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
Are You Pro-Active With Your Client Work?
July 17, 2008
One common thread I see amongst really successful virtual assistants is there ability to be pro-active. They encourage their clients to delegate and outsource and they create ideas around their client’s businesses in order to ramp up their own billable hours and get their clients relying more heavily on them.
So, the question is - how pro-active are you?
Being pro-active means:
- Going through your open client projects and making sure you are up-to-date and then going ten steps ahead to see what else you can do for your client
- Doing things that make logical sense to a project but might be things that your client didn’t think of at first
- Thinking outside of the box and offering up new project and task ideas to your clients
- Doing things that your client hasn’t held your hand through
Do you currently do things in your virtual assistance business that is pro-active? If so, I’d love to hear about it!
Technorati Tags: The VA Coach, The Virtual Assistant Coach, VA Coach, virtual assistant coach, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, VA, Erin Blaskie, pro-active, client, client work
Stop the Flow of E-mail People!
July 16, 2008
This is a short post but an important reminder. With the influx of e-mail in everyone’s inboxes, it’s super difficult to manage it all. So, here are some short reminders regarding e-mail.
- Not everything requires a response. If you’re just writing back to say ‘Thanks!’, don’t bother. :) I mean that in the nicest way possible! It’s not required and just causes the person on the other end to go into e-mail overwhelm.
- When setting appointments, be concise and clear. If someone is trying to schedule something with you, tell them an exact time, exact date and say, “If this works, just write back ‘confirmed’ and I’ll call you. Otherwise, please let me know two or three times that you have open and I’ll match that up with my schedule.” Or, use a self-scheduling system like mine at http://www.bsetc.ca/schedule/
- If you’ve e-mailed someone once and they haven’t replied, don’t e-mail them a thousand times. Instead, look up their assistant’s e-mail address, an alternate address on their website, a phone number and use another means of communication.
Help me stop the flow of e-mail. There is far too much of it floating around cyber-space!
Technorati Tags: The VA Coach, The Virtual Assistant Coach, Erin Blaskie, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, VA Coach, VA, e-mail, e-mail management, email
Time Management Secrets with Viki Viertel
June 24, 2008
Time management survival is something we ALL deal with on a daily basis. It’s no easy task… especially for the entrepreneur. We juggle more things than the professional jugglers do in the circus and we’re supposed to maintain composure while doing so!
Viki Viertel, amazing entrepreneur and time management guru, has mastered this art like no other. She does what other people find impossible. She runs her life, a full career, hours on a gruelling sound stage and more…
Tomorrow, June 25, at 2PM Eastern (1PM Central, Noon Mountain and 11AM Pacific), we are going to be hosting another Virtual Assistant Mastermind teleseminar!
This teleseminar features Viki Viertel who is the founder and owner of The Business Buddha (www.thebusinessbuddha.com) and Digital Buddha Studios (www.digitalbuddhastudios.com).
Come to this teleseminar to learn:
- How to find more time in your day, week, month and year!
- The best practices you need to instil into your life today
- What to eliminate and what to keep
- And much, much more!
Join us tomorrow at 2PM Eastern for this exciting call! There are three ways to join…
(1) Purchase a seat in the teleseminar for only $24.95! (That’s amazing value for a full hour with Viki Viertel! She charges hundreds for personal coaching…)
http://virtualassistantmastermind.com/speakerseries.html
(2) Become a Speaker Series Member. For only $24.95 per month, you can get access to 2+ teleseminars with some amazing speakers including Joan Stewart, Penny C. Sansevieri, Debbie LaChusa, Alexis Martin Neely and more!
http://virtualassistantmastermind.com/memberinfo.html#speaker
(3) Become a full-time member. You can join the Virtual Assistant Mastermind and have access to the speaker series, recordings and past events, and much, much more!
http://virtualassistantmastermind.com/memberinfo.html
So, I hope you’ll come out and support Viki and the Virtual Assistant Mastermind tomorrow! Find out full details here:
http://virtualassistantmastermind.com/speakerseries.html
To your virtual success!
Technorati Tags: Erin Blaskie, BSETC, Business Services ETC, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, Viki Viertel, The Business Buddha, Digital Buddha Studios, time management, time management guru, time management secrets, time management expert
Create a Process for Anything You Do More Than Twice
April 10, 2008
In your business (and in your work for clients) are there things that you do more than twice? I am sure there is. I am also sure that if you were to look at your day-to-day tasks, you’ll find more than just one or two things like that… You’ll find a whole slew of them.
