Category Archives: Social Media

What is Facebook Live? 6 Tips on How to Use It

While Facebook Live has been available for a while for elite users, the tool finally made its way to the average user. Facebook is beginning to push for users to take advantage of this great tool, even altering the Facebook News Feed algorithm so Live Videos rank higher. As a result, the tool is growing in popularity in the marketing world and is becoming a new resources social media marketers need to take advantage of. Using Facebook Live is relatively simple, but there are a few tricks of the trade to ensure the live videos meet a marketer’s goals.

What is Facebook Live?

Facebook Live allows users to share live video from their mobile devices. The option is included in the iOS app so there’s nothing you need to download. Individuals create a Facebook Live video from their personal account, and marketers can create this video and then share it to their organization’s page.

Mark Zuckerburg’s goal for Facebook Live is for the tool to offer “a way for people to have a more authentic and intimate experience sharing about their lives.”

This goal, of course, fits right into a marketer’s efforts to humanize their organization and foster relationships with their audience. Marketers can use Facebook Live in a variety of ways: sharing a daily/weekly message, hosting a question and answer session with someone, sharing breaking industry or company news, sharing industry secrets, walking audiences through the steps of a how-to, product or service demo, providing a behind the scenes glimpse, the list goes on and on!

7 Tips on How to Use Facebook Live

Part of the beauty of Facebook Live is the opportunity for spontaneity by organizations-but that doesn’t mean marketers should abandon any planning or strategy! Marketers can be intentional about how they create videos to ensure they gain the most marketing bang for the buck when they create scripted or spontaneous videos. The tips below will help you be as effective as possible when creating Facebook Live videos, and follow the timeline of before the live video, during the live video, and after the live video.

Identify the focus and purpose of the video. You don’t need to write a script word for word, but as with any social media marketing effort you do need a clear understanding of why you are doing it. Ensuring your video has a clear and concise focus prevents it from becoming a convoluted rambling video that will bore audiences. Articulating the purpose of the video helps shape the direction of the video, and provides a foundation for measuring whether the goal of the video was met.
Inform followers of an upcoming live video. Make sure your followers know you are planning on streaming and what time they can expect the video with a simple post (“live streaming our fundraising event in an hour”). To kill two birds with one stone, you can later tweak that informative post to make it the description of the video when you create it. You can even have views subscribe to know when you are going live.
Pursue variety in the video itself and among the videos you create. In each video, vary your voice and use front and back cameras to change up the scenery to keep your audiences engaged. Utilize a variety of topics and structures when you create videos. Just like you wouldn’t follow the same Facebook post structure each day, don’t fall into a predictable video pattern either.
Interact with followers. During the live streaming, viewers can send in comments. When relevant, acknowledge individual users and answer their questions or respond to their comments. Give them a personal shout out! This is a great, simple way to really strengthen that relationship and show your organization’s devotion to its consumers.
Include a call to action. Always. Always. Always. In your marketing you want your customer to DO something. Give them a task. Give them somewhere to go. Every social media effort needs a call to action, and live videos are no different. A call to action can be as simple as encouraging people to visit a website, sign up for your newsletter, or send them to your lead page. But use a call to action to keep the relationship going.
Edit the video. After the video is published, go back and make sure the thumbnail, category, and call to action clearly represent the video’s focus. Always be thinking of your brand. Does this video match what you want to represent?
Play around with various broadcast lengths and times. Just as you should be with post creation, vary up the length of video and the time you stream to see when your audience is most responsive.

Make sure you go Live often and be creative. Have fun with it and enjoy getting to know your fans!

Facebook Live offers many different uses for marketers to reach their audience in an engaging and personable way. If you know you want to take advantage of this great tool, but aren’t sure how to get started or want guidance, Alpine Small Business Solutions is here for you! We’d love to help guide you through Facebook Live video (or any other aspect of business building). Just shoot us an email or call us on up!

5 Ways to Make Money While You Sleep… Yes, You Can!!

Most things that sound too good to be true are, but this one is not! Actually, I am going to give you more than one idea! You really can make money while you sleep to help supplement your main source of income. All it takes is a bit of foundational work and the knowledge of what resources you should be taking advantage of (of course I am going tell you those as well).

