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.

A Word from our Sponsor

(advertisement)
The costs associated with preparing, editing and distributing the Virtually Successful Scoop ezine are covered 100% by our sponsors.  If you’re curious about becoming a sponsor and reaching 1500+ virtual professionals send an email to sponsor@virtuallysuccessful.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 Hot Skills VA Training programs are now available in self-study format!

Self-Study Specialty Skills Training

• Website and Blog Specialist
• Podcasting and Video Specialist
• Membership Specialist

Self-Study Business Building Programs

• 3 Clients in 30 Days Challenge
• Managing Multiple Clients

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

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
Hot Skills VA Training programs are now available in self-study format!

Self-Study Specialty Skills Training

• Website and Blog Specialist
• Podcasting and Video Specialist
• Membership Specialist

Self-Study Business Building Programs

• 3 Clients in 30 Days Challenge
• Managing Multiple Clients

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

It’s time to reconnect with the community to hold the second Future of Virtual Assistance call to discuss another hot topic.

The conversation around VA Certification has been brewing for years - there have been discussions at VA Conferences, on message boards, within private groups and associations - with no general agreement yet on the subject.

Will a certified VA be more successful than a non-certified VA? Will the business owners we support find value in having a certified VA?

If you’ve been a VA for years, should you consider this? If you’re new to the VA world, is it one more thing to look into?

Sign up below for the call on Tuesday, July 28th at Noon Pacific (3pm Eastern) - we look forward to a juice and sure to be thought-provoking call!

Looking forward to having you join us!

Andrea, Tina & Cindy