Making a small world smaller
It never fails to amaze me with how the universe can send the right people into your life at the right time. Last year I took VA Classroom’s social media marketing specialist program and really enjoyed it. When VA Classroom offered an updated version for 2010 I signed up immediately. I wanted to learn more about what was new in the industry.
The requirement for completing the course was to create a social media marketing program for a business.
During the course I connected with a lady by the name of Lori Shandle-Fox on Linked In. She has written a fascinating book and is hoping to get it published – it will be the first of a fascinating series of books. Honestly, I can see it as a reality show. She had questions about WordPress, should she self-host or use WordPress’ site. Many people answered her question and she ultimately decided to self host. She then asked questions about themes, customizing them, etc. and again I offered by two cents. Over the course of emails we developed a relationship which ultimately led to a phone conversation. We bonded over the fact that she is a stand up comic and I am a comedy fanatic.
I felt comfortable enough with Lori to offer to do a social media plan to get reader interest, develop a following to hopefully attract the right attention that someone will publish it for her and generate pre-orders for book sales (whether she self-published or worked with a publisher). I told her it was a win-win for both of us; she’d get a social media marketing plan and I have a juicy subject for my VA Classroom assignment.
This morning I received word from Craig Cannings of VA Classroom that I successfully completed the assignment and passed the course. This has led me to definitely decide that I want to market my social media services to authors. Why? Their work is fascinating. I’m a fledgling author, working on my first novel and I love reading. So as they say in the networking world, “you never know who anyone else knows”, if you know authors who would like a social media action plan set up and implemented, please pass my website URL along to them.
I absolutely love how the social networking world has made a small world smaller and how it brings people together and removes boundaries. Craig Cannings of VA Classroom is in British Columbia, Canada. Lori is in Raleigh, NC and I’m in Ontario. Amazing, isn’t it?
Check out: http://www.vaclassroom.com and http://www.laughingISconceivable.com (content coming soon)
Does Direct Mail Work? Yes!
Many times we send out marketing material and wonder if it ever gets kept or if it is tossed in the recycling bin with the flyers for pizza, window cleaning, duct cleaning, etc. I had an experience last week made me aware that marketing is not done in vain.
I had a call from a lady who had a flyer I sent about 1-1/2 years ago. She needed to have her receipts entered into a spreadsheet for her accountant. I met with her this morning and after looking at what she had, we determined that a bookkeeper would be a much better service for her than hiring me. We discussed her business and we saw a fit for working together in other ways, but bookkeeping wasn’t one of them.
It’s funny because I was starting to wonder if direct mail is a waste of time and money. The call from that very nice potential client affirmed that direct addressed mail is not a waste of time.
If you need help with putting together a mailing list and getting a mail merge completed and mailed, give me a call. I’d love to help!
Why a consultant and not an assistant?
Many in my industry call themselves Virtual Assistants. So why do I call myself a Consultant you may ask? People have said, “but don’t you just type and file and stuff?”
Well, the short answer is “yes and no”. Yes, I type, transcribe tape, prepare spreadsheets and all that kind of work, BUT I can also act as a consultant. A brain storming partner if you will. I take the time to get to know my clients’ businesses so I can help them much more efficiently.I advise on social media strategies and in the admin area, sometimes come up with ideas for projects that the client may not have thought of.
For example:
Chris Greaves (chrisgreaves.com) contacted me several months ago. He responded to a letter I had recently sent to him. He was kind of skeptical – he wasn’t sure I could help him. He had several Microsoft Word macros / add ins he needed help with testing to ensure they would work. He took a chance and sent me a cheque for five hours of my time. I was able to test his programs and give some input on how they worked, made suggestions to add to documentation and he was sold.
One program in particular, a one-click index program is able to save the user HOURS of time creating an index in Microsoft Word. I spread the word amongst the virtual assistant industry and several were interested. I also took the liberty of sending an e-mail to the Board of Directors of Microsoft in Seattle as well as a Canadian ex-senior Microsoft Executive (and yes, we got replies). I also drafted a press release for him and provided him with sources to submit the press release to.
So, as you can see, some Virtual Assistants do more than just type. When I was in the corporate world, I had one manager in particular who would occasionally call me in to chat to ask my opinion on some issues. If you are a consultant and you had a really outstanding assistant when you were in the corporate world and miss having that person to bounce ideas off of, consider Prime Admin Solutions.
Let Prime Admin Solutions be your extra set of eyes, extra pair of hands and most importantly, another set of ears.
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