The prevailing buzz these days, from self-help books and seminar stages, is to THINK BIG. And, of course that is valuable advice, as many people need to be encouraged to stretch beyond the bounds of their comfort zone and reach for greater potential.

But don’t forget that you can grow big by thinking small.

One of the myths of creativity is that it is a “big deal,” and that the act of being creative is always accompanied by trumpets and fireworks, with a chorus of angels singing in the background. This is a lovely visual image, but the truth is that creativity and access to your highest potential — can be small and silent and come to you in the quiet circle of your own life.

Take the case of Arthur Fry, a scientist with 3M Corporation and a regular churchgoer, who loved to sing in his church choir. During choir practice, Fry would thumb through his hymnal and become mildly irritated when the slips of paper he used to mark the pages kept falling out.

Then he remembered a failed experiment performed by Spencer Silver, a colleague at 3M. Silver had produced a new adhesive, but it was rejected because it was too weak. “Aha”, said Fry as he picked up yet another slip of paper that had fallen from his hymnal (and you may be saying “aha” right now, as well). Fry went to the lab, retrieved that “failed” experiment and applied the adhesive to those slips of paper. In doing so, he realized that in addition to the papers sticking to the pages, he could also write little notes on them. Voila: Post-it Notes® was created.

And, yes, in this case creativity was a big deal. Post-it Notes®, of course, is one of the most successful office-products in the world and has become a mega-product and profit-center for 3M. But, and here’s the thing, for Arthur Fry, it was simply a simple solution to make his life a little easier and happier while he sang in the choir (well, in Fry’s case, perhaps a chorus of angels did sing, but my point remains.

And so it is with you. Think of times when you had an idea that made your life, or someone else’s, a little easier. Maybe you found a short cut to work, or you came up with an idea to get your kids eat their vegetables. A small idea in the quiet circle of your own life.

Here’s how you can begin to harvest some of the good ideas that come to you that you think are no big deal:

1. Carry a little notebook around with you, small enough to fit in your pocket or purse. Keep it in the car and take it with you wherever you go.
2. Jot down any idea that comes to you, no matter how silly or obvious or inane. So, if you’re in a store and you see something on sale and you figure you’ll buy two of the items, write it down.
3. Also jot down what your state of mind was when you had the idea.
4. At the end of each day, take 15 minutes to read what you wrote for that day and consider how the principle of each idea could be applied to a problem or challenge in your life.
5. Look for any patterns in your state of mind, it might be a clue about how to access your “Creative Power Zone” whenever you need a bright idea.

Remember to acknowledge all the little ideas that come to you that make your life a little easier or happier. It’s important to pay attention to such things. The more you become aware of these small, quiet moments and ideas, the more you will have them. Some of them could even lead to something BIG.

Did you find this article interesting, informative, even thought provoking?

As the Creative Director for Cola-Cola Corporation for over a decade, a Universal Studios Producer, and Director of the 1996 Olympics, Neil Tepper has had a creative and fulfilling professional career.  He now focuses on what he loves best – helping people live more meaningful and enjoyable lives through his unique insights into creativity.  Visit www.neiltepper.com for more information about Neil.

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Marco Island REALTORS^®, Alan and Linda Sandlin, remain in the State’s Top 10 and the Nation’s Top 100 Re/MAX agents, while they trek ever westward, remotely combining business and pleasure from the road! “Staying out of their own way,” framing business plans that embrace their passion, vision and burgeoning technology, comprise their success and make them formidable “Virtual Rainmakers.”  Here’s how they do it…

Dear Michael,

As an agent, starting out in 1982, I was doing conventionally well without all the wonderful things everyone now has and uses. My business grew because I was dedicated to knowledge, expertise and service to the customer. Those factors haven’t changed; the way in which we continue to achieve these goals has changed for the better, by readily embracing modern business technology, which, in essence, gives us freedom to more efficiently work the business and enjoy life.

