Happy Holidays Everyone! I hope you and your family are relaxing and enjoying! I had the best present waiting for me under the tree this year. Santa did very well! Here’s a picture of my little bundle of Christmas Joy Kelly. She’s keeping me very busy and entertained. This isn’t the best picture but who has time!
My Little Christmas Bundle of Joy Kelly!
Task 3 of the Sticky Business Contest asks us to outline how we will price our products or service. Just a reminder I’m not actually participating in the contest, I’m just following along and completing the tasks myself. Which you can also do, you’ll find all the tasks by visiting Men with Pens and looking at the posts having to do with the Sticky Business Contest. Here is how I determined the rates for the services provided by Gem’s Virtual Office.
“Deciding what to charge for your services, is probably one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make when it comes to your business. You of course want to make a profit, but at the same time you don’t want the per hour charge to be set so high that it turns potential clients away. In deciding how much to charge per hour for Gem’s services I relied on several different sources:
The first thing I did was to start researching the virtual assistant industry. On both Virtual Assistant Forums and VANA, which are two forums I belong to, rates are discussed almost on a daily basis. Someone always has a question on what they should charge. I spent a lot of time going through the numerous threads on the subject and asking questions. I then began looking at other Virtual Assistant’s websites to see what they were charging. I looked for VA’s that had comparable experience and services to mine and took an average of that.
In reading all the threads on the forums, I came across a recommendation for Freelance Switch’s Hourly Rate Calculator. It’s a pretty simple tool to use and only takes about a half hour to complete after you gather the information to fill in all the blanks. So I did all the math and came up with their suggested rate.
I then took another step and researched rates in my local area to see if what I had come up with rate wise was within reason. And they were, so finally, I took the average from my virtual assistant research and the suggested Freelance Switch rate, which were pretty close in number, and decided to vary the rate depending on the services that a client requires. Determining your rates should not be a quick decision. Do the research first and use one of the many rate calculators that are available online to help you.
On Gem’s website you will find a Rate Comparison Chart, which compares the rates of working with a Virtual Assistant vs. hiring an employee. Take a look at it and see how working with a Virtual Assistant can save your business money today!”
That’s it for Task 3, can’t wait to move onto Task 4. I’d love to know if you’ve been following the contest and participating yourself. And if you haven’t why not get started today! Thanks again to Men with Pens for letting everyone benefit from this contest!
I’ve been trying to come up with a really good system to keep myself organized so that I don’t forget to do all the little things for my business that make a difference.
What am I talking about? Marketing and networking of course! In order for a business to grow, we need clients, if we don’t market our services and network with others; we’re not going to accomplish that.
So I decided on this little idea, that I’m sure isn’t original, but it just might work for me. I’ve got this huge bulletin board that I’m going to put up right where I can see it everyday and am using post-it notes to ask myself short little questions like this:
• Did you contact a least 2 new potential clients or referral partners this week?
• Did you comment on someone else’s blog this week?
• Did you go to a networking event this week?
• Did you spend an hour researching leads this week?
• Did I write in my success journal yet today?
• Did you read and contribute to your favorite forum?
This also goes along with the Get Clients Now program that I’ve been using to get my marketing butt in gear! Knowing myself, seeing these reminders everyday should help me keep on track. Also on my board will be a list of weekly and monthly goals, my To Do list, a calendar of personal and business appointments for the week, and my never ending grocery list!
What would you put on your reminder board? Do you think post-it notes will work? Or will they end up taking over my life?
Task 2 of the Men with Pens Sticky Business contest asks you to write a brief plan of how you expect to convince prospects that your business is different then your competition. If you had 60 seconds to convince a prospect, what would you say?
First of all, I want to say that I don’t necessarily think of other Virtual Assistants as my competition. I like to think of us as a family all working towards the same goal. The goal being to offer our services and assistance to business’s, to help them grow, and to help them free up valuable time to enjoy life and family. Gem’s does offer a service for local clients though that you don’t normally see from a Virtual Assistant, and below is my 60 second approach to that!
“The majority of Virtual Assistants and their business’s work strictly virtually. Working virtually means that you may never meet your assistant in person. All work and projects are completed online using e-mail, fax, remote access and other internet based technology.
Gem’s Virtual Office is different in that not only does it offer services virtually, but on-site assistance is also available for local clients if and when they need it. Gem’s believes a solid relationship is built on trust, mutual respect, and solid communication. This can be acquired working together virtually, but I can think of no better way to start working on the relationship then being able to meet face to face and shake hands!”
Hopefully you are following this contest and enjoying it as much as I am. It has given me the opportunity to take a second look at my goals for myself and my business, and to strength those goals by getting them down on paper once again! Can’t wait to tackle Task #3, thanks again Men With Pens!
