We’ll talk a little business but mostly it will allow us to get to know each other face to face as opposed to our typical virtual relationship. They don’t have an opportunity to talk to one another, they only see names assigned to tasks on the workflow platform I use (affiliate link). I want this weekend to bring the team closer; some business changes are coming and it’s important we’re comfortable communicating with one another.

People are the most important asset to any company, they can make or break the client experience and possibly the business itself.

As I work with Dan Walker, I’m realizing I need to improve communication and expectations with my team. I need better processes in place so they are more clear on procedures. It’s very difficult for me to communicate when my own performance comes intuitively; I am not a natural-born teacher. I’ll be spending some time understanding their expectations, explaining mine and discovering ways to improve the entire CyberCletch work experience.

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In corporate offices, where meetings occur in the same space, face time is efficient, but if you’re an entrepreneur working from a home office, it may not be. For workers, such as a Virtual Assistant who is paid for only the hours worked, meetings can be a major time suck with a negative impact on the company bottom line.

Be smart about your meetings. Before rushing out to meet someone, try to determine the value of that connection first.

Does it make sense to interrupt your work day and guaranteed income to meet with a person who may, or may not, positively impact your business? Spend a little research time on the phone with the contact to determine if the connection has immediate or long term benefits. If the benefits are unknown or long term, put the face-to-face meeting off until a time that won’t impact your profit. Get together during a slower work season, or when you’re in the same area. Keep in mind it’s not just the face time you spend away from the office, it’s also the travel time and money spent on gas and food that affect your bottom line.

If you explain your time is at a premium, but you’d like to have a quick telephone conversation to better understand their business, the contact will feel valued instead of discounted. Fifteen minutes on the phone is a far better use of your time and allows you to:

1. determine if your business is a good match for theirs
2. determine if their business is a good match for yours
3. recognize a referral you may be able to provide for their business
4. explain how they can recognize a good referral for your business

And you’ll have accomplished this with time to spare…

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This message may not self-destruct, but I’m well on my way! The hours I am working between my professional and personal obligations are overwhelming at times. As a result, I knew I needed to get laser focused, which is where Dan of River’s End Consulting and his assistance with my mission statement comes in.

Creating a Personal Mission Statement is like getting orders from the Chief. It is the basis for which everything spins off. If an activity isn’t in synch with my personal mission statement, I’ll let go of it. If a business activity compromises my personal mission statement, I will not do it.

I’ve always been solid with my values and integrity but I must admit, seeing my beliefs in writing increased my confidence. There were a couple of points I had unintentionally wavered on in the past, but this written statement will provide me with a reminder to never adapt to less than I expect again.

I live my life with integrity because it is a source of personal joy and inner peace.

I tell the truth regardless of the impact to myself because I understand the value of a long-term relationship.

I intentionally choose to build relationships with people who have similar intentions and value mutually beneficial discourse.

I expect truth.

I continually assess my thought process and seek avenues of growth through my community and exploration.

I live my life with freedom of choice.

Chief: There’s no telling where they’ll be able to infiltrate next. May be even the Pentagon.
Maxwell Smart: You’re right, Chief. But even if they do get a man into the Pentagon, that’s not saying he’ll be able to get out. I remember one of our own agents was lost in there for three days.
Chief: Three days? Max, no agent could be that confused.
Maxwell Smart: Well, let me see. I went in on a Friday…

Thoughts or feedback?

This is the BEST place to start your foray into social media. With one “submit” you can see if your chosen user name or vanity URL is available across all the social media platforms you plan to use. Keeping your user name consistent helps establish your brand and makes it easier for others to find you.

And so begins my first session with Dan Walker of River’s End Consulting.

Our initial focus is to understand how my business supports my personal goals and to determine whether it functions to give me personal satisfaction.

Simultaneously, we are laying my foundation by evaluating what is most important to me through the creation of a personal, and eventually business, mission statement that reflects who I am and what values I choose to live by. Dan explains this exercise will help maintain focus on my priorities when faced with decisions in the future.

The process creates time to evaluate, which naturally slows down my internal knowledge and allows me to question existing fundamentals. There isn’t anything I enjoy more than analyzing thoughts and behaviors, as demonstrated by my graduate education.

