25? 100? 1000? (Yes, I do know someone with over 1000 emails in their inbox, yipes!)

If you have more than 50 emails in your inbox right now that is too many… in fact even less than 50 is ideal.

Working virtually as so many of us do, our inboxes literally become our offices. So when our inboxes get out of control it is the equivalent of walking into an office covered in paper, folders, books, sticky notes… and hey, is that my lunch from last week in the corner?

Seems a silly topic in some ways (clean up my inbox? yawn…) but really, if you feel at all overwhelmed by ‘what to do first?’ when you open up your email it is time to do something about it. An inbox out of control can be a real drag on your motiviation (and hence your bottom line).

Cleaning up the flow of your inbox can help improve the flow of your business.

Now available, recordings & notes from the live class led by Tina Forsyth of OnlineBusinessManager.com

Escape from Email Hell | How to Make Peace Out of the Chaos of Your Inbox

In this recording you will learn:

• what emails to answer asap, what can wait and what to delete!
• how to setup a folder system in 10 minutes
• a no-brainer way to sort emails automatically and get them out of your inbox
• using autoresponders to answer your most common/repetitve questions
• how to use your inbox to help manage your daily activities

The goal? To have a simple system in place so you can keep your inbox to 50 emails or less every day.

And if you already have less than 50 emails - congratulations! Buy the recording to learn a system to keep it that way, or even less.

Class Recording & Notes are just $27 - includes MP3 file and PDF version of Notes

>> Click Here to Buy Now

You will receive a confirmation notice within a few minutes that contains the recording and notes information.
(more…)

Filed under: Offers & Goodies, Automate Your Business, General Biz | 2 Comments »

I’ll admit it, I rarely read business or personal development books anymore… I think I OD’ed on them in my twenties, hehe.

But after having been interviewed by Tim Ferriss last year while he was writing this book (i’m on page 136), and having a total of 10 hours available while on a trip this past weekend… I decided to grab myself a copy and dive in for the trip.

Tim’s book is called The 4-Hour Workweek (http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/) and is an exploration of what he calls living like the ‘New Rich’.

What is the new rich? It is living and working free of the restrictions of time and location… creating a lifestyle where you can pretty much live anywhere, work when it fits your schedule and still make a living.

The theme of this book is right up my alley… as i’ve been working this way now since I left my downtown corporate job in 1999. So I certainly applaud Tim’s message… and he does a *great* job of illustrating how this can truly be done in today’s day and age regardless of whether you are a business owner or employee. Anything is possible.

And yes, Tim does work 4 hours a week. I’m certainly not at that point, but after reading Tim’s book I took a look at my hours & income last year… and i’ve been working an average of 16 hours per week and have literally tripled my income in the past few years. Now, to shave another 12 hours off each week… hmmm.

I came away with a few great ideas for my business, particularly around automating a few more things and hiring some folks for our online store. Basically to get me out of the picture even more (ala the EMyth which is another great book).

This book will especially appeal to anyone who dreams of traveling more (or at all!) while still working for a living. I especially loved the story of the guy who was working his job while in China for a month… and his boss didn’t even know. And how much more productive he was while doing so… funny how getting out of the office can really boost efficiency.

The thing I love the best about this book though is this - whenever someone (friends, family) look at me strange when I try to explain that “yes, I do what I like, work from home, set my own hours and make money at it at the same time” I can hand them this book and say “read this”. And if they still don’t get it, well i’ve done all I can.

Anyhow, if the idea of working just 4 hours a week appeals to your… or if you just want to work less and make more then go ahead and grab a copy of Tim’s book. I think you’ll enjoy it.

Filed under: Recommended Resources, General Biz | 2 Comments »

I love this question from Judy Tedford!

And the answer is yes, you can be both a VA and a Coach BUT not for the same person at the same time.

In our experience, mixing VA services and coaching with a client does not work… expectations get too mixed up and cloudy. Is the client expecting you to ‘coach’ them or to ‘do stuff’ for them?

