Do you follow marketing techniques the successful VAs are using, in hopes of learning from their success?

You obviously understand the importance of having strong role models, keeping tabs on what successful VAs are doing to generate business, and imitating some of what they do. “After all,” you reason, “if it works for them, it could work for me too!” But for some reason, copying what your peers are doing just isn’t working the way you had hoped.

This often triggers a “What’s wrong with me” or “Maybe I’m not cut out to be a VA” reaction.

I’m here to say nothing is wrong with you.

Do you want to know the secret to why their marketing strategies work for them and not you?

The answer lies in this simple truth: Their marketing activity combination is unique to them — their personality, their strengths, their communication style, their comfort level, their goals, their experience, etc…

Because you have an inherently different —unique— combination all your own, copying what others do will never lead you to success. In fact, copying what other VAs do causes more harm than good, because your marketing will lack authenticity.

What’s the solution? Try these 4 steps:

1. Stop trying to be someone else. Quit looking at everything everyone else is going in their business. Stop comparing your success to others. Quit feeling sorry for yourself, feeling guilty and putting yourself down because you’re not experiencing the success others seem to enjoy.
2. Be more of who you are. Take inventory of the real you — your likes and dislikes, your strengths and weaknesses, your qualities, attributes, goals, values, experience, etc. This combination is unique to you. It doesn’t make you worse or better than another VA. It makes you different. Embrace those differences.
3. Create your unique road map to success. Based on your list in step 2, you can now tailor your business model and marketing strategies to match who you are. Which path will you take to the top? It doesn’t matter what you choose, it’s that you choose.
4. Take decisive action daily. Refer to your road map each day and follow the steps you’ve set out for yourself. You’ll need to adjust your plan every so often, as things come up. Some days you’ll do more, some days you’ll do less. However, daily action is your key to success.

It’s easy for me to sit here and give you these steps, but what you really need is for someone to help you figure out WHAT to do and to help you come up with a plan to implement.

That’s why I’ve committed to helping 6 virtual assistants draw their unique marketing road map to success for 2010.

Find out more here.

In just 3 weeks, you will accomplish more with me than you have alone all year.

We’ll plan out an entire month of daily marketing activities that you can duplicate each month of the year. And we’ll have it all done BEFORE the holidays so you can kick back and relax.

When you get back to your office in January, you’ll know exactly what you need to do that day, and each day thereafter, to get your name out, to attract clients, build your visibility and credibility, and just get the marketing piece done so you can get on with your day.

The program kicks off the first week of December, so if you want to be one of the six VAs in my coaching program, hurry to see if I have any spots left open for you.

Click here for all the details.

I’ve spoken with several virtual assistants recently and I’m hearing many say they’re in the midst (or thinking) of quitting their VA business and do something else, because things just aren’t working out.

For some of you, this may be the responsible thing to do.

What about those of you who love being a VA, have been waiting out these “tough economic times” and are in a position to give it another shot, but are discouraged, overwhelmed or clueless about what to do to be taken seriously, to feel fulfilled and to make money doing this?

Does that sound like you?

I know the feeling. You wish it was easier than it is. You wish someone else could do the marketing so you could concentrate on what you love to do — serving clients.

I’m also willing to bet your self-esteem and confidence have taken a beating. You’re beginning to take this personally, as if lack of clients is a sign of failure, a sign that maybe you don’t really know what you’re doing.

I have 2 words of advice for you.

1. Stop the negativity. I know it’s a hard cycle to break, but you don’t want to go any further down this dark path leading nowhere.
2. Stop asking “What am I doing wrong?” and start asking “What am I doing right?” I’m not talking about playing word games or reciting dubious affirmations. This is about changing your focus and perception. This is about being more productive.

It’s not easy to focus your attention on the positive, especially not in a society fixated on weaknesses. But I guarantee that making this one change will have a huge impact, not just on your business, but on all aspects of your life.

Once you start thinking in terms of what you’re doing right in running and marketing your business, begin to search for ways of doing what works. Your weaknesses won’t magically disappear, but they’ll take a back seat. Your strengths will overshadow your weaknesses.

What if you’re having a hard time identifying what you’re doing right? This is no time get modest. You need to believe you’ll find something and look for any little sign that proves you have what it takes. Admitedly, this isn’t easy. We’re usually too close to “see the forest.”

That’s where a coach or a mentor can help you.

For example, my upcoming Marketing Got You Nuts? program is designed to help VAs take the guesswork out of marketing their business in 2010. It’s an intensive 3 week, one-on-one program where together we identify what works best with your unique personality and strengths to tailor a monthly marketing road map.

If you’d like to be one of the 6 virtual assistants who, with my help, will start the new year knowing what to do each day to grow your business, click here.

Basic Tips to Establish Yourself as a Brand

Becoming a brand has lot of advantages. A strong brand doesn’t only give financial advantages but you also get loyal customers who connect themselves with your brand. Companies with established brands can introduce new products easily and effectively under their same family brand. Branding gives you a significant advantage over your competitors when customers start associating advantages with your brand. Don’t think that branding could be done for only big companies with an unlimited ad budget. You can also establish your small business as a brand. In this article I will be discussing some tips which you can implement to create an effective branding strategy for your own business.

