As business owners, the decisions we make in the first few minutes of the workday are critical. It is all too easy to fall into the trap of “quickly” checking in on social media or email only to find ourselves an hour or more into the day having accomplished little more than viewing a handful of videos or answering a few personal emails. The following are three healthy morning routines for business success. 1. Fortify Your MorningWhat habits energize and inspire you most? Whether your kick-start comes from your morning yoga routine, 30 minutes of silent meditation, a healthy breakfast,…
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Staying in touch with your clients via email marketing tools ensures that you are always top of mind. Email marketing includes every email sent to build a relationship with your audience. There are many ways that email marketing tools can help your small business maintain professional, profitable contact with clients. At Jennie Lyon Virtual Assistant Services, we are very familiar with a handful of great email marketing applications. The following are the 5 software we use when partnering with clients on email marketing. [Tweet “Email marketing includes every email sent to a customer or potential client.”] 1. MadMimi MadMimi is a…
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Determining your worth is important and empowering. All professionals should conduct salary research every year or two, and small business owners are no exception. Knowing what to charge for your time and services is important if you want to stay competitive and satisfied. Nailing down the numbers as an independent business owner, however, requires more steps and consideration than would be required of an in-house employee. Because you are your own boss, it can be difficult to objectively determine how much you should make. Additionally, small business owners have to consider more factors when determining what to charge than HR…
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“Branding”, a term that once meant simply stamping your business logo on everything, has evolved into the process of building a company’s identity and personality. While branding still involves developing a name and symbol or design that sets your business apart from the rest, it is so much more than that. Effective, strategic branding gives you an advantage over competitors and makes it possible for your company to target markets as tight or broad as you like. Because branding is so foundational to success, I thought I would offer a few more tips for creating a strong brand that I’ve…
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Technology has given us so many incredible things, like modern medicine, instant toast, and spaceships, for example. For me and many other entrepreneurs, one of the greatest gifts technology has given society is the virtual office. We now enjoy the ability to instantly access just about any person, piece of information, and resource imaginable—all from the comfort of a home office. In addition to the virtual container of the Internet, cloud-based small business software has made it possible to hold online calls and meetings, erect storefronts in cyberspace, and share schedules, data, and media of all kinds. Here are my…
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More and more small businesses these days are home-based or physically scaled down, operating out of a small office with minimal equipment. Additionally, more businesses start with modest budgets and aim to cut overhead costs in order to develop into successful startups more quickly. Because small businesses still need a team to operate, the cost-effective, simple solution is to partner with a virtual team of workers instead of staffing an office with salaried employees, which requires a bigger office rental, bulkier payroll, and an HR department—to name a few things. Even though virtual support teams are non-traditional (though they are…
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Whether it is to spend more time with family, to make a better living, or simply follow a passion or skill set, so many women these days are making the move into independent business ownership. As exciting as the decision to work for yourself is, it can be daunting when you realize how much work, dedication, and patience are required for success. You may have well-meaning friends or peers who have attempted to encourage you by saying that it can take months—or years—for your business to get off the ground or that starting out is hard for everyone. Meanwhile, you…
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If you are like most small business owners, you want to focus the majority of your time on building your business. Yet, you may be finding that you are spending an exorbitant amount of time on tasks you shouldn’t. Even if you find that you are getting sucked into these tasks and they are taking away from you really building your business – it’s time to get a team in place. The first team member that I would suggest that you hire is a virtual assistant. Read on for a quick rundown of 9 ways our team can save you…
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Starting a business in any industry, time period, or global climate can be a serious roller coaster. So many changes will be made in policies, procedures, staffing needs, marketing, and so on that you are going to feel overwhelmed most of the time without someone there to help you out. It’s always great to feel confident and proud enough that you can start your business by yourself, but with all the stress and endless preparation that comes with it, why wouldn’t you want an anchor to keep you focused and organized? Hiring a virtual assistant from the get-go is the…
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