Date: Thursday, September 16th at 1pm Pacific /4 pm Eastern

You’ve all heard the saying you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. In fact, 55% of your communication skills are based on your appearance and can affect your marketing efforts both online and offline.

How you represent yourself can have a HUGE impact on your business. And it’s not just about what you look like (although that is part of it) it’s more so about how you feel about yourself – your level of confidence. This comes across in all of your communications and can make the difference in someone saying “yes” to hiring you (or not.)

How your image affects your business and income The key elements that make up your image 7 outfits that every woman needs to have on hand What you need to know about your image online Quick tips to improve your image right now Our Guest for the Month of September is Ungenita Prevost the creator of The Billion Dollar Beauty Club, an internationally known Beauty Empowerment Author & Speaker. She’s worked with some of the world’s most Glamorous and Influential celebrities during her 10+ years in the Entertainment Industry as an Actress/Dancer/Body Double including Stephen Spielberg, Jon Bon Jovi, Ashton Kutcher, Jamie Foxx, Janet Jackson & Madonna.

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

Are you an OBM, VA or other online support professional who is looking for new clients?

Then allow me to give you a bit of “homework” – this is something that I ask of the gals in my Online Business Manager Mentorship program (if their business isn’t yet full.)

Respond to any RFP (request for proposal) that is appealing to you – with the intention of getting to have a conversation with the business owner to learn more and determine if there is a fit.

Just to clarify – an RFP is where a business owners submits their request for “help”, telling you what they need help with and giving you some insight as to their business, projects, budget and such. If you are a fit for what they need then you respond with your “proposal” letting them know how you could be a fit for their needs. There are some really great RFP services out there these days (like the one here at our OBM Association) - if you haven’t done so already be sure to join to be notified as new opportunities arise.

And yet I have to admit that i’m surprised when I see a great RFP come through our OBM Association website – and then hear from the business owner later on that they didn’t get any response. This happens alot more than you would think – what’s up with that? I KNOW there are members who are looking for new clients, and yet they aren’t responding?

I decided to dig a bit deeper and found a common theme among what was stopping people from applying:

“Tina, I’d love to apply for this but don’t have everything that they are looking for…”

If you’ve ever looked at an RFP and thought this allow me to give you a reframe. When a client submits their RFP it is essentially a “wish list” on their part – they may be listing anything and everything that they would love to have, BUT that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t settle for someone who has *most* of what they need.

I would put the 80/20 rule to work here – if you are interested in something and have 80% of what they need, then by all means apply! See the fact of the matter is that you won’t know for sure whether or not something is a fit for you until you get to have a conversation with the business owner – and you won’t get to have a conversation until you apply to the RFP. It is only in the conversation that you can really learn what they need, what is truly important to them and see if/how you can help.

As a business owner shared with me a while back (after not getting a response to her very detailed RFP):

“Tina, I don’t actually expect someone to be able to do all of this… but would love to hear where they can help me, and how they could help build the team to take care of the stuff they can’t”

Which is exactly part of the OBM role anyways right?

I also want you to keep in mind that sometimes the business owners who are submitting these RFPs don’t always know for sure what they need themselves. And so they put everything they can think of in an RFP. Again, a conversation here is vital as you can educate the business owner on how you can help, what you can (and cannot) do for them.

Remember that we are pioneers – I think sometimes we forget that not everyone knows what an OBM is (gasp!) So keep in mind that education may be necessary in this process, and could potentially lead to a really great client if you are willing to have that conversation.

Your Assignment: If you are looking for clients, proactively respond to all RFPs that could potentially be a good fit for you and your services. You won’t know for sure if it’s a fit (or not) until you have apply and have a conversation.

Say what? Sounds like a crazy thing to say, me being a proponent of “hiring your virtual team” and such… isn’t delegation a part of that?

I actually have a bit of a different perspective on this and it is based on my belief that:

Your virtual team should be taking stuff OFF your plate, not adding work to your plate.

Delegation is actually a lot of work when you think about it. In order to delegate effectively you need to be able to decide – usually on a day to day basis – what needs to be done, who is best to do it, give specifics on how it needs to be done, set deadlines, answer any of their questions, follow up to make sure it is done, etc. Phew!

I’m actually a fan of coming at this from a slightly different but hugely significant angle – releasing instead of delegating.