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing happens when your marketing efforts bring another organization visitors and/or customers. In return, the other organization provides you with monetary compensation for each visitor/customer. Affiliate marketing can involve providing links on your website to products from other organizations or including ads for other organizations on your website. If your link provides the organization with a sale (someone purchases a product after clicking on your product link), you receive monetary compensation. A great place to start with affiliate marketing is with Amazon Associates. They offer a simply set up (or get your VA to help you set it up) and Amazon has a huge product selection, so you can always find something to tell your viewer they should use.

Creating a Service

Here you want to brainstorm ways to convert your expertise into a practical service to meet your customers’ needs. For example, a travel blogger could offer a trip planning service leveraging his/her knowledge on the industry to save clients money. While it takes foundational work to create the service, once it’s made you can benefit from selling the service over and over again to new customers. Since the service is supposed to supplement your main income, it does not need to be highly involved or extensive. A healthy food blogger, for example, could offer a one or two hour sit down with a family to help teach them healthy meal planning and shopping. An hour or two could be all it takes to provide your audience with an effective service, and you with a new source of income.

Creating a Product

Here the idea is to brainstorm ways to convert your expertise into a tangible product to meet your customers’ needs. You will want to build something that once it is created, it is ready to go and doesn’t take any effort on your part. For example, if you’re a photographer, sell photos through stock photography. If you’re a food blogger, sell e-books that are collections of recipes. Most of the work is with creating the product. Once that’s completed, you’ll just need minimal advertising efforts. You can even just link to the product on your website, and make the occasional promotional social media post, and call it good.

You can bundles some of your best work together that would help others as well. Think of it as a forms packet or templates that will save people time. If you have an awesome tool that you use for your own business it might also be helpful to others. Start selling your tips and tricks!

Creating Evergreen Online Webinars

Take all that industry expertise and knowledge you’ve got, and monetize it! Ask yourself, “What does an individual need to know to become an expert on given topic, tool, etc?” Answer that question with your knowledge in the form of an online training session or webinar. When you first start out, focus on creating “evergreen” content (information people can use over and over at any time). Something that you don’t have to do live or be there for. For example, “How to advertise your organization on Facebook” as opposed to “How to advertise your organization on Facebook during Halloween.” The more “evergreen” the topic, the larger your potential audience becomes and the more you can potentially make from the service. Then once you have a good following, you can get more specific.

Create a Seminar or Class

For some topics, presenting the ideas in person makes more sense than presenting them online. That’s where the idea of a seminar or class comes in. Take the knowledge you’ve got and present it to a live audience. While it does take work to prepare the presentation, coordinate a venue, and advertise the event, you can charge a lot more for an in-person event than an online webinar. Plus, an in-person event provides the opportunity for you to mention at the end your other products, services, or online training!

While unfortunately you will never be able to make your entire income in your sleep, you can definitely make enough to merit the foundational work passive income requires.

These are little bonuses to make sure you are supplementing your everyday income. Each strategy makes sense for different organizations and industries, so take time to think about which option (or options) make the most sense for you and your audience before you try them. Passive income options do take time before you start to see returns on your investment, so be patient. But know that they are a successful way to make money, so also be excited about the new income opportunities!

If you’d like to take advantage of one (or many) of these passive income strategies, but don’t want to go through the work of navigating the different options or completing the foundational work, Alpine Small Business Solutions if here for you! We can handle passive income strategies, or any aspect of business building, you would like help with. Simply shoot us an email or call us up.

An Introduction to Audience Insights

Audience Insights is an intelligent tool that allows you to discover demographic, behavioral, and social data on audiences before you ever target them with your ads. It’s a great method of gathering data and insight on your audience, and is easy to use.

How to Get There

To get there, you click on Ads Manager, click on tools, click on audience insights, and then everyone on Facebook. Your audience will be the dark blue bar graph, compared to the general Facebook user data. Once you begin selecting customizations (such as age, interests, and relationship status), you’ll be able to see how your custom audience differs from all Facebook users.

