Date: Wednesday, July 29th at noon pacific / 3:00pm eastern

The key to effective communication is not *what* you are saying – it is *how* you are saying it. As an Online Business Manager you are effectively the hub of your client’s business – and your ability to communicate effectively and professionally can mean the difference between harmonious progress or potential conflict and headaches. It is essential that you learn how to have the challenging conversations that you will have from time to time in business, be it with the business owner, your team or customers.

In this session, we will discuss the Online Business Manager’s ‘secret weapon’ of communication – the Coaching Approach. When you understand the basics of taking a coaching approach in your communications you truly become a powerful force in your client’s business, with the ability to take potentially upsetting or explosive situations and turn them into opportunities for growth and change.

Our expert for this Member-Only call is Andrea Lee, Co-Founder of the International Association of Online Business Managers. Since the launch of her first business in 1997 Andrea has run multiple businesses of her own as well as helped businesses around the world reach six and seven figure financial success while creating lives rich with meaning and laughter. Andrea mentors, teaches, coaches and writes from her home in the Comox Valley, British Columbia and is at work on her next new book entitled “How I Wonder… Thought Leadership in a Noisy World.”

Call-in information for live call is on your member login page. Missed the live call? Get the audio download on your member login page within 48 hours. If you do not have your password, e-mail us at support@obmconnect.com

If you are not an IAOBM member yet, find out more about IAOBM Membership Benefits by clicking here: http://www.obmconnect.com/membership-benefits

Your list is probably your most important asset in an online based business - and as such we tend to spend alot of time and energy in building up our lists.

So what do you do with that list once you have it?

The key thing to remember is that the value of your list is not based on numbers but on relationship.

You need to stay in touch with your list on a regular basis in order to build a strong relationship. 

Why is relationship so important? People buy from those they know, like and trust - and in the online world one of the best ways to build this relationship is simply by staying in touch.

If you don’t keep in touch with your list then it is basically just a group of people who don’t know who you are, and who won’t care when you do finally reach out with a promotion or new product.

As I like to say - I would much rather have a targetted list of 1,000 people who I have a strong relationship with, than a list of 10,000 people who don’t know me at all. Guaranteed I will make more sales with the first list than the second.

Some ideas for keeping in touch:

• Send out an ezine/newsletter on a regular basis - this may seem obvious, but many business owners struggle with this. An ezine doesn’t need to be a big production - keep it short and simple, and hire a VA to help you if need be.
• Do a free teleclass - invite everyone on your list to join you for a free teleclass on a hot topic of interest for your market. Even if you aren’t promoting anything right now, you can still do a call for the purpose of building relationship.
• Setup a blog and post to it on a regular basis - make sure that you setup RSS feed and email notification options for people to subscribe to get new posts.
• Invite people to join you on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn - assuming that you are active on these (and other) social media sites, this is a really great way to share fun stuff, quick tips, ask questions and just have fun. (Here’s my Twitter page, follow me?)
• Do a podcast or online video - a great way to connect with people in a new way, especially if you want to breathe new life into an old list.
• Ask for their opinion - people love to share their own ideas, thoughts and make a contribution. Do a quick survey, or setup a ‘quick question’ email as part of your subscription process.

There are of course hundreds (thousands?) of ways you can keep in touch with people. Just remember to do it authentically - provide good value to folks and that will come back to you in the form of increased sales and long term clients.

Have other ideas for how to build the relationship with your list? Bring em on… comment here on the blog.

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Be it the economy, cash-flow issues or even just ‘taking a look at expenses in the biz’ i’ve had a few support professionals share lately that “my client asked me to cut back my hours as they can’t afford me right now”.

When faced with lowering revenues or rising expenses it can be easy to think “oh, we have to cut back!” However I like to look at it another way - what can we, as a business, do to increase revenues quickly?

This is the topic of one of my favorite chapters from our book Money, Meaning and Beyond (co-written by moi and my biz partner Andrea Lee).

What is your fastest path to money?

