As a business owner and entrepreneur, I realized that I couldn’t grow my business successfully if I didn’t have a solid support team. So I purposefully sought out Virtual Assistants (VAs) that I felt would not only be beneficial to my business but I would also be able to help them grow their business.

Recently, I was featured in an editorial column on Entrepreneur.com by Patti Simone regarding “Virtual Help for Real Entrepreneurs” about this very topic. The purpose of this article was to share how entrepreneurs were using VAs to grow their business.

If you are an entrepreneur and have yet to start working with a VA then I would highly suggest that you hire one. For more details about hiring a VA, please check out my post on this website entitled, “Business Makeover: Hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA)“.

I would love to hear about your experience in working with a VA (good or bad) because I believe that we can all learn from each other.

Yesterday was the final blog post for my business makeover. Now I’m going to begin the process of converting my blog posts into a book. I’ll be sharing about my book writing process along with other spicy details about my upcoming series throughout the rest of this month.

I’m so excited that I accomplished my goal of blogging for 21-days about my business makeover because it helped me to create a new habit of blogging everyday. This stuff really does work that if you do something for 21 days then you can make it into a habit. I used to dread blogging on a consistent basis but in the last 21 days, I have come to enjoy it.

What I’ve learned during my business makeover has changed my way of doing business drastically. I now know that as I make these changes that it will cause my business to grow dramatically. Here are some of the things I learned over the span of 21 days.

• Allow a mentor to help me improve my business
• Hire a virtual team who will support my business vision
• Use a Mind map to develop business plan
• Control my time regarding social networking
• Get in control of my calendar schedule
• Being centered and focused in my business is important

I also excited about all the comments that so many shared during my 21-day business makeover. One of the great things I’m going to do in my book, is include the comments along with crediting each commenter with a link to their website. If you learned something during this process, please feel free to share. Thanks all for your support and suggestions! Watch for more details about the book that will soon be released.

Recently I experienced unplanned downtime due to Internet outage which affected my ability to do business, receive/send email or even communicate via my social media outlets. I faced reality that I didn’t have a backup plan in case something like this happened. I didn’t have emergency procedures in place so that I wouldn’t have to go without Internet access.

So my first plan of action while I was down was to create an emergency backup plan in case this happened again. I began by looking for alternative solutions that I could have in place just in case my access was limited again. Below is a list of what I determined:

• Locate alternative external sources where I could gain access to the Internet freely (i.e., library or food establishments  with Internet access)
• Obtain information from cell phone company on how I can use my cell phone with my computer to access the Internet
• The old tried and true method, have emergency dial-up access numbers just in case neither of the above worked

Having this plan in place will definitely be beneficial if I have Internet access problems again. Do you have an emergency plan in place just in case you loose your main source of access to the Internet? Please share your ideas on what you have included in your emergency plan.

In order for business owners to be easily recognizable, one must make sure that clients and potential clients can tell who we are, what we do and how we can help them reach their goals. This means that a common look must resonate from our website, to our media packages and also our online presence outside of our website. This is termed as your branding and according to Wikipedia.org,

A brand is a collection of images and ideas representing an economic producer; more specifically, it refers to the descriptive verbal attributes and concrete symbols such as a name, logo, slogan, and design scheme that convey the essence of a company, product or service. Brand recognition and other reactions are created by the accumulation of experiences with the specific product or service, both directly relating to its use, and through the influence of advertising, design, and media commentary.

During my business makeover, I have been reviewing how my brand is perceived and I realized that it wasn’t consistent. So I began to compile how I am currently communicating my products and services so that I can rebrand or recreate my branding plan (which is termed as brand management). In going through this process, I have identified key areas that are important to keep in mind while conducting brand management.

• Refine brand so that it will appeal to your ideal client base
• Be prepare to make drastic changes if you have to so that you can reach your clients
• Prepare a plan of implementation that will create a consistent brand (logos, banners, website, etc.)
• Be wise when recreating your brand and research what appeals to your ideal client base (colors, images, content, etc.)
• Make you test it on a few people before releasing to the masses
• Have fun recreating your brand

I am having fun with my brand management because I feel that I will continue to streamline my business and move closer to my goal of having a successful business makeover. Have you branded your business yet? Do you have additional ideas that would be helpful to someone who is in the process of rebranding their business? Please feel free to share or ask questions.

