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Yep – I’m a Joiner!
What does AdSense on your page say about you?
I’ve heard a lot of opinions lately.
Some people have told me that my website looks less professional due to having AdSense ads on the front page of my website. Others have mentioned that I shouldn’t sell the services of others when my page is about selling my services.
One of the main adages I live by is, “It’s easier to show you than to tell you.
I’m sold on internet marketers as a niche market!
If you’re searching for a niche, there is one hiding deep within the internet but right within your grasp. Internet Marketers. These are people who spend all day, every day on the computer selling their products, affiliate products, and everything in between. In a sense, they are the new generation of infomercials, and you might want to look into how to make this new segment of the population your virtual niche.
In most cases, the sales pages they use are set up quickly and they are all very similar in content. In some cases, they use a template to get their pages up faster. They believe in the adage “you have to spend money to make money”, purchasing entry into webinars, teleseminars, and subscription newsletters. They are usually bringing in a decent income, but are trying to leverage it into passive streams of income. Until that time, they usually work like dogs.
A passive stream of income is one that you do work for up front, but keeps giving you residuals forever without you having to put any more time or effort into the project. An author has the same premise; spend lots of time writing and then just sit back and wait for the money to come in from sales of the book.
Most internet marketers have some kind of affiliate program. Affiliate programs take time and require someone to keep track of when emails are sent out and payment arrangements. This is where a virtual assistant comes in. A VA can turn an affiliate marketing tool into a passive stream of income for an internet marketer. The only thing between a successful internet marketer and his dream of passive revenue are the administrative tasks that are required to keep an affiliate marketing drive strong and profitable.
Internet marketers need VAs to answer emails, manage broadcast email lists, manage their sites shopping carts, and post to their blogs as well. These tasks are just the tip of the iceberg. An internet marketer can be a gold mine for a VA as well as for the client. It’s a match made in heaven.
If an internet marketer does not have a VA already, they’re pretty desperate for one even if they may not be aware of the value you can bring to their business. The internet marketers who do know they need a VA to take their business to the next level have trouble because they simply don’t have the time to look for a quality virtual assistant or to fill out the extensive paperwork that can be required of a subcontracting company. The few internet marketers that already have a good VA do not want to share them with others. They are considered immensely valuable to the company.
Think this sounds like good fit but aren’t sure what to do about it? Look for people selling things online. Stocks, public relations secrets or techniques, affiliate program how-tos or anything involving Adsense…they probably need to know you’re out there and all you have to do is shoot them an email introducing yourself.
Jennifer Gniadecki
Atypical VA
jennifer@atypicalva.com
Work/Life Balance – In the Lion’s Den
My grandmother sprained her pelvis in a fall about two and a half weeks ago.
The day I found out I began to prepare. I called our other two family members and left messages asking them to call back so we could set up a schedule for her care. So far, so good.
Unfortunately, one family member never called me…or anyone else…back. I scheduled with the other one, and she kept up her end of the schedule…for the first week and a half. Now we’re almost in week three and my daily schedule is as follows:
7:00am – Wake up with kids and hubby/feed children/make coffee/wake up
8am – 8:30pm – Work/take care of kids/clean/stay sane
8:30pm – 9pm – Drive to grandmother’s house
9pm – 12:30am – Take care of grandmother/clean house/make dinner/shop/run errands
12:30am-1am – Drive home
1:30am – Go to sleep
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Last night I found out that one of my relatives called my grandmother for the first time since hearing about her accident. That breaks my heart. With my kids and the dogs and the husband I still manage to be able to help out a woman that helped raise me during the most important years of my life. This does not make me great, it does not make me a martyr and it certainly doesn’t make me a wonderful person. I’m just doing what needs to be done. Sometimes I’m very confused when other’s don’t do the same.
This ties directly into working from home. I know so many people that tell me they want to work from home, but when I ask them if they want help getting started I’m immediately given a list of excuses. I admit, I thought working from home was a pipe dream as well, but if I was faced with someone credible who did, I wouldn’t give excuses…I’d pump them for information!!!
We’re all scared, but it’s scarier to do nothing and be in that same job you hate for the next ten years.
Virtual Assistance – How Much is too much?
What exactly do you need to run a good home office? Do you need a laptop, a wireless router, a palm pilot and a top of the line computer?
That’s for you to decide.
Eventually I would like to get a laptop so I can work while I’m in my living room or sunroom. I don’t see a need for a palm pilot at this stage of the game, but eventually that may become a convenience that I’d like to have.
Here are the necessities of running my home office:
- Phone with unlimited long distance
- Fast, reliable computer
- Printer/scanner combo
- Online fax number
- Professional speed DSL internet connection
- dbPowerAmp to keep all my music files in one place and ready to play
- Yahoo! Instant messenger to communicate with clients and for networking
Everything other than my phone, computer, printer, fax number and high-speed internet connection there is nothing I need to keep my practice healthy and growing.
The bare minimum to get going or stay sane as a VA is a computer, and a high-speed internet connection. The fax number can be obtained for free online. Don’t go overboard spending money you don’t have when things can be purchased according to your success. This way you can reward yourself for a job well done.
That’s what running your own business is all about!
Virtual Assistance – Playing Favorites
How do you prioritize?
Do you do the most important things first, or do you do the things for what you consider your most important client first?
Are there clients you like more than others, and if so, do you let that determine who gets your best work and who gets the leftovers?
When asked those questions, most people respond with something along the lines of, “I don’t play favorites!
Virtual Assistant Coaching
In my younger years I had a series of struggling female roommates in whatever apartment I lived in at the time. I’d found success working downtown as an Administrative Assistant in a really great firm, and didn’t see what all the fuss was about getting a job that paid well.
Eventually I’d have a conversation that went along the lines of my roomie asking me how I did it and after I was done explaining the response would be, “You make it sound so easy…but I could never do that…
The WAHM (Work at Home Mom) and Exercise
I may have mentioned that I have three children. One is special-needs eight-year-old that came as part of the package with my husband (he’s a widower). My other girls are 18mos and 6mos old. I’ll wait while you stop gasping and shaking your head and saying to your computer screen, “What was she thinking?
Sick Days?
Working from home has serious advantages, don’t get me wrong, but I find myself wondering…where are my sick days?
I’m still a beginner at this, I haven’t been doing it forever, but I do have a natural gift for running my own company. Where my question lies is how I became such a mean boss!? If I had an employee and they got sick I would have no problem with them taking the day off to rest and heal, but when I was sick last week I got myself out of bed and just did what needed to be done.
Let me rephrase that, I did what I thought needed to be done. The world wouldn’t have ended nor would anything horrible have happened if I didn’t work. I just couldn’t make myself relax. I want to succeed and I’m trying to find my own balance as to what feels like success to me and what does not. I know working myself into the ground is not balance, nor is it success. I don’t do it often, and I do take weekends off so I get the “me time” I need to stay focused…but I’m still trying to decide how to handle being sick.
My favorite advice came from my friend Teri, who said, “Well then, you just have to take vitamins and be healthy enough that you don’t get sick. That would solve the problem, wouldn’t you agree?”
Yes Teri, I would agree.