I recorded a video a few weeks back that talks about the two different mindsets of virtual support professionals – the business mindset vs. the employee mindset. (If you haven’t seen the video yet you can watch it here.)

In a nutshell, someone with a business mindset really gets that they are the expert, they are the specialist and are providing a valuable service to you. When you talk to someone with a business mindset they are going to say something like “here’s how I can help you” – they will TELL you what they can do for you.

Someone with an employee mindset usually has the best intention at heart and really wants to help – but they don’t yet have the understanding, experience or knowledge to approach you as an expert in their field. Instead they approach you from the perspective of “how can I help you?” – they ASK you how they can help.

If you consider this for a moment you can actually feel the difference here… if someone TELLS you how they can help that actually takes work off your plate. They are clear on what they are doing and what needs to be done – it’s like a sigh of relief!!

When someone ASKS you how they can help that actually adds work to your plate. It now becomes up to you to tell that person what to do, how to do it, when to do it, follow up to make sure it gets done, etc… this is A LOT of work for many business owners (and quite frankly something that many of us do poorly as it’s not our strength).

Most of the business owners I talk to would love to have someone with a business mindset – we are hungry to get this stuff off our plates!

Now when you have someone in place who has a business mindset your “job” is no longer about delegation… it’s now about release. You don’t have to tell them what to do – instead they are telling you! Your job then is just to learn how to let go, how to release what needs to be done so someone else can take care of it for you.

Now I know for many of us the actual job of releasing can be tough (my fellow control freaks out there, LOL). There is a learning curve for many of us in knowing how to do so – which is why we have a whole module on this in the THRIVE Hiring System. It’s not just about throwing everything at someone and leaving them be – there is a process that we teach for you to be able to get what you need from your team while still freeing yourself up from the details.

Aaaaaahhhhh… love that.

Ready to start releasing? We created the THRIVE Hiring System to help you do just that, join us won’t you?

And of course, your comments, thoughts, yeas or nays are always welcome. Post here on the blog.

–

Date:  Thursday, August 12th at 12:00pm Pacific / 3:00pm Eastern

Savvy entrepreneurs watch their dollars closely as they build their business and strategize for the future.

While most business owners already understand the services that virtual assistants provide and are familiar with the fee range for those services, it’s a different story for the new arena of Online Business Managers.  The fee difference from VA to OBM can be difficult to swallow so it’s your job to help them understand how your services will facilitate an entrepreneur reaching the next level of business growth.

But you can’t do it by just telling them all of the wonderful reasons for working with you or you’ll lose more potential clients than you’ll gain.

Join Carolyn Herfurth, an expert on “sales rejection prevention” as she covers:

1. The 5 steps to creating your own rejection prevention plan to land the clients you want
2. Some of the most common mistakes you can make to hurt your sales efforts and how you can avoid them
3. How to engage your prospect in a sales conversation to eliminate objections

Before founding The Biztruth, a company dedicated to helping solopreneurs avoid sales rejection, Carolyn owned a multiple 6-figure business helping her clients launch nearly 100 businesses. As a serial entrepreneur who’s worked exclusively with other entrepreneurs for the past 8 years, she knows what works and what doesn’t when it comes to running a small business and landing the ideal clients.  To learn more about Carolyn, visit thebiztruth.com.

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

What to do when your new client already has a team in place
by Tiffany Johnson of Vasppro.com

Consider this scenario:

You recently started working as an OBM with your ‘ideal client’ who has a very strong but independent team in place already. You need to learn the business, assess your team and build your client’s confidence in you. Any one of these key components can be a disaster in the making and yet you need to do all 3 and preferably in the first 90 days!

Sound familiar? Well if you have ever joined a 7 figure team for an ideal client, it does. As this is the reality you face from day one. There’s the biz, the client and the team… the good news is you are likely qualified to handle the biz, the client is ready - that’s why they hired you, right? - but the team may not be quite so ready for you to come into the business.

From the team’s perspective you are essentially a ’stranger’ and they quite honestly may not welcome you with open arms. It’s not that they are purposely giving you the cold shoulder, it’s just that they don’t know you yet and your role in the company may change the flow/structure of how they work with the business owner already (and it is human nature to be resistant to change).

I have been in this situation a few times, and have put a plan together to assist you in developing team relationships for the purpose of creating a climate of lean productivity and personal gratification.

