Amazing Line-Up of 42 Speakers in 1 Month… Are You Registered?
July 21, 2008
I HAD to blog this today because starting August 1, 2008, we’re featuring an amazing line-up of 42 speakers in one month (well, technically less than 1 month as we’re not including weekends!)
The Summer Speaker Series features speakers such as James Roche, Viki Viertel, Christina Merkley, Sheri McConnell, MaryPat Kavanagh, Amber Miller, Tara Kachaturoff, Pam Ivey, Lou Bortone, Lynn Scheurell, Allana Pratt, Kristi Pavlik, Alexis Neely, and SO many more.
Find out more and sign-up NOW (we start August 1!) at www.summerspeakerseries.com!
We’ve got two tracks… One for entrepreneurs and one for virtual assistants. You can also sign-up for both tracks and get the best of both worlds! We have seats only or seats and audio downloads so you don’t have to attend each call to learn all of the tips and tactics!
So, here’s the deal… Simply read through the Summer Speaker Series webpage and view the speaker line-up. If it interests you, scroll to the bottom where the big yellow box is and choose your package. Then, register your seat and prepare for an AMAZING month!
Find out more and sign-up NOW (we start August 1!) at www.summerspeakerseries.com!
You can get each event for $3.50 (at one of our package deals!)… You can’t beat that! We’re also giving away door prizes to those people who sign up so register NOW! Oh, and the first 100 people who register also get access to our special bonus track!
Find out more and sign-up NOW (we start August 1!) at www.summerspeakerseries.com!
So join me and my guests in the month of August. You will NOT be disappointed!
(P.S. - Don’t want to attend? Why not consider promoting the event? You can earn up to $60 per sign-up. See the page above, scroll to the bottom and click on ‘Affiliates’ for full details…)
Technorati Tags: Erin Blaskie, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, VA, virtual assistants, Summer Speaker Series, James Roche, Christina Merkley, Sheri McConnell, Viki Viertel, Carla Young, Amber Miller, Pam Ivey, Kristi Pavlik, MaryPat Kavanagh, Lou Bortone, Tara Kachaturoff, Lynn Scheurell, Charly Leetham, Allana Pratt, Kathie Thomas, Debbie LaChusa, Wendy Weiss, Jody Gabourie, Janet Foust, Rebecca Zwar, Julie Maloney, Alexis Neely, Terri Z, Allison Nazarian, Donna Gunter, Diana Ennen, Michele PW, Alicia Smith, Carol Deckert, Mari Smith, Erik S. Olson, Blog Squad, The Blog Squad, Patsi Krakoff, Denise Wakeman, Dr. Sally Witt, Sally Witt, Mary-Lou Ashton, Kristen Beireis, speaker summit, speaker series
Get More Clients: Learn How to Talk About What You Do
July 18, 2008
You know how business coaches are always telling you to perfect your “elevator pitch”? That 30-second description of who you are, what you do and how you benefit your clients and customers? Well, DO IT! 
It’s important to know exactly why someone will benefit from working with you and hiring you on as their virtual assistant before you go off and network or market your business. The thing is, if you don’t know how to explain what you do, how is anyone going to grow interest in your business?
Because of the nature of our industry, virtual assistance is picking up steam in terms of how well known we are and people are getting an education on what a virtual assistant is and isn’t but it’s still up to you to convey a great message to someone in a short amount of time.
Here’s an example:
I am a virtual assistant. I work with small business owners, coaches, speakers and internet marketers to streamline their operations and grow their presence on the web through internet marketing, social networking and other current marketing methods.
While that may not suit you per say, it’s important to hone in on your benefit to people rather than just hmm’ing and haa’ing over this mystic world of virtual assistance we’re in.
If you’ve honed in on a message, what is it? Share it below in the comments!
Technorati Tags: The VA Coach, The Virtual Assistant Coach, The Virtual Assistance Coach, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, get more clients, elevator pitch, VA, Erin Blaskie
Get in the Face of Your Ideal Client at Least Once per Day
July 15, 2008
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.
Technorati Tags: virtual assistant, virtual assistance, va coach, virtual assistant coach, Erin Blaskie, BSETC, finding clients, getting clients, how do I find clients for my virtual assistance business
The BRAND NEW VA Coach Great White North Retreat
May 17, 2008
Yes, you read that right… In September of this year, I’m inviting ten of you up to my part of the world (aka Canada) to take in the beautiful fall season, a gorgeous nature spa, a private lodge and some serious business building… all in one intense weekend.