Dan says something to me that resonates deeply, “You enjoy solving problems, don’t you?” My initial reaction is to say, “No, I don’t like drama.” Then I add a disclaimer, “It depends on the situation.”

Days later I realize how accurate he is. I’ve never considered myself a “salesperson” and yet I have had great sales success in the past. Then it hits me. My sales success came, not because I was trying to sell something to make a buck, but rather because I truly believed that particular product or service would solve a problem for my client. I do get excited by evaluating situations in order to find ways to enhance personal lives and solve business problems.

Kudos to Dan, it’s not often people are able to quickly see what I haven’t already analyzed.

Between sessions, my homework is to continue to hash out the wording of my personal mission statement.

Has anyone created a personal mission statement they’d like to share?

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I’ve gone from being a part time solopreneur to a full time multi-virtual assistant company over the past year. I had a team before, but downsized the business when my family relocated from Ohio to Michigan. Instead of utilizing employees in an office setting, as I have in the past, I am now subcontracting other business owners with the specialized knowledge my clients need. Each has their area of expertise and all work virtually.

Finding the right people at a budget conscious price is a challenge.
The most important skill any partner can have is reliability, and quite honestly, it seems to be in short supply in all small business arenas. In this industry, you must be deadline oriented. Particularly with Realtors as clients because CyberCletch offers a 24 hour turnaround on posting new listings on multiple online platforms. Agreeing to a deadline is the same as “making a promise.” My word is important, if you fail to meet a deadline you set as my subcontractor, you are hurting my and my client’s reputation, and that is unacceptable.

If you’ve ever grown a business you’ve probably felt that terror.
You know the one, where you’re standing at the edge between just covering your expenses and needing to invest money in people, products or technology in order to grow. You have to give away your earnings to eventually increase them. It’s also referred to as “investing in your company.”

As a virtual assistant, I had built my business and was earning a particular amount every month. When I began to bring on team members, that money now goes to them and I get a portion off the top. What many people fail to realize is now the business owner is earning less than the team members, and is doing more work. In order to return to a comfortable income, the owner has to either work alongside the team as an hourly assistant or bring in enough business to cover the invested time. If an owner is working as an hourly assistant, there is little time available to spend on marketing and growth.

I am too busy overseeing details, covering time off, training, answering questions, responding to emails, and project managing, to effectively create the structure needed for team members, existing business, and to quickly and efficiently bring in new business. If I am taxed time-wise now, how can I realistically bring in another account and provide the high quality service I’ve built my company’s reputation on?

I tried passing project management duties to others on the team but it wasn’t successful for several reasons. As a result, I’ve determined I must be the project manager. Due to the time demands from my business and private life, I am less focused and yet working harder than ever.

I know something has to change.
I’ve been slowly adjusting by streamlining some services such as using FreshBooks for invoicing and time tracking and coordinating the team with tasks on Central Desktop. I’ve taken advice from the Systems Chick and have begun to create processes. But time is running out. I need to move much more quickly or my personal life will sink by the end of 2011′s first quarter.

Enter River’s End Consulting.
I met Dan Walker through Motor City Connect and I assist him monthly at the Commerce Motor City Connect Networking breakfasts. I bought and read his book entitled, “The Customer’s Way“.

Even still, I am skeptical. It seems there are so many pomp and circumstance people who fail to back up their hard sell with the actual goods or service they promise. Over the table, I tell Dan this. I tell him I want to blog about the experience and be truthful. He interjects to say, he’s fine with me blogging about the sessions. If the experience is negative, he wants me to write about that too; he’ll use any criticism as a personal learning experience. I’m impressed by his transparency.

I decide to cut him a check right there and we begin our first session.

Note: These are affiliate links for FreshBooks, Central Desktop, Systems Chick and The Customer’s Way.

All that has changed this year.

Not only do I have to watch my expenses, I need to be sure I earn a base amount every month in order to survive. It’s been a challenge to say the least. It’s not that the business isn’t there, contrary to what the economy is doing, my business is in a major growth phase. I’ve planted grass seeds and the shoots are zooming towards the sunlight. My problem is that someone has placed a GIANT METAL CLOCK on precisely the place my grass is growing.

My issue is not lack of business, it’s lack of time. The very problem I assist my clients with!