In my business, I have a rule. If I have to do anything more than twice, I create a process for it. It doesn’t need to be a huge, drawn out thing but rather just a simple process. For example, if I am writing e-mails to people and using the same text repeadtedly, I will just create a little stock response, paste into my Basecamp for safe keeping and use it in future to send out the same message but to different people.
You can do this with everything. It’s also important to keep processes for client work because if you ever get ill or need to take vacation and someone else steps in for you, it’s important to make sure that they can do that easily. It’s also nice for your client to know what it is you do should something ever happen to you.
So, don’t be foolish in your business operations (I mean that in the nicest way possible) but instead, if you do something more than twice (or once for that matter) create a process and move on. With all of that time you’ll save, you can go and watch your favorite show guilt-free!
Technorati Tags: The VA Coach, The Virtual Assistant Coach, Erin Blaskie, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, virtual assistance, va coach, process, systems, operations
Passive Reve-what?
February 20, 2008
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!
What makes a good passive revenue item? Well, that depends on the business you are in. Ebooks, special reports, audio programs, teleseminars, etc. all make great passive revenue items. The key is to find something you are really good at or have extensive knowledge in and use that to create a product that people will be interested in.
It’s easy to set them up and once you do that work once, you’ll reap the benefits of selling that product for a long time to come. The best part is that most products also give you more credibility and help establish you as an expert.
So, go out and create!
Technorati Tags: Erin Blaskie, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, VA Coach, The VA Coach, virtual assistant coach, virtual assistance coach, passive revenue
Five Steps to Clearing Out That Inbox
January 28, 2008
If you’re a busy virtual assistant, you know what I mean when I say that I would L-O-V-E to see the bottom of my virtual inbox (ie: e-mail inbox) each and everyday. But… the sad truth is that I don’t.
It got me thinking… how on Earth could someone empty their inbox each and everyday and go to bed at night feeling less stressed and enjoy their next morning with fresh e-mails and fresh work. Well, you might be scoffing at me and saying, ‘Erin, that’s impossible!’ but… I challenge you to at least try.
To get you started, here are five tips to getting your e-mail inbox down to nil:
- Use David Allen’s rule (he’s the Getting Things Done author - a must read for productivity!) that says, ‘If you can do it in two minutes or less, do it now and forget about it.‘ Good idea huh? So, any e-mail that takes you two minutes or less to answer, answer it and move on.
- Create folders in your e-mail inbox to help you manage your thought process. In my inbox, I have the following folders: Done & Filed (for things not requiring further action), Subcontracted Work (for things I forwarded or gave to one of my assistants), To Discuss in a Meeting (for things I will discuss with a client on the phone) and finally Waiting on a Response For (for things I can’t action further before hearing from someone else.)
- Create an e-mail address (Gmail is perfect) for things like newsletter subscriptions, shopping cart notices, etc. That way, you don’t have to worry about sifting through the unimportant stuff and can focus on that when you are good and ready.
- Plan your time accordingly each day with as little distractions as possible. That way, you can actually get some of the work in your inbox DONE! Sounds simple but it’s one of the biggest hang-ups that VAs have - staying focused.
- BATCH YOUR WORK. Why is this in capitals? It is one of THE most important things you’ll ever do. I could re-explain, but my previous post says all.
If you implement these tips and they help, let me know! If you have other suggestions, let me know that too.
Technorati Tags: E-mail management, managing e-mail overwhelm, e-mail overwhelm, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, VA, The VA Coach, Erin Blaskie, David Allen, Getting Things Done, batch your work, batching work
Productivity Tips for the Scatter-Brained Virtual Assistant
January 25, 2008
It’s 11:45 AM and you’re surfing around your RSS feed reader. Before that, you laid on the floor with your dog, you checked your personal Facebook account, you made some breakfast, you checked your e-mail but haven’t answered any yet, you wrote out some ideas for future blog posts and you made yourself a coffee.
You glance at the clock and feel frustration and anger at yourself for wasting so much damn time and energy on nothing productive (although, I’ll give you something - making a coffee for me is definitely productive!)
