Since my bursting point story came out last month, I’ve had Virtual Assistants email tell me they relate to my  experience … and others have asked me “Cindy, how do you know when you’re nearing the bursting point?“

I remember when I first hit my bursting point … I didn’t really know what I was dealing with.  I just knew that I was stressed, sad, angry and ready to close the door to my office, never to return.

But how do you distinguish between a bad day and the actual bursting point?  Here’s a few signs that you are at the bursting point (from the book Becoming an Online Business Manager by Tina Forsyth)

• You don’t have enough hours in the day to get your work done, and you are falling behind on many of your
  commitments

• You are feeling overwhelmed and are starting to dread hearing from your clients

• Clients are starting to get upset with you as the work is coming late, is not complete or is incorrect

• Your family and friends are asking “Why do you work so much?” or “Are you on that computer again?”

• You don’t have time to say yes to any new and exciting projects or clients that come your way
  (including those that pay a higher rate)

• Work has become a drag; you aren’t enjoying it anymore and may even start to avoid it or get depressed
  (this is a big sign of burnout!)

Does any of this sound familiar to you?  If yes, you may very well be at the bursting point in your business.

To those of you who have not had the ‘privilege’ of experiencing the bursting point … don’t worry … you will! 

And to those who have … you’ll likely experience many times to come.  However, each time it gets a little easier to deal with.

One thing that I fully believe in is sharing my experiences – both good and bad.  I want others to learn from what I share … not because it will prevent you from going through it yourself, but because in our virtual world, we may often feel that we’re the only ones dealing with certain things.  Let me tell you … you’re not!  So if you can gain even a teeny bit of comfort in knowing that I’ve been there too … I’ve done my job.

And quite honestly, I’ve hit the bursting point many-a-time.  Just ask my partner-in-crime Tina … she’s been at the receiving end of my venting and thank goodness for me that she was. I’ve hit the bursting point when I:

• had too many clients

• over committed myself and took on too much responsibility

• couldn’t say no to ridiculous requests

• didn’t stay true to myself, my family and the real reason I set out to build my business

Have you hit the bursting point and are willing to tell us about it?
Share with us below .. .we’d love to hear from you.

Haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing the bursting point yet?  What has impacted you most from the details I (and others) have shared with you about their experience? Please share your comments below.

Holy Smokes .... 2010 is flying by!  Can you believe we're already into March?

My objective this year is to become much more comfortable with creating videos to use in my business. So here's my official welcome message video for this edition of the V-Scoop.

It's been a crazy few months!  Just last month Tina Forsyth ran her Online Business Manager training program -- a comprehensive 3 days that included a TON of  information as well as appearances by Andrea Lee.   I think there was Twitter overload as many participants continuously tweeted what they were learning and words of wisdom that hit close to home for them.  I made note of so many quotes myself ....here's just a few:

"The thing that drives you the most crazy about your clients is the thing they need you for the most."

"The OBM is the coach for the business, not the coach for the business owner."

"You don't need to know everything but you need to know where to find the answers!"

ahhh ... so well said!

I'm super excited for this issue of the V-Scoop ... want to know why?

Because we're re-launching an updated version of the "101 Ways to Boost Business With a VA" document to the "200+ Ways to Boost Business With a Virtual Assistant". Click through to get your hands on it.

Have you heard about everything that's coming up for us here at VirtuallySuccessful?  There's always something going on ... we can't stop!   Hopefully you received our "keep the date" email last week ... if you haven't already, you really do want to keep the dates of April 12 to 16th in your calendar for the "Virtually Successful Telesummit"  More information to come soon!

Also, the Ecommerce Specialist Training Program will be starting on Monday, March 23rd.  This is our 'flagship' program at HotSkillsVATraining.com and really is imperative for all VAs who want to work with any business owner -- whether ones that do business online, or the traditional businesses that will be forced to start to build online in the near future.  Check out the details
website for details.

Next week we're all going to be gathering in Vancouver at Andrea Lee's Event - The Wealthy Thought Leader. I know the information that will be shared is going to be exquisite ... combined with meeting people face-to-face that I've been only talking to via phone for years is even more awesome.   Interested in joining us?

Enjoy!