In the mid-90s my husband, Alan, joined me in the real estate business so we could share a career. Two heads were better than one, in our case, because creating a business together merged the best of our individual passions and talents.

Our Five-Year Plans

We came up with (3) five-year-plans, that we maintained, adhered to —and tweaked, when necessary— to this very day.

We were young and enthusiastic so the goal of our first five years was to work as hard as we could to see what we could accomplish. Our second five-year plan qualified us as “Rainmakers” in Howard Brinton’s plan - those people who come up with the ideas, create the systems, make things happen. During this time, we also drew heavily on your own “80/20″ principle, to concentrate on working that 80% core value of our business, including the hiring of other people to do those dollar productive tasks that distract business owners from concentrating on what they do best—which should not include adding toner to the printer or filling the soap dispenser in the restroom!

We are now in our third five-year plan. Living in Marco Island is, indeed, living in paradise; but our love for travel and new experiences become realities; adventures really, because of the business choices we made.

Our Formula for Success

We re-evaluate our business plan each year. In our original vision we thought that we’d probably be looking to retire about now in order to travel and have some down time. What we’ve experienced is that we love the business, want to continue to work it, and still find time to travel.

A major part of that scenario is owed to (my own) acceptance of hiring virtual assistants and to literally carving out periods of time away from the office to re-charge, strategize new ideas and plans and continue to operate our business remotely while enjoying the dreams of our life in traveling.

In fact, as Alan points out, when we’re working from our motor coach, we are one-hundred-percent totally focused on a particular client or project at a time. The atmosphere of freedom more closely allows our expertise to flow, without the day-to-day distractions of being available at or through our office.

What Actually Is A VA?

In some folks’ minds, at least in the past, a VA was someone who couldn’t really compete in the real working world. As we all know, this is nowhere near who and what they are. VAs represent the best of their areas of specialization, often coming from high-powered executive jobs in the corporate and marketing world and/or true entrepreneurs who are independently running their own businesses. When our first marketing manager started her own internet marketing business, we learned first hand that she didn’t have to actually be in the office to do the things she was doing for us, and inadvertently, became our first VA.

Today, our team consists of a full-time listings manager; a full-time closings manager and one in-house marketing manager. In addition, we have several marketing VAs, a communication manager, a weekend manager, a couple of part-time staffers and six partner/buyer specialists. Real estate will always be a hands-on business. But, here again, and with the help of your principles (especially your Mr. Internet’s Online Dominance Training Program), we have hired people to cover our absences, including weekends, so we are not working eighty hours a week and, literally, stop talking about real estate after 8PM!

As Alan says time and time again, “How do you know what you want to be, where you want to go and how to get there if you don’t have a vision? If you don’t know where you want to go, you’re probably not going to get there!” Your message rings true one-hundred-percent of the time. Thank you, Michael.

Sincerely,

Alan and Linda Sandlin

The Sandlin Team has taken virtual assistance one step further by taking their show on the road for four months in a business-equipped motor coach! Ninety-percent of the time they utilize a standard air card, with no transmission problems at all. The remaining ten-percent of the time they may be so remote that they forego communication. They call that “vacation.”

Contact Alan and Linda at:

The Sandlin Team
Re/Max Results Realty
847 N. Collier Blvd.
Marco Island, FL 34145
Direct – 239-389-3200
Toll free – 800-423-2962ext. 3200

Or

Linda@marcorealtysource.com

Visit their award-winning site at www.MarcoRealtySource.com

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Mr. Internet News in cooperation with Dakno Real Estate Marketing is sponsoring a blog and coaching giveaway.

One lucky winner will receive a free custom designed blog and 3 months of One-on-One coaching with me and my team at Dakno Marketing. Over the course of those 90 days, we are going to show you how to turn a blog into a lead generating online authority. We will include topics such as:

• How your blog can boost your search engine rankings
• How to find untapped streams of qualified site visitors
• How to find people who will write for your blog without having to pay them a dime.
• How to boost your traffic using Social Media Marketing
• How to get what you want by giving it away
• How to find you “Blog Voice”

Why Blog?