This is an important question in any business - so much so that i’m including the whole chapter here for your reading pleasure. It’s a short little PDF, quick read I promise.

This question is just as important for the Online Business Manager to consider on behalf of their clients. Where is your client’s business struggling? Where is their business thriving? What can you do to perhaps shift a bit of focus/energy to the areas that are flowing right now (and maybe let go of some projects/etc that are really stuck).

As an OBM we do our client’s a disservice if we don’t consider their business from this angle as well. Our client’s look to us to be able to ‘think on behalf of their business’, and this is a prime example of that. It could be that they aren’t seeing the struggle in the same way that you are (and likewise may not be seeing the opportunities that naturally arise). Being involved in the day-to-day activities of the business gives us (as OBMs) a different perspective that the business owner may be seeing, so don’t be shy in sharing your insights!

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Date: Wednesday, June 24th at at 1:00 pacific / 4:00pm eastern

In 2009, many businesses (both small and big) are congregating towards Social Media as a way to expand their reach, connect with their targeted audience, and ultimately increase their revenues. It is clear that many businesses today are jumping on the Social Media “Band-Wagon” without a clear strategy or game plan. They are testing the waters with a variety of Social Networks, like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, but not 100% sure on how to make the most of these powerful channels for their businesses.

The bottom line: They need a strategy!! This is where you come in…. as an Online Business Manager you can help guide your clients through the sometimes ‘murky’ waters of Social Media to help them find the best strategy for their business.

In this session, we will discuss a easy to implement 4-step plan for developing a winning Social Media Strategy for your clients. This session will help you formulate a framework for guiding your clients towards Social Media Success.

Our guest expert for this Member-Only call is Craig Cannings, Founder of VAClassroom.com. Craig has been training and managing a diverse group of Virtual Teams since 2003.  He managed a large virtual staff while working as a Director of Business Development with a successful Internet Company.  His first hand experience in working with fabulous Virtual Professionals has provided much of the inspiration for launching VAClassroom.com where he leads specialized training programs in Internet Marketing and Social Media.

Call-in information for live call is on your member login page. Missed the live call? Get the audio download on your member login page within 48 hours. If you do not have your password, e-mail us at support@obmconnect.com

If you are not an IAOBM member yet, find out more about IAOBM Membership Benefits by clicking here: http://www.obmconnect.com/membership-benefits

I just had to ditto this post by Seth Godin last week - A clean sheet of paper. It’s a must read… go ahead, read it now.

This is so very very true! I’ve seen it time and again… business owners struggling and complaining that they aren’t getting what they want. When in reality, they haven’t defined the parameters of what they want in the first place.

One of my favorite questions when a coaching client tells me that they want a new website is to ask them:

“Great - what action do you want people to take when they visit your site?”

Seems like such an obvious question, and yet many times they have no clue what the answer is. And so we work together to figure that out first before they get anywhere near hiring a web designer to start on the site. Otherwise it can be REALLY easy to go down the road of spending loads of money to get something that isn’t going to serve their business.

And I can tell you from the perspective of someone who has worked as an online support professional for years now… it can be really frustrating to not get clear direction up front. Nine times out of ten the client will end up dissatisfied or even upset! So for all of us on the ‘providing services’ side of the coin - if you aren’t clear on what someone wants dig a bit deeper, insist that they get specific and if they can’t that suggests to me that they aren’t yet ready to hire you (or anyone) at this point.

Don’t assume that the business owner ‘knows what they want’ because they might not. Don’t assume that they want what ‘you have to offer’ as it may be way off track. And don’t be afraid to turn down business and suggest that they figure it out before you can start working with them - less headaches for all concerned and really, that is part of being a professional imo.

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A sure sign of being a geek is when finding a new system just makes you want to sing out loud in glee! I will admit that I am a geek, and have recently ’sung out loud’ about the (relatively) new membership management system Wishlist Member.

We’ve been using Wordpress to manage our membership sites for years now - basically just piecing together some stuff in the blog to make it work. Well Wishlist Member takes a regular Wordpress blogsite and turns it into a full fledged membership system. Tres cool!

