Posts Tagged ‘Work at Home’

I love to network!  Of course, I love being around people, so it makes it very easy for me to network.  When you are just starting to grow your business, networking is crucial to your success.  I know it was mine!

These are the top three ways I network to keep my business growing, meet new and interesting people and keep my sanity as a home-based business owner!

Join Local Networking Groups like:

• Business and Professional Groups
• Groups targeted to your niche
• Local Chamber
• BNI/REO or other organized referral exchange group
• eWomenNetwork Luncheons

Form your own Mastermind Group

• Invite others who are looking for connections, support and brainstorming opportunities
• Build from each other strengths
• Share each person’s business with your list and ask them to do the same
• Look for ways to work together as partners to grow your business, i.e., teleseminars, joint venture partnerships, affiliate partnerships, etc.

Social Neworking (This is my favorite!)

• Establish your profile on as many social media sites as you can effectively manage
• At least, start with Facebook and move to Twitter
• Give and share on these sites
• Don’t come out of the gate, asking for the sale
• Drive traffic back to your website through the many tools available using social media
• Have Fun!

These are just a few of the things I do to grow my business and it has been working pretty successfully.  So give it a try!

I get many offers through email for business tools to enhance and grow my online business.  This week I responded to an opportunity to be interviewed for a Christian Home Based Business Connection.  The owner Laurie Neumann, contacted me and we completed the interview very quickly.  On Wednesday, September 2, 2009 Laurie posted my comments on her blog, which I was very thankful for.

During my visit to her blog, I noticed all of the great resources and tools she has to offer at her site.  So I wanted to return the favor and share some of the resources she has and a link to her site, for anyone interested in starting a home-based business.

Her website is Christian Home Business Connection and these are some of the resources she offers:

Home Business Resource Guide

Top Six Ways Report

And Laurie has many other resources and connections for new home business owners and potential owners, based on Christian values.  Check out her site, and tell her I sent you!

As you know, the business of blogs has grown and evolved significantly over the last 24 months. A quote from the WordPress.com site puts it best…

“Blogging is growing both in the US and especially internationally. Tens of thousands of new WordPress blogs are created every day – by regular bloggers, companies, large media publishers, and many others. In addition, we seeing a trend that’s potentially even bigger than blogging: Publishers are starting to use WordPress as a platform to create all kinds of sites beyond blogs – large and small company sites, online magazines, social networks, travel sites, scrapbooking sites, contact managers, startups, multimedia archives, video sites, sports sites.”

Isn’t this cool? Ten of thousands of blogs being created DAILY! Businesses are using blogging technology to create company websites, social networks, video sites, membership sites and so much more.

The sad reality is that a good portion of these blog sites won’t last more than a year as they are lacking some key success strategies for optimizing and marketing their blogs.

Well now there is a great remedy for that problem….

VAClassroom.com has recently launched a new 2-week mini-course titled, “Blog Marketing Tips, Tools & Tactics”

As I have reviewed the course, I see two valuable reasons for taking this program:

1.  This blog marketing mini-course will give you some advanced and current marketing and optimization skills that you can offer as a high value and “in-demand” service to a fast growing base of blog site owners.

2.  Many of you may currently be using a Wordpress blogsite as your primary online business presence, which is very smart! This two-week training program will essentially provide you with a blog marketing tune-up and blueprint for your site, so that you can increase your targeted traffic, business visibility and new client leads.

This two-fold purpose will have a strong impact on both your business visibility as well as new income opportunities!

The two-week training program is scheduled to begin on August 10, 2009 and will finish up on August 24th. The program includes both self-paced and live components.

The registration doors are officially OPEN NOW and seats are going fast. They have 60 seats available for this training program.

To get all the details on this important new training program, just click on the link below:

Blog Marketing Mini Course

Also, take advantage of this $10 discount off an already very reasonable price. Here is the discount coupon code: VABLOG

Some of the strangest things will spark a thought in your mind.  This morning, as I was in the shower, there was an thunderstorm, with lightening.  A thought ran through my head, “what if lightening ran in the house, through the shower and zapped me!”  (I know…I think some crazy things)  But that really made me think, what would my business do if I were hurt or unable to communicate with my clients for an extended period of time.

So I have developed a backup plan for my business and anyone could step in and alert my clients as to what I’m doing and delegate current tasks on to another online business manager.

These are the steps included in my plan:

• Developed a Client Call Sheet with client name, phone and email address.  It is posted in my office all all times for emergency contact.
• Set-up an autoresponder email that can be activated with just the click of a button to inform visitors to my website and blog and anyone who emails me that I am unavailable to respond.
• A list of colleagues who can “pinch-hit” for me if I were unable to complete my client’s tasks.

Luckily, the storm passed and I finished my shower without incident.  But I’m glad I have a plan in place, just in case I need it.

Do you have a plan?  What are some additional steps you do?

I hope I got you thinking about how easily you can start a home-based Internet business yesterday. Now I’d like to share one of the easiest ways to start that business with little or no money!

The first option to consider when thinking of starting an Internet home-based business is to become an affiliate marketer. For those entrepreneurs with limited capital, this is an excellent choice .

An Affiliate Marketer is a person who partners with companies or businesses and through their marketing efforts drives customers to purchase products and/or services from the affiliate company.  In return for marketing the products, the affiliate company pays the affiliate marketer a commission per sale.  In simple terms, you tell people about these products and promote them on your sites, and you get paid for it!

There are many affiliate opportunities available based on your business model, interests or skill-level.  An example of some great affiliates are located on my side bar to your right.  Most of these companies are directly connected to my business as an Online Business Manager.  That’s why I made a decision to partner with them and recommend their products and services to my clients, contacts and online visitors.

