I was doing some online research today and got lost in this really great website full of small business marketing information. You really can get lost in all the information. I purchased one of the products from his store on article marketing, and I can tell you, I learned a few great tips just by scanning it. This guy (Charlie Cook) really knows his stuff and has a lot of valuable information to share. If you have about an hour to wander around a website for some great marketing tips and ideas, it’s worth a visit!

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If you read my blog regularly, you know I have a deep love of the Food Network. Because I have two little ones in my house, I rarely get to watch anymore, except at night when they don’t need to be watching Max and Ruby. Although the best cooking shows aren’t on then, the more interesting ones are including my very mostest favorite one - Kitchen Nightmares. I think I’ve developed a crush on the show’s star (the very intense Gordon Ramsay) but that’s beside the point. I come away from each one hour episode with a new business lesson that can be applied to my virtual assistant business.

Last night’s episode had Ramsay trying to rescue Lela’s , a “fine dining” restaurant that served instant mashed potatoes and frozen vegetables. Not so fine, right? The restaurant was only eight months old and failing desperately. There were problems with staff members stealing, being loud and rowdy in the kitchen while diners could hear, a lack of leadership from the owner, and a very bad menu without one single fresh item on it. After his initial tasting of the restaurant’s  dishes (many of which were not available that day) and comments on the multiple spelling errors on the menu, he went to scout out the neighborhood to poll locals.

Many hadn’t ever visited the restaurant because it was out of their price range, and everyone wanted a place where they could just feel comfortable and eat good food at a good price.

He quickly found out that a “fine dining” restaurant was not going to fly in a neighborhood made up of either homeless people or young people without much of an expendable income. When he looked at the other restaurants in the community, the one thing missing was a place where people could just order a burger or another casual and affordable meal. He completely changed the look, feel, and menu of Lela’s. People loved it.

Are you trying to sell your service or product to a demographic that will never buy in? Or are you offering the same service to the same target market as fifteen other companies? You need to either niche yourself or differentiate. Take a look at your target market. What are their pain points? What do they need that nobody else is offering them? Can you provide this service?

Turns out that Lela’s was  in too deep a hole to get out of, even with the experience, charm and good looks of Gordon Ramsay. That doesn’t mean this approach wouldn’t have worked, I believe it would have. You have to give your audience what they want. Even if it’s the lowly cheeseburger. Just make it the best damn cheeseburger anyone has ever tasted. If that’s what people want, why bother trying to perfect your lobster bisque recipe?

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I’m going to bare a bit of truth about myself here so please don’t judge me! When I started my business, I had a dedicated office in the third bedroom of my home. That worked because at the time, my only daughter was a year old and was relatively easy to keep an eye on. Then, when I was expecting my second child last summer, I quickly realized that set up was just not going to work. There was no way I could work in that room with an infant and a two year old to watch constantly. So, I moved my office into our family’s main living area. It allows me to work whether the girls are watching cartoons, playing or sleeping. However, this summer I’m hiring a ‘Mother’s Helper’ and am going to move my office back to where it originally was so that I’ll be able to close the door on everyone for a few hours a day, and close the door on Mann Made Time when it’s family time.

My business has grown significantly since those early days in a separate area of the house and I know I could do a better job at organizing my office than I have been. I can organize anyone else, but when it comes to organizing myself, well, it’s kind of the same as the mechanic who always drives a jalopy. You’re too busy making a living doing what you’re good at to actually do the same for yourself.

I have found a few things that work for working from a home office with youngsters and I hope some of my readers will contribute their tips as well. Here are mine:

• I keep an office spike on my desk to stab receipts with, so they’re all there at the end of the month for me to organize.
• I have an old fashioned Hilroy scribbler for each client. I put all of their contact details, usernames and passwords and other frequently needed information on the inside cover. Anytime I speak with a client on the phone, I grab their notebook and keep all notes there in one place for them so I can retrieve details quickly.
• There is a Rubbermaid file tote thingy that I keep these scribblers and project details in that I can bring with me if I need to work from the kitchen, or when I had a dedicated office I could haul it with me when I needed to be mobile.
• I always keep some old cell phones, cameras, calculators and daytimers in a desk drawer to occupy the little ones since they always to play with things that they shouldn’t have.
• The beloved laptop. I am using the same notebook computer I did when I started my business two years ago. For Mann Made Time’s second birthday, which coincides with my “last-year-before-turning-30″ birthday next month, I’m purchasing a new machine. I think I’ll go with a desktop this time since my notebook will still allow me to work from anywhere in the house, which is key when you work from home with children.
• Make your space off limits! I often discover that my tape has gone missing, or my fancy stapler has disappeared. Where do pens go? Post-it notes get sucked into a black hole and it seems as soon as I buy them they are gone forever. I don’t think it’s the little ones either, I think it’s the other grown up I share my home with. When Mann Made Time moves its headquarters over the next couple of weeks, there will be some new rules in place. When the door is closed, nobody goes in, whether I’m there or not! I think I’ll be getting myself a sign to attach to the door with my office hours.

Anyone else have some tips? I’d love to hear them!

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I’ve been doing a lot of research and reading about how to write for the search engines. I believe this skill will provide a great benefit to the clients I write for.

Through my reading, I found a great tip that I’d never considered before and it’s so easy and useful, I thought I’d post it here.

When you’re writing with your key phrase in mind, you know, the one that people will type into Google to find you, it’s hard sometimes to have enough occurences  of that phrase in your copy without it sounding awkward.  One way to get around this is to break up the phrase with punctuation marks.

For example, if your key phrase is “Prince Edward Island real estate” you can only use that phrase so many times without it looking obvious that it was written for the search engines. One way to make your piece more readable is to break that phrase up with a period or a comma since the spiders ignore those.

You could say, “There are many great reasons to relocate to Prince Edward Island. Real estate prices are among the lowest in the country…”

Ya see? Your phrase is still in tact but it reads smoothly.

Enjoy!

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Back in June 2006 when I officially started my business, I didn’t know half of what I thought I knew. Does that make sense? I had spent months researching the virtual assistance industry, and studying the way other VAs were marketing themselves.  I thought I knew all of the benefits that came with hiring a VA, but my first client quickly taught me that I didn’t.

One of the main reasons the real estate agent who became my first client wanted to contract my services was something I had never considered before, and I’ve forgotten about until we’re here in the middle of tax season!

While we were having our initial consultation, he told me that he really needed some legitimate business expenses, and my services would certainly provide that to him, while helping him to keep on top of things at the same time.

Have you had your taxes prepared yet? Did you have enough business expenses? We’re already practically at the end of April, so you might be looking for something to spend your money on to help you out for next year’s taxes. The services of a virtual assistant are not only a legitimate business expense, but by outsourcing your administrative duties - you know, the ones you hate doing so they rarely get done - you’ll free up time to do things that will help boost your income.

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