So here are my 3 key elements:

1. The old saying “folks don’t care what you know till they know you care” is a major player in developing team relationships specifically if you are the new kid on the block. Let me tell you why… if all you are concerned with is the productivity and not the personality you will likely end up with a very rigid working relationship. This type of relationship will not produce quality work, helpful attitudes or that ‘go the extra mile’ philosophy.

   I always like to start team relationships with an assessment finding out what the skill level of each team member is and finding out what they really enjoy and what they prefer to not do. After the assessment I have a conversation with them about where their business is going what they are learning or struggling with and how I can assist them with meeting their personal goals. This goes a long way in ensuring a healthy relationship with each team member.

   A small investment of time and interest but trust me has a HUGE payoff in the long run.

2. Be completely upfront with your communication. Let each team member know exactly what your expectation of their role in the business is and make sure they are completely comfortable with it. If you have a high level VA handling your social media and shopping cart for your client you may think they are happy to do billing collections or follow up phone calls when in reality that is not at all something they enjoy. When someone is expected to do what they do not enjoy they will not be as productive in that area, nor will they exert the same amount of expertise or precision.

   If you find you have team mates with tasks that do not fit their skills or likes don’t hesitate to move tasks around, even if it means hiring another team member! This is best for the business in the long run and will assist each team member in being able to trust you (you care).

3. Don’t ask anything of the team you are not willing to do yourself. If you are requesting the team keep their hours in a virtual office, keep yours in there. If you expect a team member to work through the weekend to get a project out, be accessible through that weekend for your team member.

Closing thoughts: As an OBM, you need to understand the Law of the Lid which basically means you’re your leadership ability will determine the effectiveness of the team and the business. If a leader is strong then the possibilities are limitless; if the leader is weak then you hit the LID! So be strong as an OBM, be strong in leadership for your client and your team. Make the possibilities limitless!

Comments, thoughts?

by Linda Horowitz

“I am flexing my strategic and project management muscles for the first time in years.” - Linda Horowitz

When I began my self-employment journey after 20 years in management for a retail chain I really didn’t know where to begin. I knew that I wanted to take my skills and transfer them to potential clients but I did not know how. That’s when I learned about Virtual Assistance, and so I began my career flying solo.

For the next five years, after going through VA Training, a learning curve that has taken me from the brick and mortar world to the virtual business world, as well as developing a base of clients with whom I enjoy working, I still felt something was missing in my personal goal to fully utilize my project management and strategic planning skills.

That is when I came to read the book “Becoming an Online Business Manager” by Tina Forsyth. Still, I was unable to fully understand the term “OBM,” and so I took the Online Business Manager training and ultimately joined the OBM Mentor program.

I now have my first client as an Online Business Manager (OBM). I am looking at my client’s business from a different view than I was before - working the bigger picture, finding the business opportunities, implementing operational plans and working with teams. I feel that now I am truly doing what I had set out to do when I began my business. I am flexing my strategic and project management muscles for the first time in years.

Make no mistake - I may be using skills that are familiar, but the business I am working with is completely new to me. The learning curve is great and it can seem daunting at times as there is much to learn. But it is, at the same time, challenging and exhilarating. Moving back to planning and implementation work from task orientated and administrative work is also taking me way out of the comfort zone that I had built for myself. It has been a while.

Please do not mistake this in any way as a negative commentary on the role of the Virtual Assistant. Absolutely not! Had I not gone through the process of being a Virtual Assistant, I would not have learned about the world of business online, about the expertise that is available, or about the software that can be used. I treasure the support I have received and still receive from the various associations I belong to, and from the colleagues with whom I have worked over the years and I look forward to more. For me, the roles of the Virtual Assistant and the Online Business Manager are explicitly intertwined.

Online Business Management is not an industry preference; it is a natural step forward for the business owner who has developed the need for a business manager. For me it has been a matter choice - of choosing a role that feels right for me within that business.

Date: Tuesday, July 20th at 10am pacific / 1pm eastern

Do you stand out from your competition? Do you have a unique branding and positioning platform that attracts prospects to you? Are you implementing PR and marketing strategies to build your brand and business? Or are you just “yet another” OBM business, that is lost in a sea of similar offerings, hoping clients will choose you? In this teleseminar you’ll learn branding, marketing and PR strategies to ramp your business and generate the revenue you desire.

