Having been on the networking circuit now for just over 2 ½ years one of the mysteries I will never understand is why some networking groups have a “lock out” rule. By this they mean that if there is already a member in the networking group who provides a specific service another member in the same field of business cannot join. The theory behind this principle is that you will get all the business from the group instead of having to compete with a rival. It seems to me that there is something fundamentally flawed with this principle. It is basically – wrong! (said like a large bell ringing). Why? Because people buy people. As a small business we want to surround ourselves with business partners that we get on with, people who have similar understandings to our own and people we generally like doing business with.

If I join a networking group I want to be able to have choice. If I don’t have a choice then I will have to look outside of the network should I not particularly “click” with the only person in the room providing the service that I need.
The advantage of not adopting a “lock out” policy is all about the variety of characters you meet in the room – hopefully vibrant characters with their own little quirks and idiosyncrasies. How boring it would be to sit in a room where there is only one type of person from each field/service. Now when I say ‘how boring’ I must confess that I haven’t witnessed the situation personally because as I don’t agree with the principle I don’t join those types of group. I have however, often been at networking events where there have been over 5 or 6 Virtual Assistants in the room with each of us providing very different services but still under the banner of “Virtual Assistant”. When this happens, rather than feel threatened, it’s useful to find out what services your competitors actually undertake (that you might not) and use the situation to ask them if they would be willing to promote your services or form a collaboration – which in turn extends the services that you are able to provide.

I was recently contacted by a gentleman who was seeking the services of a Virtual Assistant providing all the services of a PA i.e. diary management, letters, flight bookings etc. As I don’t provide all the services he required I was pleased to be able to pass him on to another VA who does exactly what he was looking for – therefore providing a solution to his request. How disappointed he would have been if I had been the only VA in the group unable to provide the service he wanted!

There are, no doubt, some networking groups where this lock out practice may well work. For example in situations where the attendees are from large organisations and sending representatives on their behalf – so there is no point in having 3 or 4 reps from the same company. However as most networking groups are designed for small businesses let’s keep the new characters coming in and let’s keep the doors open to every sector – allowing everybody more freedom of choice.

No, I’m not being rude!  SHAG stands for Share, Hang Out, Attitude and Gossip.

I spend a lot of time both personally and as a service to my clients on Social Media sites interacting, learning, gaining useful information and soaking up as much knowledge as I can.  Each day I come across new sites, applications and news that I otherwise probably wouldn’t find.

So my question to you is this: Do you SHAG? i.e. Do you SHARE your knowledge? Just because you might think something is common knowledge I can assure you that there will be plenty of people who don’t know about what you do, the programmes you use that they might benefit from or expertise that you excel at that could help someone else.  My advice is that you should make a point of sharing at least one piece of information each day.

Do you HANG OUT on social sites at least once a day (at a minimum)? You should, because you will make on-line friends, pick up useful tips and find services that may be of use to you.

Also, make sure you have an ATTITUDE. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind, albeit in the nicest possible way.  Call me a prude if you want but personally I don’t like foul language or confrontation because I don’t think it benefits anyone. But having an attitude whereby you assist and encourage people can only be a good thing for everyone.

Finally GOSSIP – we all do it. Did you hear about “X”? How fantastic it was that “X” has secured a client – so grateful to “X” for their insight into “X” – as well as the odd bit of celebrity news that may be causing a stir!

So here’s the bottom line…

By sharing your knowledge with others not only does it help you qualify your own expertise but it helps other people too.

By hanging out and having an online presence on a daily basis means you are “open” for discussion – whether for business or for exchanging ideas.

By having the right attitude means you will become known for ‘meaning what you say’ and ‘saying what you mean’!

By taking part in Gossip means you are talking about someone or something – and that’s real life.  And gossip doesn’t have to be a bad or negative thing – someone talking about your business, or you personally, gives you and your business credibility.

So go on – I dare you! SHAG daily and enjoy!

Every time I turn on the TV there seems to be another football match dominating the channels. World Cup fever is back with a vengeance and sales of those irritating Vuvuzela trumpets are at an all time high. The eyes of the nation are firmly on the England team and we are all analysing the team strategy and tactics whilst dreaming of a return to the glories of 1966.

Whatever Fabio Capello’s secret game plan might be it’s started me thinking about my own ‘game plan’. In other words what is my strategy for ‘winning’ the next few business challenges. Who am I competing against? And what are my tactics to ensure success? After some soul searching I think I’ve got everything ready for kick off and I can almost feel my fans cheering.

But what about you?

