I was looking through a magazine and stumbled upon something I hadn’t seen in years, a glass piggybank.  I recall the first such bank I received when I opened my first savings account.  It forced me to continue to save because I didn’t want to ‘break’ it until it was completely full, or I had enough to purchase something I really wanted.  My eyes were always on the prize.

By the ‘80’s piggybanks had changed; they had stoppers in the bottom to remove money whenever you wanted. By not having to keep adding to your savings until you’d reached your goal, many times they were never met.  The bank became a place to gather loose change and such, but it took away the demand, if you will, that you reach a goal or lose it all, by having to ‘break the bank’.

It makes me think about my business goals in somewhat the same way.  I have to find ways of making myself accountable to reaching the goals I’ve set.  Last year, I setup several reminders to check in on my 2010 goals. When I got the first reminder, I realized, – YIKES, now where did I put those goals? J  I was not focused on reaching them.

It’s difficult when you’re the boss, isn’t it?  How can we set goals and make ourselves accountable for the goals we need to keep our businesses afloat in these challenging times?

First, take a look at what types of goals you might want to set for yourself.  Some to consider might include:

• Sales/income
• Number of new clients
• New equipment/software
• Knowledge-based achievements (certifications; classes)
• Adding staff or sub-contractors

As you can see, there are many types of goals you can set for your business.  I usually try and have three to four of these areas covered in my yearly goals; that way, if one seems to be lacking, I can transition more time and effort into making that particular goal a priority, or adjust it to give myself a clearer way to achieve it.

I think the next most important thing is to put it in writing – something about memorializing it makes it seem more attainable, and real.  You might even consider sharing your yearly goals with a colleague or peer and ask them to check in with you several times a year to make sure you’re on track to achieving them.

Equally as important is making sure that you don’t beat yourself up if you don’t attain a particular goal.  Goals are something you are aspiring to achieve; they should help you be accountable for where you want your business to go.

2008 was a perfect example of that for me.  I was right on track with my sales/income and new client goals for 2008, right until the stock market crashed in October.  Suddenly, everything changed.  By the end of the year, several goals had not been met.

I rewarded myself for those goals I did achieve, took stock of those I didn’t, and tried to understand why; then I realigned my goals for 2009 and again for 2010, to offset these changes, and added several new categories of goals that will help me keep my business on track and growing.

Goals are meant to inspire you and invoke you into taking action.  Don’t let them bring you down if you don’t achieve them; re-adjust them. Find a cheerleader, someone who will help you stay on track with your goals, but will also encourage you and help you see the positive changes and growth you have experienced.

I am pleased to say I exceeded my 2009 goals and I look forward to a prosperous 2010 and achieving my goals.  Re-invent yourself and keep making deposits in your unbreakable piggybank of growth.  Stay positive and watch what happens.

Jeannine Clontz, owner of Accurate Business Services, a VA practice, is an author, writer, speaker and VA Business Coach specializing in providing professional business coaching to established and start-up virtual assistants (VA’s).  For her FREE audio CD “What’s Holding Back my Business Success?” or a 2-month trial in her group coaching program visit:  http://www.VAbizcoach.com; or contact her at: coach@VAbizcoach.com.

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We all have the same amount of time to expend each and every day, so why does it seem like some people have mastered their time better than others?

I don’t think it’s about the time at all, I think it’s about how we manage ourselves.  My friend, Pam Vaccaro (www.designsontime.com) says it best, “It’s about your focus!”

I know from my own experience, making a few simple changes have made a HUGE impact on my effectiveness, and stress levels.   I tried several different options and settled on the system that worked for me.

One of my biggest faux pas was thinking multi-tasking was a good thing.  I would work on a client document while I was running another client’s color postcards on my laser jet and another project on my copier, only to find that somewhere along the line the copier jammed, or the laser jet ran out of ink, and I was overwhelmed trying to juggle them all.  I don’t believe our brains work that way.  Since I stopped multi-tasking, I get so much more done, and feel more energized and effective.

I’ve also been guilty of creating a sense of urgency where one may not exist, or not being clear with a client who gives me an unreasonable deadline.  Since I’ve taken back that control, managing time is much simpler.  By increasing my level of communication, I also avoid having to spend time solving problems.  They just simply don’t exist.

I also try and be more aware of the time I’m spending on non-income generating Emails.  That was very difficult for me since a lot of my client projects and communication come through Email.   I used to cringe when I’d look at my watch only to find I’d spent several hours going through social media or volunteer Emails that didn’t need to be handled right away.

