Get Social or Get Lost

Social media is where your customers (and mine) are. If you're not getting social, you're getting lost in the shuffle....

Welcome An Aspiring Photographer

I am so proud to announce the arrival of my daughter's new website:
Michele Trombly Photography

Michele is quite creative I must say. From the engaging content of her blogs to the cute little clay pieces she fusses over in her studio, she always amazes me with her artistic ability. She carries a camera with her everywhere. Sometimes it's a digital camera, or it's her dad's vintage Pentax camera.

I am so blessed to be surrounded by so many creative people in my family. Please visit Michele's site and if you find yourself inspired by her work do let her know.

I Get Asked This All The Time...

"How can I get started as a Virtual Assistant?"
There you have it, the number one question I receive on a regular basis. 

What? You Are ALREADY an Administrative Professional!
The crazy thing is that I am asked, "How can I get started as a virtual assistant?" by people who are currently working in an office as an administrative assistant. So you may ask why I consider this crazy...well, as an onsite assistant you already have the skills necessary to get started as a virtual assistant. The next step is to work on making your transition. Here's the quick list:

• Do your research and choose your niche
• Network, network, network (online and offline)
• Transition part time and work up to full-time
• Consider hiring a seasoned VA to coach you

 

Summer Reading - Livin' the Moment

I Recently Read... 
I really enjoyed David Romanelli's book, Yeah Dave's Guide to Livin' the Moment: Getting to Ecstasy Through Wine, Chocolate and Your iPod Playlist, I found David's humor to be quite entertaining and it was cleverly sprinkled within his noteworthy thought-inspiring words.

Summer Reading List
What are your summer picks for reading? Would you like some suggestions? Leave a comment and let me know.

Plagiarism on Your Blog? Oh No!

If you have other folks contributing to your blog it is very important that you keep an eye out for plagiarism happening within your very own blog. This is something that many folks don't think about, but they really should. Your online reputation is golden and it's best to strive to keep it that way. If your subcontracted help or contributing guest blogger is in a rush, they may take a shortcut that could cost you.

You'll find some helpful tools for detecting plagiarism here: 4 Easy Ways to Avoid Plagiarism on Your Blog

Remember, if you need help with original content for your website or blog help is just a click away. Stay safe out there!

Enhancing the Customer Experience

When was the last time you went out of your way, or above and beyond for a customer or client? What kind of feedback or result did you receive? Do you believe in just meeting the needs of your customers? How about making it a goal to consistently exceed them?

What a Customer Wants

• To be listened to
• Respect
  
• A good deal
• A guarantee
• To be appreciated

Customer Loyalty
What keeps your customers coming back? Are you asking for their business? Are you staying in touch with them and learning what their needs and expectations are? These questions are presented to you to simply request that you take the time to see yourself and your business from the perspective of your customers.

Check Your Calendars

As the holiday season quickly approaches, I'm reminded to purchase a refill for my Day Runner Planner. In the past I used a larger desktop size planner called PlanAhead. I am opting for my smaller, portable planner for 2010 as a another way to simplify.

If you need to order a Day Runner refill click here. Or perhaps you are the do-it-yourself kind of person that would prefer checking out printing your own planner pages, if so, click here.

Let’s Light It Up! – The Entrepreneur Theme Song

Let’s Light It Up! – The Entrepreneur Theme Song

Social Marketing Is Relationship Building

Put Your Best Face Forward
The saying used to be "Put your best foot forward." Well now, I would like to suggest that instead, you put your best FACE forward! What I mean is with your use of Facebook. It's a great site for keeping up with your friends, just don't underestimate its power when it comes to marketing yourself and/or your business.

Your Image is Yours to Protect
If you post comments about behavior that is unbecoming of an employee or business owner, guess what? People will read about your exploits and develop an image based upon what you share. The same goes for the photos that you post. Think before you post, always!

Relationships Can Grow Online
Recently I was honored to meet in person someone I have been friends with exclusively online. I consider her a mentor and I was honored that she visited me at my home office. To my delight, when she arrived she gave me a great big bear hug and exclaimed, "Finally we meet! I feel I've known you for such a long time!" Nurture your online relationships and reap the rewards of friendship as well as potential future business growth.

Editing Part III: Tips On Editing Your Own Work

Guest Blogger Sharon Sutinen, Editor and Owner of Vital Virtual Services shares her expertise with us in her third post in the series about editing. Enjoy!

Editing Part III: Tips On Editing Your Own Work
If you cannot afford to hire a good editor, then you need to put forth the time and effort to go through your own work more than once. Here are some tips to help you spot some common problems:

• SPELLCHECK your work! While it is true that a spellchecker cannot catch all errors and will miss quite a few, too, it will still catch some.
• Do not assume all the corrections that the spellchecker is suggesting are correct. Sometimes they don’t have it right.
• Read it out loud. Often just hearing the words will help you pinpoint poor sentence structure and misspellings.
• Print it out and read it to a child or baby as if it is a bedtime story. This helps take the material out of context and less “comfortable” for you, allowing your brain less ability to “fill in” what isn’t there.
  
• Wait at least a day after writing your material to reread it.
  

In addition, you should invest in a good dictionary, a good thesaurus, and an English Grammar book. One of my favorites is The Little, Brown Handbook" by Fowler. It is very easy to look up grammar rules and they always give very relevant examples so you can figure out what’s best. Keep these reference books handy and don’t be afraid to consult with them.

Thanks for reading, good luck and happy writing!