Kreative Ramblings

Or at least maybe that was what I was thinking!”

But it’s here at last.

My ezine: “On the Bright Side”.

Get your free subscription and the first issue at Konceptuality You’ll also receive our “Tips and Tricks to Grammar and Proofreading”.

Jewels of Life: Believe, Dream

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I’m a “Cable TV news channel junkie”

There, I’ve said it!

As a solopreneur who manages an internet business from home, keeping abreast of the news delivered in whatever manner, helps me to stay connected, up-to-date, informed and aware of my local and regional surroundings.

Lately, though, it seems I have become more and more caught up (maybe fascinated is the word) with watching the national news.

News that sometimes borders on the titillating (like the various starlets’ efforts to be noticed by the Paparazzi—and this is “news” – how?)

To the heartwarming–the dog that “adopts” an abandoned newborn

To ……

I’ve lost count of the many car chases the national cable TV station helicopters zero in on and follow–sometimes with silly perpetrators that somehow “always” manage to continue to drive on with tires that have blown-out.

To really dumb crooks, I mean really dumb–like the one that attempted to hold up a bank …. at his “really big show”, the robber left his cell phone at the bank after the hold-up!

Or the one who wrote his “hold-up” note on the back of one of his checks! And gave it to the teller!

Apparently, he missed “Robbery 101″!

Unfortunately, much of this “news” gets played over and over in 10 and 15 minute increments, it seems. Interspersed with minutes and minutes of extremely long commercials! Which sometimes, much like regular TV programming, outnumber the actual number of individual core news items.

So recently I’ve taken to “tuning out” the repetition.

Except for one day last week

One of the news stories caught my eyes and ears. In the retelling here, perhaps it will make at least one of you sit up and take notice, too. Or at least give you something to consider.

It seems a woman in Kansas ordered a jar of peppers from a company in Texas via the internet. The jar, shipped to her a box, was securely tucked in, surrounded by lots of packing material. Good for the shipper!

But!

As the woman retrieved her purchase from the box, she noticed the packing material looked a bit strange—and for some reason–familiar. Upon inspection, she discovered the packing material was shredded paper. Good idea, wouldn’t you think? What with the push to recycle– and “green”–and all?

Uh, uhn! That’s a no!

The woman relayed to the Cable TV news station that the paper caught her eye because of its colors; its uniqueness. Actually, so much uniqueness, in fact, that she identified the shredded paper as cancelled checks.

Yikes

The rest of the story is that the woman and her stepdaughter decided to see just how far their inspection of the shredded cancelled checks would go. Taking the what was intended to be “shreds” of paper, they pieced together in some cases, “names, addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers, routing numbers, bank account numbers, signatures, whole checks–anything that could readily identify the check writer”.

Well, you get the picture!

Luckily, the woman was an honest sort. She called the company in Texas, from where she had ordered the item, to talk with them about their use of shredded checks for packing.

What’s worse, she learned the company uses the local bank’s shredded checks from hospitals, Medicare, schools, businesses, personal accounts, even government agencies–to cushion all their jars and products. And, the bank has been doing this for a huge number of years (more than 10, in fact!).

Even more remarkable, it seems no one had ever previously contacted the company (or the bank even) to discuss that untoward shipping practice.

When the customer spoke with the TV news reporter about this, the woman showed video of the piles of shredded checks that had come in the box with her “peppers” order. The “shreddings”, as I could easily see in the video televised that day, appeared to have been shredded on a “straight” up-and-down cut. In fact, some of the “shred” was not even complete. But rather, it just hung there by a very slim piece of the other strip of the check.

It was noted, fortunately, that as a result of this incident, the company immediately changed its recycling policies and procedures.

So I said all that to say this

While most us will rarely if ever use shredded checks and the like for packing and sending items to friends or foes, relatives or neighbors, or someone we’ve yet to meet, it’s wise to consider taking some time to decide how we’ll dispose of our important legal, and family documents, and even junk mail–really.

