5 Systems Needed for Online Businesses

5 Systems Needed for Online Businesses

Here are 5 systems needed to get set up:

 

  1. A website: A website is the foundation of your online business. It’s the best way to showcase your services and get in touch with potential customers.
  2. A payment system: You’ll need a secure payment system in order to accept payments from your clients. You can use a third-party payment processor, like PayPal or Stripe, or you can set up a merchant account with your bank.
  3. A customer relationship management (CRM) system: A CRM system will help you keep track of your customers and their interactions with your business. It will also help you stay on top of any customer support requests or billing issues.
  4. Email marketing software: Email marketing software will help you keep in touch with your customers, nurture relationships, and build loyalty.
  5. A project management system: A project management system will help you keep track of tasks, assign work to team members, and stay organized. It will also help you stay on top of deadlines and ensure that projects are delivered on time.

I hope this helps you get set up and running with your online coaching business. If you have any questions or need support in doing this, you can book a free discovery call here!

 

6 Reasons to Host a Telesummit

6 Reasons to Host a Telesummit

Is it time to start planning a telesummit?

Are you wanting to grow your email list? Did you know that telesummits are extremely effective lead-generating events?

Now, I’m not saying this is something you can pull together in a few weeks and make a big bang. But done right….you can add TONS of people to your list. And lately with so many unknowns in the world, it doesn’t seem like we can depend solely on social media. So an email list is important!

The number of emails you add to your list really varies with each summit. It depends on the guest speakers you have, the subject, and how much work you put into it.

And let me tell you…it is work! But the end result is worth sooooo much! (Plus a virtual assistant(like me) can help you through it and make it as successful as possible!

So questions people ask:

1. What IS a telesummit?

I like to go to Wikipedia and get that answer :-)…A Telesummit is a series of teleseminars held over the course of multiple days with multiple experts talking about a specific topic, generally in an interview format.

Also from Wikipedia: Teleseminars provide an opportunity for a host to provide information to a large number of people at one time. It allows a trainer to train many participants at once, one on many rather than one on one.[3] These conference calls are typically recorded. There’s typically a fixed period of time devoted to the presentation of information followed by another fixed period of time for questions and answers.

2. What are the benefits of a telesummit?

  • Networking with other experts in your niche
  • Exposure to a larger audience
  • Increase in your email list number
  • Increase in warm leads.
  • A great time to launch a new product or service
  • Positions you as an expert in your field

3. Ways a virtual assistant can support you from beginning to end to plan an extremely successful summit:

  • Create an opt-in page including speaker info
  • Create thank you page
  • Schedule emails
  • Create individual speaker pages
  • Create social media image for each speaker
  • Social media services
  • Proofread & test the entire process
  • Speaker management
  • Editing and prepping videos/audios to professional quality.
  • Full support from beginning to 2 weeks after the event is over.

Hosting a telesummit sounds scary, but I assure you I have supported 30+ telesummits and done right, with experienced support, it can run smoothly and have amazing results.

If you have any questions about one, let me know! You can book time with me here or follow me on social media @bigskyvs.com on Facebook and @tracey.sodt on Instagram.

9 Steps to Email Marketing

9 Steps to Email Marketing

Ever since the Internet went online, email has been hugely popular with everyone. At first, it was just a tool to keep in contact with people in one’s office, but soon, it became the tool of choice for marketers online. Knowing how to develop an email contact list and how to market to people online can establish your business and make your sales grow exponentially. Doing it right has many rewards, but doing it wrong can also cost you.

THE BASIC STEPS

While the basic steps are easy, you can create variations and specific marketing strategies to appeal to the reader of your emails, no matter what step you’re on. You will want to do the following to start an email campaign:

1. Set up a capture page

This is the page that entices readers to add their names to your mailing list. It can include a free offer, like a newsletter, report, or eBook, or it can give out a coupon as a nice gift for adding their names.

2. Use a double opt-in form

Next, you want to use specific techniques to safeguard your list from spammers and hackers. The double opt-in is the standard practice these days, but there are times that you won’t want to use the double opt in. 

