TIPS AND TRICKS

WINTER WELLNESS CHALLENGES –

December 13, 2018 by Karen Leave a Comment

Winter Wellness Challenges

Winter can be a wonderful time of year, but for many people it can mean several months of misery, if they live in a part of the world that experiences severe cold weather during the winter months. Here are some Winter Wellness Tips to help you get through.

On the positive side, there are all sorts of exciting winter activities:

· downhill skiing

· cross-country skiing

· snowboarding

· snowshoeing

· snowmobiling

among other fun, outdoor winter activities.

On the negative side, there is a temptation to pretend we are a bear and just hibernate until the spring thaw comes!

The truth is, becoming inactive during the winter season, can be one of the worst things you can do for your health. It might seem tough to enjoy the short days and long nights of winter, but, spending time outside during each winter’s day offers several health benefits.

Fresh Air

Being cooped up indoors leaves you more prone to colds and flu, since you will be surrounded by other people who may be coughing and sneezing.

Exercise

Exercise boosts your energy levels and mood. It also helps you burn calories, which is very useful, if you tend to gain weight during the end of the year holidays.

More Vitamin D

Vitamin D is produced by our body, as a direct result of exposure to the sun. We can take supplements, but, just 30 minutes of sunshine per day (wearing sunscreen, of course), can give us our daily recommended requirement of Vitamin D.

Light Therapy for Seasonal Affective Disorder

Winter can cause many to get “the blues”. Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, affects millions of people around the world. It is caused by the lack of daylight during the short winter days, especially when the weather is bad and the sunlight is in short supply!

SAD can trigger depression, illness and weight gain. Colds and flu can make people (and their immune systems) even more depressed. Getting out in the sun is the best way to combat SAD and live life to the full each winter.

Eating Issues

Many people pack on the pounds in the winter. They crave hot “comfort foods” to warm up on a cold day. Holidays such as; Thanksgiving and Christmas, can be a diet disaster. Eating more and working out less, if at all, because of the cold weather, is a recipe for weight gain and getting out of shape. By the time spring rolls around, you’ll be a couch potato, and look like a spud in your swimsuit, if you’re not careful.

Skin and Hair Issues in Winter

Winter weather is a lot colder and drier than summer weather, which means it takes its toll on your skin. Your hair might start to look dry and brittle. Your skin might become chapped, red and flaky. If you already have dry skin, winter can make it much worst. Paying attention to moisturizing your hair, face and skin can keep you looking and feeling great.

Dressing for Safety in Winter

Last, but not least, you need to dress for safety in winter. Cold kills. A hat, scarf, gloves and proper footwear, to match the weather conditions, are all essential.

Here’s to your Health this Winter!

Stay healthy and safe and we’ll see you outside soon!

Karen

Founder

Lotus Business Resources LLC

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FIVE KEY ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGIES A VA CAN DO FOR YOUR BUSINESS

August 21, 2018 by Karen Leave a Comment

Posted by IVAA Webteam on

August 6, 2018

5 Key Online Marketing Strategies a VA Can Do For Your Business

Congratulations! You have a fantastic product or service! Now, how are you going to turn that fantastic product or service into a profitable business?

Enter, Marketing Strategies! Marketing isn’t just an important part of a successful business – it IS the business. Everything else you do in your business depends on how effective your marketing strategies are in driving clients to your business!

But like most business owners, you have run out of time. There are many tasks a Virtual Assistant can do to help you. Often this is the best way a business can do more and turn that product or service into one with more sales and bring in that profit you desire. Hiring a Virtual Assistant.

Many VAs offer social media and online marketing as a specialty. If you need help with your marketing, bring in a Virtual Assistant and then they can help you with some of the marketing strategies that will help drive more clients and more sales.

Use social media.

Be yourself! Don’t just post “salesy” content, post thoughts and anything you feel that your target audience/ideal client will find relevant. Do research to find out which platforms your ideal client uses; you can then determine the best times and dates to share your knowledge.

A J.D. Powers study found that sixty-seven percent of consumers use social media for customer service inquiries, so make sure you become a part of that community! Don’t forget to engage with your audience by starting conversations and responding to their comments (both good AND bad). You wouldn’t ignore someone who reaches out to you in person, so don’t ignore them online. Building relationships is one of the most important parts of your social media marketing success, so always acknowledge every person who reaches out to you.

Blog, Blog, Blog

Entrepreneur.com found that marketers who blog are 13 times more likely to experience a positive ROI. Demand Metrics determined that businesses who blog, generate 67 percent more leads than those who don’t!