Are you following along with the Sticky Business Contest over at Men with Pens? As mentioned in a previous post the contest is well underway and you can no longer enter, but you can follow along and complete the thought provoking tasks for yourself just as I’m doing.
Task #1 was to write a brief overview of your business concept in 200-350 words. Explaining the business type, services, where you’ll find customers, how they will hear about your business, and how will they take delivery and pay for your services. Here’s my completed task.
“Gem’s Virtual Office is a small business owned by Deborah Frawley of Williamson, NY. It was originally opened as a virtual business offering bookkeeping and administrative services to small businesses and individuals needing an additional person to help them manage and grow their business. Today Gem’s is not only virtual, supporting businesses in any location, but also a local business, offering pick up and delivery of projects as well as onsite support as needed.
Some of the bookkeeping services that Gem’s offers are: Accounts Payable (entering and paying bills), Accounts Receivable (invoicing customers and recording payments), collections of overdue accounts, financial statement preparation (so a client always knows where their business stands), and bank account management and reconciling. Gem’s bookkeeping software of choice is Quickbooks and Deb is a certified Quickbooks user. Clients can choose to have the bookkeeping done at Gem’s home office with reports generated weekly, use the online version of QuickBooks, or their software can be accessed remotely using programs such as Log Me In. Administrative services provided include: e-mail and calendar management, data entry, customer service, word processing, bulk mailing, and travel arrangements.
Gem’s will be marketing and networking locally and nationally on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Brochures and postcards are also being sent out locally, and businesses and individuals can view Gem’s website at www.gemsvirtualoffice.com. I’ll also look forward to meeting a lot of local businesses and people at area networking events.”
If you’ve been following along with the contest please share. It’s been a very good tool and motivational exercise for me, and you might find it to be the same for you. Check back in the next few days and you can read my response to Task #2.
To see the Tasks as they post them for people to join in and to hear how the Stick Business contest is going, visit Men with Pens.
Over at Men with Pens, a blog I really enjoy reading, they have this awesome contest going on. It’s called the Sticky Business Contest. The Contest is well underway and you can no longer enter, but what they are doing is letting their readers join in by completing the same tasks the contestants are.
The tasks are thought provoking questions that any business owner really should know the answer to. My thoughts are that not only is this good for new business but also for existing businesses. Take a look at the tasks that have been posted so far right here.
I’m going to join right in and start completing the tasks and post my answers here on my blog. I think it will not only give everyone a sense of who I am, but also what Gem’s Virtual Office is all about.
Check it out! You might find that it will be good for your business too. I’ll let you know when I’ve completed the first two tasks!
Are you one of those brave souls who battled the crowds on Black Friday? Were you pushed and shoved rushing into the stores for that one item on sale that everyone else wanted too? I can’t believe the stories we heard at the end of the day! A man died, fights broke out, and people were trampled.
I just don’t get it! What one item could possibly be worth all that? The special someone on my list wants the Sony BDP350 Blue Ray Player, and it was on sale Thanksgiving Day for $100.00 off, but I just couldn’t bring myself to get up and wait in line at 6am. So my plan was to get to the store right after I got the turkey in oven! Well that didn’t work, I called 3 different stores at 7:05am and they were already sold out! Were there really that many people in line before the store even opened that wanted just that item? And how many did the store actually have in stock?
Apparently I’m just not a good shopper because I really don’t understand the excitement that people feel for Black Friday! Do you have any Black Friday stories to share; did you brave the crowds to get that special gift?
The Holidays are here again, and if you’re anything like me your probably wondering how do I get it all done! The simple answer is hire a Virtual Assistant!
Gem’s could:
Send out all your Holiday Cards
Shop online for that special gift at the best price!
Research your travel arrangements
Send out Holiday party invitations
Shop online for employee gifts
And thats just to name a few. Lets get that Holiday To Do List done together!
Since my Holiday Resolution is to concentrate on marketing, I purchased the book Get Clients Now by C.J. Hayden. Its a 28-Day Marketing Program for Professionals, Consultants, and Coaches.
The program consists of picking your marketing strategies, the Success Ingredients needed and daily and weekly actions that you will use in your new marketing plan. If you need a kick to get your marketing started and a easy to follow plan that will keep you on your toes then this might be the program for you.
Knowing that I really need to start concentrating more on marketing my business I decided to make it a New Years Resolution. But then thought well that’s silly! Why wait till the first of the year, this is something I should start now! So that’s what I’m doing and we’ll call it a Holiday Resolution instead.
So what Holiday Resolutions have you set for yourself and business?
