Guest Post

Speakers! Tips that will save you time when working with a VA

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Imagine working with a Virtual Assistant who:

  • Advocates for you
  • Saves you valuable time
  • Gets you the results you need
  • Helps you book speaking gigs

And that means getting you in front of potential clients without you having to do the heavy lifting of sending inquiries, filling out applications and following up.

Wouldn’t that be amazing!?

I often recommend to the business owners in my Simply Get Booked program to hire a VA that will make the process of booking speaking gigs easier for them.

But training a VA can be time-consuming and what’s more, you might not see the results you want.

So how can you make sure the work your VA does gets you the results you want?

Here are 5 tips from Laura Licursi, owner and founder of Elite Virtual Assistants, to help you get the most out of your VA.

  1. Share your vision and expectations

Your VA needs to know what moves you. They need to know the real reason(s) you want to speak in front of audiences and what your vision is as a person and as a business owner.

That way, as they reach out to groups on your behalf, they can deliver that message for you. Having a VA that’s an advocate for you and your business makes all the difference.

They also need to know what results you’re expecting to see from their efforts. Without this, there’s a high chance you’ll experience frustration when they don’t get the results you want (remember they are not mind readers!).

The discussion about expectations and results should happen early-on as it will pave the way for successful communications between you and your VA.

  1. Set your goals with timelines attached (this goes hand in hand with your expectations).

And how essential is it for your VA to know what these goals and expectations are?

Let’s say you want to book a certain number of speaking gigs per month. As finding and applying for speaking opportunities is not a one-to-one ratio, it means your VA will need to send a much larger number of inquiries to get the number of gigs booked you want. 

Share these types of numbers with your VA. Also establish in what timeframe those inquiries should be sent.

But always remember to set realistic goals for both you and your VA.

  1. Set up regular check-ins

A good manager won’t just check-in at the deadline to see if the work has been done. If you want to be an effective manager, you have to check-in regularly.

Based on your goals, you can set up weekly or monthly check-ins to ask your VA:

  • Are there any bottlenecks?
  • Do you need help with anything?
  • Where are we at right now?

And depending on the progress, you might need to adjust your goals or the process you have to reach those goals.

When you’re just starting out with a new VA, it’s even better if you can meet with them at least twice a week.

The more time you put in at the beginning, the less time you’ll have to put over the long-run.

When you take the time to build a relationship with your VA instead of just giving them tasks, you’ll see a massive shift in the results you get.

  1. Keep detailed track of their activity

Once you have your goals and you’re checking in on your VA…

What do you do with that information?

You need to be able to adjust the process along the way. That means identifying patterns. It also means evaluating if you’re reaching out to the right groups for speaking and the only way to do that is to look at the details.

How many groups have been contacted?

What kind of groups are they?

What responses have you been getting?

When you can see all this info in one place and discuss it with your VA, course correcting becomes almost automatic. It all starts with making sure they are set up with a proper tracking system.

It’s not about analyzing a mountain of information. It’s about keeping your finger on the pulse and making it easy for your VA to inform you of any roadblocks and possible changes that can be made.

  1. Have your information ready and available

Again, it’s all about investing more time at first so you can save time in the future.

Imagine missing out on an opportunity because your VA doesn’t know your new talk description. Or because they emailed you to get essential info and it took you a long time to reply.

Have all the info they might need in one easy-to-access spot, like a Google Drive folder. Examples of things you’ll need are your speaking topics, headshots, ideal client description and all the other basic information needed to fill out applications.

They should know where to find all this within the first few days of working with you.

Save ‘future you’ some valuable time and give them as many resources as possible from the beginning. But don’t just bury them in a mountain of resources. Take some time to explain that info to them. Remember it’s much easier for a person to advocate for you when they understand you and your point of view.

Laura shared these amazing tips on one of our calls with our clients and VA’s in the Simply Get Booked program. This kind of educational meeting is one of the many benefits of participating in SGB.

If you’re ready to start booking speaking gigs consistently, book a call today to discuss the Simply Get Booked program and how to join.

 [Guest blog] Use Your Peak Time!

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When you own your own business, it’s discouraging to feel like you “aren’t doing it right.” A client recently told me:

“Today I didn’t have client calls but I struggled so much the first few hours of the day that really it was just time wasted. If I don’t have calls in the morning, I may as well not go to the office until after lunch…as soon as afternoon hits I am way focused. What do you think about client calls only until 1PM and then the afternoon is office time?”

There’s a simple three-step solution to making decisions like the one my client faced.

1. The first step towards adjusting your schedule to one that works for you is to become aware of your peak (when you are most alert and productive) and trough times (when you are least productive).