-- Cindy, Tina and Andrea

Got something you want to share or request for future issues? Let us know... email
us at news@virtuallysuccessful.com.

As you may already know, the HotSkillsVATraining.com "Ecommerce Specialty" training program is coming up soon.  Starting on Monday, March 23rd, we'll be connecting with a select group of Virtual Assistants who have invested in themselves to learn and become experts in the area of ecommerce.

I've been thinking a lot about ecommerce lately and how it affects both the VA community as well as the business community.

Here's the reality:

Online based businesses can't not thrive (or survive) without ecommerce.

And traditional businesses that will be moving to the online world in the future, will require ecommerce.

So ... as a Virtual Assistant ... you're kidding yourself if you don't think you need to know about ecommerce. 

There's still room to join us for this training.  Over the course of 12 sessions (over 6 weeks), you'll learn everything you need to educate, implement and manage the ecommerce side of a client's business.

Will you join us?

>>YES I want to learn more about the 'Ecommerce Specialty" Training Program!

It was a couple of years ago that Tina and Andrea emailed me saying "Cindy, we need something from you that business owners can use to help identify how they can build their business with the help of a Virtual Assistant.  And by the way ... we need it tomorrow because we're leaving for the live conference in the evening."

Anyone that knows me even just a little bit knows that I work best (unfortunately) under a little bit of pressure.

Off I went ... within 3 hours, I had a list of just over 100 ways business owners could boost business with a Virtual Assistant.

The report was a huge success ... both business owners and Virtual Assistants requested to use it in their own work.

Well guess what ... it's been updated and now includes 200+ ways that Virtual Assistants can help business owners.  Remember, business owners, really can't make it all happen and achieve success without all of us and our expertise!

Curious what's in there?  Take a second to fill out the form below and download it immediately.

Now there's a cautionary note I'd like to add.  While these are all ways Virtual Assistants CAN help clients, in no way is it to set the expectation that as a Virtual Assistant you need to know how to do ALL these things.  Don't let yourself get overwhelmed with feeling you need to do it all.

While I love to share this with you ... there are two things I'd like to have you share with me in the comments section of this blog post:

1. Your feedback on the updated report "200+ Ways to Boost Business With a Virtual Assistant" and
2. Your thoughts on additional tasks that can be added to this document. 

Can we get it to 500+ ways or even 1000+ ways?  I'd love and could use your help.  I'll take care of updating the document, if you provide me with your insight.

Just post your comments/additions at the bottom of this blog post ... can't wait to hear from you!

>>> Download the newly revised "200+ Ways to Boost Business With a Virtual Assistant" by completing the form below:

It's coming ... and it's going to be GREAT!  The Virtually Successful Telesummit is about a month away and we couldn't be more excited about it!  We have a fantastic line up and can't
wait to share more. 

Be sure to save the dates April 12 to April 16th in your calendar ... you'll be sorry if you don't!

Stay tuned for more information coming up soon.

Tina Forsyth and I have had the priveledge of speaking to hundreds of business owners over the last several years. These discussions have lead to critical points of informaton we've shared with virtual support professionals to help them provide exactly the kind of support business owners are really looking for from them.  

One of the most critical components of an online based business is ECOMMERCE and it's one of the areas that many business owners have shared concern about.   It's absolutely essential that Virtual Assistants who work with online businesses fully understand and can implement various strategies and technology to support the ecommerce side of the business.

Unfortunately there are several key areas in the ecommerce area that are being done incorrectly and serious mistakes are being made. As a result, business owners are missing out on potential revenue, clients and overall business growth. 

How do you avoid this?  How do you know if you're making these mistakes?

Join us on Tuesday, March 2nd at 12pm Pacific (3pm Eastern) for a FREE call and learn whether you're making the top "7 Mistakes Virtual Assistants Make In Ecommerce".   We're going to share what business owners are telling us, as well as other mistakes we see are being made over and over again.

The time or date not work for you?  No problem, register anyways as we'll be sending the mp3recording link out after the live call. 

Topic:  7 Mistakes Virtual Assistant Make in Ecommerce
Date:  Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010
Time:  12pm Pacific / 3pm Eastern

Register below to save your spot!

