Kreative Ramblings

It used to be, the “olden days” meant when the pioneers trudged across the country in or along-side their covered wagons. Or, the “olden days” may have meant the time when your mother or father walked two miles to school in the freezing rain or five feet of snow up to here!

Now, the “olden days” means the time before the Internet. And more recently, the time before “social networking”–where the norm is almost about using “MySpace,” “FaceBook,” “Twitter,” “LinkedIn,” “Squidoo” or “StumbleUpon”–to name a few!

No, they’re not words to wash your mouth out with soap by but rather they’re “social communities” or “networking connections” you can use to catch a prospect’s or client’s eye.

But it’s not just about “meeting someone” and exchanging photos like the “young set” is so inclined to do. It’s a cool way to connect with your “business” others in a costs saving manner. It’s even efficient and “easy”, although sites like “Twitter” and “LinkedIn” still cause me some pause.

Social media has become an excellent way to get everyone excited about you and drive traffic to your site.

They’re attractive because they have a smorgasbord of tools in some form or combination thereof to entice their members. Such tools may include message boards, forums, meeting rooms, chat rooms, people directories, podcasts, blog posts, wikis. Some businesses upload video about their wares to their Web sites, or to “YouTube,” as a way to show the extent of their business prowess and impress the visitors to their site.

Upon registering at the social networking site, the member/user completes a profile/biography page. There, you can even include a link to your Web site, which is a subtle invitation for those following you on Twitter, LinkedIn, et al, to know more about you and what you offer.

Blogs are also the talk of the town now-a-days and afford the blogger an opportunity to show what they know. Written much like a short article, blog posts often focus on something that interests the blogger, such as current affairs, or a topic specific to the market the blogger seeks to target.

With the good must come some bad!

Yes, social networking may be somewhat merciless…users have been known to become so enamored with and addicted to the connections and the many great features of sharing ideas, opinions and experiences through their blogs, audio, video and message boards/forums they become sidetracked. So much so, that many get little or nothing else done.

In that event, I know where you can find a really great VA!

Jewels of Life: Believe, Dream

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It did!

As a small business owner, entrepreneur, et al, you’re like a lot us—looking for ways to market your business and, in the process, gain new prospects and customers.

The latest “fad,” a good one at that, is to “use video” to promote your business. After all, the “spiders” like Google love to feast on them and are inclined to place video highly in their analytics rankings.

So with that incentive alone, you decide to “jump on the bandwagon,” too.

But wait just a minute!

Because marketing with video has become the new “Rubik’s Cube,” or the new “Cabbage Patch” doll, or the new “t-shirt that says ‘I Google myself regularly,’” if you actually do intend to get on the bandwagon, there are a few things to consider.

What is your plan? (It seems everything leads back to a plan.)

Getting your video ready and “taking it to market” is one of the latest Internet trends. Many entrepreneurs, marketers, and even large business owners will focus on the “how-tos;” the how-to of what to say, the how-to of how-to upload the video, or the how-to of where to place your upload.

The important thing is to not just toss some video shots together; the end product will be disappointing to your visitors and to you. Just like your Web site, your video presentation is a reflection of you and how you do business. Thus, it’s better to take your time to produce quality work. Someone has already been first, so now it really doesn’t matter if you come later with better.

Like putting together any worthwhile efforts, you first come up with a list of things to do when producing a video. However, there are also several things to NOT do in your video marketing. And they are the focus of this piece. For instance:

Forget about “safety in numbers” this one time

If you want to attain the most success with your video efforts, you have to go it alone. Sometimes when a person is going to be in a photo or a video, they may be camera shy or feel “more is better;” suddenly, they want someone in the show with them. This is a really HUGE error! The point of your video is to acquaint your visitors and customers with YOU, perhaps your product or service, and with what you represent. Your brand! In fact, in the video you become your brand.

So when your pals are in your video, they are distracting and take the viewer’s eyes away from your product or service, your message, and you. And unintentionally, they may show you up!

In essence, then, your fireworks just fizzled!

It’s time for your commercial

Have you ever wondered why or how sponsors of TV shows pack so much information about their product into 30 seconds of more often than not annoyance? It’s because they realize they have so little time to grab the viewers’ attention before they’re off to the kitchen or otherwise taking a break. Or worse, changing the channel!

Internet frequenters are somewhat infamous for running away from Web sites

How often have you gone to a Web site then quickly scooted away because the page loaded slowly? Your distraction meter kicked in and impatience got the best of you? This seems to happen more and more as Internet surfers tend to lose their tolerance to wait, or they’ve found other diversions that steer them away from what they thought they wanted in the first place.

This means you’ve got to have a video or graphics and audio that will capture your visitors’ attention. NOW! But it’s not good enough to just grab them; you’ve got to have something to keep them there long enough that they realize what you have is something they can’t live without.

You need a P-O-W!

So that as your video begins the first words out of their mouth or the first visual they see must be something concise and compelling. You know, what’s it in it for them?

