ChrisDucker.com

Helping Entrepreneurs Go The Distance In Business… And Life!

Archimedes Would Have Liked Outsourcing – Seriously!

Location: Company HQ – Reading Time: 8mins

This is a Guest Post by Adrian Swinscoe of AdrianSwinscoe.com, where he writes excellent articles all focused on Growing Your Business and making it as an entrepreneur – I sincerely suggest you check him out at his blog, after you’re done reading this one and commented here!

“Give me a lever big enough and I’ll move the world” – Archimedes

Entrepreneurs tend to be visionary in that they are able to spot an opportunity to solve a particular problem and find a market for that solution.

Entrepreneurs are known to be the ones who do whatever it takes to get something done and they don’t give up.

However, there is more to business than having a good idea and being determined.

In building a business, very little of the hard work involves coming up with the idea. Most of the effort goes into developing the key systems and processes that go into delivering the entrepreneur’s vision and making a business successful. Marketing, finance, project management, new product development, customer service and customer relationship management, all of these things are key to the entrepreneur’s ability to scale and replicate the business.

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Virtual Staff Teams Are On The Increase – Ready to Join In…?

virtual staff

Location: Company HQ – Reading Time: 4mins

Its seems as if there are more and more companies ‘going global’ and merging / reorganizing than ever before right now. A lot of this hustle includes getting virtual staff involved, sometimes for the first time ever in the history of the company. A lot of the staff that will work for companies that are now taking a more virtual approach to doing business may never actually meet face-to-face, or at least not on a regular schedule – unless its via the web.

One question that I’m starting to get asked more and more regularly at the moment is can these virtual staff / teams perform to the same standard of their more ‘local’ counterparts. You know, the more bog-standard office set-up – conference rooms, water cooler, etc..!

One thing that I’ve found in talking with several businesses and entrepreneurs that are already engaging a virtual business set-up in some way, is that they all have one common, and quite surprising point to throw into the mix. They believe that their virtual staff actually have a better collection of skills, both individually and collectively, as a ‘group’, so to speak.

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Want Success in Business? Get Some GREAT Support, NOW!

Location: Home Office – Reading Time: 8mins

Pictured with me above is my Personal Assistant, Stephanie (she’ll kill me for posting this photo, but – too late!). Steph helps me with my day-to-day business tasks, and definitely plays a big part in me achieving what I achieve every day – whether I’m working from the company’s HQ, or home (like today), or anywhere else for that matter!

Judging by the amount of visitors I get each day to the blog, which is growing every single day – and the 700+ people that have downloaded my free eBook on working with Virtual Assistants, I figure a lot of you, for whatever reason, haven’t gotten around to grabbing your copy yet. So, this post is actually a sneak peek at part of a chapter from the eBook, along with some new material (labeled clearly for the VBL devotee’s out there that have already read it).

This stuff is NEW: Most companies and individuals who have been working with virtual assistants with great success have one thing in common: they are pleased to have somebody else handle their time-consuming, repetitive, mundane, administrative tasks that get in the way of spending quality time with their family, or focusing on more important business issues, such as planning and growth.

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Bruce Lee’s 12 Business Lessons – Learn from the Little Dragon!

Location: Home Office – Reading Time: 7mins

Some of you might remember, I mentioned the fact that I am a huge Bruce Lee fan in a post I did back in February, which summarized my US trip, where I included a photo of me and the Little Dragon’s ‘Hollywood Walk of Fame’ star. This time around I wanted to show you guys (in case you didn’t know) how much of a great businessman Bruce was.

The name Bruce Lee is known in virtually every household in the world. He never employed a virtual assistant, however, as the man who single-handedly brought martial arts to mainstream culture in the 70’s and beyond, the San Francisco born martial artist was known more for his lightening-fast kicks and powerful punches, than for his business prowess! However, at the same time as he was studying Philosophy at the University of Washington, Bruce embarked on launching his own Chinese Gung Fu Institute, where he would teach students from all walks of life – even though the local Chinese community frowned upon him doing so (the Chinese in the neighborhood believed that their ’secret’s’ should not be taught to non-Chinese).

