Entrepreneur Ideas Podcast
By Dean Soto
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Podcast Description
Formerly So Totally Business Savvy, Entrepreneur Ideas Podcast is a weekly podcast geared toward full-time corporate professionals that are looking to become entrepreneurs, or enhance their corporate life. Whether it be discussing the steps required to build your own business, set up a website and brand with Wordpress, or to land that new promotion, we 'll collaborate and discover new ways to become happier and make more of an impact in our careers. Its common sense approach and lack of stuffy business speak is informative, hard-hitting, and never disappointing.
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042 EIP – Interview With Timo Kiander The Productive Superdad | Want to ge tthe scoop on hiring virtual assistants? Well, Chris asks a fantastic question about how to handle taxes when it comes to using a virtual assistant. Chris has been an awesome participant in the virtual assistant webinar series. If you haven't had the chance to join us, please sign up for the newsletter and you'll know instantly when the next webinar will take place! What are you waiting for? hmmm? Also, there is an amazing interview with Timo Kiander, the Productive Superdad. I grill him on all the ways that you can be more effective with your time management when it comes to work, family, and fun. Timo is a down-to-earth guy that can definitely teach you how to live life effectively! Go check out his site right now, you won't regret it! As always, if you have any questions or just want to hear your voice or plug your website/business on the podcast, you can send me a voice memo at dean@prosulum.com or call me at 714-643-5301 to leave voice feedback. Your questions are always appreciated! | 5/20/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 2 | Video041 EIP: Webinar Replay: Killer Virtual Assistant Business Models | Download the mp3 version here I've also made this webinar replay available to all podcast subscribers. If you haven't already subscribed, why not give it a go on iTunes? Thank you to all that attended. It was a great webinar and there were a lot of great questions. I hope that you were able to see all of the amazing virtual assistant business models there are. There is almost an unlimited amount of Here were some of the resources mentioned in the presentation: Easy Outsource Basecamp My resources page Magic Action Box See you at the next webinar that will be coming soon. Topic will be Hiring and Quality Control: How to Find Hidden Overseas Rock Stars. Shoot me your questions and I'll make sure to answer them in the webinar or on the next podcast. | 5/8/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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040 EIP: Entrepreneur Ideas Name Change and Products Versus Services | I always love your audio feedback, so if you have a question or want to leave a tip for the show, please send me a voicemail at 714-643-5301. Hey! Big things happening in this episode! First, after a lot of deliberation and ruminating, I decided to change the name of the podcast. You'll understand a little more after listening to the podcast, but the gist of why is because So totally business Savvy really didn't reflect the idea behind the podcast. Second, You'll hear why I moved my business from a service-based business to a product-based company, and why you may want to do the same. Plus, i'll share my #1 secret to make your product/service decision a whole lot easier! All that being said, I know that you will enjoy this episode! | 3/26/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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039 STBS: Simple Ideas You Can Use Right Now to Start Your Own Side Business | A special thanks to Harry Mahler for emailing me and kicking me in the butt. Yes, will be more consistent with this podcast! :) Whenever I talk to someone about starting a business, almost 99% of the time the first words that come out of their mouth is something about how they don't know what type of business to start. That's OK, everyone feels that way. A good thing is that it's a lot easier than most people think to find ideas that they can use to make money on the side. In this episode I want to give you some quick tips that you can use right now to get started. We'll talk about: Creating a service business Creating a product business Becoming a middleman Become a consultant And much, much more... Of course, these ideas are only meant to be the spark that hopes to build a fire that is your new business. Yes, it's gonna take time and work, but not nearly as much you think. In future episodes will talk about how to market your business, and also how to streamline and so that you don't have to spend so much time in it. | 2/27/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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038 STBS: Focus Focus Focus | I apologize in advance for the quality of this podcast, but MAN it has been busy (in a good way!). I had to do this one while on the road a week or two ago. In this episode we talk about: A rundown of what's been going on lately. I answer an email from a long-time listener and go on a bit of a tirade about how important it is to focus on one thing as an entrepreneur. I talk a little bit about the change in the email newsletter stuff. So.... today is the day of the mass unsubscribe. I've already unsubscribed about 400+ people and I'm excited to see the value the new list brings to everyone that is still on board. There are some great things coming soon, so hang tight! | 11/30/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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037 STBS: Decision-Making and Lead Generation Primer | In this episode we talk about a topic that comes up a lot in the responses to my email newsletter - lead generation. Finding customers is something that every business needs, but is one of the hardest thing for most new entrepreneurs to get their heads around. In the show I give some common sense tips to help you to determine who your leads are and how to reach them. | 9/17/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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036 STBS: Living the Virtual Business Lifestyle with Chris Ducker | In this week's episode I have the distinct pleasure of interviewing a guy that I definitely look up to when it comes to the business world, Chris Ducker from Virtual Business Lifestyle. Chris is also the owner o Virtual Staff Finder, a great service that matches entrepreneurs with great talent from the Philippines. One thing that makes Chris so unique is that he has been able to create a 200 person business and at the same time he's been slowly taking himself out of the operations of that business - giving him enough time to innovate and achieve more while working less on the things that don't matter. In the interview we talk about some of the strategies and tips that new entrepreneurs can use to get away from drowning in the busy work in order to push their business forward. He also gives a really great tip on where to find iPhone developers (and it's not in the Philippines). If you have the chance, check out his blog, as well as Virtual Staff Finder. | 8/12/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 8 | Video035 STBS: Build Your Email List Using Value and SEO | Download the Video Here! In this video I show how I use Market Samurai to find keywords in order to create blog posts that take advantage of low-competition and high-traffic keywords. Basically, it will allow you to develop constant contacts that you can communicate with on a regular basis. I wanted to make a video podcast to show you something that I think is VERY important if you want jump-start your email list building efforts (I recomment using Aweber for this). One of the most important aspects in Internet Marketing (and marketing in general) is collecting and building an email list. This is one of the best ways to keep in touch with your audience, build a community, or even sell products if you wish. Now, the two most difficult aspects about growing an email opt-in list is creating something of value that you can offer others in return for their email address and getting traffic to your site. In regards to the former, you truly need to have something to offer that is going to improve the lives or situation of the individual that is giving you their email address and not just a ploy. Traffic, on the other hand, is a bit trickier, but as you'll see in the video there are some things that you can do to get noticed on the search engines just by creating a good blog post and maybe write some articles on other sites to link back to that blog post. By finding low-competition and well sought after keywords, you can really start to generate traffic to a page that helps your visitors to get on your list and get to know you in a more intimate way. | 8/2/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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034 STBS: How to Outsource Like a Pro With John Jonas | In this interview I talk to John Jonas, one of the leading experts in hiring people to help your business from the Philippines. He is also the creator of the program called Replace Myself (Yes, it's affiliate link. And yes, I've tried it and love it) - a program that is designed to teach you how to not only hire a virtual assistant from the Philippines, but it also provides extremely detailed training to your virtual assistant on how to build affiliate sites (which is what I used to be successful