Author Archives: Assistant Match

Wellness

With the beautiful weather where I live, I’m finding myself doing spring cleaning in my home and in my business. While my home is getting decluttered, my business life is getting a work day wellness “clean up”.

I don’t know about you, but I hunkered down in front of my computer throughout the winter months, longer than is good for my body. I wasn’t as active in the local business community, as I like, and I’ll admit, my snacks weren’t as healthy as they should have been, (someone had to enjoy the yummy baked goods my kiddos made). So, this spring I’m making a commitment to a few small tweaks that will have a big impact on my personal and business well-being.

I hope you enjoy the tips in my video on easy ways I’ve found to help with work day wellness. I am also including some tips and tools to make yourself more successful as the leader of your business by making yourself a top priority.

I hope some of you will join me in the challenge to look at your work day wellness, and make a few necessary adjustments. Don’t forget to watch the video and keep me posted on your progress!

If your dream is to have a business that gives you the freedom to spend uninterrupted time with your family, pursue a passion or take that trip of a lifetime, then you need a team of amazing people you can count on to take care of everything while you’re away.

But, if you’re like most entrepreneurs you don’t have that amazing trusted team, so you take working vacations or rarely take time off because when you do, you have to check in, manage emergencies, deal with customer expectations or still manage the day to day tasks of running a business.

And even when you’re with family and friends, you’re spending half your time worrying about your business, checking for that important email or text or taking just one more phone call.

It’s time to stop being a slave to your business and commit to building an amazing virtual team.

Below are the top 4 things you want to do to make sure you get the right virtual team in place:

  1. Work with a company that has experience in placing professional virtual assistants. To make sure you are working with a professional placement specialist with an excellent placement record, you should ask for testimonials from current business owners who are working with a virtual team.
  2. Make sure you clearly communicate your work-style preferences, attitude, and business values. Let the placement specialist know how you want to communicate with your virtual team and provide specific expectations for each job.
  3. Have each team member’s role clearly identified, so that the placement or matching of the VA to the job can be done effortlessly.
  4. Schedule a phone call or video conference with each virtual team candidate to make sure your personalities are compatible and their professional skill-set matches the tasks they will be handling for you.

Don’t wait until the “right” time to build a trusted team. Do it now and elevate your business and get back some of your time to enjoy the finer things in life.

Being a business owner means you are working for yourself and that you usually can be flexible enough to schedule your day around your most effective times.  So, if you feel like your days seem out of whack take a look to see if you are really working during the best hours for you.

Is your concentration better in the mornings?  If yes, than use that time to work on projects that require concentration. If you know you will be interrupted at certain times, use those times to complete low concentration or quick tasks.

Are you a night owl?  Then utilize the quietness of the night to answer emails, write proposals, work on stuff that needs your undivided attention.

If you mostly work out of a home office, don’t forget to consider your household activities when scheduling your day. What’s the normal routine? Does the gardener come every Thursday morning with loud blowers or edgers? Do you have kids coming home mid afternoon and needing your attention?  Map out the hours on a calendar that you can be most productive and see how your productivity changes.

If you still don’t see a change, then it may be time to work with a virtual assistant to help you tackle some of the work that isn’t getting done.

 

International speaker, author, trainer, and advisor,  Alex Theis has agreed to be a guest on the Assistant Match blog.  This month he is providing us with information to help give awesome presentations.

No matter what you do for a living, there inevitably will come a time when you need to prepare a presentation. You may need to sell your idea to a boss, present your business to a potential client, or give an amazing keynote speech. So how can you make sure you’re prepared to crush it?

Here is a simple, powerful formula I use to create memorable presentations with confidence.

1. Know your audience. What are they looking to walk away with? What are their pain points, desires, and expectations? If you don’t know, ask someone who does. Knowing your audience well makes preparing a presentation so much easier.

2. Educate and entertain. When people learn something new, a powerful brain chemical called dopamine kicks in, making them excited to take action. In addition, an entertained audience learns and retains more, which will make you memorable. So inject humor, entertaining stories and anecdotes, and your enthusiasm into your presentation.