I now have a basic kitchen timer on my desk and allow myself a specific amount of time, at the beginning of the day, and at the end of the day, to handle these Emails.  My life feels so much more organized now, it’s truly amazing how these few simple changes have made a profound impact on the way I manage my time.

So give several of these options a try or come up with a few of your own, and see if you can’t transition your focus to better manage your time.  And remember to enjoy your life to the fullest; it’s not JUST about business!

Jeannine Clontz, IVAA CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, owner of Accurate Business Services is a Virtual Assistant (VA). ABS provides ‘as needed’ marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs. Clontz is a writer, author, VA Coach, and speaker on business topics including business ethics. For her FREE 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or herFREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit: http://www.accbizsvcs.com. Find out more at www.VAbizcoach.com or her book website http://www.entrepreneurialfreedom.com

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A huge thank you to VA Classroom. I actually won this from them. It’s been awesome and I do use it for certain things at certain times… let me explain…

First off let me say, I am not an Apple fanperson. Never have been, never will be. The iPod touch is my first iPod device ever. I cannot say that I am in love with it, but I will definitely say that it is has proven nifty in more ways than one since I got it.

Ok, let’s get this out of the way: Video and Music. Videos are clear and smooth. You can use the built-in Wi-Fi on your home or office network to browse the web and YouTube directly. That itself is pretty smooth. You can also purchase music directly from the iTunes store over Wi-Fi and load them directly to the phone. Overall I’d say this is pretty similar to the experience I have on my Palm Pre.

One thing the iPod Touch has over my Pre, however, is the huge amount of applications available for it. I’ve been able to download apps for many things: Math Quizzes for my children, Duke Nukem 3D for my husband, oh, and also for toting around and viewing work related documents.

Another feature of the iPod Touch is that you can use iTunes to sync with your calendar. The iPod will already check your e-mail automatically for you whenever it detects an available Wi-Fi network. The ability to sync your calendar can be pretty useful, but I still prefer the automatic sync that my Palm Pre offers.

Over all I rate this device as 4 stars. If it was billed as only a game, music, and video device I’d probably have given it 5 stars. But with all the hype I was really hoping for something more useful for business use.

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You’ve seen favicons; you know, those little logos that appear before the site name or URL in your browser window.  These little icons (they’re 16×16 pixels) may seem irrelevant, but they can have a tremendous impact on your website.

Consider your own navigating habits. If you’re anything like me, you probably have a handful of tabs (or more!) open in your browser at any given time. I use a Firefox add-on that shifts my tabs vertically to the left-side of my browser window. So, many times, all I see is the little favicon.

When I go to jump to a new tab, if a site is missing a custom favicon, I have no idea what the site is without clicking or mousing over the tab. It may not seem like much of an inconvenience, but it’s a major fail, in my opinion. Not to mention if you don’t have a favicon for your site, you’re missing out on a quick and easy way to add to your brand.

Here’s a simplified look at the process of creating a favicon:

1. Use an existing logo file or create a graphic from scratch using a generator
2. Reduce the file down to 16×16 pixels
3. Export as a .ICO file (favicon.ico) with your software
4. Upload to the root directory of your website

Ready to create your own? Here are some more in-depth tutorials to give you some guidance:

• Favicon Basics, Mark8t
• Tutorial: How To Create Your Own FavIcon, Essential Keystrokes
• Video: How to Create an Install Favicons, Butterscotch.com

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Did that title give you pause?  Many people struggle to answer this question.  Sometimes referred to as your elevator speech, or infomercial, having a smooth and easy to understand response will really go far in helping people to know who you are and what you have to offer.

Here are five things to consider in crafting your 60-second infomercial:

1. Who is your target market?  While I can open my informercial by saying, “although I have clients in almost every industry…” – you still want to focus on your niche or target market to help people think of who they know that could benefit from your services.  If you’re still not sure, analyze your current client list and see if there is a particular industry, or type of client that seems most logical to your offerings.
2. What problems does your target market have that you can solve?  Keep it simple.  Come up with one or two things – don’t overdo it – less is more!
3. How do you solve these problems?  Again, don’t come up with a laundry list of products/services, just enough to whet the appetite so they’ll want to find out more.
4. Mention something specific that speaks to results, like: ‘many of my clients say their sales increased at least 20% as a result of working with us’.
5. End with either a memorable tagline, or a question – like – ‘is that something that might be of interest to you or someone you know?’

Once you have it setup, print it out and practice it (and time yourself) several times until you have it pretty well memorized.  You don’t want to come off sounding too scripted, but you will need to get comfortable with all the aspects so that you’re sure to hit all the points you need to in your time allotment.

Once you have this mastered, you will want to cut the content even more, for a true elevator speech – which is usually only 30-seconds in length.