In this info packed one-hour teleseminar you’ll learn:

• What IS branding (and ISN’T)?
• How to translate your brand to all the written, verbal, and visual communication you develop
• What are the key components of a good Press Release?
• Where can you deploy your Press Release online?
• How can you optimize your Press Release so it gets found in online searches?
• How can you approach the media with specific topics to generate interview requests?
• How often should you contact the media and what should you be saying to them?
• How can you write articles, and where can you deploy them, to get more exposure for your brand?
• What are some social media tips/strategies and useful resources you can use to generate clients and awareness for your business?

Lisa Orrell, The Promote U Guru: Lisa is an in-demand Branding Expert, Marketing Consultant and Business Coach, who works with small business owners, entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants, entertainers, speakers and authors. She has 20 years of experience and has received over 75 national and international awards for marketing excellence. Plus, Lisa is also the author of 3 books and a professional speaker. Based on her expertise, she has been interviewed by, or written for, (partial list): ABC, MSNBC, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, NY Times, TIME, BNET.com, WomenEntrepreneur.com, and countless others! To learn more about Lisa visit: www.PromoteUGuru.com. Follow her blog, and join her online (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) by visiting her main website!

IAOBM Members: You can access the recording for this call in the Member Area. If you are not an IAOBM member yet, find out more about IAOBM Membership Benefits by clicking here: http://www.obmconnect.com/membership-benefits

article by Tiffany Johnson of Vasppro.com

Please enjoy this article I wrote while traveling on a family vacation last month. Just a simple reminder of how we can get a bit out of balance if we are not careful and intentional ~ Tiffany Johnson

Literally as I am writing this article I am in the car driving with my family to our vacation week in Florida! Few experiences are more amusing than locking yourself up in a car for 9 hours with a 9 yr old and a 12 yr old (hubby too, of course). Currently a very competitive game of I-spy is keeping the 3 of them entertained as I take a moment to share with you something I have recently been struggling with in my OBM business.

Of course, I am sure having just explained the reality of my surroundings you can guess my dilemma? If balance between family and biz was your first thought you were so RIGHT!

I love being a business owner; specifically, I love the service I offer as an online business manager. Unfortunately my passion and love for this industry and my services are beginning to wane due to what is starting to feel like choices of sacrifices I am really not willing to make.

As an OBM it is just in my nature to get things done, take care of the to do’s and make sure the balls are going in the direction they are supposed to be in… specifically, not ending up on the floor! But what do you do when you look around and realize the balls that are getting dropped aren’t the ones your clients have tossed in the air but instead the ones your kids, hubby, church, or friends are tossing around.

All of a sudden I look around and there is a mass of laundry desperately needing my attention, my daughter is talking about her new best friend (and the only name I remember is her ‘old’ best friend), and my son just wore the same pair of shorts to school 2 days in a role! Trust me when I say I am completely embarrassed to be sharing this with you… but at the same time feel I am not the only one, so I am hoping this can be an encouragement to other devoted business owners who have to make the hard choices!

(Daughter just asked hubby “what if we run into a tornado”… my husband replied “I would just outrun it!” The good news is if you are reading this article means all is well and we did not have to play chicken with a tornado!… sorry I just had to add that. ;-))

Okay, where was I? Ah yes, devoted business owners have to make hard choices. So when is enough, enough? And too much, is simply too much? Well, to be honest I wish I had an answer to that… I believe each us have to determine those answers for ourselves. But I wanted to share with you my 5 point balancing commitment:

1. Take time out daily to pray and meditate so that I can BE, with all of me in every moment. Full of purpose, passion and persistence! This is where I find the source hope for the to do’s of my day!
2. Plan and work a manageable schedule that includes reasonable work hours, family quality time, and household chores (which admittedly I do not LOVE and tend to procrastinate!).
3. Forgive myself for all the ways I wasn’t “Super OBM, Super Woman, Super Mom, Super Wife, well… just not super!”
4. Take time in the evenings to lay out the next day’s activities - 15 minutes today will save an hour tomorrow (if you fail to plan you plan to fail ;-)).
5. Live with absolute gratitude for the blessings and favor I have in my life, my faith, my family, my biz and my health!

In closing I am challenging each of you to assess your priorities. Determine what is needed for the balance of your life and be faithful to the commitment you make to yourself to see it fulfilled. I believe in you! I believe in me and I know we will give an amazing industry greater service when we serve ourselves authentically this way.

Comments, thoughts?

Date: Tuesday, June 15th at 9:00am pacific / noon eastern

A Request for Proposal (RFP) comes in from what appears to be your perfect client.   You ARE the best candidate for the role.  You’re eager to capture their attention.

