Case Study: Turn Your Admin Skills into a Work-from-Home Business

Case Study: Turn Your Admin Skills into a Work-from-Home Business

by | Jun 18, 2018 | Everyday, How She Quits Show

Can you admin your way out of any jam?  This episode is for you!

So maybe you’re not the creative type but you are the get-er-done girl. No detail goes unfinished. You can admin your way out of any jam.

This episode will show you a case study and business plan for someone with your admin skills who wants to work from home.

Admin skills are by far the most common skillset that people mention when they tell me they want to work from home.  And for good reason….there’s a lot of admin work out there!   This world doesn’t go round without a solid team of admins.

The best news ever is that more and more of it can be done from home and not chained to a corporate office.

Some highlights from this show:

But how will I learn these skills?  Try our fast class for rapid skill development or the Verified Virtual Professional Training Center.

The profile?  You’ve met her.  Or you ARE her.  But don’t be a perfectionist.  Rita Reliable is pretend and we all know that no working mom is THAT perfect.  This list gives you an idea of the kind of traits a high quality virtual admin has.

Check out these lists of beginner and advanced skills…..and know that the time frame to move up to advanced can be as short as a few months for someone dedicating 20 – 30 hours a week to the work.

Wondering who hires these kind of virtual admins?  Look no further than your backyard.   3 more examples are shared in the episode – online coach, established online business and growing online marketing based business.

 

Are you ready for the next step?   But still have questions like….

Where can I find those projects / clients?

Are my skills really good enough for this?

I know some of that but not all, how can I learn?

Do I need a website? How do I charge?

It’s time for Virtual Work Mentoring.

A personalized experience to help you define and grow your Virtual Professional business.

Still trying to learn the virtual skills?  Check out Verified Virtual Professional Training Center.

My conclusion this episode.…there is a lack of high quality Virtual Admins in the workforce.  The best ones are always booked.  So if it feels like you’re late to the market, you definitely aren’t.  And I’d love to show you how to position those high quality skills in the right places.

 

Quiz Opt-ins: Because Your Prospect Always Wants To Know

Quiz Opt-ins: Because Your Prospect Always Wants To Know

by | Jun 8, 2018 | Email Marketing, Everyday, Online Marketing, Online Marketing Tech, Ontraport
Email opt-ins.  It’s a core component of the online marketing business.  But our audience is easily distracted.  How can you hold their attention and give them a real time result?

Tell them what they most want to know!

And make it a specialized answer to their situation.  Because, we all think we are a little special and unique.

This is where a quiz opt-in comes into play.  With a quiz opt-in you ask a very compelling question, such as this one I am asking of moms who want to work-from-home.  And after a sequence of questions with logic behind it, you give them a calculated result based on their answers.

I know this market has clicked around to a countless websites looking for that answer.   But what’s right for ME to work from home?   This quiz walks through key criteria that help me know which is the best recommended path for this mom based on their skillset, their income goals and their available time (and some other secret ingredients I find help me discern best when I’m having a face to face conversation.)

Dare I say this is almost as effective as a face to face convo to get them the right resources if you quiz is designed properly?

Now, some businesses have used this quiz builders to make very viral posts on their facebook pages.  Do you remember “Which Disney Princess are you?”   Right.  You know you clicked on that bad boy in a moment of boredom / mindless curiosity.   See how attractive a quiz can be?

I’ve been wanting to build a quiz for awhile but hesitated because of the complexity behind it using just my website and email automation system (and I’m a software engineer by schooling!).   When I had a chance to try this tool by Interact, it was a no-brainer.  And this entire quiz (which is more complicated than I think most would try on a first attempt) took me only 90 minutes to create.

Here are some behind the scenes of what the builder looks like:

QUIZ EDITOR & QUESTION SETUP:

Super easy to configure this step including photos for each question if you’d like (and I recommend….more emotional connection to keep the quiz taker clicking thru)

 

BRANCHING LOGIC EDITOR

Whoa nelly!  That’s crazy Lori!  Yep, a little techy here but you can hire a nerdgirl like me because this doesn’t scare me and it took about 1 / 1000th the amount of time other quiz builder logic would have.