in my Niche Adventure). In this we talk about: How he began building a staff of online workers.. Why he only works with folks in the Philippines. Why he ONLY hires full-time employees. Some pitfalls you may have when you first start handing over your work to someone else. How to be a succesful business owner. John has some great stuff on his site and he is one of the main reasons why I am able to be successful in my side business. You can check out his blog at JonasBlog.com. | 7/16/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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033 STBS: Ted Nguyen on Growing Your Business With Public Relations | To leave feedback, or ask a question, please send me a voicemail at 714-643-5301. You can also subscribe to the podcast in iTunes! A lot of small business owners think that PR equates to sending out press releases in hopes of getting a huge increase in traffic to their website, and subsequently more business. Well, in this episode Ted Nguyen, PR guru and social media expert, shatters the common misconception that PR is only about spamming the press. Ted talks about how getting involved in the community and creating newsworthy buzz is one of the best ways to attract media attention, and also to be seen as a thought leader rather than just another business. It's not about you, it's what you are doing for the community, and that makes news. There is also a common misconception that PR is the same as marketing. However, as Ted shows, there is a huge difference. Anyone can buy an ad on a radio or TV station, but not everyone can create something that attracts the press and wins hearts and minds. PR is something that takes skill and creativity rather than lots of money. Lastly, we discuss how the lines between PR and social media are blurring and that most media outlets rely on social media to get the latest news and connect with people who are noteworthy. Knowing how to utilize new social networking avenues and understanding how the press works can mean big things for your business! | 7/2/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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032 STBS: Commentary on Latino2 with Matt Gallizzi | Hey all! I know that this is the second week that I've talked about the Latino2 conference, but I could pass up sharing this recording. It's a piece of audio that Matt and I did on the way home from the conference and it's jammed packed with some fanstastic thoughts and ideas. To let it go to waste would be a tragedy! I'm busy cooking up some good things so stay tuned. =) | 6/23/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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031 STBS: The Latino2 Conference and Networking | Hey Everyone! I really can't wait to share this episode with you. In it, you'll hear my panel discussion at the Latino2 conference that was held in Silicon Valley. It was an amazing experience. The conference itself had about 150 people in attendance and had some major players in the tech world. There were a number of speakers, including social media guru, Brian Solis, and all of them were awesome. It was a huge reminder to me about the power of networking and getting to know people. For those that don't know, the reason that I was invited to speak at the event in the first place was because of a friend of mine that I met through an in-person social media meetup. We ended up talking, and about a week later she asked if I would like to be on a panel. Without hesitation I agreed. Now, even though I was excited about the prospect, I was EXTREMELY nervous because I've never spoken in front of that many people before - let alone people of that caliber. I had butterflies, I was sweating, I needed to go to the boy's room every 30 minutes leading up to the talk (seriously). I really didn't feel like I had the expertise to add any value to the audience. Thankfully, it went very well and I was able to share about outsourcing and podcasting - something that almost nobody else was doing. The experience brought so many great opportunities and relationships that it was well worth stepping out in faith and feeling the anxiety that comes with taking a risk. I hope you like the audio. Let me know what you think in the comments! | 6/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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030 STBS: Mobile Sites In Business With Matt Gallizzi | To leave feedback, or ask a question, please send me a voicemail at 714-643-5301. You can also subscribe to the podcast in iTunes! YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS EPISODE! This is probably the funnest and most insightful interview we've ever had on the show. Matt Gallizzi from NotixTech.com joins us and talks about how mobile sites are beginning to take ground and dominate the business landscape. We also talk about how he got started in this business and what he does to make a name for himself in the mobile arena. If you are an entrepreneur, or are looking to start a business, you are going to get some great insight from Matt! Business Consulting: I’m available for one-on-one business consulting. If you have a business and want to find ways to lower your expenses and maximize revenue with a virtual assistant or other technology, or if you are looking to start a business from scratch, I'd love to work with you. You can email me at dean@youcanworkless.com, or give me a call at 714-868-6745. | 6/5/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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029 STBS: Sales Plans and Working Less On Your Business | To leave feedback, or ask a question, please send me a voicemail at 714-643-5301. You can also subscribe to the podcast in iTunes! In this episode we talk about the importance of having a sales plan. Now a sales plan doesn't have to be something ... | 5/28/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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028 STBS: How To Teach At Workshops and Income Versus Time | To leave feedback, or ask a question, please send me a voicemail at 714-643-5301. You can also subscribe to the podcast in iTunes! Income versus time Hi all! In this episode we talk about a number of things that all fall under the category of promotion. I start off the podcast by talking about the idea that I've had for a while about putting up my monthly income that I make in my side business. I know that a lot of bloggers and podcasters do that now, but I really don't see many of them factoring in time as an indicator of how well you are doing. That being said, I am pretty sure that starting at the end of this month I will be giving you the low down about how much money I make on my side business, and how much time I spend doing the day-to-day tasks. Hopefully it will be inspiring, but I do have to warn you that it took a year-and-a-half to get to the point where I am right now. I'll also talk about some of the pitfalls that I experienced in the month and what you can do to avoid them. How to find workshops to teach at Mike from www.dataworks.net sent in a voicemail question about how to find workshops that you can teach at and help to promote your business. My main answer to the question was to start building your network via social media and networking events because there are a lot of people out there that have access to folks that do workshops and events. The majority of workshops, speaking engagements, and events that I have been a part of have all come from someone I've met through networking. The second way to find workshops and business expo centers is just to Google them. A lot of those places are looking for talent to help deliver quality training for their folks. I focus mainly on training centers that are privately owned and operated because they are more likely to need you, plus they also look for opportunities to provide their customers with business consulting later on. Business Consulting: I’m available for one-on-one business consulting. If you have a business and want to find ways to lower your expenses and maximize revenue with a virtual assistant or other technology, or if you are looking to start a business from scratch, I'd love to work with you. You can email me at dean@youcanworkless.com, or give me a call at 714-868-6745. | 5/22/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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027 STBS: Selling and Traditional Business with Dad | If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to the So Totally Business Savvy (iTunes). Call our feedback line 714-643-5301 to ask a question or leave a comment. In this episode, I give a quick update with what's been going on with the niche site stuff. Things look pretty solid with the change to Google Adsense and hopefully it will continue to generate some steady income. With the added emphasis on backlinking there's been some noticeable differences in rankings. I've also start 2 more niche sites that will likely take a few months to see any gains. Other than that, things are just starting out. How to close a sale We also talk about closing sales and how there are several closes that take place in a sale. The last thing that you want to do is sign documents on the first meeting. Typically relationships like that end very badly since expectations are not met on either side. The key to closing a deal is to close several parts of the selling process. You'll be closing an initial meeting, closing a proposal submittal, and closing a follow-up meeting. The more that you "date" a prospect, the better the relationship and sale is going to be. Interview