Date: Wednesday, September 23th at at 11:00am pacific / 2:00pm eastern

As an Online Business Manager your ultimate goal is to free up the business owner so that they can focus their time and energy on the things that only THEY can do in their business. In order to do this we need to really understand the business owner themselves, what their biggest challenges are and how to work together to create the best business possible. Once you truly understand your client’s perspective it becomes much easier to create a strong and sustainable working relationship.

Join us on this call to learn:

• Who your ideal client really is (and who to avoid like the plague)
• The 10 most commons scenarios that keep clients stuck in their business
• The 3 Keys to getting off on the right foot with your client
• The “Not-so-Obvious” task list that your client doesn’t even know they need
• Secrets to keeping your working relationship sane, profitable and happy

Our guest expert for this Member-Only call is Melanie Benson Strick of Success Connections. As The Million Dollar Lifestyle Business Coach Melanie works exclusively with entrepreneurs who are ready to put the power of leverage to work and create a “sustainable” lifestyle business. She is also the founder of the Virtual Team Building Tele-Bootcamp where she teaches business owners how to grow their business through delegation and outsourcing.

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

Date: Monday, August 17th at at 1:00 pacific / 4:00pm eastern

As an Online Business Manager you spend most of your time focused on the vision and needs of your clients, it’s what you do best! But what about you? Do you have a clear vision for your business (and life)?  Are you fulfilled in your work or are you feeling stuck? In order to create the best business possible for yourself AND your clients you need to be plugged into a vision that inspires and excites you … and you need to understand and bust through your resistance to having it.

In this class we are going to turn the tables and shine the light back on you – the person behind the title of OBM. Using a very powerful, effective and fun “graphic coaching” approach you will take an honest look at your life … where you are at now and where you want to be. And ignite strategies to  Become Your Next Self!

Our guest expert for this Member-Only call is Christina Merkley, The SHIFT-IT Coach. Christina is a strategic planning and graphic coaching pioneer- with a fascinating background in organizational and personal growth.  Christina faciliates creative-based individuals & conscious companies in making transitional shifts and mentors helping professionals from around the globe in her cutting edge visual and Law of Attraction methods.

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

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.”

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

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!

ShareThis

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.

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 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.

ShareThis

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).

ShareThis

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.

ShareThis