I’m a work-at-home mom. This means that I get the best of both worlds. When my boys were little, I was able to be at home with them. This meant no giving half my paycheck to child care. And, I didn’t have to compromise my income or my career either.
I was able to continue learning, growing, and challenging myself… all from the comfort of my couch and yoga pants.
But it wasn’t always easy. Imagine Sheryl Sandburg (COO, Facebook) showing up to work with her kids. It would be chaos if she showed up with no plan or warning.
When working from home, there’s a fair amount of juggling needed to keep the clients AND the kiddos happy. But it’s all worth it.
Here are some tricks I learned along the way to find balance between the work and home so you too can be a happy work-at-home Mom.
1) Be Up-front with Your Clients
As a work-at-home Mom, it’s really important you work only with clients that are going to respect your Mom hat too. Bottom line, you’re clients may hear kiddos in the background when you have calls.
When my boys were little, I tried to plan my client calls around their nap-times. If a client wanted to do a call at a time when the boys were likely to be around and lively I’d give the clients a heads up. I’d say something like “I am able to speak at that time, but it’s likely you’ll hear my little superhero fighting bad-guys in the background at that time.”
Of course, I’d always make sure to have be in a quiet space when possible.
2) Schedule Mom time
When working at home, it’s so easy just to eat lunch at the laptop and keep working when chasing a deadline. But, lunch time can be a great time to schedule in time with your kiddos to let them know their important too. Take the time to sit and eat with your kids. Make this a quality time that they can look forward to each day.
This will, often times, help them be more understanding when you say “hey buddy, I can’t wait to spend time with you at lunch. But I have to finish this one thing then it’s just you and me and our sandwiches.” Maybe have them go set the table while you finish up that last thing.
3) Have a Routine
Every single successful work-at-home Mom I know has one thing in common. They have a routine. They make sure to schedule in time for work, time for the kids, and even time for themselves. After a while the routine becomes habit.
But this helps make sure that all of those hats you’re wearing get the right priority and attention.
Support for the Work-at-home Mom
Do you struggle to find balance as a work-at-home Mom? It took me years to find my balance, and some days I still want to pull out my hair.
But when you get a routine and stay organized, balance is possible. And it is possible to WIN at both work and home as a work-at-home Mom.
Do you want to be a work-at-home Mom? Take this 60-second quiz to discover your virtual superpower (and the tips and tricks to get started) today at www.virtualsuperpower.com
As a virtual assistant, understanding digital marketing is KEY to your success. Once you learn the FUNdamentals, your search for clients will be over. They’ll be coming to YOU!
There are tons of tools out there to help you implement digital marketing strategies. So many that it would be impossible to learn every single one. That’s why we’re breaking it all down for you right here.
These are the most in-demand tools that clients need help with NOW. Focus on just one or two of these, become a master at it and you’ll be booked up in no time.
1) Content Marketing – Evernote
Evernote is a great software to use when collaborating with clients. You can create and share blog content, track keywords to use for your blog posts, send social content for approval and even track tasks!
What we love best about it is how it syncs across all devices, so you can access it when you or your clients are on-the-go.
2) Digital Ads – Facebook
Facebook ads are a great way to help your clients generate awareness, capture new leads and make more sales. The best part? Facebook has a ton of FREE RESOURCES to help you learn how to create engaging ads that’ll deliver results. Just sign-up for Facebook Blueprint, their free learning portal.
3) Social Media – Canva
If you’re not an ace graphic designer, Canva will become your new BFF! Using Canva you can create impactful images with you a couple of clicks.
What we love most about Canva is that it takes all the guesswork out of image creation. You simply select the type of image you want to create (example: Facebook post), pick a cool template and image, add your words and you’re done!
4) Email Marketing – Kartra
We’ve talked about Kartra before, you can learn more here. For email marketing, it’s one of the most in-demand software platforms out there. Because it’s fairly new to the market, not a lot of virtual assistants know this one yet. So, if you’re looking for a good niche, become a Kartra master!
When it comes to email marketing, Kartra makes it so easy. You can set-up broadcast emails with their built-in templates, and create marketing funnels that convert. In fact, Kartra has some funnel templates you can copy right into your clients’ account to get a jump-start!
