Friday, December 2, 2016

Skills Are Cheap Passion is Priceless


I want to get very real with you and share my life’s story. I am going to take you on the journey from the very beginning of my childhood on up to the point of where I am today. The reason I am sharing the raw and honest details of my life is so that you can understand that success is not determined by your past.
Behind every successful person out there is a story filled with devastation, determination, pivotal moments and raw emotions. No matter who you are, where you’ve been, what you’ve done, it is your passion. Skills are cheap, anyone can learn how to do something, but it is your passion that is simply priceless.

Devastating Things Happened in My Life

In my book, Skills Are Cheap, Passion is Priceless, I show you snippets of the devastation and tragedy that I dealt with as a child. I talk about my drug addict father, my amazing mother, my caring grandparents, and the dad that raised me.
Later on in the book, I share about my struggle with bulimia and self-esteem. For many years, I allowed the way I looked to dictate every choice I made.
I’m not the only one that had devastating things happen in my life. Brian shares about the death of his father and how that put him on the path he took in life. He talks about the way his dad lived in his final years, made a lasting impact on him.

I’ve Always Been Determined

For me, I always had to be the best. I would never allow myself to be less than the best. So I put a lot of pressure on myself. Many people fall into this rut. They either stay in the bottom because they feel as though they can never achieve, so they don’t try. Or they are at the very top, and you can never go any lower, you have to work super hard to stay at the top all of the time because anything less would be like losing.

My Pivotal Moment

You might have heard my story of how the pivotal moment I experienced in my corporate job. The day I decided that I would never put my children in daycare. From that moment on, I knew my why. I made a vow never to put my child in daycare, all I have to do is look into her eyes and my commitment to the WHY is stronger than ever. What is your WHY?

I Became an Online Marketer

Back when I started in online marketing, we didn’t have half of the resources that we have today. Social media wasn’t even a thing, blogs were just beginning, and people were just starting to tap into the power of internet sales.
I Googled how to work from home and found so many resources. It was then that I knew I had found the way to do what I set out to do. Although…I had a lot of learning to do.

Grab your copy of my book now- Skills Are Cheap Passion is Priceless.


Learning The Hard Way

As with anything that you put your focus to, good or bad, you start to see examples and signs of it everywhere. One call back list in particular caught my eye and I decided to leave my name and phone number on it to get more information.
I put in my email address and a woman called me to tell me about the business. She asked me why I wanted it, but she was a really poor prospector, I just wanted her to get to the point. There I was, my ego was so big that I didn’t even want to listen to her, I just wanted to bypass her and get to the information. When in reality I needed that woman so badly, I needed the movement that she made, I needed her energy, and that is exactly what people do in business, they want to skip over the important stuff, which is what I did.
If only I had known that mentors play such a huge role in success. It’s not enough to just read and learn. You need someone that is 4-5 steps ahead of you to help guide you.

Business Deals Gone Bad and Finding Mentors

Sure, Brian and I were super successful in our online ventures for a while. We were bringing in unbelievable amounts of money. But then…we lost it all. Since we hadn’t brought mentors into our lives, we made really poor business decisions.
The fallout from that choice wrecked us. We were hurt and struggling. This one interview with Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer radically changed our lives.
Here’s what they said-
No one can make you upset, depressed, hurt, anxious, or fearful without your consent. The worst things in life turn out to be the most important steps that you need to take, in order to get to the next place in your life. The highest place you can get to with this individual is to practice forgiveness, instead of revenge & anger”

My Mantra

Their words meant so much to me. From that day forward, I decided to change my mindset. I developed regained my confidence and developed a manta.
Every single day, I wake up with a mantra, and I talk to myself. I either look in the mirror, or I sit and say, “Rhonda, you are an incredible leader. You inspire people to do great things in their life. You show them that everything is possible. You help more families be free. You must show more families how to get to building a life that they love.” This is the essence of belief. When you have a mantra that you tell yourself, you are teaching your brain to believe in the life you want to create for yourself.