However, don’t just blog for the sake of blogging. Use platforms like Medium.com to research suitable content to post. Also, visit sites like Quora and Reddit and be seen as an authority, by answering questions in your area of expertise.

Build a great lead magnet.

The right lead magnet, when presented to your ideal client, can bring unbelievable results. To qualify as a great lead magnet, it needs to:

Address known “pain points” in your ideal client’s business
Present a solution that will take their ‘pain points’ away

What type of lead magnet should you build? You can create an ebook, a cheat sheet, a checklist or a how-to video. Be creative! Think about the lead magnets you’ve seen that drew you in. What was it about them that peeked your curiosity to want to learn more about the offering?

Take advantage of email distribution (a.k.a. build that list!)

Now that you have created an AMAZING lead magnet, the next step in your funnel is Email marketing. Part of any good sales funnel is going to be an email marketing sequence. These are the automated messages that go out to users once they subscribe to your list. Use your email sequence to build a relationship with your subscribers. Be authentic and transparent. Email marketing is still one of the best ways to reach your audience, and the fact that it costs next to nothing to execute makes it one of the best tools to add to your marketing toolkit.

Keep an eye on your SEO

Okay, you’re visible on social media, you are building a “know, like and trust” factor with your ideal clients, you’re blogging valuable content, you’ve built an incredible lead magnet and you have your email distribution set up. How do you determine whether these steps are getting you the greatest return on your investment and reaching your ideal clients?

Enter: Search engine optimization! SEO can significantly help your brand reach the people who want what you’re offering.

Industry experts recommend updating your SEO once a quarter; after all, Google updates its algorithm more than 500 times a year, according to Moz.com. Find the keywords that are making your business gain or lose traction in the search engine cycle, to make your brand as discoverable and searchable as possible.

Many new business owners may want to jump right in and market their business before focusing on a clear target audience/ideal client. Doing some upfront work to clarify your target market and then committing to it, will make your marketing efforts that much easier in the long run. Find more customers like your best customer and stop selling to those that aren’t in that group.

If you know that you need to devote more time to your marketing efforts, but your time is limited, collaborate with a professional Virtual Assistant! IVAA offers a free RFP system for you to post your VA needs and our members can reply to you with a proposal.

If you are looking to hire a virtual assistant to implement your marketing strategies like these five, click here: We Can Help You

Karen Kannegiesser is an online business resource assistant with over three decades of C-suite level executive administrative and supply chain expertise. She has many years as a strategic MRO buyer for a large specialty chemical manufacturer, as well as an extensive background in database management, project management, contract administration and business continuity/disaster recovery preparedness.www.LotusBusinessResources.com

Hire a Virtual Assistant and Start Delegating – Part I

July 26, 2018 by Karen Leave a Comment

There comes a time in every small business owner’s life when they look at their to-do list and realize they simply can’t get it all done. Do not despair! Help is just a call or email away!

We are here when you are ready!

Fill out the short form below and someone will contact you within 24 hours. Thanks for viewing!

Hire a Virtual Assistant and Start Delegating – Part 3

July 26, 2018 by Karen Leave a Comment

hiring a virtual assistant pricing — Hiring a Virtual Assistant – Part 3

By Tracking Your Time, ZAPIER

July 12, 2018

What can you expect to pay for a virtual assistant?

As with most professions, rates for VAs are all over the map. So, what can you expect to pay for a virtual assistant?

Here are a few things to keep in mind while you’re looking at virtual assistants and their rates:

Type of Work:

If you’re looking at entry-level administrative work (email management, basic customer service, etc.), you’ll probably be paying $15-25/hour.
If you’re looking for higher-level tasks (project management, content strategy, etc.), you could be looking at $50/hour or more. Upwork has posted their average rates for various tasks, which can help you get a better estimate.

Speed:

Keep in mind when looking at hourly rates that some people work faster than others. Someone who charges $50/hour might complete a project three times faster—and with the same quality—as someone who charges $25/hour, making it more financially beneficial for you. Don’t be fooled by ultra-low hourly rates.

Pro tip: Paying hourly can be dicey. If possible, we suggest paying per completed project. Quick workers will benefit, and you will know exactly what it’s going to cost you before you start.

Experience level:

Take into account the VA’s experience level. It might be tempting to go for the cheapest option you find, but extensive experience can be the difference between quality work and work that you end up having to redo yourself.