5) SEO – Yoast
If your client has a WordPress website, install the Yoast plugin ASAP! This one simple tool will help you optimize your clients’ website and blog posts so they’ll get more leads and more customers.
Yoast makes it so easy to implement an SEO strategy for your clients. Once it’s installed, you just follow the directions and you’ll be all set.
6) Analytics – Google Analytics
If you’re not tracking analytics for your clients, you’re missing out on a HUGE opportunity. This can be one of the most effective ways to show your VALUE to your clients.
Start by asking clients if they have a Google analytics account. If they don’t, sign them up for it immediately! Next, make sure the code is installed correctly on your client’s website.
Work with your client to select a few key metrics that should be tracker every month. Some stats to consider tracking are:
Website visitors
Where traffic to the website comes from (social, search, etc)
Which content is most popular on their website
There are a ton of metrics you can track so take time to learn about what’s most important to your clients. Each month, update the results and share the highlights with your clients so they know what’s working and what can be improved.
Learn More About Digital Marketing
There you have it, our favorite digital marketing tools that are most in-demand now.
But knowing the tools isn’t enough.
You also need to understand WHEN to use these tools and how to incorporate them into your clients’ digital marketing strategy.
Don’t worry, chick. We gotcha covered. If you want to learn how to use your marketing superpower’s to supercharge your income take this 60-second quiz at www.virtualsuperpower.com
Digital marketing is our jam! Here at the v.a. chicks, we LOVE it! And, we’ve learned over the past decade that this is the single most in-demand skill clients are looking for when hiring a virtual assistant.
You don’t have to know every single thing there is about digital marketing. In fact, we recommend that you learn the fundamentals and then specialize in just ONE area.
But to get started, you need to understand exactly what digital marketing is. So here’s the formal definition:
Digital marketing is the act of promoting and selling products and/or services by using online marketing tactics like social media, SEO, email marketing, etc.
Ok, now that we’re on the same page, here’s why it’s important for you, as a virtual assistant to know the fundamentals.
1) Get New Clients!
Every business who markets online needs help with digital marketing. Even if they don’t know it!
This means there is a world of opportunity for you to use your skills to help countless potential clients.
Think beyond assisting “traditional online marketers” and find a niche where these fundamentals can bring a big boost to a business. Industries like: real estate, chiropractors, hair salons, etc. These types of businesses need your digital marketing skills even more!
2) Grow Existing Clients!
Learning digital marketing will add even more value to the services you already provide or are thinking about offering.
For example, if you are a social media VA, understanding more about lead nurturing will help you come up with new ways to drive more traffic to your clients’ opt-in pages.
3) Specialize & Stand Out!
Once you learn the fundamentals you can pick ONE area to specialize in.
When you specialize you STAND OUT.
So, pick something you love, master the skill and technology around it and trust us, you’ll be turning away clients in no time.
One last thing.
Digital marketing doesn’t just help you attract and grow clients, it helps you with your entire business.
Once you understand the fundamentals of digital marketing, you can use those skills to market yourself online. It’s truly a win-win.
See if Digital Marketing is your superpower. Take this 60-second quiz now to discover your virtual superpower and all the tips and tricks you need to succeed: www.virtualsuperpower.com
The other day I was finishing up a shopping trip at Target and heading toward the automatic exit doors.
I noticed a lady walking a few feet to my right and keeping the exact same pace. It struck me as odd that she wasn’t slowing down and just expecting her doors to magically open as they were clearly manual doors, not automatic like the ones I was approaching.
At the last moment, likely an inch from doing a full face plant into the glass door, she abruptly stopped. In that moment she turned around, went back around the security post that separated our entrances, and walked through the automatic door.
While I held in a chuckle, I immediately wondered, why did she not just put up her hand, push open the door and walk through?
Surely that would have been less time consuming than stopping and walking to a different door.
Stop Over-Complicating Things
This got me thinking.
Like that lady who could have easily kept walking forward had she just put up her hand and pushed, I have also been guilty of over-complicating things that were so simple. But, a digital marketing principal I learned during an Infusionsoft Certification course, helped me to stop over-complicating things. When speaking of Infusionsoft marketing campaigns, he said “think of campaigns like mapping out a road trip. If you’re driving from Chicago to L.A., you’re going to drive the direction of California. You’re not going to make a needless stop Orlando, Houston, or New York. So determine your goal, and then map out the more effective and efficient way of getting there.”