 

RESULTS REPORTING

I was super impressed with the level of detail here.  and too often we get excited building something and forget to look close enough at the math of what’s working and not working.  (or we don’t build in the right links to track it appropriately).  This is done for you.  Nicely at that.

Notice I’ve barely sent any traffic to this quiz funnel yet but because I can see in great detail what these prospects answered, when I personally reached out to them, I had way better conversations and could be more helpful than ever.

EMBEDDING AND SHARING

All-the-options.  This thing has some legs on it.  Because if you build a good quiz, you want it to show up everywhere.

 

 

My View On The Benefits of This tool:

  • The most affordable quiz builder on the market
  • Easy integration to my email automation solution (in this case Ontraport) including tags and directing a contact to a specific sequence
  • The branding component allowed me to make this match my brand with just a few clicks
  • Built in stock photos saved much time pulling from other sites
  • Highly flexible in the logic area in quizzes “if / then” kinds of logic

Challenges I Found With this Tool:

  • Mapping out the path through your quiz can get way crazy in that builder if you have a number of different results and variables
    • SOLUTION:  Keep it simpler.  Your audience will handle that better as well.
  • It’s another monthly tool investment.  But…with the right strategy one that totally pays off.

My Recommendation

The right quiz design can help you convert higher quality leads and the tool more than pays for itself.  So know your market, and ask the question they most want answered, then get that quiz in front of enough people and it has more than paid for itself.

Are you one of my clients?

Let’s talk about where quiz opt-ins fit into your strategy on our next call.   If you want to test drive the Interact Quiz Builder, click here.

Do you want a free email marketing strategy session?

Become a new Ontraport user with my partner link, and a new Interact user, with this partner link, and we can design out your first quiz funnel, with full integration to Ontraport in 1 hour. I’m a huge fan of Ontraport due to it’s all-in-one feature set and ability to grow with your business.  From landing pages, to online sales, to email automation and even affiliate systems, it has it all.  Coupled with this easy to use quiz builder….your toolset is nearly complete. (Learn more about my favorite online marketing tools here.)

Are you a Virtual Professional who wants to learn this for your clients?

Join us in the How She Quits Collective where we cover all the latest and greatest online marketing topics and, how to be the best Virtual Professionals on the market.  You’ll want to test drive Interact for yourself, with this partner link please.
Part 3: 3 Ways to the Fastest Path to Income Virtually From Home

Part 3: 3 Ways to the Fastest Path to Income Virtually From Home

by | May 28, 2018 | Everyday, How She Quits Show

Welcome to the How She Quits Show – Episode 17

Today is Part 2 of a 3 part series on the How She Quits show…… we’re going to go rapidly through the most important advice for any mom running an online business today.

Part 1 Covered 3 ways to grow your 1-on-1 services business immediately. Watch Here
Part 2 Discusses moving to packaged services and 1-to-Many offerings (such as online courses or memberships). Watch Here

Now that you’ve learned what’s involved in starting your own online course or membership program it’s time to talk about scaling it up.

This episode will show you what it takes to grow the revenue and profitability of your 1-to-Many program. If you are a Virtual Professional, this is also good information to have for your clients.

Show Notes

In this episode: 

  • Why Online Courses and Memberships are an entirely different business than 1-on-1 services.
  • My Automated Online Business Framework I use with my personal 1-on-1 clients
  • The money map for Online Businesses
  • What you aren’t being told about selling Online Courses.
  • Top Tips for your Opt-In, Traffic Drivers, Ongoing Nurturing and Sales Offer

The Key Components

In Lesson 2 of this series I shared “all you need” to sell an online program. Let’s review:

  1. Program name and logo
  2. Sales Page and a way to collect payments online
  3. Email list to market to
  4. Social Channel to market to
  5. Website/Tool to deliver the program itself (ex. membership area)

Those are the tangible things you need in place, but what’s really going to drive your sales is People. The right people. Looking at your sales page and wanting to buy your product.