Imagine if someone gave you a call and ask you to speak to a few hundred people who were looking to buy a home in your area. You would probably jump at the opportunity. After all, you would have the chance to show hundreds of “potential clients” that you are truly are the expert in your area. That’s exactly what Blogging is all about.

Who Should Enter?

Anyone who has been thinking about starting a blog or anyone who has started a blog and wants to ramp up their traffic and leads. While there are creative ways to keep your blog updated with little work, we are looking for someone who isn’t afraid to put some time into becoming a successful blogger.

Contest Dates

We will accept entries until October 10th. The winner will then be announced right here on October 12th.

Everyone Wins

Even if you don’t win the contest you still get the knowledge. That’s because we will be keeping everyone up-to-date on each step along the way. Just look for post tagged with “Blogging Boot Camp.”

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by: Michael Russer (a.k.a. Mr. Internet^®)
REALTOR® Magazine - September, 2007

Hiring a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialist to boost your site traffic is expensive (if you hire a legitimate professional). Driving substantial new traffic to your site doesn’t have to be.  In fact, there is an exciting and clever strategy that is proven to drive traffic, and won’t cost you a dime!  Now before we look at the 10 proven ways to drive traffic to your site, we first need to explore the principles behind these steps that make them work so well…

Links: The Online Endorsement

Having links to your site from other Websites is a powerful way to increase your Search Engine Optimization rankings. Why are links important to SEO? Think of a link as an endorsement or a testimonial. Just as people rely on endorsements and testimonials when evaluating your business, Search Engines rely on links to evaluate the quality and legitimacy of your website. An endorsement by one well known person can carry more weight than endorsements by a dozen people no one has ever heard of. Endorsements by notable people in your industry are more important than endorsements by people outside of your industry. Lastly, paid endorsements are not as believable as endorsements from someone who is genuinely happy with the service they received.

These rules also hold true for links and websites. When more trusted, industry related websites link to you (thus giving you an endorsement) it shows Search Engines that you are respected in your industry. The greater the number of quality backlinks (i.e. links that point to your site), the greater “respect” your website will receive in the eyes of the Search Engines. In its simplest form, the internet is one big popularity contest!

It’s Not Just Who Says It, but What They Say

Just having someone agree to give you an endorsement (a link) isn’t good enough. The critical aspect of an endorsement is what they say about you. On the web, this is known as Anchor Text. Anchor Text is the clickable text within a link. Below are two examples:

Click here for more information.

The words “click here” are the Anchor Text. In this example, the endorsement really doesn’t tell Search Engines anything about you. After all, the endorsement only says “click here.”

Learn more about Raleigh Real Estate

This example contains a much better endorsement. Search Engines know exactly what the endorsement is about (Raleigh Real Estate) before they even arrive to your website. Enough quality endorsements about Raleigh Real Estate (provided your website actually contains information about Raleigh Real Estate) would help land you top placement for that keyword.

Ideally, it’s best that Anchor Text vary slightly from time to time. Search Engines will begin to get suspicious if every one of your endorsers says the exact same thing.

Think Beyond Your Home Page

Links to your home page are known as “shallow links.” Too many shallow links cause Search Engines to question the validity of your links.

A more effective way to link is called “deep linking.” Deep links are links to internal content pages. Search Engines favor these types of links because they appear to be more natural. With this in mind, make sure your endorsements link to a variety of different pages within your website. This will give your endorsements the highest effectiveness and ensure the maximum number of pages in your website appear in the Search Engines.

More than Just Search Engine Optimization

Keep in mind that the purpose of developing effective links is not strictly to obtain further Search Engine Optimization. You will also be building pages and links that will reach thousands of web visitors thanks to the traffic on the linking sites. This maximizes your traffic by attracting both web visitors and Search Engines. This is the most powerful combination in online marketing.

