Featured Member: Lynne Walls, No Worries Virtual Assistance

Meet Lynne Walls, Savvy Virtual Assistant!

At No Worries Virtual Assistance, Lynne offers you more than twenty years of experience working in the administrative and customer service professions for some of the most well known names in American business.

For the last fifteen years, Lynne spent her time in supervisory and managerial roles for her employers and clients. Her last two positions involved starting up new companies, where flexibility, quick thinking and dedication were of the utmost importance. After wearing the many hats required in a start up, Lynne decided to use what she had learned to start her own business!

You can check out Lynne’s website at No Worries Virtual Assistance.

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Podcasting is the New Direct Marketing

Consider Why Podcasting Is The New Form of Target Marketing

Talk Directly To Your Prospect - with the massive amount of advertising noise consumers and businesses contend with the challenge is to stand out from the rest. Traditionally this means spending thousands on well crafted messages to catch people’s attention and many thousands more on print (which is declining in public favor due to environmental considerations). With Podcasting consumers are choosing to tune in to your message. From an advertising standpoint you couldn’t ask for a more targeted way to gain your prospect’s attention.

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Opt-In Email Marketing the Best Way to Communicate With Customers

Marketing means leaving a mark in the market about your products and services. So it needs to be done in a very tactful and careful manner, and thus requires a well planned advertising campaign. There are various forms of advertising that are available in the market to promote your products but the marketing model that stands out is opt-in email marketing.

Under opt-in email marketing, the person who receives the advertisement has no complaints about receiving it and has offered his or her consent to receiving the same. It removes all the disadvantages of e-mail marketing.

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Passive Reve-what?

I thought this was an appropriate title for a very important topic of discussion.  This topic is passive revenue and if your business isn’t yet bringing in passive revenue, you better change that and quick!

So, what is passive revenue? Passive revenue, in my own terms, is income that you generate by doing nothing.  Now, don’t get me wrong, for the most part it isn’t truly “nothing” but rather doing something once (ie: creating an ebook) and earning income from it for years to come.

This is a key quality of business owners and entrepreneurs who earn income while they sleep.  They do this not by trading their time for money but rather their expertise for money.  Their product for money.  The beauty of this type of business setup is that it is actually quite easy to do!

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Website Updates - Handy Checklist for Keeping Your Site Up-To-Date

Update your site once a month with this checklist:

1. Add new material. New material keeps your site vibrant, and makes the site more robust over time. The new material also gives search engines more to find, and offers prospective clients a more complete picture of you, your business and your commitment. Most importantly, new material maintainsyour connection to the site, which increases the likelihood that you’ll use it. Adding an article, news from your field, a teaser, or a new question-and-answer to your FAQ list is an easy way to enrich your content.

2. Modify the text to match your development. Your business is constantly evolving as you develop new interests and skills. Use your Website to fine-tune your story - it will become a magnet that attracts the clients you really want and dissuades people who aren’t a good fit for your practice.

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Get in the Face of Your Ideal Client at Least Once per Day

One of the questions I am asked most often by my coaching clients is, “How do I get more clients?“ This can be an easy answer or a difficult answer depending on you. If you’re the type of person who likes a small amount of work to do, you’ll receive a small return. If you are willing to spend the time, you’ll receive a higher return. The way that I answer this question easily for both groups is like this: get out there and in the face of your ideal client at LEAST once per day. Every day. No exceptions.

Here is a short list of ideas around this:

• Join Facebook and look up groups that contain your ideal clients. Real estate VA? Then join some real estate groups and give advice. The trick here is not to come across as pushy or ’selly’ but rather just build relationships and showcase your expertise.
• Sign up for a free Twitter account and tweet about the things you do. Using Twitter can be an amazing tool to further showcase your talents, expertise and what you are up to. When people see this and have a need for it, you can partner with them.
• Join some industry-specific forums or message boards. Again, look for the forums and message boards where your ideal clients hang out and join in the conversation! Just remember, it’s all about relationship-building and creating win-win scenarios.
• Write articles and press releases often and submit those. While this isn’t a daily thing, having these things on the web will generate traffic regularly thus increasing your reach.

I also have a short document on how to get clients. If you are interested, please send me an e-mail to info@thevacoach.com and I’ll send it over - free of charge.

Why Hire a Ghostwriter?

There’s no question about the many benefits of writing a book and becoming a published author. Writing a book gives you instant credibility with clients and prospects, solidifies your expert status and builds your personal or corporate brand. In fact, studies indicate that, while more than 80% of the population wants to write a book, only tiny 2% will ever actually do it! Why? Most aspiring writers cite lack of time, lack of focus or lack of knowing how to physically undertake such an ambitious project.

Enter ghostwriters. No longer those shadowy figures lurking behind the scenes, ghostwriters today are experienced professionals who help aspiring authors write the book of their dreams. These writers and journalists work with their “authors” for months at a time to make sure their book gets written right. Most executives call upon ghostwriters to write for them simply because they don’t have the time or resources to do it on their own.

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What is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant Anyway?

When I first became a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, I didn’t even know that’s what I was. I was the Front Desk Supervisor for a large independent Brokerage and managed 4-6 associates and 9 offices. When my husband enlisted in the Army, I left my job and relocated across the country. One of the agents with whom I had worked closely emailed me to see if I could continue to design and produce her marketing flyers. Thus, I became an assistant to a Realtor using virtual means of communication and project creation.

Okay, that sounds very technical. If you have been involved in the Real Estate industry, then you are aware of the great value of having an assistant. Having an assistant to answer your phone calls, check your email and respond, contact vendors for quotes or orders, handle transaction coordination, create marketing materials, maintain listings, create and maintain virtual tours, manage your social networking and Web 2.0 sites…the list could go on forever. All the aforementioned tasks that can be done by an assistant in the office can also be done virtually. And at a great savings to you.

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Autoresponders = Delegating

You may not realize it, but another way to delegate is to use autoresponders. An autoresponder is an email program that automates your online communications so that you can actually be totally removed from the process once you have it set up.

There are two ways that an autoresponder is generally used. One way is with pre-written follow-up messages that go out to every new subscriber or customer at a pre-determined time. So if somebody opts in to your email list, they will receive a message that you programmed to go out after a specific time frame — for instance, on day 30 — exactly that many days after they signed up.

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Do You Run Your Business Or Does It Run You?

What happens to your business when you are not there to manage it? Does the thought of a vacation with no computer or phone access give you the willies? Have you ever had to take a few days off for what ever reason and wonder how on earth your clients will be taken care of? After all, how can your business possibly survive without you, right?

Most of us didn’t set out to be a slave to our businesses, but it happened any way. Although one of my main goals is to help my clients to actually take some time for themselves, some much needed down-time, I find it hard to practice what I preach. After all, it was just last summer that I insisted on choosing a campground with WIFI so I could take my laptop with me. And when I went to Disney this year, yep, you guessed it, my “office suitcase” was larger than my personal one. What is wrong with me?

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