Finally, especially if you attend networking events regularly, you will want to have several different versions for answering the questions numbered two, three, and four above.  This gives people the opportunity to hear more about the additional services/products you provide.  If you only talk about one specific product or service, they’ll believe that’s all you offer and you could be leaving potential sales on the table.

With a little bit of work, and practice, you’ll have the perfect 60-second infomercial that helps people immediately recognize what it is you do, and who they need to refer to you.  Word of mouth marketing is the most cost-effective way to market your business.  The infomercial is the best tool to close the sale!

Jeannine Clontz, IVAA CVA, MVA,  EthicsChecked™, owner of Accurate Business Services is a Virtual Assistant (VA).  ABS provides ‘as needed’ marketing support and consulting to busy entrepreneurs.  Clontz is a writer, author, VA Coach, and speaker on business topics including business ethics. For her free 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, visit:  http://www.accbizsvcs.com, www.VAbizcoach.com or her book website http://www.entrepreneurialfreedom.com

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I’ll show you mine if you show me yours

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Using an eZine (Electronic Newsletter) as a part of your overall Internet Marketing plan can be a powerful way to achieve your marketing goals. Less experienced marketers commit a number of common mistakes that may cause your targeted list to opt-out.  Here are several common mistakes to avoid in your eZine campaign.

1) Sending Out Promotions Rather than News

All Internet marketing, including your eZine, should focus on building long-lasting relationships with your subscribers over time. If your eZine message is consistently aimed at prompting an immediate sale, you’ll find a steady stream of subscribers opting out.

To build a loyal following, design your eZine campaign to provide content and resources that will help spark interest in your product or service by subtly providing them with topics that show the benefits of your offerings.  For example, if you’re a business coach, sharing information that your target market could benefit from, will quickly show them you are an expert in this field. This will eventually lead to a positive action on their part, i.e. contacting you for professional business coaching.

2) Not Focusing on Subscribers

When organizing your eZine campaign, provide relevant and up-to-date content written in a way that speaks to your subscriber’s needs, never on your business offerings. People don’t care much about what your business can do for them, but what they can gain by building a relationship with you, that may ultimately lead to working together.  Using our coaching example above, sending valuable resources and information about challenges your ideal client may face would be better than just an announcement about your next program. By providing relevant content in a timely manner, subscribers are more likely to be loyal to your eZine campaign.

3) Making it Difficult to Opt Out

Your eZine success is not driven by the number of subscribers on your list.  The quality, not the quantity of your subscribers is far more important.  Making it difficult for people to unsubscribe can potentially lead to disaster.  Beyond annoying and alienating potential prospects, it will be more difficult to track your eZine results.  Allowing people to easily unsubscribe keeps your reputation intact and allows you to achieve optimum response rates.

It is perfectly understandable for you to want to make the most out of your eZine campaign as quickly as possible, but don’t let that allow you to defeat its entire purpose. Realize that it takes some time for eZine marketing to produce optimum results by making sure it’s implemented correctly. To keep you focused on the desired result, avoid these mistakes that eZine marketers often commit when running their Internet campaign.

Jeannine Clontz, IVAA CVA, MVA, EthicsChecked™, owner of Accurate Business Services is a Virtual Assistant (VA).  ABS provides ‘as needed’ marketing and social media support, training and consulting to busy entrepreneurs.  Clontz is a writer, author, VA Coach, and speaker on business topics including business ethics. For her free 10-Step Guide to Finding the Right VA, or her FREE Report, Social Media Marketing Benefits, send a request to:  service@accbizsvcs.com or visit:  http://www.accbizsvcs.com, www.VAbizcoach.com or her book website http://www.entrepreneurialfreedom.com

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As the Internet evolves from its technology to its software, and changes the way we communicate, it has opened us to a whole new world of social media. Blogging is one such evolving method of communication, and WordPress is one of the foremost accepted platforms for people wanting to get into the blogging action.

Evolving Software

WordPress is free, web-based software that is open source, which means it is available for developers to build upon and alter at will. Over time, its open source flexibility has allowed WordPress to become a content management system (CMS), or a program that creates, edits, and manages website content as well as blog content.

The best part about WordPress is that it doesn’t require knowledge of PHP or HTML code to use it. The blog or website creator chooses the look and rearranges the content simply and without rebuilding whole pages through the code.

While utilizing WordPress to build a website is possible, my preference is to maintain separate platforms for my website and blog by using traditional website development options.  I believe it allows me to take advantage of different options, and search engine optimization methods to capture as many prospects as possible.

