This month, I’ve decided to feature one of my local and most active clients - Maureen Kerr of Kerr Consulting “Your Marketing Mavens”.

Your Marketing Mavens helps its clients to spread their remarkable business ideas effectively and inexpensively. Maureen’s ideal clients have a remarkable idea or business and just need a bit of help spreading their message. Many of these people are either intimidated by technology or simply unaware of the different ways Internet marketing can really improve their marketing efforts.

Kerr Consulting offers a ton of services, including: SWOT analysis, business plan assistance, writing marketing plans, creating newsletters and presentations, copywriting, website creation, and so on and so forth.

It’s really a joy working with ‘Moe’, she is definitely an ideal client for me. She has a great business and she’s a wonderful, ethical person to work with.

She likes us here at Mann Made Time, too. She talks about me all the time, which I love. Here’s an official testimonial she’s written for my website:

“Living in a rural community on an island off of the east coast of Canada requires an entrepreneurial person to leverage as much as possible in order to have a successful business. Throw in the mix being a single mom and living in a 150 year old house – I need all the help I can get. Thanks to my virtual assistant, Jaime Lee Mann from www.mannmadetime.com I have been able to get my new marketing business off the ground by utilizing her huge arsenal of expertise. She also tells me to breathe sometimes and takes the edge off of being a solo-preneur by being there whenever I need her. I love my VA. Jaime has done everything from brainstorming sessions, to editing letters, to going to client’s offices to set up systems, mailing letters, did I mention all of the advice she gives? I have out-sourced projects to many professionals over the years and using a virtual assistant has been one of the best returns on investment that I have ever made.”

We have truly partnered together and are improving each others businesses. It’s a match made in Heaven, really.

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I have spent many hours in February entering business cards into a spreadsheet for one of my clients. The stack of cards was several inches high, and since data entry doesn’t take all that much mental focus, I did a lot of thinking.

This wasn’t the first time I’ve had this type of project, but this time the caliber of cards was really interesting to me. I think it’s because the longer I’ve been in business, the more it puzzles me why people even bother to print off some of the cards I come across.
I saw several cards with those perforated edges that were printed at home, on a very lightweight stock that I wouldn’t even call cardstock. I would estimate more than half did not use the back side of the card, which is just crazy to me. Why not use half of the real estate of your business card to include a marketing message, service list or something. Anything. Wait, I take that back. One of these cards really made me lose focus - to the point that I had to pause my timer.

The card was a plain white perforated one and had no mention of a business name. Just a woman’s name, phone number, email address and website address. On the back of the card (which I was checking for additional notes to enter in the spreadsheet) was written “the red head”. In all small letters, and it was actually part of the card, it wasn’t a note my client had made.

Now…it’s really hard not to make a judgment when you see something like that. I’m sure your first thought was probably the same as mine was. I knew there was more to it, though, knowing my happily married client. The site belonged to a business brokerage (I had to check out the site of someone that would print that on the back of their business cards) which kind of shocked me.

I believe the description on the back of the card was meant to be cheeky, and that woman wanted people to remember her as ‘the red head’ they met with. Red heads are rare, right? Lucy, Sally Jessie, Nicole Kidman. I can only name a handful of famous red heads. Putting “the brunette” on the back of my cards wouldn’t mean much, right? Chances are, at a networking event, people might only meet with one red head among all the brunettes and towheads. So I understand the intention, I just don’t think it worked in this case. Maybe if the card was a bit more professional, or if there was at least a business name or description.

Anyway, what do you think about this? Do any of my readers use a tool like this to make people remember you in your networking efforts?

You know what? That red head may be a genius. I will probably never forget her name, website address or what she does. Hmmm. Something to ponder.

I would love to hear your comments.

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If you live on PEI, you will see that the feature article by Mary MacKay in the Guardian today is about the virtual assistance industry. It’s impossible to miss the huge picture of myself and my daughter, Casey.