You’ve created a great online product that people should want to buy! But the science, math and strategy to get them to do that is not as simple as it sounds.

The Money Map

Online courses range from a $17 video series on bible journaling to a $3000 training on how to build your coaching business. And the marketing tactics to build each are a bit different.

You need to know your numbers when you’re building your business.
Remember: Higher Conversions + Lower Cost per Lead = Winning!

What you aren’t being told about selling Online Courses

  • Many dollars are poured into testing the right offers in advance of a launch
    (Then the ad dollars are poured in, or the JV partnerships are forged, to increase traffic volume)
  • Launching / Promotions are a high dollar skillset. Don’t expect to understand this immediately.

Dialing in the perfect SEO, perfect ad, perfect offer is the key to success of the big launches that inspire you
Even those with large audiences sometimes fail here

Top Tips

Your Sales Offer
It is pragmatic to look at this first. Begin with the end in mind, as they say.
Determine, what are you going to sell and to whom.

Traffic Drivers
Go where the right audience is.
Pick 1 main channel plus a second if you can handle the time.
Paying for traffic brings faster results.
Partnering / Guesting can be the difference maker.

What is your free offer?
Listen to the words of your audience, then use these exact words in your marketing.
Give them a quick win that leaves them wanting the full solution.
Test, test, test!
Decide if you want evergreen or a launch mode.
Leads can come from many different needs to the same offer.

Ongoing Nurturing
Email marketing is harder, but not dead. Email is noisy right now, but there are other ways to nurture your audience.
Continue to give in the email sequence to show value.
Regularly clear and freshen your email list.
Know what your audience’s email habits / tolerance is.
Also use FB retargeting to get back in front of them.

Now you Test!
Is the freebie appealing? Is the offer what they want? How do we know?
Referencing back to the Automated Online Business Framework will help you to understand where along the process adjustments need to be made.

 

Scaling and Growing an Online Course / Membership is an art of its own that takes time to learn and refine.

(I can sound like a dream crusher when sharing how to do this, but,  I prefer to set you up for realistic expectations instead of selling my own course to make it look unrealistically simple and give you heartbreak.)

If you believe in your course,
have the perseverence for the journey,
And can wait for profitability…..
Follow your calling and build that course!

If you want my help, I encourage you to join the How She Quits Collective. This is a community of women who are growing their 1-on-1 services business or building an online course or membership and is the place where I offer support through weekly office hours and group calls to answer the wide range of questions that come up as you’re growing your online business.

Part 2: 3 Ways to the Fastest Path To Income Virtually From Home

Part 2: 3 Ways to the Fastest Path To Income Virtually From Home

by | May 15, 2018 | Everyday, How She Quits Show, Virtual Professional

Welcome to the How She Quits Show – Episode 15

Today is Part 2 of a 3 part series on the How She Quits show…… we’re going to go rapidly through the most important advice for any mom running an online business today.

Part 1 Covered 3 ways to grow your 1-on-1 services business immediately. Watch Here

So what comes next? If you are maxed out with one-on-one work and want to elevate your income further…you are ready to move to Package pricing and 1-to-many programs such as online courses or memberships.

In this episode I’ll share the basics of package pricing, what questions to ask before starting an online membership or course and how to expand an already successful online course or membership program.

Part 1 in this series focused on the fastest path to cash, 1-on-1 services.

Bust you may be maxed out with that model. If you have raised your rates and have great clients, the next thing you need is efficiency. A way to make money that doesn’t require your 100% presence. Or maybe you have a dream to offer a group program in your specialty area. This lesson is for you.

Let’s talk about 2 paths to go beyond 1-on-1 services:

  1. Package Pricing
  2. 1-to-Many Programs (Online courses + Memberships)

Package Pricing

This is where you sell “service X” for $500 instead of charging hourly at $/hour.

Selling Packaged services requires 2 things:

  1. Value to the client in the package
  2. Specific measurable results

Your packaged services must make sense to your client…not simply be services you like to do at a fixed price.
(If prospects are asking you adjust packages, its’ a sign you don’t have the right packaged service.)

