Starting A Virtual Assistant Business

January 26, 2010

When starting a virtual assistant business, the first item on your to do list is coming up with a business name. You should give this a lot of thought.  The name you choose should reflect your products or services, because you will promote, brand and market your business under this name.

Next, decide on a niche.  A niche market is a narrowly defined group of potential clients. In order to create effective advertising and/or marketing messages, you need to know who you are addressing.

One method of marketing is Internet marketing, also know as online marketing.  Nowadays, because of the Internet and technology, Internet marketing is affordable and popular.  Examples of Internet marketing are blogs, websites, article marketing, online networking, and e-mail marketing campaigns.  For more detailed descriptions and examples of Internet marketing, click here for a copy of  my e-book for only $3.98.

If you are considering starting a virtual assistant business, decide on a business name, choose a niche, as well as create and implement an Internet marketing plan.

By RitaJo | Posted in Internet marketing, Marketing, Online Business, Online Marketing, RJ's Word Processing Services, Rita J. Cartwright, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Solopreneur, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistant Services, Virtual Assistants | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comment (1)

Another Method To Grow Your Virtual Assistant Business

January 5, 2010

We, as virtual assistants (VAs), generally attempt to grow our businesses by obtaining more clients.  Another strategy is to grow your business by subcontracting or outsourcing projects to a team of VAs.  These VAs’ services will complement your services rather than compete with them.

In an attempt to grow my virtual assistant business and deepen my service list, I organized a team of three VAs.  My core services are word processing services and Internet marketing, and my team services include bookkeeping, transcription, and ghost writing.  Their services complement my services.  Now I can offer these services in addition to my current offerings.  They are also my backup.

There are two different models of multi-virtual assistant (multi-VA) businesses, which outsource overflow of projects.  One model is team and the other is subcontracting.  The main difference is a team approach.

Multi-VA team businesses list the team members on their team web pages, but everything is under the umbrella of the multi-VA business owner.  Team members also have direct contact with the clients. Whereas, with multi-VA subcontracting businesses, the subcontractors don’t have contact with the clients; although, they may be listed on your website. You, as the multi-VA business owner manage the clients and projects.

In both cases, subcontractors and team members/associates are VAs themselves and are at the beginning stages of their businesses or have room for more projects.

Due to the current economic situation, there will be more entrepreneurs and small business owners, and they will need virtual assistance. We probably will see more multi-VA businesses, both team and subcontracting models.

If you are Virtual Assistant and you want to grow your business, consider organizing a team of virtual assistants whose service offerings complement your services.

By RitaJo | Posted in Bookkeeping, Business, Entrepreneur, Marketing, Multi-VA, Outsourcing, RJ's Word Processing Services, Rita J. Cartwright, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Transcription, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistant Services, Virtual Assistants, Website Design, Word Processing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (7)

What is a Virtual Assistant?

July 28, 2009

ritajoblack1As an entrepreneur and small business owner, you’ve probably heard the term “Virtual Assistant (VA)” and know what it means.  However, there are still misconceptions that exist.  I’m going to attempt to clear that up in this blog post.

“A Virtual Assistant is a professional who specializes in providing administrative support and expertise,” says Danielle Keister of Virtual Assistant Chamber of Commerce in her blog post.  To read more of Danielle’s post, click here.  The business community is still conditioned to think of virtual assistants as administrative assistants.  This type of thinking can devalue the true worth of a Virtual Assistant; therefore, potential clients tend to focus on the cost of the services rather than the value a VA can bring to the table.

Since VAs are professional entrepreneurs, they are quite versed in business operations, marketing, bookkeeping, etc.  As Danielle points out in her blog post, a Virtual Assistant can help you move your business forward.  This is a very valuable skill to any entrepreneur and small business owner.

The qualifications and skills that virtual assistants possess as a professional enable them to be experts in their fields, as well as in their profession as an entrepreneur. You receive more than administrative support, you have someone you can consult with, bounce ideas off of, brainstorm with, as well as utilize some of their business practices.   If it works for your VA, it may work for you in your business.

These are just a few examples of the value your Virtual Assistant can bring to your business.  The benefits you reap as an entrepreneur from this type of business relationship outweighs any fees that you may perceive as being expensive.

If you choose to work with offshore virtual assistants to save a few bucks, you will not receive this type of  value-added service, mainly due to cultural differences.

I hope this helps clear up the misconceived notions that yet exist.  Feel free to post your thoughts and comments.

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By RitaJo | Posted in Clients, Entrepreneur, Marketing, Offshore, Online Marketing, Outsourcing, Rita Cartwright, Rita J. Cartwright, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Solopreneur, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistant Services, Virtual Assistants | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (3)

What is Niche?

