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?

Are you writing at your blog regularly?

It may be time to hire a Blog Content Manager and Promoter.  Whether your goal is to attract new clients or increase traffic to your blog, a Blog Content Manager can assist. Maybe you’re an author and want to build an audience for book sales; perhaps you want to generate more traffic and increase ad sales. Whatever your goal is, a Blog Content Manager can help make sure your blog is regularly updated and promoted on social media networks.

Here’s what one client has to say:

Sue has been managing my blog content for over a year and her services have added tremendous value to my business. I’ve worked with a lot of contractors over the years, and Sue is one of the best. I greatly appreciate that I can count on her to deliver on her promises, and she always meets deadlines. Sue’s efforts have also given me more time to focus on growing my business, and the consistent addition of content has helped drive a tremendous amount of traffic to my site (http://BusinessInfoGuide.com). I would not hesitate to recommend Sue for blog content management and promotion. She is a true professional who will make your life a lot easier and help bring traffic to your website. – Stephanie Chandler, Business Info Guide

A blog content manager can:

• Help with round-ups (You ask a question and compile the responses into one long post—or a series of posts)
• Schedule guest blog posts
• Send emails to guest posters letting them know their post is live and asking them to promote it to their social networks
• Promote blog posts on social media networks

This frees the blogger up to focus on what they love to do and “ensures that we consistently publish great content. A virtual assistant or an intern can make it all much easier in the long run!“

Wrong.

Invariably, they’ve registered the domain name with a service which is, well, limited. They’ve chosen user-friendly hosting, which means that it’s not geek friendly. They have Yahoo email. They have all their content in a Word document, neatly formatted, with images precisely positioned.

The first step, in this case, is to start over.

The choice of hosting has to come after the choice of development technology. My platform of choice these days is WordPress, which means I need hosting on Linux or some other flavor of UNIX. Not Windows. I also need true FTP access for direct access to the files. Not an online file manager.

Email should be you@yourdomain.com, not yourdomain@yahoo.com. I can’t ‘move’ that email, or work with it in any way, without costing you lots and lots of money.

Microsoft Word is not a web development tool. The beautiful formatting in your document will not transfer to the web automatically. It may transfer, partially, to WordPress, but the cleanup will take longer than starting over.

The images embedded in a Word document may very well be useless. Word is not an image management or editing tool. The images may be too small or at too low a resolution to be usable for your site. At the very least, extracting them from Word is going to cost, because it’s a tedious process I don’t enjoy.

This only covers web development, but the principle applies to choosing a cell phone, your next computer or printer, your internet service . . . any technology—and the people who’ll be working with it on your behalf:

Step One is always, always to ask for professional advice from someone you trust.

If you’re interested in even more, including audio, video, how-to articles, Q&A, and whatever else we can dream up together, sign up for CVO Source. For less than $5 a month, you’ll get more business knowledge than you can possibly absorb. You might want to read more about it, but if you’re ready right now, click the button below:

After payment you’ll be taken to the Source where you can create a username and password. Your account will be approved promptly, and you can get started learning!

2. Why did you choose to become a Virtual Assistant?
I selected a virtual assistance business because I am super at what I do, and this is a way to focus on my strengths and the industry I choose to work with.

3. What advice would you give new and aspiring VAs?
Two suggestions.  First, do not go it alone.  Chief Virtual Officer has been instrumental in my business development and guidance.  Second, be a consummate professional, remember that just because you are virtual and using electronic communication does not change the way you should represent yourself.

4. What resources have helped you in your business?
Resources that I have used to guide me as a business owner: Chief Virtual Officer business coaching calls, books such as Duct Tape Marketing – John Jantsch, Power of Intention, Wayne Dyer, and a membership of International Association of Administrative Professionals.

5. Share a success story or something about yourself.
My success story: I am a very successful volunteer Project Leader for the Hands On, United Way volunteer group.  I have been involved for over three years.  This has been a pivotal force in my life.  First, because I meet a lot of great people.  Second, because I’ve grown as a person from being involved in projects where I am helping someone who needs it.  I feel as though volunteerism is character building, gives you internal strength and takes you outside of yourself.  I would strongly suggest that everyone give of themselves, it changes your life.

6. Additional comments you’d like to share.
Going from being an employee to a business owner takes strength, fortitude, support and encouragement.  Be strong, open, flexible and eager to learn, your motivation and willingness will make the difference between being a successful business owner and or having a business that may not make it.

1. When did you start your business?
January 2008

2. Why did you choose to become a Virtual Assistant?
In 2007 I realized I had hit a “brick wall” in my corporate career. I began looking for a new job but wasn’t excited about getting another j-o-b. Then one day I watched a TV news interview of a successful VA out in Montana and realized I could do that! I purchased a couple of books on how to be a VA and with a little prior planning I quit my corporate job and established my new business.

3. What advice would you give new and aspiring VAs?
I have two:
Polish your networking skills and force yourself to get out of the house and meet people.
Do not buy anything at the office supply store until you absolutely have to!

4. What resources have helped you in your business?
I recently read The Commonsense Virtual Assistant and recommend it to new VAs. My local business assistance center and my local chamber of commerce have been a huge help in getting me clients.

5. Share something about yourself.
Being self-employed I tend to work too much. I am not comfortable “just sitting around”. Realizing I need to relax more I recently took a knitting class. It’s the perfect hobby for fidgety people and it gives me the mental break I need.

6. Additional comments you’d like to share.
If you are considering a career change I highly recommend becoming a Virtual Assistant. There is plenty of work for all of us!

Paula’s Contact Information:
Paula Hill – Virtual Assistant
Website: http://paulahill.com
Blog: http://paulahill.com/paulas-blog/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/paula_hill
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/panther.city.paula
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulahill

1. When did you start your business?
I started the business in October 2008.

2. Why did you choose to become a Virtual Assistant?
I have a family and wanted to continue working whilst being there for my children.

3. What advice would you give new and aspiring VAs?
Have faith that you can do it and have faith in your abilities. Its hard work but the benefits for my family have been immense!

4. What resources have helped you in your business?
I have had experience of all of these but have found a real gem in 2 VA business coaches that helped me focus when I had lost my way and their advice has been invaluable. I didn’t read many books but did subscribe to other VA blogs and forums.

5. Share a success story or something about yourself.
I have changed my focus to being a Virtual HR Officer and am now on the verge of signing a contract with a company for over £10k a year… I still get to work from home and be with my children!

Here’s to your continued success Jo!

Joanne Jinks,  HRVA
Website – hrva.co.uk
Blog - hrva.co.uk
Twitter - Do You Need My Help
Facebook - Joanne Jinks
LinkedIn – http://uk.linkedin.com/in/jojinks

Jen made the point that each page on our website should have a goal. We need to take time to decide what the goal is for that particular page and then be sure that everything on that page is working toward that goal.

That was just one little tidbit I took away from today’s presentation. Bourn Creative provides a ton on information on their blog and I highly recommend you visit their blog today.

In addition, we offer coaching to help virtual assistants succeed in business. Whether you are just researching what it takes, have just started your business or are an experienced virtual assistant, we have coaching programs tailored to your needs.

Visit our Coaching page to learn more about our individualized and group coaching programs.

We’ve also published a book for virtual assistants, The Commonsense Virtual Assistant – Becoming an Entrepreneur, Not an Employee, and an action guide, Building Blocks: Succeed as a Chief Virtual Officer. You can read more about them on our Books page.

So take some time to peruse our site and let us know how we can help you succeed in your virtual assistant business.