Be honest now. What is your game plan? It’s now June and the half time whistle for 2010 has already been blown. So what is your strategy for the second half? Are you losing already or is victory now in sight? In other words – is your game plan on track or have you lost sight of your goals?

If your opponents are winning then you might already be analysing the reasons. Is it down to a loss of direction or is it something to do with bad management? Are you floundering in defence or losing the ball somewhere midfield? Are you taking every opportunity to go for goal or are you spending so much time passing the ball from A to B that you never find a moment to strike?

Okay – that’s enough of the euphemisms. The point is this. In many ways running a business is just like running a football team. It’s all about strategy, tactics, focus and delivery. If you have a good business plan then the goals you have set yourself for 2010 should already be in sight.

If you are on track to win then congratulations! If you are off-target then maybe it’s time to revisit your game plan and make some tactical changes. Maybe it’s time to reflect on your performance to date, think about where you are going astray, then re-group and move forward. Maybe it’s time to -

• Go over your service offerings
• Clean out, mothball, re-invent
• Check what your competitors are doing
• Ensure you’re promoting the right messages
• Respond to and welcome change

Only you will know whether your game plan is the right one and whether it is working or not. Maybe I can help by offering some half time advice?

Just don’t ask me to step up to the penalty spot…

I recently went back home to Kenya for a two week holiday, really excited to be returning to my original home after twelve years. It was a chance to be reunited with my son and also the perfect opportunity to take some time to relax in the sun.  Take a look at this photo – this is the view that I woke up to every morning – ah bliss! It has been twenty six years since I left Mombasa and the coast is still as beautiful as I remembered it – with sunrises and sunsets that are out of this world. 

 The run up to going away on holiday, though, was predictably hectic as anyone running a small business will appreciate. I needed to make sure that all my clients were looked after whilst I was away and thanks to my excellent secretary I knew my “typing clients” would be in safe hands. 

Included in my packing was my trusty Blackberry, and although I had been given strict instructions from Paul (my husband), that it had to be kept out of sight most of the day, I was still able to check e-mails from time to time. I was also able to flag those that needed action on my return and skip through others to be viewed at a later date.

It was while I was skipping through my e-mails that I started to ponder – ‘Why is it that we find it so difficult to “turn off”?’  Why is it, when we work so hard to have a holiday or break from work that we still insist on checking our e-mails?  Has it become second nature, a habit, an addiction even? 

If you have read “The 4-Hour Work Week” by Timothy Ferris you will understand exactly where I am coming from.  It was whilst I was relaxing and gazing out to sea that I began to think about work and how everything was going. I thought about how I should develop my business so that I could look after my existing clients as well as seek new clients while simultaneously ensuring that I continue to strive for the perfect work/life balance.  Now don’t get me wrong – this doesn’t mean that I’m planning to laze on the beach each and every day (what a thought!) but it does mean I considered ways that Paul and I could travel more; something we both enjoy.

This led me on to thinking about my business in broader terms and how it has grown over the past two and a half years – and where I would like it to go in the future.  Joanna Martin described in her recent newsletter that “For some businesses, the changing of the seasons may mean you need to re-evaluate your product or service”.   Hmm…surely I was in the perfect place to be able to do this whilst relaxing on holiday? 

So I took some time to re-evaluate the services I provide already and asked myself did all of them work?  What services could I remove?  Maybe I should think about the ones that were taking up a lot of my time for little income? And what services could I introduce that could be beneficial to both my clients and myself? Quite quickly I was able to see what areas needed pruning or adjusting – and once I had made those decisions my mind was free to contemplate new areas.  By dusting off the elements that were clouding my judgement I was then able to see a way forward – so watch out for some new services that will be coming up! 

So my point is this: have you taken any time recently to reflect on your business? If not, perhaps you too need to take some time out. It doesn’t matter whether it is a two week holiday somewhere exotic or just a long weekend. The important thing is to step away from your business long enough to take an independent view from a new perspective.  My advice is to do this before more time slips through your fingers, because time taken to reflect on where you have come from, and where you are going, is never time wasted.

And you never know, you might well be very surprised at what you see – and what you can learn.

In my profession as a Virtual Assistant one of the most common questions I get asked is “So what exactly is a Virtual Assistant, and what do they do?” For many people in business the concept of a Virtual Assistant (or ‘VA’) is well understood, but for other people I find that I need to carefully explain what services a Virtual Assistant can provide.