July 10, 2009

ritajoblack1

An interesting discussion was started on Twitter as to what is niche.  I have seen niche used to refer to a group of consumers with shared characteristics.  I have also seen niche described as a specialized service(s); for example, internet marketing.

Ten years ago, when I was in college, niche was described as a space in the market where the advertiser’s product or service will fit.  Merriam-Webster online dictionary definition is a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted.  Although marketing and advertising concepts and theories remain the same, the methods of delivery of advertising messages have changed.

These changes apparently have changed or gave new meaning to the word “niche” where now it can refer to a specialized service.  Join the discussion by posting your comment below as to what is niche to you.  I look forward to reading your thoughts.

By RitaJo | Posted in Advertising, Marketing, Online Marketing, Rita J. Cartwright, Target Audience | Tagged , , , | Comment (1)

An Online Business Tool for Virtual Assistants and their Clients

May 12, 2009

ritajoblack1Those of you who have been following my blog posts know that when I discover useful information I like to pass it on to other small business owners. If you need to create an online survey, I recommend using SurveyMonkey.com. It is very user-friendly, and the basic service is free. Although the basic service is limited, there are a lot of features included with the free version.

The survey is very easy to design and includes option of templates, as well as over a dozen types of questions; for example, multiple choice, drop down menus, and rating scales. You also have a choice of how you want to collect the data. You can put a link on your blog or send the link via e-mail. I used Aweber for one of my clients to send out e-mails because we needed to set up an auto responder follow-up e-mail. You can also send your e-mails through Survey Monkey. If you use Survey Monkey for your e-mail distribution, you can see who responds to your survey, as well as send follow up reminders to those who don’t.

Another feature is you can analyze the results as they are collected in real-time, including filtering and cross tabulation. In addition, you can download the results in multiple formats.

Remember, if you don’t have time to create your survey, outsource it to your Virtual Assistant(s).

By RitaJo | Posted in Entrepreneur, Marketing, Online Marketing, Online Survey, Outsourcing, Rita Cartwright, Rita J. Cartwright, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Solopreneur, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistant Services, Virtual Assistants | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comment (1)

A Marketing Tool for Your Online Marketing Strategy

February 26, 2009

ritajoblack1Recently I went on a virtual e-book tour to promote my newly released e-book, “Online Marketing Tools for Today’s Small Business.” For us entrepreneurs and small business owners, writing can be an inexpensive way of marketing our small businesses. This can involve writing articles, blog posts, and/or e-books. It is not necessary to be a well-known author in order to write or have virtual book tours. If you choose to write e-books, you can go on virtual e-book tours to promote your e-book. As a result, your services and/or products, and your business will be promoted at the same time. If you are an author, you, too, can do virtual book tours to promote your books.

Because of today’s technology and blogs, book tours can be done virtually, and it is an inexpensive, creative tactic to advertise your e-books or books. However, coordinating virtual book tours can be time-consuming. If you don’t have time to arrange the tour, outsource this task to a Virtual Assistant. The process consists of you (or your Virtual Assistant) and blog owners coordinating dates for when you will stop by their blogs. On the date of your tour stop, the blog owner can interview you or you can participate in a question and answer session with the blog owners’ readers. If you choose to do an interview, you supply the blog owners with the questions and answers for them to post on their blogs, which is the standard procedure in the current media world. Periodically, you check in to see if there are any questions or comments from the blog readers you need to address regarding your interview.

To encourage the blog readers to get involved, hold some type of random drawing for anyone who submits a comment or question. At http://random.org/, you enter the e-mail addresses of the participants in a list randomizer and a random e-mail address is selected. This would be your random winner. On my tour, I gave away free copies of my e-book to random winners who participated, as well as to the blog owners as a way of expressing my gratitude for them hosting my tour stops.

In my e-book, I discuss various online marketing tools and strategies, which include virtual book tours. If you would like to learn about additional marketing tools that you can use in your online marketing plan, click here to purchase my e-book, as well as find out more about it.

By RitaJo | Posted in Blog, E-book, Entrepreneur, Marketing, Online Business, Online Marketing, Outsourcing, Rita Cartwright, Rita J. Cartwright, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Solopreneur, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Book Tour, Virtual E-book Tour | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

When Choosing Your Niche

December 30, 2008

ritajoblack1As an entrepreneur and/or small business owner, one of the decisions you make when starting your business is which portion of the market is going to be your niche. In order to choose your niche ask yourself, “where in the market will my products or services fit?” Has a new market been created, because of changes in technology or society, which has a potential demand that is not being met? Once you have answered these questions, you have chosen your niche.