I only have ten spots left (two are filled and I haven’t even told anyone about it officially!) and I can’t imagine they’ll last long. Get the details here:
http://thevacoach.com/retreat/
Technorati Tags: Erin Blaskie, The VA Coach, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, virtual assistant retreat, virtual assistance retreat, BSETC, Canada travel, Canada vacation, Canada retreat, Canadian
FoVA (Forum on Virtual Assistance) Recap & Photos
May 5, 2008
This weekend (May 2-4) was the FoVA Conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was held at the Delta which featured stunning conference facilities and really great rooms
(we upgraded to the Executive Deluxe floor!) This was the first virtual assistance conference I attended and let me tell you, it was fabulous. You know how sometimes you get the feeling, working remotely from others, that you are working inside of this little box and it isn’t until you get out around your peers that you realize that people do notice? That’s what I felt like at this conference. It was amazing.
I presented during the conference on the subject of creating passive revenue streams in your business. If you’d like to grab a copy of that presentation, I’ll be posting a link to the blog shortly. You can download them even if you aren’t a VA as the information is great for any Internet-based business owner. I love, love, love to speak to others about the things that I do. It’s amazing to be able to share and everyone in my presentation got to experience, first hand, my insanely over-idea’ed brain.
All right, so enough from me, let’s get on with the photos!
Bette Creek, Rebecca Zwar, Me, Carrie Anderson & Trina Lamarche
Rebecca Zwar & Me
Me & Pam Ivey
Me preparing for the session on passive revenue and multiple streams of income.
Me speaking with some participants after the event.
Trina Lamarche, Rebecca Zwar & Me (Barbara Lang, organizer, in background)
Bette Creek, Terry Green & Me
Me, Bev Pederson, Kristi Pavlik, Pam Ivey & Rebecca Zwar
Me & Marion Tripp
Me & Tawnya Sutherland
Technorati Tags: FoVA, Forum on Virtual Assistance, Erin Blaskie, Business Services ETC, BSETC, www.bsetc.ca, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, Trina Lamarche, Rebecca Zwar, Pam Ivey, Kristi Pavlik, Tawnya Sutherland, Bette Creek, Carrie Anderson, Bev Pederson, Marion Tripp, Terry Green, passive revenue
Opportunities at BSETC for 2008
January 8, 2008
If you’ve been following our business at all, you may have noticed that we’ve gone amazing growth in 2007. With this growth comes a natural tendency to need to expand our team and bring on people with varying talents. We already have a great, well-rounded team but we need a few more to fill in some gaps and to help with overflow!
The following are the positions we have open and each explains how to apply to be a part of our team. All positions are of a sub-contracting nature which means they are not full-time and there are no guaranteed number of hours. The position also does require you to sign a full non-disclosure agreement and a confidentiality agreement before beginning.
(1) Blog Design & Maintenance Assistant
We are looking to hire one or two team members to help us with the growing demand for blogs and blog sites. This is a service we provide to clients on a weekly basis and we need someone who is available to help put these projects together.
Here are the technical skills required for this position:
- Considerable working knowledge of WordPress: knowing how to install, design and customize WordPress blogs
- Knowledge of WordPress plugins and knowing how to install and manage them
- Knowledge of TypePad (not required but a considerable asset)
- Knowledge of Blogger (not required but an asset)
Here are other essentials required for this position:
- Trustworthy and reliable
- Excellent communication skills
- High-speed internet connection
- Ability to attend weekly team calls
- Looking to work with a fast growing team
To apply, please send your website URL, hourly rate and background on working with blogs to careers@bsetc.ca. A resume is not required but we will ask that you send us examples of blogs that you have personally designed and customized.
(2) Document Preparation & Creation Assistant
This assistant would help us create and prepare documents for our clients on an as-needed and as-requested basis. These documents range from free reports to e-books to layouts for booklets. The successful applicant will have well-rounded experience in the areas mentioned below.
Here are the technical skills needed for this position:
- Experience with Adobe InDesign
- Extensive experience in all Microsoft Office programs
- Knowledge of PDF creators and password protected PDFs
- Working knowledge of adding Table of Contents into Word documents and linking up headers, etc.
Here are other skills we are looking for:
- A good eye for design and good layout
- Trustworthy and reliable
- Excellent communication skills
- High-speed internet connection
- Ability to attend weekly team calls
- Looking to work with a fast growing team
Technorati Tags: virtual assistant, virtual assistance, VA, VA opportunities, virtual assistant opportunities, virtual assistance opportunities, Erin Blaskie, BSETC, The VA Coach, The Virtual Assistant Coach
Virtual Assistant Forums
October 23, 2007
Forums can be a great way to meet new people, talk shop about your business and collaborate on issues you may be having. Forums also allows you to have a network of individuals who are in a similar place as you - whether it’s your work or your personal life.
Finding forums, for me, has always been a challenge. It’s easy to Google them and find where they exist but it’s hard to find the right fit. Some forums are not frequently visited and therefore posting becomes a conversation with yourself and other forums are too off-topic.