On a day when I am discussing “Me” time, I actually started my day off with “me” time. It is a Saturday morning and I decided to sleep in an extra couple of hours. I enjoyed the extra rest and being able to take my time on a day where I might busily run around doing errands.

“Me” time should be very important to business owners because it allows you to rejuvenate and refresh. Although I spoken about “me” time briefly in this series, I decided that it would be a good idea to expand on it today.

If you are constantly going and not breaking for “me” time you can stress yourself and maybe have a negative impact on your business. I say this from personal experience because I learned the hard way when I crashed and burned during an important time with my business a few years ago.

It was growing tremedously fast and I was trying to be super woman by taking on too many projects. I was burning the candle at both ends of the candle (going to bed late and rising early to work on projects). After doing this for an extended time, I literally started making mistakes and getting fuzzy about project details which wasn’t good at all. I ended up having to take a break from my business so that I could recuperate thoroughly.

If I had been working smart, I would have spaced out my projects better and allowed myself more “me” time. Some of the things I learned from this experience are the following:

• “Me” time is not only important for me personally but for my business also.
• Space out projects so that I don’t get overwhelmed.
• Outsource to contractors those tasks that someone else can handle so that I can manage my projects better.
• Plan my project on a schedule so that I’m not overwhelmed.

I encourage all business owners to remember to take “me” time so that you and your business can stay healthy. Do you have special things that you do during your “me” time so that you don’t become overwhelmed? Please feel free to share.

I’m excited to talk about business processes because I have over 15 years of experience as a technical project manager while working in Corporate America. The importance of having business processes in place is vital because they help create an organized environment. Having an organized environment can help you be more successful.

So what can be considered a business process? Good Question! According to Wikipedia.org, a business process is “a collection of interrelated tasks, which accomplish a particular goal”. In other words, it’s when you pre-determine which tasks work well together to create a seamless way to achieve what you want to do in your business.

In my business, I have many business processes in place that help me to create a seamless environment. During my business makeover, I have been able to refine my processes and become more efficient. Below is an example of a refined business process.

• Old way (calendar): receive appointment request, then open calendar & review to see open slots, determine where the appointment could be placed then notify the appointee about the time and date
• New way (calendar): receive appointment request, forward to my Business Coordinator, who schedules on my Google calendar (which automatically updates my Outlook calendar) & notifies appointee about upcoming appointment
• Advantage: by allowing my Business Coordinator to manage my calendar it frees me from worrying about how to arrange things and also it allows me to dedicate more time to my clients

By me implementing this simple business process improvement, it put time back onto my calendar that I could invest in other areas of my business. One practice that is also good for business owners is to set aside time occasionally to review your processes to see if they can be improved.

Do you have business processes that you need to refine? Have you recently refined your business processes and have a success story? Please feel free to share.

First, if you don’t know who Michael Phelps is, you can read more about him by clicking here. But if you do know who he is then you know that he has been very focused on winning Olympic Gold medals for swimming. His goal has been to beat World records too and so far he is doing a great job of it.

I haven’t been watching the sporting events of the Olympics as intently as others but one thing for sure is that hearing Michael’s name mentioned almost everywhere has become a norm. As business owners, wouldn’t it be great to have positive brand recognition like Michael?

Well I’ve been giving this some thoughts over the past few days and during my business makeover I have realized that I’ve become very focused on what’s best for me and my business. Having targeted goals in mind has helped me to define specific areas of my business and cause it to grow quickly. Below are some of the areas that I have been focusing on and have obtained success:

• Developed a strategic business plan
• Streamlined services that are offered through my business
• Streamlined pricing for the services
• Developed a new product line
• Hired Virtual Team to handle outsourced tasks

In thinking about your own business, have you been as focused as Michael? Do you know the direction that you are taking with your business? Do you have goals that you want to accomplished with targeted dates? Please share about your experience.

