Advantage Virtual Support

Virtual Team Supporting Coaches, Authors, & Consultants



Look More Professional with a Catch-all E-mail Account

January 26th, 2010 · Tips

e-mail

If you’re business isn’t as big as you’d like it to be, you can still present a professional and larger company by using a feature called “catch-all” for your e-mails.

What is a catch-all e-mail account?

From GoDaddy.com: A catch-all email account is an address that is specified to receive all messages that are addressed to an incorrect email address for a domain. For example, you have three email addresses set up for coolexample.com; info@coolexample.com, sales@coolexample.com, and webmaster@coolexample.com, you can set up info@coolexample.com as a catch-all email account. Then, any email messages sent to manager@coolexample.com (or any other invalid email address), are sent to the catch-all account (info@coolexample.com).

How You Can Use It

On your website and other marketing pieces list the e-mail accounts you would use if you were a larger company with multiple staff. For example, list the support@yourdomain.com for the contact e-mail, or webmaster@yourdomain.com for website questions.

Use your real e-mail address (name@domain.com) when replying or when communicating with existing clients. With the catch-all e-mail feature enabled, all the  e-mails will all come to your inbox, eliminating the need of having to check 5 different mailboxes or create/remember passwords for each one. In the future, when you do have that support team and staff, you can create a real support@yourdomain e-mail account and give them access.

Caution

From GoDaddy.com: Catch-all accounts may receive excessive spam, as *@[domainname.com] is a much bigger target than individual email addresses. If your customer has a catch-all email address and complains about spam to the associated domain name, let them know why they’re a bigger target.

If you do receive a lot of SPAM, disable the catch- all feature or look into SPAM e-mail blocking tools or software.

Not all e-mail providers have the catch-all e-mail account feature, so check with their support department if you can’t easily find it.

→ No CommentsTags:····

Do Your Own Bookkeeping in 2010

January 18th, 2010 · Tips

taxes

Bookkeeping is a lot less intimidating and easier if you have the right tools and know where to go for further information. Here are some ways you can make 2010’s bookkeeping a breeze!

Invoicing & Payments
You can create an account with Freshbooks.com or other online invoicing tool. With Freshbooks I create invoices and estimates, track the time used for each of my clients, and also receive payments through PayPal. There are other options you can choose to receive payments (such as Google Checkout or Authorize.net) and you can even choose to send the invoices by snail mail.

For Sole Proprietors
If you file a Schedule C at the end of the year, you can create a free account at Outright.com to keep track of all your income and expenses. Outright works with Freshbooks and will import the invoices and keeps track of when their paid and enters the payment as income. All you have to do is manually enter your expenses and pick the category they are classified under. Then, when you click on the Reports tab, you can see your Profit and Loss statement for the year, you will also get reminders of when tax payments are due, as well as an estimate on what you might owe the IRS.

Keeping Track of Subcontractors
With Outright, once you enter an expense under the category of “Contractors” it automatically keeps track of how much money each contractor receives. This way, when it gets close to tax time, you can automatically request W-9’s through Outright, and then have the information you need to send out 1099’s.

Tax Time
This might seem like a no-brainer, but you can do your own taxes online through HRBlock.com or similar online tax preparation programs. Especially if you’ve kept good records of all the income and expenses you’ve accumulated throughout the year, doing your own taxes using software is easy. You just answer the questions on the screen and enter the information they ask for. You can also go get your taxes done at an office, but the price is usually more expensive and I don’t like to print out all the paperwork they need when I can file online myself.

Befriend an Accountant
If you have a question that needs answering and can’t find the answer through an online search, it’s helpful to know a trusted accountant or two that you can go to. I have a friend who lives about an hour away who is happy to answer any questions I have, no charge. I don’t abuse the relationship by sending her a Word document full of questions, but will occasionally send her an e-mail with one or two specific questions. In return, she knows that I’m available to answer any questions she may have about anything I’m an expert on (or perceived to be). If you don’t know any accountants, ask your friends or colleagues for a recommendation of someone they trust.

If you’re business is setup as a corporation or LLC, you really might need an accountant to do your bookkeeping for you, but for the rest of us, doing it yourself can be a solution if you don’t have a large number of invoices or entries to process.

By the way, does anyone know what H & R Block means?

→ 2 CommentsTags:·····

8 Things To Do When You Have Some Free Time

December 9th, 2009 · Productivity

clock

A client just canceled a meeting? You’re stuck in the doctor’s office for a half hour (with internet access of course). What can you do?

  1. Catch up on your social networking
    From Chris Brogan
    - Go to search.twitter.com, put in a few topics you’re interested in, and comment on a few conversations.
    - Write two recommendations on LinkedIn for people’s work you can vouch for.
  2. Write a letter to a loved one; your spouse, your grandmother (whose probably not as online savvy as you are), your cousin, sister/brother, and include a recent photo or memorabilia.
  3. Turn on a timer/alarm clock and take a nap, especially if the scheduled call was longer than 30 minutes!
  4. Get an early start on birthday/holiday shopping. Search for gifts for that special upcoming occasion online.
  5. Go outside. Bring your Ipod and take a walk while you listen to that audio book or seminar recording you purchased a while back.
  6. Read a book or magazine article you’ve been meaning to read.
  7. If you work at home, tackle that cleaning project you’ve been putting off. (Like scrubbing the bathroom tile!)
  8. Organize your desktop! Delete files that you don’t need, file away the rest, follow up on the ones that need it.