In your niche, you will find people with shared characteristics (market segment). The factors (characteristics) that determine market segments are geographic, demographic, behavioral, and psychographic (attitudinal). Your advertising message and marketing strategy will be based on these factors.

It’s ironic how people are more alike than different. The aforementioned factors will affect how a group of people will behave. We tend to be creatures of habit, which causes us to be “sitting ducks” for advertisers and marketers. We leave clues, based on our needs, wants, and mental files, that tell where we live, how we shop, what we buy, and how we spend our leisure time. The same holds true for the market segment you choose to target with your products and/or services. They will have similar needs or wants and behave in similar ways.

In the market place, there is an area or subset where your products and/or services will fit (niche). In the market place, there is a group of clients who can use your products/or services (market segment). As an entrepreneur and/or small business owner with limited advertising and marketing budget, it is important to choose a niche, as well as a segment, in the market.

By RitaJo | Posted in Advertising, Clients, Entrepreneur, Marketing, Rita Cartwright, Rita J. Cartwright, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Solopreneur, Target Audience | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Using Twitter to Connect with Your Clients

December 16, 2008

ritajoblack1By now you have probably heard of Twitter, a free social networking and micro-blogging website. It may be a little overwhelming trying to figure out who you should follow and who you would like to follow you. Twitter has a search directory called Twellow, located at http://www.twellow.com/. At Twellow, you can filter out the tweeters according to your target market. All you need to do is perform a search using your target market search term(s) and research the results looking for tweeters who you can follow and maybe follow you. Hopefully, they will become your ideal clients.

Social media marketing is becoming one of the most popular online marketing tools available today for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Social networking is just one form of social media marketing, and it is one of the online marketing tools that I mention in my e-book, “Online Marketing Tools for Today’s Small Business.” Read what others are saying about this affordable, must-have e-book.

By RitaJo | Posted in E-book, Entrepreneur, Marketing, Online Business, Online Marketing, Rita Cartwright, Rita J. Cartwright, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Social Networking, Solopreneur | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Are You Blogging Yet?

March 31, 2008

Obviously, we as entrepreneurs and small business owners do not have large marketing budgets like big corporations. However, blogging is an affordable marketing tool. Are you blogging yet? I recently read a blog post, which emphasizes the importance of blogging when trying to brand your products, services, and/or company. The blog post is entitled, “Social Media Works for Small Business.” In it Ryan Moede also talks about how to use social media tools as marketing strategies.

On the other hand, one of my favorite bloggers, Grant Griffiths, wrote a blog post called, “Blogging is More Than Just Simply Marketing.” He talks about how we can use blogging to engage our clients in conversations regarding our products or services, as well as other important discussions.

Blogging presents us with the opportunity to level the “marketing playing field” with large businesses. It doesn’t cost us anything but our time. You can also outsource your blogging project to a Virtual Assistant who specializes in writing and has experience in blogging. Are you blogging yet?

Rita J. Cartwright, Owner
RJ’s Word Processing Services
Your Business Success Is Our Success
http://rjswordprocessing.com
866-651-3073

By RitaJo | Posted in Clients, Entrepreneur, Marketing, Outsourcing, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Solopreneur, Virtual Assistant | Comments (4)

Marketing Tips For Small Business Owners

March 13, 2008

I came across an interesting blog, which contains 10 marketing tips for entrepreneurs. The author points out how market segments are shifting and desiring the same things out of life, especially more time for themselves. Nowadays, different socio-economic segments have access to products and services that were in the past only for the affluent market. This fact affects our marketing strategies. One example of this shift is cell phones. When cell phones were introduced to the market, the non-affluent market could not afford to purchase them. Now everyone has a cell phone, including adolescents and teenagers. Here is an excerpt from the blog:

“As an entrepreneur, what can you learn from the luxury travel industry? Actually, quite a lot! By examining the trends that are taking place in the luxury travel market you can see ideas and business segments that are emerging amongst some of the world’s most affluent shoppers.

Why? These trends, which may start out in the luxury market have a habit over time of making their way into other demographic markets as well. Like luxury travelers, other consumers realize that not only is time money, but money is time. And we’re willing to spend our money on time.

Let’s take a look at some of the trends and see how you, as an entrepreneur, can use them to help grow your business.”

Please visit http://homebizblogger.com/2008/03/12/entrepreneurs-what-every-business-can-learn-from-the-luxury-travel-industry/ to read the entire post.

Rita J. Cartwright, Owner
RJ’s Word Processing Services
Your Business Success Is Our Success
http://rjswordprocessing.com
866-651-3073

By RitaJo | Posted in Entrepreneur, Marketing, Single-Person Business, Single-Person Business Owner, Small Business, Small Business Owners, Solopreneur, Target Audience, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Assistant Services, Virtual Assistants | Comment (1)