This guest post is written Nancy Marmolejo, an award winning business owner who teaches entrepreneurs how to stand out as experts in their fields. The founder of the highly successful Viva Visibility, Nancy recently launched a free virtual chat series “The Wild Idea That Paid Off” to encourage entrepreneurs to think broadly and to encourage curiosity. With 8 forward thinkers joining her, this series is designed to give concrete steps to turning your wild ideas into profitable, lucrative payoffs.

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By nature, entrepreneurs are highly creative thinkers. Every aspect of a business - from filling a need, to solving a problem, to marketing, to selling, to serving customers - is an expression of creativity.

But for every great idea that gets launched, millions more go the wayside because entrepreneurs simply don’t know how to take action, how to decide if something’s worth pursuing, or if the time is right.

Wild ideas are GREAT for business… and now more than ever is the time to take action. Why? Because so many people are playing it safe, the playing field is wide open for wild ideas.

This is the time to be bold and brave, to lean out instead of leaning in, to move into the unknown rather than stay in the familiar.

But how do you do that without losing your shirt? Follow these tips, inspired by real-life
success stories, and see your wild ideas pay off!

1. Don’t wait until you know everything
The time it takes to become perfect at something is a surefire way to miss an opportunity.
Never stop learning, but at some point you must take action before- even before you know
all the details. Entrepreneurs are fast learners- never underestimate your ability to learn on
your feet while you’re taking action. As Michael Port shares in “The Wild Idea That Paid Off”
virtual chat series, “Be a blank piece of paper with a beginner’s mind.” Let the knowledge fill
you as you go along.

2. Turn past failures into future successes
Thomas Edison took over 1000 tries to invent the lightbulb. You might fail at something too…
but that failure could be the path to your next big success. Branding expert Kim Castle turned
a disastrous financial situation into multi-million dollar business by simply plucking out the
lessons and spinning them into gold. (Kim shares her entire story in an interview we did).
Where there’s failure, there’s opportunity!

3. Step out of the safe and familiar
Trailblazer coach Shawn Driscoll hung out mostly in the background until one day she decided
to break out and fully express her talents through her business. It frightened people around her,
but the bold steps have paid off. Productive Flourishing’s Charlie Gilkey walked away from an
established career and doctoral program to begin a business that served the needs of creative
entrepreneurs. Social media pioneer Jack Humphrey gave away an extremely valuable product
for free at the risk of losing $100,000 in sales. Marketing expert Ellen Britt chose to brand her
business with an unconventional, regional twist. They each were told not to take the risk but
they did… and it paid off. Get out of the safe and familiar and take bold steps into the unknown.

4. Live a creative life
Creative people don’t just summon up their creative juices when needed. They show curiosity,
try new things, and embark on new adventures. Business coach Andrea Lee views life as a
creative adventure and puts what she learns into her business and live events. Author and
coach Pamela Slim is drawn to great ideas in all aspects of her business and life. The creative
life is a way of seeing possibilities and taking action on them.

5. Make a plan
Taking risks and being spontaneous can still follow a plan, which is what 9 innovative thinkers
all agreed was the key to success in these conversations on creativity and innovation. Being
able to put your creative ideas into action is what separates wild ideas that go nowhere from
wild ideas that pay off. Look at the big picture. Chunk it down into action steps. Map out the
details and set deadlines. Stay accountable to yourself and someone else so things get done.
This is where the rubber hits the road and where the success stories are born.

There’s a big difference between a wild idea that pays off and a distracting bright shiny object.
Follow these tips to turn your wild ideas into profitable paths to happiness, prosperity, and
innovation.

The value of recommendations and testimonials cannot be underestimated or taken for granted. Recommendations are similar to testimonials of your good name, good product(s), or expertise. Recommendations enhance your credibility as an expert similar to how quality content, quality presentation of that content and frequency of content enhances your page rank and authority status for your website. Recommendations also raise your credibility.

Recommendations in LinkedIn are social proof. They tell a LinkedIn candidate that the person is qualified or recognized as a valued colleague that has or will add value to your business. As you interact with connections, you become more familiar with their areas of expertise and perhaps are able to use this knowledge in your business execution. Once you can recommend a connection, you proceed with some expectation that they will reciprocate. However, do not expect that all people that you recommend will in turn write a recommendation for you. As you proceed in building your connections, keep in mind that your connections are the source for your recommendation and focus on those contacts that have the potential for directly (or indirectly) enhance your business or expertise. After all, one of your goals in LinkedIn is becoming a recognized expert in your field. A good place to find contacts that will give you outstanding recommendations are your satisfied customers. Go through your customer base and connect with everyone who has purchased your products; multiple sales recipients are better.

The best way to ask for recommendations is not to ask, i.e., the best recommendations most often come from a good recommendation that you have written for someone. Recommendations are the next step of engagement after you connect with someone on LinkedIn. It is a quid pro quo of sorts, but don’t write a recommendation for someone just to get a reciprocal recommendation. Be sure that you can personally vouch for them. As such, be very clear about what you’re recommending. Don’t forget your keywords when you are writing recommendations!! Search engines love keywords!

