Building a Laptop Lifestyle

Building a Laptop Lifestyle

21 Jul, 2017

I can’t believe that I have been running my Virtual Assistant business for over eight years now.  It has been a massive journey of empowerment and learning.  I feel blessed that I have been able to work my business around my family, school drop offs and pickups, the endless sporting commitments, school holidays and of course to still be able to earn more than a full-time income with the flexibility of a laptop lifestyle.

I originally started my Virtual Assistant business as a bookkeeper.  At the time, there were some legality changes in Australia for contract bookkeeping and of course further study would have been needed.  I had just finished and had paid for the wrong course, spent $2,000 in advertising my new business which resulted in only one new client at 3 hours per month which certainly didn’t cover costs.  So, I had a decision to make, do further study, do something else or go back to work.

These decisions are made when you least expect it. I went to a Mothers morning tea through my oldest son’s school (then 7 years old), I got talking to a Mum and explained about the bookkeeping situation and the dilemma of whether to do the study and extra hours or did I even like bookkeeping after all.  She asked me about my Secretarial, Admin and PA background and asked me why I didn’t go into business offering those services and what I loved best.  I asked, ‘Is there a market for that?’ and her response was ‘Yes definitely, I have been in business for 6 months and I am working full time, let me introduce you to a Liz Parker at 121 Temps.’

I went home, had a look at the 121 Temps website and signed up on the spot for the Premium Membership, it included everything that I needed to get my business started plus I could pay weekly which really helped with cashflow:

  • Website URL and website creation course
  • Marketing course
  • Monthly Webinars
  • Free Client Leads
  • Mentoring and Support
  • Plus a whole lot more.

And after just spending an excessive amount in advertising in the wrong place, I knew that this was the perfect investment to learn those things that would put my business in good stead for years to come.

From there it took me a little while to find my feet, I had three young boys, they were 7, not quite 3 and 18 months old (the younger two are only 16 months apart) so my life was hectic and filled with a school run and toddler taming along with trying to build a business.  In those early days, I only had lunchtimes if the younger boys slept and after 7:30pm at night once they were all in bed.  It was hard building a business on those limitations but definitely possible.  Plus, I was dedicated and motivated, it was either build my business or go back to work and frankly I couldn’t afford to go back to work as the childcare fees were exorbitant especially times 3 children.

As my business grew, so did the childcare by one day a week for the two youngest children up to 3 days per week until they went to school.  Eight years on I now have a 15 year old, 10 year old and 9 year old and I can say that they’ve never been in after school care or school holiday care, we regularly have their friends over during school holidays plus the boys all enjoy sporting activities most afternoons each week.  I also love that I can still be there for them and earn a full-time income on essentially a very flexible schedule.

In those early days, I set basic goals, I remember my first goal being to earn $400 dollars in a month and setting tasks around what I had to do to achieve that.  My mantra was ‘make this work or go back to work’ and ‘it is all up to me’.  I had to get my services together and write them as benefits to attract a potential client and I found this to be one of the hardest things to do.  Marketing really wasn’t my strong suit and I put my energy into learning as much as I could about it.  My little hack was that once I worked out my target market which was quite tough in the early days, it was much easier to explain my services because I knew what appealed to that industry.

Eight years on, I still love what I do.  I love the business and the clients I work with are amazing and inspiring.  I love that if I get bored, I can change my services or do some further study to offer different services.  My clients love this too and it means that they’re staying ahead of new trends as well.  They love that I am innovative and nothing is too hard to do or achieve.

I have been working with my longest running client for seven years and I believe that the longevity is due to going above and beyond for my clients, along with adding value to their business.  At the end of the day, I’m in this for the long haul!

Susan Wilkin

How to Engage through your PowerPoint Presentation Slides

17 May, 2016

Most presenters use PowerPoint for their presentation slides, however many presenters make quite a few mistakes. They make their slides too wordy, don’t add enough images. The audience then just ends up reading the slides instead of listening to the presenter. The presentation is then not interesting and of course the audience starts yawning, walking out or switching off the webinar well before you get to your sales pitch. Here are a few key things that you should add to your presentation slides to induce greater engagement and keep your audience wanting more:

Less words, more images to your presentation slides

This is simple and effective. Don’t add your whole speech to your presentation slides, make the wording on the slides simple with lots of images. If you had to give out a truckload of information, then you could have just handed out a book or a digital white paper. Why would you pile on information in the presentation slides? A presentation is about your engagement with the audience and you, not that of the audience with the PowerPoint presentation slides.

Set the agenda at the beginning of the presentation

Tell the audience at the beginning what they are going to get out of your presentation. Get them excited and engaged from the start, include a funny quip if you are humorous but the main trick is to get your audience engaged from the very start.

Make your presentation slides enticing

Your presentation slides must be enticing. They cannot be just slides loaded with three to five points talking about two or three numbers and a handful of facts. PowerPoint presentations should have images, videos, audio effects and evoking stories that would make the facts relevant and fun to learn. If you bore your audience with a humdrum of presentation slides, then the first casualty would be engagement and the second would be the whole purpose of the presentation.

It’s not just about the slides

You are the expert in your field! Give your audience facts, give them information, give them quality content! Make them want more! This doesn’t need to be listed on the presentation slides. Show them with videos, share your screen if you are working through software examples or use other visual cues. You can even set up interviews with other experts!  Get your audience engaged with many different visual cues, it doesn’t just have to be on a set of presentation slides!

Ask questions

The job of conveying the message is yours as a presenter and the presentation slides are only there to set the mood. But don’t make the presentation a one way or a one dimensional discussion. You need to consider multiple views or the possibility of other opinions. As you present your facts and the information, raise questions with your audience and engage your audience to answer those questions. While you would have slides concluding with facts, have slides that raise objection, shed light on contrasting views, to set the agenda and to make space for discussions which will allow your audience to get involved.

Call to Action

At the end of your presentation, have an explicit call to action, use your business logos and contact details effectively and conclude with key takeaways. Once you are done with your presentation, encourage questions and have backup slides that would be answers or illustrations responding to those questions. You should be able to anticipate some of the queries while preparing the PowerPoint presentation slides.  Another option is to send out for the questions earlier.

Technology and your client

Technology and your client

27 Apr, 2016

 

Making a decision regarding the types of technology and software you will be using in your business is an important decision that much thought must go into. There are hundreds or thousands of different software programs out there and many aspects of each to consider based on what the software is, what you need it to do, and what features it has to offer.

I recently held a webinar for 1-2-1 Temps (Virtual Assistant network) discussing many types of technology that a Virtual Assistant can use to help a client in their business.  Here is a replay of the webinar and some of my favourite that I use and recommend to help build a virtual relationship with a client.

In this webinar, I take you through all the different types of technology including Skype, Dropbox, File sharing, basic computer maintenance and a few other technical tips and tricks.  If you are a client, looking at working with a VA (virtual assistant) these are the types of technology that you can use to build your team and work with a virtual assistant. They are also some of the technology that you can expect that a Virtual Assistant should know about and can use.  If you are working with an Online Business Manager, the OBM will be able to advise you on the types of technology as well as show you how to set some of these up, depending of course on their expertise.

The software discussed during the webinar normally has a fantastic help section, videos or you can find a host of tutorials on YouTube that discuss in depth how to use the specific technology.  We hope that you enjoy the webinar as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you.

Software links and references from the video

If you would like to attend a future webinar, sign up here for further information

Webinars and Videos: The main differences

Webinars and Videos: The main differences

5 Apr, 2016

What are the main differences between webinars and videos?

They are both essentially recordings of a presentation but they are just completed differently, normally using different technology or devices.  Webinars are normally recorded live, whereas videos are pre-recorded and uploaded.

Similarities of webinars and videos

Webinars and videos can both be:

  • Pre-recorded
  • Be automated
  • Training videos or course
  • Interviews
  • Demonstration
  • You can re-purpose both into podcasts and YouTube Videos and of course blog posts.

The key differences about webinars

Webinars are normally presented live to your audience.  Although you can automate them and build them into a training course.  Presenting live webinars builds immediate relationship power.  They are an excellent way to deliver coaching and consulting.  They are also a great way to have round table discussions and to answer questions at anytime throughout the webinar.  Webinars are usually hosted and recorded on a webinar platform such as Go To Webinar, Anymeeting or Google Hangouts (just to name a few!) They can be recorded and then edited afterwards to obtain a more streamlined presentation.  Webinars usually run for an hour, although some can be longer or shorter depending on the format and what is specified in the invitation.

The key differences about videos

Videos are pre-recorded using either a video camera or other video software depending on the type of video that you are recording. Videos can also be pre-recorded using a webinar platform as well. These can then be edited using specific video editing software such as Camtasia or Premiere Elements, you can then upload the videos to your website, Youtube and other mediums.  Videos are different to webinars because they are not live, you can only answer questions after the fact and they are not automatically responsive in engagement and inclusion that a webinar offers. Videos can also be super short ie 1-2 minutes and this is a great way to offer small snippets of information or potentially create that small video to invite your customers to your webinar.

Both webinars and videos are fantastic to include in your marketing arsenal as they both engage the audience to learn about you and your expertise.

5 things to know to host your first webinar

5 things to know to host your first webinar

29 Mar, 2016

A webinar is an effective medium for engagement, promotions and training. However, there are many things to consider before hosting that first webinar.  You will need to ensure that you have a few things ready to go before pressing record and welcoming your guests.  So here are five things to consider before hosting your first webinar.

Have a goal in mind

Understand why you are hosting a webinar. Is your end result to sell a product? Is it to gain more subscribers to your email marketing list. Is it just to provide information and create yourself as an industry expert? Ensure that you have your end goal in front of mind when creating your webinar and what you want to achieve at the end.  This will help with planning your first webinar.

Plan your first webinar

Planning your first webinar is important to ensure that it runs smoothly. Ensure that your slides are professional and not too wordy, we have some great tips here. Practice your webinar so that it doesn’t sound like you are reading from a document. If you are providing a demonstration, ensure that you have the software, product etc ready to go prior to the webinar.

Test your technology

Ensure that you technology is up to scratch. Have a decent internet speed and headset with microphone and pick a webinar platform. Running a small webinar with a friend or with Adminaholics to ensure that your technology is going to be maintained throughout the webinar will ensure that you can run the webinar on the day. Technology has a way of being temperamental but if you can sort the basics before the webinar, it will assist in a smooth running presentation.

Marketing your first webinar

There is no point running a webinar if you don’t tell everyone about it. Some great ways to market are through social media, your email marketing list, word of mouth, joint ventures and affiliates. Keep a steady stream and ensure that you advertise everywhere that you can. The more people that you attend your webinar, the more opportunity you will have to achieve your end result.

Break some rules

Webinars are not a new concept. They have been around for a while and many people have perfected it. This has lead to some customary practices which are more like unwritten rules. It is important to make your webinar a little bit different and break some of the rules but in a constructive way. Don’t go haywire but don’t follow a predictable script either. Customers that attend your webinars want to hear from you so it’s important that your personality and expertise shine through!

Go for Gold!

We have created an essential webinar checklist so that you can host the perfect webinar!  Download it for free today!