• Deal with your marketing. VAs can prepare your marketing materials, have them printed for you, and even get them in the mail for you.
• Cope with your bills. Let’s face it, paying bills is not anyone’s favorite thing to do. A VA can handle your bills and send you a report on what is paid and how much.
• Handle your invoicing. Invoicing clients is a real time killer. A VA can handle invoicing and soft collections, just as your office manager or credit manager would do. That will both free up your time to generate more business, and make the business you already have even more lucrative.
• Keep your books in order. When tax time comes, you want to make sure your books are in good order for your accounting firm. Your VA can make sure your expenditures and income are entered into your accounting software quickly and accurately, and can even keep your reciepts on file.
• Handle your mail. Most of what comes in the mail is junk, do you want to waste your valuable time coping with junk mail? Have your mail sent to your VA and let her sort and process the mail. She can send you the important stuff by FAX, email, or Priority Mail. Get the junk mail off your desk!
• Remind you of important dates. Yup, even including Valentines Day and your anniversary! Just think how impressive that will be to your wife! We can also remind you of clients’ birthdays and important dates. We can even send out cards to your clients, and build loyalty to you, you thoughtful person you!
• Manage projects. Yes, we can do that. Send us a list of what needs to be done and we can help you deal with the workload. We can generate the information and reports you need. We can also follow up with the folks that haven’t done what they need to do for the project.
• Screen your email. If you don’t want to see the latest ad for Viagra, have a VA screen your email and delete all that killer junk. Your VA can also handle routine requests, and forward items that really need your attention.
• Reconcile your bank accounts. Yes, it has to be done. It is also very time consuming. Let your VA handle it!
• Provide professional presentations. Send your VA an outline (or text) of your next presentation and let her provide you with a PowerPoint presentation for you.

Using a VA is usually limited only by your imagination. Check with your VA today to see what she can do to help you.

Donna Vazquez is the owner of Busy Bee Virtual Assistance, located in Pleasant Grove, Utah. She is available to speak to groups about the advantages of virtual assistance and virtual staffing, both from the business owner’s and contractor’s point of view. She is a mother of five children, a music director for her church, and a member of the world’s largest women’s organization. Contact her today to find out how she can help you.

“There’s not anybody who really cares about using voice messaging the way I envisioned it.” According to Gordon Matthews, the inventor of voice mail, he never anticipated that his automated message system would be used to confuse and frustrate business callers. He didn’t foresee how many ways businesses could devise to misuse his system.

When asked what aggravates them most about modern phone communication the majority of people will say that it is voice mail. Pressed for details, they explain that it is the automated answering process that companies use to screen and direct calls that bugs them, not the basic messaging-taking function.

Companies are spending large sums of money to antagonize their customers and it only seems to get worse. When a person needs help with a problem and can’t reach another human, the situation deteriorates rapidly. Using the numbers on your touch tone pad is fine when you want to verify your bank balance, pay a bill or have a dry newspaper delivered; but when your pipes are backing up, your new computer just crashed, or a tree just fell on your brand new SUV, call processing may not be the answer.

There are advantages to an automated system. It saves money in salaries and benefits. It prevents old-fashioned phone tag by allowing people to leave detailed messages in their own voice with clear and correct information. Voice mail crosses all time zones so people can leave and retrieve messages at their convenience.

The disadvantages are that people can hide behind voice mail, often the prompts are confusing, working through the menu can be more time-consuming than speaking to a “live” person, and some people just don’t like talking to machines.

If your company uses an automated system to process calls make sure it provides the best customer service by following these suggestions:

1. Keep your greeting short and sweet. (No one cares that your menu options have changed. They only want to know what options they have now.)

2. List your menu options according to popular usage.

3. Tell callers how to reach another human early in the process.

4. Think twice before using voice mail for customer service issues.

5. Survey your customers from time to time to see how they feel about your voice mail system.

6. Try calling your own system occasionally and find out first hand what your customers are experiencing.

Voice mail can be either an incredible asset to your business or an incredible pain for your customers. Don’t force innocent people to spend their valuable time in your voice mail jail.

(c) 2006, Lydia Ramsey. All rights reserved. Reprint rights granted so long as article and by-line are published intact and with all links made live.

Lydia Ramsey is a business etiquette expert, professional speaker, corporate trainer and author of MANNERS THAT SELL – ADDING THE POLISH THAT BUILDS PROFITS. She has been quoted or featured in The New York Times, Entrepreneur, Inc., Real Simple and Woman’s Day. For information about her programs, products and services, e-mail her at lydia@mannersthatsell.com or visit http://www.mannersthatsell.com

The key to successfully starting any business is a good business plan. In his ebook, “Business Plan Secrets Revealed,” Mike Elia walks you through the business plan process step-by-step: from gathering the evidence you’ll use to build your plan to delivering your plan to qualified investors.

