I was speaking with a friend today about our businesses.  We chatted for a while about groups we belonged to and acquaintances and how we loved to help others succeed in life and in business.  Toward the end of our conversation, we moved more toward what drives business to us.  And I wanted to share her story.

She admittedly is not a social media butterfly.  She use to get on Facebook, maybe once a month to just check in and see what was going on.  During one of those once-a-month visits she saw a post from someone she had met at a conference earlier in the year.  They had gotten to know each other and “friended” one another on Facebook.  And that was the end of the story.

However, on this day my friend noticed a comment from one of her Facebook friends and it really resonated with her.  She felt a strong connection to the post and the person.  So she began to communicate with her and learned more about her business and the services she offered.  Which eventually turned into a working relationship between the two of them.

My friend now has a support person that she get’s along great with and can bounce ideas off of, but also someone that will help her to grow her business in the way she visions.

This little story is just a great example of how social media should work. You post things on your Fan Page or your personal Wall and people read them and hopefully share them with their friends.  You just never know what post might bring you the next big customer or client.  So post great information, thoughtful comments and encouraging words, it will boost your business!

I had the opportunity to attend a teleseminar this morning by L. Drew Gerber CEO & Partner of PressKit 24/7. It was part of the Big Fish Nation program I am a member of. Big Fish empowers women entrepreneur’s to take their business to the next level through hard core business skills with a spiritual approach to success. Today’s teleseminar focused on Online Press Releases.

Drew shared with us that he defines PR as, Your Relationship with the Public and that you should begin using PR from the onset of your business. It will increase brand recognition, and boost your sales of products and services. 90 percent of reporters are getting their information from the Internet, so an Online Press Kit is essential to your Online Business Success!

As part of his company, PressKit 24/7 he has established a source to bring potential media opportunities right into your Inbox. PitchRate.com is the name of this site and it’s completely free! You can register, include a profile, select your area of expertise, along with subcategories and daily you will receive a digest of media opportunities. You can also search on the site for keywords relative to your business.

Drew loves games, and so do I! So he has offered the participants of today’s teleseminar an incredible prize for the person that gets the most people to sign up for PitchRate. That’s where I need your help! If you would like to get daily feeds of media opportunities and grow your business through online press release marketing, please sign up for this free service. And then send me a quick email to (terri.avirtualbiz@gmail.com) and put your name in the subject line. And of course, I’d love to get your feedback to share with Drew.

It’s very important that you send me an email, otherwise, I won’t know that you signed up and can’t count you in my group. I’ll follow up and let you know if YOU helped me win!

Have you ever bought a puzzle at a yard sale?   And when you got it home and began putting it together you realized that you had two puzzles in one box?

That’s how projects can be.  Maybe you get all the pieces from a client to pull together a great end-product, and things flow smoothly.  But sometimes you get more than you expect and it takes a little longer to put all the pieces together.  But as long as the client is pleased and you have a quality outcome, then the challenge is worth it.

I love a good challenge.  That’s what makes my work as a virtual professional exciting.  I love working for different groups of people and helping them with a variety of tasks and projects.

Sometimes you get exactly what you planned for, and sometimes you get even more!

Oh, that makes my skin crawl just typing it! But it happened to me last Friday. I had a computer tech out to my virtual office for some repairs and I noticed he kept rubbing his head and was on the phone quite a bit and finally I ventured in to ask how it was going and he said, “I have some news and some not so good news.” Those are just not comments you want to hear when someone is working on your computer, your livelihood!

So basically he was trying to do something that required my product key from my computer and it wasn’t accepting it, which made the computer unavailable for use. That’s my best description. I’m a virtual assistant, give me a database or some websites to design or social media sites to update and I’m your gal! But this hardware stuff is way over my head. I just know I turn it on in the morning and it usually does what I need it to do.

As I watched him drive away Friday afternoon with my computer on a gurney, my thoughts were, “will I ever see it again and will I ever work again?” Now I did have the good sense to recently buy an external hard drive and all of my client files reside there, and I have another laptop that came over on the Mayflower that I was able to check some emails and not feel so isolated from the world. So I knew I wasn’t completely dead in the water, but just the thought of reloading my programs and re-setting all of my passwords on my main computer just made me sick.

Well, there is a happy ending to this story. Late Sunday evening I got the call that my computer had survived the surgery and was doing well. I am happy to say I am writing this blog on it even now and I believe it is going to make a full recovery.

In my virtual world, having a virtual shut down is a potential death sentence to my business, but because of a few systems I had put in place I was able to have a little peace knowing that I could still function until all was well again.

What’s your plan when the “Grim Computer Reaper” comes calling?

Do you love to network, but don’t have time to follow-up? You’re not alone. The majority of networkers love to mix and mingle with potential new clients at various events, but when they get back to their office, they toss those valuable business cards in a drawer and plan to follow up tomorrow. For most busy professionals, tomorrow brings its own new projects and before you know it, several weeks or even months have gone by with no follow up. Hundreds, or maybe thousands, of dollars in potential revenue has been laying in your top desk drawer!

We have the solution to keep you on top of your follow-up and make you a leader in business prospecting. Our Prospect Follow-up Service – Cards to Cash, provides a quick turnaround to those new business acquaintances and presents a professional image of your business.

Our package offers:

• Each business card scanned into a working database
• The design of a real Follow-up card with your logo or business card imprinted on the inside flap
• The card is mailed to the new prospect on your behalf
• One telephone call is attempted to the new prospect to set an appointment
• Business cards and database file will be mailed back to you for future reference
  

And the best part is that this service is very affordable, around the cost of a nice cup of coffee.

Are there business cards right now laying in your top desk drawer? Have you been too busy to follow-up with the contacts you made at the last Tradeshow? Contact us and we will get your name back in front of these potential new clients. Visit our website at www.avirtualbiz.com, or email to info@avirtualbiz.com.