We frequently see clients over-complicate their digital marketing efforts. Time and time again they come to us with poorly thought out big ideas for fancy funnels.
And, their “funnel” is more like a leaky bucket. It’s structured to lose leads almost as fast as they come in. And, they can’t figure out where they went wrong. And, we educate our client on how to create a simple and effective funnel.
Top-Secret Funnel Tip
Our number one super-top-secret-tip to NOT over-complicate your funnel is… stop giving your consumer so many options!!!
My biggest pet peeve is a sales page with a billion call-to-actions. I’m not talking about the ones with multiple buy now buttons on a page that all lead to the same product. I’m talking about the sales page that has multiple DIFFERENT unrelated actions you should take. (ie. “Like” me on Facebook, Join my List, Download my Lead Magnet, AND Buy my product… all on the same page!)
I think of this as the “spaghetti-method” because it’s like throwing some noodles at a wall hoping that they stick.
Putting the “Fun” in Funnels
We believe in being much more intentional with your funnel. You must direct the potential customer through the sales process, guiding them every step of the way, and selling them on what to do next.
This month, we’re diving deep into the world of digital marketing and exploring the simple process of building a functional funnel that converts! And we’re putting the “fun” in funnels.
We’re sharing some of the top tools and apps from our virtual assistant tool-kit. These tools help us and our clients rock digital marketing, social scheduling, managing memberships, webinars, and MUCH more.
Whether your client is looking for the latest in CRM systems or wants to create a new membership, we’ve got you covered. Check out our top tools and apps below.
Zoom – Easy Video Conferencing
Looking for a great solution to conduct your group coaching calls? Zoom is the answer. With amazing calling features like video conferencing, screen sharing, breakout rooms, meeting recordings, active speaker view, telephone call in, group messaging, and more, you can’t go wrong here. You can even use it for your webinars!
You can sign-up for Zoom for free to test it out. The free plan gives you 40 minutes of video calling, but the pro plan is very affordable and has no time limits. With both the basic and pro plan you can host up to 100 interactive participants and up to 10,000 view-only participants.
It’s finally here –a software tool that does all the marketing automation you need and won’t break the bank. And we can’t mention our top tools and apps without mentioning Kartra.
Kartra is an all-in-one business platform that gives you just about every tool you need for your coaching business; sales pages, shopping cart, email marketing, affiliate marketing, video hosting and even a membership site!
Yep, with just one software you can manage all of your marketing in one place. Plus, you can do some amazing things like split-testing, create campaigns to nurture your leads into paying clients, offer upsells and downsells and get some great analytics.
Kartra was built by a team of experienced digital marketers so they’ve built-in marketing proven templates and images and made the system very user-friendly. If you’re ready to propel your coaching business while saving money on all those other monthly subscriptions, Kartra is a great solution.
If you offer online courses or are just thinking about it, you have to check out LearnDash. When it comes to the top tools and apps for memberships, Learndash is among the best.
LearnDash is a WordPress plugin that takes everything you love about online coaching and amps it up by about 100%. It has basic membership software features like; time-released content, different access levels, ability to add videos and images, and mobile compatibility. Where LearnDash really shines is when it comes to reinforcing learning. You can add quizzes, timers, forums, badges that people can earn after completing a section of content, certificates that can be delivered online and it integrates with just about any other tool you can think of including most shopping cart systems and email marketing tools.
To use LearnDash you’ll need a WordPress website and an annual license. Learn more and sign-up at www.thevachicks.com/learndash
Tailwind – Schedule Social Media with Ease!
If you’re ready to grow your Pinterest and Instagram traffic (who isn’t?!) the fastest and most affordable way is to use Tailwind.
Tailwind makes Pinterest a breeze. Some of our favorite features include: the ability to pin to multiple boards at once, make pins appear again and again, and to upload multiple images at one time. Tailwind even has a browser add-on so you pin anything you see on the web!
If Instagram is your jam, you’ll love Tailwind’s most popular hashtag finder, the ability to re-gram anything you see across the web, and being able to easily schedule posts to both Pinterest and Instagram with just one click. Tailwind even has tribes (groups) you can join for free that will promote your content!
Between it’s reporting tools, ability to connect with Google Analytics, and the free marketing you can gain from tribes, Tailwind a no-brainer.