Do you know the “who” for your marketing

Since you have a target market, it’s best to market your video to that particular audience. Of course, others will navigate to your site and may even stay to view your video. Or maybe not! Those who stay will be interested in learning about your product or service. How you dress, your narrative, your language, how you present yourself in the video should all be geared to the audience you want to pull towards you, the niche you’ve identified for your service.

You can be a star

With a little bit of practice, this reminder and the “how not tos” outlined here will be enough incentive and encouragement for you to be the star of the show as you were really meant to be.

Jewels of Life: Dream

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Do you want him?

He WOKE.ME.UP! to tell me “we don’t have any power!”

And then the rains came, and came and came!

This, after we’d spent the day wondering if the many tornadoes spotted on the weather radar were going to touch down on us, or how high the water would rise.

We happen to live in an area of the country that is unfortunately being ravaged with an over-abundance of rain. Flooding and the inability to use water for drinking, bathing and other bathroom needs, as well as for washing clothes, for who knows how long are compromised. Restaurants have been shutdown by the health department for “hygiene’s” and “safety’s” sake, and city-imposed curfews during the overnight hours manage to cause pretty much of a hardship all around.

Much worse for some than others!

I heard on the news yesterday that people in a neighboring state saw a dog “sucked up into a tornado funnel cloud, tossed around and then set down—or dropped is more like it”! City officials of the city in a town near us recently struck by a tornado have described how they’ve spent considerable time searching “around the town” for the City’s computer hard drives so they could begin to resume City business!

All this aside, the “searching for a hard drive after a tornado” comment really resonated with me, enough to get me wondering how my business would fare if I were to experience a natural disaster such as that. The flood waters rose so fast and so high here, those in the flooded areas said they had no time to grab anything other than maybe a change of clothes. One man did manage to snatch his insurance papers.

Tornadoes often swoop in during the night when most everyone is asleep. Again, not a great scenario for gathering computers, printers, or the office books! Families–kids and pets—are more apt to take precedence.

Many of us have our Plans: a Business Plan, Marketing Plan, Operations Plan and the like; I hope we’ve also thought to include a “back up” plan that specifically consists of a “disaster plan” targeted toward natural disasters.

Making arrangements to have someone assume a stand in, lead position in your business in a “vacation” role or at the time of an “unexpected illness” is a fantastic idea. But regularly backing up your files to an external hard drive, thumb drive or disk is an even greater action not to be overlooked. Of course, it’s necessary to make sure it’s in your plan and that that’s what goes with you first, after the family and pets are accounted for and out the door.

Prior to these recent natural disaster incidents any thoughts I entertained about “back up” plans were only associated with computers that might crash, not computers that fly up and away ala Mary Poppins or ET.

Because of the rude reminder that in natural disaster events there is often no time (or even no thought) to grab essentials, office or otherwise, I’m convinced now more than ever that my purchase and use of Carbonite, an internet backup service, was an excellent decision. They say, “It is easy to install, set up takes just one minute and it’s completely automatic. As soon as you add or modify a file Carbonite automatically backs it up to their secure servers.”

You may remember I commented on Carbonite a month or so ago. However, with the nation-wide recent turn of weather events, it just seemed like this is one of those things that begged to be repeated. In fact, because I’ve experienced this first-hand, it resonated closer to home more this time than it might have at another time.

Experience is the best teacher!

I do feel that with Carbonite on my computer, if I’m unexpectedly awakened to another “the power’s out” eye opener, I will, of course, be concerned initially. Because I will wonder if the food in the refrigerator will be all right. But I’ll quickly go back to sleep knowing my “business and files” are in good hands.

And easy to get to when I’m ready!

Jewels of Life: Hope

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Notwithstanding their bent toward grandiosity, these words (from an Irving Berlin 1946 tune for the “Annie Get Your Gun” Broadway musical) easily set the stage for the argument that as a Virtual Assistant (VA) you really can do many if not all of the things (just as good as or) better than those performed by an “in-house” administrative assistant, executive secretary or similar personnel.

No, you can’t.

Yes, I can!

Of course, there are many factors, occurrences and mechanisms that must be in place in order for this to be achieved. However, if you have the skills, the knowledge, the experience, the technology, the wherewithal, and especially the sticktuitiveness, there’s really no reason why you can’t accomplish a good many of the tasks like those of your “brick and mortar” counterparts.

No, you can’t.

Yes, I can!

If given half a chance.

Yes, I can!

In fact, in many ways a VA can surpass the accomplishments of her “onsite” equivalent.

In addition, as a VA you have the “luxury” of performing the work from home on your schedule. You also have the opportunity to work for many different factions, learning new things and keeping abreast of cutting edge technology as a result. And, you can choose what work (or tasks) you want to do. You “set the rules” so they meet your needs and wants. And you can say how much.

Sooner or later…

With opportunities like these, the end result is that you provide quality service to your current clients, and those yet to be.

And, in the long run you really can do it for them for less.