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4 Ways to Manage Your Healthy Lifestyle Like a Virtual CEO

Location: Company HQ – Reading Time: 5mins

I’m very happy to post this excellent Guest Post by Matt Gartland of HealthyLifestyleDesign.com. Matt comes to the VBL table with some great concepts and ideas on embracing lifestyle design, with the focus on health, more then anything else.

Many people believe that business is boring. These are the same folks that work gloomy 9-5 jobs, believe that meetings are sacred, and are addicted to bureaucratic procedures. Haunting images of Dilbert, Office Space, and The Office come to mind.

These same people believe that health is boring. They are apathetic about their food choices, believe that exercise is stressful, and are surprisingly “too busy” to get healthy. Of course, they think that “healthy” is a straight-jacket restraining personal freedom, indulgence, and fun.

But that’s not you. That’s not me. We don’t settle for conventional wisdom’s. We think and act differently. We design our lives the way we want them. And in so doing, we’ve come to learn that one aspect of our life profoundly influences the next.

And so it is with business and health. The same mindset applies to optimizing both. This may not be obvious on the surface. But half-truths live at the surface. True meaning lies deeper. So let’s dive in and discover the ways you can manage your healthy life just like your virtual business.

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What is Outsourcing and How Does it Actually Work, Anyway..?

what-is-outsourcing

Following on from the last post that I did on outsourcing, I received quite a few emails on the subject, as well as having a TON of visitors signup for my free bootcamp course (make sure you also do this if you haven’t already, at the bottom of this post, or on the top-right side of the site!)…

I thought a quick breakdown on the subject might be welcomed. So, here it is…

Outsourcing is also known as Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). This is the process of hiring another individual or company, either domestically or internationally, to handle business activities for you. It has become a common business practice that allows small and medium-sized businesses to gain services and skills they would usually find hard to develop, because of either financial or manpower restrictions, or possibly a combination of both. Meaning, you can grow your business as and when you need to, without any major investment.

It also allows your business to focus on core competencies and, more importantly, cut costs and improve efficiency, all very much hassle-free. As time has gone by over the last decade or so, business owners now realize that there are many reasons that companies, both big and small, outsource various jobs, but the most prominent advantage seems to be the fact that it saves money.

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Why Beating Entrepreneurial Burnout is More Important than EVER!

You must have gone through that stage in your life where you felt totally drained and exhausted. You’re almost there at the top. Your mind tells you to keep on going, but your body is too weak. You are physically and emotionally drained. You’re absolutely knackered and you feel totally helpless. Welcome, my friends, to burnout.

So, how do you beat burnout and get your life back on track?

First up, slow down and take stock of your life. You’re exerting too much of your energy and time working, but a lot of this energy actually goes to waste. It’s a fact that nobody is truly ‘productive’ after around nine hours of work in a day. So, pulling those huge fourteen hour work days is a) just plain crazy and b) pretty much a waste of time. You may not realize it, but a lot of the tasks that you perform, as a business owner, are actually unnecessary and your multitasking doesn’t make you more productive, as you think it might.

Working long, late hours doesn’t help at all. The main reason behind this is because it will fundamentally play havoc with your sleeping patterns. Depriving yourself of sleep has serious consequences. It’s time to change that bad habit of working late into the night until you tire yourself out. It takes conscious effort to get enough sleep every day, but you’ll eventually develop that good habit. Although you’ll have to work on it.

Why I Used to Work 300 Hours a Month!

I remember when I first set up my company, I would pull 13-14 hour days like they were a regular requirement. After all, I was the captain of the ship, and had to make sure that I was busting my balls each day to catapult the company to where I wanted it to be. However, when I sat down and calculated that I had worked close to 300 hours one month, it was like a light bulb went off above my head! Also remember the wisdom behind Tim Ferriss’ 4 Hour Work Week. So talk about a wake-up call (sleep – wake-up call, get it!?). I forced myself into a sleeping cycle that took around 3 weeks and 5mg of melatonin each night to finally level-out and feel ‘natural’ again.