3. Be yourself. No one else can be you. Your audience is listening to you. Step into your greatness and be your best you. Relax, remember to smile, and have a little fun.

4. Use stories create empathy. Empathy is the greatest force in marketing. Nothing creates it more than a great story that your audience can relate to. The old adage will never change: facts tell, stories sell. Stories can be personal, third party, or anecdotal. A presentation without a story is like a dog without a bone.

5. Provide a call to action. This is a very common mistake I see presenters make. No call to action or a very weak one. People gravitate to strength. Be strong. Tell your audience what action you want them to take. This is essential!

Follow these five easy keys next time you need to give an awesome presentation and you will love the results.

Alex Theis is a speaker, best-selling author, podcaster, and leading expert on customer and client retention. His internationally-downloaded podcast, Limitless, can be heard on iTunes, Stitcher, and PodcastLimitless.com.

Goal setting is an important step in your business success. But sometimes our best intentions to accomplish a goal is met with interference, or lack of planning.

Now is a great time to set attainable goals to kick start the New Year. Short-term goals can be just as important as long term goals. Accomplishing goals gives you immediate gratification and will help you maintain motivation with future goal setting.

Here are a few easy goals you can implement, or you can choose your own. Just make sure you write them down, put them on your electronic notes or calendar and/or tell someone about them, who will hold you accountable.

  1. Clean out your email inbox or computer desktop – start off the year with less digital clutter. It will help you feel much more organized!
  2. Set your daily schedule – what time you will get up every day and what time you will try and go to bed.
  3. Reconnect with your clients -drop them an email, or pick up the phone to call them. Don’t try and sell them anything, just call to say hello and see how they are doing.
  4. Invest in new technology -decide if upgrading software or hardware, is beneficial to your business success. Figure out if newer technology can save you time, or allow you to work faster.
  5. Delegate work -determine if your budget allows you to hire someone that can help you and your business. Figure out the tasks you would love to delegate and see if hiring someone makes financial sense. A virtual assistant can be hired on a project or as-needed basis. It may be great to have someone to outsource work to in 2018.

See our blog post – Tips to Clean Up Your Digital Clutter

 

We are thrilled to have international speaker, author, trainer, and advisor,  Alex Theis be our guest on the Assistant Match blog, and provide us with information about tapping into the power of referrals.

Whether you’re the CEO of a big company, a home-based business owner, or anything in between, referrals can be an untapped goldmine. Are you tapping into the power of referrals? Here’s five reasons why they are absolutely magical.

1. Referrals buy quicker. Word of mouth is the most trusted form of advertising in the world, so the buying decision requires less research. Referrals ask fewer questions and take less of your time.

2. Referrals negotiate less and rarely complain. That key concept – trust. Referrals have built in trust of you and your product. Their mind is already down the road of being satisfied even before they buy.

3. Referrals buy more and buy more often. People want to buy services and products from businesses they believe in. Because the trust of the referrer has been transferred to them, their average sale is higher and they buy with more frequency. Think Amazon…

4. Referrals cost you virtually nothing. Utilizing the power of your already happy customers and clients, you can compress the time it takes to buy. This means very little marketing dollars are spent and big time ROI.

5. Referrals are more likely to refer others. They were referred, so they tend to follow the same pattern. When we find a good thing, packed with value, we love to share it with others.

How can you tap into this virtual goldmine? Ask your happy customers and clients for referrals. Create a program to incentivize referrals. Reward those who have already referred business to you. Get creative and watch your business grow!

Alex Theis is a speaker, best-selling author, podcaster, and leading expert on customer and client retention. His internationally-downloaded podcast, Limitless, can be heard on iTunes, Stitcher, and PodcastLimitless.com.

There is a lot of information being pushed out online, and getting your message read is not always the easiest thing to do.

Here are 5 tips to help you stand out from your competition online:

1. Identify your customers pain points and explain how you can help solve them.

2. Keep it simple – blogging and social media marketing doesn’t have to be difficult. Keep it simple, focused and streamlined.  Make sure you stay in your professional lane.

3. Focus on quality  vs. quantity.  If you only have time to blog once a month, than make sure that blog post adds value to those reading it.  Same goes for social media.  Stuffing your platforms with content is never a good idea unless that content is relevant to your audience and provides useful information.