What makes it so great? Let me share a few of my favorite things…

• As per any great membership system, it allows you to setup separate login accounts for each member vs. doing the ‘one login for all’. So you can give/remove access for people as they come and go in your membership. REALLY important.
• It connects to the 1ShoppingCart system - so people can automatically get access to your membership site when they join the membership vs. having to load them manually. And it will also remove access for people who fall behind on payments.
• You can email members direct from this system - which I love! It’s super quick and easy to send messages to members vs. sending through the cart (which can be slow at times).
• You can have more than one level of membership setup in the same Wordpress blog. So people will get access only to the stuff that applies to them, and not those areas that they aren’t a member of. This really opens up some pretty cool opps for expanding membership offerings!
• It’s really easy to add a nice ‘login’ box in the sidebar of the blog. Makes the site looks so professional and is of course easy for folks to know how to login to the site (which can be surprisingly hard to find on some sites.)

Want to see a sample of Wishlist Member in action? We recently implemented Wishlist for the Thomas Leonard Success Strategies program - click here to check it out. Unless you are a member you won’t be able to access the material of course, but you can see the overall flow/layout of this membership site.

There are many other cool features in this system beyond my favs, go to the Wishlist Member site to learn more.

Want to learn how to use Wishlist? Or get someone on your team up to speed?

 We are offering a brand new course for VAs and online support professionals on how to manage memberships using Wishlist Member. Be sure to check it out - early bird registration is in effect until May 29th ($100 savings).

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We all have those days right?

• someone on your team just doesn’t seem to listen and did ‘it’ wrong again
• you can’t get something to work and have spent hours trying to fix it to no avail
• your website is down right before a big promo
• you are having a misunderstanding with one of your clients

You know, the kind of day where you just want to scream, yell, perhaps chuck your computer out the window? This happens to all of us, it’s just a fact of life imho. My question to you is:

What do you do when you feel that way?

You know how volcanos always have a little bit of steam seeping out through the cracks? I don’t know the exact science behind this but I believe that the volcano is releasing a bit of steam to ease up on the pressure building up inside -  so as to prevent an eruption!

Same thing applies to us - we need to find ways to release a bit of steam now and again so we don’t errupt! (which can be damaging to us and our biz relationships).

I really do think it is necessary to vent now and again - in business and in life. Quite often just releasing a bit of ’steam’ will go a long way towards fixing the problem (and may even dissolve the problem altogether). The key is to do it in a constructive way. A few ideas:

• Have a venting buddy - I’m quite fortunate to have a few close biz colleagues that I can call up when i’m annoyed, frustrated, angry and just VENT! And I will actually say that, “i’m so annoyed by X, just want to vent… yadda yadda”.
• Use your anger ’energy’ in a constructive way -  do something physical like go for a run or clean the kitchen. Do something creative like write an article or paint a picture.
• Get out of your environment - I find that I will get frustrated and angry much easier when i’m super busy or just plain tired. Sometimes just taking a break can make a big difference, get out of the house, go for lunch with a friend and most importantly, leave your computer behind!
• Talk to the person direct - if you are having a challenge with another person, your best (only) way to fix it is to have a conversation. Don’t start the conversation when you are angry or frustrated, best to wait and let things diffuse a bit first if need be.
• Get help! - if it is a technical or ‘how-to’ problem find someone who can help. Just yesterday I was beating my head against the wall trying to figure out something wierd with a new ezine tempalte… and finally decided to ask a super smart colleague if he knew how to fix. He did, and if I had asked him sooner it would have saved me a good hour of time and frustration. 

What do you like to do to vent? Do tell.

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Date: Wednesday, May 27th at at 1:00 pacific / 4:00pm eastern

Why is it that success comes so easily for some businesses and is such an uphill battle for others? Those who are making it know the secret - the money is in the system! Find out how you can find the money, free time and prestige hiding in your’s client’s business.

