HOME
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The
2-Second Commute
Based
on the
highly-successful Virtual Assistant training programs Chris Durst and
Michael Haaren developed
for the US Armed Forces and the US Department of State, The 2-Second
Commute:
Join the Exploding Ranks of Freelance Virtual Assistants
brings
you the
knowledge without
the classroom!
Training
program
participants have billed
over $30
MILLION since our training programs started in 2002. Now YOU can learn from Chris
& Mike,
too, and start your own successful VA business!
2-SECOND
COMMUTE
CHAPTERS
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1
Why
Become a Virtual
Assistant?
- personal & professional
reasons to
explore this
industry
Chapter 2
Exploring
Virtual
Assistance
- virtual assistance defined
- industry demographics
- services, fees, and trends
- why businesses work with VAs
- international outlook
Chapter 3
Reality
Checks &
Self-Assessments
- exploring important considerations -
motives,
lifestyle,
family, children, etc.
- entrepreneurial self-assessment
- VA readiness self-assessment
- Spouse With a Mouse™ -
from our
Department of State
and US
Armed Forces training programs, a special section to help your
"significant other" understand what it will be like to have a business
in the house.
Developing
a "Service
Menu" That You Can Live and Grow With
- inventory your values, interests,
and
skills to
determine
your most marketable skills
Chapter 5
Estimating
Costs and
Setting Fees
- projecting your costs, picking your
"salary", setting
your hour, and our special formula for calculating a reasonable
baseline fee
- comprehensive fee survey (see what
other
VAs are
charging)
- getting paid -contracts, credit
cards,
invoices,
retainers, etc.
Chapter 6
Setting
Up Your
Business and Your Office
- naming and registering your business
- forms of business ownership
- permits and licenses
- insurance
- home office setup
Chapter 7
Building
a Healthy
Foundation for Your Business
- defining your ideal client,
interviewing
clients,
partnering with clients
- the art of virtual communications
- SWOT analysis - discovering your
Strengths,
Weaknesses,
Opportunities, and Threats
- the benefits of "niche marketing" -
identifying your
target
market
Chapter 8
Let
the Marketing
Begin!
- image is everything
- talking about what you "do"
- marketing and email
- your Web site - your "global
billboard"
- press releases
- harvesting the local "business crop"
- leveraging the media
- guest lecturing
- our 5 favorite marketing techniques
- the Strategic Marketing Plan - your
blueprint for
building
a successful business through effective marketing
Chapter 9
Pulling
It All
Together and
Keeping It There
- a collection of tips, tool,
techniques,
and pointers
for
making your business a success
Chapter 10
The
VA Toolbox:
Resources and Information
- VA trade groups, email lists,
certifications and
training
programs
- specialized resources for
homeschoolers,
"trailing
spouses", work at home parents, and people with disabilities
- resources and other information for
the
"frugal VA"
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Work from home as an
E-Newsletter Publisher
 The niche in a nutshell:
Professionals
and
business owners stay in touch with prospects and clients with
newsletters. The advent of email in the last 10 years has meant it is
easier and more cost effective to send electronic versions of
newsletters, called e-newsletters, or ezines, rather than printed ones.
The complexity of ezine design, formatting and delivery has bred a new
occupation: home-based ezine publishers. Some provide partial services,
such as HTML template designs, or article content; others provide
complete services: content, formatting, design, database management and
delivery. There are many niche writers and ezine publishers who
specialize in ezines for occupations such as dentists, realtors, and
all sorts of coaches and consultants.
Top 5 Services Provided in this
Niche
- Writing: finding or creating
content for newsletters
- Ezine set up and template
design
- HTML, PDF or text-based
formatting
- Bulk email delivery through
special servers
- Database management
& tracking
and reporting of open rates and click-through information
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Top 5 Hiring Markets
- Self employed
- Can be hired by other ezine
publishers to furnish all or part of the work
- Can be hired by
professionals and
small businesses (subscribers)
- Can be hired by larger
companies
who wish to outsource their newsletter work
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Pay Range for this Niche
- Depends
largely on what subscribers are willing to pay and the scope of
services provided
- Depends on targeted niche
market –
some professions value ezines more and have more money to spend
- Can vary from five to six
figures
- Overhead costs are very
little
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Recommended Skillsets
- Intermediate to advanced
computer
skills
- Knowledge of HTML coding
- Willingness to be behind a
computer 8 to 12 hours a day (or part-time)
- Continual learning of latest
technology and Internet marketing trends
- Comfortable using software
such as
Adobe InDesign, PhotoShop, Dreamweaver or Front Page
- Proficient English language
writing skills (or other language in your own country)
- Ability to focus,
concentrate and
communicate clearly
- Journalism and copywriting
skills
a plus
- Common sense and wisdom a
plus
- Ability to sort through the
babble
and clutter and sift through tons of information to find the nuggets
and pearls
- Marketing skills to grow
your
business and gain new clients
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Niche
Overview
Working
from home as
an ezine publisher can be fun, satisfying, lucrative, and …
a lot of
hard work! Some days I tear my hair out; sometimes I’m
smiling with joy
at the ease of working from home doing what I love, and getting paid
for it.
Ezine
publishing
involves a grab bag of skills. All in one day, I am reading books,
researching topics on Google, writing, editing, doing layout work to
fit content into a custom-designed template, correcting HTML coding,
posting on a website, entering data into an emailing account, sending
email blasts of thousands of ezines to private opt-in lists of
subscribers, and tracking open and bounce rates.
