In my experience, these are the main mistakes we make when setting goals. Not realistic.   Sometimes, you set goals that are perfectly reasonable – until you set a timeline on them. For instance, losing 20 pounds. is great. Doing so by next Friday? Probably not very realistic.   I’ve found especially with new entrepreneurs, [...]

Unfortunately, not every goal is a good goal. Goal-setting is a skill which can be broken down into three easily defined, concrete steps: Brainstorm your big objective.   What are you trying to accomplish professionally or personally? Create a new product line? Streamline a process? Outsource some of your tasks? At this step, we’re trying [...]

My new Get Goaling program will be starting on January 20 – 2011. To give you a little taste of what we’ll be discussing and how it can positively impact your business, I thought I’d do a few posts about my feelings about goals. I didn’t set goals when I first started my practice in 1998, [...]

 Are You On Track To Grow Your Business in 2011? When I started my VA practice in 1998, the only experience I had in running a business was managing someone else’s. The company I had been working for was not the most ethical company around, and as a salesperson you were provided with quarterly goals to [...]

Many of you broke into a sweat after reading the title, didn’t you? Most Virtual Assistants I work with don’t have a plan because they believe it’s too hard, too time consuming, or they just don’t know where to start. Creating a good marketing plan doesn’t have to be overwhelming, or costly, but it will save [...]

Few social networks sum up public discourse more effectively than Twitter. Thanks to its short-form nature and enormous audience, a single topic of discussion can often evolve into a completely natural case study for marketers. Be it immense disapproval or the immense success of a single principle, Twitter offers a unique look into conversation. But [...]

One of the questions I ask during the prospect interview process is, “Have you ever worked with an independent contractor before?” – the response this elicits helps me to determine if there are any negative past experiences that might present itself as an objection throughout the interview process. Objections are an important part of the [...]

As we have touched on previously, you are totally in charge of, and responsible for, everything that happens in your business. So what are your expectations? What do you hope to achieve? What do you do to stay current with the industry? Do you know or understand where the industry is headed? In order for us to have great [...]

I know some of you are not going to believe this, but for the first seven years I was in business, I got up every morning and put on business attire whether I had a meeting outside the office, or not. This may seem silly, but I believe it allowed me to walk the walk. If I [...]

I met Louise Crooks the Keys to Clarity Coach on Twitter and it turned into a wonderful and fun interview (podcast) about how coaches can find the right Virtual Assistant. Enjoy! http://bit.ly/b2Fa2v