All successful businesses have one thing in common; they have business practices in place that:

• reduce errors
• bring in business
• save money

Good business processes and systems aren’t just for the Fortune 500 companies. Small businesses must also have business systems in place to effectively grow and stay focused on what matters – INCREASING PROFITS! Yet, so many small businesses skip over the crucial step of creating systems and processes (and suffer for it).

This is where the Online Business Manager comes in, helping to build and implement the processes our clients need to make more money, save time, and free up resources to focus on continued business growth.

Our guest expert for this Member-Only call is Beth Schneider, President and CEO of Process Prodigy. Beth is a highly sought after, internationally known systems expert. She works with small business owners, showing them how to streamline their business so they can work less, make more money and create Outrageously Effective Systems in their own business. Her client list reads like a who’s who of the small business world because of the results produced. Her clients have seen remarkable growth, increasing productivity by as much as 600% and revenues by as much as 250%.

Call-in information for live call is on your member login page. Missed the live call? Get the audio download on your member login page within 48 hours. If you do not have your password, e-mail us at support@obmconnect.com

If you are not an IAOBM member yet, find out more about IAOBM Membership Benefits by clicking here: http://www.obmconnect.com/membership-benefits

Date: April 22nd at at 10:00am pacific / 1:00pm eastern

One of the key benefits that an Online Business Manager brings to the table is their focus on helping to grow their client’s business. In other words, the OBM is keeping an eye on the ‘bottom line’ – always looking for ways to increase revenue while also decreasing expenses. This alone will make you stand head and shoulders above many of the other online support professionals out there.

Join us on this discussion to learn:

• The top 5 ways to help your clients increase revenue
• The top 5 ways to help your clients decrease expenses
• What to keep track of to measure your contribution
• How to communicate in a concrete and classy way, the difference your work has made to the bottom line

This class is hosted by Andrea J. Lee & Tina Forsyth, Founders of the International Association of Online Business Managers.

Call-in information for live call is on your member login page. Missed the live call? Get the audio download on your member login page within 48 hours. If you do not have your password, e-mail us at support@obmconnect.com

If you are not an IAOBM member yet, find out more about IAOBM Membership Benefits by clicking here: http://www.obmconnect.com/membership-benefits

I’ve literally had this conversation with 3 different people this past week… it went something like this:

(Friday afternoon) My client just sent me a whole bunch of work that needs to be done for Monday, i’m going to be working all weekend!

My response:

Why didn’t you say no?

Now here is what I really love about this scenario, and it rings true for *most* of the online based professionals that I work with (VAs, OBMs, and otherwise).

We WANT to support our clients in the best way possible. We want to see them succeed, and when there is work to be done we are willing to bend over backwards to make sure it happens. In fact, with all three of these conversations after I asked why they didn’t say no the response was:

But the work needs to be done, I don’t want to leave my client high and dry here… that wouldn’t be fair.

A very heartfelt and responsible sentiment yes? You can see that they truly have the client’s best interest at heart.

But what this scenario also says to me is that this person has not set any boundaries with their clients. Or if they have set boundaries they aren’t willing to enforce them. And over time this can become a serious issue - to the point where it can actually ruin what is otherwise a good working relationship.

Taking a look at boundaries for a moment - boundaries are setting the guideline for how we want to be treated. What is acceptable, what is not acceptable, etc.

As it applies to our businesses and the work we do with our clients, boundaries become very important when it comes to turnaround times, getting notice on tasks/projects and your working hours. You want to be very clear with your clients up front as to how much advance notice you need for a task/project, how long it will take (which can of course vary depending on the task/project) and when you actually are available for work.

If you don’t set these boundaries with your clients AND enforce them as needed… you run this risk of basically working yourself to the bone and not having any dedicated time for yourself. And this is when people become burnt-out, resentful and in some cases so tired of their business that they are thinking of shutting it down. I’ve seen it happen many a time, and quite honestly it makes me sad.

I like to use a Dr. Phil-ism when I think of setting boundaries with our clients (I’m not a big Dr. Phil fan these days, but this certainly fits.)

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