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.