Now let’s apply these principles to 10 proven ways to boost your site traffic…

10 No-Cost Ways to Drive Site Traffic

1. Google Local – The power of Local Search Optimization is often overlooked. This is because some people mistakenly consider the Internet as only a Global Resource when in fact, more and more people are using the Internet to find local resources in their area. (NOTE: You must have or sign up for a free Google Account to add your business listing.) Consider offering a Free CMA, Neighborhood Report or Buying Guide in the Coupon Section to ensure your business listing stands out above the rest.
   
2. Yelp – Yelp is a website that has merged Social Networking with Local Reviews. Yelp allows you to not only submit your business listing to their website but also allows users to post reviews about your service.
   
3. InfoSpace
   – InfoSpace is a large mobile media and technology company that operates brands such as the DogPile.com Search Engine and Switchboard.com directory search. It also allows you to submit your business listing for free.
   
4. Real Estate Voices – This is an example of a Social Bookmarking site. You can submit high value content from your site, links, etc. and visitors vote for those stories. This is a great resource because it focuses strictly on the real estate industry.
   
5. Localism - Localism is a social community website geared toward real estate consumers. Because localism is relatively new, it’s easy to get your information to stand out as there is little competition. (NOTE: you must be a member of ActiveRain to post to Localism).
   
6. Flickr - Flickr is a photo sharing website that allows users to store their photos online. What makes Flickr such a powerful marketing tool is that the website integrates an online community platform. This means that users can search, share and comment on other photos. Because of this, it is important to “tag” your photos and include a link back to your website. The obvious application here is to post photos of your listings with linkbacks to the specific listing on your site.
   
7. Google Video – Post your video virtual tours or tours of your neighborhoods here. Be sure to group all videos on the same topic into a playlist. For example: Include all Home Video Tours of various listings into one playlist. This will encourage the web visitor to view additional videos on the same topic.
   
8. Librarian’s Internet Index - The Librarian’s Internet Index is a search site for Librarians. Because the site is known as a reference site, Search Engines such as Google highly regard the directory. Note that commercial only submissions to the website will be rejected. With this in mind, it’s important that your website has “freely accessible information.” This can include market statistics, helpful articles, or free resource guides.
   
9. Google Housing Search - More than 56 percent of all Internet searches on “real estate” and related terms are conducted on Google. With this in mind, submitting your property listings to Google is a logical choice. For added exposure, add yourself to the Google Base People Profile as well.
   
10. Ezine Articles - The EzineArticles.com website is built to match article writers with Ezine publishers. Because of this, high quality articles on the website are often syndicated to many other resources. This means free exposure for you, your article and your website.
    

The Tip Of The Iceberg

The strategies identified above represent just a small fraction of the 87 proven ways to drive Website traffic identified in my new eBook: The Real Estate Website Accelerator - 87 Proven Techniques to Massively Increasing Traffic to Your Website That Won’t Cost a Dime!, co-authored with Brad Carroll, CEO of Dakno Real Estate Marketing, Inc.

No longer do you have to fret about “How am I going to send visitors to my site without spending a fortune?”. Thanks to the emergence of online social networking, the ability to create massive exposure to your site via links has never been greater, easier or so… cost free!

NOTE: Much of this article was excerpted, with permission, from “The Real Estate Website Accelerator” eBook, co-authored by Brad Carroll of Dakno Real Estate Marketing, Inc. and Michael J. Russer, RUSSER Communications, copyright © 2007, All Rights Reserved. Mr. Internet®, RUSSER Communications, its staff and officers receive no compensation whatsoever from any third party vendors and make no recommendations as to the suitability of the products or services mentioned in this article. Always thoroughly investigate any product or service before trying or purchasing.