When I started my business in June of 2006, I sent a press release to the local paper. It was picked up, but it was not printed in it’s entirety, and it was just a tiny little piece in the paper - nobody would have noticed it. I also received press in the Eastern Graphic later that year, but it didn’t attract any new business, and it focused more on me than what I do for my clients.

Forging ahead, trying to educate as many Islanders as possible about the VA industry, since there are so many small businesses here, I kept writing the Guardian.

Back in late September, I sent an email to one of the reporters to pitch a story about virtual assistance. He put me in touch with Mary and finally…the article is in today’s paper.

I hope that many business people will realize that there is another option if they don’t have the means to hire a full time employee.

I’m very pleased with the article. If you are interested in reading it, the electronic version is here.

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I wonder…

When Oprah was a little girl, did she have any inkling of what the future held for her? Did she have any idea when she started her career that she would become a household name?
When Phil McGraw started his practice, did he think he would encounter Oprah and become a household name himself?

What about Martha? Did Martha think that she would build an empire around her domesticity?

Donald Trump. A real estate investor with his own reality show where he has thousands of people rallying to be employed by him. When he was a little boy, did he see gold covered walls and the best of everything in his future?

These people are celebrities of our time…granted it doesn’t take much to become a celebrity these days…but these four individuals are not going to be forgotten anytime soon.

What sets them apart? How did they get where they are? Is it just pure hard work? Is it luck? Is it brilliant marketing strategies and business sense? Probably a combination of these things. One thing is for absolute certain. They are hard working (maybe not so much anymore!), passionate about what they do, and they definitely have drive.

I was watching Dr. Phil today which is something I never do because with a toddler in the house, if it’s not animated it’s not being watched by anyone! Anyway, he was on the TV and I started thinking about this.  Is it so crazy to think that if a real estate investor, a journalist, a homemaker and a psychologist can reach such heights of fame the same might happen for a virtual assistant?

Now I’m not saying that I want a TV show or a ‘Tower’ or anything, but I am allowed to dream that someday, when a person hears the name “Mann Made Time”, they will recognize it as a virtual assistance firm. Or, if someone starts a discussion about virtual assistance, the person they’re speaking with will say, “Oh yes, that’s what Mann Made Time does.”

Heck, at the very least, it would be nice if one day I could tell people that I’m a VA and they wouldn’t just nod and smile!

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On Saturday evening I attended an intimate party in ‘downtown Pownal’ PEI, hosted by my client and friend Maureen Kerr, owner of Kerr Consulting. It was a very nice evening, and the focus of the event was a private Thai cooking lesson from Chef Stephen Hunter of the historic Victoria Village Inn. It was a great excuse to wear the delicious cashmere sweater I got for Christmas, and a much needed outing for a work at home mom! I was only able to stay for a couple of hours, but I really enjoyed myself….and the spring rolls were amazing.

What a fabulous marketing opportunity for Chef Stephen. He had a captive audience of women that were sipping wine and learning a ton of facts about food. Laughing and having fun. I’m sure that evening will lead to a lot of new business for his Inn.

I think it’s very important as a business owner, and especially a virtual business owner, to get out there and meet some non-virtual people once in awhile. I had a few new people to talk about my business with and introduce to the industry of virtual assistance, which is one of my favorite things to do. I also met a financial advisor, and I think everyone needs one of those. I set up an appointment to speak with her tomorrow morning to see if she can help us become debt free. Networking isn’t just about telling people what you do and attempting to drum up business for yourself. It HAS to work both ways. The best way to get a person interested in you and what you do is to be interested in them and what they do.

It’s interesting how much more confident I am now than I was a year ago when it comes to situations like these. When I walk in to a room full of business owners, I actually feel that I am among my peers rather than feeling nauseous because I do not belong. Why is that? Is it because I have a roster full of paying clients? Is it because I’ve gone to enough networking events to get the hang of it?
Hmmm…maybe it’s just the cashmere

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