This, of course, includes any paperwork we use for our businesses

I’ve often read about and heard it said that it is best to properly dispose of such materials as significant as these. We, of course, decide what is “properly”. And perhaps some of us will now need to rethink what “properly” actually is to us. Fortunately, an example reminder like this gives us an opportunity to do just that.

If we haven’t already done so

Jewels of Life: Believe

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Like millions of others around the world, in the last week or more, I’ve managed to get caught up in some of the competition of theSummer Olympics. And even more so, with watching Michael Phelps and Dara Torres go stunningly for the “Gold” in their respective races.

And have similar yet different outcomes

Then just the other morning I saw during NBC’s Olympics’ coverage that Liu Xiang, China’s Gold medal hopeful, suffered an injury to his Achilles’ tendon. Unfortunately, he was unable to even “get out of the blocks”. About Liu, Jeré Longman, NY Times, wrote, “He/Liu had been his country’s hope to be the signature triumph of the Olympics.”

Hopes dashed in an instant

For those that didn’t see their races, of particular note was Michael’s 100-meter butterfly, his next-last-to-race, where he won by 0.01! While Dara’s last race, the 400-meter medley, ended with a “loss” of 0.01. Stunningly, Michael took the “Gold” medal; Dara won the “Silver” with the exact time clock reading.

So what’s all this got to do with you? With you “starting and running” or “stopping and rethinking” a virtual assistant business, you say?

Actually, plenty!

For starters, it has to do with having a goal; or many

A plan or motivation, if you will.

Goals that show what you want to accomplish during a specified amount of time, and where you want to be six months, a year from now; five years, or even ten. You choose the motivation and you choose the time-line.

Look at Michael’s history

Michael didn’t just get up one day and say, “Tomorrow I’m going to win 8 gold medals.” Although he began swimming when he was 7, it wasn’t until he was 15 that he first entered the Olympics (in 2000).

So it’s taken Michael eight years to amass the eight gold medals in one Olympics.

However, in several interviews, he did indicate that he had set out with a list of things he wanted to do on his way to any of the Olympics he entered (2000, 2004, 2008).

And as each milestone was realized, it was crossed off.

Now, he has to start a new list.

What about you?

What will your list include? How will your time-line look?

What about perseverance?

It’s important to remember that while not the easiest thing to take, it’s okay if somewhere along the line you “fail”; where you are not able to reach the “brass ring” according to how you expect to get it.

Dara commented in one of her interviews tjat she could not believe she had “lost” by the exact time that Milorad Cavic, swimming for Serbia, lost to Phelps. In fact, Dara indicated she thought how bad it was for Cavic to come so close to winning and then lost. She went on to suggest that perhaps she had “jinxed” her own shot at a win by even entertaining Cavic’s loss.

As difficult or as disappointing as it may seem, in reality you (or Dara or Cavic) did not fail at all but rather you just found it necessary to adjust your path a bit. I know it’s probably not easy for any of us to hear that when all our hopes are quashed in what seems almost like an instant.

For Dara and Cavic, it really was “an instant”–a “0.01 of a second!” instant.

But what you manage to learn in the process effectively becomes “gold” itself

For instance, consider something like this. If you had not been laid off from a job that you really did not like, or if you had not decided to have and stay home with baby number one, would you have taken steps to start your virtual assistant business?

For all practical purposes, you probably would not have had the opportunity to set out to find a new way to earn money, or to prove anything.

Now, as tough as it may seem, it’s important to keep in mind that “failure” is really just a state of mind.

And that even the great ones fail” – if that’s what you want to call it – at some time or other.

Just get yourself back up on that horse, on the bike, in the race car.

Back to the computer or the drawing board, if you will!

Like Michael, start making a new list, new dreams.

You’ll be better for any experience, and next time you’ll get the gold.

