Meeting organizers know too well that if you get 40 "yes" RSVPs, you'll get 12 attendees, maybe even less.

When did it become so acceptable to say yes, I'll be there, and then not only fail to show, but to simply ignore the entire thing?

Yes, I'm a crusty old codger who believes that manners matter as a foundation of business. But I'll bet even you young folks would prefer to get 13 yeses and 27 maybes than have those 27 people say something they don't really mean.

Don't use your RSVP as a way to reward the meeting organizer for having a good idea. Don't use it to fill up your calendar so you look busy (nobody cares if you're busy; they're too busy to notice.) Don't tell them what you hope to do, tell them what you intend to do.

Hold yourself accountable for keeping your word in even the little things. It's the only way to be absolutely sure you'll be keeping your word when the big things come along.

Besides, your prospects might be watching, and you know you want them to think you keep your word, right?

Question:
I am working full-time and trying to get clients for my business. The hardest part is marketing and writing a blog.I've started a blog but what topics can I write about? What about marketing?

Answer:
It's got to be tough working full-time while trying to start a business. On the other hand, that gives you an income you can count on while you work on building your business.

Since you have such a busy schedule, it's important to make an appointment with yourself to make time to work on your business, write blog posts and market. Then keep your appointment as though you were meeting with a new client!

Here are some suggestions from the Action Guide, Building Blocks: Succeed as a Chief Virtual Officer:

• Write a "how-to" article or a "ten tips" article
• Answer questions you get from prospects and clients as a blog post (much like this one)
• Invite prospects to write guest blog posts.
• Write about a client's success
• Post a list of relevant links with a short comment on why you found each valuable
• Share a recent experience you had

It's very helpful as part of your marketing strategy to also visit other blogs and post comments there that will link back to your own blog.

More tips on blogging and marketing can be found in the Action Guide, Building Blocks: Succeed as a Chief Virtual Officer.

What topics do you write about on your blog?

Question:

What kind of investment should I expect to make to be a successful VA in 6 months? I know it is important to get business cards, get a domain, create a website, join online industry organizations and memberships. But what are the other considerable costs one should make?

Answer:
I think the answer to this question is a bit subjective. First you need to define what success means to you. Some only want to work part-time while others hope to make it a full-time business and earn six figures.

More important than a monetary investment is the investment in your time and energy. Before we get into that though I will cover some basics you need.

In my book, The Commonsense Virtual Assistant - Becoming an Entrepreneur, Not an Employee , the introduction lists some skills and tools you'll need such as:

• Business Plan
• License
• Contract
• Reliable computer
• Internet access
• Phone service
• Time tracking tool
• Project management tool

There are other investments you can make to get training and certification. These are not necessary. If you do choose some training or classes to get certified, make sure to check them out thoroughly so you are getting the value you need for the investment you make.

Now to the important investments: your time and energy. Your success will depend largely on the time and energy you are willing to spend to build your business. The number one investment in your time and energy should be to attend in-person networking events. I've written numerous times  about how important it is to do this if you intend to build trusting relationships with prospects and clients and gain referrals. The Commonsense Virtual Assistant book has an entire chapter dedicated to marketing and specifically covers networking.

So the real question you need to ask yourself is, "Am I willing to attend four networking events every month for the next six months and build relationships?" When I was growing my business I attended a different networking event every week of the month and did that consistently for six months. By the end of that time I had built trusting relationships with people who I was able to refer work to. That in turn led to my gaining new clients and referrals.

Let's ask other successful virtual assistants: what did you do to succeed?

Marketing a business is a huge topic. Today we will address a specific concern one virtual assistant has.

Question:
I ran a VA business from 2007-2009. As much as I loved it, I found that I was having to spend a large percentage of my time marketing my business. I would like to start up again, but what alternatives should I consider besides doing my own marketing?

Answer:
To give the best answer, I first asked some additional questions.

• What percentage of time did you use to market your business?
• What marketing strategies did you use?
• Would you be open to having someone else do your marketing and if so, how would you envision that?

The virtual assistant stated she spent at least 50% of her time marketing her business. Now that may seem like a lot. However, I did a bit of research and found several entrepreneurs who encourage spending at least 60% of your time marketing. I do know that if I'm working 20 hours a week for clients, I'm spending an additional 10 hours or so marketing my business. So the amount of time seems right.

What we sometimes forget is that we are entrepreneurs and business owners. That means usually we are the one person doing it all: sales, marketing, client work, administrative work. And that takes time. If we don't want to spend the time doing the marketing, we have two choices:

1. Hire someone as our marketing person
2. Find a J.O.B. - because a business owner must market their services and products in order to succeed

Some marketing strategies that are very effective are in-person events such as SBA events, BNI meetings, professional associations. Then there's online marketing: a blog, social networking sites, ezines, press releases. Yes, these all take time. That's why it's important to put together a simple marketing plan and calendar and schedule these events and actions. Our Action Guide has a sample marketing plan and calendar with details on how to put them into action.  Having a plan helps you make sure you're using strategies that are most effective and less-time consuming than just haphazardly posting something on a social network every day.

Joining local small business groups and attending monthly mixers are effective marketing strategies. Get to know the people, what their needs are, how you can refer them to others. It's important to build relationships with these people before you ever try to "sell" them your services. There's a whole section in our book, The Commonsense Virtual Assistant - Becoming an Entrepreneur, Not an Employee, that has lots of great information on marketing. You can purchase a copy on the website.

The Commonsense Virtual Assistant

I believe doing your own marketing is most effective. However, hiring someone to market your services for you is also a viable option. After all, isn't that what many of our clients hire us to do for them? You can hire someone to help promote your services - online, via mailings, follow-up phone calls, and even by attending in-person events.

Another great marketing strategy is article writing. It establishes you as an expert and always links back to your website. Check out my articles at Ezine Articles.

You can read more about proactive marketing at another blog post of mine.

I'd love to hear your comments!

Email marketing can be used in a variety of ways to communicate with clients and prospects:

• Provide clients with information about the industry
• Promote your products and services
• Invite people to an event
• Send out a monthly newsletter

When planning your email marketing strategies, you need to answer these basic questions:

• What is the purpose of your communication and who do you send it to?
• How often should I send out a communication?

The purpose of you communication could include:

• Driving traffic to your website
• Get clients to purchase a product
• Get new "likes" for your Facebook fan page

Once you've defined your goal, you'll know who you want to send your communication to.

The most challenging part of creating a newsletter is creating valuable content. You want your message to be education-focused. This will help build trust, loyalty and retention. Don't just sell - provide value. The content should be interesting and relevant to your readers. Ask yourself, "How will this information benefit my readers?" 

Communicating more often is not necessarily better. It is more beneficial to send quality content in a quarterly newsletter than a monthly newsletter with so-so content.

If you'd really like to know what you readers want from you and how often they'd like to hear from you, ask them. Ask, "What topics would you like to see addressed in the newsletter? How often would you like to receive it? Weekly, monthly, quarterly?"

Take time to plan your email marketing so it's most effective. Remember - it's not how many people you send it to that measures your success. It's how many people who actually read it and take an action such as:

• Click through to your website
• Call you for an appointment
• Buy a product or service
• Share your content via social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn

Please share your most successful email planning tips. And get more great tips in our book and Action Guide.