1st VA - Virtual Voice

Do you reap the benefits of a healthy dose of summer sun exposure? During the summer months, I find my productivity is higher and I feel much better than I did during those long, LONG New England winter months.

~Donna


What a great title for a book and what an honor for a Virtual Assistant! I just received my signed copy of this amazing book Just Jump, by Marjorie Geiser, RD, NSCA-CPT.

Just Jump is a motivating business start-up guide specifically for health and fitness professionals. This comprehensive book provides the necessary tools for service professionals to start growing their own businesses, turning dreams in realities! You may order your own copy online at www.californiabasedpublishing.com.

Margie Geiser has worked with 1st VA for over three years now and I am deeply honored that she included 1st VA in her acknowledgments. Margie is a registered dietitian, certified personal trainer and life coach and business coach. Check out Just Jump, today!

~Donna

The Who’s Who Directory of Women in eCommerce…

Check it out! http://wecai.org/whoswhodirectory08.pdf

I can’t ignore it any longer. I finally joined twitter. I’ll admit I’m a total twitter rookie, but have had some fun poking around and ‘following’ my online friends and being ‘followed’ is pretty cool too! I’m still surprised at how much time people spend twittering – it seems it could be very addicting.

Are you twittering? Come follow me and keep up with my exciting daily life (ha!). And let me know you’re there and I’ll keep up with what you’re doing!

www.twitter.com/DonnaToothaker

And if you’ve got any twitter ‘tips and tricks’ – lay ‘em on me!

~Donna

One of the best things I have ever done for my business was to have regular calls with an accountability buddy and mastermind partner. I’ve looked into joining a mastermind group for some time, but never found one quite right for me. Then this March a colleague and I decided to be accountability and mastermind partners. We talk every Friday by telephone, and throughout the week we email as necessary. We share our goals each week and our successes on our previous week’s goals, and brainstorm any challenges we may have. In just these four weeks I’ve gotten so many of my goals accomplished – more than I have in probably the last year. It’s amazing!

I met my mastermind partner, Dinneen Diette of Eat Without Guilt, last year at the Women’s Congress in Boston. We immediately connected, and realized that we shared some of the same goals for our businesses, had the same motivation and drive, and were on the same ‘wavelength’ when it comes to running a business. So it was a no-brainer that we should become mastermind partners. We push each other and challenge each other. We are both equally committed to this process, to our weekly calls and email check ins. We are both dedicated to continually building our businesses. We both expect our businesses to earn unlimited income and growth.

Here are some of the things to consider as you find your own mastermind partner:

Just don’t underestimate the value in having an accountability buddy. It truly can be a benefit to any business.

~Donna

This is an article I wrote last year, but it’s worth publishing again for folks starting out who are choosing an ezine service. I posted this on the New Coach Connection blog as well, where I am a contributing blogger.

As business owners understand, creating a business email newsletter (ezine) to capture their website visitors’ information and stay in touch with their target market is an absolute must today. But with so many options out there, it’s difficult to know which one is right for your business. There are 3 keys to consider as you start your search for the perfect newsletter service.

1. How tech savvy are you? Do you know html? Are you comfortable using most online programs? Some services offer template designs that you can customize simply, with your colors and branding. Constant Contact (www.ConstantContact.com) has a substantial selection of templates which are very easy to customize. Aweber (www.Aweber.com) has templates as well. However, they aren’t quite as easy to manipulate, and the service itself isn’t as user-friendly. Take into account how much time you want to spend on the learning curve or whether you would, ideally, prefer the most user-friendly service. If you’re happy sending a plain text newsletter, consider ones that have a text only option.

2. Will you need other services such as a shopping cart and/or autoresponders? Some newsletter services are just that – simply a newsletter service. Constant Contact is one of these. They are solely an ezine service. Aweber has autoresponder capabilities but not a shopping cart. Others, such as 1 Shopping Cart (www.1ShoppingCart.com) offer all three services, as well as affiliate program capability. However, creating an html newsletter through 1Shopping cart requires some html knowledge as there are no templates available. There’s nothing that says you can’t use a different service for your ezine than for your shopping cart. However, I personally find it is sometimes easiest to have your subscribers and customers in one place.

3. How important is pricing and customer service? Several services have a free or low-cost trial, and some are even free to use until you reach a certain number of subscribers. Typically, fees can range from $15 per month to over $50 per month, depending on other services you might require, and the number of subscribers you have.

If having quality customer support is important, be sure to investigate that aspect of the company.

Do your research. Ask what your colleagues are using. Note which newsletters you like that you receive yourself, and check out that company’s service. Other services worth mentioning here are EZEzine (www.ezezine.com), IContact (www.icontact.com) and Ezine Director (www.EzineDirector.com)

Donna Toothaker is an expert Virtual Assistant and founder of www.1stVA.com. Her company specializes in providing online marketing support and services to Professional Speakers and Life and Business Coaches. To discover how 1st VA can help your business – visit http://www.1stva.com.

The 1st VA Promotions order site is officially open for business! Stop by and browse our featured products, or search for the product you need. We’re changing the featured products each week so be sure to bookmark the site and check back regularly. We’re featuring golf products this week, in honor of The Masters Tournament!

Be sure to sign up to receive a catalog and enter the drawing for $1,000 in products.

We’re in the process of creating a main site that will link with this more ‘generic’ site, so I will be sure to announce when that is live!

~Donna

Register for our Free 5-week E-Tip series!
The Top 5 Tasks Your Internet Marketing VA Should Manage for You NOW!

If you’ve been considering hiring a VA but aren’t quite sure what she should be handling for you – then sign up for this email series

Each week for five weeks you’ll receive a crucial task that your new VA, (or current VA) should take charge of for you. These are necessary things to grow your online presence, build your credibility as the expert in your field, and streamline routine tasks into systems that can go on autopilot! If your VA completes these tasks over five weeks – you’ll be well on your way to automation, systemization, a greater internet presence and you’ll be able to spend your time on income producing activities.

Stay tuned for the launch of our new business - 1st VA Promotions! We’re expanding yet again – to offer promotional products to all of our current clients (and new clients!) who need promotional items for their speaking events, workshops, presentations, and who need marketing items and appreciation gifts to send to their customers. We’re excited to be able to offer this service very soon. Be sure to check back for the official announcement and launch!

~Donna

We have a fairly narrow niche of working with coaches and speakers in the health, wellness, fitness and nutrition industries. In fact, we describe our ideal client on our website in very specific terms (women in health and fitness, with established businesses… etc).

It took us over a year to decide if we wanted to narrow our niche that much, as opposed to marketing to coaches and speakers, in any old industry. We didn’t want to exclude anyone. We didn’t want folks leaving our website because they didn’t match our criteria. We didn’t want to LOSE business.

I can tell you that none of those things happened when we narrowed our niche. We tripled (or more!) our business. We gained more clients in those industries, but something else happened, too – we gained a diverse group of clients from many industries! We work with a gourmet specialty foods company, an owner of an improv theatre, a woman in direct sales, a dental coach, a money coach, several life coaches, several authors, the founder of a print magazine for parents, and the list goes on.

When we had a more targeted group to market to – we ended up attracting those folks, but we also attracted many more ‘ideal’ clients in a wide range of industries.

If you’re ever at that place, debating about narrowing your niche even smaller – we’re here to say go for it. Market to a smaller group, and reap the rewards! Good luck!

~Donna