Posts Tagged ‘Colleagues’

The Three Key Factors of Using a Virtual Assistant

Aug 14, 2010 Bakery Pies

You may have heard some of your colleagues speak of hiring a “VA” or Virtual Assistant and you may have wondered how this works and how you can benefit from it. The key factors of hiring a VA over an employee or just doing the work yourself are: time, money and expertise. These factors are of course very important to all businesses. They always need to be improved upon continuously so that your company can run smoothly, efficiently and profitably. You may think you can do it all yourself, that you can’t afford to hire anyone, or that hiring an “employee” is safer and easier. Let’s look at the three factors in depth.

First, let’s look at time. If you’re doing everything on your own, you are probably often thinking, “I really need to be working on marketing strategies,” or “I really need to be increasing my billable time,” or whatever it is that you do best and what your business is really about! Yet, there you are, doing data entry, research or tweeting and facebooking throughout the day. As a company owner or entrepreneur you need to spend your time wisely to get a jump on the competition. Can you do it all? If you work 12 to 18 hours a day – probably. But is that why you decided to own your own business or be self-employed? Probably not.

You may wonder how you can save money by hiring a VA. If we think about what it takes to hire an employee, we can easily add up the savings. When you hire an employee, you pay them salary or on an hourly basis – sometimes just to sit and wait for the phone to ring. You pay them for every bathroom break, personal phone call or co-worker chat that they have. When you hire a Virtual Assistant you pay only for the work that is actually performed, down to the minute. Sometimes you pay a flat rate for a project to be completed; regardless of the time it takes for them to complete it. Of course you also save money on all the extras that go along with hiring an employee, rather than a VA. When you hire a VA there is no Worker’s Compensation or disability insurance to purchase; no lengthy tax paper work to keep track of. No Social Security Tax to pay – and of course no paid benefits like sick days or vacation time!

What is YOUR expertise in? Probably not document formatting or creating calculations in spreadsheets, social networking for your business or updating your website. Your expertise likely lies in what your business is all about. As an entrepreneur or business owner, you may be familiar with Michael Gerber’s book, “The E-Myth Revisited”. Gerber talks about the baker who opens a bakery, but not only has to make the pies and other baked goods that they specialize in, but who also has to market the business, wait on customers, keep the books, clean the shop and just about everything else. The baker’s business is just starting and they feel they can’t afford to hire anyone to help.  But do you think the business will make it? Is the baker really happy owning their own business, when they are working long hours and having to rush through what they love to do and what they do best – baking? The whole idea is lost in the logistics of it all. A Virtual Assistant has the expertise to do the things that need to be done to keep your business running, while you do what you are passionate about and what your business is all about!

Hiring a VA will save you time by getting things done quickly and efficiently; giving you your life back. Hiring a VA will save you money by getting paid only for the work actually accomplished and not for “dead air” time, as well as saving on benefits. And lastly, the expertise of a VA will allow you to do what you got into business to do – your passion, your business, and your expertise! Oh, and somewhere in there, you get to have a life outside of work too!


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Rejected? Throw a Party!

Jun 3, 2010 Bakery Pastry

You’re going to be rejected in life, heck it happens to me all the time. And if you haven’t experienced much rejection, I’ll bet you’re not taking many risks. Without taking risks you’ll lead a safe, predictable, and somewhat boring life. So let’s learn how to rock rejection. Read on.

I’ve been rejected zillions of times… such as when I was a 16 year old runaway in New York City. Of course I hadn’t figured out how I’d make a living before dashing out the door. The only job I’d had was working at a bakery, and pastry-pushing wasn’t going to cover the bills. The only other “skill” I had was what I’d learned in modeling school. After calling numerous agencies, one finally agreed to see me. Within three minutes I’d been dismissed as “too short” and “ugly.” When I heard those words the first thing I thought was “I can get around that.”

And that’s how I’ve dealt with rejection ever since. Could I have been destroyed by the dissing they dished out? Sure. But I had to eat. I had to find a way to make it in Manhattan. So I decided to rock the rejection. And it worked.

Fast forward several decades later, and here I am getting rejected still. So what? When someone says “no” I say “next.” Somebody out there wants what I have—I simply need to find them.

It’s one thing for me to tell you not to take rejection personally; it’s another to pull it off. The key is to desensitize. The first thing I do when rejected is to practice QTIP:

Quit

Taking

It

Personally

My preferred method of desensitization is to throw a Rejection Party. Yep, you heard it right. Party when you’re rejected and down—it’s the best way to peel yourself up off the floor.

How to Host a Rejection Party: Type A

Gather ten or more people together (more is better). They can be colleagues, friends, members of a networking or Mastermind Group, or even strangers with a desire to learn.

Here are the rules:

1. Each person in the group forms a question for something they want, such as “Will you invest $100,000 in my new company?” or “Will you buy my widget?”

2. Now walk around the room, approaching the other participants one-on-one and asking them your question. They’ll give you a “yes” or “no” answer, and will ask you their question too. You must give a “yes” or “no” answer. See step #3 for the rules on answering.

Keep a silent tally of the number of requests made of you. You can only answer “yes” if the person addressing you is making the ninth request. Say “no” to all others. Once you’ve said “yes”, start counting again and say “no” to the next nine requests. You can say “no” however you want—apologetically, curtly, kindly—it’s up to you. The goal is to simulate real-world rejection in order to become immune to it.

After repeatedly getting rejected, you’ll find it doesn’t hurt so badly. You come to realize that each rejection gets you closer to acceptance. Remember the Rock Rejection Mantra:

Some will.

Some won’t.

So what?

Someone’s waiting.

Keep asking and eventually you’ll get a “yes”. Thanks to Jack Canfield for teaching me this technique.

How to Host a Rejection Party: Type B

As much as I like Rejection Party Type A I extended it to this new version, which I find mirrors the world more realistically. The requester must ask for the same thing, but can change his or her pitch, trying on different approaches. For instance, the requester could say “Will you invest $100,000 in my new marketing company?” and the next time he or she could say, “Will you loan $100,000 to my new marketing company at 6% interest and a 10-year payback period?” The requestee is allowed to say “yes” if he or she finds the request compelling enough. He or she doesn’t actually have to follow through (i.e., fork over that $100,000), but must honestly be intrigued by the request.

I can’t tell you how incredibly effective Rejection Parties are—they’ve help hundreds of my friends and colleagues to desensitize, and to no longer be stymied or stumped by rejection. But the best part, of course, is the less you let rejection throw you, the more risks you’ll take. And risks are what rock our lives, help us find more meaning, help us reinvent ourselves, help us make a difference in the world.

So go ahead. Take risks. Get rejected. You know there’ll be a party afterwards!

For more tips and helpful info on rocking rejection, see the Cool Resources section on www.RulesForRenegades.com.

Christine is author of the best selling book Rules for Renegades: How to Make More Money, Rock Your Career, and Revel in Your Individuality (available at www.RulesForRenegades.com or wherever books are sold). She’s CEO of Mighty Ventures (www.MightyVentures.com), an innovation accelerator which helps businesses to massively increase sales, product offerings, and company value.


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