2. The next step is to create a menu of those tasks and projects that can go into those peak and trough times. [link to full blog]

For example, projects that require your strongest focus, motivation, and energy should be scheduled during your peak time. Tasks that require less brainpower, like filing, clearing your desk, or some email processing, could be checked off during your trough times.

3. Last, take advantage of as many peak times each week as possible by arranging your tasks into the appropriate time slots. When you plug tasks into your calendar with an awareness of “best times,” you’ll begin to create a new routine around scheduling. One tip I use for scheduling is to color code my tasks on my to-do list, purple to schedule in the morning and blue for afternoon.

I get it – it can be hard to leave a task undone and move it to the next day. What helps me push through that “undone” discomfort is a reminder that in the long run, when I match the task with the appropriate time of day, it typically takes me half the time.

Matching tasks to the right time of day is just one way you can gain more time each day. If you want to tweak how you schedule your peak and trough times, we can discuss in our next session!

Lisa Crilley Mallis MA, COC, ACC  

Helping service-based microbusiness owners eliminate day-to-day busyness. ImpactiveStrategies.com  

Coloring with all the Crayons

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Guest Post from Rachel Young Nielsen

There is a reason there are 8 colors in the beginner box of crayons.  When you are learning to color, 8 is enough of a variety to make pictures distinct without overwhelming the artist with choices.

And then all of a sudden we understand there are more colors out there. There are more options to paint the portrait bigger, bolder and more precisely than the limiting 8 colors allow. It is in the big-box of crayons that we begin to paint reality as we see it. Using all the colors is what contours the peaks and shadows of our perspective. And by understanding the tiniest of differences in each hue where we begin to comprehend beauty in complexity.

So, I graduated to the big kid box of crayons. 200 crayons is like an entire paint store. And I plan to run my business and live my life coloring with every one of these hues. 

I am not saying I see rainbows of colors in sunrises and sunsets every day. I am saying that in darkness there is equally as much glorious detail as there is in brilliant light. I am saying I want to lean in and feel the shades of painful purples as much as to celebrate the glorious yellows and golden tones. 

Because it’s in the multi-color shading and contouring that I see brilliance and opportunity. It’s in the dark imagery that I understand where the light needs to shine. It’s in feeling the emotion behind the colors, that I understand the power of choice.  And how a positive or negative perspective can shift an entire image from one scene to a completely different setting.

I choose to believe that perspective is equally under our control the same as selecting a “Sunset Orange” #FE4C40 or an “Orange-Red” #FF5349. Neither choice is WRONG, yet an artist that makes the slightest adjustment in the balance of colors completely changes the picture. 

Perspective, like color, is a malleable state. 

Perspective, like color, needs the darkness and the light to truly make one another work. 

2020 was the ultimate equalizer…the world shifted for everyone, no matter if you are an entrepreneur, an employee, a parent, a child, a retiree, a refugee or a tycoon.  There is comfort knowing every soul has been impacted, and we are each painting our own picture from our individual perspective. We are simply choosing different colors from the crayon box. 

I remember that it’s my choice to color with the dark shadows for the days and situations that overwhelm.

Some days I’ll choose to scribble and scratch in any color I want as if screaming into the wind. And then the very next day I may choose to see the light spaces that were left pure and untouched. 

And sitting there in the light is where my creative ideas and solutions sprout. It’s my perspective as an artist that guides the image I ultimately create, just as it is my perspective that shapes the leader, wife and mother I want to be. 

The reactions to my experiences shape who I am, and by living life using all the colors I believe I have a well-rounded, informed perspective. 

I have bad days, I own my fears and I am angry that I can’t control the environment, the economy, my own health or the actions of people who are just flat out mean. But I can control how I react to the darkness. I can control my perspective – just the same as if selecting an orange hue or a red-ish tinge. 

As a leader of a company in an industry that was decimated with the 2020 Pandemic, I have firsthand experience with the power of a perspective. For my own company, and for our clients, we maintained the perspective to be clear on the outcomes we wanted to create, and then used all the colors to paint exactly those pictures.  

Some images looked very different. Some of us scaled down or started using new colors all together.  The color choice wasn’t nearly as important as the final image we wanted to create. We went into each situation with a clarity on the perspective we wanted to hold and the image we wanted to create.  

Perspective is the single most influential factor that holds the power to influence our own life, our business and our community.  I don’t want to miss out, so I will continue living my life coloring with the big box of crayons.

Authors Credit

RACHEL YOUNG NIELSEN created a movement with her “results matter” mentality.  Fascinated by ideas, and  inspired by the future, Rachel turns anyone’s vision into a reality.  With beliefs deeply rooted in “proving anything is possible”  – she has been guiding people and organizations to amplified achievements as a mentor, speaker, author and founder of Advanced Events, Inc. and Result Drivers, Inc.  Rachel is an active member of Enterprising Women Advisory Board and recipient of the Enterprising Women of the Year Award, appears on podcasts and radio shows featuring her provocative thought process and infectious positive positioning. As an expert in experience marketing, change management, alignment advantage and organizational empowerment, she is versatile in her approach and her guidance. 