Because you aren’t measured by hours anymore, you must be clear and specific with your packaged services.

1-to-Many Programs

Starting an online course or membership requires:

  1. A clear or shared pain point that can be solved with your method
  2. Eyeballs. Traffic. Leads. (Meaning you need ways to drive lots of people thru your marketing channels who gain trust in YOU and your method)

Lightbulb Moment: Running an online program is building an entirely new and different business! Don’t be scared…get prepared.

Before starting your own online program, ask yourself:

Do I have the time and space to build a new audience?
New logos, new social posts, new groups to engage in, new channels to promote.

Am I prepared to wait?
Courses don’t sell instantly. Can you spend a few months without pay building an email list and social following?

Do I know how to do everything I need to on my website?
Collect leads, give them an amazing freebie and follow up with a compelling email sequence.

Do I have $$ to make this go faster with some ad spending?
This isn’t the viral growth era we experienced a few years ago.

Do I have proof my course is needed and wanted?
And are you confident your method will bring results?

And here’s your simple checklist to start selling online programs:

  1. Program name and logo
  2. Sales page and way to collect payments online
  3. Email list to market to
  4. Social Channel to market to
  5. Website/Tool to actually deliver the program itself (member area)

Most importantly…Does your program produce results for its’s participants? Focus here and all the rest is “marketing details” Bring results and the rest finds a way.

Are you ready to get started or feeling overwhelmed?

My own packaged services help people like you start, launch and grow online courses and memberships.

And I have courses available to help you move to clearly defined packaged pricing for your business.

My business is building yours.

Let’s talk about moving your business forward.
Fill out this simple form, I personally respond to each one.
LoriMercerCTO.com/talk

Then check out my small group program for action takers at HowSheQuitsCollective.com

3 Ways to the Fastest Path To Income Virtually From Home

3 Ways to the Fastest Path To Income Virtually From Home

by | May 8, 2018 | Everyday, How She Quits Show

Welcome to the How She Quits Show – Episode 14

On the next 3 episodes of the How She Quits show… we’re going to go rapidly through the most important advice for any mom running an online business today.

For VAs, Freelancers, Bloggers, Coaches, Consultants… I’m cutting right to the key facts to make you more profitable… because like me, you don’t have the luxury of extra time. Your family needs you NOW.

Over these episodes I’ll cover:

  • What is the FASTEST path to income from home and 3 keys to making that happen
  • What is the ESSENTIAL thing to spend the most time on when selling an online course or membership
  • Why people aren’t opening your emails
  • 3 Essentials to closing your one-on-one offers
  • How you should be spending time on Facebook

Following even one of these gems of advice will elevate your business immediately today. (I’m confident of this. Message me if it doesn’t and we’ll find a gem for you.

You want to work from home.
You want consistent, reliable income from your online business.
You need flexibility in your schedule for your family.
You don’t want to be tied to meetings and phone calls.

This is all possible in today’s online marketplace.

Maybe you already have a great online business but you’re struggling with consistency, overwhelm or growth.

In part 1 of this 3 part series, I’m going to share some of my best advice for mom’s providing 1-on-1 services (or those wanting to!)

Online businesses progress through many phases.  And each requires a new strategy and tactics.  Over the next 3 Episodes, I’m going to share my best advice in these 3 phases of online business:

  1. All one-on-one services (the fastest path to cash)
  2. Moving from one-on-one to one-to-many services (introducing packages, group programs, online courses / memberships)
  3. Scaling your online business (growing revenue and profitability in your membership or online course)

The fastest path to income is one-on-one services.
VA work.  Professional freelancers (writers, designers, techies).  Or even coaching others.

Contracts aren’t scary!  They are your friends.

My Best Advice about Contracts:

  • Always have one for one-on-one work (it can be a simple Scope of Work – training in the Collective)
  • Keep it simple.  Your initial contract can be a 30 day trial period so you can readjust based on experience.
  • Set and review contracts every 3 months due to this fast changing environment

Increasing Rates is the fastest way to increase income and can happen every 3-6 months in this fast moving world.

I’m getting calls but I’m not getting business!

