Virtual Assistant Do's and Don'ts to Be Successful

Virtual Assistant Do's and Don'ts to Be Successful
Virtual Assistants (VAs) are highly skilled professionals
who provide administrative support and specialized services
to businesses, entrepreneurs, executives, and others who
have more work to do than time to do it. Examples of
services a VA can do include publicity and marketing, web
design and maintenance, word processing, meeting and event
planning, desktop publishing, article and press release
submissions, internet research, bookkeeping, business
start-up consultations and so much more. This can be the
perfect work-at-home opportunity for many with good
computer and Internet skills.

Following are several Do's and Dont's to keep in mind for
starting and operating your Virtual Assisting business.

DO -- Decide on a targeted market and initially focus your
marketing efforts in that area. By developing a "niche"
in your field, your reputation spreads quickly and soon you
become a recognized expert. Several specialties include:
publicity, medical, legal or business transcription, resume
consulting, transaction coordination -- real estate
industry, working with authors, academic typing, internet
research, etc.

DO -- Be creative about where you can find business. The
Internet offers a large variety of potential for clients
just waiting for you to contact them. Actively network and
don't limit your marketing to simply sending out one press
release, placing a few ads in newspapers or the Yellow
Pages, or posting on a board or two. You want to find where
there might be a need- and go fill it.

DO -- Write a complete business plan and marketing plan.
Too many leave out this vital step and waste valuable time
unorganized and without a clear-cut goal and direction for
their business. When starting a business you will have tons
of ideas floating around. You need to materialize all
these and put them into a workable plan of action.

DO -- Develop a website that looks sensational! Your
website is often the first connection a potential client
has with your services. It must immediately let them know
that they are dealing with a professional. Your site must
then have the POWER to draw them to you and contact you.
Let them see that you value quality by the look and feel of
it. Additional tips include letting them know what services
you offer and why you are qualified to offer those services
by mentioning your experience and education. Be sure to
include points on why you stand out among the rest and are
the BEST! For example, if you have been featured in
articles, radio shows, etc., have them listed with the
dates.

DO -- Learn everything you can about starting a business.
Knowledge is power and the more you know, the greater your
chances for success. Look to online services and message
boards and chats to talk with other Virtual Assistants
operating a business. Remember these are often run by pros
who have been in business for years and are willing to
share their experience.

DO -- Join associations that are targeted for our Industry.
By connecting with these associations and being active,
you learn from them what works and what doesn't and you are
able to post your questions to associate members via list
serves often getting answers to your questions within
minutes.

DO -- Read, read, read. By frequently continuing to
increase your skills and your knowledge of your profession,
the end result is a more confident satisfied you. Every
tip you get from a book can be a new tool in your business.
I recommend highlighting areas from several books and
adding them to your library. Keep in mind that you might
not use that idea today, but it might apply to specialties
you might add down the road.

DO - Enjoy. There's no greater feeling than landing that
first client or finishing your first big project. Plus,
wait until you get the opportunity to tell someone you own
and operate your own virtual assisting business. It sure
beats I'm a secretary at .... Plus, when you enjoy your
business it shows. Your clients will sense your positive
attitude and want to be a part of your team.

DON'T -- Underprice your services. The average virtual
assistant today makes $25 to $100 an hour, depending on
their skills, services offered, location, and years of
experience. Don't make the mistake of assuming if you
charge the lowest prices, you'll get the most work. You
won't. Instead, you'll end up working outrageous hours for
peanuts! Clients will pay more for professional services.
When a potential client discovers you're charging a lower
rate than standard, they often feel they will receive a
quality of services that is also lower.

DON'T -- Overextend yourself. One of the common mistakes
many virtual assistants make is to accept too much work and
then not be able to accurately complete it. Learn to say
no or have a back-up helper who can assist you with any
overflow work. Remember one of the most important
ingredients for success is keeping your clients satisfied.
If you overextend yourself and make a lot of errors, it
will jeopardize your business.

DON'T -- Get discouraged. It takes time to get a business
going. Plan ahead and have money saved in reserve. Don't
buy items until you have found the best possible price and
there is an absolute need. This advance planning takes the
pressure off of having to make money NOW. If things are
slow and the phone just isn't ringing ... MAKE IT RING!!
There's plenty of work out there, you just need to
aggressively pursue it.

Finally, the most important ingredient for success is your
belief in yourself. If you believe that with your skills
and experience, you can own your own business, then there's
nothing stopping you. DREAMS DO COME TRUE. SOMETIMES YOU
JUST NEED TO MAKE THEM HAPPEN.

----------------------------------------------------
Diana Ennen, Author, Virtual Assistant: The Series, Become
a Highly Successful, Sought After VA, & Words From Home /

http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com ,
diana@virtualwordpublishing.com. Article is free to be
reprinted as long as bio remains. Stop by our site for a
free VA Informational Package and PR Informational Package.

Get High Payoff Results When You Burst Your "Certainty" Bubble

Get High Payoff Results When You Burst Your "Certainty" Bubble
Gary was Vice President in charge of his company's
marketing division. He worked for an enormous
multi-national corporation that spent millions on marketing
to other corporations. He had his Business Development
style down pat. Big meals, in fancy restaurants, on the
company tab.

Then he joined a much 'smaller' organization - only $400
million a year in sales but growing steadily. And his
expense account was ... let's call it "reined in." He was
told to put his time into building relationships by phone
and in meetings, with an occasional meal in a 'normal'
restaurant.

Have you ever had the experience of being absolutely
positively completely certain about something? Your idea,
your opinion, your experience - all telling you that you
'know'?

I mean so certain that no matter what other information was
offered to you, you couldn't conceive of any other
perspective or position on the matter?

Well Gary went ballistic. He knew, for a fact, that "You
can't do business development that way!"

He spent then next three years constantly at odds with the
rest of management, complaining about how 'impossible' the
company was making for him to develop business. He didn't
grow the business at all in four years. And he finally left
the organization.

His replacement, Dan, came in with less experience in the
industry, a milder manner and a curiosity for what might
work. And guess what? Dan brought in double the record in
new business in half the time. The difference? Dan wondered
how the company could accomplish its marketing more
productively, and came up with new answers. And new results.

Sometimes we get stuck seeing a situation or event from a
very narrow point of view. I know I got so intensely
focused on how much had to be accomplished to bring all of
you a valuable experience in the 2007 Success
TeleConference that I spent hours trying to solve something
that felt complex. Suggestions? I didn't want them! I was
already absorbed viewing it one-way inside my own
"Certainty Bubble."

You could probably name some situation where you're so
immersed in a process that even when a friend or colleague
tries to propose another approach to take they barely got
the description out before you shut them down with "That
won't work!"

Your breath is short, your body is tense, your impatience
and annoyance have you taut as a bowstring as you arm
yourself against anyone arguing about or contradicting what
you're absolutely certain of.

How do I know that? I've been there too! Just reading all
of that has my muscles tensing up.

Over the years I've found that EVERYONE is susceptible to
being absolutely certain. That attitude blocks us from
seeing the wealth of possible alternatives. We keep a solid
wall in place that stops even the slightest of 'different'
points of view from creeping in. We move our bodies around
all day, but our attitudes are nailed down and unmoving.

The point is to not let your current point of view stop
you. Many of the alternatives we refuse to see have a
greater potential for creating our desired success than the
one we're holding onto for dear life. Sure enough, when I
step back and get distance I discover that there's a quick
and simple solution or alternative I couldn't see. And my
clients discover the same thing for themselves. So here's

High Payoff Technique for Bursting the Certainty Bubble and
Shifting Perspectives - "Widen Your View"

There are several techniques that I use with clients (and
myself) when that self-created 'stall out' becomes
apparent. One of my favorites is "Widen Your View."

Imagine yourself in a movie theater, standing with your
nose on the screen, thinking that the story you see in
front of you is absolutely all there is to see. In fact
you're only 'seeing' perhaps ten square inches immediately
before you, if your eyes can even focus at that point. By
being so close to what you're viewing you're missing every
other piece of information, in every direction.

The Widen Your View approach is used to shift your
perspective about the situation much like taking steps back
from the screen and getting a broader view of the movie
you're living. One step at a time, step 'back' from your
view of the situation and deliberately use the phrase "I
wonder..." For Dan the questions were:

"I wonder what it could be like to do business development
without taking people out for meals?"

"I wonder what I could send to a client to interest them in
a solution for their business?

"I wonder what 10 ideas I could come up with that no one
else is doing for them?"

Step by step. One step back and one question. Then another
and another. All the way back until you become an observer
with a wide field of view and the 'screen' shrinks and
'reality' becomes a picture of a situation outside of
yourself. The further you step, the less personal the
'movie' will feel. And a greater number of alternative ways
you can consider it become available to you.

Now imagine what might be offered if you brought a team
together and posed those questions to the entire group.

From this new attitude of wondering, interesting things
begin to show up. When I use it, people around me
'suddenly' have all kinds of great ideas. Magazine articles
have idea after idea that I can adapt to use in my own
business. And for my clients? Well the results speak for
themselves - new possibilities, new approaches, new
accelerated results.

If you'll Widen Your View, you'll notice new ways of
approaching each of your current situations and of solving
issues that seem like obstacles as well.

----------------------------------------------------
© 2008 Linda Feinholz Management expert, consultant,
and coach Linda Feinholz is "Your High Payoff Catalyst" If
you're ready to focus on your High Payoff activities, boost
your professional and personal results and have more fun,
get her FREE audio mini-course "7 Quick & Simple Steps to
Increase Your Focus, Ease Your Effort & Accelerate Your
Results" and the free weekly newsletter The Spark! Visit
http://www.YourHighPayoffCatalyst.com

Should You Lie On Your Resume?

Should You Lie On Your Resume?
Lying on your resume can be tempting. Perhaps you know,
without any doubt, that you have the skills and abilities
an employer is looking for. You just don't have the degree.
So, you are considering exaggerating the semester of
coursework you took 15 years ago, into a degree. Is lying
too strong of a word? Perhaps you are more comfortable
saying that you embellished your resume, stretched the
truth, or slightly overstated your qualifications. Are
those phrases more comfortable for you? After all, doesn't
everyone do a little "polishing" or "padding" of their
qualifications to make themselves look better on a resume?

Unfortunately, if you believe the above, your perception is
partially true. Surveys indicate that lying on resumes does
appear to be on the rise. According to a survey conducted
by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), more
than 60% of all HR professionals report finding
inaccuracies on the resumes that come across their desks.
An inaccuracy may not necessarily be a lie. But, an
inaccuracy is enough to call your character into question
and be the cause of you losing a job offer that you were in
the running for, or to be dismissed from a job that you are
already in.

That's right. Call it what you may - a lie, an inaccuracy,
or an embellishment - exaggerating or inflating your
qualifications on your resume can bring an otherwise
successful career to a halt. If you have any doubt of this,
all you have to do is look to the news where there have
been several high-profile cases over the last couple of
years, of individuals losing their jobs after a lie on
their resume was detected.

The sad part is, as most professional resume writers and
career coaches will tell you, that the lies and
embellishments are simply not necessary. If well crafted,
your resume will highlight your true accomplishments,
qualifications, and talents and will downplay any potential
weaknesses. Your resume will remain absolutely truthful
while still portraying you as a competitive candidate for
the jobs you are targeting.

Do you have problem areas or potential weaknesses that you
are concerned about how to handle on your resume? The first
steps are to recognize those weaknesses and problems for
what they are and then to set them aside for a moment,
while you take a bigger-picture look at your professional
background. Your resume is a marketing document, and as in
all marketing and advertising, your goal is to emphasize
and promote your skills, talents, strengths, and potential
value add in relation to your job target.

Many times, the solution to dealing with a potential
weakness is all in how you structure and format your
resume. Think of your resume as being structured similar to
a pyramid. The most important and relevant information that
you want to emphasize should be presented at the peak of
the pyramid - at the beginning of the resume. The
information that you want to de-emphasize and downplay
should be at the bottom of the pyramid - at the end of the
resume.

You should also consider the design of your resume. By
thinking creatively and strategically about the way you
format your resume and apply various design elements (such
as underlining, bolding, or white space), you can draw the
readers' eyes to the data and elements that you want to
emphasize, while the negatives fade almost unnoticed into
the background. You must be honest on your resume, but
there is no reason that you must or should emphasize the
problem areas!

Maybe you don't have the exact experience that an employer
is seeking, but you do have experience that shows how you
have used these skills in another context. Reframing
experience to bring transferable skills to the forefront of
your resume in a way that will be understandable to a
future employer is a smart move. Likewise, being selective
about what you include in your resume is also smart, as
well as being ethical. Always think in terms of relevance
and impact. Don't confuse your reader with irrelevant
experience, qualifications that are not a match for your
focus, out-of-date experience, or achievements that don't
support your value proposition. Your resume is a marketing
piece - an advertisement - it is not an autobiography. You
don't need to and shouldn't try to include everything.

Most importantly, you should take a close look at the
experience you do have and the very real contributions that
you made for your past employers. It is very important to
place the emphasis of your resume on achievements,
quantifying results whenever possible. Document the ways in
which your work have benefited your employers, ideally
presenting the challenges, the actions, and the results of
each situation. Through past achievements and results, you
demonstrate your future potential and value. Always
remember, you won't get hired for what you KNOW how to do,
you will get hired for what you DO with what you KNOW how
to do. At the root, every single job is designed to solve a
problem, save money, make money, or improve efficiency. Use
past examples to clearly demonstrate that you have the
proven ability to accomplish these goals for your future
employers, and you WILL be called for an interview
regardless of any possible weaknesses.

The consequences of lying on your resume just aren't worth
it! Companies are growing increasingly savvy to this
problem and even if your lies aren't immediately detected,
you will be found out eventually through background checks.
But with an honest assessment of what you bring to the
table, lying on your resume is simply not necessary. You
can let the truth shine through! By following the steps
outlined in this article, and thinking creatively about
ethical strategies you can use to promote your strengths
while downplaying your weaknesses, you will find that it is
possible to be absolutely truthful will still presenting as
a top candidate. And, if you need help, don't hesitate to
call on a professional resume writer. Your career may
depend on it!

----------------------------------------------------
Nationally certified resume writer and career marketing
expert, Michelle Dumas is the director of Distinctive
Career Services LLC. Through Distinctive Documents
http://www.distinctiveweb.com and her Executive VIP
Services http://www.100kcareermarketing.com

Michelle has
empowered thousands of professionals all across the U.S.
and worldwide. Michelle is also the author of 101
Before-and-After Resume Examples
http://www.before-and-after-resumes.com

Joint Venture Your Way to the Top

Joint Venture Your Way to the Top
Joint ventures are a great way to team up with another
company or person who is looking to achieve similar goals.
By using your resources in a joint venture arrangement, you
can save time and money in achieving your dreams. Before
you set up your joint venture arrangement, decide what
exactly it is that you want to accomplish from the project.
Are you looking to access additional information and
resources, do you want to tap into new markets that your
potential joint venture partner is already tapped in to,
are you looking to extend your marketing reach? What is it
that you hope to accomplish? By having a defined target at
which to aim, you are more likely to hit the "bulls-eye"
and create a winning joint venture plan.

Joint venture vs. partnership: Benefits

Because the main difference between a joint venture and a
partnership is that a joint venture is normally temporary
or project based, there are tax advantages that can be
realized. First, each member of the joint venture retains
ownership of his or her property. Secondly, members of
joint ventures are taxed on the joint venture profits
according to whatever business structure has been
established for each business. Also, those participating
in a joint venture can choose to use as much or as little
of their Capital Cost Allowance (CCA) claim as they would
like.

Let's use an example of an inventor looking to bring an
innovative product to market. Normally, an inventor will
not have the resources and distribution channels needed to
mass-produce his product. Thinking creatively, the
inventor decides to research manufacturing companies with
capabilities he believes are needed to produce his product.
By joint venturing with the manufacturing company, the
inventor now has access to additional funds, production
resources, and distribution channels that could take months
or even years to develop on his own. The manufacturing
company has acquired a new product to provide to its
existing and potential customer base, thereby potentially
creating an additional stream of revenue. However, both
parties have retained their autonomy in regards to how the
profit share is utilized on behalf of each joint venture
entity.

Joint venturing your company

Suppose you don't have a great new invention to bring to
market. Say your company is service-oriented, providing
consulting services to the small business sector. Your
dilemma is reaching gaining greater market exposure to your
target market. How can you accomplish this without
spending an arm and a leg on advertising? How about joint
venturing with a bank or credit union that is currently
servicing your target market? They may be able to offer
your services as a resource that will help the businesses
they are financing to succeed. Naturally, the bank is
interested in the success of the businesses they're
funding, and a part of a successful business is a great
marketing strategy. You reach a broader target market, the
bank assists the businesses in which it has a vested
interest, and you both retain autonomy.

There are a myriad of joint venture opportunities
available. You can joint venture your way to the top if
you're willing to think outside the box, outline specific
goals for your joint venture agreement, and follow through
on the execution.

----------------------------------------------------
Christian Fea is a Collaboration Marketing Strategist. He
empowers business owners to discover how to implement
Integration, Alliance, and Joint Ventures marketing tactics
to solve their specific business challenges. He
demonstrates how you can create your own Collaboration
Marketing Strategy to increase your new sales, conversation
rates, and repeat business. He can be reached at:
http://www.christianfea.com

The truth about Membership sites and nothing but the truth

The truth about Membership sites and nothing but the truth
This article will give you insight into the cost of a
high-dollar subscription website script to run your
membership site, as well as, share true to life experiences
that people have operating their own membership site.

Generally all membership sites experience some problems
until you get the kinks out. These problems will in most
cases manifest themselves in the form of lost time which
can not be replaced.

The cost of a high-dollar subscription website script to
run your membership site is one thousand and five hundred
or more; they are not inexpensive. Some of the problems or
issues that exist with membership sites are officially
setting up the original account, or if you want to look at
it in another way call it getting started or entering
client/guest information. This process is usually a day to
day; month to month can grow to be extremely time consuming
and usually is; something you do not have a lot of. To
have to manually create accounts really eats up a lot of
your time and once time is used up you can not get it back.

When you have delinquent accounts you must manually go into
the system itself in order to suspend the delinquent
accounts; again this takes away from your time and as we
know you only get 24 hours in a day as much as we would
like to have more unfortunately that is not an option.

We do not realize how much time these day to day operations
take up. Think what it would mean to you if you could cut
down on these time consuming operations you could free up a
lot more time to use as you see fit. This is also
something you can apply in all aspects of your life if you
are experiencing a great loss of time ask what can I do/use
to have a better effect on this process or outcome
desired; take the time to sincerely answer that question
because its really that important.

This article gave you insight into the cost of high-dollar
subscription website scripts to operate your membership
site; as well as; share true to life problems/issues that
people have operating their own membership site. I hope
this article has helped to inform the different
problems/issues people deal with so you can put out some
fires or at least you are aware of some problems/issues
that can be on the horizon

----------------------------------------------------
All who have experienced any of the problems in the article
you are not alone, their is a much better proven way to
free up a lot more time visit this website
http://www.bigleagueplayersclub.com/3clicks/published/21741/
336306/index.htm

"The Nuts' Manifesto": 5 Radical Business Rules That Fly in the Face of "Sensible" Thinking

"The Nuts' Manifesto": 5 Radical Business Rules That Fly in the Face of "Sensible" Thinking
In the world of small business — or any kind of
business building or creative pursuits, for that matter
— there are two schools of thought:

A) You have to know everything, research everything, plan
everything, measure everything, analyze everything,
evaluate everything, anticipate everything, budget for
everything, and have the means to finance
everything...BEFORE you start.

B) You don't.

"Group A" types are the Sensibles. "Group B" folks? The
Nuts.

To the sometimes dismay of my husband/business partner, a
Sensible who likes to operate in the world of concrete
deliverables and see nets before he leaps, I happen to be
in that "Group B" category.

Sensibles aren't stupid or unimaginative. On the contrary.
They're often bright, reasonable, practical professionals.
More often than not, they have read the text books, know
the elements of growing businesses and bottom lines, and
have sound, informed advice to offer on the subject of what
works and what doesn't.

Many brilliant, wonderful, seasoned SCORE counselors are
Sensibles. They've owned and managed all types of
businesses for multiple decades, so they've made their
mistakes and purchased countless hard-won lessons with
their own sweat equity.

Nuts understand and respect Sensibles (though we can be
delinquent in showing it). Whether Sensibles believe this
or not, Nuts listen to their input, value their point of
view, and often think they're probably right.

Why, then, do Sensibles usually see us doing exactly the
opposite from what they recommend? Because we, too, know
— or think we know — a thing or two about
business ourselves.

