I was recently interviewed by Lisa Girard, writer at Entrepreneur.com. The article focused on the fear associated with selling your product or services.

Here are my five tips:

1. Don’t be afraid to sell yourself.
You are your most valuable commodity. Whether you are selling a product or service, you first have to sell yourself.

2. Sell to those you have already sold to.
Don’t reinvent the wheel. If you already have clients in your sales funnel, you have ready-made sales leads.

3. Ask your existing clients for a testimonial.
Your best sales team are you clients. Ask them for testimonials. If you have openings, ask your clients for referrals. Proudly display them on your website.

4. Don’t be afraid to consistently improve your products or services.
Take classes or sign up for webinars to learn new software, programs and ways to improve your skill set.

5. Be confident in your abilities and your products.
You can be your worst enemy. The only one afraid of your price is you! Test the market. If it doesn’t sell, try a new approach. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!

For me, training is the key. If I’m not confident in myself and my abilities, I can’t expect new or existing clients to have confidence in my abilities to provide optimal service.

The Internet is constantly changing, with new and innovative ways for marketing and selling your products and services always looming over the horizon. If you are looking to hire a great virtual assistant or an online business manager, you’ve got to find one who keeps up with the ever-changing online technology and your ever-changing business needs. You can hire a virtual assistant to handle just one or two short-term tasks, or you can create a long-term business relationship with them where they are “on call” for any internet business need that arises.

Therefore, before you can begin interviewing prospective virtual assistants, you need to define the perfect virtual assistant for you. Get out a piece of paper and answer this question for yourself: What tasks do you want your assistant to take over? It can be the mundane, such as posting videos to your sites and social network profiles. Or it can be the advanced, such as building social networking profiles for you, from the ground up.

Start shopping for potential virtual assistants by obtaining referrals. Ask your business colleagues and friends if they have recommendations. Then check them out online. The best candidates may not necessarily have huge corporate-looking websites. Look for clean, uncluttered websites and profiles with clear information.

Whether potential candidates are referred to you or you just found them while surfing the ‘net, check out their reputation. Google that individual’s name and company. Do they have a solid online presence and have they received positive feedback from past clients? Do they look good online? Look at the testimonials, services they offer, etc. This will give you some basic info, such as how long a prospective virtual assistant has been at it and their education and training.

Also request some client recommendations. It’s okay though, if they cannot supply you with names of past clients, because some past clients may have requested that their names remain private. This is especially true in industries where business marketing and new product news is held under lock and key.

Be aware that some virtual assistant companies act more like agencies. They outsource talent to do the work for you. The danger in this is that the person you interview over the phone may not be the person doing the work for you. Could they be asking someone in a foreign county to do your precious work for pennies on the dollar? If so, that’s ok as long as the work is being done to your precise specifications. This is where a virtual assistant acts as your project manager or online business manager.

Therefore, when you’re interviewing for your virtual assistant, it’s important to be talking with the person who is directly responsible for completing your tasks, regardless of whether you are going through a large virtual assistant company or not.

Wikipedia.org defines a Virtual Assistant as the following: “A Virtual Assistant (or simply VA), is an independent contractor providing administrative, technical, or sometimes creative assistance to clients – usually to other independent entrepreneurs and solo and small business practices, such as that of a lawyer or realtor. Virtual Assistants work from their own office (hence “virtual”), thus making it a fairly popular (and growing) profession.” In simple terms, a Virtual Assistant acts as your own “satellite office”… without the office overhead!

The use of virtual assistant services is especially beneficial to small business entrepreneurs who need various administrative tasks/projects completed, but may not have need nor budget for full-time employees and office space. Virtual Assistants are responsible for their own taxes as self-employed sub-contractors, and do not collect standard employee benefits. Virtual assistance is used only on an as-needed basis.

Why You Should Hire a Virtual Assistant: As a business owner, you understand that managing details does not make optimal use of your valuable time, and has a directly negative impact on your bottom line. Yet, you may not have need nor budget for office space and full or part-time employees.

Delegating administrative tasks to a Virtual Assistant only makes good sense for your business. An experienced Virtual Assistant will not need to be micro-managed, and the ‘learning curve’ is minimal. This enables entrepreneurs/business owners to spend their time doing what they do best; to work on their business instead of in it.

How Virtual Assistance Works: A Virtual Assistant generally charges a set hourly fee, keeping track of all tasks performed, and the length of time spent on each task. The Virtual Assistant then provides each client a detailed invoice at the closing of a pre-determined invoicing period, (usually on a monthly basis) In some instances, a Virtual Assistant and client may agree upon a flat rate for larger projects, on a case-by-case basis. While the hourly rate to hire a Virtual Assistant may be higher than that of an in-office assistant, the overall cost is considerably lower than maintaining an office and hiring a year-round employee, with or without benefits.

Here are just a few items that a virtual assistant can help you with:

• Set up a blog Blogger, Typepad or WordPress
• Set up Google alerts so you can find content for your own blog or post comments
• Keyword research to help you to maximize your website for search engine optimization
• Set up and manage your social media accounts

If you are a virtual hesitant and need more ideas on what you can do to assist your client, see ”How to Help Your Boss or Client with a Publicity Campaign“ A Graduate-Level Course for Assistants, Virtual Assistants & Interns taught by Joan Stewart, AKA, The Publicity Hound for an in-depth training.