3 Essentials to closing your one-on-one offers

  • Give a deadline and clear next step “I’m booking up June.  Can you confirm with me by next Tuesday if You’d like me to reserve a space for you?”
  • Be clear about your offer and your rates.  If you can’t on the phone, follow up immediately in writing within 1 day.
  • Be professional AND personable.  Making a relational connection can be the deal winner in a market with a lot of choices.

My Best Advice About Rate Increases:

  • Quote all new work at the new rate
  • Set expectations for current clients when ready to shift rates
  • Wait until you have enough new clients at the new rate then offer existing clients to continue at the new rate or be ready to drop them.

On the next episode, we will take our one-on-one business to the next level —> moving to packaged pricing and 1-to-many programs such as online courses and memberships.

Watch Here

How To Prepare for the Future of Freelance and VA Work

How To Prepare for the Future of Freelance and VA Work

by | May 1, 2018 | Everyday, How She Quits Show

Finding Virtual Work (VA or freelance) won’t look the same in a few years.

In fact, it will be more difficult to work your way into the field. As with any new industry (and online virtual work is still quite a baby in terms of industry maturity), the market matures and changes and newcomers have a more difficult time entering the profession.

So how should you position yourself NOW to stay ahead of this curve?

How can you take advantage of the opportunities in front of you today and make them long term happy clients?

Listen to this episode and hear my take on:

  • Why professional agencies may take over
  • Why being a professional is the most important thing you can be doing right now
  • Why starting quickly even if you don’t feel 100% ready (you never do!) is the right way to do this

Show Notes

00:26 Defining Virtual Professional Work

01:35 The Industry Maturity Matrix –

The online business industry is quite immature in many spaces.

10:48 What does this state of maturity mean for you the virtual professional?

This is good! it means lots of room for growth and innovation.

You will likely run across clients that don’t know what they want/need and change their minds frequently.  That’s normal because we  are in an industry that isn’t mature.  There aren’t a lot of standards and proven processes.  So embrace it!  Because standards and proven processes sounds a lot like boring corporate work to me.

What is one thing you feel you have innovated in your work as a Virtual Professional? Maybe it’s a better way to deliver an email funnel, design a landing page, help an online business owner implement their membership product, etc. Others, your competitors will be innovating so it’s important for you to stay on top of your game.

“HEROIC EFFORT”  is what’s ultimately getting the job done by many solopreneurs these days. They are exhausted and need help. The right virtual professional on their team can move them into a place of repeatable success by helping to implement processes.

13:26 What will this market look like in the future? 

The Virtual Work world is in an early growth and innovation stage.  VA work WILL become commoditized.  And Virtual PROFESSIONALS will soar into the higher paying, long lasting businesses.

Virtual Assistant Placement Agencies will rise and lower the pay for “general VA services”.   Specializing will keep you highly marketable and highly paid.

Those who are building a VA client base now will be solid for the long term business.  Breaking into the VA world at higher dollars will get more and more difficult as the industry matures.   (So START NOW)

16:10 What won’t change.

It will never be a bad business move to be a professional.  “Play Pro Ball” as I like to say.  Your quality results and your network will keep you in business for years to come.

17:40 Moving up the ladder to higher dollar work

Virtual Professional specialists climb the industry maturity curve faster and better than generalist admin VAs.

This is pretty different than other online marketing training, right?

I believe in this boring strategy stuff because it builds YOU.
This training has been about using your skills, talents and network to build sustainable future in virtual work and in online business.
The business world will change but your talents will never go away. You need to continue to focus in on the right places.

2 Ways to build YOU and a sustainable business strategy

How She Quits Collective Monthly Membership – The most affordable way to get access to this type of strategy training for your business.

6 Weeks to Clients 6 Month Mentorship – This is where we go deep. We’ll help you build your website, your package that you’ll offer and your sustainable business plan; moving you up the ladder to higher rates and business growth.

There is an incredible opportunity for growth in the online marketing and services industries. Now is the time to get in there and I’m looking forward to helping you navigate that journey and build a sustainable, profitable business that you can work on your terms.