Remembering My Why Has Made Me Unstoppable

When I started my job and said I’ll never put my child in daycare, that I was going to live out this day, perfect day, every single day, that I was going to quit my job and replace my income, I wasn’t going back. There was no plan B. That was my vow and my commitment, and she, Hanalei, became my WHY. Everything I did fueled me to get me to that next step. Everything I did I did because she was my WHY and it was robust enough to keep me motivated and disciplined. I became Unstoppable!
When you wear the word unstoppable, you hold an armor that tells you that you can. It reminds you every day to be unstoppable. Being unstoppable needs a strong ‘WHY.’ Once you have worked out your WHY everything is possible.
If you want to hear more about Brian’s and my journey, snag a copy of my book, Skills Are Cheap, Passion is Priceless. I will take you through our life and share with you the practical tips you need to develop a successful business while you live out your perfect life. Read more

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

FREE Online Business Training Webinar

Are you sick and tired of grinding away at your 9-5 job?
If you want to learn exactly how you can leverage the internet to create a lifestyle by design join us live by registering above or below just click "GET STARTED NOW"

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

TIPS on Customer Service That Make Your Business BOOM


Customer service is the key to keeping your business bubbling along, without this important element supporting your business you will lose customers as quick as your attracting them.
CUSTOMER SERVICE USES
There are many ways that customer service grows your business its the human element of just wanting acceptance and become part of the community in which could be as simple as welcoming the new member, or having the virtual assistant watching your new Facebook group that you have formed and being there to answer simple questions and comments.
AMAZON - SHOPIFY - EBAY STORES
These stores rely heavily on you the owner to have the best customer support possible to help keep people with quick response times to questions, to give login information and be responsive to reviews that they write to know that they are being heard.
These simple steps are the way to have repeat customers that turn into raving fans that bring you more business. Doesn't it make sense to spend advertising dollars once and then to keep them for repeat customers they're after all then costing you absolutely nothing to retain.
Many customers just want to have their questions answered or follow up their orders or how to apply a code to give them the discount off the full price you are offering. To keep the customer happy it all comes down to quick response time to questions in order to avoid frustrations, which leads to refunds and buyers remorse.
Research reveals that customers want human interaction not something that frustrates them like a recorded message or phone prompts they want to speak to a human voice to answer questions quickly.
It may be something as simple as logging on people get stumped and annoyed when they can't get access to products that they have just purchased. This delay in getting back to them with a solution to their problem gets them upset and writes reviews that are sometimes unpleasant and will hurt your future business.
With all the hard work that goes behind a launch of a new product or service with advertising and webinars I have seen personally the numbers of new sign ups drop off dramatically between 25-30% due to no customer service. This is leaving money on the table.
WEBINARS
What about shopping cart abandonment this happens a lot and many businesses just send an email to get lost amongst the many emails that people get sent wouldn't your company stand out from others to pick up the phone and ask them "was there a problem - how can we help you?"
WELCOME CALL
There are some clients who will say nothing and will never take the next step because they are unsure of the next step in your program or service. A follow up call warms the person and shows warmth of your company.
This only takes a few minutes and something like "Hi Mary this is Dan from ABC Company, just giving you a courtesy call to first to welcome you to our company and to see if I can help you with and questions."
How good does that customer feel now, first they are acknowledged and secondly they have an opportunity to say if there is a problem and have someone help them.
We at Need a VA have known the human touch is so important in growing your business we personally help variety of businesses, product launches and services increase their bottom line just by being there to help their customers.
Contact us through the website http://needava.com or email us at info@needava.com today to see how we can help you.