If you’re ready to make an impact on Pinterest and Instagram.
Check out Tailwind – we know you’ll love it. Plus, you can grab your very own FREE 30-day trial AND save $15 off your first month by visiting www.thevachicks.com/tailwind
Proof – The Social Proof you Need!
Are you looking for a way to let your customers do the selling for you? Proof provides all the social proof you need to instantly convert leads into customers. With Proof, you can set a notification to appear on your sales page or landing page every time you make a sale or get an opt-in. This notification gives credibility to your offer and a creates a sense of urgency to take action.
Pricing starts at $24/mo increases based on site traffic and features such as the ability to track live visitor counts.
Keep your clients and leads informed of upcoming events with AddEvent, one of the top tools and apps for reminders. For your next webinar, include an “Add to Calendar” button on your website. And when they click the button it will walk them through adding the event to their specific calendar system in a matter of clicks.
With AddEvent, you can also create a subscription calendar and add all the dates of your launch including cart open, webinars, cart close, etc. With one click, your clients can add all of the dates to their calendar so they don’t miss a thing. You can even add custom calendar details to include info and a link to join the event or call.
For as little as $19/mo you can be sure your clients never miss a call or webinar again.
Jennifer and Bethany are tech review authors for Choice – the magazine of professional coaching. Check out our articles in these Editions.
Published in, and reproduced with permission from, choice, the magazine of professional coaching http://www.choice–online.com
Affiliate Disclosure: Please note that some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase, we may earn affiliate commissions and/or perks such as a free month of service. It’s important to note that we recommend and link to these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission we receive. We are simply recommending our favorite tools and applications, but the decision to purchase is yours. Read our full affiliate disclosure.
Facebook networking can be a very profitable way to find new clients. But, if you aren’t intentional about your networking strategy, it can also the single greatest waste of your time. Follow these 7 tips to tackle Facebook Networking like a pro, and grow your referrals and find your potential clients.
1) Niche it up!
Don’t just join random groups, but consider where you will find your ideal client. For example, if you are looking to support wellness coaches, then join groups where wellness coaches would join.
2) Join Application User Groups
Join groups related to the services you offer and applications you commonly use. For example, if you love working in WordPress then join some WordPress user groups. These groups are a great place to turn to technical troubleshooting, brainstorming solutions, learning from others, as well as a chance to share some of your knowledge.
Taking a minute to comment and help someone troubleshoot a simple issue they are having, could result in landing a new client.
Virtual assistant groups are great for growth (learning from your peers), but also for making connections. Look to connect with people with complementary skills. For example, if you specialize in digital marketing, you may want to look for someone who specializes in website design and maintenance. You can then refer clients and projects to each other and still each get to focus on doing what you live… while keeping your clients fully supported and HAPPY.
In order to make the most of your Facebook networking time, make sure you’re engaging in the groups you join. Post real questions – don’t just post to post – it comes across really lame. And make sure to comment on other posts to offer answers, suggestions, and input. And, follow the group rules and post on promo days (for the groups who have them).
5) Update Your Personal Profile
Make sure your personal profile clearly and easily states what you do, the name of your business, a link to your business page and has professional images featured as the first 5 images. These things can have a really big impact on your Facebook networking results.
6) Facebook Networking by Direct Messaging
There are lots of Facebook Networking professionals who will tell you to join groups, friends request a bunch of people, and then send them a direct message with your pitch. But we personally are not down with that. We think it’s a really icky and impersonal way to try to grow your biz.
Instead, we recommend authentically building relationships. When you’re active in groups, building your reputation, and making connections, you will gain both clients and referrals for sure.
7) Professional Page
Make sure to have a professional Facebook page and post one time per day. (Don’t forget to link your page on your personal profile!!) Your post’s should be educational and related to your services. Share content from other sources that are relevant to your ideal client such as Infusionsoft updates, major WordPress changes, big Facebook news, etc. And, at least once per week, create a new promotion for your services to get people interested. So, one week you could offer 10% off, and the next you could offer a free week of support when you pre-pay for 3 months, etc.
Up Your Facebook Networking Game
If you’re looking to really up your Facebook Networking game, join us in our Virtual Academy. We offer LIVE training on a variety of topics, templates, client educational materials, and materials to help you market yourself as a Virtual Assistant.