with my father-in-law Dunn..dun..DUUUUUNNN. Yep, I'll be interviewing my father=in-law this go around. He has been an instrumental part of my success and has some great advice to share about running a business in general. From everything to starting, to marketing, to hiring, we are going to talk about some of the pitfalls and joys that he's experienced in owning his own business. Ebook updates I've consolidated all of my products into my e-book. I want to make it as valuable as possible and make it the flagship of the site. I love having virtual assistants helping me to run my business and I want everyone else to be able to experience the same thing rather than to be working in their business as another full-time job. That being said, you are going to get a LOT more out of my E-book now, and in the future. | 5/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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026 STBS: Exclusive Virtual Assistants and Business Integrity | In this episode I answer a question from Gina Parris who asks a really good question about how to find virtual assistants that don't work for multiple clients. I talk about how Elance and oDesk aren't really the right place to find virtual assistants that are expecting to work solely for you since they are used to having to bid on projects. I suggested that if she wants to find exclusive virtual assistants that she try onlinejobs.ph if she is courageous enough to interview them herself, or Virtual Staff Finder if she wanted someone else to find them and interview them. Integrity Hits I also do a little bit of whining in this episode, so sorry in advance. I recently had two experiences in which my integrity was put into question. The first was from a prospect that I did free consulting work for. They weren't happy that I gave them a free product and that I helped them to set up their website. Yes, you didn't read that wrong. The second was a promotion post that went wrong because of a series of unfortunate events that were taken out of context. Basically, someone read one of my blog posts and assumed I was a get rich quick scam artist. Seriously... what the heck...? Monetizing Your Blog Lastly, I talk about ways that you can monetize off of your blog. The most important part of making any money off of your blog is to realize that you need to be in it for the long haul. I've been blogging for about a year and a half on this blog and I don't make much money at all from it. Most of my entrepreneurial revenue still comes from my web development company. However, I do generate some revenue, so it definitely is possible. So stay in it for the long-term and you can make things happen. | 5/1/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 18 | Video025 STBS: Search Engine Passive Income With Niche Marketing | I've been getting a lot of people asking me about niche affiliate marketing. This is a topic that I absolutely love because it truly helps you to make money while not having to kill yourself working. However, I'm very new to the topic and I've only made modest income from it. That being said, I decided to make AN HOUR LONG video that shows exactly what I do to find a niche and start making content that draws people to my new blog. Don't take things for granted As I show in my niche marketing adventure posts, you never want to take anything for granted. I used to think that everyone knew about receipt scanners and that there had to be a ton of affiliate marketers that were trying to rank high in order to generate revenue. Of course, I was wrong. There are a ton of things that you use around the house or that you may even pay big money for that could be the basis of a new site. As you'll see in the video, even something as obscure as a patio is something that could bring in a lot of affiliate income using something like Amazon Associates. Entrepreneurs can't have tunnel vision. They need to see that nearly everything around them has the opportunity to build capital. Start using something like Market Samurai and see if you have some opportunities! Tools of the trade and working systems I use a number of tools to help get my affiliate sites up quickly. Each of them has their own purpose and you can either use them to give your virtual assistant a break, or to quickly build the sites up yourself. Here are the tools (Note: watch the video to see how I use them to create content in minutes) (Double note: these are affiliate links and would really REALLY help me to deliver more content.) :) Market Samurai - This is a very popular research tool and I use this to find the initial niche. Seriously, nothing else compares to this tool and it makes finding markets very easy. Remember to not only look for niches with low competition and high traffic, BUT also make sure the competition doesn't have the SEO act together. Bluehost - If you don't have a web host, I've been using them for years and they've been fantastic! Using Simple Scripts to build instant Wordpress blogs pays for itself. Woothemes - I use the Canvas theme to build my affiliate sites. It's inexpensive and highly configurable. Usually I can have a complete site up within 2 hours. In about 4 hours I'll have the site up with 2 blog posts and 2 articles submitted with the tools below. Instant Article Wizard - I use this to help create content for my affiliate blogs (Not this blog, lol). I also use these to create articles, I tend to be much more careful and try to be as original as possible with those. The point is to get a steady stream of content going on the blog that you can backlink to it in article directories. The Best Spinner - After I find content to use with Instant Article Wizard, I use The Best Spinner to make it unique. It saves a TON of time having to re-write articles and helps to build high-quality backlinks. The last thing that Google wants to see is non-original content. Update 5/1/2011: A great way to check check to see if you've done a good job spinning is to put your article into Plagium.com. It's totally free and scours the Internet for plagiarized sentences. If you show up as plagiarized then you know you need to spin a bit more. I know that in the video that I say that I'm not too worried about blog posts being totally original... wel... I changed my mind after research. Try to make them as original as possible with your spinner. Give it a try... The last thing that I ever though I'd ever be doing was affiliate marketing. Most of the guys that preach it are shady... and are the get rich quick types. Well, I'm definitely not rich and it's definitely not quick, but slowly but surely I'm starting to see things happen. Have you started to try some affiliate marketing? | 4/17/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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024 STBS: Long-Term Virtual Assistants and Lead Generation | Wow, time seriously flies. Sorry about that folks. Didn't realize that it was just about a month since the last episode (I blame February's shortness for that). Anyway, Harry from MyEcoGuy asked a question about where to find long-term Virtual Assistants. Rather than just reply in the comments, I thought a podcast reply would be better, especially since there's been some changes in the way that I hire VAs. The two most common questions I get with regards to virtual assistants is where do I find quality VAs, and how do I interview them? Well, in the last few weeks I've teamed up with Chris Ducker from Virtual Staff Finder, a great service that answers both of those questions and does them for you. The main problem that most folks run into when trying to find a VA is quality. I've seriously hired over 20+ virtual assistants, and out of all of them only 3 are ones that I'd work with again. That's a whole lot of wasted time. stress, and money. Don't get me wrong, it was a great experience but it was not cost-effective. When you work with Chris' team, they take all of your requirements, find, test, and interview candidates for you. They then give you 2-3 final candidates that you interview yourself. After you make your decision, you and your new VA negotiate payment, hours worked, etc. There is a fee up front, but no monthly overhead agency fee; It's just between you and your VA. I'm seriously excited about his program since he is able to not only find you cost-effective talent overseas, but it's quality talent. I believe in it so much that I'm going to make his program even better. The first 10 people to sign up for his program via my affiliate link will get ALL of my products for FREE ($120 value). The first 20 will get my 31 days to Building a Killer Business with Virtual Assistants Ebook for FREE ($40 value). Anyone after 20 will get my Ebook for 50% off. Sign up and get your Virtual Assistant through Virtual Staff Finder. (Send me an email with confirmation when you do for the bonuses) Lead Generation Strategies In this episode I also answer an audio question from Doug from Business Via Life about lead generation. Doug recently hired a designer intern and was trying to find ways to utilize her talents to not only design websites, but to also get new customers. By using a mix of tradition and non-traditional selling techniques, having his designer get out into the market could definitely drum up some local business. Feedback If you have some questions, comments, or feedback, please don't hesitate to send me a voicemail at 714-643-5301. You can also email me with an audio file at dean@youcanworkless.com. I love hearing from you and it makes the podcast so much more valuable! | 3/20/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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023 