Monday, August 29, 2016

A Virtual Assistant Bookkeeper Is Gold For Your Business



I want to share a story with you that I know will ring true for many of you that produce a shoe box full of receipts and pay big dollars for the CPA to make sense of the contents in the box.
To be truthful I was using the shoe box accounting systems where friends would laugh as I opened the box carefully and shut it quickly to squeeze yet another receipt in.
The box was full to the brim and I had made my way in for my appointment with the CPA and faced him with a large pad of paper in front of him as I tried to recall events, dates and different expenses I was trying to write off. Then the Accountant took off his glasses looked me straight in the eye and said "I am only as good as the information you give me!"
"Just imagine in this room if I had the tax department sitting around the table would your stories satisfy him?"
This truth hit me straight between the eyes I can still remember the sinking feeling when I thought that my poor record keeping would get me into hot water sooner or later and I virtually became obsessed about finding a virtual assistant to help get my house into order.
Tips to Get Your Started:
It's always hard starting anything new but to be prepared to spend only an hour a day to tackle this task, as it will overwhelm you.
Definitely do not do this task late at night or you will find you can't sleep.
Go purchase either a filing cabinet or do what I did and buy color-coded concertina boxes so you can easily find the year that you're looking for.
Clear the kitchen or office desk and first sort out in year then date order.
What I did is look for a virtual assistant bookkeeper and found much more than I bargained for she is she is a qualified CPA and she journals all of my receipts straight away directly onto QuickBooks and for the Australian clients MYOB.
We now have clients all around the world with many like how I was and they either started out with good intentions but just either got busy or lost the enthusiasm for book work and started to fall behind.
A good bookkeeper will save you money two ways as there will be less for the CPA to do, the cost of a virtual assistant bookkeeper is thirds of the cost of an accountant. The records will be kept beautifully and will stand the scrutiny of the tax office.
At Need a VA we are a virtual assistant outsourcing company that have expert qualified accountant/bookkeepers on hand to do your books no matter if you are in the US, Australia, Canada etc contact us TODAY at http://needava.com or email info@needava.com

How an Outsourcing Team Can Grow Your Business



Have you thought of an outsourcing team before to grow your business? I wish to share with you the simple steps that you can take to increase the bottom line easily and economically.
Tim Ferriss who wrote the now famous "the 4 hour work week" showed the world how you can work less and earn more. The whole concept intrigued and open people's mind about using virtual assistants in 3rd world countries who are by the way well educated and highly trained.
With the knowledge in hand that there are people who can work for a 3rd of a cost of labor in their own countries then came the challenge of how do you train them and what can they do and I will now show you how you do both of these.
First things first:
Do you provide a service or have you an office based business for your clients?
  • Bookkeeping
  • SEO
  • Website Design for
  • Social Media
  • Article Writing
  • Amazon, Shopify or eBay store
All of these listed services can be outsourced and here is the exciting thing that happens you will be able to expand your business and take on extra clients and then outsource them and this will increase your bottom line.
I have personally seen outsource teams grow from only 1 or 2 virtual assistants to a team of 7-10+ VA's now that tells me the business is expanding. One of our clients came to us with only 1 Shopify store that we helped set up and train the customer service and with in 6 months they opened a further 5 stores!
Need To Train Staff
All businesses run a little differently you would not set a person up in your office and say there you go now you get to work. That would be setting yourself up for failure.
Online there is no limit to the training you can set up effortlessly. For example you could arrange to run a webinar and share and record your training, or you could do a short video and lastly a well written email in dot point.
Spend the time giving the necessary training that you would give any new employee.
What about other businesses?
Small start-up businesses normally start on a shoestring budget and want to do it all themselves and don't get me wrong it is good to have an understanding but I disagree that you need to be able to do yourself. If you look at the following list of "to do" tasks within a business, there is not any creative time in there for you to grow!
If you are doing everything yourself like:
  • Bookkeeping
  • Social media
  • Marketing
  • SEO on your website
  • General admin tasks
  • Video editing
  • Blog promotion
  • Customer Service
Where would you possibly get the time necessary to grow your business? Even if you worked 15-16 hour days how well would you do either of these tasks? You need to outsource, put a dollar value on your time and if you are worth more than $8.50 per hour you should look at getting your own VA.
So there you have it, the only way you can grow your business and increase productivity is to outsource and develop a team within a team.
If you are sick of burning the midnight oil missing family events to work on your business it now time to work less and grow your business by first outsourcing smaller tasks and growing your own virtual assistant team.
Only then will you see the growth in your business contact us at http://needava.com or email me at info@needava.com