Mr. Internet is the alter-ego of Michael J. Russer, an internationally recognized Internet speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant to the real estate industry. He’s dedicated to helping real estate professionals leverage their people skills into profit on the Internet. You’ll see his column on REALTOR® Magazine Online every month and in the magazine quarterly. Send your Internet questions to help@askmrinternet.com or you can visit his Website at http://www.russer.com

This article is reprinted in its entirety from the September 2007 issue of REALTOR® Magazine by permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. Copyright 2007. All Rights Reserved other than mentioned above. Mr. Internet® is a registered trademark and IEC™ and Ask Mr. Internet!™ are trademarks of RUSSER Communications.

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Pssst. Want to know how to get a lot of local exposure for your real estate practice without spending a lot of money? In this high-tech age of SEO, meta tags, blogs and email drips, the answer is refreshingly old fashioned: the press release!

I recently wrote a press release for a REALTOR® who specializes in first time home buyers. In addition to being incredibly dedicated and willing to teach first timers everything they need to know, he has set up a registry to which wedding guests may contribute to the couple’s home buying fund. In the press release, I spelled out his business practices, wrote about the registry, threw in some testimonials and, voilà! A local newspaper picked up the story and did an interview. Result: three new clients and nearly $15,000 in commissions!

Now, not every press release is going to bring those kinds of results—some of them may not even make it into print. However, your financial investment is relatively minor, and the payoff can be, at the very least, some additional publicity for your business.

I suggest that you hire a professional writer who understands journalistic style to write your release. In general, the press release should be about 500 words and should start out with something interesting or unique to your business. Do you have a special “irresistible offer”? Spell it out. Did you have a career unrelated to real estate before you became an agent? Write about how and why you made the transition. Is there an interesting neighborhood connection? Play it up.

Before you hire a writer, draw up an outline for the release that covers all the points you want to include. Make sure to include any dates of future events, phone numbers, emails, web sites or anything else that will help potential readers and/or editors contact you.

When the release is complete, send it to every publication (via fax, if available) that’s distributed in the neighborhoods you serve. That includes major newspapers (send it to the real estate or business editors), local “throwaways,” community or city magazines and neighborhood web sites. Some publications may publish it as written; others may call you for additional information and write their own stories. Don’t hesitate to revise the release periodically, adding new information, and then send it out to the same contacts.

Don’t be discouraged if there’s no response. Space allocations in publications change from one issue to the next. Be persistent–one day, you may see your name in print!

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Building and maintaining a successful business takes a lot of work, as we all know. But it doesn’t have to be all-consuming. With the help of the right assistant you can start enjoying the fruits of your labors.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to find an Executive Level Management Assistant or Executive Virtual Assistant (EVA) that was already trained and ready to hit the ground running? One that was available only when you needed her without having to pay for her downtime (unproductive time), vacation time or taxes? Sounds like an ideal situation for you, an independent business owner, doesn’t it? You’re in luck. There are many EVAs out there who specialize in helping to manage their clients’ everyday business affairs. They are specifically trained to help you grow and maintain your business.

Several of these specialists provided some expert tips to help you with your business management needs. For instance, Lisa Morgan with Virtuoso Business Solutions says this, “Whether you’re ready to build a virtual team of support or you already have a couple of Virtual Assistants and providers working with you, you might find that managing the work can be cumbersome and time-consuming. Bringing on an EVA to coordinate all the pieces for you might be the solution you’re looking for. Many EVAs have a management background with project management skills, and will work with the agent to take an aerial view of your business, identify the services that need to contracted out, either submit an RFP (Request for Proposal) for the service or contact someone within their vast network, interview them, and coordinate the contracting of their services. Once a team is in place, your EVA can serve as your point person to make sure processes are being developed and things are running smoothly within your team.

If you’re thinking of starting a sizable project, for example, developing your brand, website, blog, or targeted marketing campaign, your EVA will serve as your project manager, consulting with you on the project specifications, creating a project plan, submitting bid proposals to vendors and contracting with them, serving as liaison between the vendor and the agent to make sure the project is flowing smoothly, answering questions they may have, and coordinating the project to completion.