His book provides the basic information you need to write a business plan. But its real focus is revealing how to communicate your plan to investors and convince them that your business is their best investment choice.

When I first opened Business Plan Secrets Revealed, my heart sank. You see, I had promised Mike I would read his book completely before writing a review. And Business Plan Secrets Revealed is no ordinary ebook with one sentence paragraphs, large fonts and hefty margins. It’s crammed full of information!

But as I began to read, I was pleasantly surprised. Mike’s writing style is engaging and practical, and his explanations simplify difficult concepts. Throughout the book, I felt as though a friend was sitting with me on the back porch, matter-of-factly explaining exactly how to do something. It’s the kind of simple practicality that you can achieve only when you fully understand a subject.

Mike’s clear understanding of business planning concepts results from experience spanning more than 20 years. Mike helps business owners buy, sell and finance their businesses. He has overseen manufacturing and sales locations in more than nine countries. He is a CPA, holds a Masters in Business Administration, and has served as Chief Financial Officer of two publicly held companies.

Business Plan Secrets Revealed starts with tips for collecting and organizing the information you’ll need. From the beginning, Mike concentrates on overcoming your biggest single challenge–bridging the investor confidence gap. In the chapter “Show Me the Numbers,” Mike provides some of the clearest explanations of business financial statements that I’ve ever read If concepts like stockholders’ equity or statements of cash flow make your eyes glaze over, then your salvation has arrived.

Later chapters of Business Plan Secrets Revealed really deliver on Mike’s promise to help you communicate your business plan effectively. There are complete instructions on writing your business plan, including how to get your plan opened and read, and how to avoid nine common writing mistakes. He explains how choosing the right design can make your business plan easier to read. Mike wraps things up by telling you how to prepare for critical face-to-face time with investors, including developing a 60-second, to-the-point, verbal pitch for your business. Tips on finding investors and a resources section complete the book.

I must admit that several times as I was reading, I would ask myself, “Do I really need this much business plan?” This is not a fill-in-the-blanks-and-print-it-out business plan solution. But then I realized–if I’m serious about succeeding, then I do need to know as much as possible about my business up front. Before I’ve started spending money. Before I put myself on the line out in the market.

By the way, I did make it through the whole book. And I confirmed that Mike delivers what he promises on the title page: he teaches you how to quickly gather evidence, build a case for your business, and write a readable plan that attracts investors and makes your business the most appealing investment choice. Even if you already own other business planning resources, I highly recommend Business Plan Secrets Revealed.

You can learn more about Business Plan Secrets Revealed at http://selfemploymentstation.com/bpsecrets.html. Art Turner has been self-employed for over 23 years. He is also the creator of http://selfemploymentstation.com, a destination filled with info on business startups, freelancing, consulting, working from home and self employment.

Or how about this one? Put up a web site, run a couple of ads in the search engines and clients will beat a path to your door.

Hello…It ain’t gonna happen. Nothing could be further from the truth. The real truth is, these days the cost of advertising, the declining response of Yellow Page ads and the increasing competition for effective Internet advertising space makes getting client leads much more expensive and far more difficult than ever before.

This is probably not a very big surprise to you. Because, if you’ve done any advertising in hopes of attracting new clients, you (in all probability) produced mediocre results.

Your efforts may even have been a complete disaster. Don’t feel bad…This is a tough game and it takes a pro to consistently deliver results.

Let’s face it, if it were so easy to pull in droves of new clients, everybody with a law degree would be rich. But you and I both know that simply is not the case.

And even if you are already doing a brisk business, you must still keep bringing in a healthy flow of new clients.

Jersey Justice Presents A Foolproof Way To Bring In More New Clients

Fortunately, there is an answer, and I’m going to pull back the curtain and show you some details about how we do what we do.

Be Patient. This is going to be worth the wait. First I need to ask a few preliminary questions just to get you thinking about your present client acquisition dilemma.

Start Receiving All The New Clients You Can Handle

1. Are you satisfied with the current quantity of new clients generating income for your firm?

That’s the 20% of your cases that generate 80% of the firm’s revenues.

2. How are you attracting new business?

3. And, is your new client acquisition cost kicking your butt?

One more question and then we’ll begin to give you some answers.

Is Your Existing Internet Presence, (your website) Delivering On The Promise Of Attracting New Clients,

Is It Just Another Beautiful Billboard In The Desert That Nobody Sees?

If you are failing to attract new clients from the Internet, you are missing out on a great opportunity. As you well know by now, just having a website is no guarantee it will produce enough clients.