What else can you think of?

→ No CommentsTags:

Fixes to Common Errors: WordPress Image Upload

December 8th, 2009 · Fixes to Common Errors

Can’t upload images to WordPress?

I just received the following error;

Unable to create directory //wp-content/uploads/2009/12. Is its parent directory writable by the server?

So I did a search online to see if I could find out why I kept having this problem, every time I wanted to add an image to my blog or pages.

Here is an excellent resource that fixed the issue;

Troubleshoot: Unable to create directory+Is its parent directory writable by the server?

In my case, it was the Miscellaneous settings, I had two extra slashes before the wp-content field.

Happy Troubleshooting!

→ No CommentsTags:

What to “Write” In Your Holiday Cards

December 8th, 2009 · Life

Are you sending out holiday cards this year but don’t want to include the cheesy sayings? Why not fill in your own!

Here are a few quotes with their websites where you can find additional ones.

From MakingGreetingCards.com

At the holiday season,
our thoughts turn gratefully
to those who have made our success possible.
It is in this spirit we say …
thank you and best wishes
for the holidays
and a happy new year

From Simply Stated

At Christmas play and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year.
—Thomas Tusser

From Great Christmas Letters

To a joyful present and a well remembered past. Best wishes for Happy holidays and a magnificent New Year.

From Quote Garden

There has been only one Christmas – the rest are anniversaries.  ~W.J. Cameron

Andy, my favorite!

“Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice.” (from www.soundoflife.net)

Enjoy!

→ No CommentsTags:··

Discounts Aren’t Always Good

December 7th, 2009 · Tips

Here’s a tip I read from a new source I found over the weekend;

If you want to offer a special deal in order to grow your business don’t do it by discounting. Instead, ADD a small product or service without charge. This does TWO things – it ADDS value rather than lessens values. And, it shows your customers a new product or service that they might not have known you have – something they may decide they can’t live without the next time they are in.

To read the entire article by Sue Painter, click here; Five Ways That Discounting Hurts a Solopreneur Business

While on the subject, I wouldn’t necessarily apply this tip to products that you already have created, but more to hourly services and fees.

→ No CommentsTags:

Don’t Be Intimidated by Social Networking

October 13th, 2009 · Marketing, Recent, Social Media

A lot of my clients don’t understand or are easily overwhelmed by the “pressure” of social networking.

“I don’t know what to say?”
“What kind of content is appropriate”?
“How much time do I have to spend on there?”
“Isn’t this a waste of time?”

Here’s what I tell them. If you’re not instantly drawn or attracted to social networking, then don’t make this marketing strategy part of your business YET. Concentrate on the ones that are easy to you and those strategies will automatically build your social networking.

For example, if you love to write articles and content, concentrate on article marketing and blogging. Develop the skills to be great at article marketing so that you can produce tons of articles and blog posts. (I recommend Jeff Herring and his products; he is the best and provides lots of free resources to get you started.)

Once you have your articles written, this opens up so many other marketing avenues, such as;

  • Repurposing the content into an e-book or special report
  • Creating Tweets and Facebook Status Updates when you add them to your blog (this can all be automated)
  • Building traffic and recognition of your expertise through the articles and your “Call to Action” box.
  • Growing your list by redirecting people to a squeeze page from your articles

For those of you that hate writing, but love to speak you can create recordings and have them transcribed. You can give away the recordings or post them on other sites for listeners to download. Then, have your virtual assistant transcribe and edit them to turn the audio into articles!

Game Plan: Do setup your social media networking profiles and post to them when you have content or something to say/contribute. Meanwhile focus your time on the marketing strategies that are most attractive to you, these will help you generate content and topic ideas for your social networking accounts. You don’t need social networking to build traffic to your website or find clients, but it can certainly help. To start getting comfortable build your other strategies first, and use them to help you generate content for the other avenues that you’re not so comfortable with. Let’s say you post your new article on Twitter, other people will re-tweet it and start talking about it and you can then join in on the conversation.

→ No CommentsTags:·····

Are You Accepting Full Responsibility?

October 6th, 2009 · Life, Recent

I just had an eye opening experience today and I’d love to share it with you and hope you feel the same!

I’ve always read and heard self help books and audio recordings that list different ways to improve your life, earn more money, and be more successful. I’ve also heard it said many times that successful people accept 100% responsibility for their actions and what happens to them.

Well, I heard it again today and I finally “got it“! I realized that for the past 5 years (the time I’ve been married) I had been believing that I’m not the one who will earn money and be successful, but that my husband will (and should), he should be the one to make a six figure income, work a 9-5 job, and get promoted and move up the corporate ladder while I will stay home and watch the kids. This limiting belief also kept me in the mind frame that my business was just to earn some income until he got done with college so we could pay the bills!

My husband, Jacob,  is a great person, but he is not the ambitious-entrepreneur-goal setting type. On the other hand, I have lofty goals and plans for our life together; the kind of house we want, places we want to travel, being able to support our extended families and our parents upon retirement, the cars we drive, and much more! I have to take 100% responsibility for what happens in my life, and until that happens, I realize that I’m waiting around for my husband to deliver my dreams and lifestyle or for God to create a miracle (such as winning the McDonalds Monopoly game).

So many things change when I apply the “100% responsibility” principle. I realize that NO ONE other than me, not even my husband will be able to make all those things happen because I’m the one who wants them. I’m the one who has the passion and the vision to feel and taste the kind of business and income I want to create. It’s refreshing and gives me a sense of freedom to know, that I don’t have to wait 4 years until Jacob finishes school to have the kind of lifestyle I want. I can do it myself! I have all the resources, support, and tools I need to accomplish my goals and dreams, and I don’t have to wait around for anyone to do it!

What are you blaming your failures on? What kind of excuses are you creating to keep yourself from accepting the reality, that you are ultimately responsible for what happens to you? Some of my personal obstacles that kept me from accepting 100% responsibility;

  • My husband should be the one to support the family
  • I’m too tired because I’m pregnant
  • It’s not possible to create the kind of income I want with this business
  • I’ll start tomorrow, it won’t make a difference
  • I can’t get that program launched because I need a professional to do it
  • My copywriting isn’t good enough
  • Someone else already has a similar product; program, business, service offering
  • My virtual assistant can’t do it/didn’t get it done
  • We’re in a recession/bad economy

I’m making a personal vow to create my own life and stop waiting around for it to come on it’s own, because that will never happen. I vow to work hard now and play later! I vow to do something, (no matter how small or insignificant) everyday that will get me one step closer to my dreams.

P.S. When I was almost 6 years old, my dad traded our house in Cuba for a raft (one of those blow up boats) and along with a friend and my 3 siblings, rowed to Key West, Florida. Along the way our sandwiches spoiled so we ran out of food and we could only drink a capful of water at a time. When we were getting close to Key West, the raft popped! Luckily we were near this really tall tower. We all climbed up the tower and started praying and singing. I’m not sure how much time went by but some Coast Guard people rescued us. We were sunburnt and hungry but happy! I remember we left our Bible on the tower open in the middle.

My dad was known in Cuba as the “crazy Yuma guy” who wanted to escape at all costs! He gave up his engineering license to get a Visa, but when it was denied, he came up with the raft plan. If we would’ve been caught, my dad would have gone to jail immediately. I forget at times that the only reason I’m in this country and have the lifestyle and freedom I have today is because one “crazy Yuma guy” wouldn’t give up on his dream, and he took responsibility to get it done! He risked everything! I’m getting emotional now, but I felt like sharing this story because it’s one of the best, personal examples I have of making your dreams come true.

→ No CommentsTags:

Teleclass Help

September 9th, 2009 · Marketing, Recent, Resources, Tips

I just got done doing some research for a client who is starting a teleseminar series this month, and I thought I would post my findings. I’m sure some of you maybe looking for this exact information.

Ideas to Market Your Teleclass/Seminar

  1. Tweet about it on Twitter! You can also develop a few phrases and have your VA post a tweet periodically letting your followers know about the event.
  2. Update your Facebook status with class details and a tinyurl for signup.
  3. Write a press release about the teleclass (e-mail me for a list of top ranked press release websites).
  4. Ask other people who have ezines or a mailing list to advertise your teleclass; in exchange, you can offer to do the same for them :)
  5. Post your event in the websites below for even more exposure.
  6. Write a blog post about the teleclass/seminar.

Websites to list your teleclass/teleseminar event

www.teleclass.com- sign up for this one in advance as you will have to go through a training course in order to list your events on their website.

www.cculearning.com- this site requires you to post a reciprocal link on your website in order to have your teleclass listed.

www.planetteleclass.com- pretty straightforward, just sign up and follow the links to register your class

Do you have any other tips on how to promote a teleclass or seminar?

→ No CommentsTags:··········

Things that Steal My Productivity- Uncomfortable Chairs

September 2nd, 2009 · Productivity, Recent

Two Christmases ago, my darling husband gave me an executive chair as a gift! At the time, I had just started setting up my office and I was super excited to have such a luxurious chair.

Fast forward to my office today, the chair stinks! At 5’ 1” my legs are so short, that they don’t reach the ground, so I can’t bend my knees comfortably while supporting my back. Either I bend my knees and lean forward, or I lean all the way back without being able to reach my keyboard. I always opt for leaning forward, but after an hour of so of working, my neck and bakc starts to hurt, and I have to get up and rest it, or walk around.

Productivity stealer (is that a word?)? You bet! It leads to procrastination and excuses for me not to get work done.

So, I’ve added a few chairs to my Amazon Wishlist for hubby to choose this Christmas. If your chair is stealing your productivity, read this article by Spine Health; http://www.spine-health.com/wellness/ergonomics/office-chair-choosing-right-ergonomic-office-chair

What kinds of things steal your productivity?

→ No CommentsTags:····