Rachel is inspired by people and experiences, which often sparks the creative solutions her clients seek. Reach out to connect directly at Rachel@AdvancedEvents.net.

“I can’t believe she didn’t hire me!” – Guest post by Lisa Crilley Mallis of Impactive Strategies

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Recently while scrolling in Facebook, I noticed a post from a colleague who had just hired a coach – not just any coach, but one who does almost exactly the same work I do.

My first thought? “I can’t believe she didn’t hire me!”

My second thought? “I can’t believe she didn’t hire me!”

And finally, I got that sick feeling in my stomach and thought, “Oh my goodness, why didn’t she hire me???” I mean, we’d had conversations about some of her challenges with time management and productivity, yet she hired someone else.

So I put on my big girl panties and sent her an email inviting her to chat for a few minutes.

When we jumped onto Zoom, I looked her in the eye and said, “I just have to ask…I saw that you’d hired a coach. What was it that drew you to that coach?”

She looked at me and replied, “I wanted to hire you, but you never asked, so I figured you were too busy!”

OK, so I was mortified.

She is exactly the type of client I love to work with, and I just assumed (silly me!) that when she was ready, she would reach out and ask to work with me.

See, that’s NOT how it works!

So, I’m wondering: what are the questions you haven’t asked, just assuming that people are too busy to help you?

  1. Maybe you can ask someone to take your social media posting off your plate to free your time for tasks that are in your Zone of Genius.
  2. Maybe you can ask someone to teach you Timular time tracking software so you can find extra pockets of time in your day.
  3. Maybe you can ask for someone to help organize your receipts so tax time is a breeze.

The lesson? 

You can’t get what you want if you don’t ask!!

I challenge you today to ask for what you want and need!

By: Lisa Crilley Mallis – Impactive Strategies

That ONE bad experience

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A big part of keeping the strategy of speaking gigs running smoothly is to confirm (sometimes more than once) that you have ALL the right details for an event, time, date, venue (aka Zoom link), etc, etc.

 And confirming is very simple… or at least it sounds that way.

 The reality of it is you’re not dealing with a computer that will give you a Yes or No response when you reach out to it. There’s a human being involved… and they won’t always respond the way you expect them to.

 Recently I interacted with an unresponsive event organizer who was not thrilled with our process. After several interactions where we were all getting increasingly frustrated, we mutually decided to cancel the speaking gig. NOT an ideal outcome, and it left me feeling stung.

But my attitude at that point was to put it all behind me, be grateful for the great way Mary and the rest of the team handled the situation and just learn from it.

That is until I got an email from another event organizer on the very same week.

 This organizer didn’t really see the point to filling out the form we use to confirm event details, almost following the script from that last disappointing experience. So, you can imagine why I thought another unfortunate outcome was on its way.

 To make matters worse, after rescheduling a call to explain things for the second time, she finally decided to provide details via  Zoom… but then didn’t show up.

 I was starting to give up hope, but then I decided to use one of the best tools Mary has given me: the power of a short Loom video.

 I recorded a quick video on why the form was important for us to prepare and why it was also helpful for her as an organizer. I sent it and wished for the best.

 The very next day I got the notification that she submitted the form and, to top things off, a very nice email with an apology and just an overall tone that restored my faith in humanity (or at least in event organizers).

 The whole experience was really an eye opener that left me with these 3 takeaways:

  1. Assume the best instead of hope for the best. The whole “assume the worst and hope for the best” philosophy  can be dangerous when it starts to determine your expectations. By “hoping for the best” you’re opening the possibility in your mind for something to go wrong, and it sets your brain into that problem solving mode that consumes time and energy… when there isn’t even a problem to solve yet! Assuming the best means truly believing that things will turn out alright, and letting the situation unfold without feeling anxious about the outcome.
  2. Let perspective keep you from being on guard. Out of the hundreds of regular, and sometimes very positive, experiences I’ve had with event hosts, I let this single one affect me so much that it actually conditioned my response. At the first glance of trouble I immediately put my shields up. The good will almost always outweigh the bad, but we focus so much on negative feelings we lose perspective and end up getting defensive to protect ourselves from ever feeling that way again.
  3. Get yourself a good team and just… laugh it out. I could talk about the importance of a good support system and having someone to count on, but to me one of the biggest parts of having a team of people around you is to be able to look at a crappy situation, do your best to tackle it, and then just crack jokes about it.  There’s nothing like a little sense of humor to let go of frustration and just make the best out of cards you have.

By: Luciana Bottini – Mary’s assistant

[Guest Post] Lessons learned from the 2008 Global Financial Crisis – and How They Apply Today

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Contributed by: Jane Garee, Sales Strategist

I knew the world economic free fall of 2008 would come back to haunt me but I am more grateful for it than I can say.

In 2008, I was in the thick of the financial meltdown.  I was enjoying a successful career as a mortgage broker, in south Florida, and between the warm sunny days, doing work that I felt mattered and the life I had created over the past eleven years, I felt as if the world was my oyster.

Then it happened.  The crash of ’08.

Or as I later described the situation; the market crashed and then I crashed with it.

I lost everything and moved from my initial state of shock to one of utter despair.  It was years before I was able to turn things around and it was the most challenging period of my life.

I made a promise to myself that when I regained my footing, I would remember the lessons that period of time had given me, and that I would use that one day to help others.

I don’t know what you’re experiencing in the midst of what’s going on in our world currently. For me, it’s a strange time because there is much I am personally thankful for, and there is still the reality of what’s happening.

Frankly, there are days when I feel guilty for thriving right now, when others are struggling to survive.  I keep looking for ways to do what I can to provide support and am grateful that my business allows me to have the time and resources to contribute, even if it is small on the grand scale of creating change.

I wish I could give you some sort of bumper sticker wisdom that would make everything okay.

You know, “This too will pass”, “Tough times make tough people”, “’ Your true colors are showing’ used to mean your disposition, now it’s about your hair” (okay, I made that up to insert some levity).

I know I can’t say anything to magically make things better. However, I do want to share with you three coping strategies I learned during the fallout of 2008.

The power is in the present

One of the most life-changing mind shifts for me, was when I realized that in this moment, I am okay.  If you focus on right now, all your basic needs are being met, there’s no threat of imminent danger, you have people who love and support you, and you are alive, with a mind and body that works.  Stress comes from dredging up the past or worrying about the future.  Neither is productive.  The past is gone, and you don’t really know what the future holds.  Take a deep breath and be grateful for right now.  Miracles are called miracles because they are unexpected.  Yours might be coming this very day.

Redefine your long-term plan

You may have realized that planning for what’s next is something you’ve taken for granted.  Since you don’t know what will be true in the future, redefining your long-term plan to something more manageable can be helpful.

When I was struggling in 2008, my Dad told me that I needed to redefine what long term planning was and that a good long-term plan due to current circumstances, might be getting through that day.  That helped me get through the pain and uncertainty by setting a goal that seemed infinitely easier to accomplish than a vague, “I will get through this.” On really bad days, I would often say to myself, “My long- term plan is to just get through the next fifteen minutes.”   Savoring small chunks of victory can help fuel you to keep going.

Disappointment is not discouragement

It can be soul-crushing when experiencing traumatic events and being in a situation that is out of your control.  The fear, pain and sadness are real, and it’s profound.

Although disappointments in life are inevitable, discouragement is a choice.

Discouragement is the false belief that everything is hopeless, and you are unable to do anything about your situation.  While hope may not be a plan, it is the thing that drives you to get up and keep going.

Discouragement loves nothing more than to tell you there is no hope, and that you are a victim, tossed around by the cruel winds of life.  Even when you can’t immediately change your circumstances, the hope that you can, is what will keep you going.  There’s a verse in the Bible that says, “Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope.”  On my darkest days, I would ponder that.  If you’re truly a prisoner, there’s no escape. What would it be like to be unable to escape from hope?

My hope for you is that today, just for a moment, you take in that moment and not let any disappointment turn into discouragement.  Unsettling times like these can also lead to big mood swings so if you’re having a day where the future feels full of promise, reach out to someone who isn’t and see how you can be an encouragement.

I normally end my posts with, “To your selling success” but today, I want to close with,

To your success, and in all the ways that truly matter,

Jane

Jane Garee, known as “The Sales Strategist for the Non Sales Person” works with clients so they serve more people, make more money and realize their biggest dreams through their impact and influence, all while having FUN.

With over twenty years of sales production, sales training and sales team management experience, Jane is an award-winning salesperson, known for breaking revenue records and providing leadership and training to individuals and sales teams so they do the same. Prior to striking out on her own, she quickly worked her way up the ranks to Brand/Area Sales Manager with two different billion-dollar companies and was recruited to open the South Florida area for one of Inc 500’s Fastest Growing Companies.

Her dynamic and comprehensive sales background in one-on one sales conversations, copy writing, workshops and selling through speaking presentations bring exceptional knowledge and expertise to clients who desire a collaborative partner in creating higher conversions and building better buyer relationships throughout the entire sales process.