So in this blog I have decided to explain in simple terms exactly what a Virtual Assistant is and show how a VA can help businesses both large and small. In simple terms, a Virtual Assistant is an independent administrative assistant just like any other Assistant, Secretary or PA. The difference is that in this case a VA does not physically work within your office premises but works remotely using technology to service all your business needs and requirements.

Although no two VA’s are likely to provide identical offerings, most VA’s tend to focus on a number of core business services. Typically these would include secretarial type services like making phone calls and following them up, sending e-mails and physical mail, scheduling appointments, taking messages and even electronic filing. In addition, some VA’s will also maintain your web presence by managing your social media sites; Facebook, Linked-In and Twitter for example.

Some VA’s will also offer to maintain your business website or your blog, arrange mail-shot campaigns, arrange the distribution of company newsletters, write press releases and assist with general sales and marketing activities. For example, as part of my own business I look after a number of clients who need a 24/7 presence on the web through the medium of social media.   I am able to set up their accounts and profiles thus giving them the web presence they require.

The advantages of using the services of a Virtual Assistant are many, but crucially it can prove to be a very cost-effective way of working. By using a VA your business will not have to pay for office space, a PC or office equipment, Internet connection, printer, phone, filing cabinet or desk. Also, because your VA is not on the company payroll, you do not have the additional expenses of health insurance, national insurance, sick pay and holidays. Also, most VA’s already have prior experience of working in an office environment and therefore need very little training in order to start becoming productive.

If you are running a business that uses a Virtual Assistant you will often find that they become an integral part of your team, providing a number of key benefits. To make the most of the services of a VA however, it is worth taking the time to plan exactly how to utilise this important resource to best advantage. For example, think about which tasks can be delegated to a VA, structure these tasks into a priority order and then discuss with your VA how these tasks can best be scheduled. In many cases a VA will specialise in a particular aspect of business and it is worth taking advantage of this expertise if possible.

Realistically, taking on the services of a VA is not always as cheap as taking on a school leaver or part-time Administrative Assistant, but because of their professional experience and reliability it is often more cost effective to utilise the services of a good VA than risk putting your business relationships into the hands of inexperienced staff. Also, it is always advisable to find a VA who is able to offer a wide range of skills than to use the services of a number of different VA’s – because a good VA who understands your business and is able to operate using their own initiative is a much better option than farming work out to a number of different individuals – and then having to coordinate their efforts.

The bottom line is that a good VA can be worth their weight in gold because they free up your time to focus on the most important parts of your business, while you are secure in the knowledge that all your administrative duties are being taken care of by a professional that you can trust.

Don’t forget that if you want any further information on any of the above topics then please do get in touch. On The Go is already helping successful businesses in many of the ways described above – as well as implementing their social networking strategies, helping them set up a consistent company profile and scheduling their media messages to give them a 24/7 web presence.

In my previous blogs I have covered the benefits of using some of the leading social media sites, followed by the advantages of using social media management tools like Ping.fm and scheduling tools like Postlater.com.
I’d now like to move on and take a look at those businesses, large or small, that require a 24/7 presence on the web but don’t have the time to spare to remain quality focused, consistent and constant. Such businesses have my wholehearted support because I know how difficult it can be.

We all know just how important it is to build up a rapport with ones followers’ as well as keeping lines of communication open. The like – know – trust – strap line expresses succinctly the way relationships are built, the same as when we first meet someone face to face.  However, the reality is that when an advert is placed in a magazine there is no way of predicting who might look at it.  In other words you have had no personal interaction with the individuals who are attracted to the advert. Yet this doesn’t stop you from placing the advert and the magazine isn’t going to turn your advert down because you don’t know your target market.  So the key is to adopt the same strategy for your social media presence.  Simply place your posts and adverts linking to your website as you would in a magazine and thereby give your business the exposure it needs on the web.  You will soon start picking up followers, start to build up a rapport, find common interests, hopefully get to like them and eventually trust them.
 
Obviously it takes time to build up a “quality” list of followers on any network.  Don’t be tempted to subscribe to any application that promises to generate 100,000 of followers though – what is the point?  It is far better to have 50 genuine followers who are interested in you and your business than thousands of followers.

As a Virtual Assistant (VA) I look after clients who need a 24/7 presence on the web through the medium of social media.  By setting up their accounts, profiles and producing a continuous stream of posts I am able to give them the presence they require on the web thus giving them the space and time to focus on their day-to-day business.  I do, however, encourage them to spend a few minutes a day ‘personalising’ their posts so that it reflects their own personality and style. 
Sometimes though I am criticised for this approach to social media with comments like:
“You shouldn’t automate your tweets.”
“Don’t post the same information on every site.”
“Not everyone is on Twitter so don’t place an RT (re-tweet) message on LinkedIn, Facebook, FriendFeed etc.”
 
