downturn” in my business. It was a great reminder that every business has it’s ups and downs. The important key to remember is not letting the downs keep you down and just sitting back and enjoying the ride. When I took a moment to reflect and realized that it had nothing to do with me, I was able to learn a huge lesson … maintaining a positive attitude even in disparity is the key to having a truly successful and thriving business.
• Being chosen as Virtual Assistant Revolution Business of the Year at the Virtual Assistant Revolution.. At the time I was struggling with my business and to be honored with this was just what I needed to gain back my momentum and realize it was time to kick it into gear. Watch out 2008 … this is going to be my year … I just know it.

So there you have my memories of 2007. I hadn’t really realized how much I had done until I really started to write everything down. It has been a very uplifting exercise and a reminder that we should always take a minute to reflect on what has happened and what has gotten us to where we are today.

I can’t wait to get started on some brand new memories for 2008. I have a lot of really great ideas in store for 2008 and can’t wait to share them all with you.

My friend and co-author Sally Kuhlman wrote an excellent article on New Year’s Resolutions that I wanted to share with you. I believe a number of us at this time of year waiting for January so we can “start over” or fix things we consider “broken”, but why do we wait? You can start a new resolution any day, any time of the year!! Read on:

We waste a lot of time waiting for things.
Have you ever said any of the following statements?
I’ll join the gym and start exercising in January.
I can’t put my website up until I have the perfect logo.
I’ll go to that networking meeting after I get my new business cards.

What are you waiting for? What is your excuse?

We all make resolutions on New Years and we all know what usually happens to those resolutions.

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
–Albert Einstein.

Why wait until the New Year to set your resolutions that probably are not going to happen anyway? You can set goals today, make an action plan and put yourself in the driver’s seat of your life today!

The first step in setting goals is to know what you want. If you don’t know what you want, how are you going to get it?

Take out a sheet of paper and write down ten things that you want to accomplish.

Now take those ten things and write them in the present, positive form. For example, if you want to make $50,000 a year; write I earn $50,000 a year. If you want to go to the gym three times a week; write I go to the gym three times a week.

Now, pick one goal and write down every thing you need to do to reach that goal. If your goal is to get one more client what are you going to do to get that client?

Start with writing your goal in a present, positive statement at the top of the paper.
Goal: I have one new client.
Action Steps:
1. Attend at least one networking event per week (Research networking events in your area – ie. Chamber of Commerce, BNI, Toastmasters)
2. Join one new online networking forum. Network online – network with peers and potential clients. Research online forums. Join forum, introduce myself and participate in discussions.
3. Follow up with potential clients. Make phone calls, send handwritten letters, send emails.
4. Send sales letters to target market. Research and get addresses of target market, write letters, mail letters, follow up with phone call.
5. Spread the word! Talk about what you do. Be proud. Tell your mom, the bank teller, the cashier at the grocery store, your kid’s teacher, the lady at the dog park, everyone! Be excited about what you do.

Now focus on your goals. Read your list of goals everyday. Read them twice a day! Read them in the morning and before bed. Do the action steps. Add them to your to do list. Commit to taking charge of your life. You have a choice. You can sit around watching TV and surfing the internet or you can be taking action steps to get you closer to reaching your goals. What are you waiting for? Go! Get in the driver’s seat now!

About Sally Kuhlman
Sally Kuhlman, founder of Virtual Simplicity provides administrative, marketing and technical support to entrepreneurs and non-profits.Managing and developing a growth-oriented business is something that all businesses strive for, including Sally Kuhlman, owner of Virtual Simplicity and Yvonne Weld, owner of Able Virtual Assistant Services. They decided to combine their knowledge and wrote a book, “Managing Your Thriving Business for Success” which gives you the tools to successfully manage your own thriving business. For more information about getting organized, setting goals and managing your thriving business, visit http://www.thrivingbusinessmanual.com/managing

I was recently visiting a blog 37 Days to Live where the author spoke of what you would do if you only had 37 days to live. It took me no time to reflect on this as my answer was quite simple; I would spend as much time with my husband and my children enjoying life as I could. I would certainly not be worrying about what would happen to my business and thanks to the preparations I have put in place including setting up my manual I would not have to worry about what happened to my business.

In business, just as in life, we are subject to the three phases of life: birth, growth and death. So, bottom line, if we are not growing you must be dying. What things have you put in place for your business to make sure that it never dies? If you knew you only had 37 days to live, would those days be spent worrying about your business and what would happen to it once you were gone? Would you care? Is there a legacy that you are trying to leave for someone else? You have worked very hard to give your business birth and to allow it to grow and prosper to where it is today so what exactly have you done to prevent it’s death and to truly create a thriving business?

So I have now completed one week of my Get Client’s Now program and thought I would check in with you to let you know my progress …

Unfortunately I didn’t complete all of the tasks that I wanted to complete this week, but I am happy to say that I am making progress. Even though not every task was completed, I did sell a book this week!!!!!!!!!!!!

So 25% of my goal has been accomplished which I am very proud of!!

I just finished reading the book “Get Clients Now” by C.J. Hayden. It truly is a great read and I think a must have for everyone’s business library. My goal for this 28 day program is to get out there and market my book The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Thriving Business and increase sales of my book. In the Get Clients Now program, Ms. Hayden suggests that you set ten action items for accomplishing that goal, so here they are … the steps I plan to take to increase my book sales:

1. Post on my blog (this one) daily
2. Spend 2 hours weekly researching for partners and getting direct contact information
3. Send 2 letters weekly to these partners
4. Write one article per week relating to my book
5. Post the article to at least 20 article marketing sites
6. Find at least one related blog weekly and add in blogroll
7. Post at least one comment on the above blogrolls
8. Post on forums daily with information relating to my book and expertise
9. Work on a teleclass I have been developing to market my book for 2 hours per week
10. Send one unadvertised bonus weekly to my book purchasers

So there you have it … these are my goals and I will be checking in weekly to let you know how my progress is going. Oh and if anyone has any suggestions of websites to help with the links I am looking to set up I would be happy to hear about them.