STBS: Finding Your Ideal Client | In this episode we talk about why you want to be specific in finding your ideal client. Doing this will save you time, stress, and will lead to an increase in profits! | 2/19/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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022 STBS: Entrepreneur Q and A Forum with Doug and Abner | Alright. I have been super excited to be able to do this. It's definitely the first of it's kind on the show. Anyway, today I got the chance to have a collaboration Q and A call with to guys that - when I met them had no clients AT ALL in their busines - and are now in the game and doing some cool stuff. Doug is a dad of two, and recently started a web consulting and development business. He runs a site called Business Via Life and has some great experiences that he shares in the episode. Abner is a school teacher, but also started a web development company in his spare time. In only a few days, he was able to get a couple of paying clients. Keep in mind, these guys are BRAND NEW in what they've been doing, but they are really killing it. Plus, the reason I am so excited about this podcast is because they have some great things to share with other people that are just starting out. You'll get to hear about how they got their first clients, how long their projects take, and what they plan on doing to take their business to the next level. Plus, they'll be asking me some questions in regards to pricing, delegating tasks to virtual assistants, and sending out proposals. Just a warning up front though, all of the entrepreneur ideas that are on the show can only be successful if you go out and do them. If we can do it, so can you! =) Just a little note, there are several times in the episode where our communication cuts out. So please forgive me for not cutting those out, I wanted to make it as real as possible and also get the audio out and into your hands. =) If you have any questions for Doug or Abner, please leave a comment and let them know what you think! | 1/30/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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021 STBS: 5 Mistakes That You Should Avoid With Virtual Assistants | Happy new year! Alright, so in this episode we are going to talk about some mistakes that EVERYONE makes when hiring and leveraging virtual assistants and how to avoid them. Most of these are common sense, but some take some time and experience to evade. The problems you'll face I am certain that most problems with virtual assistants don't come from the VA themselves, but from the employer. We have a lot of skills and ideas in that noggin of ours that we take for granted, but often we are blind to the fact that what we know is not always common. That being said, most problems that you'll face can be avoided simply by taking a step back and to allow your VA to give you some feedback. The easy button Having a VA doesn't mean that everything is going to be easy and that you no longer have to work or think. It's quite the opposite. while you may be working in a more executive capacity you still need to develop training, make business decisions, sell, market, and so on. That means that you will be going from comfortably implementing, to making decisions that can affect someone's life and career. Hiring too quickly Done this multiple times... it sucks. When you hire too quickly you tend to become unfocused and things stop going well. Start off small and work your way up with a staff. The last thing you want to do is let a good person go. Under-utilizing your VA While you shouldn't expect your VA to make business decisions, you also shouldn't expect too little from them. If you have someone who is skilled and willing to learn, give them hard tasks to do and let them know that they can always ask you for direction if they need help. You'd be surprised at how adaptable and amazing some VAs can be. Overwhelming your VA While you don't want to under-utilize them, you also don't want to give your VA so many different things that they get paralyzed. Give them one thing at a time and let them master it before they move onto the next. Not delegating value added tasks Do you want to save time or make money. The majority of the time the latter will do both. When possible, always give your VA a value-added task to do that either helps you to make sales or increases the capacity to make more money. the more money you make, the more likely you are to give bonuses and be motivated to increase your business goals. There are many more Of course, this isn't a comprehensive list, and I go more into the details in the podcast itself, but if you avoid these you'll see some great results. These all boil down to being a leader. Buy mastering leadership and decision-making, you'll become much more profitable in your VA-driven business. Bonus: Found a great site that has a pretty accurate price range for VAs. Check it out! | 1/10/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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020 STBS: To Asia and Back With Hilary Corna | I've been really excited to publish this episode. Hilary Corna is the owner of www.onewhiteface.com and a soon-to-be-author of the book One White Face. She has an amazing story that I think a lot of people need to hear about following your passion, taking a risk, and perseverance. Not only that, she has some great practical advice for people looking to sell their brand and build an audience through public speaking. Risking it all... One of the things that really jumps out during this interview is that in order to reach higher goals, you have to be willing to step out in faith. By taking a chance and dashing into hope, Hilary was able to become a major player in corporate Asia and a now sought after speaker in her niche. None of that would have happened had she listened to the people who meant well and cared about her. You don't have to do what Hilary did, but in order to excel in business you need to be able to take risks. Whether it's calling up your chamber of commerce to ask if they could use a presentation on social media, or to call 20 prospects in your industry, by moving out of your comfort zone you can position yourself to achieve things that you never thought possible. Thank you to all that signed up for my newsletter Recently, everyone that signed up for my newsletter got a free copy of my ebook "31 Days to Building a Killer Business with Virtual Assistants" as my way of saying thank you for joining my newsletter. It's no longer available for free to newcomers, but I'm sure that I'll have some cool free information in the near future to those on my newsletter so I highly encourage you to sign up. Besides, it's a great way to keep up-to-date with the latest happenings. Not only that, I created an all new free audio course for those that sign up too. Spoiled yet? | 12/29/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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019 STBS: Interview with Clint Sprauve from Hustle and Grow Podcast | Wow, time has flown by, and I've missed my bi-weekly podcast target by almost 2 weeks, ha! But that's okay because this interview will make up for it. Meet Clint Sprauve Clint has a podcast called Hustle and Grow, and if you aren't subscribed to it - do it now. The best part about the podcast is that rather than focusing solely on himself (like I do most of the time, heh), he interviews up and coming entrepreneurs that have unique stories and perspectives to share with others. Clint himself has done everything from own his own consulting business to working full-time in sales. He has a wealth of knowledge so it was a huge blessing to be able to sit down with him and hear what he has to say. Thank you to those that attended the webinar The webinar that I held on December 11th was amazing! It ended up going long and there were some great questions from everyone that attended. Ultimately, my goal was to deliver some great value and give an in-depth overview on VAs and from the feedback that I've received - I think everyone went away pleased. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone, and I'll have the audio and video recording compiled and up soon. I'm also going to throw in some bonuses as well that the attendees will get for free so stay tuned. Future webinars and workshops For anyone in the Southern California area, I'll be giving a workshop at the NR Computer Learning Center on the fundamentals of Wordpress and how to get found on the Internet. It's going to be fantastic, and if you want a discount, just use my name (Dean) for the Promo Code. I am super excited about this workshop, and I know that it's going to be a blast. Also, I got an email from a friend of mine that asked if I could do a webinar on how to create killer proposals that work every time. I love this subject and would love to do a webinar on it. If you'd be interested, send me an email at dean@proslum.com, or just leave a comment below. | 12/18/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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018 STBS: Project Management Tools for Virtual Assistants | In this episode, I answer a question from Doug Noble from Noble Ride Bells. Doug asks about what project management tools are good for virtual assistants. Building a foundation Rather than just going full-bore into a project management system with your VAs, I would highly suggest using something like Google Apps to create a foundation for productivity first. The reason I suggest Google Apps is because it's free, it gives you and your VA the