Most people involved with social media will be familiar with the most popular top sites.  Some of them are our preferred sites that we frequent daily, hourly, even every few minutes during a typical day.  Other sites we might just visit once a day or once a week. Occasionally, however, we find something of interest on what I refer to as the “dippers” and it’s often worth remaining with them, both from the perspective of finding interesting articles, potential new contacts and possibly items of general business interest. These may also open up new avenues to further promote your business.
 
In my view I don’t think anyone should say “do this” or “don’t do that”.  Each of us will try our own marketing strategies depending on what we feel comfortable with and I firmly believe that everyone has a right to experiment until they find what works best for them as individuals and as businesses. If you are in business and some of these issues resonate with you, then why not consider utilising the services of a professional VA to help you establish your own 24/7 presence? It might just be just what you need to start getting the phone to ring more often!

Don’t forget that if you want any further information on any of the above topics then please do get in touch. On The Go is already helping successful businesses implement their social networking strategies from helping them set up a consistent company profile through to scheduling their media messages giving them a 24/7 web presence.

In my last blog I talked about why using social networking sites can be such powerful business tools and why thinking in terms of ‘conversations’ rather than ‘campaigns’ is so important. I also looked at some of the most influential social networking sites on the market today, in particular Twitter and LinkedIn.

In this blog I want to start building on these themes and explore two more important social network sites that should be considered as part of your overall business profile raising strategy. These are Facebook and Tube Mogul.

Facebook

The rise of Facebook has been phenomenal by any standard and despite some negative publicity relating to parental control and occasional misuse; the site owners have recently tightened up their act and made Facebook an extremely powerful tool. Incredibly, if Facebook were a country it would be the 8^th most populated in the world, just ahead of Japan with approximately five billion minutes spent by users on Facebook every day.

Until very recently I tended to view Facebook as purely a ‘social’ site, using it mainly as a way of keeping in touch with my son who is overseas, and the thought of using it for business purposes never occurred to me. However, Facebook is actually more versatile than you might think and there are some useful features for business and professional purposes that should be considered as part of any overall social networking strategy.

In essence a Facebook page should be viewed as a customisable presence for any business or organisation and therefore as another mechanism to raise awareness of a brand or service. The ‘Wall’ tab can be used as the central point for new information and new content where ‘fans’ can also contribute. ‘Fans’ in the business context are all potential advocates of your brand and should always be considered as such.

The tab structure of Facebook provides the facility to organise information in a structured way so topics like events, reviews and discussions can all be arranged in a way that is easy to navigate. Facebook, like other social networking sites, is all about creating a persona on the web, regardless of whether it is a ‘personal’ persona or a ‘business’ persona. One of the best ways to demonstrate your company’s personality is by using specific applications like the ‘extended info app’. This app allows you to create things like question and answer categories which can be created specifically for business purposes. The key to success is making the content topical, interesting, creative and accessible.

These ideas are only the tip of the iceberg, however. The key message is to think creatively of how Facebook can be used as a business tool to attract viewers to your products and services through a communication medium that is easy on the eye, easy to navigate and easy to understand

Tube Mogul

If you are looking for an application to distribute your videos across your various social media sites then ‘TubeMogul’ is definitely worth a visit. In order to reap the benefits of this site you will firstly need to set up accounts with all your existing video sources and then link them into Tube Mogul. Once you have done that you can use the facility of TubeMogul to distribute your videos. So what exactly is Tube Mogul?

Basically Tube Mogul claims to be the first online “video analytics and distribution company” serving publishers who need independent information about video performance on the Internet. It also provides an automated upload to the top video sharing sites currently on the web including: YouTube, Vimeo, Blip TV, DailyMotion and Viddler.

Tube Mogul’s web site states that its analytic technology aggregates video-viewing data from multiple sources to give publishers an improved understanding of when, where and how often their videos are watched. It also tracks and compares what’s hot and what’s not, measures the impact of marketing campaigns, gathers competitive intelligence, and enables the sharing of data with colleagues or friends.

In my next blog I’m going to take a look at two more useful social networking sites – Ping.fm and Postlater.com – until then, see you in cyberspace!

Don’t forget that if you want any further information on any of the above topics then please do get in touch. On The Go is already helping successful businesses implement their social networking strategies from helping them set up a consistent company profile through to scheduling their media messages giving them a 24/7 web presence.