Monthly Message from the Editor

Recommended Resource – 1001 Ways to Market Your Services

This resource is a book that is an oldie, but a goodie.  I really don't think the ideas shared in this book could really die, do you?  If you don't have this book as a resource in your library - get it now, and when you are lacking ideas, open up this book, and pick 1 of the 1001 strategies to adapt and implement in your marketing!  http://everywomansnorthstar.com/resources/1001WaysToMarket.html

View our past suggested resources at http://professionaladminteam.com/nl/suggestedresources.html

Coaches Corner – Affirmations

Affirmations are an excellent way to make changes in your life. Write what you want on 3x5 cards and place them around your home and office. Read them several times a day, every day and you will soon begin to believe and live the life you want. Here’s one to get you started.

Today I am making a commitment to live my life to the fullest, to feel hopeful and excited about my business and my life. I am willing to step out of my comfort zone in order to achieve the life of my dreams.

Dolly Norris Hooker, a busy wife, mother and entrepreneur, understands the demands of family and career. For over two decades, Dolly has successfully run her own business while raising a family. She has been coaching since 2005 and as the Co-Founder and Coaches Director of The Missing Piece, LLC, she not only teaches others to be coaches (go to http://everywomansnorthstar.com/pc/jtccoachtraining.html for more information), but provides her students with the foundation to build successful practices.  You can learn more by going to her blog at www.fromawomansheart.com.

© 2010
You have permission to reprint this article electronically or in print, as long as the text and byline remain unedited. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

Upcoming Trainings

Check out all the awesome free and paid new classes we have coming this month!  Also - support us as we start reaching out to reach 10,000 women at outside speaking engagements! 

You can always view our current teleclasses and speaking engagements at http://everywomansnorthstar.com/wkshps.html

Complimentary Consultation

Sign up at http://www.professionaladminteam.com/consult.html for a complimentary consultation to find out how we can help you!

Marketing Article – Get SPECIFIC & Fill Your Business!

Quick, grab a calculator! What is 30 divided by 250,000,000?

I get .0000001 or, in other words, a VERY SMALL number! For those of you outside of the U.S., divide 30 by your country's population for the same effect.

You only need to service one out of 8.3 million US residents to have a full business!

I use 15 clients to represent a "full business" in this example. Imagine having 15 clients paying you the modest fee of $300 per month for your virtual services. This is $4,500 per month or $54,000 per year. Charging $500 per month would bring in $90,000 per year!

I hate to tell you this, but you are not going to service everybody. Not everybody in your country, your state, your city. Not even your neighborhood or your local networking group! So why not NARROW the focus of who you work with so that you can fill your business more quickly and with less stress? You can always expand your scope later on.

The way I see it, in 6 months to one year MAX, you can either be making $54,000 per year with your virtual professional services, or still "trying to be all things to all people," afraid of narrowing your focus because you don't want to "limit yourself." The only way you are going to limit yourself is by not having the size and scope of business that you want and deserve. Think not only about yourself, but about the dozens of people who are out there waiting for you. They need you to reach out to them. The best way to do this is to narrow, not expand your focus. Remember, you can only handle 1 out of 8 million US residents anyway!

What I am speaking about here, in The Marketing Train System Language, is identifying your WHO and your WHAT and then crafting an effective marketing strategy that targets a specific group of people on a specific topic. The key is to get clear on WHAT services you want to provide and WHO you want to provide services to.

There is a saying that my coach says to me, "When you get right, the world gets right." Get clear on what you want and WHY you became a virtual professional... WHAT do you help people do, be or accomplish? When you answer this question you can reach out and market to these people.

You can distinguish who you provide your services to in any number of ways, or combination thereof. Examples include by profession, industry, position, age, gender, income bracket, location, etc. The KEY to identifying who you service (your target market) is to ask yourself, "Can I find these people?"

Even if you aren't exactly sure in this moment, could you figure it out if you wanted to? If you answer yes, then you've gotten specific enough. If you can't find them then you aren't narrow enough.

EXAMPLES of possible Target Markets (your WHO):

Affluent women, college students, mid-level managers of high-tech companies, divorced men, singles, stay-at-home mothers, entrepreneurs, home-based business owners, CEO's, librarians, athletes, musicians, writers, salespeople, postal workers, people with disabilities, pet owners... Get the picture?

Of course you could always use combinations to narrow your focus even more, for example:

Female CEO's, mothers who own home-based businesses, divorced fathers, male college seniors, professional service providers, overworked executives, financially successful single men, etc.!

Do you see how you could FIND these people, reach out to them, and market to them specifically?

BENEFITS of Focusing on a Target Market

1. You can find these people and then reach out to them.

2. You can craft your communications directly to them. They think, "She is talking to ME" when they read your material or interact with you.

3. People spend time with like-minded people. Their friends and colleagues will also need/want your professional services and these people can refer to you.

4. You can/will "get known" in this area. The "deeper" you go in one particular market, the better.

Imagine taking EVERY marketing avenue that you currently utilize and directing your efforts to this particular group of people... Imagine how much more effective and powerful it will be.

The next concept is WHAT you service these people on. This is a whole new topic to be discussed later, but for now, imagine servicing...

- Women entrepreneurs on marketing
- Independent service professionals on attracting more clients
- Stay-at-home parents on supporting them with their home-based business
- Overworked high-tech executives on achieving more balance

The list goes on and on!

Please know that you can always broaden your scope LATER! You can and will apply the same marketing techniques to reach other target markets/niches in the exact same manner! People are unique and bring their own set of goals, issues, challenges, obstacles, and dreams to a virtual professional relationship.

In addition, you will discover that your services will expand once you start your business. For example, one client may need support with his data software while another will need support around creating strategies and staying in action. One may have obstacles around scheduling with clients while another may need to work on responding to e-mails.

As I've said before, there is a big difference between marketing your virtual professional services and "doing" your virtual professional services. You identify WHO you service and WHAT you service these people on so you can target your marketing efforts, maximize your resources and generate more interest. The bottom line is that you WILL fill your business faster when you get specific.

So, if you haven't already, please identify your WHO and WHAT and focus your marketing efforts to these people! You'll be glad you did!

 

Patty Benton is a teacher who has taken her teaching abilities and created a coaching practice like no other. She began as a Virtual Assistant, building an amazingly diverse and professional team providing support to Coaches who are looking to take their business to the next level through teleseminars, providing web and graphic design, as well as newsletter services (JERPAT, LLC).  She became passionate about helping other women who desire to work from home, achieve their dreams.  She partnered with Dolly Norris Hooker to bring a complete coaching program, The Missing Piece, LLC, designed to reach virtually every woman where she is at, and help to find her missing piece(s) to a fulfilling life.  You can learn more by going to her blog at www.fromawomansheart.com.

© 2010
You have permission to reprint this article electronically or in print, as long as the text and byline remain unedited. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

Computer Tips from the Computer Guru – To Be or Not To Be

Have you ever received a chain email that looked so unbelievable and found out later it was true and it looked like the one below?



Have you ever sent an email that you received that looked to be believable and you found out later that it was not true?

If you answered yes to both of the above questions, then go to http://www.professionaladminteam.com/articles/TechTipToBeNotBe.html and learn how to find out if this is true or not true.
 

Jerome Benton is the owner of JERPAT, LLC a Web Designs and Virtual Assistance company, http://www.jerpat.org. He specializes in web design and has partnered with his wife's virtual assistance business to give every company the quality services they need at an affordable price. You can learn more about Jerome at www.professionaladminteam.com.

© 2010
You have permission to reprint this article electronically or in print, as long as the text and byline remain unedited. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

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