Studying Your Audience

You can study your audience as a whole, or break up your audience into segments (such as only looking at female followers, or only individuals 18 to 25). To segment the audience, enter in information (such as age bracket) on the left-hand side. How much you want to segment your audience depends on the campaign you’re gathering data for.

Once you’ve created your audience, you’ll be presented with data under six tabs. Each one offers unique information on your audience.

For example, the first tab provides you with information their lifestyle, relationship status, education level, and job titles. Another useful tool is “page likes,” which displays the pages that are most relevant to your custom audience. Once you know the pages most likely to be “liked” by your audience, you can add these pages to the interests when you create an ad.

Examining the data on your audience equips you to better tailor your advertising efforts and your content marketing efforts. You’ll want to check back into the audience data occasionally, as your audience demographics can change as you gain new followers.

Studying Your Competition

The “Page likes” data can be used for more than tailoring your ad audience. You can discover other pages that resonate with your audience, which you can study to improve your own page. When you see what types of content they post, which messages perform best, etc., you can use that information to try to replicate their success (and avoid their failures). Again, you’ll want to check back up on this section occasionally as the most common “page likes” can shift as your audience grows.

Audience insights offers a large amount of free data on your audience and its many segments, which can be used to improve your social media marketing. If you want to take advantage of this tool, but don’t have the time, Alpine Small Business Solutions is here for you! We’re ready to assist with any aspect of small business building. Reach out to us with a phone call or email today.

For a more in-depth look at Audience Insights, check out this free informational webinar.

You Need to Train Your Virtual Team

Most businesses provide company training to their in-house team members: explaining the details of company branding, ideal methods of communication, and the proper procedures for projects. Yet, most fail to provide this training to their virtual assistants.

Why?

Think about it. Businesses recognize the importance of articulating how things are done in the organization, which is why trainings in the corporate world can take weeks. Yet, few entrepreneurs provide this guidance to their online team.

Sure, virtual assistants can get by without this training. They’ve worked for a variety of clients and know how to handle the tasks you assign. But they aren’t mind readers-they don’t know how to handle the task in the preferred way of your business unless you show them.

Why You Should Provide Training

Yes, your time is stretched thin right now. That’s probably why you hired a virtual assistant in the first place! It’s easy to want to avoid organizing a system together, documenting processes, and explaining them to the VA. But think long term.

You’re limiting the growth of your business by failing to provide this training. Time is wasted as the virtual assistant reinvents the wheel and figures out how your business runs. Remember, they’re working with several clients and each one works differently. They’ll be able to figure your business out. But it will take more time than a bit of training would.

Training your virtual assistant will help you get the most out of your partnership, which helps your business run more efficiently.

What the Training Should Include

The training should cover everything your in-house team members get, and possibly more. Remember your virtual assistant isn’t in the office, so they aren’t being exposed to how the company functions on a day-to-day level. It’s harder to understand the company values, branding, etc. when you’re not experiencing them in person (which is why training online team members is so essential).

Articulate the method of communication within your business. Which avenues of communication are acceptable (email, phone calls, texting, Skype messenger, Facebook messenger, etc)? Are there appropriate contexts for these channels (for example, texting is acceptable only for after-hours communication dealing with a time sensitive project)? Is internal communication as formal as external communication, or can it be more conversational? Setting clear guidelines for communication helps avoid misunderstandings, over communicating, and under communicating. When communication runs smoothly, your business runs smoothly.

Describe the company brand. What words describe your company’s voice? What sets you apart from competitors? What company values are most important? Are there acronyms or abbreviations for your business name (and if so, when are they to be used)? When your virtual assistant understands the identity of your organization, it’s easier for him/her to create on-brand work (without resorting to trial and error).

Explain how file saving and sharing works. Are completed works to be sent by email, uploaded to a cloud service like Dropbox, or both? Should images be saved as a JPEG or PNG? When are documents saved as a PDF?