I need more time to put policies and procedures in place for product offerings, my clients and the Virtual Assistants working with me. Instead I find my day is filled with project management, talking with existing clients, potential clients and covering vacations. There isn’t any time left for developing my own business structure. Simultaneously, I understand that in order to take my business to the next step within a short term (a 33% profit increase within the next 9 months), it’s paramount I put that structure in place now.

I thought I’d invite you along on my journey, perhaps we can both learn through this process.

Today, I am meeting with a consultant to discuss his services and how he can help me find the focus I need. I’ll be honest, I’m a skeptic when it comes to consultants and coaches, simply because I am already a driven, goal oriented person. I do what I set out to do. Since I am analytical, I am able to evaluate and educate myself. Time is the reason I am willing to speak with this person. If he can save me time with his input, advice and direction, allowing me to focus on making more money, he will be well worth the investment.

On the other hand, if he’s not, I’ll be disappointed and will need to make up more money over the next 9 months!

Today I decide whether to risk what I can’t really afford in order to make a longer term gain.
Sound familiar?

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The single most important rule is:

“Understand your goals.”

A multitude of Social Media Experts, self-proclaimed Gurus, Queens, Kings and Prophets are ready, willing, and able to take your money in exchange for sharing their experience but the reality is… it’s just that, their experience. Your experience may be something else entirely.

How is that possible?

How you choose to interact on Twitter depends on your individual goals! It depends on whether your tweets represent a person, product or company. It depends on whether you have the personality and/or resources to participate proactively. It depends on your expectations for results. It depends on your time and budget.

Any combination of the above items will result in different goals and a variety of results. Determining your goals is the first step in finding your twitter voice. Just as every person has a unique personality and every company marketing campaign is built to elicit a need for their product or service; your twitter stream will be distinct to your goals.

Here are some questions to help you begin to establish your Twitter goals:

1. Is this a personal or business account?
2. Will this account be managed by several people or just one?
3. Will the account manager(s) be consistent for the life of the account?
4. Will this account be used for any one or combination of: interaction, education, motivation, branding, advertising, lead generation, sales, traffic funneling, dispensing or cultivating of information?
5. Does your budget allow for twitter stream content creation?
6. Are there existing sources of content you’ve established that can be tapped?
7. Is this something you’ll enjoy naturally or are you participating begrudgingly?
8. How does Twitter support or enhance your overall marketing plan?

Depending upon the answers, the follow up questions can go in a multitude of directions. With thorough questions centered around your business, personality, behavior and budget, you can find the most effective – and realistic – plan for your twitter stream.

If I had titled this blog post the “Two Most Important Rules for Using Twitter Effectively” the second rule would be, “After the first rule, there are no rules.”

CyberCletch guides our clients towards their Twitter focus. We’ll help you determine what can realistically be accomplished with your budget, personality and goals. If necessary, we can help you carry out that plan with content creation and management. Let us know how we can virtually assist you!

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Business can get crazy and we begin to fall behind. It’s at that time we need to set aside a few minutes to take stock. Is there anything that can be temporarily put on the back burner? Perhaps long enough to come up with a solution? How necessary is that task? Evaluate the importance of an item against how busy you are in any given moment.

If you determine the task is absolutely necessary to the success of your business but you are having difficulty finding the time to complete it, perhaps you ought to consider some assistance. If you take the time to check your course of action with each hand you’re dealt, moving your business forward is less of a gamble and more of an investment – with far better odds.

Along with nearly burning my house down, I really hate these pots. I feel as though I’ve wasted my money, but since there are many other items I need, I’m obligated to put up with them for a while. My omelettes taste burnt even though they aren’t overcooked. As I dumped another omelette down the garbage disposal this morning, I wished I had someone to help me pick out the right set of pots for my needs. I wouldn’t mind spending more:

• if I knew they could withstand my cooking forgetful habits
• if they were the right type of pot for my smooth cooktop
• if they didn’t add a nasty burnt taste to my food

Then I realized that is exactly what has made my virtual assistant business successful over the years. I save my clients time and money by knowing their skill levels, their work habits and then I match them with the right technology programs and services. If you would like to know more about how I might be able to save you time and money, contact me. I promise not to cook for you!