Over the last year and a half, many people have been shocked that working from home does not always lead to a healthier business-life balance. In fact, working from home can often make things much, much trickier! Of course, that isn’t a big surprise to most small business owners out there. Those of us who have experienced working from home know how easy it can be to drive ourselves to the bone, burning the candle at both ends, sometimes for years at a stretch. Your body and mind need time to recover from a hard day’s work. Usually, that’s done…
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As a small business owner, I really dislike being locked into a contract. I’ve heard horror stories from my clients who got locked into long-term contracts with a firm that didn’t deliver what they promised! Now, I’m not bad-mouthing my competitors here! The aim of countless virtual assistant firms out there is to help your business succeed. When you’re running a small business, you need to have flexibility, especially when you’re first starting out. Your income might not be predictable and having a big fixed cost can become a nightmare for your budget. With many reputable virtual assistant firms, you don’t…
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What would you do if you had two extra hours every week? As a small business owner, chances are that you’re constantly under incredible time constraints. Your to-do list is continually growing, and it seems like you’re the only one who can get things done. I remember back when I first started this business, and it was crazy. I was working insane hours to get my business off the ground, but eventually, I had to admit to myself that I was ONE person trying to do the work of an entire team. And yeah, that’s doable over a short period,…
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Do you have big business plans for the new year? With the previous year in the rearview mirror, I’ve been putting a ton of thought into revamping my business plan. I’m a firm believer in coming up with a new business plan every January (And then of course, I revisit it quarterly to see if I need to tweak it). In this year’s plan, I’ve been specifically focusing on ways I can grow my brand through digital marketing. Branding encompasses everything in a business, including your personality. Your personality, goals, business sense, beliefs, everything goes directly into your brand. And…
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I’m sure that you’ve visited websites that read… a little bit oddly. They keep mentioning the same word or phrase over and over again. “If you’re looking for the best car repair in West Palm Beach, Florida, then you will want to visit our West Palm Beach car repair shop. We offer the best car repair service in West Palm Beach, Florida. WEST PALM BEACH!!!” This kind of search engine optimization is a holdover from the early days of search engines. Back then, they could be fooled into thinking that your site was a leading one simply by stuffing it…
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Remember the old adage for those with gigantic cable packages? “300 channels, and nothing’s on?” That certainly isn’t a problem anymore. You can find just about all of the entertainment that you want from Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. Streaming video has mostly replaced traditional cable, offering people the ability to watch whatever they want, whenever they want. You no longer have to scroll through guides to see what’s on. Instead, you just type (or speak!) what you feel like watching into search, and countless results will pop up! At first glance, this seems like a massive problem for advertisers.…
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We spend so much time talking about the marketing potential of Facebook and Instagram that we sometimes forget about a very popular social media service: Pinterest!Although Pinterest doesn’t necessarily have the same reach as Facebook (although that might change in the future), it does have over 200 million dedicated users who do one billion searches on it each month. That’s an incredible amount of activity and engagement. The big difference between Facebook and Pinterest is in their purpose. While Facebook is designed to bring people together, making is a fantastic way to connect with clients and customers, Pinterest is a…
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One of the most terrifying and exciting things in life is having to start again.Let’s face it – we are all getting older! Maybe your children have finally left home for university, (Eben, my son, started college early and skipped his senior year!) or perhaps you’re thinking of retiring from your long-time job and want to try something new this time around! Maybe you have recently been let go at work, or simply grew bored and finally want to do what you have always wanted with your life. No matter which the situation, it’s still terrifying and thrilling. For example,…
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Think of all of the big brand logos out there. Those big friendly arches of McDonald’s, the swoosh of Nike, the softness of the Pillsbury Doughboy… Something that all of the world’s most valuable brands have in common is how well they communicate their brand’s message and values without one single word. Now, take a look at your logo. If this was the very first time you saw it, would you know what your company is about? Hiring a virtual assistant to revamp your entire brand, from your business cards to website, to branding collateral, to your social media graphics,…
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One of the most time-consuming activities for a small business is client onboarding. There are so many steps necessary to give your customers your full focus and attention. By automating the process, you can free up SO much time that you can better spend actually serving their needs. If you are a small business owner with a limited, or non-existent staff, onboarding can take up a ton of your time. While larger businesses can afford to assign someone to handle these responsibilities, your onboarding process entirely relies on you. But what can you do? Well, the solution is automation! By…
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