Go over the proper procedures for each project. Remember, the virtual assistant is working with several clients and each one has their own set of preferences and procedures, as does your virtual assistant. A broad term like social media management can mean anything from creating a few posts a month to creating a thorough multi-page digital marketing strategy. Start by describing clearly the end result and time commitment for the project. Discuss the steps along the way (and any checkpoints where you’ll touch base). Explain any particular methods you want them to use, especially if there are particular ways of doing things that may not be universal. Describe what needs to be documented, what needs to be sent to you or another team member, what needs to be saved and where, etc. It’s important for the virtual assistant to understand how and why your company approaches projects in these ways, so be sure to allow them to ask any questions. You want to be on the same page just like you would be after training an in-house team member.

Providing your virtual assistant training like you do with in-house team members is important to the success of your business. You’re setting up the team member for success, helping make their work more efficient and productive. It does take time, but in the long run providing this training saves more time than it takes.

If you’re ready to expand your virtual assistant team, consider Alpine Small Business Solutions! We’d love to help with any business building task you need, from administrative work to social media management. Reach out with an email or phone call today.

How to Maximize Your Virtual Assistant

A virtual assistant can be a lifesaver. He or she can help you grow your business by tackling tasks you don’t have the time, energy, or experience for. Does it get any better?

Yes, it can! Don’t just use a virtual assistant. Maximize your virtual assistant. Make an already productive part of your business even more productive with these tips.

Find the best tasks to delegate. Using a virtual assistant is like using a jack of all trades. Any task you can imagine, they can handle. Choosing the best tasks to pass on, however, can make your work with a virtual assistant more efficient. The ideal task is one you and your team lack the time/energy/experience for that the virtual assistant has the competence for. Usually these fall under the realm of administrative tasks (like scheduling or addressing envelopes). But don’t underestimate the value of using a virtual assistant to handle social media, blog writing, and other aspects of digital marketing. If they bring experience in that industry, they can really help your business grow. You can use our delegator worksheet to find the best tasks to delegate to your virtual assistant.

Ruthlessly evaluate the necessity of the task. Once you think you’ve got a task to pass on, examine it. As Timothy Ferris, author of The 4 Hour Workweek says, “never automate something that can be eliminated, and never delegate something that can be automated or streamlined.” Is this task crucial to your business or can you eliminate it? If it’s crucial, can you automate it? You don’t want to waste money on tasks that don’t need to be done, or don’t need to be done by a virtual assistant. If it’s vital and cannot be automated, then you can assign it to a virtual assistant.

Make the process efficient before delegating it. Examine the process used for the task. Are there any unnecessary steps you can remove? Is there any way to make the task less time consuming? Can you batch tasks to make the process more productive? The more efficient the process, the less money it will cost you for the virtual assistant to accomplish it.

Organize relevant information into one place. Make a document with all the passwords, step-by-step instruction, and provide an example if possible. The virtual assistant won’t need to waste time searching through multiple file locations, and you won’t need to spend time explaining the details of the steps. And when you have a VA do these tasks for you. Have them write the steps and document as well. Having a little handbook of how-to do your business. Then if you ever need someone else to pick something up, there is already documentation on how it is done.

Make sure one other person can handle the task. Someone else, either another virtual assistant or a team member, should know how to complete the task. Remember that how-to manual you are creating? In the event the virtual assistant gets sick, you’ll be able to re-assign the task. That way your business process doesn’t get derailed since you can quickly readjust the assignment.

Use the right tools. Communication tools, document sharing tools, and project management tools can make a huge difference in productivity and time management. Check out our post on the tools. Find something that you like and will use to help increase your productivity. There are lots of great tools out there, but the best is the one that you will consistently use.

A virtual assistant is a great asset for your business. If you’re ready to expand your team, reach out to Alpine Small Business Solutions today! We’d love to help with any aspect of business building, just give us a call or send us an email.

9 Reasons Why You Should NOT Host A Webinar

Just like hairless cats, habanero peppers, and neon blue hair, webinars are not for everyone. Granted, they usually see more universal appeal than those three, but I repeat. They. are. not. for. everyone.

Webinars can be an extremely effective business growing tool, but before you jump on the webinar bandwagon, consider the reasons you shouldn’t be hosting one.

