How to Get Your Small Business National Media Coverage For Free

Thursday 25th Feb

One of my favourite websites for small business is Sourcebottle.

It is a free subscription service that emails 'call outs' for sources from journalists and bloggers. This is a fanastic way to help your small business get potentially national coverage for free. 

Just a month after starting my business, Sourcebottle got my business mentioned in Cleo magazine which lead to a 200% traffic increase to my website!

Increase your chances of success by following the site on Twitter for up-to-the-minute call outs. 

Of course if you need more help with your PR or Marketing Strategy, mi virtual pa can help!

Comment or view previous mi virtual pa posts

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Eight Ways a Virtual Assistant can help you this Christmas

Sunday 11th October 2009

It's been a long year.  One full of late nights, hard work and lost weekends.  For your sanity you have decided to take a break this festive season. 

But are you going to take a real holiday?  One with no emails, phone calls or meetings?  To make it through yet another joyous year of being a small business owner, it is important you detach yourself and be able to lie on the beach without your laptop, even for just a few days.

This is where a virtual assistant can help save the day! While you sip on cocktails at the pool bar your trusty assistant can be working for you assuring your business doesn't skip a beat.

1. Update your social media networks - Twitter, Facebook and all the other wonderful web 2.0 portals out there don't rest over Christmas, so a virtual assistant can help you stay in touch with your social community.

2. Process orders - hopefully while you are sleeping in, orders are still coming in to help pay off the credit card.  A good virtual assistant can learn your order management systems and procedures and continue the process streamlessly while you are away.

3. Customer Service- whether it be answering your phone or following up on email queries, a virtual assistant can ensure that your customers are well looked after throughout the holiday season.  

4. General administration - anything and everything including mail redirection, phone diversion, email management, setting up templates, sprucing up your presentations plus all those jobs you kept putting off all year.

5. Research - Start the New Year off in the right direction, with some updated market research or competitor analysis.   Renew your focus and get started on the right track with the latest information about your product, competitors and consumers.

6. Database Management - If sending out your Christmas card list this year was a nightmare, a virtual assistant can help you updated your databases.

7. Publicity - As things are slowing down in the government and corporate world throughout December and January, this is a great time to pitch stories to media as content can be hard to come by.  A virtual assistant skilled in public relations will be able to help you find the right media hooks, prepare press releases and distribute to media.
8. Book your Easter Getaway! Now you have seen the benefits of working with a virtual assistant you can take a holiday more often!

So have you booked your Christmas holiday yet?

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It's Ok to Say No

As a new business I am very keen to say 'yes' to any money making opportunity that comes my way but for the first time this week I had to say no to a potential client. And it felt great.


Having started my business recently I am finding that I get excited when a number comes up on my phone that I don't recognise - is this the call of a wealthy, desperate millionaire in need of my assistance?


So joy rushed to my head as I answered a call from an unfamiliar number, and yes finally a potential new customer was on the other end. Though she was desperate, she was certainly no millionaire.


I put on my official-phone-speaking-voice and did a great rave about the services I had to offer.


All is going well, and dreams of my client Christmas card list growing, were swimming in my head.


Until I mentioned my rate. I have worked hard over the years developing expert skills and experience to be able to offer my clients a superior service at the right price. My rate is very competitive, in fact significantly lower than similar providers. So I was rather taken aback to have to justify my rate to someone excepting to pay half the price. This wasn't going to be pretty.


Once I explained the benefits and experience I could offer, she begrudgingly agreed to pay my rate. However than informed me she could only afford my brilliance for 2 hours. I am happy to work within my clients budgets, but she was wanting me to commit to a timeline without seeing the scope of the job. Could anyone out there possibly copy write a sales email, set up a database, design an email template and distribute the email within two hours? If so, contact me so I can make money off you!


So at this point she wanted to pay me less than junior award wages for a typing assistant, and complete the task in record time.


The deal breaker was when she told me she would have the work to me by 2pm that day and would need it completed by 4pm. It was 12.30pm.


Don't get me wrong. I enjoy the challenge of tight turnarounds and understand situations arise were tasks need to be completed immediately. In fact, I look forward to those days when I can put on my lycra Superwomen outfit and save the day for my valued clients.


But this was never going to end pretty.


She was shocked when I explained to her that I had prior client commitments, and that I would not be able to complete the project until Friday morning (it was Wednesday). Nor was she willing to incur a small surcharge for such speedy service.


So the conversation ended quite quickly after that, and I didn't believe her when she ended the call with a "I'll get back to you".


I put the phone down with a big smile on my face. Ohh the joy of being able to say 'no' and be in control of my workload. No longer do I have someone telling me what to do each day, well except my 3 year old.


It is important to remember the values you create for your business. Don't compromise your reputation for a quick dollar and a lot of headaches.


I would never have made this client happy, not from lack of trying, but from unrealistic expectations and lack of respect for my business.

http://www.mivirtualpa.com.au/


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The Time Had Come

I knew the exact moment I wanted to work for myself. It was 11pm on a Monday night and I was working on a multi-million dollar sales proposal bouncing my sick baby on my knee to stop him crying and typing with the other hand. I stopped typing, had a cry and decided that this was not the life I was going to live. If I was going to work this hard and sacrifice so much I would rather make the money for myself and not some suit and ties.

So after the birth of our second son my husband and I decided that I would quit the job I loved, move to a small sea side town and begin a new life.

That was over 12 months ago now and I just wish I had done it sooner. I now spend the afternoons playing with my sons on the beach watching the sun set instead of sitting in peak hour traffic and getting home at 7pm.

With over 10 years senior administration and marketing experience within the media industry I have a lot I can offer to small business and solo operators. So after a few glasses of wine, mi virtual pa was born.

The mi mission is to provide not only comprehensive administration services but also offer an alternative to traditional PR and marketing agencies by providing a cost effective marketing support solution for small business.

So here's to living my dream.

Did my second client make me a profit?

Well excitement hit the mi virtual pa office again this week when I secured our second client in two weeks. The water cooler talk soon turned to the question on every one's mind - will this job make a profit unlike the first one?

I'm happy to report that yes, my family can eat this week as I was able to complete the project in less time than quoted. Phew...what a relief to know that I might actually start to make money and be able to justify the expensive new computer and printer purchase with the Financial Controller (or more commonly known as 'husband').

The ups and downs of my first client

Well after two years of thinking about it I finally decided to work for myself and created mi virtual pa - a business dedicated to providing virtual administrative services to busy professionals.

I was very nervous and excited last week to get my first official client - well the first person willing to pay me that I didn't already know personally. It was a simple job of typing up his personal journals which ended up being over 300 pages long. Unfortunately the job took a lot longer than I had anticipated and as it was a fixed price job I ended up losing money.

Instead of feeling disappointed (and broke) I was surprised to feel a huge sense of pride and accomplishment. I accept this crazy new adventure of self employment won't always be smooth sailing and look forward to the new challenges that lay ahead.

Thought it didn't have a positive impact on the bank balance it certainly helped me get the confidence and belief I was on the right track to creating a wonderful future for myself and my precious family.

In hindsight I would still take on the job as it helped me set up my systems and procedures as well as understand the joys and pitfalls of working from home with two small children.

Imagine my delight when unexpectedly the client paid me a 25% bonus for an outstanding job! I took the payment, got in my car and drove home with tears in my eyes. Never in 12 years of working for anyone else did I feel so happy in the job I had just done.

The client will never know the impact that bonus had on me. Though it in no way made up for the money I had lost for the hours it took me, it gave me so much more. The true belief that I am talented and have something very special to offer to the big business world out there.

So here's to making my second client a profitable one.