How to Build Your Business by Working with an Online Business
Manager
by Jean Hanson
Published on this site: July 8th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month...
As I worked on building my virtual assistant practice, I realized
early on that I didn't particularly enjoy many of the typical
"administrative" tasks that other VA's were offering
travel arrangements, making phone calls and appointments,
keeping their client's calendar, doing mailings, and bookkeeping.
What I always seemed to gravitate towards was anything to
do with Ezine publishing, website maintenance, helping to
create and format digital products, setting up eCourses and
tele-classes, submitting articles for online publication,
and brainstorming with my clients on how to drive more traffic
to their websites in order to build their online businesses.
It took a while to realize that I was becoming much more
than just a virtual assistant. I was becoming an online business
manager. So if you're someone who works with a virtual assistant,
or if you're a virtual assistant who would like to learn more
about how to help your clients build their online businesses,
here are some tips to help you get started.
- View your OBM (online business manager)
as a business partner. If you treat your OBM as an employee,
just delegating tasks and not sharing information about
your business, you won't receive the full value from the
relationship...you might as well hire a part-time employee.
Your OBM is a powerful resource for your business and will
bring a wealth of ideas to the table that you might not
have thought about or have no experience with. Take the
time to brainstorm so you can create new ideas together
and then lay out a plan to make things happen.
- Share your short-term and long-term goals with your
OBM. If s/he knows your goals it's much easier to come
up with strategies and ideas that will help your online
business move forward.
I had a potential client who called to ask if I could do
website maintenance for her. I started asking questions
about her business and discovered that there was a lot more
that I could help her with besides website maintenance!
By the time we were done talking she was so amazed at the
ideas I had generated for her business, she couldn't wait
to get started! She's often commented that it would have
taken her 2 years to get to the point we're at now if she'd
kept doing it all herself and that was after only 2 months
of working together!
- Be open to new ideas. Your online business manager
might present you with a whole new set of ideas or a new
strategy that you might be hesitant to consider. But remember,
her job is to be an expert idea generator and brainstormer.
Don't be afraid to say no if the idea doesn't resonate with
you, but don't be too quick to say no either. Give her a
chance to share her ideas and then think about the possibilities
and discuss the options.
- Let your OBM set up systems to automate your online
business.
S/he should have the experience to help you set up your
shopping cart, merchant account, autoresponders, electronic
newsletters, and affiliate programs. S/he probably isn't
a website designer, but should be able to help with basic
website maintenance. That being said, no one can possibly
know how to do it all, but your OBM should have the resources
that she needs to get it all done.
- Have your OBM help you get more exposure for your
online business.
Some of the things s/he should be able to help you with
are: submit articles and press releases; publish your newsletter;
optimize your website and refresh it with new content and
articles; research potential partners for cross-promotional
purposes; research organizations and make inquiries about
speaking opportunities; create collateral materials; create
a press kit; help with creating and formatting special reports,
eCourses and other materials to sell or give away on your
website; help with creating a new tele-class or training
program and then promote it on your website.
Be prepared to pay a little more for your OBM than a typical
administrative or virtual assistant. S/he's highly specialized
and has skills, expertise, and resources that the typical
VA probably doesn't have. And remember that your online business
manager has a vested interest in your success, so see what
you can create together!
Jean Hanson is a virtual assistant and online business
manager for coaches, speakers, and authors. She is also the
author of the eBook, Virtualize Your Business - Secrets to
Simplifying, Automating, and Organizing Your Virtual Business.
For more tips on learning how to virtualize your business
and a FREE REPORT, go to http://www.virtualizeyourbiz.com
. To learn more about virtual
assistance, visit Jean at http://www.vaofficesolution.com
|