As you evaluate your LinkedIn strategy, make sure you include a profile of your ideal connection and how you can get a recommendation from them. Make sure that your have clear goals and objectives. A good review for being successful using LinkedIn can be found in Wayne Breitbarth’s best seller, The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success or by purchasing the replay of Joan Stewart’s webinar, Your LinkedIn Power Formula

The entire point of hiring a virtual assistant is to take care of those pesky online tasks for you. Sure, you could spend time contacting tech support for your websites, looking up FAQs on social networking sites, watching how-to YouTube videos, taking webinars, and even enrolling in community college classes to keep your presence known on the Internet, but this learning curve takes a lot of time.

An expert virtual assistant, like Christine Buffaloe, keeps up with the ever-changing online nuances for you. It doesn’t matter what business you are in. The right virtual assistant will make it their business to know how to market your business.

How can she help you? What’s your next project? I’ll use a general example: You’ve got to get the word out about your newest product or service. This product could be a new recording, a new book, or a new business venture. Or perhaps it is a grand opening, a special event, or a discount on your services. Of course, you want to announce it to the world, and what better way than via the Internet? But where do you start? You start with an expert virtual assistant.

Here is just a sampling of 10 ways your expert virtual assistant or online business manager can help you manage that new project:

1. They can handle online research for you.

Don’t know where to start? If you need to find the best places to post an ad, choices for a great name for your new website, and the hottest spots to post a social networking profile, Chris will do the legwork for you. She’ll tell you how long your project will take, and inform you of the technical know-how involved. You can decide if you want to take it from there or let her run with the ball.

2. They can create an online presence for you.

Give your expert virtual assistant the info they need—bio, photos, media—And they will be your online “agent”, creating profiles for you where you need them, using your favorite colors and fonts, like at my blog. Christine can upload this kind of stuff to your website for you, too! If you want to make changes, your virtual assistant will safely keep your online passwords under lock and key and will only share them with you, so you can go into your new profiles and tweak them to your heart’s content.

3. They can do your online and offline “housekeeping” jobs.

They can set up and maintain your email lists, categorizing them so you can target particular email blasts to specific people on your list. They can categorize your Facebook friends and tweeters, too. Need to dump a bunch of inactive friends? Need to clean up your existing email list? Your expert virtual assistant can handle database management tasks with finesse.

4. They can help you compose and send off email blasts and e-newsletters using online email programs.

Your expert virtual assistant knows how to make your messages look good for email. And if you want them to deal with getting the message about your new product or service to your email list, they can handle sending it out, managing subscribers and unsubscribers, report who is reading and responding to your newsletter, and more. Hand it all over to them and you won’t need to deal with email management again.

4. They can proofread and write for you.

I like to think of the Internet as a big billboard. Make sure you look as good as you can by allowing your expert virtual assistant to proof your next email blast, your next blog post, your next advertisement, and your updated bio. They can even send an email on your behalf, saying, “Hello, I’m Chris, Anne’s virtual assistant…” This will certainly impress your friends. Your expert virtual assistant will make you look mahvelous, dahling, on the World Wide Web!

5. They can do the stuff you know how to do but don’t want to do.

An excellent virtual assistant doesn’t mind checking through a long list of possibly dead links, uploading a lot of media—mp3s, video, photos—to various websites and social network profiles. There’s no shame in admitting that you don’t want to do those tasks. You’ve got better things to do.

6. They can flag you to posts that need your personal attention.

No time to deal with social networking? If you haven’t the time or inclination to post to Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, and other social network platforms about your new product or service, and you have timely info to convey, let your expert virtual assistant do it for you. They can interact with your fan base for you. Send them your 140-character message and they’ll get it out online. Send them your new product links, and they’ll tell the world about them.

7. Virtual Assistants can do all kinds of personal things for you if you wish.

They can sift through all the junk messages and send you the gold, the real business sales and inquiries. They can even handle product fulfillment for your online store. They can check for phone messages from online services like Grasshopper, transcribe podcasts and webinars for you, and act as your headhunter or recruiter to help you find excellent job candidates for your expanding business. A virtual assistant can even help you find the best travel deals for your speaking engagements (but they don’t do windows, and they don’t pick up your laundry for you).

8. They can be your personal techie.

Serenity Virtual Assistant Services partner’s with her husband who heads up SEO (search engine optimization). They can write in code for your website and other online profiles. And if they can’t do something for you, they can contact tech support on your behalf so that they can do it for you.

9. They can be your online secret agent.

They can subscribe to Google Alerts on your behalf to find out where your products and services are being mentioned online. They can track comments on your blog and monitor feedback about your newest postings.

