Date: Wednesday, July 29th

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 discussed 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.

“The call was invaluable to me today… you gave me tools to use and confidence that I can approach tough conversations in a way that affects positive outcomes. In the end, it’s what we all want. I’m pleased to have the possibility of affecting that kind of shifts in the future - both personally and professionally.”
- Kaitrece Williams

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.”

Audio Recording (60 mins) | Click Here for MP3
‘Either or’ Questions for Tough Conversations | PDF

If you would like to learn more about taking a Coaching Approach in conversations we highly recommend How to Coach Anyone by Thomas Leonard. Although written for professional coaches, this guide is equally valuable for the Online Business Manager who truly wants to effect change within their business relationships. Click here to get your copy, and we have been given special permission to take advantage of the CoachVille Member pricing available on that page.

With all the bumps in the economy these days, i’m hearing some buzz among online support folks (virtual assistants, online business managers and the like) along the lines of:

“If my client’s business is struggling – doesn’t that mean they’ll have to let me go?”

Au contraire! Your services are needed more than ever because of these challenges.

Now I am no economist – heck, I barely pay attention to the news at all, never read newspapers – but my take on how these challenges affect us small/home-based business owners is this:

We need to step it up a bit, take a good look at things, let go of what isn’t working and get creative with how we serve our markets.

I’m certainly not the only person saying this of course, this is the basis of alot of the business advice out there right now - and for good reason. Those who are adapting are growing, those who are resisting are stagnant and struggling.

But I do want to make this clear – this applies to us as virtual assistants, online business managers and virtual support folks as well.

I believe quite strongly that regardless of what we are hired for – be it customer service, to build a website or to full out manage the business – our intention is the same. We need to always be focused on how we are helping to grow our client’s business.

This is always important, but it even more so important these days.

If you find yourself in fear of ‘losing your clients’ or are seeing some of your clients struggling I want to ask you:

What are you doing to help grow your client’s business?

Let’s put on our thinking caps shall we? It may not be as hard to do as you think. A few ideas:

• If you take care of customer service you actually have a pretty unique perspective on the business. You are in direct contact with potential and existing clients. What are they asking about? What are they upset/annoyed with? Share this with your client – these can be clues to potential new revenue streams. Also, what about people who have inquired but not purchased – can you put together a follow-up plan to reach out to these people with some kind of special offer? Being on the “front line” of the business is a very powerful place to be, you can truly make an impact here.
• Look to streamline, simplify and cut the fat. Where is the business leaking money? Most businesses are, and being in the role of ‘doing’ you are most likely the one to see where alot of this is happening. What tools are being used in the business – are they all necessary? Is your client paying for stuff they aren’t even using? Is there perhaps a new tool/software on the market that might be better? What about processes – what are you (and other team members) doing that could perhaps be done better? Saving time that can be put towards other business-building activities. Come up with a plan to ‘plug the leaks’ and share with your client.
• What can you take off your client’s plate? Freeing them up to focus on new business building opportunities… We talk about this alot in the Online Business Manager Training – one of the best things we can do for our clients is take stuff off of their already full plates. Give your client a tap on the shoulder and say “hey, I noticed you are really busy… why don’t you let me take x, y, z off your hands? I’d love to help”. This is music to your client’s ears, let me assure you! Chances are they didn’t realize you could help with x, y, z or in many cases they are so on autopilot it never occurred to them to let it go. I can hear the sigh of relief from your clients already….

 What else can you do to help grow your client’s businesses? Post your comments below…

And for the business owners reading this – don’t be shy in sending this to your team and/or having a discussion about it. Chances are they would love to step it up and see how they can help… they just might need a little nudge from you.

As any good Online Business Manager will tell you – juggling is an essential part of the job! With so much going on every day you need to be able to keep all those ‘balls in the air’ so to speak.

Whether you are juggling balls or projects, here are a few tips to help you out:

Decide what you are going to juggle.

Balls? Beanbags? Apples? Recommend that you start with something simple, don’t attempt to juggle chainsaws on your first try! (Saw a guy do that on America’s Got Talent the other night, yowza… had to cover my eyes.)

What you decide to juggle will make a big difference in your success (and enjoyment!) Don’t attempt to juggle all the pieces of a huge project in your business if you are already overwhelmed, stressed or new to the task at hand.

Start with 3 items and build up from there.

Any juggler will tell you to start with 3 items, and slowly build up to 4 or 5 when you are ready.

One of my favorite productivity strategies is to pick 3 things each day that you want to get done. Pick those that are closest to the money – the ones that you *really* want to finish and will bring you (or your clients) closer to increased revenue. Work on those first, and then dive into any other projects (time permitting). This is a great way to ensure you are making progress in your business and not getting caught up or distracted by your giant pile of to-dos… and not actually accomplishing anything by the end of the day.

Get rid of distractions.

It’s really hard to juggle when you are constantly being interrupted by email, phone, kids, barking dogs, etc. Find yourself a quiet place where you can relax and focus. Close the office door. Shut down your email (and Twitter account!) Maybe play some nice music in the background.  

Get help if need be.

If you are buried in ‘to-dos’, perhaps it is time to pass a few of those balls along? Again, it’s really hard to juggle more than a few things at a time… if you have lots of balls to juggle give yourself a break and explore hiring someone to take a few off your plate.

When you are frustrated step back and take a breath…

If you are feeling frustrated and stressed out you will start to drop the balls! The best juggling occurs when you are calm, focused and ‘in the zone.’  Stop for a moment, take a short break and come back to it when you are feeling re-energized.

Juggling is meant to be fun.

There is a reason that clowns like to juggle – it’s fun! This may sound wierd, but I actually get alot of enjoyment out of the online business ‘juggling’ that I do – it’s the OBM geek in me, hehe. When i’m in the zone, juggling away and getting lots of stuff done I love it! The hallmark of a great OBM is how much they enjoy juggling…

And for you business owners in the crowd – if you don’t like juggling or it’s getting to be a bit much for you, perhaps it is time to hire an Online Business Manager? Check out the OBM Directory for a list of top notch folks.

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.”

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