Ask yourself if your goals are realistic and achievable? The pressure of setting yourself a goal and focusing on achieving it can lead anyone to burnout – especially if it’s not achievable within a reasonable time period. Break down your goal into small, but achievable units and work your way up slowly, but surely. Put it in black and white to help you keep track of your progress. Sooner or later, the goal will be achieved and you can move on to the next one.

Start to Achieve Work / Life Balance!

As busy entrepreneurs, its hard sometimes to not let yourself get burned out by letting your work affect your daily living. Achieve work-life balance and avoid burnout by establishing a clear boundary between your work and daily living. The reason why the Virtual Business Lifestyle is so achievable is because it gives you the chance to separate different locations from work and relaxation, etc.

Last tip – exercise. Physical activity is a great way to channel out excess energy. So, instead of picking up a copy of Fitness Monthly or Women’s Health, reading it and saying “I must get around to that, but I don’t have the time…”, MAKE THE TIME! You have to.

In closing burnout is a drag on anyone’s life, especially if that someone is the person in charge of running a small, but growing ship. You cannot expect the ship to sail safely and gradually pick up speed if the captain is too tired to focus on the horizon properly.

Have an awesome, productive, but above all, enjoyable week ahead everyone!

How to Identify a Professional Outsourcing Partner

Location: Starbucks, Cebu – Reading Time: 6mins

I’ve been getting a lot of email lately from people wanting a little more information on outsourcing, and more specifically the different ways to be able to outsource work, systems, processes – you name it. So, here’s a brief run-down on how to identify a good quality outsourcing partner.

If you’re an individual seriously looking into outsourcing life, or even a company owner that wants to offload some of your business routines, or perhaps even all of them, you basically have two pretty major options straight off the bat. One option is to keep things a little closer to home and chose to outsource to a domestically based company, in your own country. At first this might seem like the easier option – same time zone, same language, etc., however, the costing of this type of set-up isn’t going to be all that different than doing things in-house yourself.

Some business owners find it hard to let go, it’s in our entrepreneurial blood, they say. So, if you simply don’t want to rent additional space, or hire the people yourself (but still want, or need the work to be done) then embracing the virtual business way of getting things done might be your best option….

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The Not-So-Secret Biz Development Strategy You’ve Probably Forgotten About!

If you’re wanting to embrace the Virtual Business Lifestyle then you are a busy, probably over-worked business owner that is consistently looking for new business opportunities and clients, or even possible partners. Although this blog revolves around building that lifestyle, I recently read an article on how entrepreneurs are using the social networking medium more than ever to gain market share, build reputation and amass a strong following online, and wanted to glance upon this genre of promotion / reputation building. Especially in regards to one particular avenue – LinkedIn.

It seems that nowadays, professionals are jumping onto the social networking bandwagon like never before, and right at the top of the list is LinkedIn – “Facebook for People with Jobs” as it is sometimes humorously referred to. If you are a business owner and not already enjoying the networking opportunities provided by LinkedIn, wake up – you can boost your success further as an entrepreneur, be it online or offline, by expanding your network, your market share and your revenue, by utilizing the site to put your business on a whole new global scale.

Let me make it real simple. Last year, I brought on board business worth approximately $43,000 in gross income – without even trying……. Just by being listed on LinkedIn.

This year I am spending more time hanging around on the site…!!!

As a LinkedIn user myself for many years (you can connect with me by clicking here), and as I recently created a group for this blog on the site, I wanted to post a few tips that I have found useful over the last few years in using the site myself that have worked out well in connecting me with good quality business people all around the world. Not only this, but this one website alone has brought on board more clients to my business than any other – FACT! (Well, other than our own corporate site, obviously!).

Simply follow these quick five guidelines that I pretty much live by, when it comes to LinkedIn, and you’ll be reaping the rewards of additional business networking almost immediately.

Think Quantity, Always!

Networking is basically about numbers. The more contacts you have the better, so invite everyone you meet to your network. You meet new people every day. The acquaintances that you get in contact with at conferences, business meetings and even those you communicate with by telephone or e-mail are sources for your growing network. Any one of your contacts may know someone with whom you can close a deal. That’s one wonderful thing about networking. When you create your LinkedIn account, you’ll have the option of importing email contacts to start building your network immediately – do it.

Think Quality, Always, too!

Add quality contacts. You should also invest some amount of time in having credible contacts, those whom you can benefit from. Use the advanced search tool at LinkedIn to check out your other business contacts to see who is already hook up on LinkedIn, then send an invitation to those you want to network with.

Get involved with Groups!

Make your online presence felt by joining different LinkedIn Groups. Expand your network further by joining LinkedIn groups that are relevant to your industry, or areas of interest. Groups serve as a platform for like-minded professionals to “meet” and engage in discussions. Joining groups that are relevant to your industry, or areas of interests will help you expand your network. You have to actively participate in such groups, don’t be a side-liner – get involved and get create with conversations, posting links, etc. You should also check out conference groups and alumni networks and you’ll be surprised to see familiar names that you have no doubt forgotten for your past.

Take Advantage of LinkedIn Answers!

Take advantage of the LinkedIn feature called LinkedIn Answers. Use this tool to seek answers that will complement your business as well as send responses to establish yourself as a key player in the industry, a thought leader of such. You will be attracting the people you are interacting with in this question-and-answer forum to your network, which is the whole point of this thing, right!?

Beef up your Profile!

This is probably the most important part of your LinkedIn experience. Your profile serves as your main asset and there are a lot of ways you can sell yourself and your business by promoting your profile. Fill your profile with as many keywords as possible and link to it in other places, such as your personal websites or blog – like I have done. You should also mention your profile in other social media spots, too, to increase your search-ability. Another way for your name to come up, and for people to find your LinkedIn profile, at Google or other search engines is to customize the URL for your profile, so that it will rank higher in Google. Be sure to spend time on your profile, it will make a big difference to your overall experience using LinkedIn.

All in all, social media and networking is becoming more and more popular. Bottom line is that if you’re not involved in it in some way, at least, you can bet your bottom dollar that your competitors are, for sure!

Nowadays, I don’t manage my LinkedIn account as much as I used to. In fact, my assistant does almost everything for me, bringing me up to speed with group info and connection requests, etc. I probably only spend around an hour a month on the site personally, but that doesn’t stop me from gaining some great business contacts and enjoying getting involved in conversations.

So jump on board, and sign up for a LinkedIn account today – and when you do, invite me to connect and become part of your network, I’d be happy to hear from you!

Also, if you want to get REALLY Social – Follow me on Twitter, Add me to your Circles on Google+ and Become a Fan of the VBL on Facebook, too!

April 2010 “Virtual CEO Goal” Monthly Report

Our Welcoming Lobby at the Live2Sell Group HQ

Location: Home Office – Reading Time: 4-5mins

Number of Days in the Office: 14, Total Number of Employees: 179

This month went by faster than I realized… Hence the slightly late post! My Virtual CEO Goal is still moving along nicely, and again, I feel like I am getting closer and closer to it with every passing month. I have a plan in place, written down, and I am working that plan. It’s a 12 month plan of action including everything from automating certain aspects of my business as well as hiring of important, key employees, that fundamentally will ultimately allow me to remove myself from the business on a full-time basis. I have no doubt this year will end with my mission being accomplished.

We brought on board 3 new virtual assistant clients this month, and they have been going really nicely so far. One of our clients even sent greeting cards to his VA at the companies HQ, which put a massive smile on her face upon receiving them!…

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