Brandy Ellen's Business Solutions

Working From Home: Keeping Focus

brandytanner — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 04:43:57 +0000

When you work outside of the home, it can be tough to separate work and life, however, I feel it’s much easier than when working from home. If you have a situation happen in your personal life, you leave it when heading to go to your place of employment. Working from home means that you don’t get to “leave that personal situation”, I mean maybe you go to your office or private corner, but you are still technically “at home” which can make separating personal life situations from working situations extremely difficult.

Top 10 ways I separate my personal life from my work at home life:

Listen to some upbeat music right before my work at home “shift” starts to increase motivation and deter my mind from previous personal situation.
Focus, Focus, Focus … on the project at hand, the present rather than the past (even if it was only 10 minutes ago).
Remind yourself why it is you chose to work from home, the goals you have for yourself and your business.
Create a positive working space, if you aren’t in a real home office, create your private “area” as one of work focus with motivational posters and encouraging quotes.
Type out all your to-do’s so that your mind is on all the tasks that must be accomplished, therefore creating no time to think about the personal situation.
Organize, Organize, Organize … make sure your office area is organized so that you can go from “personal” to “work” mode in less than 1 minute.
Do not disturb sign: place one up some where, some how so that everyone knows that you are working and are NOT to be disturbed unless for an emergency!
Ignore everything, unless emergency, and that means the childcare provided, the spouse, the children, the pets, anything that relates to personal rather than work.
Play your favorite music in the background while working, a tune that will keep your mind from “traveling” and promote efficient working habits.
Just work .. that’s all there really is to it … you are home, but are you in your “office” now and so just get to work!

Why Social Media Is Important

brandytanner — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:00:36 +0000

As a blogger I know how important social media and bloggers can be to brands. If you are looking for honest, word of mouth advertising what better way than to connect with your target audience on Twitter or Facebook?

Why Facebook and Twitter

Facebook has great options for you as a business, you can set up a company profile, a fan page and even set up an ad right on Facebook within your budget to reach your target audience.

Twitter is a great place to get word of mouth advertising as well as to connect one on one with those who want to know more about your product or service. You can set up alerts using TwiTip or TweetBeep. This is a great way to see who is talking about topics that may apply to your product or service. When you see someone tweeting about something that relates you can start to follow their conversation and if the right time arises you can insert some feedback or a reply to them during the conversation.

Facebook and Twitter have made marketing easier and more personal in many ways. One thing to be sure of is that you are being yourself and promote your brand in a way that will make others want to know more. As a personal Twitter user nothing is worse than some strange non-follower on Twitter sending me a link out of the blue, now that is the WRONG way to interact and advertise in social media.

How Can BEBS Help You?

We work hard to promote social media, as a completely virtual business we know the ins and outs of promoting your business using bloggers, social media and newsletters as a way to reach your target audience. Many are willing to hear you out if you are more personable and as a business owner you may not have the time to be that person who can achieve the success on social media and that’s when you hire a virtual assistant.

A virtual assistant can monitor and be active for you on Twitter and Facebook daily or as often as needed. Working right from home in a private office most virtual assistant’s can work late hours and be available virtually any hour of the day or night, depending upon what your needs are.

BEBS would be happy to be your social media maven and is more than happy to discuss your needs further during a one on one conversation.

I Can't Afford a Virtual Assistant!

brandytanner — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:40:14 +0000

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The Telling ipod All too often I hear business owners and work at home parents stating they are unable to afford a virtual assistant. The reasons vary but usually include the following:

Too expensive hourly rate.
Uncertain how many hours the VA will take to complete the job.
Feels without in office help, it’s hard for them to monitor that work is being done.

Most virtual assistant’s have higher rates, but the reason behind the higher rates is that they pay their own taxes, they provide their own business supplies, they work faster and harder than most in office employees and they don’t require any breaks.

Dagon movie On average I spend 15 minutes per project for my clients, it’s rare for one project to go over one hour. It’s all about being efficient and keeping communication open. If I were looking to hire a virtual assistant, I would ask the following:

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Do you have a away to track time worked?
How does payment for services work? ie – monthly, weekly, prepaid, etc.
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Will you keep communication open during the project and what method of contact do you prefer?

Many virtual assistants require a monthly retainer fee, I personally take prepayment for services but it can be weekly or monthly. Some virtual assistants charge for phone calls up and beyond the normal means of communication for basic project updates, others don’t charge for phone time.

I personally prefer to work strictly through email contact and instant messengers, because this is what works efficiently for my business. This is not to say I won’t talk to my clients should the need arise to get on the phone, a phone call can certainly make a more personal difference between your business relationships, as it puts a voice with your client and the virtual assistant.

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Most virtual assistants are more than happy to discuss your needs prior to hiring them, provide you with a list of services that require one hour or less and even mail you a brochure with a business card. When seeking your first virtual assistant or looking to replace a previous virtual assistant, always make sure you both have the same goals in mind for your business and can communicate in a reasonable fashion. The relationships are virtual but must be built on the same trust and communication that is built with an in office employee.

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25 One Hour VA Projects

brandytanner — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:50:31 +0000

Every year businesses are faced with time consuming tasks that can take up much needed precious time for the business owner and their employees. The economy is in such a state that everyone around the globe is looking for ways to cut costs while still focusing on business growth. Our virtual assistant services will do just that; create more time and cost you less. As an independent contractor we pay our own taxes, our own insurance and we do not charge you for down time! Please review the list of services we can provide you and your business within one hour and let us know how we may help you save time & money!

Mail merge 50-100 letters including stuffing and mailing.
Data entry of a minimum of 75 contacts in an Excel spreadsheet.
Create a PowerPoint presentation {content provided by client}
Setup the process for an ezine or newsletter.
Update website content.
Article and press release submissions.
Transcribe a half hour of audio {not including word for word transcription}.
Research for a specific project.
Setup Feedburner and post chicklets to blog.
Submit an article to 5-10 sites.
Create a basic sales page layout {content provided by client}.
Delete spam accumulated in your e-mail overnight, and sort, answer or redirect remaining messages.
Build a custom spreadsheet.
Organize a stack of messy files, label them appropriately, and pack them for shipping back to you, ready to drop into your waiting file drawer.
Make calls to confirm your appointments, engagements or reservations.
Open and sort mail for one week.
Stuff, seal, label, and stamp a bulk mailing.
Write a blog entry.
Build an e-mail distribution list.
Collate and label personalized packets for your seminar or presentation.
Create PDF’s for numerous company documents, whitepapers, charts, etc.
Set up and/or analyze Google Analytics and relative conversion reports.
Edit a 30-60 minute audio file using Cakewalk Sonar and Waves Plugins.
Research best price/features for a needed service, technology or item.
Order a shopping list for home or office delivery.

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I hope this list has provided you with the value of having a virtual assistant! Brandy Ellen’s Business Solutions is happy to offer free consultations over phone, email or instant messenger, simply contact us today.

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Send Free Ecard To Your Clients

brandytanner — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:15:32 +0000

As a virtual business owner, I don’t get to shake my clients hand and thank them for their business. I often can tell them thank you

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over the phone or in an email but it’s not as personal as a hand shake.

Sending a free ecard is a fantastic way to say THANK YOU to your clients. Saying thank you doesn’t have to cost you either, you can send low cost or free ecards to your clients to show your appreciation with Smilebox. This is a fantastic service I have used for a few months now and it has made my clients, my friends and my family smile every time.

When you, a virtual assistant, take that extra step to show your clients that you appreciate their business, you get more positive word of mouth exposure, happier clients and in turn more business!

Why send a free ecard:

Thanking a new client for their business
Saying Happy Birthday to a long term client
A quick hello to a business colleague

How it sets you apart from the crowd:

Shows you truly care about your client
Proves you are appreciative of your clients business

With technology advancing faster than we seem to be able to keep up with, Smilebox

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has created the solution to sending free or low cost ecards virtually any time of the day or night from the comfort of your home office.

Full disclosure: I used my affiliate link with Smilebox, but have been using their free service for a long time and am very happy with it!

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Blog Maintenance and Promotion

brandytanner — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:35:35 +0000

As a business owner, I know how hard it can be trying to promote and maintain your blog while working on other areas of your business that require your attention. Brandy Ellen’s Business Solutions

is here to help you, and we don’t charge an arm and a leg. We want YOU to succeed and we want to help YOU alleviate those small tasks that can take up your day. BEBS download Merlin’s Apprentice

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Blog Maintenance

Do you need someone to work with plugins, upload ads to your site, submit your site to search engines, and maybe even write a blog post or two? Brandy Ellen’s Business Solutions is happy to help maintain your blog on an as needed or consistent basis.