ability to collaborate on documents, and you can integrate so many other third-party applications with it. I totally believe that this is a great way to get started. Finding the project management system that fits you There are a ton of systems out there that you can use to track projects. However, before diving into one, you need to find one that fits your current set up. Here was my criteria in choosing a project management system: First and foremost, did it integrate with Google Apps? Is it easy for me to use? Is there ready-made training? Is it easy for potential clients to use? For me, ManyMoon met all of these, so that's the one that I went with. However, one alternative that I used when I first started was Zoho Project. I used it for my first server build project for Reliable Dental Lab and I think it's great. It also integrates with Google Apps, so that's pretty awesome. Ultimately, you need to go with what works for you. There are some great systems out there, try them out. =) Upcoming webinar Yesterday, I sent the registration link for my upcoming webinar, "Using Virtual Assistants to Propel Your Business 101", to everyone in my newsletter. The webinar is on December 11th, and as of writing this there are 14 seats left. If you want to have an early shot at attending, sign up for my newsletter and send me an email at dean@youcanworkless.com and I'll shoot you over the link. The price of the webinar is $39, and you'll get a free copy of the recording (which will be double the cost of the webinar after the event). | 11/25/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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017 STBS: SEO Swindlers and Conflicts of Interest | In this episode, I go over some listener feedback regarding SEO and conflicts of interest. If you have any questions, please feel free to send me an audio file or give me a call at 714-643-5301. Don't forget to check out my series on how to leverage virtual assistants for business and profit! Are you conflicting with someone's interests? Angela asked about how to find a company's policy regarding competition. That is, if she were to leave the company and move out on her own, how would she know that she were not doing something unethical. This is a great question because most people who move out on their own don't worry about this at all, and it can come back to bite them. This is especially true if you are dealing with the same customers and clients that you worked with while employed with the company that you left. Basically, with a large company it's easy to find out their policy since there is usually a department that handles those sorts of things (as in the case with my full-time employer). Typically they'll have you sign a statement of no competition and you are on your way. It's different with smaller companies. The best way to find out what constitutes a conflict of interest and what doesn't is to just ask your supervisor. Of course, I'm not a lawyer, but that's what I'd do, ha! How can you tell if an SEO consultant is for real?' Abner from The Entrepreneurial Life asked about how to tell if an SEO consultant is real or fake. This is a huge problem in today's business market. Everywhere you look, there is an SEO expert telling you that they can get you to the front page of Google fast! What a load of bull. In the podcast I talk about t the following things to look for when approached by so-called SEO experts: Do they ask about your business, market, audience? Are they going to provide content for your website regularly? Are they going to write articles, press releases, etc regularly? If you have a large niche business, did they tell you that'll it'll be very difficult to rank high? These are just some things to look out for, but if an SEO expert doesn't bring up these topics, they are probably just looking to grab you money. Upcoming Virtual Assistants 101 webinar I will be hosting an upcoming webinar on December 11th. The time and cost are TBD, but it's looking like it's going to be around $39. I am only going to open up 18 seats (3 of which are taken already by folks who sent me emails), so space is limited. I will send my newsletter subscribers information and registration first, and then give everyone else a chance to register after that. Stay tuned! | 11/18/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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016 STBS: Tasking Your VA and Getting Started in Business | Oh happy day! In this podcast I received two questions (which are always welcomed and appreciated). The first question was from Abner from The Entrepreneurial Life (great podcast, by the way), in which he asked about what were the most important steps in getting started in any business. The second question was from Sharif from 28media.com, and he asked about how to best keep VAs on task. The Keys to Starting a Business If you've been reading my blog long, you'll notice a huge shift in thinking about what's important in business. The change in mindset came about in early April when I faced the reality that I had been in business for about 6 months and basically made no money at all. Because of that, I took a course on how to market and sell. Since then, whenever anyone asks me what's important in a business, the only thing I ever say is sales. What good is buying $1500 remote software tools, incorporating, or developing a website if you have no clue who your market is and what they want to buy? No matter what business you are in, everything is dependent on sales. Currently, I do about %1 implementation on all web projects, but I do %100 of the sales. Which is more important? I mentioned one book in the podcast, but I meant to mention more. My favorite sales books are: The Little Red Book of Sales Secrets of Power Negotiating Million Dollar Consulting (my favorite by far) Limitless Tasks for Your Virtual Assistant The worst feeling in the world is having a VA and not knowing what tasks to give them. You know that every hour that goes by your money is being wasted. This happened to me with my first VA, Tazeen. I had her creating spreadsheets for me in support of my full-time job. However, once those were done, I had no clue what to use her for. There are TONS of things that you can give a VA that are perpetual, which they can fall back on any time that they don't have a specific project to do. Here are some things I have my guys doing: Article marketing for my web sites and blog Article marketing for my clients Blog posts for my affiliate sites Blog posts for client sites Direct linking with adwords (recently stopped doing this, but it works). Press releases Set up interviews for my podcast Ghostwrite an e-book using my content and audio Develop frameworks for faster web development Keyword research based off of their interests and so on.... Unfortunately, the key to all of this is that you need to train them. There are two things that I suggest though. The first is using something like Jing. It's free and you can create 5-minute screencasts. Most people don't realize just how much work they do on a daily basis that - if they recorded it - they could pass it off to their VA. So, the next time you are doing research or are creating a newsletter, record it and give it to your VA with an explanation of what you are doing. If you are into marketing online, the second thing I'd recommend is Replace Myself. It's a training program by John Jonas that is geared toward training your VAs to do marketing over the Internet. It's really good, but if you don't have an online business or aren't interested in affiliate niche market, it's probably not for you. It has some really good copywriting and article marketing training for VAs, but some of the link building stuff is a little shady. Still, I use it a lot with my VAs. Map out your VA's goals One thing that helped me was mind mapping my VA's tasks. I was going to save this for my 31 day course, but I think it'd help here. All of my VA's tasks are geared toward goals that I have set for my business. Doing this makes it very easy to find persistent and value added tasks (yes, my mind is messy): | 11/9/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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STBS 015: Two Business Failures You Should Avoid | In this podcast I mainly talk about my failures. Yes, I fail a whole lot. They are never life threatening, or something that could cause the end of my business, but failures are super stressful and usually result is a lot of money lost. Decision-maker vs. influencer One of the first things I learned in sales is that you should ALWAYS be talking to the decision-maker and not the influencer. What's the difference? Well, one wholes the money and is taking all the risk while the other is not. That means that no matter how much they like you and think you are the best candidate for the job, the influencer will never be signing the contracts. Unless you want to waste your time, you should always personally contact the economic buyer before sending any proposals. There are a coupe of reasons for this: Meeting face-to-face creates a much stronger relationship than speaking over the phone. When you meet the decision-maker, they will be judging the project bid on how they like and trust you rather than on price. The vast majority of other freelancers and entrepreneurs are afraid to meet in person, or don't feel that they need to. I talk about how, even though I knew better, I broke this rule and it cost me around $40,000 in profit. Mock ups, mock ups, mock ups. In my post, How Not to Get Pwned by a Client, I talk about how you should always do things as visually as possible prior to implementing or executing any project. Well, I didn't and I got really burned. Rather than take the time to draft every single page in a project I was creating, I developed the main page and a few others. I then assumed that my client, who is very hard to pin down, approved of the mock ups. Well, he didn't. Long story short, I am basically doing some work for free now.... More good stuff in the podcast There is A LOT of stuff going on, and a lot of new great content being made in the next few days. You'll have to listen to the podcast to find out what they are, but I am REALLY excited about them. Thank you for all of the great comments and emails! Keep them coming!! | 11/6/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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014 STBS: Podcasting As a Business w/ Cliff Ravenscraft | You DO NOT want to miss this podcast. My friend and mentor, Cliff Ravenscraft (the Podcast Answer Man), took the time out of his busy schedule to come on the show and let me interview him about his full-time career in podcasting. If you have any doubt as to whether or not you can make money doing what you love, Cliff is proof that it is possible. Cliff was an insurance agent for his family owned insurance business - and making good money. The only problem was, he hated it. What he really loved and wanted to do for a living was podcasting. After deciding to leave the insurance business to pursue his dream, he spent a year wondering if he was going to be able to make ends meet and provide for his family. By the grace of God and a lot of sweat, he is making more money now than he's ever had before. Passion and business Now, if you've followed the blog for a while, you'd know that I am always skeptical when people "follow their passion" when it comes to business. Most of the time you find people ignoring business fundamentals and failing miserably. However, passion is definitely a required recipe for a phenomenal business. Podcasting as a Marketing Tool Cliff leaves no doubt that podcasting is a great sales and marketing tool. In fact, as he mentions in the podcast - he rarely has to do any actual selling to potential clients anymore. Prospects can easily hear his expertise through his audio and decide whether or not his consulting would be a worthwhile investment. Bottom line You have skills, talents, and knowledge that a lot of people don't have. Don't take the information you have for granted; there are a lot of people who are willing to pay you in order to save hours of research and heart ache. Your next career is out there, you only have to share your knowledge with others. | 10/18/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 30 | Video013 STBS: A Sneak Peek at my Business Model | First, I want to thank WavesofTech for giving me 5 stars on iTunes. It was a huge morale booster, especially since I have two podcasts out there with over 20 episodes. I was beginning to think my content was horrible, ha! Wow. This podcast episode has been a long time coming, and originally I was thinking of giving it only to my newsletter subscribers. I had been sitting on it for a while because, while I am very proud of what I do, it puts me and my business in a vulnerable spot. In any case, in this presentation I made I give you a look at how I do business. Here are some of the topics that I talk about: What is a business and why you shouldn't be afraid of charging money for what you do. Why you are pricing your services way too low. How to work smarter in order to work less. My secret sauce for operating and growing my business. Once you hear about my secret weapon, you'll understand why I am apprehensive. I may be just paranoid, but I don't know. I mentioned it to a prospective partner and client, and they didn't seem to mind, but it's still a bit scary to divulge. At any rate, it's the only reason I am able to do what I do, enjoy my family, and maintain a full-time job. It's been a very interesting year. Although it's extremely rough at times, the tips mentioned in this podcast have really helped me to focus on how to maintain a steady stream of income, and get rid of the feeling of being ashamed when asking for money for my time. Your time is valuable and you have talents that people will gladly pay for, with a little confidence and some networking, you can make some money doing what you love. I'd really love to know what you think about my strategy. If you have any questions or feedback, please let me know in the comments. | 9/26/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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012 STBS: How to Find Clients and Make Money Blogging | Sales, sales, sales. As much as I want to deny it, everything is sales. In this episode, Linda from the UK asks if you can make money blogging and Tertius asks about finding clients and what to offer them. Both ask the age-old question: How can I make more money? How to Really Make Money Blogging The majority of information out there regarding making money blogging says that in order to be a professional blogger you need to consistently develop good content. While that's true in a sense, the fact of the matter is that in whatever endeavor you set out to do - if you want to make money in it you have to treat it like a business. That means that you have to develop a business model, products to sell (affiliate or your own), and create your sales funnel. Just like in a traditional business you need to know who your target market is, what constitutes a lead, and how do you get them to buy what you are promoting or selling. Once you've built a business with your blog, it'll no longer be can I make money blogging, but how can I make more money blogging? If you are serious about trying to make money blogging here are two products that I use and recommend that have really helped me to learn how to set up online business, and to sell online and offline: Internet Business Mastery Little Red Book of Sales Finding Clients and Knowing What to Offer The easiest way to find clients is to go to them. 95% of my business comes from networking events (free tweetups). The majority of time, thanks to kind-hearted friends that I've met, I don't have to sell a thing. Just through talking and conversation, people who I've met refer businesses to me and create offers themselves. I've been hired for SEO, web development, business IT, and blog consulting. All of those are a result of someone else selling for me. Can I do all those things? Yes. But because of relationships built through authentically talking with new people, I tend to get a wide range of offers brought to me, rather than me brining it to them. On the topic of blogging and making money, in October I'll be having Cliff Ravenscraft on the show. He's a professional podcaster and blogger and works full-time producing great content. So yes it can be done. Do you make money blogging? How do you find clients? Let me know in the comments. | 9/19/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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011 STBS: WordPress for Solopreneurs Part 2-Authority | This is a follow on to the last podcast that focused primarily on building your brand with Wordpress. Now that you've got your brand going, it's time to start doing one of the most important part of having a blog - building authority. Although crucial, many blogs ignore this facet of promotion and public relations. But if you want to build gravity, you need to be an expert and be seen as the go to guy (or gal) with the answers. There are several ways that you can do this. Blogging Writing is the easiest way to deliver consistent content to your audience. The more content that you produce that's valuable, the more you'll be perceived as an expert in your community. Of course, it's easier said than done. writing consistently can be extremely time-consuming and coming up with topics can be tough. Audio/Video Podcasting Letting people hear your voice or see you is a fantastic way to build authority and expertise. One reason for this is that listeners and viewers can generally tell if you are lying or if you really know your stuff. Not only that, it creates as greater bond with your audience because they tend to get to know your quirks and unique gifts. I highly recommend giving it a try. Articles I haven't done this yet, but many people have told me that re-purposing some of your blog posts for niche publications is a gold mine. For example, if you blog about red tailed hawks - take one or more of your posts and submit them to Red Tailed Hawk Weekly. Newsletter Having an exclusive newsletter significantly helps to build relationships and perceived expertise, fast! Not only that, it build a sense of belonging and community - especially when you dialogue with your audience. A newsletter is a must-have for any blog or business online. Have any tips for building authority? Let everyone know in the comments! | 8/23/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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010 STBS: WordPress for Solopreneurs Part I – Branding | Transcript of episode: Click here to read It's time folks. Time to talk about my favorite tech subject - Wordpress. There is a LOT of information out regarding this wonderful platform, but most of it is geared to the beginner that's trying to blog - or to the coder looking to do crazy things with the code. However, there is not much information out there on how solo business owners (or business owners to be) can use it to build their brand, syndicate, collaborate, and so on. That being said, for the next few podcasts we