REALTORS® are often bombarded with product solicitations from real estate product vendors via email, phone calls and at seminars and conventions. It’s so easy to become overwhelmed with questions as to whether this or that product works, and everyone’s looking for the “magic bullet” that will make their businesses thrive and their lives easier. What happens is that the agent winds up spending their hard-earned dollars trying out all the new products, only to leave them “on the shelves” - untouched and unused – which equals money lost. Forward those emails, refer those calls, and send all those marketing materials to your EVA. She will review the information, and if she is not already very familiar with the product, she’ll tap into her large network of Virtual Assistants and other sources to find out whether it’s been useful to other agents, and then help the client determine whether it will be of benefit to them. If it’s not, and a similar product is out there that will be beneficial to the agent’s business in streamlining processes or helping to grow their business, the EVA will provide recommendations to the agent so he or she can make an informed decision.”

Kristi Pavlik of Adonai Business Solutions shares this bit of advice, “The main tip I would like to share is to make sure your VAs document everything they do for you – we call these Process Documents or PDs. PDs are literally step-by-step instructions for how something gets done.

Creating PDs has many benefits including making sure the client and the VA are on the same page for how things are to be performed. Another is for back-up purposes. If the VA is going to be out of the office for any length of time, he/she can give the PD to someone else to get those tasks done, and done correctly. Again, another benefit is if the VA/Client relationship should come to an end, the client can then give the next assistant the PD and save both parties a lot of time.

My company provides strategic planning, strategic marketing, process documentation and VA Team management services.

Strategic Planning: For businesses that know where they want to go, but need help with putting the systems into place to get them there. We look at what current office procedures are in place, if any, discontinue the ones that are not working, and make suggestions for new ways of doing things that will benefit the company as a whole.

Strategic Marketing: Working with clients to establish their branding elements, target markets, marketing plans, drip campaigns and custom marketing pieces.

Process Documentation: Standard Operations Procedures, Office Manuals, The Office Bible, whatever the term you use, it all means the same thing – a step-by-step process for how any, and all, tasks are being performed. We create “how-to” manuals for any size business.

VA Management: For businesses that have several Virtual Assistants working with them or for those that really have no idea where to find the best VAs for the tasks at hand, we can help. By acting as your EVA, we can ensure that routine tasks are being completed as desired, and find the best avenue for completing individual projects.”

Kandra Hamric of Assistant For Real Estate advises her clients by saying, “As a professional real estate agent you are aware of the need to focus on your core competency. Perhaps it’s time to entrust your business to the capable hands of an EVA.

The key points to consider when interviewing potential candidates are:

Coaching Credentials: With verifiable business coaching credentials, your EVA will apply motivational and accountability aspects to your business relationship.

Management Experience: Keeping you and your team organized is the primary goal of your Virtual Assistant team. With the proper management experience, your EVA will oversee all administrative aspects of your business, including managing specialized Virtual Assistants.

Reputation in the VA Industry: It is important to look into the reputation of any Virtual Assistant you are considering. As we all move further into the Internet environment, your VA’s reputation can either enhance your own reputation or, depending upon their business practices, tarnish it.

Education & Training Background: How educated your VA is can determine his/her overall and long-term value to you and your business. Looking into the level of education and training a VA has attained can clue you in on their dedication and commitment to their career.”

Crystal Curran of REVAVille wants to emphasize the importance of communication between an EVA and their clients, especially in the early stages of the working relationship. She says, “I ask all my EVA clients to make this process a priority and schedule a weekly consultation at the same time each week for our success. This is imperative in the beginning, however as systems are put into place; we may decide consultations are necessary only on a bi-weekly or even monthly basis. This is something that is entirely personalized according to the agent’s/broker’s needs.