You lack the technology. If your audio/video will look and sound more like a blurry
tape from a police interrogation than a professional quality service, rethink a webinar. Proper equipment is the first step in making a solid webinar, and is a nonnegotiable one. If you’ve got a decent set-up, you may be equipped to host a webinar.
You don’t know what you’re talking about. Okay, this is highly unlikely. But you’d be surprised at the number of webinars failing to offer any insight or substance. If you know your industry well and can provide value, you may be ready to share your expertise with the world in a webinar. Some of you are not there…YET!
You don’t possess that golden radio voice. You know how some people’s voices sound so charismatic you could listen to them talk about anything? Yeah, those are the people that should be hosting a webinar. It sucks, but if your voice sounds more like nails on a cheese grater, people will be too distracted to focus on your content (which means you won’t get the great benefits of a webinar). If you can speak confidently, slowly, and clearly, you’re in a good position to host a webinar. If you are net yet confidant speaking, don’t be that nervous person, “ya, um, uh.”
You lack the time to promote your webinar. You need to devote time to marketing and selling your webinar-otherwise it’s like planning a party without having time to make invitations. If you’re marketing resources are already stretched too thin, now’s not the time to host a webinar. If you can prioritize promoting your webinar, then you’re at a good place.
You’re doing it because all the other cool kids are. This was a bad idea in high school, and it’s a bad idea now. Webinars work great for some, but it doesn’t mean you’ll benefit from hosting one. Be sure you’ve got a solid idea of what you’re trying to achieve and why a webinar is the best means to do so. If you can clearly articulate how a webinar fits in your business strategy, you may be ready to host one.
You’re as boring as that teacher from Ferris Bueller. Again, highly unlikely. But you do need to commit to engaging an audience. Remember, you’re not monologuing, you’re teaching. It’s a different ballgame that requires engaging slides, powerful stories, easy application, and more. If you can captivate an audience, you may be a great webinar host.
You’re a one-man band. While there’s an “i” in webinar, effective webinars are not a solo effort. Think WE-binar. Even if there’s only one speaker, other people still play a role. You’ll need staff support in marketing the webinar, working out the sound details, and following up with the webinar attendees. You’ll be stretching yourself too thin if you try to handle all the details. If you’ve got a solid support staff, you may be well equipped to host a webinar.
You don’t want to reach thousands of people. If you’re not ready for the brand awareness explosion that comes with hosting a successful webinar, then now’s not the time for you. A successful webinar can put a small business on the map. If you prefer your “little known” company status, shy away from webinars. If you’re ready for a large number of people discover how great your business is, a webinar might be right for you.
You don’t want to grow your list. A webinar is networking on steroids with the number of leads and connections you’ll come away with. It’s a valuable tool for effective and efficient business building, so if you’re ready to expand a webinar may be the perfect choice.

If these do not apply to you, then you should seriously consider hosting a webinar. It can serve as a great service to your target audience as well as a killer business building strategy. If you’d like help creating or marketing a webinar, ASBS is here for you! Our experienced staff would love to assist with any aspect of building your business, so send us an email or give us a call today.

What You Need to Know 5 Differences Between a General and a Technical Virtual Assistant

Looking for a lifesaver in building your business? A virtual assistant is the answer, with their ability to help you achieve work life balance and the variety of ways they can help grow your business. Virtual assistants perform tasks business managers do not want to do or should not be focusing their efforts on (like handling customer service inquiries), lack time for (like email marketing), or are not as knowledgeable in (like social media). A virtual assistant costs less than hiring an in-person employee given they do not come with employee related expenses (like paid vacation or insurance) or require you to provide and office and supplies.

Virtual assistants are a great solution to your business building needs, but before you hire one it’s important to understand the difference between the two prominent types: a general virtual assistant and a technical virtual assistant.

Traditional Office Job Comparison

Think of a general VA as the traditional secretary, receptionist, and assistant position. This is the one who the office would die without, who knows where everything is an how it all works.

A technical virtual assistant is more like the IT staff, graphic design team, and marketing team. They have more specialize skills.