Just determine what type of affiliate business you would like to begin and do your research for quality businesses to partner with.  Sign up as an affiliate and set-up your website or blog to promote them.  The affiliate business will provide you with great information from links, content for blog posts to promote them and banner ads.  And all of these can be done Free.

Stay tuned, more great Internet Home-based Business opportunities to come!

Prior to starting my Online Business Management company, I owned a Professional Organizing Service, called Completely Organized.  I have always had a knack for sorting, stacking, and putting like things together, so it came quite easy for me to share my natural gifts with others through a business.  The unfortunate part was that this was prior to Social Networking and my market was local, and they weren’t ready to pay someone to get them organized.

But I still have those skills and I use them in my business today.  Now I have to be honest.  I’m not always good at doing them, I know what to do and I talk a good game, but sometimes I just don’t manage to stay as organized as I would like.  So in honor of  “Organize Your Home Office Day”,  here are a few things that will keep you organized and start and end each day with a clean desk.

• Start your day by reviewing your To-Do List (more about this further down)
• Tackle your priority tasks first
• Set times throughout the day to check email and respond.  Close it down when you have finished
• Make phone calls in bundles (except for urgent calls)
• When working on projects, let the calls go to voice mail and return them when finished with the project
• Keep current files in a stack-file on your desk or nearby for easy retrieval
• When working with documents make a decision to only handle once – file, follow-up,  or shred
• Keep all your tools handy, but tucked away, not on your desktop
• At the end of the day, review your To-Do list again.  Congratulate yourself on your successes and progress.  Start a new one with the top three priorities of the next day.  These are the three things, that will make the biggest impact on your business if you didn’t get them completed.

Well, that’s my list.  Hope you found something useful to help you get more organized.  What are some of the things you do daily to stay organized?

I had the opportunity to attend a teleseminar this morning by L. Drew Gerber CEO & Partner of PressKit 24/7.  It was part of the Big Fish Nation program I am a member of.  Big Fish empowers women entrepreneur’s to take their business to the next level through hard core business skills with a spiritual approach to success.  Today’s teleseminar focused on Online Press Releases.

Drew shared with us that he defines PR as, Your Relationship with the Public and that you should begin using PR from the onset of your business.  It will increase brand recognition, and boost your sales of  products and services.  90 percent of reporters are getting their information from the Internet, so an Online Press Kit is essential to your Online Business Success!

As part of his company, PressKit 24/7 he has established a source to bring potential media opportunities right into your Inbox.  PitchRate.com is the name of this site and it’s completely free!  You can register, include a profile, select your area of expertise, along with subcategories and daily you will receive a digest of media opportunities.  You can also search on the site for keywords relative to your business.

Drew loves games, and so do I!  So he has offered the participants of today’s teleseminar an incredible prize for the person that gets the most people to sign up for PitchRate.  That’s where I need your help!  If you would like to get daily feeds of media opportunities and grow your business through online press release marketing, please sign up for this free service.  And then send me a quick email to (terri.avirtualbiz@gmail.com) and put your name in the subject line.  And of course, I’d love to get your feedback to share with Drew.

It’s very important that you send me an email, otherwise, I won’t know that you signed up and can’t count you in my group.  I’ll follow up and let you know if YOU helped me win!

Today’s our nation’s 16th President’s birthday.  Abe Lincoln, Honest Abe.  A quality we don’t find in many political figures these days, or in our fellow man, for that matter.

One of my son’s calls me “by the book Terri.”  That’s because I have always tried to live my life, and now operate my business, in a way that shows my character of honesty and integrity.  That could also be attributed to my good Southern Baptist upbring.

As more and more people elect to utilize the services of “virtual professionals” to assist with their businesses, these qualities should be at the top of their wish list.  When speaking with a potential virtual assistant or online business manager look for triggers that will alert you to their honesty. Ask for references from former clients and even other associates they have worked with.  And as someone who works virtually, I look for those qualities in clients.

Just remember Ole Honest Abe, especially today on his 200th birthday and try to live your life with honesty.

What would my Mother think?  She’d think, good for you!

Gone are the days of pantyhose, high heeled pumps and cranky bosses.  (Well at least for me!)  I’m a home-based business owner and I can work in my bathrobe and slippers if I chose.  Who’s going to see me, the dog? The mailman?

February 9, 2009 is the seventh annual “Doing Business in Your Bathrobe Day,” a time to celebrate the freedom home business ownership offers people. Everyday an increasing amount of working parents are waving goodbye to the pressures of the corporate rat race and settling into a more balanced and better quality of life…working from home.

I have been working from home since April 2007, providing remote administrative support and online business management.  I’m so blessed to have a home-based business, especially with the uncertainty in today’s job market.  I love being able to work in my pjs and bathroom if I choose and thank Webmomz.com for organizing a special day to do it.

Kristie Tamsevicius, co-founder of Webmomz.com, a site that empowers women who have chosen to work from home, views having a home business as the ultimate life balancer. “Some people may think that living and working under the same roof creates more stress, but in fact, just the opposite is true. Working from home gives you the freedom to schedule your work around your life, rather than the other way around. That way you can create a life that you truly love.”

And the home business bug isn’t just biting American workers. People in England, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand are celebrating the power of the bathrobe and taking control of their workday and financial future.

Considering that the average worker spends up to 12 hours a day focused on work-related activities, often skipping lunch due to job demands, it’s no wonder that many people feel out of balance. So for the millions of people who have dreamed about a home based business and the opportunity to finally have some life balance, February 9, 2009 may be the perfect day to celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit and map out a new business plan—one that makes the bathrobe your power suit.

On the day, Webmomz.com will hold a random drawing for a bathrobe and a host of other prizes. Register online at www.businessinyourbathrobeday.com.