In keeping with organization for client and VA team, I have a portal that each agent and team has access to. All documentation is uploaded there; write boards are created for developing verbiage for any need; to-do’s and milestones are implemented to keep track of important tasks and drop-dead dates. All team members are encouraged to utilize this portal so agent/broker can keep updated on progress being made as they see fit. This cuts down on missing emails or one team member not knowing about a process along with easy access to members who need to obtain certain marketing items (graphics for web, logos and the like) that are required in several team areas. (Sensitive documents between agent and EVA can be marked high security. Each member can have different security levels).”

She then explains her EVA process in detail:

Strategic Planning (Information Gathering Stage)

• Ask for a list of all programs/services they are (or are not) utilizing. Including but not limited to:
  • Lead generation/maintenance: What they are using for follow up and what success they are/are not having
  • Contact Management: What program and if they are utilizing it to its fullest capabilities or a glorified address list
• • Getting rid of duplicate programs ( i.e. I have often seen where a client may have five different follow up programs and, because of confusion, they are not utilizing any one of them)
  • Suggestion of programs that will better suit their objectives more cost effectively
  • Streamlining the programs suggested
  • Evaluation of contact management use:
    • Taking a look at how they are utilizing Top Producer, On Line Agent, Sharper Agent or even Outlook. Development of categories, follow up, tracking, automated lists in use, templates, campaigns
    • Creation of document  in PDF form evaluating how to improve and systematize contact management
    • Specific Consultation regarding contact management evaluation and how to improve follow up and organization
  • Evaluation of website(s)
    • First we take their most important site (if they have several) and go through a point-by-point analysis of where they need more impact. This includes:
      • 30-point evaluation in PDF form of website including points on targeting/branding, design, content, interactivity between prospect and agent, navigation, ease of use and promotion and tracking along with recommendations of how to improve the site. (I do offer this service for agents who are considering makeovers on their site but are not sure if they are ready for an EVA).
      • Specific consultation regarding what website evaluation is saying and development of priorities to enhance site.

Process Documentation / Implementation

Develop documentation on all systems created. Includes:

• Leads
  • Flow chart that includes:
    • Where leads come from - where or what program they go into - who touches them and when agent is notified of hot lead
  • Outline and document each team members duties and how done
  • Document proper way to utilize each program used.
  • Contact management
  • Develop document for each team member that includes:
  • Process of how all contacts are handled and how they are input
    • Walk-ins
    • Past clients
    • Leads are taken care of above
  • Website
    • Document planning strategies
    • Website priorities developed and documented
    • Develop “how to’s” for other VAs or team members for site
  • Office
    • Office policies and procedures
    • Development of job duty criteria (for assistant and VAs if required)

Develop “Team”

• Evaluation of existing employees if required
• Hiring specialized VAs for tasks
• Establishing direct contact with assistants and other VAs or employees as required
• Training of VAs in certain processes (again, if required)
• Making sure we all stay on track by developing to-do lists, milestones etc, as well as discussing in upcoming weekly consultations.

Maintenance

• Weekly, bi-monthly or monthly consultations to brainstorm/modify processes
• Keeping other members of team on track with drop dead dates, to do’s and implementation of daily processes
• Quality control on all systems
• Hiring other VAs as needed”

It’s important to remember that you and your EVA are business partners. It behooves your assistant to help you succeed in business. After all, there’s no point in using her services if you’re not making money, right? A good EVA will try to come up with creative ways to build and maintain your business. The right EVA can be the best ingredient to your recipe for success.

Evy Williams is our VA QUICK TIPS columnist. She specializes in designing marketing materials to sell homes through her company, BrochuresByDesign.com. She holds a Master’s degree in Administration and is a certified Master Virtual Assistant, Military Spouse Virtual Assistant, Professional Real Estate Virtual Assistant, Real Estate Support Specialist and is EthicsChecked. Contact her at Evy@BrochuresByDesign.com

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