are going to discuss Wordpress for Solopreneurs. We'll talk about everything you've ever wanted to know about how to set up Wordpress to spread your message. In this episode we talk about branding. We talk about some of the aspects of branding, and some of the tool that you can use in Wordpress to syndicate your brand across multiple channels. By using some simple plugins, you can give your readers and social media friends the ability to take your brand to new places on the Internet. Here are some of the plugins mentioned in the show: Feedburner Feedsmith - Redirects your RSS feeds to Feedburner for easy syndication. Tweetmeme - Let's your readers re-tweet your posts to their friends using Tweetmeme - which is a de facto standard used by almost every prominent blog out there. Add-to-any/Share This! - Let's your users submit your site to just about every social networking site out there. Great to get some extra traffic. TwitterSifu - Automatically tweets posts you've done to Twitter randomly throughout the day. Works great to keep your friends up-to-date on your blog. The goal, of course, is to make yourself known to people in a valuable and specific way. Creating a brand is difficult, but compared to 10 years ago when you had to have thousands of dollars to get radio and TV spots to get your name out there, it's considerably easier. How have you used Wordpress to build your brand? | 8/17/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 34 | Video009 STBS: How to Easily Add Social Icons to WordPress | Transcript of episode: Click here to read Have you ever been frustrated at trying to add social bookmarking icons to your Wordpress blog? Well, you are not alone, trust me. I recently helped a friend of mine, Ted Nguyen build a Wordpress website from scratch using a killer WooTheme. Unfortunately, Ted is a real go getter and spent 5 hours trying to figure out how to go about adding some cool social media icons to the sidebar of his blog. Well, because of this funny fiasco, I decided to create this video showing how to easily add social networking icons to the sidebar of your Wordpress blog without having to know any code whatsoever. All you need is a couple of icons (we used some from sixrevisions.com), and a little knowledge of how to leverage Wordpress' visual editor and widgets. Here are the step-by-step instructions: Essentially, you start off by uploading all of the icons that you want to use into your blog's media library. You insert the ones that you want to use into the visual editor used for posts and pages. *UPDATE*: Make sure that you select "Left" for alignment. Modify the height and width you want using the visual editor's resize capability. Once you've done that, you click over to the HTML tab, and all of the HTML is there for the taking. Copy all of that code and head on over to the widget area of your theme under the "Appearance" tab. Bring up a text widget drop it into the area of the sidebar that you want to use. Add some header text (or don't). Paste the code into the text widget. Then you are done! How's that for an easy 9-step process. I apologize for the lack of images, but the video explains it all in grueling detail. Keep in mind that the mouse curse is a little off for some reason. If you have any questions for the podcast or blog, please don't hesitate to ask. Let me know if this was helpful in the comments. If you listen to the podcast in iTunes, send me some good reviews if you like it! | 8/9/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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008 STBS: Social Networking Doesn't Work (Alone) | Transcript of episode: Click here to read While at a Tweetup in beautiful Orange County, California, Linked in expert and friend Neal Schaffer asked me about podcasting equipment. I wanted to do a show on networking and how to effectively use social networking with traditional networking, but rather than do the show with my in-studio gear I decided to show off my Edirol R-09HR hand held audio recorder that I got from Cliff Ravenscraft. So Neal, this cast is for you. I firmly believe that the single most driver of whether your startup will succeed or fail is through networking. In essence, if you can't build meaningful and trusting relationships with people that can help the momentum of your business, you are toast! Most people have no clue how to connect with others. They'll shove business cards into the hands of hundreds, and wonder why nobody is giving them a call. It's not hard to see why. Would you seriously call a stranger and hope that they have the expertise to help your situation? When you just hand out business cards that's all that you are, a stranger. If you want to network successfully, here are some basic but powerful networking tips: While you may be networking to drum up business, you shouldn't meet new people for the purpose of drumming up new business. People are more responsive to authenticity. When I network, my first priority is to build friendships. The majority of people that I meet I would hang out with on a regular basis whether or not I ever do business with them. Bring your online friends offline, and your offline contacts online; the former lets you become a real person to those you meet on Twitter and so on, the latter helps you to maintain contact on a regular basis. Your networking needs to be targeted. Use Hootsuite to create targeted opportunities meet new people that matter to your business. Don't just go to every event that comes up near you. If you are an "introvert" like me, get over it. You have to get out there and become a part of the community. If not, you might as well stick with your corporate job. | 7/31/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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007 STBS: Why Your Business Needs Google Apps | Transcript of episode: Click here to read Before I get started, I just want to say that I am a Google Apps reseller (but I've used it long before becoming one). However, Google Apps Standard Edition (the free version), is what I recommend to most people. That being said, I truly believe that all small businesses should be using Google Apps. Yet, 90% of small business owners that I consult with have no idea what Google Apps is. It's a shame that many don't take advantage of some of the powerful tools it has to offer. I explain more thoroughly in the podcast, but here's why I feel most small businesses are missing out! It easy to use Note, I didn't say it is easy to set up (it's not that bad), but once it's set up it is extremely easy to use. Basically, it's like having your own version of Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and more. In the past, to have your own domain name and email you needed to go through your web host's webmail application or connect your mail application to the host's email server. Either way, it was a pain. Not only that, you were usually doused with spam every day because of poor spam blocking. Once set up, everything works just like the normal versions of Gmail and so on. Pretty neat. It's more professional What looks better "supersalon@gmail.com" or "Mary@supersalon.com"? I rest my case. It's more collaborative The ability to share documents and contacts is HUGE. Not only internally, but with outside organizations as well. Working real-time on documentation makes a huge difference when you want to get things done. The new Google Apps Marketplace is ridiculously awesome Not only do you get Google applications, now that Google opened up its marketplace, a whole host of third party apps are integrated as well. That means that you have a one stop shop to all of the business web applications that you will ever need. What do I use? Well, I'm glad you've asked: Aviary - a free Photoshop-like/Adobe Illustrator-ish web application. Great for small graphic projects. Freshbooks - Pretty sweet accounting software. They recently changed their pricing model to allow for unlimited customers (thank goodness). Gist - My favorite CRM software. (Had an issue with Gist today though. You can hear about it in the podcast). Mailchimp - A really good email marketing web application. It's free until you get more than 500 users. ManyMoon - a FREE project management web application similar to Basecamp. Tripit - a traveler's best friend. Helps organize everything you need for your next trip. Tungle.me - a KILLER calendar scheduling app. *Update* Not Everything Can Be Perfect I decided to add some things to consider about Google Apps. It is not a complete solution, by any means. Although Google Docs works, it is not that great. Don't get me wrong, they've improved it significantly, but there is still a lot missing. Not only that, formatting issues are the bane of anyone trying to use it for complex documentation. If you want to use Google as a storage place for documentation for your business, I'd recommend against it. It's too clunky of an interface. I would recommend something like DropBox if you need real-time document sharing. Google sites, while very easy to use, is just like any other WYSIWYG website builder. Don't get me wrong, you can do some amazing things with it. But it's just not the same as making a BuddyPress community or Wordpress site. Feedback All that being said, I'd love to hear your opinion of Google Apps, especially if you think it's not as great as I make it out to be. I give some more cons in the podcast, but I'm sure there are many more of them. Leave me a voicemail at any time, day or night, at 714-643-5301. Your comments are always welcome, too! | 7/24/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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006 