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Referenced Links:
- Ideas for Black Friday Promotions (Episode 35)
- Book Yourself Solid
Tweetables:
Clients provide content right to us with the questions they ask us. #vatip 
Gotta Tweet!
Start at a certain standard, then go higher. #vatip Gotta Tweet!
What else do you have to share with people who are looking for more? #vatip Gotta Tweet!
In Words:
Hi! You’re listening to episode number 75. By the time this particular episode comes out, it will be my birthday week. I’m so excited. I don’t know. I just get geeked up when my birthday gets here. I know once my birthday comes the year will fly by like lightening because my birthday is on the 24th, then it’ll be Thanksgiving before we know it, and then Christmas before we know it, and then New Years and we’re off into 2017.
This is a fun weekend for me. I was trying to really think of some poignant things to say and it just wasn’t coming. I’m like I don’t know. Let’s just have a chit chat. I’ve got my coffee. Maybe you’ve got tea or water or whatever in front of you. It may not be a big note taking day, but just know that we’re in this together in our virtual assistant businesses.
If you plan on offering a special for Black Friday, I am going to direct you to episode number 35. I gave some ideas on Black Friday. That’s been a while ago, but that information still applies. It’s a great opportunity to listen to it now, because when I look at the dates, I think I started looking at the November dates on the calendar. So you want to go back and listen to episode number 35.
Make it your goal this week to decide what you’re going to do for Black Friday.
Start getting your promotional emails and social media posts and things like that ready to go so you can start promoting Black Friday early. Whether you plan to offer your promotion actually on Black Friday or sooner than Black Friday, and I talk about that on that particular episode. So be sure and check out episode number 35 and we’ll link that in the show notes for you. Take some time out. Listen to that. I think it’s like a half hour episode. I’m not 100% sure.
But take time to listen to that while you’re working or cleaning or however you like to do when listening to your podcast. When I’m listening to training or podcast, I’m not usually sitting still listening. I’m usually doing something else and listening to it, and then something will stand out and then I’ll take quick note and continue from there.
The other thing I want to start doing is I’ve been reading different books and every time I’m reading something I’ll usually mention it on the podcast, but I want to almost do kind of like not really a full book club, but where I go into more detail and discussion on the book and maybe some things that came to mind while I was reading the book. This may stir up conversation between us where you could post on Facebook or Twitter, whichever one is your better one, where we can, you know, talk about the book.
What I’m going back to reread is the book called Book Yourself Solid. It’s been a while since I’ve read this book and I want to go back to it. It’s called Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port. It is an excellent book. I can remember when I was first introduced to it, I was reading and could not put the book down. It’s one of those books that you want to go back to later as a refresher.
Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port – that’s going to be the first book that I dive a little deeper into, other than just telling you I’m reading this book and giving a little brief summary about it. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this book previously on the podcast. But I’m going to start this book and read it again. I want to read it from beginning to end. It’s one of those kind of books. I want to go back and read it from beginning to end, and I’m sharing it on the podcast. This is how I am kept accountable, by telling you on the podcast.
I’ll start sharing little tidbits and takeaways that I got, for us as virtual assistant business owners, from the book and I want to hear what you get as well because some things may stand out to you that don’t stand out to me and vice versa. You can read it or get the audio version, you know, whatever you like to do for your books. Just because you’re listening to a book doesn’t count as reading it. Count that as reading it too.
So that’s what we’re going to do and I will be starting that this week, starting into the book this week and hopefully it won’t take me too long to read it. I’m going to give myself two weeks to finish the book, and again, I’m sharing all that with you to be held accountable for it, because I know I’ll read several things at one time, which is fine, but this book I really need to go back and read it from beginning to end. He dives into why you need to pick a special group, why you need to be very selective in your client selection. There’s a thing he calls “a velvet rope.”
If you’ve been doing your same thing for a while, this is a perfect reset book to get you back on track. Maybe there are some things you need to change. Maybe you’ve been accepting every single person that comes through your door and it’s time to refine and maybe refuse in working with some people if you’ve allowed the standard to dip some or maybe it just needs to change. Maybe it needs to go higher. We start out at a certain point and then we want to go higher. So maybe time to go higher in that regard.