As you know, one of our favourite things to do is hop on a call with all of you and share/discuss all the great things about working virtually.   In turn, we hope a few things will impact you significantly enough to where you'll implement and make positive changes for you and your business.

So for January, we're hosting not one, but TWO fr'ee calls that I'm pretty sure you'll be interested in:

It's not enough to dabble in a few pieces here and there that you get from the experts out there ... generating publicity requires a strategy and realistically, a VA who has received the right kind of training, CAN help their client implement the pieces to create a great plan and therefore  generate publicity.

Now, none of us at VirtuallySuccessful.com are publicity specialists, and so we've asked Diana Ennen, Publicity Expert, to join us for a f'ree call on Tuesday, January 19th  at 1pm Eastern / 10am Pacific to share the 7 Mistakes Virtual Assistants are Making when it comes to building publicity.  This information is relevant to your own business as well as your clients so please do make a point to attend. 

To make this even more fun, we encourage you to share your own questions or strategies you have used to support your clients in generating publicity. 

Register for your spot in the form below and please do post your comments in the section at the bottom of the page.

Call #2 - Future of Virtual Assistance Call
What Every Online Business Manager Needs to Know This Year - Top Trends for 2010
Wednesday, January 20th at 3pm Eastern / 12pm Pacific  

The role of Online Business Manager (OBM) is a natural one for many Virtual Assistants and so  that's why we decided to focus January's Future of Virtual Assistance call on the top 2010 trends for OBMs.

On Wednesday, January 20th, yours truly, Tina Forsyth, founder of OnlineBusinessManager.com will lead this discussion on:

• How the economy is affecting our clients and what to watch out for

• The best clients who really need your help (and there will be more of them in 2010)

• What is really important to clients right now, and what will make you stand out from the crowd

and much, much more.

>>Sign Up For Your Spot

It's no surprise to hear us say that Virtual Assistants must provide SOLUTIONS to their clients. If you don't provide your clients with solutions via your support and services, then you're not doing your 'job'.

So when I came across Tina's blog post (yes, I do check out her blog frequently!) and saw the post about "Providing Solutions, Not Just Options", I thought it would a great one to share.

This post was written for Online Business Managers, however I believe the message in it will demonstrate just one more way of telling our clients "what they don't know" (if you haven't heard the story about this phrase, let me know and I'll share it in a future issue of the V-Scoop.)

Our clients are busy. They know their expertise. In most cases, they know very little about the technology and the steps that WE take to implement and complete a project. The onus is on us, as Virtual Assistants, to provide, research and demonstrate as much as we can, without making them work too hard.

So, check out this post and ask yourself ... are you providing solutions? Are you making your client(s) work too hard? Are you demonstrating your expertise, mindset and initiative?

>> Read the blog post "Providing Solutions, Not Just Options"

Drumroll please… we'd like to give congratulations to the world’s very first Certified Online Business Managers.

Let’s give a round of applause to:

Charly Alexander

Denise Milligan

Donna Frindt

Heike Miller

Janet E. Smith

These five lovely ladies tackled our admittedly tough Certification process and came out shining, and so it is our absolute pleasure to award them the designation of Certified Online Business Manager. Feel free to click their names to learn more about these truly talented women.

To learn more about the next Certified Online Business Manager Training program and join the early notification list go to www.certifiedobm.com.

Just in Time Learning for VAs - the skills you need when you need them!

Your client just asked you to help setup a membership site - but you don't know where to start!

Your client REALLY wants to do video or possibly a podcast and wants your help.

You are tired of having to rely on someone else to do simple website updates for your client - and wish you could do it yourself.

Get instant access to these skills (and many more) when you need them with our new self-study training!

Since October 2007, Hot Skills VA Training has offered a variety of training programs designed to help Virtual Assistants get the 'hot skills' that we know clients are eager to pay for.

Until now all of our programs have been offered 'live' - so if you missed the date, you would need to wait for the next program to start!

No need to wait anymore... the following
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• Website and Blog Specialist
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• 3 Clients in 30 Days Challenge
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As soon as you register for any of these programs you will receive instant access to the exclusive member only training area and can dive into your training right away!

Get started now - remember, you have until the end of August to claim your savings.

>> Check it out ---
www.HotSkillsVATraining.com