inside the office

Last Friday I attended the 3rd Annual Online VA Summit and I must say that it rocked. While I wasn’t able to attend all of the sessions (three at a time all throughout the day), the ones that I did make it to were great. Carrie Wilkerson (The Barefoot Executive) presented a great talk on “Networking & Relationship Building for Success: Connect & Grow Rich”, during which I took lots of notes and am eager to put them into action. Sharon Williams, who has an impressive career history, presented great workshops on “Marketing Your VA Business Without Breaking the Bank” and developing a personal brand identity. The key note address was given by Craig Cannings and while I was only able to catch the last half of it, I am eagerly awaiting the availability of the recordings so that I can hear the entire presentation.
I have to say that the concept of an online summit is so perfect for us in the virtual world and though I strongly encourage everyone that can attend the Live Summit in April every year to do so, I think that the online Summit is just as important. And it’s an even better option for those that, for whatever reason, are unable to attend a live Summit. And the whole day is recorded, so it’s easily accessible for later review. What a fabulous day!

Every April, the International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA) holds a VA Summit, which I attended for the first time this past April. After I got over my mommy concern about leaving my at the time 18 month old daughter alone with her father for four days, I had a blast. There were some fabulous speakers, like Dave Lieber, Debbra Sweet, and Stephanie Frank, and lots of invaluable information and resources. I also had the opportunity to connect with many people that, prior to then, were just names in my inbox.
The 2009 VA Summit will be held in Montreal, Canada, and I was very much looking forward to attending. Until I realized that my husband is very likely to be deployed during that time and therefore my built-in childcare would be missing. A wonderfully timed message from another hopeful attendee reminded me that Montreal is within driving distance and I began to concoct a plan – that first required that I let go of my mommy concern. Or at least suspend it for a few days. And now? I’m excited and eagerly anticipating next year’s batch of fabulous speakers, friendly connections, and great information. And, a long over-due road trip.
Until next April, however, I’ll have to depend on this Friday’s Online International Virtual Assistants Convention. Check back next week for a review.
Until then, I wish you all happy days and business success!

I recently read that in order to grow – as a person, as a business, whatever – first, you have to let go. You have to let go of the things that are holding you back, whether it’s comfort, complacency, fear of failure, fear of the unknown, or just because you don’t know what to do next. This struck me as one of those things you hear and carry with you throughout your life.

Someone once said that, at some point, we will all be promoted beyond our abilities. That doesn’t mean that you can’t grow into your new position, that your abilities won’t grow with you. But, at some point, you will find yourself in a situation that you are not 100% prepared for.

These two things together have changed the way I think about things. Every new adventure I have undertaken in life, such as college, moving away from my family, marriage, having a child and starting a business, has been something that I stepped in to under-prepared. I thought I knew what I was doing, or at least thought I knew how much I didn’t know, but was always surprised. And in order to succeed at any of these things, I first had to let go of whatever was holding me back, including my preconceived notions of how easy/difficult/fun/boring it was supposed to be. And in letting go, I discovered how truly successful I could be. And how much am looking forward to the next great adventure.

As with anything else, I’ve done a lot of research before starting my
blog. On of the articles that I came across recommended having several
blog posts available before you really market or advertise that you
have a blog. The idea behind it is that if market a new blog, and only
have one post for visitors to read, they can’t really get a feeling
for who you are, how you write, and whether or not they want to come
back to or subscribe to your blog. This thought kind of brings me back
to the blog planning stages when I was deciding whether or not to blog.

So why should a business blog? Here are some of the reasons that I found:
1. Blogs allow your customers and potentials to make a personal
connection with you. This isn’t a formatted, generic brochure. Blogs
allow your customers to talk with you.

2. Blogs help you get the scoop on small problems before they turn
into big problems. Whether its a customer service issue, or a product
or service that your customers are looking for that you don’t offer,
knowledge sooner puts you in a better position to repair the issue
while minimizing the potential for customer loss and lost revenue.

3. Blog allow you to converse with your customers – even all of them,
at once! Where else can you carry on multiple conversations with your
customers, colleagues, critics, and compatriots, while also giving
them the opportunity to converse with each other, without typing up
phone lines on a mega-conference call?

4. Blogs let you share you knowledge and can help to position you as
an expert in your field. You can have the best, most professional and
well-written copy on your website. But what does that actually say
about you? Because blogs are so personal, even business blogs, your
community gets a better understanding of your knowledge and expertise
by reading you blog.

5. Blogs can help your search engine ranking. Search engines crave new
and fresh content, and tend to pay more attention (and more ranking
weight) to sites that are updated frequently – like a blog. This is
also a great way to get other sites and sub-domains crawled by the
search engine bots. Once the bots know you’re there, and how often you
update, they’ll come back on a more regular schedule.

Still not convinced? I’d love to hear your reasons why (and why not)
you think a blog is essential for a business. Your idea might be the
catalyst another reader needs to start a blog and grow their business.

If you’ve ever taken a programming class, you may know that “Hello, World!” is traditionally the first project that you create. Even blogs, as installed on your server, come with the default “Hello, World!” initial post. Well, I’ve decided to stick with the tradition. This, my inaugural blog post, shall remain entitled “Hello, World!”
Web-savvy marketers will tell you that a blog is essential to the success of the modern business. Why? Because blogs, as well as other Web 2.0 tools, allow your customers to interact with you. Gone are the days of one-sided conversations between businesses and their audience. Blogs, social networking, social bookmarking, RSS feeds and podcasts all allow for increased interactivity with your audience. Personally, I’m a huge fan.
Before Web 2.0 initiaitives, the only ways for businesses to know what their customers were thinking usually involved huge amounts of energy, resources, time, and money, for a considerably low return. If you sent out surveys to your customers, how many do you think you would get back? What about organizing a focus group? These methods may absolutely still be applicable to the modern business model, and now there are so many more options to choose from.
Another great plus of increased interactivity? It’s more immediate. I post this blog today, and how long do you think it will be before someone comments? Well, okay. Maybe that’s a poor example because, as a new blog in the blogosphere, it could be a while before someone lands on mine. But consider the immediate impact of posts to blogs for large, well-known companies.
I’m excited to see who comes to visit my blog, and what they have to say. I’m excited to be able to share with my audience the many tips, resources, and business suggestions that are swirling around in my head each day. And as I sign off on this, my maiden blog voyage, I ask you to tune in to more thoughts from beyond…