For example, one of our coaches was working with a client on various projects, including creating a book. This particular coach also provided book writing services, and so he also offered to help with the ‘doing’ side of the project as well.

What would happen is that it wasn’t clear who would be doing what. During coaching calls the coach would ask ‘did you get this accomplished?’ and the client would say ‘I thought you were doing that?’… you can see where this gets messy yes?

And beware, it can be tempting to cross that line from time to time. If you are working with someone as their coach resist the temptation to do so! This can be especially tough if you are a ‘get it done’ person by nature… I know I have to reel myself in here with my coaching clients.

However, if you are working with a client as their VA chances are that some coaching may ’slip through the cracks’ inadvertently at times. This just seems to happen when we are a coach, it’s in our nature.

This isn’t quite as dire as it is with a coaching client, however do try to keep the coaching in check… for the simple reason that you are being paid as a VA and not a Coach. A good VA does end up coaching their clients a bit from time to time, but you don’t want to become their full time coach at a VA rate.

So please pretty please, keep the 2 separate to save yourself any headaches and to ensure a clear and successful coaching relationship with your clients.

Filed under: Build Your Team | Add a Comment »

I got an email this week from a former coaching client of mine, Peggy Porter. Which was funny cause I had been thinking of her just a few weeks ago… gotta love how life works that way.

It is, of course, a treat to hear from Peggy… who is just an awesome lady all around.

And her new website gave me such a kick that I just had to share it.

From Brief to Thong - Break free from life’s panty lines and thrive in a Thong!

Talk about a great BOP statement, sure grabs your attention no? (BOP = your Bold, Outrageous and Provocative stance in your niche market. Step #8 in the Multiple Streams Model)

Her target market is mom entrepreneurs, which is of course close to my heart. She is offering a variety of coaching services, including the Inspiration and Panties New Year’s Coaching Club (hence the subject line of this post, I couldn’t resist!)

I also had an extra chuckle thinking of the first and only time I bought thong underwear. I was in highschool - 16 or 17 years old - and strangely enough my thong disappeared after I put it in the laundry basket. I can only assume that my mother ‘disposed of it’ when she went to do laundry, hehe. Can’t say I blame her, thinking of my own daughter Sam wearing a thong when she hits her teens… harumf.

So ladies, are you ready to start off the new year in your best pair of panties? Maybe dare to break out a thong?

And for the gents… no panties of course, perhaps a nice pair of boxer shorts instead?

Filed under: Marketing/Traffic | Add a Comment »

In my random surfing tonight I came across The Enlightenment Card.

It’s a ’socially conscious’ Visa card, with a great philosophy:

Some people say money is evil…

We say “how” money is used determines the effect.

Love it!

And they have a super cool rewards program… instead of collecting ‘travel around the blackout dates points’ or ‘buy a blender points’ you can use your points towards things like yoga retreats and charity donations.

And they even have some funky designs for the card, sure beats my boring ole gold Visa card… yawn.

Sign me up!

Filed under: Marketing/Traffic | 2 Comments »

Hate shopping for the holidays? Why not hire an elf to do it for you?

I saw a commercial the other day from Sears that I thought was super cool… you can ‘hire an elf’ to do your shopping for you. I’m not 100% sure on exactly how it works, but from the commercial it looked like you give your elf a list of who you need to buy for, they come up with ideas and gather the items for you, you pay and are gone.

Here’s a snapshot from their website with the details.

Brilliant, yes? On so many levels…

First of all, they are simply reframing what their retail staff are already doing… to help you find what you need. With the extra added service of actually collecting the items for you. Same job, different (and much more fun!) title.

And instead of them having to approach you in the store to ask the dreaded ‘can i help you?’… you are instead going to them and saying ‘be my elf!’ and happily handing over your shopping list.

Which of course means that shopping can be much easier for you, with someone else doing all the grunt work.

And of course, Sears gets the benefit of you buying a whole bunch of presents from their store…

I’ll say it again… brilliant! It’s almost enough to make me want to shop at Sears, which I so rarely do… now that’s good marketing.

Filed under: Marketing/Traffic | Add a Comment »

This comment from a coach on a Q&A Membership call I did the other day really made me think.

“Now that i’m no longer a lurker, my business is going much better”

(For those not familiar with the term ‘lurker’, in the world of teleclasses it refers to someone who is on the bridgeline but doesn’t say anything.. they just ‘lurk’ in the background and listen.)

It makes me wonder, what is the relationship between lurking and success?

I remember back in my CoachU training days, I was the *queen of lurking* on my training calls. I attended all my classes, but rarely spoke up or participated. To be honest I was usually multitasking, tsk tsk!

My coaching business never really took off either… coincidence? Hmmm.

Now, in my work as an Online Business Manager for various clients I *rarely* lurk. I’m usually totally engaged or actually leading the class itself (lurking while leading, don’t think that could work! hehe).

My OBM business is a success, where my coaching business was not…. double hmm.

I think that lurking may indicate a level of unwillingness to fully engage or commit… in the class itself and perhaps in our businesses as well.

So are you lurking on your classes or participating?

If you aren’t participating, why not? What is stopping you?

There could be various reasons, but I wonder if those reasons are also affecting your overall business success? Triple hmmm.

It’s worth taking a look at, and possibly making an effort to ‘unlurk’ from time to time… even just to say ‘hello’.

Filed under: Life & Such, General Biz | Add a Comment »

What a lovely (and somewhat shocking) treat to open up a magazine and see a full page color photo of yourself. As per my recent article in the November issue of The Mompreneur magazine.

(A little secret… this picture is about 5 years old, but it still does look like me, I swear! It was the only ‘professional print worthy’ photo that I had on hand.)

And being dubbed a Digital Diva… I consider myself many things, but rarely a diva (is there any such thing as a diva who works in her jammies?). So allow me this moment to bask in my diva-ness.
Care to read the article? Here it is in PDF format… the writing is a bit wee and blurry from the scan.

Filed under: Marketing/Traffic | Add a Comment »

I saw a commercial for something this morning that I thought was really cool.

It was for a senior’s lodge in Detroit… and they weren’t advertising the lodge itself. What they were advertising is their real estate service. For anyone moving into the lodge, they provide complete real estate support to help sell their current homes. Everything from getting the house in tip-top shape to the actual sale of their home.

Now how brilliant is that? Talk about truly putting themselves in the shoes of their niche market and looking to see how they can serve in a bigger way. I can imagine that *many* of their potential clients don’t want to deal with the hassle of moving… to the point that it may be stopping them from moving into a lodge even when they would like to.

So by offering their own real estate professionals to their clients everyone wins - people get the support they need to make their home sale smooth and the lodge gets new clients in the door sooner.

If I was selling real estate I would be looking to partner with my local senior homes in just this way…

Filed under: General Biz | Add a Comment »

Sharon writes:

My biggest question at this very moment is how do you respond to questions like these [the quick question email] when you ask them? Personally to every individual e-mail or with some kind of template response?

Hey, you asked.

I do try to respond to each email that comes in personally, as it is a great opportunity to connect with people and provide value. Although I have to admit that this isn’t always possible given how busy we are at times (I have been delinquent in answering some emails lately, tsk tsk).

And I would look to respond personally vs. using a templated response… just because a templated response can come across as ‘canned’ and may be a turn-off.

There are a few ways to make responding as easy as possible:

• Pick a day of the week to respond to these emails. I like to do this on a Friday afternoon as I find it a fun way to wrap-up the week.
• Whenever I answer a question I also post the answer at my blog. Which means that when someone asks a similar question in the future I can point them to the blog for the answer, vs. re-answering it again. Great way to save time AND also build up your blog content.
• Look at each response as an opportunity to create a sale. If you knew that the person on the other end of the email could potentially become a buying customer, would it be worth the 5 or 10 minutes it takes to reply? But of course!

Filed under: Marketing/Traffic, General Biz | Add a Comment »