How to “Social” your Media
Karthika Gupta, a photographer I know, recently did a blog post titled “Entrepreneurial Lessons From The Field.” She shares some lessons that she learned from three female entrepreneurs living in India. Karthika pointed out that these women are running businesses without some of the tools that most businesses take for granted, like business cards and websites. However, even without the use of a computer I feel we have lessons to learn from their “social” media.
Know your customers. While these three women business owners in India have gotten to know their customers through frequent personal interactions, that might not be an option for people in virtual industries. However, even in our technology driven world, we can understand our customers by trying to understand their needs. We can engage with our clients (and potential clients) on their social media pages. We can subscribe to their newsletters and know what promotions they are offering (and even share those promotions).
If some of your clients live near you, you can get to know them better, perhaps over a cup of tea. (more…)
Work/Work Balance
There are a myriad of articles about work/life balance. Evie Burke, my productivity coach at One Insight Closer, wrote one; six months ago I wrote one, and if you do a Google search for “work life balance,” you’ll find over 300 million results. Obviously this is a fairly popular topic.
But sometime entrepreneurs may run across an issue with work/work balance. You might be doing work for 2 or 3 clients and working on your own business. It’s wonderful to be busy and doing work for multiple people, but you can’t bring home the bacon without finding time to do invoicing, and the IRS wants you to do your taxes in a timely manner. So how does an entrepreneur achieve a work/work balance?
Tips and Tricks for March
Occasionally I do a post on short tips and tricks I’ve picked up. I often find the most useful information while I’m looking for something else.
Good, short comparison of social media sites
If you’re just getting started in social media, this article by Scott Levy in Entrepreneur gives a brief overview of social media platforms. “How to Choose the Best Social Media Platform for Your Business“
Calendar tool
Calendly, calendar tool, used by one of my fellow virtual assistants, is a simple, clean scheduling tool that syncs with Google calendars and is free. You can read Rhonda’s summary at this link.
Screen sharing
Back in the day (okay yesterday), I was having a meeting with a client and we each needed to be able to “see” what the other was doing. We used FuzeBox and we were able to share screens and switch screens. Both of us are visual people so it was great to be able to see what we were each doing. FuzeBox is free for the first 60 days; so if you need to have an on-line meeting, give it a try.
Mother of Invention
It’s said that necessity is the mother of invention. 
I have quite a few clients that wanted business cards entered into spreadsheets. I discovered that spreading the cards out on my desk was not exactly the best thing for my posture. I “invented” a card holder (pictured). Now you know that if you ever need business cards entered into a database, you can contact me, and if you ever need to borrow a copy of Conceptual Physics, you can also call me.
Public Service Announcement
For those of you in Illinois, Tuesday, March 18 is primary election day.
- Why does this matter? In the primary you get to determine who will run for office in November. In Illinois you can declare your party for EACH primary election so you can determine which ballot you want by election (not by party affiliation).
- Why does this matter to Mary? During the election season I am a field representative for the DuPage County Election commission. This means that prior to each election I spend time training technical judges on any changes that have happened since the previous election and reviewing the policies and procedures that are in place (especially in regards to the machines that are used in the polling place on election day.) A large number of people spend a large number of hours working not only on election day but in the months before an election and the weeks after an election. Think of it this way, the more people placing votes for an election, the less the process costs per vote.
- What on earth does being a Field Representative have to do with being a Virtual Assistant? More than you realize. Training election judges to use the various electronic machines is very similar to training clients on the use of social media tools. Making sure policies are followed is very similar to following procedures for client work (or for my own work). And there’s an awful lot of trouble shooting, problem solving, and thinking on my feet.
- But what if I need one really good reason to vote? This is Illinois and this is the year we elect our new governor (or reelect our current governor). The way things have gone lately, it’s really important to decide who to put in office, because there’s a non-zero chance we’ll be paying for the prison sentence at some point in time.
HAPPY ELECTION DAY
How Can I Find You
When I’m looking for help, whether it be a plumber, a graphic artist, or an oral surgeon, I am the type of person to do background research before making a phone call. If I’m going to be spending my hard-earned money with you, I want to know that you are a knowledgeable and trustworthy businessperson.
“Back in the day” if you wanted to know about businesses, you asked neighbors, friends, and coworkers, or you looked in the Yellow Pages. Now if you want to know about a business, you ask neighbors, friends, and coworkers — except you don’t actually “ask” them in person; you can reach all of your friends, neighbors, and coworkers with one Facebook post. (more…)