3. Set up autoresponders

After you have captured an email and verified the new subscriber, you’ll want to send them a thank you for subscribing. There are numerous activities that you will want to do to confirm some step in the email campaign, and if you were to do them all manually, you’d never get off of the computer. That’s why you need to set up autoresponders to work for you.

4. Create multiple lists

While everyone may be signing up using the same tools, they may not all go onto the same list. You should categorize your subscribers so that you can target them quite specifically with particular products and promotions that will appeal to them.

5. Design different marketing campaigns

You don’t just want to have a generic marketing campaign; you want something that will appeal to the demographic on your email list.

6. Use sales techniques that impact the psyche

Create an emotional response that gets your customers to buy. Have some great ideas for triggering basic buying behavior via the content in your email.

7. Automate the delivery of your products

It should be part of your email marketing campaign to offer delivery as soon as possible. We’ll show you what products lend themselves well to email marketing campaigns and why.

8. Keep track of what’s working

This is crucial to figuring out whether your campaign is successful or not. Some people put all of the pieces into place except for this one and then wonder why their work is not paying off. Learn what things you want to track to make sure that your email campaigns are proving to be effective.

9. Customize the steps to your audience

While the basic steps will be the same for everyone, not everyone’s audience is the same. It’s up to you to figure what triggers will work best with your demographic and to implement procedures that will help you develop a better email marketing campaign.

Achieve Your Goals Through Consistency

Achieve Your Goals Through Consistency

Consistency seems to be a boring idea at first sight. It lacks glamour and excitement. But, when you look more closely, consistency is anything but boring. It contains the secret of achievement and success. It is the key to an almost magical power that can transform lives.

Consistency means repeating the same behaviors regularly and without exceptions. Consistent behavior is the opposite of erratic behavior. Skipping workouts is an example of erratic behavior. Performing all or most of your workouts is an example of consistency.

Consistency creates powerful habits; lack of consistency and exceptions mean that you have to start building the habits all over again.

Consistency allows the seeds to grow and the fruit to arrive. Regular, patient, consistent action is necessary to achieve good results. Even winning the lottery requires buying a ticket and entering the numbers.

A woman who won the US $162 million lottery is quoted as saying, that she played the same numbers consistently for two years. She didn’t play it once or twice and give up as so may people do.

She steadfastly believed that her dream of winning the lottery would be realized. Consistency, then, may occasionally work even in the notoriously risky world of gambling.

I read an outstanding article by T.J. Walker, the public speaking and communication expert. He commented on how often communication breaks down on the internet because of a lack of consistency.

Ezines, blogs and podcasts often only last for one or two issues and then they disappear. Either their creators ran out of material or foolishly expected success after one or two efforts and gave up when the results of their efforts were disappointing.

Most marketing gurus insist that sales only come after about seven email messages have been sent to a list of potential customers.

Many would be entrepreneurs lack the patience and consistency to send out even seven messages to their lists. They are unlikely to succeed in winning the trust of their customers.

Nearly any goal worth achieving demands regular and consistent efforts. If you want to achieve a black belt in a martial art, you need to show up to one training session after another whether you feel like it or not.

Students who show up regularly for training almost always achieve their goal of becoming a black belt.

However, some very talented students who lacked patience and only showed up sporadically. When their progress up the ladder of success seemed too slow to them, they gave up and disappeared.

Greatness only comes when efforts are consistent. Champion teams win championships not because they win every match but because they consistently play well and with determination and, as a result, win most of their matches.

An individual loses weight because they stick consistently to their diet and to their exercise regime. A body builder adds muscle weight because he consistently attends the gym whether he feels like it or not. The champions do not give up when they feel tired or bored or when results seem painfully slow.

Daily efforts create habits and habits make it easier to make those daily efforts but it still takes hard work and the determination to follow through every single day no matter what.

To achieve your goals repeat your efforts every single day. And remember…not everything has to be done by YOU. They just need done and done right. 

To avoid exceptions is to make a list of your most important daily behaviors in order of importance. Stick it on your wall and read it as soon as you get up. Also share it with your team. This way, your consistency will not falter because of a poor memory or something coming up unexpectedly that you can’t control.