Themes and Plug-ins

WordPress has a theme system that allows for easy customization for your blog allowing the creator to change the look of the site as often as they like. WordPress also has features that assist with link management, complex indexing of blog posts, and the ability for multiple authors to add blog or site content. WordPress works well with other blogging services like Trackback and Pingback as well as easy importing of content from other blogs. WordPress also has security features such to control spam and visitor comments, user registration, and password protection for selected posts. There are also hundreds of compatible plugins available that can greatly extend the functionality.

WordPress for Business and Pleasure

WordPress started as a communication tool for the individual, but it also has many benefits to offer to the business world. Since WordPress is so simple to use and maintain, this means less overhead and less time spent for creation and maintenance of the blog platform. The blogging aspect of WordPress also means that companies have an on-demand method for keeping their audiences updated on company business and advertising their products and services. Plus, blogging offers a wonderful method for companies to get feedback from their consumers. It allows you to keep the content fresh, which increases search engine ranking so that the company’s content will have a better chance of audience exposure.

Everyone’s Doing It

With the popularity of social media and the flexible program, ease of installation, and added functionality of plug ins, WordPress provides a way for everyone to be involved and engaged in social media, and utilize the benefits it provides to your overall presence on the Internet.

Jeannine Clontz, owner of Accurate Business Services, a VA practice, is an author, writer, speaker and VA Business Coach specializing in providing professional business coaching to established and start-up virtual assistants (VA’s).  For her FREE audio CD “What’s Holding Back my Business Success?”,  a 2-month trial in her Insider group coaching program, or 1-month trial of her coaching club visit:  http://www.VAbizcoach.com; or contact her at: coach@VAbizcoach.com.

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I recently stumbled across this really cool, geeky tool for practicing speed reading, and thought it would be a great share with all of my fellow geeks.

About Spreeder

Spreeder is an online speed reading utility to help train you to read faster. It does this by flashing words at a rapid rate, which helps in three ways:

1. Reduce subvocalization
2. Increase chunk comprehension
3. Eliminate backreading

You can read more about it and access a tutorial here.

How to Use Spreeder

The Spreeder website is super simple and at first glance, it may not be clear exactly what you should be doing, so here’s a really easy rundown:

• Go to www.spreeder.com.
• Paste any text that you want to use for your practice in the box on the screen and click spreed!

Once you get the hang of how it works, you can play around with the settings:

From the settings menu, you can change things like how many words per minute are flashed, the chunk size (number of words flashed at a given time), and background color.

The background color was a biggie for me — for some reason, I thought the black text on white was brutal. I changed my settings so the text was a dark gray and the background a lighter gray. Much easier on my eyes!

There is also an advanced settings option that lets you change things like speed variability, pauses, skipping “stopwords,” etc.

It’s a really cool tool for anyone who wants to learn how to read faster (and become more productive in the process). Oh, and did I mention that it’s free? Give it a try!

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Even if you’re not in the design industry, there will likely come a time when you need to grab an image of your computer screen to share. For example, you may need to compare notes with a client who is seeing something odd in the Word document you just sent them. You may need to grab an example of a software issue to send to support. Or, you may want to quickly share an idea with a colleague.

Of course you can use the screenshot functionality included in your operating system (Apple Grab on a Mac, and the print screen function or Snipping Tool on Windows), but if you want a little more functionality, here are some really cool (and free) tools to check out.

Screenshot Tools for Windows

Cropper: A simple screenshot tool that lets you take screen grabs and crop out sections you don’t need.

MWSnap: An installation-free screenshot tool that can capture your entire desktop, a highlighted window, an active menu, a control, or a fixed or free rectangular part of the screen.

Snippy:  An installation-free tool for Windows XP that allows you to take screenshots of a page, even if you have a dual monitor setup.

Webshot: A tool that allows you to take screenshots in Internet Explorer and save them in JPG, GIF, PNG, or BMP formats.

Screenshot Tools for Macs

Paparazzi!: A small utility for Mac OS X that takes screenshots of web pages.

Skitch: Take screenshots, do some light modifications, and annotate with text, graphics and more.

SnapNDrag: A tool that lets you take a screenshot by just clicking a button and dragging the window. Supports PNG, TIFF and JPEG.

Cross-Platform Screenshot Tools

Jing: A powerful program that not only lets you take screenshots, but record screencasts and audio. From TechSmith, the makers of Camtasia.

Screengrab: A Firefox add-on that captures a full window, the entire page, just a selection, or a particular frame and lets you save the images either to a file, or to the clipboard.

Tiny Grab: A tool that instantly uploads your screenshots to easily share online. Free version is limited to 10 uploads per day.

What’s your favorite tools for capturing screenshots?

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