Those are two action steps. One is going back to episode number 35, listening to that for Black Friday, and then diving into this book. However you want to do it. Buy it on Amazon, get if from the library, whatever. You don’t want to not read this book. It’s geared towards service providers too. That’s another cool thing about the book, that it’s geared towards service providers.
Let me see. Okay, last week’s episode I talked about the secrets of being a virtual assistant business owner. It’s so funny, some of those same things came up again this week about people not being curious enough or searching enough. If you did not listen to that episode, go back and check that one out as well, and be ready to stand out from the rest.
This week I participated in a training call for direct sales business, and it was a great call about selling, excellent call. The lady was excellent. Trainer was fantastic. I wanted more, so I did what I do. I researched her, looked her up. She gave us every way to contact her, even her personal phone number, which I was a little taken back by. But I was hoping that she had a book, a blog, an article, a podcast, a workshop, you know, something online, something more, and it was not available. There was a website, but it was like a really pretty brochure, but there was no blog, no more.
It was a great lesson for all of us is that when people meet us and when we share about what we do, what our interests are, people want more. They may not be ready for your service, but they may want more. Like what else do you have to share? What else do you know? Your more is your blog. Your more is what you post on your Facebook page, not just motivational stuff.
I do a lot of quotes on Instagram. That’s like my place to post motivational quotes and pictures and stuff because I look at Instagram like it’s a nice magazine so I post things like that there. Then Facebook I go to for things that are everyday thought provoking conversational type things, but not always what I call rah-rah motivational.
The person that wants more doesn’t necessarily want more motivation. They want more information.
Some days it’s encouragement. Some days it is motivation. But it may be those tips, may be that information that you know because you’ve worked with authors, you’ve worked as a bookkeeper, you’ve worked as a travel agent, and you provide those services in your VA business. So there are some things that you know that other people don’t know. It’s not common knowledge. But it’s like those things, if your client knew, it would make them an even better client for you, but they don’t know it. So the place for you to share that is on social media, is on your website.
A client asked me this week – we’re working on a website project and are going to set up her Facebook and Twitter, you know, get that set up for her along with her timeline cover. I told her to add me as an admin on her Facebook page, not realizing that she may not know how to do that. She said it took a long time. She was trying to figure it out. I just told her, “Don’t worry about it. Just send me your logins and we’ll go from there.”
Light bulb moment for me was this will be a great episode for Tips & Tech with Tiffany is to show people how to add an admin to their Facebook page. Their Facebook gives, I think, three different options. I think it’s like admin, moderator, and editor. Three different options for when you’re adding somebody as an admin to your page, giving them access to update and do things.
I thought, okay, perfect, this is going to be a Tips & Tech with Tiffany episode to show people how to do this because it’s one of those things you assume because it’s there, Facebook may even have it in their help section, it’s all there, that people know. But people don’t, and you wouldn’t send your client to Facebook help if they’ve already taken so much time to try and figure it out. You just would go ahead and do it for them.
But I’m going to take that opportunity and that question and use that for an episode for Tips & Tech with Tiffany, because the next project that we have like that where someone needs to add me as an admin to their Facebook page, I’m going to automatically include a link to that episode to let them know to “Add me to your Facebook page. If you aren’t sure how, here’s a video that’ll show you exactly how to do it.” I may have it already transcribed on the blog, and if so, I would send them to the blog. That way they can read or watch it, either way.
But, that’s an example of how you take the information that you know, based on questions clients have given you, and you use that as content. People don’t always know how to do things. We live in it, so we know it well and don’t realize what people don’t know.
That’s why our clients’ questions are rich for our content online. They provide it right to us with the questions that they ask us.
That was a perfect lead-in. I was like, oh, great, I don’t even have to think about this week’s episode. That’s exactly what I’m going to do. Since I’m on birthday mode, I won’t do a whole lot of, you know, diving deep into techie stuff this week. I just want to keep it light. Keep it light.
Anyway, that is that. I want to thank you so much for listening. I’ve given you two big action steps. Wish you all the best on your Black Friday, and I’ve got a couple to work on as well. So get going, get started, and dive into the book.
Thanks so much for tuning in. If you like what you heard, stay tuned. We’ll be back. Tell me what’s going on with you. Come on over the Facebook page: facebook.com/tiffanyparsonbiz, or if you prefer a little shorter message, come on over to Twitter: @tiffanydparson.
See you next time!
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