If you need help in going through your own business makeover, watch for more details about an upcoming opportunity. Or you can complete the contact form on this website and make sure to state that you are interested in going through your own business makeover.

As I write this post I’m thinking about all the people who have been givers in my life. I feel fully blessed because my life has been impacted so that I became a giver too. Being a giver is living the practice of giving to others without expecting anything in return.

An example of me being a giver in business is my practice of paying it forward on Twitter. For my birthday in 2008, I had two people who asked their followers on Twitter and Facebook to follow me and wish me a Happy Birthday. It was declared “Kim Beasley Day” and many friended me and sent me greeting. The two people who did this for me wasn’t expecting anything in return but they gave a great gift that impacted my life. The two people I’m talking about is Coach Deb (@coachdeb) and Warren Whitlock (@WarrenWhitlock).

Their powerful example of giving encouraged me to start my own “Pay It Forward” campaign to those that I felt would appreciate it on Twitter. So every once in awhile, I request that my followers on Twitter follow different people that I communicate with on Twitter. I call this activity PIF because you can only use 140 characters on Twitter and I want to get in as many names as I can.

I don’t use a criteria list of who I add to my PIF except that it will always be someone that I have been communicating with on Twitter and who has communicated back to me. I love giving into the lives of others and this is just another example of being a giver.

Have you been a giver through your social media activities? Do you have someone that you want to do something good for without expecting anything in return? Be encouraged and just do it!

While I was watching a commentary regarding the psychology about the persona of Bruce Wayne/Batman, a thought came to me that as a business owner there is a dark-side we have to deal with too. The dark-side consist of anything that is negative or fearful.

As a business owner, we have to be careful that the dark-side doesn’t rule us and cause us to run our business unwisely. So what are some of the dark-side issue? Glad you asked. Below are a few of the things that I consider as the dark-side of business.

• Stealing clients
• Adding extra time to client projects
• When bartering or exchanging services, you intentionally make sure that you get more than what your barter is worth
• Lead new clients to believe that you have more experience than you actually do to win their project (this means that you don’t let your client know that you are outsourcing their work to someone who does have the skillset and then you take the credit)

Sharing about the dark-side of business which is something that I’ve experienced first-hand, is something that I feel strongly about. Conducting business on the dark-side will catch up with you someday just like Batman always catch his nemesis. I want to encourage all to be truthful in conducting business and making sure that your business is ethical and that you are not only after the money.

Have you experienced someone dealing with you from the dark-side of business? I would like to hear about your experience and how you dealt with it.

Have you found that you are forgetting appointments or important events because you forgot it was on your schedule? Maybe you have been so busy that you don’t even have a calendar schedule. Then I want to encourage you to break the bad habit of having a calendar schedule out of control and take charge of your schedule.

When I have allowed my calendar schedule to be out of control, I have noticed that it affected my ability to run my business effectively. Missed appointment or networking events can make or break your business. So I decided a long time ago that when I make an appointment that I would immediately add it to my calendar.

To help me stay organized and on top of my calendar, I setup a system that has been very effective for me. This system works to keep me informed about my upcoming events and appointment. Even if you don’t use the system that I do, I strongly suggest that you setup a calendar system that works for you. Here’s what I have put in place:

• I add the appointment to my Google Calendar (which allows me to invite others to join me for the appointment if I need to). I make sure to add three reminders (SMS-text to phone, Email & pop-up) at different time intervals. I really don’t want to forget.
• Since I have Google sync installed, it automatically updates my Outlook calendar (this is a two-way process in case I add an appointment to Outlook first).
• Finally, my Outlook calendar updates my cell phone calendar when I connect my cell phone to my computer to recharge it. Or you can have Google Calendar sync up with your cell phone calendar automatically.

With this system, I only have to add the appointment in one place it gets updated through out all of my calendars. This may seem a lot for some but because I am so busy, I have to make sure that I’m covered regardless if I at my computer or not.

What system do you have in place for managing your calendar? Please share your calendar managing experience. If you need more details on using Google Calendar Sync, click here.