If you are a business owner in need of a virtual assistant see “How to Find a Virtual Assistant to Help with Your Publicity Campaign” with Cindy Greenway and Diana Ennen

Just when you start feeling comfortable with the latest round of changes to Facebook, along comes another series of new features that can throw you into a tailspin. Like me.

For example, I voluntarily converted to the new format rather than waiting until later this month when everyone will be forced to convert. But that places an ugly photo ribbon right at the top of my fan page.

That’s prime real estate, darn it! Most of the photo ribbons I’ve seen on other people’s pages include a series of five unrelated photos that show fan page owners posing with people they’ve met at events. The photos are usually poorly cropped, too dark, or so small that people looking at the page can’t identify who’s in the photo.

Nor do they care.

But I’ve figured out a way to manipulate that photo ribbon so I use it to promote my business and bring visitors to my website, blog, Twitter profile and even product pages–without being obnoxious.

You can check it out by going to http://www.facebook.com/SerenityVAServices

While you’re there, click on the Like button at the top of the page. Then click on each of the five photos and see what happens.

Knowing how to use the photo ribbon to help your visitors and to promote–and understanding what you can do with all the other new Facebook features–will give you incredible power that you never knew you had.

Three years ago, when I was a guest on  the webinar “11 Ways to Avoid Missed Opportunities on Facebook,” with Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound and we  walked participants through Facebook and demonstrated how to use the site to attract friends and fans, join the conversation, find your target audience and make people love you.

But that was three years ago. So much has changed on Facebook that some of the strategies we recommended back then can actually waste hours of your precious time due to the numerous changes on Facebook.

I’ve fielded so many questions about Facebook’s new look and navigation that Joan and I are hosting a webinar at 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, March 15. It’s called “12 More Ways to Avoid Missed Opportunities on the New & Improved Facebook.”

If you participated three years ago, or you’re confused by any aspect of Facebook, you owe it to yourself to take this crash course to learn about the new tools and how to use them to promote your expertise.

We’re even going to be sharing a cool new tool I discovered that will help you find other people’s fan pages where you can post helpful content to their walls, talk directly to their thousands of fans, and get a link back to your own fan page–without spamming.

Register here, even if the time is inconvenient for you because I’m recording it, and Joan will send you the replay link and all the handouts.

It’s Joan Stewart’s a.k.a The Publicity Hounds birthday and she is blowing out 59 candles on the cake.

There’s an old tradition that says the birthday person should get a birthday spanking–one light pat on the behind for every year. But at 59, she won’t let that happen.

So here’s another way to make her cry.

Clean out her inventory and slash 59 percent off the total price of your order. If you’ve been putting off buying CDs, transcripts, ebooks or special reports, now is the time to grab ‘em.

Go to her website at The Publicity Hound and look around.

Important: You must enter the numeral 59 into the promo code box at check-out and then click on “Apply.” And you must order by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time tomorrow night, Feb. 4. This applies to products only, not the mentor program or other services.

P. S. She is cleaning out her inventory in the next few weeks and eliminating old titles. So if you see something you want, grab it now before it’s gone. Or kick yourself later.

Having trouble with developing interesting blog content? Does it seem that you are seeing the same old “stuff” about your industry in all of the posts? Sometimes it can be a real challenge finding interesting subject matter. In his most  recent blog , Nick Stamoulis of Brick Marketing offers some topics you business blogging.

Here are a few of his tips:

Company News: It pretty much goes without saying that if you or your company has been mentioned in an article or at an event;  put it in your blog/. Don’t forget to post to your social media sites

Lists: Search engines seem to really like lists. Create some innovative lists that your readers can easily relate to.

Product Reviews: Pick some interesting and/or unique products and write a review about them. Hint: Maybe you can get some input from your social media connections.

Photos: If you’re bogged down grab some photos of friend and colleagues (maybe the FedEx guy) or something humorous or ironic.

How-To-Guides: Share some helpful tips that you have learned and share them. Everybody loves free information.

Industry Rants: Tasteful rants can be the source of many interesting rants. Be professional, but remember ” Hey it’s your blog”. If the subject is something that many others can relate to. you could be surprised with the responses and feedback.

How-To-Guides: Try writing a variety a different posts where you industry can learn and better their jobs or careers. Everyone loves free information.

These are just a few topics for Mike’s article. If you would like to read the entire article, you may find it at Blog Writing Topics to Use.

We are always here at Serenity VA Services to assist with your social media marketing projects and strategy.

Happy Blogging

I was asked by one of my clients to convert her ebooks into readable files on Amazon’s Kindle. I read tutorials on Amazon and searched Google for information on converting PDF files to publish on Kindle. Most of the tutorials were very good, but many were confusing as well.

Then I found this tool that makes converting the files easy and simple. It’s called PDFtoEPUB and they are currently running a promotion. The first 20,000 authors get free PDF to epub/Kindle conversion tool: http://www.pdftoepub.com/authorspromotion.asp.

I had spent a lot of time searching for an easy way in which to convert ebooks, transcripts and other documents to publish on Amazon.

What is really cool about this tool is that it is free (Limited time offer). You just download the software to your computer and you are all set.

I converted several ebooks (one was 500 pages) into readable and uploadable files into Kindle in about 30 minutes. The part that takes the longest is creating the seller account on Amazon.

Don’t waste a lot of time, try this tool and you will be convinced.

Joan Stewart, aka, The Publicity Hound will be presenting a webinar on November, 23rd from 3-4:15 ET.

Overview: Don’t spend precious time worrying about how to promote what you’re selling. Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound, has done most of the planning for you. She’s come up with more than 60 creative ideas, including ways to involve participants weeks before an event, catch the attention of print and broadcast journalists, and encourage other people to promote your products, services or events for you.

Format: This is a webinar. You can watch it at your computer. You will also have a chance to ask questions. If you don’t want to ask questions, you can listen to the webinar on your phone..

This webinar is perfect for:

• PR pros and publicists whose clients sell products and services, or host events
• Authors who want to promote their books and author events
• Virtual assistants who do PR for their clients
• Speakers who promote classes, workshops, training events, seminars and boot camps
• Nonprofits that host fund-raisers, from neighborhood activities to black-tie charity balls
• Anyone who does PR for tourist attractions like museums, parks, festivals and sporting events
• PR people who promote activities at schools, colleges and universities
• Event and meeting planners
• Corporate PR departments that promote their companies’ products and services.
• Volunteer groups that help promote causes or issues
• Party planners
• Anyone who co-sponsors events

You will learn:

• Fun ways to engage participants long before a product launch or event
• Easy ways to target people in your own community who are in an ideal position to buy your product or service and encourage them to spread the word
• 5 clever ideas that can help you brand your business as well as promote
• A place that’s hungry for news about your tourist events, restaurants, nightlife and things to do in your community
• 6 ways to catch the attention of motorists
• How to enlist the help of other businesses in your community that are hosting events on the same day as yours
• How to get free advertising space in your local newspaper
• 6 ways to get free airtime on TV or radio shows
• 4 tricks for encouraging TV and radio personalities to talk about your event on the air, for free
• Inexpensive tchochkes that keep you in front of people in their homes or offices 365 days a year
• How to promote at trade shows even if you can’t afford to buy a booth
• How to enlist the help of mom and pop businesses in your community
• How to encourage other organizations and experts to promote your events for you

Bonuses:

You also get:

• Handouts, which include all 60+ ideas I discussed during the webinar. It doubles as a cheat sheet that you can use when it’s time to promote
• The PDF of the Power Power slides I used during the webinar—great for scanning or to do a quick review of what you’ve learned without having to review the entire video
• The MP3 so you can listen on your iPod.
• The MP4 video file that you can download.

The first 20 people who register get the free handout “13 Ways to Involve Journalists and Bloggers in Whatever You’re Promoting.”

As a virtual assistant I feel very responsible for working and fulfilling my clients needs. Almost, to the detriment of my health.

I recently had a bout this pneumonia. Now, it didn’t start out that way. I had a stuffy nose, some coughing and just general flu-like symptoms. So instead of going to bed and taking care of myself, I plopped myself down in front of the computer, daily, and carried on with the tasks at hand.

Not something I would recommend.

It is important as small business owners and sole proprietors that we are responsible to our clients needs, but there comes a point in which we can’t take care of their needs if we aren’t taking care of ours.

As an avid Facebook participant, I posted a comment about being sick for 4 weeks and the comments were basically, “if you are sick, go to bed”. So, I did.

Projects will be completed, tasks performed and to the satisfaction to your clients, but not when you are sick.

I made a few errors and I had to spend some time, correcting them….but the lesson I learned was that I would not have had to have done that, if I had just taken care of myself.

So, a tip for other VAs:

Take care of yourself, the business will still be there tomorrow! It may not be, if you are making errors that could have been avoided.

GO TO BED!

Privacy Matters

Facebook seems unable to stem the user privacy spill. Matters seemed to grow more serious this week when the WSJ reported that apps (including Farmville) were accessing user data even if the users had requested the strictest privacy settings. Three of the top ten apps were transmitting data on the user’s friends to outside companies. The blog Ars Technica provided a rundown of the latest problems and what they mean. Facebook also had to temporarily disable LOLapps last week, after the apps were found to be sending internal Facebook user IDs to third parties.

Facebook’s privacy situation has reached the point where several blogs are wondering if the current Facebook business model is even compatible with current user privacy expectations. The blog 10 Golden Rules wrote that Facebook privacy is becoming an oxymoron and Mark Evans suggested that Facebook should just give up on privacy altogether; anything that goes onto Facebook should be regarded as fully public. A Google engineer has developed a Chrome plug-in that blocks all 3rd party access to Facebook data but another Google development demonstrated how the privacy line was still being drawn – Google had to discontinue the practice of using StreetView cars to collect Wi-Fi network data.

( This posting was originally done by http://www.whosbloggingwhat.com/ on October 21, 2010.