Anything you can do, I can do better…

Jewels of Life: Believe

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I know where I’m going to be June 10, 2008. You are invited to join us!

Jewels of Life: Believe, Resources

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Introducing Beryl Powell’s “OperateItRight” Small Business System

Jewels of Life Dream

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Put Your Old On Hold, our ebook for the “discerning” Baby Boomer or pre-Golden Oldie, is now available

Click here for details.

Jewels of Life: Believe, Dream, Resources

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Guglielmo Marconi!

What do you suppose Guglielmo Marconi and all those other guys attributed to having had a hand in inventing the radio would say now if they came back and saw how their little old “radio” has advanced since their time?

I say “other guys” because while Marconi is commonly attributed to having “invented the radio,” there were one or two others who “got his wires” crossed before Marconi, and managed to provide some semblance of air wave communication as a result. (And the rest of that history lesson is for another time!)

Actually, when you think about it, turning this the other way, wouldn’t it be an eye opener for us to be able to sit around the table or wherever it was they did their inventing, to see how any of them decided to research and go forward with their ideas.

Can you imagine the snickers behind their backs?

The real, ongoing revelation, though, is for many of us right here, right now!

It’s a given that for you, as a “virtual” business owner, to gain new clients, you need a way for them to be able to find you. One of those techniques, which has become somewhat “ho hum” and out-of-date of late has been to put up a Web site.

Okay, so you’ve got your Web site. Now what?

Since it seems “everybody’s doing it,” you want to be somewhat unique. You want some way to draw clients to you.

It was at the “turn of the century” (hee), early 2000-2001, actually, that the concept of using audio files in web pages was first introduced. And we’ve all seen how that has evolved over the subsequent years. So much so that it now includes not just music, but the “spoken word,” too—audio messaging–and even video!

And to build upon that, Internet trends now include an explosion of podcasting and Internet radio shows along with the embedded audio files. They’re even being “transported” via email.

All are methods designed to get your name, your products and services out there to increase your business, your sales and profits, and give you name recognition.

The “why” and the “how” you use audio on your Web site or in your email depends upon factors that best benefit you; they’re usually as varied as flavors of ice cream, tv channels, or fish in the sea, and might include communication in the format of regular radio, audio file, or podcasting.

This is a terrific way to establish a relationship with your visitors. Once you do that, all the rest can follow.

So, turn yourself on to “radio” and, turn “your radio” on.

Jewels of Life: Believe

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All right now.

So you got that phone call…THE PHONE CALL. You know the one…the preliminary call from someone who just happened upon your Web site. Someone who thinks you can help her (or him) take care of the overload that’s frequently causing them a major Excedrin headache number 409.

Now what? After you jump up and down a bit and excitedly scream and holler (good cheers) at your potential good fortune, what comes next?

Actually, before you even get to this place, before you wonder what you’ll say when you respond to the call, think about what you’re looking for in a client. Perhaps you’ll consider personality-type characteristics and work habits, things that will blend with or complement your personality and work ethic.

Or, maybe you’re someone who will just jump off the bridge to do things with the hope a life jacket will magically appear on your way down; a “life jacket” in the form of a rescue from a colleague or some really great software.

Think about this

Just because you get the call, it doesn’t mean you have to accept the client. After all (aside from the obvious$), you got into this business mostly because you wanted to do something you loved, and if you end up working with someone who doesn’t reasonably share your philosophies or your work ethic, someone who pulls you down, someone who makes it hard for you to remain in a happy place, the life may be whooshed out of you so that it’s no longer rewarding or fun. And you end up not getting anything done!

It’s well-known that for the most part when we do something we love, we’re more inclined to excel. We’re more focused and passionate, and we’re likely to attract like-minded individuals sooner and in greater numbers.

Taking the call

So then the next step you take will be as varied and as many as the readers to this post. You may even decide to just wing it. However, you might consider the following:

Although the prospect will be interviewing you, it is important to realize you’ll be on a highway that goes both ways in that you’ll be an interviewer, as well as an interviewee. Thus, if the prospect presents a picture without roses, you may decide “no thanks” is the best option.

And being in a position of choice, where you keep such things in mind, will help put the consultation and the outcome into perspective so you don’t end up getting burned.

Jewels of Life: Believe

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Guess what!

My Digital Download, “Put Your Old On Hold: A Baby Boomers’ and Golden Oldies’ Unconventional Guide to the Making of a dot com business”or something like that, is near completion.

This eBook is a lighthearted romp that tells the story of what one “Golden Oldie” might choose as an alternative to doing all those things “old people” do.

If you’re not ready to think about retirement, consider starting an Internet business. There are a lot of great tips in this eBook to help you get started.

Click to Konceptuality to be put on the waiting list to be notified when the Digital Download is available. Which will be quite soon! Of course, signing up now DOES NOT obligate you to a purchase.

Watch for the press release in the coming weeks.

Jewels of Life: Dream, Hope, Believe”

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