3-in-1 that work as One!

Over the past year we have been searching high and low for a super-efficient business system we can use in TJConsulting and offer to our clients. And finally, after trying and testing, reading 100s of reviews – it’s here.

It consists of 3 parts, but don’t despair – they all work as One, efficient, online, affordable solution. And they are…. Xero, Capsule and MailChimp.

Xero is the accounting system of the 21st century. If you are not an accountant and dread “reconciliation” or “P&L” – this is the system for you. It’s very simple to use, you can access it from anywhere with an Internet connection and it’s secure.

Capsule is an online Contact Relationship Management (CRM) tool that will integrate with Xero – so you only have to enter your data once. You can track leads and conversion, manage information, analyse sales and productivity, and (yet again) it’s very simple to use!

MailChimp is used to send your newsletters, mailshots and autoresponders. Without being repetitive – it’s simple, clean, straightforward. It can send regular newsletters and schedule a series of messages. MailChimp can integrate with a large number of social media networks, Eventbrite (for event bookings) and is a top-rated social media tool (according to mashable.com).

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If you are a coach or consultant you may have found yourself stuck in a vicious circle: you earn more money only if you work more hours. So when you go on a holiday, decide to study or spend some extra time with your family – your income drops.

There is a solution to this problem. You can convert your knowledge and experience into sellable products and start selling them via your website. These could be e-books, CDs, DVDs, white papers, online training courses, teleseminar recordings, podcasts, premium membership area access, access to online library or articles, etc. Whatever you choose to do there are a few things you need to consider first. Apart from the obvious – developing and designing your information products – you need to think about delivering purchases to your customers.

How can a Virtual Assistant help you with earning a passive income?

• Virtual PA can set up the shopping cart for you;
• VA can add products, set up autoresponders, add links to e-newsletter systems;
• Virtual assistant can proof-read and edit your e-book;
• VA can design the e-cover for your information products, making them feel real and tangible to customers;
• Virtual PA can edit the recordings of teleseminars, teleconferences, podcasts and videos to be ready for sale;
• Virtual assistant can create PowerPoint slides to accompany your teleseminar;
• Virtual assistant can handle enquiries from attendees, deal with any technical issues and help with bookings;
• VA can create landing pages to market your teleseminars, manage social media campaigns, set up registration process and teleconference facilities.

If you would like to find out more – contact us today on 0208 144 4594 or email via the website. We offer you a free, no obligation consultation on how to convert your expert knowledge into passive income.

If you decided to start selling informaiton products from your website you need to decide on how you are going to automate the delivery of purchases to your customers. Information products offer a good way of converting your knowledge and expertise into products that can be sold online and offline regardless of the amount of hours you work every day. If you are trying to implement the 4-hours-working-week concept – you know that’s something that you need to do as soon as possible. You can then use social media marketing to promote your products.

One option would be to integrate PayPal into your HTML/CSS website. It’s easy and cheap to do. Your payments will be securely processed by PayPal so you don’t need to worry about handling someone else’s card details. However the downside is that every time someone places an order for an ebook or a mp3 recording – you have to go online and send the customer the file or a link to download it. This will take time. And by no means the income, generated from such sales, can be called “passive”.

The other option is to use a shopping cart. Whichever system you are using at the moment to manage your website – WordPress, Joomla, HTML – there is a way to integrate a shopping cart solution. Some are free (like ZenCart), for some you need to pay a regular monthly free (like 1shoppingcart). However the system will handle the whole purchasing process on your behalf – from listing the products to sending a Thank You message.

The main benefits of a shopping cart over basic PayPal:

• Easier to update – you can add products & categories via an online control panel, image resizing is done for you, download links are automatically created for each product;
• Access it from anywhere – all you need is a web browser;
• Multiple payment methods already integrated – you may be able to use PayPal, Worldpay etc.;
• Automatic email notifications – you get notified of all new orders, your customers receive an automatic thank you message;
• Statistics available online, all in one place;
• You don’t need to have any technical knowledge of how to build a website;
• You can create discounts, multiple purchase offers, use affiliate schemes, send promotional emails to get customers to return and buy again;
• The purchase will get delivered automatically;
• You can create content pages to fully integrate the shopping cart into your site (or make your site as a shopping cart);
• The system will collate customers’ emails, so you can keep in touch and follow up;
• In most systems you can send a newsletter to your customers or integrate it with e-newsletter systems like Aweber, MailChimp or Constant Contact.