So, where did the time go and why does this happen to you day after day?
It’s because working from home means you have NO structure. There isn’t someone looking over your shoulder and you aren’t in business attire in a stuffy cubicle where you work to keep your mind off of how long you need to stay there. Your day is wide open for you to do whatever you want and you do what you want.
Becoming a super successful virtual assistant means cutting down on the non-productive things you do every day.
It’s true! I bill my clients, on average, eight-ten hours per day. My assistants are also billing between four and six hours per day. Every day, on top of client work, I am marketing my business, managing this coaching practice, taking client calls and balancing a personal life.
How do I do it? I stay focused. Focus for me is the number one reason that I have experienced such rapid, amazing success in such a short time. So, here are a few times for you scatter-brained VAs…
- Set a timer. I’m not kidding! What I do is sit down at my desk with my Red Hot Copy chicken timer and I say, “Ok, for the next 30 minutes, I am going to work only on client X stuff” and then I do. When the timer goes off, I reset it for the next client. I spend the day counting down intervals of time until I have at least eight hours of billable work in.
- Make a list. I use Basecamp to manage my to-dos but if you don’t want to pay for something, get a notebook! It’ll save your sanity if you know what you want / need to accomplish every single day.
- Think of the almighty dollar. This one sounds funny but it’s so true. If you think every single day, “How much can I earn today?” and you get motivated by increasing your income, you will! Remember, one of the Laws of Attraction state that what you put attention toward sees results so get your mind on raising those billable hours and creating more income for yourself!
What else do you do to stay on-task?
Technorati Tags: Virtual assistant, virtual assistance, VA, Erin Blaskie, The VA Coach, productivity, setting a timer, increasing income, staying focused, focus, productive, Laws of Attraction
Block Off Time in Your Calendar
October 19, 2007
Another productivity tip for my fellow virtual assistants.
If you want to avoid the problem of having eight phone calls a day and no time to get actual work done, block off chunks of time in your calendar and call it NO CALLS TIME. I do this and I actually block off at least three hours per day of uninterrupted, no phone calls time.
Don’t fear the stigma of being unavailable.
The thing is, no one but you knows what your calendar actually looks like. You don’t need to say, “No, sorry, that time is No Calls Time so I can’t book you in then” but instead just simply say, “I’m sorry, I’m all booked up on that day, what about Thursday?”
Your clients will appreciate the amount of work you will get done in that time and time spent off the phone is much more productive.
Be flexible with your new schedule (to a degree).
If a client or potential client is in a different timezone, feel free to be flexible in your No Calls Time. Simply move that block of time to another section in that day and schedule the person into the time slot they need. Don’t be afraid of moving the blocks around - if you use a service like Outlook, it’s really easy to drag and drop your calendar appointments.
However, don’t book clients into your No Calls Time and then wonder why you don’t have any free time left. Only do that when there are major exceptions to be made. Otherwise, stick to your schedule and learn to love the free, uninterrupted time.
Technorati Tags: Productivity, time management, virtual assistant, virtual assistance, VA
A Tip for Virtual Assistants: Batch Your Work
October 18, 2007
The question I am asked most often in my practice is, “How do you manage 45 clients?” The answer is a really easy one for me to answer: I batch my work.
In Tim Ferriss’ book, “The 4-Hour Work Week“, he actually talks about this very work tactic. I’ve been doing this for ages so when I picked up his book, it was nice to have that affirmation that what I was doing worked for others too.
Here’s the lowdown - each day when you set out to do your work, don’t get frenzied and spastic. Don’t do work for client A, then client D, then client B, then client A, etc. Instead, look at your to-do lists and work your way through them, one client at a time.
Now, if I have important deadlines, I certainly take care of those first but once that is done, I work my way through, batching one client at a time.
Why does this work so well? If you think about it, we’re bouncing from one company to another all day. It’s exhausting if you don’t do it systematically. By batching your work, you can think about one client at one time and not get overwhelmed by everything you need to do. Overwhelm = work paralysis. I’ll talk about work paralysis at another time.
So, try it. See if it works well for you. Batch your work and stay focused on one client until you feel you’ve accomplished enough to move on to the next. Let me know if it works for you!
Technorati Tags: Virtual assistant, virtual assistance, batching work, time management, focus, work paralysis