Continuing education is important in any business. I’m always learning on my own via webinars, reading articles and books, hands-on learning of new programs, etc. But there’s something to be said for more formalized training sessions like conferences and courses. A few things I love about conferences:

• Networking with peers & experts.
• Learning about hot industry topics.
• One price for tons of learning!
• I get to pick and choose what I want to hear (especially when there are multiple sessions at once).
• For virtual conferences, I get to listen to recordings later!

The IVAA Online Summit is one of my favorite (and one of the least expensive) Virtual Conferences to attend each year. Granted, I am a bit biased since I was one of those who helped get it started and off the ground! This is actually the first year I’ll be paying to attend (instead of being a volunteer, in charge, etc.) and I’m excited to experience it without fighting all the fires that come with running an event.

Check out the preliminary speaker and topic lineup at http://online.vasummit.org. Early bird pricing is in place now and there are some great prizes you can win if you sign up early!

Do you have a secret weapon for your business? Speaker Felicia Slattery says her secret weapon is a Virtual Assistant. See why here!

One of the perks of being President of the International Virtual Assistant Association this year is that I periodically have the opportunity to speak with reporters from around the country. I recently spoke with Luara Raines of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and am pleased with this latest article about the Virtual Assistant industry. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Wow. I am totally speechless this morning. I woke up to the announcement that I was nominated for and chosen to be the recipient for January 2009 of VANetworking’s distinguished VAccolade award. This is a huge honor as it means I’ve been recognized by my peers for outstanding service in our industry. I am so appreciative and feel undeserving. When you love the work you do and enjoy volunteering to make an organization (or multiple orgs!) better, you certainly don’t expect to be recognized in this manner.

You can see more information about the award here and also here.

And you’ll want to also check out VANetworking’s homepage. An awesome forum for Virtual Assistants and businesses looking to find a VA.

Thanks to Tawnya and everyone behind the scenes at VANetworking – you rock!

ABC recently published a fabulous article on their site about Virtual Assistants. Several of our industry leaders were interviewed – it’s great exposure for our industry!

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/SpecialSeries/story?id=3431434

How to Hire Some Help and Give Yourself a Raise

by Donna Gunter, The Online Biz Resource Queen (TM)

“There’s no way I can hire anyone to do what I do. No one can do it as well as I can.”

Do you resemble that remark? If so, you’ve got much in common with most other business owners in the world. We never think that anyone else will give something the time, attention, and dedication that we will. And, you’re right, to some degree. No one cares as much about your business as you do. However, if you don’t choose to delegate those things that prevent you from engaging in business development, marketing, and sales activities, you won’t be in business very long.

Whether you’re just starting out or have been in business for awhile, the thought of bringing on a support team member can be daunting, and you wonder, “How can I bring in someone else when it’s just going to increase my expenses?”

You need to make the shift to seeing this cost as an investment in your business, rather than as an expense, and let go of the need to be in control.

I recently read about a statistic quoted in the life insurance industry which stated that for every additional support team member employed in a small professional services firm, the firm experienced a 40% increase in gross revenues. Why does this increase occur? Because your support team takes work away from you, which allows you to focus on increasing revenues – either by making more sales or working on the marketing systems that will lead to more sales.

I realize this sounds overly simplistic — if you want to increase your revenues by 40%, simply just employ someone on your support team. Of course, it is not that simple in reality. Hiring a support team requires you to trust your own judgment and use this extra time to generate more revenues. And that’s the key here – if you hire a support person and keep doing what you’re doing, the concept won’t work.

You have to hire the person and ensure that you’re taking on the role of business development.

The best way to illustrate this is to look at your “lost opportunity” costs. Say, for example, you’re a marketing consultant and you charge $175 per hour. Yesterday, your ACT! database was malfunctioning and it took you 7 hours to fix the problem and do the mail merge and printing and mailing of your sales letter to the new list of 100 prospective customers that you just purchased. Do you realize that 7 hours really cost you $1225? How? Your hourly rate of $175/hour multiplied by the number of hours it took you to do this task (7) equals $1225.

What would have been more effective? Finding someone else (like a Virtual Assistant or Online Business Manager) to do this for you in half the time for a portion of your hourly fee. If you had hired the expertise of a masterfully skilled Virtual Assistant charging $45/hour, for example, my guess is that she probably could have completed the project in a portion of the time, say 4 hours, for a final cost to you of $180. Big cost savings over the $1225 it cost you to do the same project. With that project off your plate, you then have the time to go out seeking more $175/hour opportunities.

Amazing, isn’t it? For a mere $180 investment, for example, you now have the time to complete the proposal to do that corporate training program you spoke about with an HR person two weeks ago. A week later, the HR person calls and tells you that they’ve accepted the proposal valued at $10,000 in income over the course of the year. Would you have had time to complete that proposal if you had not handed off this ACT database project? Perhaps, but I bet it would have forced you to work late into the night to complete it.

What operational aspects of your business could you delegate to someone else? If you had extra time, how could you increase the revenues of your business? Give these questions strong consideration–you may be pleasantly surprised by what you discover.

Your Get Clients Online Assignment: Take some time and write out your delegation list — all those things that you hate doing, things that you’re now doing and probably shouldn’t be, as well as all the stuff that’s falling through the cracks. Surprised at the length of the list? Now jot down all those money-making opportunities you’ve missed out on (or don’t have time for) because you’re too caught up in the day-to-day operations of your business. What’s the dollar value of those missed opportunities? Shocking, isn’t it?

Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To claim your FR*EE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at OnlineBizU.com. Ask Donna an Internet Marketing question at AskDonnaGunter.com.