STBS: Power Pricing and How To Price Fairly | Transcript of episode: Click here to read In this episode, I talk about how to price yourself fairly to your clients and how to create a win-win situation for the both of you. Pricing is one of the most difficult steps in the whole business process, not because it's hard to calculate what you should be charging clients, but because there are huge emotional and self-confidence barriers that you need to overcome first. That being said, if you can't price yourself correctly, then you are likely to fail in any business venture. Steps to Overcoming Pricing Barriers First step is to realize that asking for money in return for a service is not a bad thing. Not only that, asking for a considerable amount of money for your services is totally acceptable if you are giving your client great value. Second, look at how much you are being paid at your current job. While you may be getting $20-$40 an hour, the actual cost of you to the company is considerable. As mentioned in the podcast, the current rate for folks in my full-time organization is around $150 and hour. What If I Overprice? It is very hard to overprice if you are delivering a valuable service. When most people ask about overpricing they really mean, how could I possibly charge a lot of money? Amounts are relative to value! For example, if you charge a client $5000 for 2 hours of work - yet they make an additional $500,000 annually as a direct result of your service - does the amount you charge really seem like a lot? Of course not! If you give your customer more value than what they've paid you, then you are golden. Don't worry about whether it's a lot of money or not. Always Ask for More, Not Less One of the major gambits in negotiation is pricing higher than what you would want as a minimum payment (I highly recommend the Secrets of Power Negotiating). There are two reasons for this. First, it creates a win-win situation. For example, if you want to make $1000 for a project, and you charge $2000 - even if you negotiate down to $1500 you win because it's more than $1000 and your client wins because it's less than $2000. You can never negotiate up! Second, it's build perceived value in your service. It's weird, but the more expensive something is, the more valuable it seems even if it's not. That's life. Pricing Types and How to Calculate Your Price Lastly, there are a couple of ways to price yourself - hourly, fixed-price, and value based. As emphasized in Alan Weiss' book Million Dollar Consulting, you always want to price yourself based on value. Here's the way I figure out how much I should charge clients. I determine my annual income needs (gross income), let's say $200,000. Next, I figure out how may clients I ideally want to have throughout the year. If it's 6 clients, I need to charge them $3000 a month each in whatever services that I provide. Of course, I could add more clients and charge less, or reduce clients and charge more. Thanks! I wanted to give a big shout out to Megan Enloe from www.podcastjunky.com. She gave some great constructive criticism regarding my show notes and how I should include more information. Don't forget to follow Paul Tran, Rochelle Veturis, Debbie Miller, Neal Schaffer, and Ted Nguyen. All great people that I've mentioned at some point in the podcast or on the blog! | 7/18/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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005 STBS: Why Your Business Needs a CRM | Transcript of episode: Click here to read It's getting harder and harder to build meaningful relationships these days. That's why in this episode we talk about two things: maintaining relationships with clients during tough times, and keeping relationships fresh using a Contact Relationship Manager (CRM). When you are in a large organization, serious problems rarely occur. That is, it's very rare to be yelled at by a customer or client directly because you are usually just a cog in the wheel behind the scenes. However, when you are a solopreneur or business owner, problems occur often. What do you do when the crud hits the fan? How you react to emergencies and mistakes will determine whether you wow your clients or if they'll be looking for another service provider. Another thing to keep in mind when owning a business is that fresh and meaningful relationships are the key to success. Although you may be the sole owner of your business, success is never a solo ordeal. Your business depends on the referrals of your clients, your business relationships, and your personal relationships. Being able to keep in contact with all of those people requires a CRM. I've used several CRMs within the past year, and have found that 3 meet the criteria that I recommend for anyone looking to use a CRM for their business. those three CRMs are Gist, Highrise, and Batchbook. However, if you want to know which one I use (and which one I think outdoes the rest), you'll have to listen to the podcast. If you haven't listened to the the previous episode (004 STBS: Corporate Professional to Entrepreneur with Paul Tran), you are seriously missing out on some great tips on moving from corporate to business owner. As always, thank you for your comments. I would love to hear your voice, so if you'd like to leave some audio feedback (and a plug for your blog/business) please give me a call at 714-643-5301, or you can record an audio note on your phone and send me an email @ dean [at] prosulum [dot] com. | 7/12/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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004 STBS: Corporate Professional to Entrepreneur with Paul Tran | A So Totally Business Savvy first, I got to interview an amazing entrepreneur and good friend that I met via Twitter, Paul Tran, on how to own your own business. Paul is a serial entrepreneur that has made quite a name for himself in Southern California, as well as nationally. Starting off in retail, moving to the banking industry at Well's Fargo, he finally decided to take the plunge and start his own business in an industry that he had no experience in (other than he was a consumer and knew what he liked) and totally crushed it. In the interview I ask him about some of the pleasant surprises and the not-so-nice surprises that he faced, what he would do differently if he had the chance, and also how he managed to move from owning one business to several. He also shares some of his most influential books, and how passion is a key factor in starting and running your own business. One thing that was very surprising was his mention that if he had to do it all over again he would have gone with a franchise. It is very hard to know how to own your own business when you first start out, and it's great to have a model that is already proven to work. In essence, he says that the cost of the franchise can be much cheaper than the cost involved with proving a new concept. If you want some great insights into how you can move from full-time corporate life to owning your own business, you won't want to miss this interview. As always, if you have any feedback or comments, please leave me a voicemail message at 714-643-5301, I'd love to hear from you. Oh, and don't forget to follow @DeanSoto and @PaulTTran on Twitter! | 7/7/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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003 STBS: The Importance of Communication | More than anything else, public speaking and communication will help launch your career and professional expertise. In this episode I discuss how learning to share information is necessary to build a successful career. | 6/29/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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002 STBS: WordPress as a Powerful Business Tool | Wordpress is an inexpensive and powerful way for small businesses to build a site that markets their message. It's free, easy, and provides tremendous value. But, it can also be used to the corporate professional. Check out more in this episode of So Totally Business Savvy. | 6/28/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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001 STBS: Starting a New Podcast | Transcript of episode: Click here to read In this episode, we discuss something that's been a huge life changer (and the topic of many blog posts) - Getting Started on Something. Whether it's starting a new business, taking charge of a new project, or starting a new podcast (ahem) - the importance of starting something is a valuable skill that will only be beneficial (even if you fail). Topics in this episode: - Personal benefits from starting a business - Pricing Shout outs mentioned in this podcast: - Emily Crume (@emilyquestions) - Mike Yoo (@youandyoo) | 6/27/10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 42 Episodes |
Customer Reviews
Learn
I love this podcast. I have learned so much. It has actually motivated me to start my own business on the side. Also if you email Dean he helps you out. Just Awesome.
You
This is one of the best biz podcasts on iTunes. Dean gives great advice from starting your business to using virtual assistants. I'm a huge fan of this podcast and I'm sure you will be as well once you listen to it. Check it out!!!
Angela Hemans
It is a great podcast. Dean is a down to earth type of guy and his podcast make this known. His topics are very insighful and helpful. The overall process he is going through to get his business off the ground is inspirational. Hopefully he will keep going with this podcast.
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