How To Communicate With Your Virtual Assistant



Before we start on how to communicate with your virtual assistant lets look at how you find the perfect VA for your task. One of the first things is to do is make a list of all of the daily tasks that you are currently doing within your business and then remove the tasks that only you can do, all of the remaining tasks you can outsourced.
Now you have the list the skills that you will need your virtual assistant to do you may need more than one VA:
· Someone that is technical
· Has video editing experience
· Article writing
· Social media skills
· SEO
It's unreasonable to think that the one virtual assistant would have all of these skills they may have one or two but the only way to see if they can complete their task is always to test them. Have them do a short test with a time frame to have this back to you.
How to communicate with your virtual assistant.
As I see all the emails that come into my company the challenge for most people is how to be understood. English is not the first language of the Filipino VA they can get very confused with clients that want to give a long story in their email about the task which is not necessary at all.
If you have a number of tasks keep the tasks to sharp, succinct and dot point works best in step order so the tasks flows best.
What I love to teach new clients about is the use of Jing software that can either record a 5 minute video where you can talk and show the virtual assistant where to find the information for the task or have them move it to another area.
Also it has screen capture that allows you to take a photo of the screen and then circle or use arrows to point to what you need to happen.
When a task comes back to you please check it thoroughly and give it back to the VA for corrections and or comments.
Further suggestions:
  • On a Sunday I do my to do list for the tasks that need to be done by the following week. This means that all the work will be given for the week to the VA.
  • Keep the work flow to manageable and easy to follow steps
  • This will cut down on the number of emails
Need a VA is a virtual assistant outsourcing company based in the Philippines we have 9 different areas of the business that all have trained and expert staff ready to help you grow your business. Also there is a project manager that will manage all of your tasks. Please contact me here at http://www.needava.com for expert outsourcing.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Media And The City Event in New York

Brand It- A New Show Produced By Bonnie Bruderer - Rhonda Swan

Bonnie and I met in Dubai during the Speak in Dubai event. We connected on such a deep level right away. We are like sisters from another mister.
Bonnie hosts the Askbonbon show. I asked her if she would be willing to come on to the Freedom-preneur show. It was awesome to have her on the show.
From these times together, Bonnie and I decided to create the Media in the City Event.
I knew right away that she would provide huge amounts of value to my followers and I started brainstorming with her how we could collaborate.
She came up with this idea of putting together a show called Brand It, based off of the show they have done called Make It. The attendees of the Media and the City Event will be filmed and showcased on this new show.
Here’s a sample of the show, Make It that Bonnie produces.

What The Attendees Will Accomplish at Media in The City

When everyone gets there on August 13, we are hosting a martini meet and greet. We’ll follow that up with a Sex in the City tour so everyone can get excited about being in New York. This tour is one of the most phenomenal brands that speak to women. It is a great example to us as a
On the next two days, we are going to hit the ground running. We will be in the boardroom working on our brands. This time will allow the attendees to get crystal clear on their brand messaging.
Everything that we do is leading up to the day of filming. Bonnie and I will host this show and interview 6 of the attendees at a time. This is their time to shine. They will share their message with the world and what they hope others will learn about their brand.
Since Bonnie is so well connected, she is going to bring in people that are not generally available in this industry. This will give those that come to the event more exposure than most people could hope for.

Sexify Your Brand

One of my biggest goals while we are there is to help you sexify your brand. I’ll work closely with you to help you develop a brand that aligns with your values and purpose.
By positioning yourself as the expert, you elevate yourself as an authority in the eyes of your buyer. In order to create this position, you will need to put together e-books, books, programs, webinars, and your overall packing of your products.
Telling your story in a way that solves the problems of your audience is a sexy way to promote what you do, rather than just selling them. This kind of connection is leap years over what most do in the marketplace.
Most people would rather sell you something then connect with you first. Standing on these principles is how you begin to create a sexy brand that people want to follow.