Maybe it’s about time to re-evaluate your Internet marketing strategy. If you are relying on your (way too expensive) Yellow Page ads, and the standard “me too” legal website, to trickle in the majority of your new business, Stop Kidding Yourself.

That antiquated strategy isn’t going to cut the mustard in today’s highly competitive market for legal prospects.

Here’s a workable solution to the catch 22 of Internet based legal marketing.

Tony Merlino is webmaster and legal marketing consultant at http://www.JerseyJustice.com ,a legal information and marketing portal for clients and their lawyers in New Jersey.

In the November 2005 issue of Inc. magazine, Norm Brodsky wrote: “Your company’s name plays little, if any, role in determining your success.”

I agree completely that a company with a bad or mediocre name can reach success. However, here are 10 reasons why coming up with a snappy, interesting and memorable name is worth the business owner’s or organization’s time and energy.

1. When you call or speak with strangers and mention the name of your company, and the name in and of itself provokes delighted recognition, this can get the business relationship off on a positive footing.

2. A distinctive name can attract the kind of customers you want and keep away those you don’t want. For instance, if you can’t stand dealing with those who have no sense of humor, a punny name repels such folks. Au contraire, if you want people to know you’re serious and weighty, a shrewdly chosen traditional name can impress people accordingly.

3. Cool company names can in and of themselves generate media coverage, either because there’s something newsworthy in the name or because many journalists are more attracted to highlight companies with fun names than boring ones. Case in point: Rent-a-Wreck.

4. A distinctive name increases repeat business because it helps previous customers remember it when looking at a list of possibles in the Yellow Pages or elsewhere. For instance, House Husband would jump out of a list of competitors like A-1 Handyman, Acme Home Repair, etc.

5. A wisely chosen name is simple to spell and leads to one and only one possible URL. This enables more people who have heard about a company to find it online.

6. A well-chosen name can embody the #1 benefit you offer customers and make it possible to get across an appealing marketing message in less space.

7. A hastily chosen name can lead to legal troubles or bad PR, both adding needless expenses and needlessly alienating customers. Just ask my friend Andy, who had to change his business name not once but twice in three months because he hadn’t done his homework on the name. And just ask the shoe company in the UK that named some new sneakers “Zyklon,” which was the name of the gas the Nazis used to kill millions during World War Two.

8. If customers need to find you in the Yellow Pages, a name that’s near the beginning of the alphabet makes it easier for them and may make it less crucial to have a huge, expensive display ad.

9. A boring name contains no sparks for getting started on persuasive descriptions of your company’s products or services, while a creative name makes it easy to riff off it with inspired marketing copy.

10. The name affects how people who work for the business feel about it. A company name they love to say and that customers respond to positively makes for a more pleasant working environment than does a name that is confusing, hard to pronounce or has some negative connotations.

Marcia Yudkin is the author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity and ten other books hailed for outstanding creativity. Find out more about her new discount naming company, Named At Last, which brainstorms new company names, new product names, tag lines and more for cost-conscious organizations, at http://www.NamedAtLast.com .

Ever wanted to start your own clothing company? Its not as difficult as you think. What do you absolutely need?

1. A decent logo

2. Creative concepts and graphics – Design Talent

3. A unique, blank apparel supplier

4. A decent screen printer

5. A Line Sheet to show potential buyers

6. Sales and promotional talent.

Which do you think is most important? Its obviously design talent you say? Are you Joking? You must be joking. Have you stepped out of the house recently? Have you seen Von Dutch clothing? Crayon weilding Chimpanzes produce better designs. Furthermore, I imagine the monkeys are more sanitary, but I digress.

#6 is clearly the most important element. You can create an entire line of fashion forward, beautiful clothing but if you can’t pitch it – no one will ever see it (excluding your mom of course). So, unless you want a closet full of your fantastic designs, ask yourself the following two questions:

Can I sell?

In other words……can I hit the pavement with my line sheet and walk into every boutique clothing store I can find? Then will I harass the hell out of retail clothing store buyers so that they’ll try to squeeze 5 minutes of time in for me at Magic 06′ (Clothing Convention) ?

Will I be able to make a professional presentation to a Nordstroms buyer?

Can I promote?

Do I have and creative viral or gureilla marketing ideas to get this label kickstarted?

If the answer to both of these questions is No – you better get some help. Namely, find someone passionate for fashion who also happens to be ridiculously outgoing, great on the phone and aggressive as hell. Lastly, (and superficially) it would help if your sales rep is hot.

I know, how horrible…..so sorry, buy I didn’t say anything about this being an equal opportunity business.

That being said, let me welcome you the shallow end of the pool….. i.e. the fashion world.

Good luck with your label!

Bradley J, http://www.blankstyle.com
Fashionable Wholesale Clothing