So how do you respond?  How much information do you include?  What details are a MUST to include?  Do you include your rates?  What about a resume?

We’ve seen our share of RFP responses and sadly, we’ve seen some responses from fantastic virtual professionals (like yourself) who are short-selling themselves for what could be a perfect opportunity.

Frankly, we’re tired of seeing you short-sell your talents and we want to help YOU demonstrate the expert you are to the business owners you want to work with.    That’s why we’ve decided to host this call – to share the do’s and don’ts of responding to RFPs.

In this call we’ll discuss:

• Specifics to look for in an RFP (to help you determine whether it’s even worth responding to)
• Top 5 details to include in your response to a RFP
• What to NEVER include your RFP response
• The #1 reason biz owners will immediately delete your RFP response without further consideration

Cindy Greenway is the author of Virtually Successful: 8 Simple Ways for Virtual Assistants to Find (and Keep) Clients and Co-founder and Lead Trainer of Hot Skills VA Training. Since the start of her VA business in 2003, she has worked with highly respected and successful online-based businesses and now focuses her time on training and mentoring virtual professionals as well as supporting the growth of the industry by educating the business community.

IAOBM Members: You can access the recording for this call in the Member Area. 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 will admit, having worked in the world of online biz for a while now I’ve become a bit bored with the idea of automated marketing – in particular the world of email based marketing. It’s almost like I’ve heard so much about it over the years and worked with it in so many different ways that I’ve almost forgotten the true value of what is behind this idea.

Enter in Infusionsoft*… which has renewed my excitement for the power & value of what automated marketing can truly be. (So much so that I’m offering a new training for Infusionsoft – early bird for this expires today, check it out.)

The appeal of automated marketing is of course the fact that it’s automated – who doesn’t want to have marketing activities working to their benefit without having to lift a finger! And yet ‘traditional’ automated marketing – especially of the email kind – seems to fall apart for a few reasons:

1. Email is no longer the best way to connect - I think this goes without saying as we all know about deliverability issues, email overwhelm and such. People simply aren’t paying attention to email as much anymore, and yet most of us still rely on email in a big way to market.What to do? Connect with people in other ways of course – good ole phone, fax, letter, voicemail to mention a few. Part of what I love about Infusionsoft is that it builds these options into an automated marketing sequence, so it doesn’t have to be just strictly about email anymore. Super cool!
2. It can feel so impersonal - people want to connect with people. And I think that the purpose of any good automated marketing strategy should lead to an actual “person to person” contact in some way, shape or form. Be it a phone call, group meeting, live meeting or something along those lines.That isn’t possible of course with every single thing we do in marketing (or is it? hmmm) but I think it’s VERY important to consider. People can see through something that is just strictly “another email trying to sell them something” vs. you wanting to truly connect and provide value to them. Imagine signing up for someone’s newsletter and actually getting a call from someone as a result, wouldn’t that knock your socks off? It would mine.
3. We tend to forget it is there – when was the last time you revisited the series of emails that people get when they sign up for your newsletter? As I’m typing this I’m embarrased to say that it’s been over a year for me, eek!Like anything, automated marketing needs some good TLC in order to truly serve as a business building tool. You need to revisit your automated marketing sequences on at least a quarterly basis to really ensure they are still relevant and valuable to people.
4. Connecting with people based on where they are at – one of my fav features of Infusionsoft is how much it allows you to segment your lists. Instead of just an “everything for everyone” approach you can actually tailor how you reach out to people based on where they are at and what they want from you.For example, you can actually reach out to people who click a link in your ezine that leads to your new program. And based on whether or not they take action on that page (i.e.: make a purchase) you can follow up with them to say either “thanks for joining” or “hey, I noticed you didn’t join… ” and continue the conversation with them from either perspective.

The reason I love Infusionsoft so much is that it has reminded me of the above, and truly renewed my passion for the power of automated marketing. We are in the process of making the switch to Infusionsoft and my head is already spinning with ideas of how we can improve our connections. A delightful thing indeed.

* In the spirit of full disclosure this is an affiliate link for Infusionsoft and I will get paid a commission if/when you decide to use the system. And on that note – if you do decide you want to move forward with Infusionsoft let me know as we have a bunch of folks taking our Infusionsoft Training who would be delighted to help.

Comments, thoughts?