Typical Tasks

A general VA is a jack of all trades, offering a range of services. They can be assigned nearly anything (including tasks assigned to technical VAs), but typically include projects like bookkeeping, scheduling meetings and travel, billing and accounting, handling customer questions and concerns, database entry and building, document proofreading, and organizational tasks like file uploading and storage.

A technical VA is more of a specialized worker, offering a narrow selection of services with more experience in each arena. They often, but not always, received training or certification in a given area (like SEO optimization). Their tasks can include website creation and management, social media management, email marketing, graphic design, and hardware and software issues.

Number of Assistants Hired

Generally, an office will hire one or two general VAs to handle the administrative tasks.

Larger organizations may hire multiple technical VAs, such as a web developer, a social media manager, and a graphic designer.

Responsibilities

A general VA focuses more on internal business aspects, ensuring the company runs smoothly by completing day to day administrative tasks.

A technical VA focuses more on external business aspects, ensuring the company is portrayed in a positive way to the target audience by completing marketing tasks.

Compensation

The compensation for a general VA as opposed to a technical VA varies depending on the rates set by the individual or the VA firm. Usually, a technical VA sets a higher rate given they offer more specialization, training, and experience.

How to Decide

Smaller businesses just starting out with a VA can benefit from a general VA, since they offer a breadth of service options. As the company grows, you can add on a technical VA to handle more specialized tasks.

There are some virtual assistants that offer a mix of this, or have a team that they work to help you’re your needs. While it may seem hard to justify the high upfront cost of adding a virtual assistant, keep in mind virtual assistants are a better bargain than an in-person employee and they free you up to focus business building tasks (like developing a new product instead of spending hours going through emails). VAs allow you to be more efficient with your time and money, making them a solid investment in growing your organization.

Ready to hire a VA? Contact Alpine Small Business Solutions today. Our experienced team of VAs are ready to help you expand your business.

Six Easy Steps to Becoming a Virtual Assistant

First you might ask what a virtual assistant is. Well let me enlighten you, a virtual assistant provides services to individuals, organizations, or companies, but he or she works online and remotely instead of going into an office. It allows you to live life on your terms. May entrepreneurs have realized the growing demand for a virtual assistant. You are able to set your own hours, goals, and priorities. You have flexible hours which truly is great when “life happens.” You have no commute, well aside from getting your coffee and walking down the hall to your office. You determine who you work with, and you get to meet and interact with some incredible people as you develop their business and client base. I could go on and on about the incredible perks of being a virtual assistant. But how do you become one? Let me share our Six Easy Steps with you.

Plan Your Business

This is the basic first step to making yourself a legitimate business. You need to know if you are going to be a sole-proprietor or an LLC, or something else. Most virtual assistants run an LLC. You need to make sure you have all your ducks in a row for your accounting and banking and have the general setup for legal requirements in your area. Go do the research. Develop your business plan and model. Get your business license and start diving in.

Decide What to Charge

This is likely the first question anyone is going to ask you. This is a very personal step that you have to be confidant in and fair. You are running the business and you are in charge. Don’t be ashamed or apologetic about people paying you to provide your services. You can charge by the hour, by the project, or have retained rates or even a combination of them.

Define Your Services and Keep Learning

You have to know what you are going to sell. What are you good at and what do you have to offer people. Once you know what your business is there for, you can learn more and expand your services. I cannot tell you how important it is that you keep learning and stay on top of new developments not only in your industry but with new technology and ways to work. If you keep your skills up to date then you’ll have a more varied ad valuable skill set and will be worth more money. Plus, there is always something to learn and keep learning within the virtual assistant world.

Get a Website

This is a no-brainer. In a world that revolves around technology and as a virtual assistant people need to be able to find you. This allows you to display yourself in a professional appearance, and gives you a chance to highlight your skills and an opportunity to display yourself in a more professional appearance.