Repeat the desired or planned behavior daily and with as few exceptions as possible and you will make gradual but certain progress and eventually achieve your loftiest goals and dreams.

Even if you don’t achieve all your goals and dreams, you will have at least become a great character and a person of value because you did what you planned to do on a daily basis. That, at least, is a goal worth achieving.

 

Aspire To Inspire On Social Media

Aspire To Inspire On Social Media

The only way of keeping your followers interested in your content is by sharing the kind of information that keeps them coming back. You achieve this by speaking to their hearts and keeping them engaged, hence the title, aspire to inspire. So, make it a point to share the kind of content that leaves your audience with a different way of thinking and leaves them feeling differently because of your sharing. Inspire them to go after their dreams, believe in what they are doing, and be more passionate about becoming who they are meant to be.

Being an inspiration on social media is important to your success because you can reach more people, build lasting relationships, attract the right people, and amplify results. Nonetheless, commanding the kind of attention you desire isn’t easy. You have to learn the best ways of becoming someone people are interested in following. You have to know how to inspire your audience to such an extent that they talk to their friends about your work and get them to follow you.

One of the main things that makes it nearly impossible to be the kind of inspiration you desire to be on social media is that there are already hundreds of people who have already made their mark. They already have a million faithful and satisfied followers. They provide them with valuable content and keep them excited about being part of the journey. So, how do you get more people to engage with your content? How do you attract and keep them? By being an inspiring individual.

You become an inspiration to others by sharing useful information, encouraging them to reach for their dreams, improve their skills, have faith in their abilities, and keep aiming high. In other words, you give them a reason to go on when they feel stuck. You motivate them to retry after every failure by sharing your personal experiences and talking about the negative things you battled with and overcame. Doing this not only keeps them excited about chasing their dreams but keeps them loving and supporting your work as well.

Talking about some of your bad experiences on your journey to success on social media is a smart way of keeping your audience inspired and engaged because it shows that failure is a part of every successful story. It assures your followers that failing does not mean you don’t have what it takes to win and isn’t an indication that you will never make it.

Being the kind of person that everyone can relate to is important in keeping people interested in what you share as well as increasing the number of followers you have.

The Best Ways Of Inspiring People To Take Action And Remain Engaged With Your Work.

Inspiring people to become the best version of themselves is great but if your purpose online is to grow your business or market your work, you have to go the extra mile. Meaning you need to learn the best ways of inspiring them to take action, recommend your services, get involved with your business, and become recurring customers.

Achieve this by:

  • Being consistent.
    Being consistent proves that you have direction, you know where you are going, and you know what you want to achieve online. It keeps people interested in what you are sharing and causes them to desire to be a part of what you are doing. Clearly stating your purpose online, posting frequently, and staying relevant is a smart way of retaining your audience.Posting frequently and making offers that are available exclusively to your followers makes it easier for them to get into business with you and encourages them to explore some of your services or products and take action.
  • Knowing your market.
    Sometimes the only reason you are not getting the attention you desire on social media is that you aren’t speaking to your market. So, do you know your market? Who’s your target audience?Knowing your market and catering to it is by far the smartest way of growing your followers and getting the right people involved in your business.You focus on attracting the right people who have an interest in what you are doing and provide valuable content. You know what their needs are, find ways of catering to those needs, and make an offer they can’t resist.
  • Responding to your followers.
    Losing followers isn’t a great experience but it happens and one of the main reasons for it is that you may have given your followers a reason to “unfollow” or unsubscribe from your emails. For instance, you may be in the habit of not responding to comments or inquiries because you never have “enough time.”
    Understand that increasing the number of your followers, keeping them attentive to your work, and inspiring them to act requires you to show an interest in them. Meaning you respond to them, address their concerns, and send timely responses.

Anyone can be an inspiration on social media. You just have to know your audience, cater to their needs, motivate them to reach for their goals, and give them valuable content that keeps them coming back.

How do you “aspire to inspire?” Share below in the comments!