I Reveal My Seven Figure Strategies

During the boardroom meetings, I will share with you my seven figure strategies of generating automated sales funnels, webinars, and value-based shows that keep people coming back for more.
The simplest way to build your following and fill your events, webinars, and sell products is to develop your Unstoppable Sexy Brand (USB). Once you have a USB in place, you will be able to connect with your audience on a deeper level.

Each Woman Receives a Segment in the Show

In addition to the group interview, we will give each woman a one-on-one interview. Basically, the spotlight is shined on each person in attendance. This is a time where they will share their journey and hopes for their business.
The show will start airing across Bonnie’s networks in September.

Star For a Day Experience

We want you to have an amazing time while you are in New York. That is why we are going to give you a star for a day experience. Here’s an idea of what it’s like to be a star in the big city.

Do You Want to Have the Spotlight on You?

If you want to attend this event, we would love to have you. Space is very limited and the seats are filling up! Why wouldn’t it? We are giving you the chance of a lifetime. This could be a pivotal moment for you and take you to the next level right away.

Productivity Tips When Traveling

Productivity Tips When Traveling

Productivity Tips When Traveling

Managing your time when you have a yearly calendar loaded with travel is not a simple thing to do. Based from my own experience of a busy travel laptop lifestyle running my digital business and attending events around the world, here are some tips to keep you on schedule despite being away from home (even if you are working off your laptop):
1. Hire Well
Before you go away there are a number of tasks that must be done or prioritized before you can focus on your a trip or vacation, you must entrust work to someone that can efficiently do it. Here are several points to consider in hiring someone that may continue your work while you are away (or utilising an outsourcing team):
  1. Write down a list of tasks so you know what type of candidate your after, you may need more than one person to do your tasks – its rare that the one person would have all the skills you need to complete all task required of your business.
  2. Interview candidates extensively and check references
  3. It’s essential to test the skills your hiring for, set example exercises to filter candidates. What you are looking for is that the task completed is accurate and more importantly returned in a timely manner.
  4. Can the candidate work un-supervised?
It’s hard to delegate tasks to a new staff member but like any new staff there will need to be training involved first. Use free software like Jing to show the staff member what they need to do to complete the task this is handy if they are lost they can easily replay your video. Reporting to you daily showing that they have completed your task will result in trusting them with more work until you are at a stage where you can build up to a weeks work at a time. When you are traveling ensure that you login in daily just to check progress and give feedback.
2. Trust Others
Trust is something that is built over time. Always praise on a job that is well done and encourage them to give you feedback on a task if they have other ideas they would like to input which sometimes you may not of thought of. Start building trust slowly and you will be rewarded with a loyal staff member.
3. Use Travel Time Wisely
For the times that you can’t hand over a job to individuals in the workplace while you travel, here are suggestions on what you could do to remain on top of things:
  1. When standing in line at the airport, you could take out a notepad and think of new business suggestions or take notes about essential company issues.
  2. Instead of viewing the in-flight entertainment, you may use this time to work on your laptop. The good idea about flights is that you won’t be disrupted by the workplace telephone or any of your associates.
  3. Utilize any travel commute to perfect larger presentations.
  4. Recreate an Office Environment whenever possible.
When you’re staying in a hotel, arranging your laptop and documents similar to your office setup may help. Instead of treating the hotel as an area of recreation, consider it as an area of “work-away-from-work.” Replicating an office setup will help you participate in work much better.
Final Thoughts;
Working on many tasks is still possible while traveling. Nevertheless, it’s best to do the less important ones to raise productivity. For instance, you can leave tasks like non-urgent emails for flights and so that your office time will be focused on critical business matters.
Life hack reports that keeping e-mail programs open is disruptive to efficiency. Instead, checking e-mails five or six times a day will help you deal with them appropriately. So, either save those tiring e-mails for your travels or examine them occasionally throughout a typical working day. Better still have staff set up email folders so that you will have emails sorted and to look at when you are ready.
Source: the Online Alliance