Jewels of Life: Believe, Hope

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As a member of the online community, I know you are a person interested in getting the most from all your marketing strategies, including your conversations. That’s why I wanted to be sure to share with you a teleseminar hosted by Beryl Powell at OperateItRight.com.

As an adviser to business owners struggling to build their business online, Beryl has heard it all when it comes to elevator speeches and compelling marketing messages. That’s why she created this teleseminar. She wants to teach you how to talk about what you do so that you can capture the attention of the person you are speaking with and keep their interest every time, whether you are holding a conversation face-to-face or online. For some of us, it’s the marketing breakthrough we’ve been looking for.

 You’ll also get…

• Access to the “Making Your Marketing Conversations WOW Your Audience” Teleseminar. Learn tactics to create and deliver marketing conversations that knock out your competition and prove your expertise.
• Access to the “Making Your Marketing Conversations WOW Your Audience” Audio Recording. You’ll get the full recording to listen to over and over again so that you get everything that’s discussed.
• Access to the OperateItRight Guide to Articulating What You Do Workbook. Use the workbook to create your marketing messages and take notes during the call.

Due to space limitations, reservations are required. To register in advance go to: Operate It Right Upon registration, you will receive a confirmation email with the phone number and pass code to access the teleseminar, and a link to download the workbook. The cost of the teleseminar is only $45.00.

Reserve your seat now at OperateItRight

I hope you register for this teleseminar and tune in to what Beryl is teaching.

I know you’ll agree that what you say about your business can make or break your business and you are in it to succeed. Go here Operate It Right to get more information and to register.

Jewels of Life: Hope, Resources

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It used to be, the “olden days” meant when the pioneers trudged across the country in or along-side their covered wagons. Or, the “olden days” may have meant the time when your mother or father walked two miles to school in the freezing rain or five feet of snow up to here!

Now, the “olden days” means the time before the Internet. And more recently, the time before “social networking”–where the norm is almost about using “MySpace,” “FaceBook,” “Twitter,” “LinkedIn,” “Squidoo” or “StumbleUpon”–to name a few!

No, they’re not words to wash your mouth out with soap by but rather they’re “social communities” or “networking connections” you can use to catch a prospect’s or client’s eye.

But it’s not just about “meeting someone” and exchanging photos like the “young set” is so inclined to do. It’s a cool way to connect with your “business” others in a costs saving manner. It’s even efficient and “easy”, although sites like “Twitter” and “LinkedIn” still cause me some pause.

Social media has become an excellent way to get everyone excited about you and drive traffic to your site.

They’re attractive because they have a smorgasbord of tools in some form or combination thereof to entice their members. Such tools may include message boards, forums, meeting rooms, chat rooms, people directories, podcasts, blog posts, wikis. Some businesses upload video about their wares to their Web sites, or to “YouTube,” as a way to show the extent of their business prowess and impress the visitors to their site.

Upon registering at the social networking site, the member/user completes a profile/biography page. There, you can even include a link to your Web site, which is a subtle invitation for those following you on Twitter, LinkedIn, et al, to know more about you and what you offer.

Blogs are also the talk of the town now-a-days and afford the blogger an opportunity to show what they know. Written much like a short article, blog posts often focus on something that interests the blogger, such as current affairs, or a topic specific to the market the blogger seeks to target.

With the good must come some bad!

Yes, social networking may be somewhat merciless…users have been known to become so enamored with and addicted to the connections and the many great features of sharing ideas, opinions and experiences through their blogs, audio, video and message boards/forums they become sidetracked. So much so, that many get little or nothing else done.

In that event, I know where you can find a really great VA!

Jewels of Life: Believe, Dream

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It did!

As a small business owner, entrepreneur, et al, you’re like a lot us—looking for ways to market your business and, in the process, gain new prospects and customers.

The latest “fad,” a good one at that, is to “use video” to promote your business. After all, the “spiders” like Google love to feast on them and are inclined to place video highly in their analytics rankings.