10. They can handle damage control.

Did you spend a lot of time posting something to your WordPress website, but it looks terrible and you can’t fix it? I often contact Chris and she is able to help me fix the problem. Did someone hack into one of your online profiles? Call on your virtual assistant for help. They can back up your online info, keep track of your passwords in case things go awry and you can’t get in to fix it yourself. And they can preserve your online reputation by spreading the best about you, your products, and your services.

You’re never really “done “with your virtual assistant, keep in touch with them. Chris often alerts me to news about the ever-changing landscape of the Internet. They’ll let you know of the newest places to get the word out and how to do it. They’ll teach you about ways to improve your online presence. And if you ever find that you need help with tasks that are outside of their scope, they’ll refer you to other experts to continue to grow your business. And like Chris, they continue to be your online friend.

Anne Roos is a professional writer and author of two published non-fiction books. Anne has over twenty-five years of owning her own business as a professional musician. Words and music are my loves and marketing is my thing. Therefore, I’m comfy adding interesting tidbits and morsels to blogs and social media pages to whet readers’ appetites.

If you feel that your social media marketing efforts could use a HUGE boost, good news! My friend, Mari Smith, has a brand new book out today called The New Relationship Marketing: How To Build A Large, Loyal, Profitable Network Using the Social Web.Mari is one of the foremost leaders in the social media world, with particular expertise in Facebook marketing.

You’ll love this book – it’s as if Mari is sitting by your side gently guiding you through the maze of do’s and don’ts in order to create much better results with your marketing.

Go pick up a copy of Mari’s new book today – available anywhere books are sold, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and in Kindle and Nook versions.

PLUS, good news! When you get your copy of the book, you also get to attend Mari’s free four-part webinar miniseries where she’ll walk you through the principles in her book. Find details of how to register here: Relationship Marketing Webinars.

P.S. In true Mari-style, you get to register for the free four-part webinar series on the “honor system!” That is, you do not need to scan/fax/email/snail mail any proof of purchase before you get access to the online classes. Once you order your book, just register here and that’s it!

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.

I can across a business page on Facebook today that is quite nice. Not only aesthetically, but also from a business standpoint.

I get quite a few emails from artist, songwriters and other internet business owners on who to use Facebook to promote their businesses.

The list is too long, but there is a short list of some of many tools on the internet in which to promote you business.

1. Facebook Events
2. Facebook pages
3. Online event calendars
   • Yelp.com, Upcoming.org, gary’s guide.org (just to name a few)
4. Press release services such as ExpertClick.com
5. ArtistData.com

What stood out to me about this page, is that they included their menu. A fantastic idea and a great way in which to promote your restaurant. Chef’s, foodie and others, this is a shining example on how to get it done….brava!

If you are looking for more ways to promote your product or services, look no more.

You can purchase a copy of a webinar that was earlier this week featuring Joan Stewart, 50+ Places Online to Promote Your Live or Virtual Events to Reach Your Target Market & Pull Sell-out Crowds

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!

I received a call this morning from one of my clients, Anne Roos of Celtic Harp Music. She mentioned a radio broadcast from NPR that she had listened to. It aired on June 9, 2010.

The subject matter was very compelling and brought to light the issue of what happens to all of my email accounts, social media accounts and my clients accounts if I should happen to die.

Most of us don’t like to think of these things, at least, I don’t. It is not in the forefront of my thoughts. It is important though.

As a VA I have many clients that I have personal and financial information to. If something should happen to me, it’s important that there is something in place so that information remains private.

We back-up our computers, our websites, emails and blogs, but what about our social networking and financial information. Do our clients have something in place so if the worst happens, it is taken care of?

Anne spoke to me of setting something up on her end that would give me permission to close her social media accounts if that would happen.

What if you become sick? Debilitating sick? Would you like the word to get out that you are unable to do your job? It could end your business. Scary thought.

In today’s world of internet marketing and social media our private lives have become not so private. How do we protect the very thing that is private?

I would encourage you to talk to your clients, friends and family. You never know when the worst will happen.

“Learn exactly how easy it is to turn your passion into a fun, fulfilling, and profitable business – when you discover how to stop marketing and turn your life’s calling into an unstoppable movement!”

The BE THE CHANGE event is designed to help you TAKE BACK CONTROL of your business dream from the gurus and hacks, GET YOU OFF THE MARKETING HAMSTER WHEEL, and GET YOU IN TOUCH WITH YOUR PURPOSE (all while creating a REAL plan to accelerate your income beyond what you believed possible).

Suzanne Evans has taken all her experience (because hey, she can only be herself), bottled it up for mass consumption and is ready to serve it to you on a silver platter over 3 days. (Think of it as a savory 3-course meal)

The BE THE CHANGE Event is rooted in “The 3 M’s”:  movement, marketing, and mindset.

Over the course of the event she’ll help you:

* Get super clear about YOUR movement.

* Help YOU understand how to market it.

* Give YOU the mindset to do it.

February 18-20, 2010
Fort Lauderdale, Florida