Get Involved in Social Media

Social media is a common task you will likely be asked to help with or a service you want to offer. Join the groups, get in the conversations. There are some great virtual assistant groups out there to get to know. You can check out mine as well- Hell Yes Biz. As a virtual assistant you should submerge yourself in the latest trends of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Periscope, YouTube, Instagram, Blab, Google +, and so many more. Relationships are key, being involved in social media with your peers is one of the best ways to find clients and network.

Work for a VA Service

You need experience. If you are just getting started it can be tough trying to find clients, but consider working for a company that matches VA’s with clients. This is proven to be helpful again when you are just starting out and have not established your cliental base quiet yet. This can also go with working along with other VA’s. Checking out their website, seeing what they offer and get an idea of how it might work for you. Remember those groups you joined, make sure you connect with people in there. They may have some great recommendations for you.

Summary

Figure out what you are good at and what you enjoy. Notice how I said good, and not best at. The important thing is you have skills that your clients need and are willing to pay for, don’t doubt yourself. Becoming a VA allows you so much freedom and flexibility within your day to day life, who you work with, what you day looks like, when you are available when you are not. I love what I do. Make sure you do too! For more information or help getting started contact me today!

6 Best Practices When Working with a Virtual Assistant for the First Time

Have you been thinking about hiring a Virtual Assistant? Are you at the beginning stages of exploring the idea of expanding your team to help run your business online? In this week’s blog, Jessica Granish, leading expert in the Virtual Assistant industry offers some sage advice on this very topic. Jessica has 13 years of experience in creative, social and technical Virtual Assistant tasks. Jessica helps heart-center and conscious business owners put all the pieces together for their business to run like a well-oiled machine in an online environment. She also is a Virtual Assistant trainer, as well as thought leader that educate online business owners about the power of delegation and how to successfully and efficiently build a team that is in alignment with your core values and in turn creating authenticity and trust for a long lasting partnership. In a nutshell, Jessica, helps you gets sh*t done so you can focus and shine in your zone of genius.

Start thinking about expanding and getting assistance now: One of the biggest frustrations I hear from business owners is that they wish they would have hired someone sooner…or at least started the process sooner. It is daunting and overwhelming when your to-do list becomes a mile long. Get ahead of the curve; don’t let the stacks of tasks pile up. Don’t fall victim to being a prisoner in your own business where it stops you dead in your tracks. You know that feeling of being so overwhelmed that you just take a nap!? Try not to get to that space. A Virtual Assistant is there to help create less stress and more time for you to focus on your passion, you know, the whole reason why you went into business for yourself to begin with. All seasoned and reliable Virtual Assistants have processes and procedures to bring you on board with ease. You should feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from your shoulders when you start with your perfect VA.
Don’t feel like you have to hand everything off all at once: It may feel like you are handing the keys to your empire over and for some that might be scary. You and your awesome new VA should work together to identify and prioritize the most important tasks. I suggest starting at a foundational level. This is so that your business is sturdy and strong. You don’t want to play a game of Jenga with your business. In many cases, people don’t even know where to start with delegation. If you are one of those business owners who have no idea where to even start, I suggest using a great tool that I built called the “Delegator”. It is a way to help identify where delegation could help with your sanity. You can access the form here >>> https://www.alpinesbsolutions.com/the-delegator/
Let go of the negative mindset: I realize delegation can seem hard at first. I teach this and can get in the same mindset that many have. You know that negative mindset of, “I want to save money, so I will do it myself”, or “if it is going to get done right, I should do it myself”, or “it is going to take too long to bring someone on board and teach them the ropes”. Don’t fall victim to these statements. Growth is all about letting go of those blocks. The art of delegation comes with great rewards that you will soon realize and will look back and wonder why you didn’t seek support sooner.
Focus on your zone of genius and let your Virtual Assistant focus on theirs: If you are just starting out with building your online presence you will find yourself inundated with new tools and terminology to help run your business in an online environment. This can seem daunting and can be extremely overwhelming and time consuming. You don’t need to know how to do everything to be successful. Being able to let go, release and trust in the ninja like skills of your Virtual Assistant, can change your entire business in a very positive and wonderful way.
Make sure that your Virtual Assistant matches your core values: This is one of the most important things that a successful and long term Virtual Assistant relationships can have in my opinion. If your core values are in alignment everything else just flows so much easier. You can usually tell on the initial conversation with a VA if the synergy is there or not. I suggest to all my clients that you don’t focus on all business in your initial conversations. It is super valuable to talk openly about what makes you both burn with passion inside as well. You can learn quite a bit from digging deeper and creating a more personal connection too. Now, don’t get me wrong, passion is important, but their credentials are extremely important too. A nice balance is a wonderful way of matching core values. Having this alignment with your Virtual Assistant will in turn create authenticity and trust. It is a beautiful thing.
Communication is key: Need I say more? All great relationships let it be professionally or personally start with great communication. Creating expectations and sharing your communication style is super important. When starting your business you will want to set those expectations with your clients, your vendors and your team. Communication is a foundational piece to building authenticity and trust as you grow and expand in your zone of genius.