Another thing that I find happens is that you register for the forum (can’t post otherwise) but you never hear anything back. This happened to me with the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce (http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/). I registered to be a member of their forum after I received a flurry of traffic from some linkbacks within their forum but I was never accepted. Now I’m just curious as to why I received the free link love!
I have been lucky enough to stumble upon one forum - http://www.virtualassistantforums.com. It seems really good so far and the people are really friendly and helpful.
So, I ask my fellow VAs - where do you frequent? Which forums have you found to be particularly helpful? Are there any that you joined that weren’t helpful?
Technorati Tags: Virtual assistant, virtual assistance, VA, virtual assistant forum, virtual assistance forum, VA forum, VACOC
Mastering the Close
October 21, 2007
If I schedule a call with a potential client regarding my services, there is a 99.5% chance that they will convert into a client. It’s a great conversion rate and as a virtual assistant who is moving more toward the virtual assistance firm model, this is exciting because it means I can bring in new business and outsource more work to my own assistants thus making everyone happy!
So, how do you master the close? It’s simple! Here are some great tips on converting a potential client into a true client.
(1) Find out where they found out about you. This is important because it gives you a starting point for conversation. If they were referred, you can spend a few moments talking about why you love working for the referrer or you can let them know that you’ll be sending the referrer a thank you card for connecting the two of you.
(2) Come into the conversation prepared. If they send you an e-mail and their website is in their signature, review it. Approach the potential client conversation somewhat like a job interview. If you know their business and can quote things from their website during your call, you’ll make a great first impression.
(3) Start by asking them what their needs are. This shows that you (a) care about what it is they are struggling with and (b) are attentive to your client’s needs. By asking them this question, you can then speak about your own experiences and services that relate directly to their needs.
(4) Speak to their needs with exactly how you can help them. This is your time to shine. If the client’s goal is to eventually sell their business, talk about how you helped a company go through a multi-million dollar company sale. If they need someone who excels in customer service, tell them how you responded to 2,500 e-mails per day. (These examples are things I’ve actually done and are things I’ve brought up in potential client conversations before.)
(5) Tell them a bit about yourself and your company. Let the client know how you are structured (individual VA, multiple VAs, etc.) and let them know about your processes. This could include the use of a project management software (I use Basecamp) or it could be the security you have in having full support in your business via other assistants. Also, let them know how you invoice and the different packages / rates you have available.
(6) Let them know how they can get started with you. Approach this like, ‘The next steps are going to be sending you out our Welcome Package and then getting you setup in Basecamp. Once that is done, I’ll send you over your login information so you can start uploading to-dos right away!’ By making it sound easy to work with you (it should be!) you’ll make them feel like their workload is lighter just by talking to you!
(7) Thank them for their time. I sometimes send a thank you card out as well which simply states, ‘Thank you for your time today. I really enjoyed speaking with you about your business needs and hope I can be of service in future.’ I also will throw in something that is more personal in nature if they’ve brought something up on the call. For example, if my potential client states that they have a dog, I might say, “Hope you and Rocky have a good day at the office!” or something of that nature.
Technorati Tags: Virtual assistant, virtual assistance, mastering the close, increasing conversions, mastering conversions
Are You a Virtual Assistant Who Needs Assistance?
May 1, 2007
Look no further… I have been working with a ‘VAA’ - virtual assistant’s assistant - for the last year and she has FINALLY launched her own website and business to offer her services as a VAA to other virtual assistants. Her name is Trina Lamarche and her website is http://www.vaassistant.com.
If you own a virtual assistance business and you find yourself struggling to get through your client workload sometimes or you need help with your own business, please look her up and shoot her an e-mail. She has literally been earning me money (instead of costing me money) because she helps increase my billable hours per invoicing period.
So please, if you are struggling with your business and you want to maximize the amount of time you’re spending on your client work or on your business, check her out.
Technorati Tags: Virtual assistant, virtual assistance, virtual assistant’s assistant, Trina Lamarche, VA Assistant, workload
Business Cards - Do You Need Them?
February 5, 2007
As a work-from-home entrepreneur, I go back and forth on the issue of business cards. Do I need them, can I do without them… It’s a debate that goes on quite often in my head when I am doing up my marketing and promotion strategy for the new year. I always seem to settle on the fact that they are not overly required. However, there are a few times during the year that I find myself at a networking event and I find myself collecting cards and making up an excuse such as, “They are being re-designed as we speak.” So, I ask you - are they required in a position like mine?
I have asked this of my peers from time to time and the answer I get most often is, “If you don’t have them, collecting cards is not a bad idea - it provides you with a reason to follow up with the people you meet at these events.” This is often very true.