Right or wrong, here's what we believe, whether we admit it
or not:

1. Perfection Is for Sissies

The widely-held assumption is Perfectionists operate with a
higher set of standards than most of us. To that I say
"Phooey!" Perfectionists gouge ideas, scrape up strategies,
and poo-poo planning docs until all the lifeblood is
drained out of them. Why? They're frozen with fear! It's
scary to put your stuff "Out There," to the discerning
public, where critics lurk, markets speak, and well-meaning
friends and relatives tell you exactly what they think of
your ventures, whether their feedback is positive or not.
I've seen some very smart and talented people wait for
decades to act on an idea or passion because the timing,
environment, circumstances, and/or equipment weren't
exactly perfect. Oh, it hurts to watch!

2. Failure Is ALWAYS an Option

We've all heard the allegedly hard-core creed "Failure's
Not an Option." Au contraire, my friend. Failure is not
only an option, it's a statistically high probability. Next
time you have lunch with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Albert
Einstein, or any of the countless other inventors and
innovators who lived on nothing but failure with a side of
"Oops!," just ask them. They'll tell you if you're not
failing, you're not doing enough. Failure pushes limits,
forces unconventional solutions, and tests mettles without
kid gloves. Are you serious about success? Then you better
love the smell of Failure, because it's part of the
entrepreneurial experience.

3. You CAN Build Your Wings on the Way Down (and It's a
Downright, Rock 'n Roll Rush When You Pull It Off!)

Comfort Zone? No, not for Nuts. I wouldn't say we're all
adrenaline junkies, but our closest Sensibles may tell you
otherwise. Still, when the luxury of looking back at an
unlikely victory presents itself, there's definitely
something very cool about replaying the scene. Back against
the wall, warnings everywhere, total annihilation just
millimeters away from every move and decision you
make...Yeah. When you have no choice but to remove life's
distractions to avoid a physical or metaphysical SPLAT,
those wings get built. They may not be pretty, but they
flap like heck and carry you somewhere you can pause to
catch your breath.

4. Ignorance CAN Be Bliss

Look. We don't want to appear or admit to being - for lack
of a better word - stupid. But the truth is, the less we
know, the less we're bullied by total downers like "What's
Possible," "What's Realistic," and that pesky tagalong,
"Our Limits." Let's face it: Sometimes "The Facts" can
really squelch a person's creativity. So sometimes we
ignore them. Or choose to do things without the proper due
diligence. Or skip along like the village idiot while our
profit and loss statements are making our bookkeepers weep
uncontrollably. Sorry. But sometimes - only sometimes -
those numbers have less meaning to us and our plans than a
petrified legume has to a carnivore. Tra-la-la...we can't
hear you...

5. Life's Short. Play Hard...and for Cryin' Out Loud,
LIGHTEN UP!

Mortality. Ugh. Yet another buzzkill to deal with. Sadly,
though, we can't seem to kick this one to the curb. One of
my favorite poems, Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress,"
does a good job in putting the whole Mortality thing into
perspective. The poem is one giant, beautiful, exquisitely
hilarious pickup line. He's trying to convince a young
maiden to sleep with him, and tells her if he had all the
time in the world, he'd admire each of her body parts for
thousands of years, and wait patiently for her to come
around. But that's not the case, is it? So with his last
six lines, he says:

"Let us roll all our strength, and all

Our sweetness, up into one ball;

And tear our pleasures with rough strife

Thorough the iron gates of life.

Thus, though we cannot make our sun

Stand still, yet we will make him run."

The Nuts say, "Ditto."

So the next time you see us across your conference table,
nodding politely in response to your very rational and
comprehensive list of why our ideas, suggestions, and
solutions would never work for your business or anybody
else's, look more closely. Odds are, while our eyes are on
you, our brains are somewhere else in our own indexed
resource library of "What's Possible" and "What's
Realistic."

While you're citing statistical probabilities and telling
us about industry expectations, existing norms, and
outdated rules, we're off in our wild 'n wacky fourth
dimension. That's the place where we twist words, scour
success stories, flip visuals, and mash up mountains of our
own data.

It's the place where we know beyond a shadow of a doubt
that more things are possible and realistic than most of us
dare dream. And if everyone remained governed by the keen
and well-intended Sensibles, most microbusinesses,
solo-preneurs, and small business owners would never even
attempt the impossible and ridiculous — i.e. going
into business for ourselves.

What a shame that would be, because it's REALLY fun out
here in Nutty Land.

----------------------------------------------------
Lani & Allen Voivod, aka 'The Content Lovers,' help
lifestyle entrepreneurs and million-dollar businesses 'A-Ha
Themselves!' in fun and profitable ways. For immediate
access to insider knowledge on more than 12 of the easiest,
most effective, and most affordable ways to market your
products and services for long-term success and
profitability, check out "The 'A-Ha Yourself!' Action
Guide" at http://www.epiphaniesinc.com/actionguide.php .

Eleven Mega Marketing Mistakes that Personal Injury Law Firms Make With Their Marketing

Eleven Mega Marketing Mistakes that Personal Injury Law Firms Make With Their Marketing
Advertising can be expensive and seemingly unrewarding. As
an attorney, I can tell you that personal injury attorneys
all over the country are frustrated. Jurors are more
conservative. Competition is up. State bar ethics rules are
increasing, not decreasing, restrictions on lawyer
advertising. To top it off, lawyers have never been taught
how to market their services.

Here are eleven major mistakes that personal injury lawyers
make with their advertising.

1. Failing to make a decision as to what the perfect
business and perfect customer look like. You can't develop
a marketing plan (or purchase advertising media such as
Yellow Page ads, TV commercials or websites) without
understanding where you are going. What does your perfect
client look like? What do you want your law practice to
look like? The correct answer to the question "why do you
want to spend any money on marketing?" should not
necessarily be, "more cases." Not drawing at least a mental
picture of what it is you are after with your practice is
like getting on an airplane and saying "take me anywhere."

2. Failing to accept that marketing and practice building
is the most important thing you can do in your law firm -
look around. Is it only the best lawyers, real estate
agents, doctors in your town who get the best business?
Just being good at what you do doesn't cut it anymore.
Isn't it frustrating to see a lawyer whose has never tried
a case get better clients than you do and then brag about
it later? By understanding how to market effectively you
put yourself into a position to see more cases from which
you can choose the ones that match your "perfect customer"
profile.

3. Thinking That Copying What Other Lawyers Are Doing With
Their Marketing Will Get You A Better Result. Earl
Nightingale, one of the world's foremost experts on what
makes people successful, had some good advice for lawyers
and other business owners who want to market their
practices. He said, (and yes, I am paraphrasing) that if
you wanted to learn a new skill in business, and you had no
mentor or guide you could trust, that the best thing you
could do was figure out what everyone else was doing and
then do the opposite. The majority is, at best, average. So
it is with marketing.

4. Ignoring the Gold In Your Files Right Now. It costs at
least ten times a much to obtain new customers as to keep
in contact with old clients and indeed, everyone who
contacts you. Your files are filled with names of folks who
know you. Those folks generally have at least 50 other
friends in their "circle of influence." (Read How to Close
Every Sale, by Joe Girard.) Personal injury lawyers are
happy to spend thousands on Yellow Page and TV marketing
while ignoring completely those who they already have some
relationship with.

5. Failing to capture the name of every new person who
indicates that he/she is interested in what you have to
say. Lawyers spend thousands on generating new leads
(potential client inquiries) yet never market back to the
cases they don't accept. In most offices that's MOST of the
new inquiries. Yet this is a goldmine of people that you
can directly market to in the future. You can't rely on the
fact that if they or someone they know needs your services
or products that they will remember you tomorrow because
they called you once in the past.

6. Failing to get ahead of the marketing curve. How many
lawyers spend any time trying to start a relationship with
a potential client BEFORE that person has a problem? Most
personal injury lawyers view marketing as reactionary. That
is, the relationship starts once a person is injured and
they start trying to find a lawyer. How about if you
offered a good reason for people to call you BEFORE they
get hurt (good quality information on how to buy car
insurance comes to immediate mind), BEFORE they need you.
Once they raise their hand they are inviting a relationship
and giving you permission to directly market to them as
frequently as you can afford to. If you can develop a
"herd" of people that listen to you before they have need
you, they won't be looking in the Yellow Pages after they
have an accident or need your product.

7. Being an advertising "victim"-most business owners think
about their advertising and marketing plan the 30 minutes
or so before the Yellow Page rep comes walking through the
door. They don't do any independent research or study. They
follow the crowd because "it must be working or else
everyone else wouldn't be doing it." If it doesn't work
they then take the Yellow Page rep's advice to "buy more,
and use color." A real sign that you are an "advertising
victim" is that you allow the Yellow Page rep to design
your ad. This is usually a huge mistake. Think about
it--the goal of the Yellow Page rep is not to make your ad
beat all the other ads in the book.

8. Failure to accurately measure results—do this
test. Ask anyone who spends a lot money on advertising
exactly how much revenue is returned (ROI-return on
investment) they get from a particular TV spot. Better yet,
ask the folks running double truck (huge, 2 page) ads
inside the Yellow Pages how much revenue those pages
generate vs. the outside back cover they are also buying.
They won't be able to answer that question. Would you buy
mutual fund without demanding a specific accounting of
actual results? 9. Failure to develop a referral
system--the best clients come to you with good cases and
they are pre-sold on you. Strange as it may seem, clients
don't always know how to refer. The lawyers who really
understand marketing have figured out ways to have current
friends and customers refer new consumers to them BEFORE
they need an attorney. Developing good consumer information
products and backing it up with an interesting firm
newsletter that it consistently mailed is a terrific way
to greatly expand your referral base without using high
priced TV marketing.

10. Failure to Diversify Your Marketing-"one" is a very
dangerous number. Don't forget to see what other industries
are doing. There are lots of media out there, for example,
media not traditionally used by lawyers. While most lawyers
think in terms of Yellow Pages, TV and websites,
sophisticated lawyer marketers understand and also use low
cost coupon media, postcards and free standing inserts. The
key is to choose media that is relatively easy to test and
then to measure results.

11. Trying to Win the Advertising Game by "Shouting
Louder"—Most injury lawyers try to differentiate
themselves in print and TV media by simply spending more
money to "shout louder." This is accomplished by buying
more color, more space, or more TV as spots. The two fold
problem of this approach is that (1) it's an expensive way
to run a business and (2) there will always be someone who
can spend more than you can.

Personal injury lawyers need to learn to "make a different
kind of noise" with their marketing.

----------------------------------------------------
Ben Glass is a personal injury attorney in Fairfax,
Virginia. He is the creator of the Ultimate Personal Injury
Practice Building Toolkit. He runs mastermind and coaching
groups, and conducts marketing seminars for attorneys,
teaching "Effective, Ethical and Outside the Box Marketing."

Corporate Values Provide Strong Foundations for Organisational Effectiveness

Corporate Values Provide Strong Foundations for Organisational Effectiveness
I once worked for an organisation that seemed to embody the
epitome of the ideal. In fact, everything the management
gurus suggest should be evident in the "excellent"
organisation, was there. Employees who were dedicated,
management who cared about the staff (and who knew the
business!) and customers who were loyal. The organisation
even had a marketing department that involved the staff in
the latest advertising and promotional schemes before going
public! The corporate colours were blue and gold, and it
was said that staff would die for the company if necessary
and their blood would flow in the corporate colours!

Although I thoroughly enjoyed working there (and like all
the others, would have shed blood, too), I thought the
halcyon environment was merely a fluke and it was my good
fortune to strike it lucky. With hindsight, I can now see
the logic of why this organisation worked so well: it was
the solid foundations on which this idyllic structure was
built.

Those foundations were the corporate values. However, they
were not mentioned overtly. Nor were they written up on
any brass plaques. But evident they were. How did this
organisation succeed in having "everyone singing from the
same book"? The answer lies in the nature and extent of
the training that all staff experienced which was
established and supported by the CEO. For example,
everyone joining the company attended two weeks of
induction training before commencing in his or her role.
This even applied to senior managers, who might be
responsible for managing some of their fellow trainees.

It has taken me some years and the study of hundreds of
organisations to realise that cementing organisation values
into the training fabric of an organisation can have a
dramatic impact on collective performance.

Some management writers have coined a phrase that has
become more faddish than realistic - "walking the talk".
It is intended to mean that management (and particularly
top management) must model the behaviour they expect of
others. But how often does it happen and more importantly,
does it work?

As Rob Lebow (1997) points out: "The only thing that really
changes behaviour is when the proclaimed values are
practiced at every level including at the top". The
inference can be drawn that not only must managers "do what
they say", but there also must be a collective
understanding of "what precisely it is that we should all
do".

Management education and development can be the vehicle
that drives the collective understanding and turns the
corporate values into practical, day-to-day behaviour.

My experience suggests that few organisations take the time
and effort to base their management training on such solid
foundations as corporate values.

Has your organisation tried MBO? Quality Circles? TQM?
ISO9000+? Benchmarking? Process Engineering (or
re-engineering)? Core competencies? Six Sigma? While all
these strategies are based on sound theory (and often other
organisation's experience), they do not reflect the very
nature of why your organisation has been successful -
corporate behaviour that is based on shared values. As a
senior manager of a very successful Korean organisation put
it "Corporate values work in mysterious ways - they can
spur performance and satisfaction while instilling a sense
of pride in belonging to a unique organisation".

All organisations have values, whether they be publicly
evident or not. Before deciding to base the organisation's
training on the values, it is important to have some
understanding of what these values are. Lebow suggests
there are two types of values; business values and people
values.

Business values are directed at the outside world, for
example, "high product quality" and "superior customer
service". People values are directed to the inside world,
for example, "trusting people" and "giving credit where it
is due". My experience suggests that when the business
values and the people values are in harmony, the
organisation is healthy. When the two are not in sync,
training and education (whilst being well meaning) will not
be effective over the longer term.

It is the leaders of the organisation, especially the CEO
who must convert the corporate values into day-to-day
behaviour at all levels. Additionally, Evans and Afors
(1996) found that leaders who are committed and stick to
their principles are those who have a personal alignment
between their own welfare, the common good, and the
organisation's values.

To help leaders develop the necessary leadership skills,
training should be planned in four phases.

1. Identify each leader's personal values.

This requires individuals to consider when (in their career
to date) they have been most satisfied, motivated, and
valued at work. What values did this role satisfy? This
enables the leader to enunciate, perhaps for the first
time, the values he or she inherently hold and often use as
their basis for decision making.

2. Using their personal values as a base, leaders then
develop a scenario of their ideal organisation.

Phase two requires managers, first as individuals and then
in teams, to describe their ideal organisation. What does
it look like? How does it function? What does it value?

3. Leader's then assess their own organisation against
their ideal.

In phase three, managers compare their own organisation to
their ideal. What is inhibiting my organisation from being
more like my ideal? What enables my organisation to be
similar to my ideal? Compiling a list of inhibitors and
enablers helps managers see how personal values can relate
to their organisation's values.

4. Leaders then develop strategies for moving both
personally and organisationally towards the ideal.

The final phase involves developing strategies for
translating the shared values into day-to-day actions.
This must also include some personal and regular "walk the
talk" type activities for every leader.

One of the most effective ways of doing this is to repeat
the four-phase leadership training approach mentioned above
with managers and staff throughout the organisation and at
every level. Each manager leads his/her team to assess the
core values and how they can translate them into their
field of operation. Senior managers at the strategic level
of the organisation such as the Heads of Marketing,
Quality, HR, Finance, Production, IT, R&D, etc., should use
this process to develop organisation-wide policies for
their areas. At the local level, managers should use this
process to develop day to day action plans for translating
values into action.

What results can an organisation achieve through this
value-based training approach?