Client testimonials:

Look at client testimonials on the VA’s website and/or their LinkedIn recommendations, and ask for a few client references to reach out to via email.
If someone isn’t able to put you in touch with at least two or three people who they’ve worked for before, it might mean that they know they wouldn’t receive any glowing recommendations.

Many cost-conscious business owners work with international assistants—through marketplaces like Virtual Valley and outsourced, largely because the hourly rates tend to be cheaper.

The decision is up to you, but keep in mind that major time zone differences and any language barriers can slow down the process and cost you more than the cheaper price is saving you, to begin with.

If your business is ready to work with a virtual business assistant, feel free to contact Lotus Business Resources for a complimentary discovery call.

Click the link below to schedule a no-obligation call:

CLICK HERE TO SCHEDULE A 30 MINUTE DISCOVERY CALL

Click below to leave a message (we will contact you within 24 hours):

LEAVE US A MESSAGE

If you’d rather call us direct: 732-707-5307

www.LotusBusinessResources.com – YOUR virtual business support specialist!

Hire a Virtual Assistant and Start Delegating – Part 2

July 24, 2018 by Karen Leave a Comment

HIRE A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT PART 2 — Hire a Virtual Assistant – Running the Numbers

By Tracking Your Time, zapier.com

July 12, 2018

Running the numbers

Your mental health is the most important factor here, but you are running a business, so you need to take a look at the bottom line and weigh that against any impending burnout. When it comes down to it, you need to be sure that hiring a virtual assistant will save you more money than they’ll cost, so you should be running the numbers!

Start by tracking your time. That’s something you should be doing anyway: It’s an easy way to spot inefficiencies and see exactly where your time is going—compared to where you think it’s going. Check out our list of the best time-tracking tools to get started and find the best choice for you. Once you know how much time you’re spending on each task, it’s time to do some math.

When setting up a time-tracking solution, you don’t want to get too granular with your tasks, but just enough to see patterns. For example, you might track things like “social media” or “press and PR,” but you’ll also want a general “administrative” category for things like scheduling appointments or calling suppliers.

Running the numbers – Scenarios

Scenario #1: You spend six to eight hours/week dealing with customer questions via phone and email. At $22/hr, that would cost you $132-176/week to outsource to a virtual assistant. In that same six hours, you could be doing something else (billable client work, increasing marketing efforts on Instagram, whatever makes sense for your business) that would make you $300-400. In this case, the numbers show that getting a VA makes financial sense for you.

Scenario #2: You spend three hours/week dealing with a higher-level administrative task that requires some background knowledge of both the industry and your business/product (e.g., talking to manufacturers). You’d have to find a VA that has the same level of background knowledge you do (and pay higher rates accordingly—say, $30-35/hour), and you don’t have an immediately profitable task you could be doing with the time you’d save. In this case, hiring a VA isn’t worth it for you—yet. Once you have enough other tasks to delegate, you can hand this off, but for now, it makes the most financial sense to keep trucking along yourself.

Scenario #3: You’ve analyzed your time logs and found that you’re spending five to seven hours/week on administrative work. You have around two to three hours of profitable work you could be doing in that amount of time, so you would more or less be breaking even by hiring an assistant. This is often the trickiest position to be in, since there’s no immediate monetary gain to be had. If you hate the admin work and just want it off your plate, hiring an assistant is worth it—if just for your peace of mind and to avoid burnout.

NOTE: It might also be a good idea to hire an assistant now, especially if you have a busy season coming up in the next few months: By the time your busy season hits, you’ll have your VA fully on-boarded. If, however, you enjoy using those administrative tasks to wind down at the end of a work day, then the delegating pressure is off.

If you are done running the numbers and are ready to investigate how to go about Hiring A Virtual Assistant and Start Delegating, contact us for a complimentary discovery call by clicking the link below:

CLICK HERE FOR A COMPLIMENTARY DISCOVERY CALL

or call us at 732-707-5307

www.LotusBusinessResources.com

#smallbusinessowners #hiringavirtualassistant #socialmediamanagement #entrepreneurs

Hire a Virtual Assistant and Start Delegating – Part I

July 22, 2018 by Karen Leave a Comment

By Tracking Your Time, Zapier.com article
July 12, 2018

There comes a time in every small business owner’s life when they look at their to-do list and realize they simply can’t get it all done.

Too many emails to answer, too many clients to onboard, too many marketing campaigns to organize—whatever the case, you and your business needs help. Enter: virtual assistants.
Virtual assistants (VAs) are remote contractors that can take on a number of “odd jobs” in your business. They might focus on one specific set of administrative tasks, or they might serve as a jack-of-all-trades. Either way, delegating to a VA will help you grow your business without burning out.