I hope that this was helpful for someone reading this that may be on the fence. I also just released a new blog recently titled” 5 Reasons Why Hiring a Team Will Cost Less Than Doing Everything Yourself”

Check it out, if you want to continue to explore and educating yourself on building a team you can also check out https://www.alpinesbsolutions.com/hiring-a-team-biz/, another blog on the site that goes a little deeper into the topic.

If you are ready to take your business to the next level, for a limited time, Jessica has opened her calendar to discuss your exact needs. If you would like to take advantage of her 30-minute no cost, no obligation consultation, please fill out the intake form and schedule your call today. https://www.alpinesbsolutions.com/contact/questionnaire/

6 Success Secrets to Keep Your Business Successful While the Kids Are Out of School for the Summer

Summertime presents unique challenges to working parents. You still need to work, but want to enjoy this precious time with your kids and not be chained to your desk. With a bit of proactivity, you can make sure you prioritize spending time with your family without letting your business suffer.

We all know that work-life balance is hard to find, but summer makes it even more challenging. Here are a few tips to help make it more manageable…and make sure you comment and share your ideas with us!

Create a work schedule. It’s important to designate set uninterrupted work time and set no-work-allowed family time. Try to plan work time around times your kids are occupied, such as when they’re participating in a summer program or regular play dates. Each week you’ll know you’ve got guaranteed time to get work done and guaranteed time to spend with your kids.

Involve your kids with your work. Older kids can be taught complicated projects, but even younger kids can help with tasks like licking envelopes. Getting your kids to help you in the office is a win-win-win. You get to spend time with them, get assistance in your projects, and teach them valuable skills. And don’t forget your kids can teach you too (like how my 9th grade daughter is teaching me more about Snapchat!).

Connect with other work-at-home parents. Find other working parents and coordinate with them “shifts” for watching kids. Each parent can take an afternoon a week, which gives everyone in the group multiple blocks of uninterrupted work time.

Automate as much as possible. If you write a blog, create a batch of several evergreen posts you can use throughout the summer when you’re busier with family time. For social media, use a scheduling service like Hootsuite to plan several days’ worth of posts in one sitting.

Work smarter, not longer. Try to decrease your workload before summer hits or at the beginning of summer. Add a frequently asked questions page to your website to hopefully minimize the time you’ll spend answering the same client question over and over. Plan out goals and projects ahead of time so you don’t spend as much precious summer time brainstorming. Delegate tasks as much as possible to other employees. Consider hiring an intern who can work in exchange for college credit. They gain valuable work experience, and you spend less time working. Work a few less hours, but get back the lost income with these tasks to make money while you sleep.

Outsource. Are you using all your resources? Are you delegating task as you should be? If you have a Virtual Assistant, make sure you are using that service to the full extent, or maybe you need to retain more hours for the summer. If you haven’t tasks that you could outsource to a Virtual Assistant, make sure you hire yours right away.

Summer time is a great opportunity to connect with your kids and make lasting memories. With a few simple strategies you can make sure time with family does not come at the cost of your business. If you want even more help with growing your business over the summer, delegate those tasks to Alpine Small Business Solutions! We’re here to help you with any part of business building. Just reach out with an email or phone call today.