I once assisted an organisation to successfully implement
this approach. Dick, a well respected and experienced CEO
had been appointed to head up the amalgamation of three
government departments into one major organisation. He
knew that he had a challenge on his hands when after 12
months at the helm he asked a question of his top 100
managers at their regular monthly briefing meeting and got
no response. His question: "Who can tell me the seven
corporate values we established some six months ago, and
most importantly, what impact they are having on the
organisation?" Rather than berate his managers for their
lack of dedication, Dick immediately put in place a 12
month Leadership Development Program embodying the four
phased approach mentioned previously. At the very first
day-long briefing session on the new program, Dick
displayed his own personal values together with an overview
of the results of a leadership profile displaying his own
strengths and weaknesses as a leader. He immediately
demonstrated a personal "walk the talk" strategy.

As well as the sometimes hard to measure "team
togetherness" results of this values approach to
leadership, there is also another important and well
defined outcome. Research by Joseph Badaracco (1992) finds
that values affect decision making. When a manager is
faced with a difficult decision, what are the criteria by
which he/she acts? Corporate values can provide a manager
with an effective decision making tool. For example, when
faced with a difficult decision, they can help managers
decide:

* Which course of action will do the most good and the
least harm?

* Which alternative best serves the others' rights,
including shareholders' rights?

* Which plan is consistent with the basic values and
commitments of my company? Can I live with it?

* Which course of action is feasible in the world as it is?

Managers do not always understand how and why they make a
decision. When asked and after perhaps some careful
consideration and reflection, they may say "it just seems
right". Enabling mangers to consciously make decisions
that "seem right" can be actively influenced through
leadership training that is based on corporate values.

Organisations need leaders who can show the way and in whom
people trust. Building leadership training on a solid
foundation of corporate values can change the rhetoric into
action so that leadership at all levels becomes a case of
"do as I do".

----------------------------------------------------
Bob Selden has a passion for management and leadership
development. He's had the good fortune to be able to help
a number of organisations with the development of their
people. Bob's new book "What To Do When You Become The
Boss" can be purchased via
http://www.whenyoubecometheboss.com/

10 Tips For Starting A Pressure Washing Business

10 Tips For Starting A Pressure Washing Business
Starting a real pressure washing business can be hard work
if you don't know the proper steps to take. So to make
things a little easier, just use these 10 tips as part of
your plan.

1) Be certain you enjoy the work. You are going to be
devoting a lot of time and energy to starting your new
pressure washing business and building it into a successful
venture, so it's vital that you truly enjoy the work.
Whether you'll be doing the physical labor yourself or just
running the business end of the company, you better be sure
you enjoy it or you'll be burned out before you even get
started.

2) Have your personal finances in check. Starting a new
power washing business can be tough. Realistically it may
be awhile before your new business actually makes any
profits. Starting your new business while your personal
finances aren't quite up to par will only put an extra
strain on you and the new power wash company.

3) Don't do it alone. It's imperative and usually
overlooked, that you have a support system while you're
starting a business (and afterwards). A family member or
friend can be someone to bounce ideas off but be sure they
give you positive feedback; some people will actually drag
you down and tell you that you're idea is crazy. Find a
successful business owner that can serve as a mentor,
someone whom has what you want. Talk with other contractors
in the pressure washing industry for support.

4) Get clients or customers first. Don't wait until you've
officially started your business to start looking for
customers, because your business won't survive without
them. Do the networking, make the contacts, sell, or even
volunteer your services just to get things rolling and to
give you some practice. You can't start marketing too soon.
You can't buy $10,000 worth of equipment and just expect
the phone to start ringing the following week.

5) Write a business plan. The main reason for writing a
business plan first is that it can help you to avoid
wasting your time and money on starting a business that
will NOT succeed. Your business plan should contain your
company's purpose, goals, budgets, projected income,
customer demographics, market analysis, advertising and
marketing plans.

6) Do extensive research. You'll do a lot of research while
writing a business plan, but that's just a start. You need
to become an expert on the pressure wash industry,
products, equipment, services, methods, and techniques if
you're not already. Joining related message boards, forums,
and attending networking events are great ideas.

7) Hire professional help. Moreover, just because you run a
small business, does not mean you have to be an expert on
everything. If you're not good at accounting or
bookkeeping, hire one (or both). As a new pressure washing
contractor you'll be tempted to wear many hats but you'll
waste more time and money in the long run by trying to do
things yourself that you're not qualified to do.

8) Have some capitol lined up. Save up if you have to or
approach potential investors and lenders. Figure out your
financial safety net plan. Don't expect to start a
professional pressure washing company on a shoe string
budget. Fly by night companies do this all the time and
that's why they are gone as fast as they came. To do this
professionally you have to look professional, and that will
cost some money initially.

9) Be professional from the get-go. Everything about you
and the way you do business needs to give people the
perception that you are a professional contractor running a
serious pressure washing service. That means getting all
the trimmings such as professional business cards, a
business phone, a professionally designed logo, matching
paper work, lettered vehicle, insurance, and treating
people in a professional, courteous manner.

10) Get the legal and tax issues right the first time. It's
much more difficult and expensive to detangle a mess
afterwards. Register your company with your State. Find out
about licensing. Make sure you have the proper amount of
general liability, commercial auto, and workmen's
compensation insurance. How will the entity of your
business affect your income tax situation? Consult with an
accountant or lawyer as to what business formation you
should set up. Learn what your legal and tax
responsibilities are before you start your pressure washing
business and operate within the law.

----------------------------------------------------
Learn more about power washing from an industry leader at
http://www.midwestprowash.com which is one of the
contracting companies marketed by Shane Hester's web site
design, seo and marketing firm.