Know your brand

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You need a website. That’s a for sure.

But when?

What goes on it?

When do you reach out to me?

HOW do you even start this process?

It’s important to know your brand before this part of your marketing begins. And I mean knoooow your brand. Don’t get hung up that it is forever, because brands grow and evolve over time, and so should they, but know who you want to connect with and who you want your clients to be.

Know your brand. 

What does that even mean?

  • What’s your voice?
  • Who are your ideal clients? If you say everyone, you have more work to do. ?
  • Is the tone straight up conversational or all out business? How do you want to connect with your people?
  • What feel does your brand portray? What impression is it giving your site viewers or storefront visitors?
  • If you asked other people what they thought your brand was, what would they say? It may give you a good idea if you are hitting the mark, or not.

You really can’t have a website – a $999 one, or a $150,000 one without a clear understanding of who you are as a business and who your clients are.

Spend the time and do the work. I promise you it will be worth it!

BUT…don’t let it paralyze you. Websites are mean to be fluid, to grow and change just as your business does.

JUST START.

And if you need help, reach out. I’ll fire 9 million questions at you that will help you get there.

Your People

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Thinking about entrepreneurship?

Who are your people?

YOU NEED PEOPLE.

Starting out people. Cheerleader people. Hard truth people.

Search them all out, you’re going to need them.

Starting out people….

this one’s a bit scary. There’s trust, insecurity, and doubt issues. You’re fragile. You need people who can give you advice, maybe an inside look at what you are about to invite into your world. And you need to trust them because it feels a lot like your heart is on the line when you’re ready to leap into entrepreneurship. Does that mean you need to heed all their advice?

GAWD NO! Don’t do that. Never take all the advice you're given...especially if it dims your light. Click To Tweet Take what you need, and leave the rest.

Cheerleader people…

oh man, you need these ones. The ones that can get fired up and excited for AND with you! The ones who will pull out the pompoms right when you’re feeling like you just can’t do it. They’ll do wonders for your ego, drive and motivation.

Hard truth people…

the ones who will give you the straight up. It’ll sting. There will be pouting. But you need them. Criticism is important. If you only have cheerleaders you’re going to walk around thinking you’ve got this. (Here’s an insider’s tip…you’ve never fully got anything ;)) Hard truths help you grow.

Find your people and keep finding them. Meet new acquaintances and put yourself in awkward situations.

Awkward situations are where all the start-up, cheerleader, and hard truth people hang. 😉

Hiring a Virtual Assistant

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I’m going to let you in on a secret.

Hiring a virtual assistant is the absolute bomb for an entrepreneur. THE BOMB. I had always thought I needed to find a web designer to help me handle my workload.

I was wrong.

On some random internet scrolling into the abyss, I came across a post about hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA). That was it! The solution that made PERFECT sense for me! Hand off those tasks I so disliked, and used up a lot of my design time to someone who actually loves spreadsheets, and numbers, and invoices and all those things. An assistant that was there when I needed her, without the stress of committing to having staff on the payroll when I wasn’t sure how much help I needed yet.

Here’s how I hired my Virtual Assistant and found the person that was exactly who I needed. And the best part? She’s not a web designer!

First step was to get organized. Create a job description. What do you want them to be responsible for? Are there particular tools you want them to use to perform that job?

Then write out the process of the tasks you want them to do. You are going to have to do this once you hire, so doing it beforehand makes it much more clear on what your expectations are so they know if they are a fit.

Lastly, prepare your interview questions. In my case I narrowed it down to 3 prospects who were career Virtual Assistants, not doing as a side gig. These are the questions I asked.

    • What is your availability? How soon can you start?
    • How much lead time do you require on projects and/or tasks?
    • How do you track your time?
    • How do you report your time – daily, monthly, per task, per client?
    • What is your hourly rate and how often do you bill? Per task? Weekly? Monthly?
    • Is there any minimum or maximum hours of work I have to provide you with?
    • What forms of payment do you accept? Credit card, etransfer, cheque (<—I put cheque in there for us old peeps, haha!)
    • How will you provide updates on progress?
    • How will we communicate? Email, text, phone, app (slack, whatsapp, etc.)
    • What apps, software, tools do you use? Ask for samples of graphics they’ve created if that is something you need.
    • Are you willing to learn new software I need you to use? How would that work and be charged for?

Key for me wasn’t necessarily to find a jack of all trades, but to find someone that communicated well, and was willing to learn my processes. Heather, my VA, was so honest in what her skills were, and what she’d need me to teach her to do. But was all over learning and taking over some tasks I desperately needed off my plate. So grateful to have found her.

So, when the thought of coming up with consistent hours for a part time or full time staff member, consider sourcing out a Virtual Assistant. 100% the best decision I’ve made for my business in this past year.

Have you ever considered getting a Virtual Assistant?

You have your website, now what?

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YAY!!! We launched your site! Watch the site visitors and clients come rolling in!

Slow down cowboy.

Launching a site does not automatically generate site visitors….I mean really, yesterday you weren’t on the internet and ping – all your potential customers get a notification you are now? Sorry friends, as wonderful as that would be, that is not a reality. You need to tell people you are out there! And not once, not twice, but on the regular. Tell them on Instagram, tell them on Facebook, tell them on LinkedIn. Yell it randomly in the streets. Update ALL your profiles everywhere on the world wide web to include a link to your site.

And as a side, ditch the www if you’ve hired me to do a site. It’s 2020 and we don’t need the www in front of your domain, it makes you look old, haha! For instance, I’d be sharing unlimitedbs.ca – not www.unlimitedbs.ca – see? I look 10 years younger already!

Think about these listings…

  • Chamber of Commerce
  • Social Profiles
  • Organizations you are listed with, can you add your website to your profile now?
  • Marketing Material – your website should be on ALL your marketing material (without the www remember)

Your website is 100% your marketing toolkit, but it can’t market itself.

Consider running Facebook ads for your new site.

Blast it E V E R Y W H E R E.

Build it and they will come? Absolutely, but you still have to install the signs so they can find their way there ?.

 

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Make more money

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The only way to make more money is to print it.

Ok, that’s counterfeiting…stay with me here. After years of working by myself and never taking the time to sit down and write out EVERY STEP of what I do, I finally did it. EVERY. SINGLE. STEP. My entire process, every single action no matter how big, or how seemingly small.

WHOA.

What a game changer for my business! Writing out the whole client experience from initial contact to final delivery, to follow up, has done 3 things:

  1. Made it clear what I need to hire out. What was wasting my time and delaying the delivery of projects.
  2. Enabled me to stay on track throughout a project and not miss any step.
  3. Forced me to track my time to the minute, for each stage in my client journey.

And that my friends, has increased my bottom line. That process, however painful, has made me more money.

Don’t wait 8 years to do this like I did. Now’s the time. Map out your clients’ journey, hire out what is not your jam, or taking too much of your time, and charge for your time.

Well mapped out processes are my new favourite thing so shoot me an email or give me a shout, I’m happy to help provide some direction on where to start.