4. Collaborate with like-minded professionals. This is a great way to extend your brand and meet amazing folks who are on similar business journeys.

5. Be responsive.  If a comment or question is made on your blog or posted on your social media be sure to respond. It shows that you are invested and engaged with your community.

While the dog  days of summer brings warmer weather, backyard barbecues, and additional time with family, your business shouldn’t take a vacation.

Here are three tips to help keep your business moving forward through the remainder of the summer months.

 

1. Stay Visible

Schedule social media posts, newsletters, and even emails to go out throughout the summer months to make sure your business and your services stay top of mind to your customers.  Outsource these tasks to a virtual marketing assistant who, with a little direction, can do all the work and monitor your online presence.

2. Start a project

If you are staying put, this is a great time to upgrade your website, brainstorm new ideas or revisit old ones with your team.  With a little extra bandwidth in your schedule you can focus your energy on continued education. Take an online course, or volunteer some time with a local organization.

3. Reinvent yourself

While your clients are away, take this time to work on you.  Join a gym, get a walking or bike riding program in place.  Change your sleep patterns to get up earlier during the week.  By taking care of YOURSELF you will be better equipped to take care of your business and your clients for the remainder of the year and beyond..

 

We all have bad days, when things just don’t go right, or a meeting goes sideways and really throws off our mojo.  It can make you not want to be social and cause a detrimental impact on your ability to do business.

So, how do you get out of the “funk” of a bad day so the rest of your week isn’t shot?

1. Stay positive.
The saying “a bad day doesn’t mean you have a bad life” really puts things into perspective.

Procrastination happens the most when we are in a bad mood, and productivity happens when we are happy.  So work hard on your mood and staying positive as it really will have an effect on the outcome of your day.

2. Set up a self-rewarding system to keep you motivated.

Rewards are responsible for three-quarters of why you do things.  A self-reward can be as simple as a coffee break or going to the gym, to something larger like going out to dinner, or a weekend getaway.  It is important that you recognize the progress you make daily and celebrate it.  A reward will also help your mood, which in turn will keep you positive and productive.

3. Have a peer group available to you.

Friend therapy or co-worker therapy is so beneficial to keeping you on track and keeping things real. A happy, productive you, will attract great friendships. Remember, the groups you associate with often determine the type of person you become. Business networking groups can broaden your connections and provide you with people you can bounce business ideas off of.  Friends who makes you laugh or you can commiserate with can help alter your bad mood and keep your day on track.

These are simple steps that really can make a difference in your life and in your business.  Here’s to more good days ahead!

We are part of a very mobile world.  Everyone (or almost everyone) goes about their day holding, interacting with, or doing business on a smart phone, tablet, or even on the newest smartphone-tablet hybrid called a phablet.

I imagine some of you are reading this blog post on a mobile device, while others are reading it on a  desktop or laptop computer.  All of these technologies are relevant, but mobile seems to be the technology of choice for many.

The benefit of mobile technology is that it allows us to do some things much faster and less expensive than before.  Here are just a few examples of how mobile technology has changed the way we do business.

  1. Online calendars: Moving away from a paper calendar may be difficult for some, but online calendars have benefits a paper calendar cannot offer. Online calendars can be shared with your clients or team members and accessed anywhere you have a wifi or data connection. They allow you to sync both personal and business schedules to your Outlook,  and you can set appointments that require RSVP’s. Most of them are also free.
  2. Online banking: Banking online offers convenience to a busy business owner. You can do your banking any time of the day or night, and banking can be done anywhere that you have a secure internet connection.  Direct deposits, transferring of funds and bill paying can all be done from the comfort of your home or office 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
  3. Creating Videos: Gone are the days where you need to invest in a video camera and editing equipment. Videos can be created, edited and uploaded in a matter of minutes to websites or social media accounts.  Is the quality professional?  No, but with certain mobile-apps, a video taken on a mobile device can be edited in such a way that it appears professional.

These are just a few ways mobile technology has given us a faster way to work.  What are some of the ways mobile technology has helped you with your business tasks?