• Relevant Tagline: Your brand should have a relevant tagline with its name which represents what your business stands for. The tagline would give an idea to your customers about your services. For example, the tagline for Apple is “Think Different.” Taglines help your customers to connect with your brand. Make your tagline small and short.
• Educate Customers: Everybody likes to get new information. Educate your customers with unique and useful information. The more you will educate your customers, the more you will be able to sell. Providing great content for free would help you to establish your brand as the most reliable brand among your target audience.
• Create a Website: Register a domain with your brand name. You can register a domain name for less than $10 for year. Create a professional and beautiful website which contains all the important information about your brand.
• Use Web2.0: Web2.0 is one of the most powerful ways to create your identity online. Create accounts on various Web2.0 sites with your brand name like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc. Start interacting with your target audience in such websites and develop relationships with them by telling them more about your brand.
• Take Your Brand Everywhere: Take your brand with you wherever you go. Wear t-shirts with your logo while meeting clients in professional meetings.
• Promotional Products: Create useful promotional products relevant to your brand. For example, if you are a travel agent, you can create backpacks imprinted with your logo. Distribute such promotional products among your customers so that they remember your brand whenever they use these items.
• Trade Shows and Conferences: Participate in trade shows and conferences related to your business. Speak up about your brand anywhere you get a chance.
• Sponsorships and Charity: Sponsor local events or do charity for good causes. These events usually get covered by the media and gives you lots of free publicity which will put your brand in the good books of your audience.

About the author:
Gagandeep Singh is working as Internet Marketing Executive for Fortepromo, which provide high quality promotional products to help companies in promoting their brand.

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Sean D’Souza or Psychotactics.com. If not, you should! I’ve enjoyed their website, newsletter and products over the years and have found it to have very useful marketing information.

This morning, I got an invitation that said Sean was giving away a workshop he normally sells for $2500. And that he’s doing a test and giving a limited number of copies away absolutely FREE… No charge. This workshop, the Brain Alchemy Masterclass, explains why structure—not marketing—is critical to grow a business effectively. He teaches you how to build your business around YOU, something I’m a HUGE proponent of!

If it’s anything like the other Psychotactics products I own, I know this workshop will create HUGE changes in the way I run and market my business(es)!

A free giveaway like this would normally have a catch of some sort, but this one (strangely) doesn’t. I’ve (of course) signed up to their waiting list, so that I can get my copy of these goodies soon. You should check it out, and if you find it useful, you should get on the waiting list before it’s filled.

I’m sending you this note because I thought this workshop could help you in marketing your VA business. You should check it out and judge for yourself.
Here’s the link: http://www.psychotactics.com/free-goodies

P.S. I read somewhere on the page that there’s a deadline for this free offer, so have a look and decide.

*Disclaimer of transparency: I get absolutely NOTHING for promoting this program (actually, Psychotactics has NO affiliate program!). I’m sharing this with you because I believe what Sean teaches is truly innovative. He’s a down-to-earth, no-nonsense kind of guy. When I signed up for the free Brain Alchemy Masterclass workshop, Sean asked me to share this with people I think would appreciate such an offer. This is what I’m doing!

“Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember- the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.” — Zig Ziglar

Mike Brown over at Brainzooming wrote a short article earlier this year on an alternative to defining your business brand called Have You Tried a ‘Not’ Definition?

Start by asking, “What doesn’t our brand stand for or represent?” By beginning with a “not” definition, you may subsequently be able to more readily express a succinct, targeted definition.

Because I still have branding on the brain and I struggle with nailing down the details, I thought this was a great way to flip branding over on its head.

Hope it helps you get clearer about what you don’t do too!!

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. — Marianne Williamson

Normally, October is Anti-Procrastination Month here on The Savvy Entrepreneur blog. Since all my time is spent working on my new venture, Mompowerment, I decided not to post daily procrastination-beating tips, tricks, resources and suggestions this time ’round.

However, Chris Lloyd was kind enough to submit an article for me to share with you here!

Enjoy!

Planning To Beat Procrastination

Scientists have conducted research into procrastination and what causes it. You can read the report for one study here (pdf), but I’ll try and sum up the results and what they mean for you without all the big scientific words.

The researchers gave two groups of people a task to open a bank account. The researchers made one group think abstract thoughts about the task by asking them to imagine what a bank account can mean for their life. Researchers tried to make the other group think concrete thoughts about the task with questions about the specific steps of opening an account. It probably won’t surprise you to find out that the second group completed the task much quicker than the first group. In some cases, the first group never completed the task.

This contradicts some procrastination advice. People have advised imagining the benefits of completing a goal to get the motivation to overcome procrastination. This research suggests that advice will make your problem even worse. You probably already know the benefits of starting your own business. That’s why you’re reading this blog. Daydreaming about good things that might happen probably won’t help get the job done.

Instead, when you find yourself procrastinating, try and break down the task into smaller, concrete steps. Write them down or just think about them. This will make you more likely to actually do the task. You’ll be on the road to accomplishing your goals instead of just daydreaming about it.

This has been a guest post by Chris Lloyd. He still daydreams more than he should about helping people find great Austin apartments.

Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment. — Baltasar Gracián

You won’t be successful by accepting to do tasks you don’t enjoy (no matter how good you are at them), and you certainly won’t be any happier.

Keep growing your natural strengths and abilities by choosing to do only those things which “juice” you.

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful that the risk it took to blossom. — Anaïs Nin

This metaphor can be applied for so many different aspects of our lives. I use it as a powerful image for change in my business.

Holding yourself back hurts you more than it keeps you safe. What are you waiting for?