So with that incentive alone, you decide to “jump on the bandwagon,” too.

But wait just a minute!

Because marketing with video has become the new “Rubik’s Cube,” or the new “Cabbage Patch” doll, or the new “t-shirt that says ‘I Google myself regularly,’” if you actually do intend to get on the bandwagon, there are a few things to consider.

What is your plan? (It seems everything leads back to a plan.)

Getting your video ready and “taking it to market” is one of the latest Internet trends. Many entrepreneurs, marketers, and even large business owners will focus on the “how-tos;” the how-to of what to say, the how-to of how-to upload the video, or the how-to of where to place your upload.

The important thing is to not just toss some video shots together; the end product will be disappointing to your visitors and to you. Just like your Web site, your video presentation is a reflection of you and how you do business. Thus, it’s better to take your time to produce quality work. Someone has already been first, so now it really doesn’t matter if you come later with better.

Like putting together any worthwhile efforts, you first come up with a list of things to do when producing a video. However, there are also several things to NOT do in your video marketing. And they are the focus of this piece. For instance:

Forget about “safety in numbers” this one time

If you want to attain the most success with your video efforts, you have to go it alone. Sometimes when a person is going to be in a photo or a video, they may be camera shy or feel “more is better;” suddenly, they want someone in the show with them. This is a really HUGE error! The point of your video is to acquaint your visitors and customers with YOU, perhaps your product or service, and with what you represent. Your brand! In fact, in the video you become your brand.

So when your pals are in your video, they are distracting and take the viewer’s eyes away from your product or service, your message, and you. And unintentionally, they may show you up!

In essence, then, your fireworks just fizzled!

It’s time for your commercial

Have you ever wondered why or how sponsors of TV shows pack so much information about their product into 30 seconds of more often than not annoyance? It’s because they realize they have so little time to grab the viewers’ attention before they’re off to the kitchen or otherwise taking a break. Or worse, changing the channel!

Internet frequenters are somewhat infamous for running away from Web sites

How often have you gone to a Web site then quickly scooted away because the page loaded slowly? Your distraction meter kicked in and impatience got the best of you? This seems to happen more and more as Internet surfers tend to lose their tolerance to wait, or they’ve found other diversions that steer them away from what they thought they wanted in the first place.

This means you’ve got to have a video or graphics and audio that will capture your visitors’ attention. NOW! But it’s not good enough to just grab them; you’ve got to have something to keep them there long enough that they realize what you have is something they can’t live without.

You need a P-O-W!

So that as your video begins the first words out of their mouth or the first visual they see must be something concise and compelling. You know, what’s it in it for them?

Do you know the “who” for your marketing

Since you have a target market, it’s best to market your video to that particular audience. Of course, others will navigate to your site and may even stay to view your video. Or maybe not! Those who stay will be interested in learning about your product or service. How you dress, your narrative, your language, how you present yourself in the video should all be geared to the audience you want to pull towards you, the niche you’ve identified for your service.

You can be a star

With a little bit of practice, this reminder and the “how not tos” outlined here will be enough incentive and encouragement for you to be the star of the show as you were really meant to be.

Jewels of Life: Dream

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Do you want him?

He WOKE.ME.UP! to tell me “we don’t have any power!”

And then the rains came, and came and came!

This, after we’d spent the day wondering if the many tornadoes spotted on the weather radar were going to touch down on us, or how high the water would rise.

We happen to live in an area of the country that is unfortunately being ravaged with an over-abundance of rain. Flooding and the inability to use water for drinking, bathing and other bathroom needs, as well as for washing clothes, for who knows how long are compromised. Restaurants have been shutdown by the health department for “hygiene’s” and “safety’s” sake, and city-imposed curfews during the overnight hours manage to cause pretty much of a hardship all around.

Much worse for some than others!