We have maintained multiple blogs to include writing the articles, added widgets to the sidebar and basic theme changes. BEBS is ready to help YOU get your blog moving forward in a positive direction an a regular basis.

Blog Updates: Let Us Submit Your New Content

Whether you update your blog daily, every other day or three times a week, Brandy Ellen’s Business Solutions is happy to help promote your content. We work hard to submit your fresh content daily to a variety of websites. Get your fresh content uploaded to Digg, Technorati and other similar sites as often as you need. When you hire BEBS

to complete the social media, bookmarking and article sharing site submissions you have just alleviated near an hour of work off your hands. Feels good already doesn’t it?

Theres a Stranger in my House trailer Entrecard: Free Advertising, Increased Traffic

Another service that many bloggers use to increase website traffic is Entrecard. If you are not familiar with Entrecard then I will tell you how it works:

You sign up for a free account.
Place a widget {HTML code copy & paste procedure} into your blog’s sidebar.
Visit Entrecard
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daily to “drop” onto other blogs.
Earn credits by dropping onto other blogs.
Use credits to advertise on other blogs.

This is a fantastic service, first because it is FREE advertising and second because Entrecard

will increase your blog traffic. If you have any paid ads on your blog, this could mean increased revenue for YOU. BEBS can set up your account, drop daily and manage your ads so that you get the traffic you want with no additional time taken from your day.

If any of these services are of interest to you please contact us today for a free, no obligation service proposal.

Do I Need A Virtual Assistant?

brandytanner — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:25:46 +0000

This question is a VERY important one. For starters; are you a business owner, a work at home mom, or a blogger? If you answered YES to any of those questions then my answer would be “quite possibly, YES, you just may need a virtual assistant”.

When thinking about whether you wish to hire a virtual assistant or not, you need to first know what services you would require. Are you looking for a virtual secretary? Are you looking for someone who can take inbound or make outbound calls? Maybe you have a big project you are working on and you only need to hire a virtual assistant for a one time project. Whatever you need, a virtual assistant should be able to assist.

As a virtual assistant I offer a variety of services and specialize in one time projects, but am currently seeking some long term clients who require my office skills. Many virtual assistants offer book keeping, office skills, marketing and even SEO assistance! It seems the term “virtual assistant” has a very broad definition!

A virtual assistant can help alleviate the usually tedious office work most businesses require. A VA can also help alleviate a business owners high costs for health care, office equipment and many other items that are associated with having a full time “in office” employee. As a virtual assistant, I provide my own software, my own PC, my own paper, ink, and yes I even have my own health insurance so I don’t require anything other than payment for services rendered. This allows YOU, the business owner, to invest the money saved into more important areas of business such as marketing, or saving your funds to expand your business.

A virtual assistant is usually more than happy to chat with you one on one to ensure your needs can be met. Once services are contracted {sign contract required in most cases} then the VA is yours for the time services are contracted! I personally provide free quotes to any business owner or blogger who may require my services! I also provide discounts for clients who continue to use me for their projects!

If you are searching for the right virtual assistant for you, please keep me in mind.

Brandy Tanner
Brandy Ellen’s Business Solutions
Owner
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What is a Virtual Assistant

brandytanner — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:10:04 +0000

All too often I have someone ask, “place of employment please?”. I often respond, ” well, self employed, I have my own Virtual Assistant Business”. Occasionally I get a nod and a look that states, “I don’t know what that is but okay”. Other times people will ask with an odd look, “what is a virtual assistant?”. So to answer everyone’s questions on exactly what it is I personally do as a virtual assistant as the owner of Brandy Ellen’s Business Solutions, here is the answer:

“A Virtual Assistant (or VA) is a solopreneur who specializes in providing ongoing, one-on-one, collaborative-style administrative support.

Like other professional service providers, Virtual Assistants operate remotely from their own places of business and utilize today’s technology to deliver their services and communicate with clients.

Virtual Assistants are first and foremost administrative experts. Virtual Assistants sometimes offer additional, separate specialties that fall under creative and/or technical services.” Taken From http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/definition.htm

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So basically in a nut shell – I provide the best in customer service, data entry, unique marketing assistance, email organization, ghost writing, and much more from a private home office. I have 10 years experience out in the “real world” providing everything from tri-fold brochure designs to telephone customer service. As a former administrative assistant I pride myself in providing my clients with the best in service on full time, part time or per project basis.

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