“They are all over the TV, newspapers and online media; they are “mompreneurs,” and they prove that it is possible to be both a nurturing caretaker of little ones and a successful business mogul. Here’s what is means to be a mompreneur, and why these five moms are getting so much well-deserved attention.” As quoted by Linsey Knerl.

Ok, I agree, there are a lot of mompreneurs that are extremely successful and knowledgeable in their fields of expertise.. There is no doubt in my mind.

The problem that I have are the inexperienced mompreneurs that are undercutting experienced Virtual Assistants such as myself and others that have been working for years to establish ourselves as experts in many areas on the interenet.

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.

I bring this up because I had a recent experience with a client that decided to hire a momprenuer to take over the tasks that I had been managing for her. Now, I don’t get upset at losing a client, but what corks me, is that the new VA didn’t know anything about what was needed to complete the tasks. No, html experience, no shopping cart experience and so on.

I was asked by the client to train her. I agreed.

I have spend hours, weeks, days and months honing my skills. I have participated in endless webinars, teleseminars and so on to learn these skills.

Again, I am not getting “down” on mompreneurs, but let’s have a little respect here.

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

This is a very easy, but important tool to use when using Facebook as a marketing tool. Not only should you regularily post updates to your fan page, but also send updates to your fans. The updates can be an extended version of your status updates. This has a two-fold outcome.

1. It allows you to keep your fans abreast of news other than through the newsfeed
2. Any unread updates will also show up on their profile on the top right corner

This allows others to see the updates as well and perhaps become a fan of your page.

Here are the easy instructions on how to do this…..

1. Go to your fan page
2. Click on “edit page”
3. On the left-hand side you will see a number of administrative tasks
4. Click on “Marketing”

This will then open another task page in which you can choose to market your page.

5. Click on “Send an Update”.

Once you have done that, it is up to you if you would like to target a specific audience or share it will all of your fans.

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 time for Joan Stewart’s annual Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s gift to you.

“The Best of The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week of 2010″ includes the best 25 tips from this year’s newsletter, or tips that generated the most response from readers.

Feel free to re-gift it to your own blog readers, newsletter subscribers, clients, customers, Twitter followers, Facebook friends and LinkedIn connections. They don’t even need to opt-in with an email address. Just pass along this link: http://Ez.com/bestof2010

If you work at a company, share it with your PR department. If you work for a nonprofit, show it to your staff and even your board members.

This version is chock full of tips for both traditional and social media, with a heavier emphasis on social media. It includes:

–The 4 big advantages of creating a Google profile, and what you’re missing if you don’t have one.

–5 clever places to meet journalists. Ninety-nine out of 100 other publicity-seekers aren’t bothering with this.

–Where to find a handy, organized, color-coded social media cheat sheet that will help you understand how various major social media sites can help you.

–How to create a sizzling headline for an article or blog post within seconds (this is a fabulous free tool that my readers loved!).

–5 things that could put your security in jeopardy on Facebook.

–How to catch CNN’s attention and possibly end up in one of their stories.

–How to earn a Badge of Honor on LinkedIn and impress people who read your profile page.

–3 easy ways to prompt recommendations from other people on LinkedIn without being pushy or feeling embarrassed.

–5 ways to encourage journalists to include your blog or website address in their stories (and make it look like it was their idea).

–8 ways you can become a victim of The Stealth Interview and be quoted by journalists even though you never talked to them.

You can get the ebook here, save it to your hard drive and then share it on the social networking sites: http://Ez.com/bestof2010

P.S. Re-gifting this ebook is entirely appropriate. Share this: http://Ez.com/bestof2010

When to know when blogging is paying off  for your business…that is the $64,000 question.

I recently had a chat with a client with  who stated she wanted to pull the plug on her blogs.

My first thought was WAIT! ARE YOU CRAZY?

No, in fact, she isn’t. She is quite sane. The problem is that, like most of us that are self-employed, it is a matter of time. Or, lack thereof.

We did have a phone conversation and we decided not to pull the plug and start re-posting to her blogs. The problem a lot of us have about blogging is that we feel it has to be a 1000 word article, at least.

My client and mentor, Joan Stewart recently conducted a teleseminar with Patsi Krakoff titled “Blogging for Business is Easier Than You Think”, Time-saving Tips for Smart Business Blogging.

This product is especially perfect for:

• Anyone who hasn’t started blogging yet and doesn’t know how to start
• Bloggers who want to learn how to save time and build in efficiencies
• Bloggers who are having trouble pulling traffic to their blogs
• Anyone who blogs and has trouble finding enough content…you’ll never be lacking for it after this!

So, if you’re thinking you don’t have time to blog or can’t find content. Look around you, it’s everywhere!

The Women’s Business Alliance Power Sabbatical is your opportunity to take – For Yourself! – 2 ½ days + 2 nights to:

–Rejuvenate mentally and physically. Unplug, get away from it all in a serene gorgeous setting. Be catered to and taken care of (what a concept for us women!), including dining on gourmet healthy food prepared by Marconi’s amazing chef. Take advantage of gorgeous natural surroundings by starting your morning and ending your day with a solo or group power walk or hike. Breathe the fresh air. Enjoy the stars at night and the peace and quiet (no ambient light or noise pollution here!) Even use your free time to take a swim in Tomales Bay (wet suit optional!), visit the quaint town of Marshall, kayak, or horseback ride on the beach.