Most days I smile and thank the Cyber Gods. Then there are days plagued
by Spam Devils, delivery glitches and coding errors. Let me tell you
more about this profession and perhaps you will see which skills and
talents you have that can be applied to becoming an e-newsletter
publisher.
I started out creating printed newsletters for psychologists and
coaches in the 1990s. Quickly I realized the advantages of using email
instead of printed newsletters. With e-newsletters there is no postage,
no printing costs, and no waste because of printing errors. And
subscribers are willing to pay the same price for electronic
newsletters as for printed. Soon I realized there are hardly any
overhead costs involved in e-newsletter publishing, and most of the
fees collected go to profits. Another reason this is such a great
profession!
If you can furnish all the parts of an ezine yourself, you
don’t have
many costs. You have your computer, your high-speed connection, and
some software programs, but subscribers pay you for the convenience of
outsourcing their newsletters. If you have certain newsletter skills
and knowledge, people will pay you for providing excellent service.
You don’t have to be able to provide all of the elements to
start. You
can take one part of the publishing job, such as writing content, or
template design, or formatting, and create a home-based business
marketing those services to busy professionals.
In the beginning, I didn’t know much about email or the
Internet. I
knew how to write. So I began my newsletter service providing quality
articles that other professionals could use in their ezines. In my
case, the topics were for executive coaches and consultants. I wrote an
article that would be interesting to the clients and prospects my
subscribers. I sold the same article to several different people in
different parts of the globe for use in their own ezines. I gave them
reprint rights; they could put their names as author. They did the
formatting and distribution. Later, I learned how to format PDF files,
and later again, I learned HTML coding and formatting.
But I didn’t do any ezine distribution. I provided the file
to my
client and they took care of the rest. Later on, I learned how to use a
professional emailing system and began offering complete newsletter
services.
But let’s take a different example, veterinarians. This
profession
likes to send out ezines with stories about pets and pet care. If you
have knowledge about these topics, you can research and write articles
for that field and market them to veterinarians for use in their
ezines. If you have the skills, you can also offer to format their
ezines for them. You use a generic article, and place the vet's
personal information into the template. You deliver a custom-designed
ezine complete with their logo, marketing message, and an interesting
article. And once you have acquired email experience, you can provide
complete management and distribution services to them.
If
publishing other
people’s ezines is so profitable, why aren’t more
people doing it? Some
people don’t like to write. Others do, but haven’t
mastered the craft
of writing for other people. Articles should be generic, non-personal,
interesting and evergreen (not time-sensitive or seasonal).
Other people struggle with the technological aspects of ezine design
and formatting. When mistakes are made and published, they are
irretrievable and embarrassing. You must have a
perfectionist’s
mind-set and double check everything before hitting the
‘send’ button.
And then, many people struggle with finding clients. You must be ready
and willing to spend time, money and energy to achieve a strong
Internet presence, making it easy for people who need your services to
find you.
Having a static website isn’t enough to get found and get
clients on
the Internet. A business blog will do more for your marketing efforts
than a website. A blog requires that you write on it 2-3 times a week
in order for it to be effective as a client magnet. You will most
likely have to master other Internet marketing skills such as
publishing your own ezine, creating and giving away bonus reports to
build a list of prospects, and submitting articles and press releases
to online distribution sites.
Eventually, if you are successful, you will want to outsource the parts
of the ezine publishing you like the least. Several years ago, I hired
a marketing coach who was so good, we became full partners. We found a
low-cost service in India who does formatting for us. I still do some
of the initial designs for PDFs because I enjoy that work. I do all of
the writing, although I am constantly looking for good writers to
provide additional content for other niches. (Email me if you love
writing!)
We also contract with a programmer who designs the HTML templates,
provides the emailing system and trouble shoots glitches. Our costs are
still quite low, and subscription prices have increased each year.
Because we can use an article multiple times for different subscribers,
profits can increase exponentially.
Providing excellent customer service is key for retaining subscribers.
We added blogging services and we help clients with shopping cart
setups, and provide general Internet marketing services and consulting.
Now that we have mastered e-newsletter publishing, we train and consult
with others who want to start up their own home-based e-newsletter
publishing service. If this is something that interests you, please
email us with your questions.
Recommended Reading
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Tools of the Trade
- State of the art computer,
or at
least one not more than 2 years old
- High speed DSL or cable
Internet
connection service
- Adobe InDesign, Dreamweaver
or
FrontPage, PhotoShop
- KickStartCart internet
marketing
and ecommerce system
- Membership in a gym to
offset all
the hours spent sitting at a computer!
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Organizations &
Associations
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Resource Links
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 About Patsi Krakoff,
Psy.D. &
Denise Wakeman
Known as
The Blog
Squad, Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff,
Psy.D., www.BlogSquad.biz, are
authorities in helping independent
professionals and
small businesses to
grow and
prosper through optimizing their
Internet marketing with ezines and blogs.
They
publish hundreds of e-newsletters for other
professionals through their ezine publishing company, www.CustomizedNewsletters.com
. Patsi is author of a library of ezine article for executive coaches
and consultants
at www.CustomizedNewsletterArticles.com.
They also write on topics such as Internet marketing, blogs, ezine
marketing,
writing and marketing books with a blog, plus several private blogs for
clients
and programs they teach.
The
Blog Squad are co-authors of "Secrets of
Successful
Ezines, a Guide to Writing and Publishing an
Ezine that Gets Results,” www.EzinePublishingSystem.com.
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