I heard on the news yesterday that people in a neighboring state saw a dog “sucked up into a tornado funnel cloud, tossed around and then set down—or dropped is more like it”! City officials of the city in a town near us recently struck by a tornado have described how they’ve spent considerable time searching “around the town” for the City’s computer hard drives so they could begin to resume City business!

All this aside, the “searching for a hard drive after a tornado” comment really resonated with me, enough to get me wondering how my business would fare if I were to experience a natural disaster such as that. The flood waters rose so fast and so high here, those in the flooded areas said they had no time to grab anything other than maybe a change of clothes. One man did manage to snatch his insurance papers.

Tornadoes often swoop in during the night when most everyone is asleep. Again, not a great scenario for gathering computers, printers, or the office books! Families–kids and pets—are more apt to take precedence.

Many of us have our Plans: a Business Plan, Marketing Plan, Operations Plan and the like; I hope we’ve also thought to include a “back up” plan that specifically consists of a “disaster plan” targeted toward natural disasters.

Making arrangements to have someone assume a stand in, lead position in your business in a “vacation” role or at the time of an “unexpected illness” is a fantastic idea. But regularly backing up your files to an external hard drive, thumb drive or disk is an even greater action not to be overlooked. Of course, it’s necessary to make sure it’s in your plan and that that’s what goes with you first, after the family and pets are accounted for and out the door.

Prior to these recent natural disaster incidents any thoughts I entertained about “back up” plans were only associated with computers that might crash, not computers that fly up and away ala Mary Poppins or ET.

Because of the rude reminder that in natural disaster events there is often no time (or even no thought) to grab essentials, office or otherwise, I’m convinced now more than ever that my purchase and use of Carbonite, an internet backup service, was an excellent decision. They say, “It is easy to install, set up takes just one minute and it’s completely automatic. As soon as you add or modify a file Carbonite automatically backs it up to their secure servers.”

You may remember I commented on Carbonite a month or so ago. However, with the nation-wide recent turn of weather events, it just seemed like this is one of those things that begged to be repeated. In fact, because I’ve experienced this first-hand, it resonated closer to home more this time than it might have at another time.

Experience is the best teacher!

I do feel that with Carbonite on my computer, if I’m unexpectedly awakened to another “the power’s out” eye opener, I will, of course, be concerned initially. Because I will wonder if the food in the refrigerator will be all right. But I’ll quickly go back to sleep knowing my “business and files” are in good hands.

And easy to get to when I’m ready!

Jewels of Life: Hope

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Notwithstanding their bent toward grandiosity, these words (from an Irving Berlin 1946 tune for the “Annie Get Your Gun” Broadway musical) easily set the stage for the argument that as a Virtual Assistant (VA) you really can do many if not all of the things (just as good as or) better than those performed by an “in-house” administrative assistant, executive secretary or similar personnel.

No, you can’t.

Yes, I can!

Of course, there are many factors, occurrences and mechanisms that must be in place in order for this to be achieved. However, if you have the skills, the knowledge, the experience, the technology, the wherewithal, and especially the sticktuitiveness, there’s really no reason why you can’t accomplish a good many of the tasks like those of your “brick and mortar” counterparts.

No, you can’t.

Yes, I can!

If given half a chance.

Yes, I can!

In fact, in many ways a VA can surpass the accomplishments of her “onsite” equivalent.

In addition, as a VA you have the “luxury” of performing the work from home on your schedule. You also have the opportunity to work for many different factions, learning new things and keeping abreast of cutting edge technology as a result. And, you can choose what work (or tasks) you want to do. You “set the rules” so they meet your needs and wants. And you can say how much.

Sooner or later…

With opportunities like these, the end result is that you provide quality service to your current clients, and those yet to be.

And, in the long run you really can do it for them for less.

Anything you can do, I can do better…

Jewels of Life: Believe

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I know where I’m going to be June 10, 2008. You are invited to join us!

Jewels of Life: Believe, Resources

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Introducing Beryl Powell’s “OperateItRight” Small Business System

Jewels of Life Dream

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