Recharge your ambition. Launch – or re-launch – your dream in a powerful way. Recharge your business and your goals. Or finally give yourself the space, resources and support to give the business you’ve been struggling with the power to lift off. Get clarity on your ambitious goals. Figure out what’s working and what’s not. Redefine your targets. Get unstuck. Fire up your ambition. Keep yourself on target to do meaningful, challenging work that pays you what you’re worth. Stop settling. Stop selling yourself short. Get your ambition mojo back – you know what I mean: that feeling that you can’t wait to bounce out of bed each morning (no matter how tired you might be) because work feels like play. Keep your commitment to yourself to make the contribution you were born to make – and surround yourself with supportive peers to help you achieve the goals you have stars in your eyes for.

This is an opportunity to restore your sanity and recharge your business by retreating to a stunning, peaceful conference center in an historic park setting and interacting with innovators like yourself. I’ll be leading the charge and together we will make sure that You — and Your most precious ambitious goals — are the agenda. And of course, a huge part of recharging your business and dreams is making sure that you, yourself, get plenty of downtime – space and time and the serenity to unplug and think and be taken care of.

Break isolation. Stamp out your fear and resistance by interacting with ambitious, creative innovators – women just like yourself who struggle with the same fears and doubts as you, even as they are fighting the big fight to hold on to their big dreams. Get your brain cells firing and reignite your passion for what you do or want to do though 2 ½ days of custom-tailored small-group coaching and brainstorming with me plus 20 other women peers. The ideas will be flying around the room. And You and Your goals are the agenda.

Where:
The perfect venue is the gorgeous setting at the Marconi Conference Center overlooking Tomales Bay in beautiful West Marin County, San Francisco Bay Area. Marconi Conference Center is approximately a 90-minute drive from San Francisco International Airport, Oakland International Airport.

When:
September 16-18, 2010

So register now as there is not a greater feeling in the world than coming together with supportive, talented, thirsty-for-knowledge, open-minded, fired-up, ambitious women, such as Debra Condren, author of Ambition Is Not A Dirty Word,  to link arms and help each other make our ambitious dreams a reality.

News is breaking all around you.

When you’re the local angle to a national story, or you can comment on the hot topic of the day, TV producers, daily and weekly newspaper reporters, and bloggers will practically be begging to talk to you.

But too many people who want publicity don’t bother picking up the phone or emailing. They think the media are too busy. Or they don’t know what to say.

What a mistake! This is the very best time to pitch.

What if somebody gave you step-by-step directions on exactly how to piggyback your story idea onto breaking news? Publicist Michelle Tennant, who got one of her clients booked on “Dr. Phil” the very day the client signed the PR contract, will explain the exact details of what she does when she pitches a client during a breaking news event. She’ll even show you the word-for-word email pitches she sent to the media–pitches that resulted in major publicity for her clients.

Michelle will be the special guest during a webinar hosted by Joan Stewart, aka The Publicity Hound, at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, July 21. Michelle will teach you how to use very simple email subject lines, include three important elements in every pitch, and the exact number of times to follow up.

She’ll also tell you about a free media resource website she uses, thus saving her thousands of dollars on media directories.

We continually strive to provide timely, quality service for our clients. The special relationship that we have with them is both valuable and in some cases fragile. We understand that they have choices and that we must always be vigilant to provide exceptional value for them.

What do we do when a client notifies us that they are terminating our relationship? Our first inclination is to throw our hands up into the air, rail at the gods and wonder what it is that we did wrong.

Most times it is not due to an error, but if it is, do everything within your power to correct the error, even if you have already lost the client.

If it is because of your rates, decide if you are willing to bend a little. If this is not a viable scenario, explain it to the client and see if there is another option. Such as:

–Cutting back on the amount of work that you do for them
–Offer time-saving tips that will allow them to do some of the work for themselves
–Offer coaching as an alternative

There will be clients that just aren’t a good “fit” for either of you. If this happens, be gracious, offer suggestions of other VA’s that you think may be willing to work with them.

Sometimes clients just fall off the radar. It’s through no fault of your own or the clients.

The best thing you can do in any case is to move on. Don’t dwell on what was and concentrate on how you can better your business. Never assume that all is well in the relationship between you and the client. Touch base on a regular basis and not just through email.

PICK UP THE PHONE!

The countdown has begun . . . are you going to meet the deadline? Last week I shared on Facebook with you the exciting new Stay-on-Track program recently launched by Ariane — and today I am writing this blog posting to make sure you understand what it is that she is offering . . FOR F.REE!
 
If you are anything like me, you’re a visual-experience-oriented person — who sometimes struggles with online information, especially when it’s packed full of IMPORTANT career-boosting information. I get overwhelmed to say the least, and panic at the thought that my money will be wasted because I might miss some of the crucial information provided by the speakers. Will I remember what I needed to take away from the session, will I understand what they were trying to portray to me?
 
With the Stay-on-Track program, it’s like Ariane read my mind and said… “I will prepare the Telesummit for you in CD and transcript form — AND I’ll also give you the Stay-on-Track program to make sure you succeed!” She WANTS you to get all the fruit off the tree… and she makes that possible for F.R.E.E if you purchase the Home-study program on or before midnight (Eastern Time), on April 15th!
 
The Stay-on-Track Program is a simple system to organize, prioritize, and create YOUR action plan as you hear the Telesummit presenters — so you’re immediately able to feed your energy and the wealth of information into creating and developing your first project!
 
No more feeling like you are flapping in the wind… the Stay-on-Track Program allows you to be grounded in your creative process and utilize all the valuable information from the Telesummit Home-study Program!