How to Know If You Need To Hire a Virtual Assistant

It can be tough to identify the tipping point for when to hire a virtual assistant, but there are a few common signs that it’s time to start delegating:

You’re working long hours on a regular basis. Especially if a lot of your time is spent doing repetitive or tedious tasks like replying to social media comments or customer service emails, you might want to think about delegating to a VA. We’re talking about more than one bad week here or there—look for patterns of these long, tedious hours happening for several weeks in a row.
You’re losing customers or clients because you can’t respond to emails in a timely manner. Once you start losing money because you can’t keep up with your email, you absolutely need help. Losing clients isn’t an option for a growing business.
You’re spending your time on lower-value tasks. This is your company, and you should be spending your time adding value to the company in a way only you can. Administrative work is a specific skill set, but it’s one that you can delegate. Your brain? That’s non-transferable.
You’re doing work you don’t like. If you enjoy some of those tedious tasks, then, by all means, stick with them. They might energize you or spark ideas that you otherwise wouldn’t have. But make sure you like your work. Doing tasks that you dislike can lead to burnout, which will have a negative effect on your productivity—and your business.

If this sounds like you/your business, there is help available. Lotus Business Resources is a virtual business resource specialist that can tackle those tasks that keep you working ON your business, instead of IN it!

#smallbusinessowners #entrepreneurs #socialmediamanagement #contentwriters #virtualassistants

5 Easy Summer Planning Ideas for Your Business

July 14, 2018 by Karen Leave a Comment

If you are located in the Northern Hemisphere, Summer is finally here!

It is the time of year many people plan a getaway for some rest and relaxation. As a small business owner, you may see a downturn in client activities at this time of year. This is normal, especially with your client’s planned vacations, slowdowns, etc. This is a great time for you to work on your Summer business plans! Here are 5 easy Summer business planning ideas that you can incorporate into your business before your plate gets full in the Fall.

#1: Consistent posting on your social media

One thing a small business should never do is DISAPPEAR during the Summer. Even if you are relaxing on a beach somewhere; enjoying a drink with a little umbrella in it, take some time before you leave to schedule your Summer posts. There are so many automated tools out there that can help you with this task. Heck, Facebook has their own (free) posting scheduler available! So, take some time now to plan your Summer posts!

#2: Learn something new or update existing skills

The downtime that comes with the Summer season is the PERFECT time to take or finish the course you may not have had time to work on, during the first half of the year. If you don’t have any unfinished courses, you can look into some of the many changes that have happened over the past 6 months on many of the social media platforms. Do you know what the new suggested sizes are for your social media graphics? Hmmm.

#3: Update or optimize your website

Have you looked at your website lately? Do you know how long it takes to upload (on desktop and mobile)? Have you optimized your website for loading time and SEO? Is there something you can do to increase your Google Analytics scores? Are you set up for analytics? These are things that you can look at during the Summer.

#4: Make backup arrangements

If your business is not going to slow down (Yay for you)! However, are YOU planning on taking some time off? Do you have backup arrangements in place? You know your clients the best. Are they accepting of others doing their work; or do they expect you to be available at all times? A break from the daily grind has been proven to be a healthy decision. Framingham Heart Study ran a 20-year study and found that women who vacationed once every 6 years or less, were almost EIGHT TIMES more likely to develop heart disease, than women who took at least 2 vacations per year!

#5: Continue to market your business

Your business marketing should not stop during the Summer months. This is the perfect time to connect with a potential client who needs support but cannot find it! When everyone else is taking time off, your continued marketing will show businesses that you are available! Consider writing an article that explains how you can help during times when others may have closed up shop!

If you keep these 5 Summer Business Planning tips in mind, not only will you continue to engage with your existing clients and make new connections with potential clients, but, you might also be able to get a little time off yourself (which we know is a healthy life choice)!

Don’t forget – if you need to eliminate some tasks, in order to free up the time to work on your Summer business planning; collaborate with Lotus Business Resources, LLC, a professional Virtual Business Resource Specialist!

Lotus Business Resources LLC can help you with Social Media Management, Content Creation (including blog writing and graphics), Project Management, Contract and Business Presentation creation as well.

For those of you that are entering this wonderful time of year…Have a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous Summer season!

NEVER STOP LEARNING!

April 25, 2018 by Karen Leave a Comment