So very quickly you will be able to set up and manage your online store. All you need now is to finish off that e-book you were working on for a while.

The role of the virtual assistant is so varied it’s nearly impossible to make a conclusive list of tasks – but the one thing VAs are likely to have in common is diary management for busy business owners.

Juggling the appointments of a busy executive requires diplomacy, patience, forward thinking, and a reliable and effective system. Technology has made huge advances in this area and a range of software is on the market for computers and portable devices like mobile phones. Google Calendar is easy to set up on your PC or laptop, it will automatically synchronise any changes you have made in Outlook with online version in Google. You can give your virtual assistant permission to view your Google calendar in Settings. And that’s all that’s required! If you use a Blackberry or iPhone – your device can have an uptodate diary too so you know what you need to do when you are on the move.

It’s very helpful for scheduling. A virtual assistant can view multiple clients from her calendar, can email the appointments to your business partners and customers, can add notes, links to Google Maps for location, attach documents (agenda, minutes of previous meetings, action lists). It is a user-friendly, easy to use system with good options for listing tasks, colour coding and setting alarms.

What are the benefits of letting your VA coordinate your diary?

• your VA can confirm all appointments in advance – to ensure that meetings take place as scheduled
  • You: can you please confirm all appointments for next week (takes 2 min to send a text message)
  • Your VA calls everyone, has a brief telephone conversation with everyone you are going to meet. One person takes a few attempts to get hold of. One person has to cancel – VA arranges a new appointment straight away. You receive a confirmation once it’s done.
• your VA can collate all necessary paperwork, reports from other attendees, financial statistics or research data and email to all attendees
  • You: please send me and all board members the document pack – the same way as last meeting in January (via a text message or email)
  • Your VA will review what was sent last time, will check agreed actions from last meeting, ask for progress reports, collate updated stats on budget situation (or staffing numbers, or risks – whatever is the context), create a draft agenda and email the pack to all board members.
• your VA can arrange new meetings on your behalf, book meeting rooms, venues, catering and travel (if needed)
  • You: please book me a 2h meeting in March in Leeds with Mr. Smith, Mr. Neo and Ms. Trinity, half day should be enough. I will travel there and back on the same day.
  • Your VA will find a date when all participants are free, will book a meeting, research and book a suitable meeting room with tea/coffee and lunch, collate and email everyone a pack of necessary documents (see above), book you a return train ticket which you will collect from the station before travelling.
• your VA will make sure your time is used in the most efficient manner
  • By yourself: you have a meeting in West London, then in Docklands, then in North London before attending a networking reception near Victoria. Result: you spend half of your time travelling between appointments.
  • If using a Virtual Assistant: your VA will cluster the meeting in the same location, or book a meeting room for a day where you will meet with your clients or suppliers. If you regularly attend events an workshops then meetings in clients’ offices will be arranged around those commitments. Result: you have more time to network, talk to clients or get on with work.

Still in doubt? Give us a call on 0203 468 8594 to discuss your particular situation and see how we can make more time in your 24h day.

Do you often find that you hire temporary staff in order to cover for a key member of staff (like executive assistants to MDs, office managers) or to cope during the extremely busy periods at work? If so, the new government announcement will have a major impact on your business.

Currently many employment law rights (the right to claim unfair dismissal, the right to a statutory redundancy payment, right to certain minimum periods of notice, etc) are only available to employees. However, the government has announced that it will implement legislation to give greater employment protection to agency workers.

The basic principle is that after 12 weeks work, agency workers should be entitled to equal treatment in terms of pay and “basic working and employment conditions”, compared to their colleagues who are directly employed or engaged by the hiring organisation (you).

So what does “equal treatment” actually mean? Under the draft regulations, agency workers would be entitled to equal treatment in relation to holidays, breaks, overtime, notice period, etc. Equal treatment in relation to “pay” would include basic salary plus other contractual benefits directly linked to the work undertaken by the agency worker. This covers holiday pay, payment for overtime, shift allowances, unsociable hours premiums. However, occupational social security schemes (such as sick pay and occupational pension rights) would be excluded. It is also proposed that from day one agency workers will have equal treatment to on-site facilities, for example, staff crèche, transport facilities, canteen.

Therefore if you regularly engage agency staff on engagements lasting for 12 weeks or more, you will need to review your policies to ensure that agency workers are treated in the same way as you would treat permanent employees.

New rules mostly likely will come into force after October 2011.

The difference between an agency worker and a virtual assistant after October 2011: