ChrisDucker.com

Helping Entrepreneurs Go The Distance In Business… And Life!

Creating a Kick-Ass Free eBook to Build Your Brand (Part 1 of 3)

On Monday last week I announced this series of three posts that begins today. I was blown away by all the awesome comments and emails I received. Seriously – you lot are a seriously smart, demanding bunch! Just joking… After digesting everything and going back to my original mindmap for this series, then adding in your suggestions to hopefully fulfill your ‘needs’, here we go…

So, today we start the series on how to create a kick-ass free eBook which you can use to help build your brand, as well as help promote and market your blog, product, service, with taking a look at Creating the Concept of your eBook, the time-honored question of ‘Quality, or Quantity’ and how important the Design and Layout of your eBook is.

Initial Housekeeping Notes

Although I have tried to make this series of posts as informative and as easy-to-follow as possible, you might still see the odd crack in the ‘process’ being presented here. This is because, quite frankly, I wanted this to be a simple to follow series, with practical advice and tips, and not go into too much detail on any one subject matter – saying that, there is still plenty of meat on the bones, and if you have any particular questions, feel free to let me know.

Kindly note, this series is about creating a FREE eBook. One that you will give away for absolutely no profit. If you want a more in-depth guide to creating an eBook that you can sell, I strongly suggest you check out Pat Flynn’s eBookstheSmartWay.com (free), and Dave and Naomi’s HowtoSellYoureBook.com (paid) – I’ve read and used BOTH in my eBook marketing, and they’re great.

Most Importantly: Create something that you feel is good enough to sell, but then give it away for free! This will ensure that the quality of your eBook is high, that its incredibly informative and will genuinely make a difference to the reader once they have finished reading it. I did this with ‘Saving the Day, the Virtual Way’, and have had so many awesome emails from people, that it was certainly worth all the effort.

Creating the Concept

First and foremost, don’t write about anything that you know nothing about. It’ll be so obvious that you’re bluffing and simply not worth your time! Secondly, here’s probably the biggest, most important tip you will get from this entire series – write your eBook for your audience, not for yourself. Look into solving problems for other people. If this comes about by taking care of a problem YOU have to start off with, thats fine. Solving problems for people is the oldest and most powerful ‘sales’ strategy out there.

You might have a very clear picture of what you want to write about. If so, and you know it’ll benefit your audience, then go for it! One thing that you should also consider is doing a survey with your current readership first. I did this a while ago when we re-designed the VBL Blog, and I can tell you, the feedback I got was priceless – worth more than any amount of sales, as it allowed me to tweak the design of the site to help people navigate it properly and enjoy their experience on the blog more. I also did something similar when trying to find my ‘core’ readership, and when when asking for feedback on an upcoming product I’m putting together.

Among the most successful digital products out there, almost all of them are ‘How To’ types of products. Your giveaway eBook should be no different. Not only are ‘How To’ guides really simple to put together, but they are easy to read and generally get downloaded more than the other types of freebie eBooks out there.

Every good story has a beginning, middle and an end. Your eBook should be no different. So, break your contents down into three main sections. It’s a good idea to sit down and plan this part of your eBook out very clearly. I’m a big fan of mindmaps. I use them, literally, every day. Now I use my iPad to do most of them, but, back in the beginning of 2010 when I produced ‘Saving the Day’, I mapped things out on a small whiteboard I have in my home office.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the original mindmap… You’ll see I already intended to add additional content to it, and make an audio version, even back in those earlier days. Although I did it nearer 3000 downloads, not the 1000 noted here!

Firstly, I presented the problem. I talked about how busy entrepreneurs are, and that if only they had solid, dependable help they could get so much more done on a daily basis. Then, I went into the solution side of things. Again, by way of example, in my free eBook I talk about virtual assistants, what they do, how they do it, etc. Then finally, I wrapped everything up with the ending – what the solution can mean to the person reading. In my case the solution is finding, hiring and working with a VA to enable the busy business owner to gain more time in his/her day-to-day life, create more business ideas, strategize for growth, spend more time with family and ultimately become more successful, all by utilizing a VA.

Quality, or Quantity?

This is a highly debated topic when it comes to giving away a freebie eBook. Fact is, if the eBook has lots of pages, then it looks as if people are getting a lot more for their ‘download’ buck. However, what if all the content on those pages is a load of old rubbish..!?!!

A while ago, when I was discussing how often I was going to be updating this blog, and the struggles I was having in keeping up with the schedule I had put in place, the most commented-on topic was over the fact that quality matters more than anything else. Visitors were very clear that they would rather come to the blog twice a week, or three times a week for QUALITY posts, than five times a week, for soft or ‘weak’ quality posts.

So, bottom line here – quality – every time. The fact is that I’ve downloaded some eBooks that are just a handful of pages long (personally, I wouldn’t call these ‘eBooks’, but rather ‘Special Reports’, or something similar), and they have been great. However, I’ve downloaded 100+ page eBooks for free and they’ve been mediocre at the best of times.

There are a few exceptions to this rule. Namely, Jonathan Mead and Colin Wright – their free eBooks are nothing short of spectacular, and both great in length and content. I’m sure there are more, but these gentlemen really stand out for me, personally. Note: You’ll see interviews with both these guys on the VBL Podcast soon. They are in being edited, as we speak!

Things Not to Forget

There’s a few things that you certainly do not want to forget to include in your eBook. Firstly, make sure you have some kind of disclaimer / copyright page set-up. In my eBook’s I dont go too heavy on this, but I do make sure to tell everyone that they should feel free to distribute the eBook further afield, however, not to remove or edit anything in anyway, shape or form – that just aint cool, baby!

You should also be sure to include some links to other valuable sources, either on your own blog, and other peoples, too. You can also link to relevant products and services that might help people further, too (we’ll go into this a little more on Wednesday) – just be sure not to link-stuff, too much!

And lastly, be sure to hype yourself a little, at least. A simply ‘About the Author’ page is certainly needed, with a nice image.

Design & Layout

Most people I have spoken to on this subject believe that you can have the most amazing design in the world, but if the content is crappy then you won’t get very far, in the overall scope of things. I agree. However, the importance of standing out, and making sure that the design of your eBook is nice, clean, professional and helps to build your brand is, as far as I’m concerned, just as important as the content.

Although I have a flare for creativeness (my father was an architect, my mother an interior designer), I do not know how to use Photoshop, and quite frankly, when I have such phenomenal support around me, there is no real reason for me to learn how to, either. I come up with the concept, sit with my designer and then he will put it all together. We’ll work as a team, finalize the layout template and then he’ll simply dump the rest of the content into the approved layout. Viola! Your eBook will be finished in no time.

Firstly, having a rockin’ cover will certainly help gain attention. Be sure to spend time on the title. Be original here, guys! Innovative, don’t follow… And the internal pages should be on a white background and a dark covered text, just in case the person that downloads your labor of love wants to print it out. I like to keep images to a minimum in my eBooks, this gets the reader to focus on my content, rather than pretty pictures and colors. See some examples from ‘Saving the Day’, below:

Front Cover, Internal Content Page and the ‘About the Author’ Page in “Saving the Day!”

You’ll see with this eBook, I came up with a superhero theme. Hence the title and the colors, and front cover Superman-style logo. I loved this when my designer finished it up – but, I will say, the ‘concept’ was ALL ME!!! 🙂

You’ll also see that we continued to brand the eBook with the logo internally, too (my designers idea, not mine!) and it worked out great! I highly recommend going with a landscape style layout, as its easier to read on a computer screen – the way eBooks should be read – on a monitor. When you’re done with the layout and the design aspects of the eBook get to focusing on the editing of your content.

Go back through what you’ve written. Focus on just the MEAT of the content itself. Any ‘prettying’ of sentences, etc., lose them. As I always say, sometimes less is more. Remember that. This will enable you to create content that is easy to read, keeps people turning (or clicking) the page and ultimately means that the reader experience is top quality all the way to the end of the eBook.

So, that just about wraps up this first installment of this weeks 3-part series. Let me know what you think in the comments below, and in case you have any additional questions on anything that you feel I might have left out on this part part.

If you’d like to see my entire eBook, including the additional content and the AudioBook version, you can download it here.

See you on Wednesday with Part 2 of the series where I go into how you can now use your eBook to start gaining more subscribers, building your email list, and the tools you can use to make this important activity easier and more successful than you can possibly imagine and… how you can STILL make money with your eBook, even though you’re giving it away for free!

If you liked this first installment – Please share on Twitter, or Facebook!

Replace Yourself Like a Ninja: How I’ve Disappeared from Another Business!

Ninja

Replace yourself, Chris!!! What? Again?! Fair comment, but, over the last six weeks I have seen an incredible boost to the sales numbers over at Virtual Staff Finder. Since we launched the service back in September this year, we’ve done good, steady business – but, since the beginning of the year we’ve experienced roughly a 30% increase in sign-up’s.

This has done two things. One – made me happy, obviously, as we’ve been able to help tons of great entrepreneurs find solid virtual employees. And, two – made me VERY busy. Let me explain why…

Virtual Staff Finder helps business owners and entrepreneurs, both online and off, to find good quality, reliable virtual staff. Simple enough for us to do – we’re here in the Philippines, I own and operate an outsourcing company and have years of experience in the field, I have great support staff and a clear marketing vision locally – so we attract GREAT home-based VA’s that want to be involved in what we’re doing and get work with awesome overseas employers, that have ‘Replace yourself, Mike!’ written all over their thought process!

However, part of the process of the VSF service includes a 30min consultation with yours truly. Do you see where I’m going with this now..? You got it – the busier we get, the more people that sign-up to utilize the service, the more consultation calls I have to do.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I absolutely LOVE doing these calls. It allows me to connect with great entrepreneurs and likeminded people, and I’ve actually become good buddies with a few of the VSF clients. But, and for me as a Virtual CEO, its a BIG but… It’s taking massive chunks of my time away from me. My entrepreneurial clock was being slowed done because of the step – regardless of how much I was enjoying interacting with the clients.

So, last week the decision was made to fundamentally take me out of the process. In fact it was my VSF project manager that actually came right out and said, “Boss, you need to replace yourself to be able to focus on other things, too”. She’s awesome! Thinking about it, if I didn’t, I wasn’t going to be able to continue to grow my core business, the Live2Sell Group, as well as the Virtual Staff Finder service – plus, launch all the other projects I am working on for this year, such as the first ever VBL Product – more news on this next week!

The Problem

With this decision, however, came a problem. I had noticed that on pretty much all of these calls I was coaching and helping the clients through vital decision making steps in working with VA’s. How to train them. How to pay them. How MUCH to pay their VA. How to keep them motivated, and so on.

Surely the success of the people that signed-up for the service, in regards to working with the VA’s, must have something to do with all those tips, tools and tactics I was giving them on the call. But, if the call wasn’t part of the VSF equation any more, how would I be able to help the clients?

The Solution

After much deliberation, and several trips to Starbucks, myself and a select few staff at the Live2Sell Group decided that I was going to shoot a series of exclusive videos that would help coach the clients through the entire process, just as if they were on the phone with me. The content of the videos would be pretty much identical to the calls I had been making for the last almost-six-months, but, it was a one-time deal. Once they were shot, edited and uploaded, I would never have to do it again. “Talk about literally, replace yourself!”, I thought to myself… The tick-tock of my entrepreneurial clock was sounding again!

So, Monday last week, I worked on Powerpoint presentations – just simple white screen, black typeface, to be able to follow when I was filming, so that the information was concise and to the point and so I wouldn’t just waffle on… Then, the next day, we shot the videos in one sitting, back to back – surprisingly fast, with no do-overs, thanks to the Powerpoint slides. Then, on Wednesday, they were edited and finalized.

At the beginning of this week we made several very fine adjustments to the VSF Website, that changed certain wording in regards to the consultation call, and everything is now set. For me – this service now becomes a brand new 100% passive income product. As my good friend, Pat Flynn would say “Awesome..!” (in only the way that Pat could say it..!!). Well… Almost.

What Do You Mean ‘Almost’…?!!

As some of you may know, I also offer consultation services on this website – in case you’ve never checked out that section, you can do so for information on personal branding coaching, VA support services and general entrepreneurial brainstorming, amongst other things. So, I still DO a certain amount of consulting – why? Because I enjoy it, plain and simple.

So, what I decided to do, right at the last moment, was to include the ability for people to still have that VSF consultation call with me, however, for a slightly increased price point. Instead of the $350 usual fee, we’re pricing it up at $500.

Ultimately, I don’t expect a lot of people to sign-up using this option. At the end of the day they are using the service to find a qualified, experienced virtual assistant, not to talk to me. However, giving them the opportunity to do so, I believe shows that although I am not part of the ‘normal’ process any more, it doesn’t mean that I don’t care about my clients. And they ARE my clients. It’s my company, after all.

So, that is the tale of how I went about the mission to replace myself from a day-to-day business model, for the second time in 3 months! 🙂 – Getting good at it, aren’t I..?!!

Why I Wrote This Post

Simple. I wanted to illustrate that although sometimes you start a business in one way, it doesn’t mean that the business has to remain that way. Stagnant. Unmovable. Unchangeable. Especially when the success of that business stops you from doing other things that you want to!

This type of move is commonly called an ‘entrepreneurial pivot’. Much like the pivot in basketball, where you plant one of your feet in one particular position, and although you cant then move that foot (its superglued to the floor!), you can still rotate and reposition it to give you more options of a pass, or shot. The entrepreneurial pivot is a powerful weapon, and one that I have used countless times to great success.  And, I’m also planning one for this blog to happen soon, too!

What Says The Crowd…?!

I’m curious to know what you guys think of this plan, and whether you think it will affect the service in general and – ultimately, its sales. Personally, I think I’ve covered pretty much all the bases in those videos and my support staff on the service are all AWESOME, and take great care of all our clients.

The concept to replace yourself as a business owner might not always be your first choice. However, like I said… Hearing from you guys (as you’re such a smart bunch!), would be great… So, please let me know what you think.

How to Work with Virtual Assistants (3 Top Questions Answered!)

I’ve been running my outsourcing business, the Live2Sell Group, for just over 5 years now. We started out as a telemarketing provider, then branched into customer service and support and then, in the early part of 2008 we launched our virtual assistant services (even though we had been providing them to existing clients since 2006, literally, in some way shape or form).

Then, last year I launched my Virtual Staff Finder service, where we help entrepreneurs, online marketers, niche and affiliate marketers, business owners and basically anyone that wants to hire virtual staff, but doesn’t want to go through all the searching, interviewing, background checks, etc., to get the little diamonds in the rough they need to help promote and build their business.

I have written tons of posts on the subject of virtual assistants, recorded a full series of free video tips on the subject for my YouTube Channel, and been interviewed time and time again on the topic. Yet, the subject of VA’s and how to find them, train them, work with them, etc., is probably still one of the most requested topics of conversation from me, than anything else.

This month, so far, has been no different, with a surge in sign-up’s for Virtual Staff Finder and a ton of emails on the subject. It seems that people just can’t get enough tips and tactics on working with virtual assistants. So, in this edition of ‘Ask Chris’ I answer the following questions, which have been collated from a whole bunch of you smart, savvy VBL Followers!

  • What is the best way to train my virtual assistant?
  • How do I keep my virtual assistant motivated and happy to work for me?
  • How much do I pay my virtual assistant?

I figured this would also be a good opportunity to dip into the VBL Archives a little, and produce a little link-juice for you all – so check out these popular past posts on the same subject, too!

Hope you enjoy the answers, and be sure to comment below with your questions for the next edition!

Ask the Readers: What’s Your Number One Virtual Assistant Tip?

Live2Sell Family

Part of the ‘VBL Core4’, as I have recently started to refer to them as, is Outsourcing. When it comes to lifestyle design, we look more towards personal outsourcing, rather then the huge call center outsourcing that takes place so much nowadays. And, when we think personal outsourcing, we think of virtual assistants (on which there is 33 archived articles on this blog alone – click the link to see ’em!).

I’ve been involved with outsourcing for so long now that it is part of my daily life, more than most people can comprehend. Sure, I run an outsourcing company – but, I also provide content on the subject for many magazines, associations, business groups and other media sources, too, based on my 10 years of experience in the industry. However, personal outsourcing and working with virtual assistants has become such a huge topic that I now get more emails on this subject alone, when it comes to outsourcing, than any other aspect on the topic! I’ve even recorded a ‘short and sharp’ series of 10 related videos, which you can check out, too, if you like!

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Setting Up a Consultancy So I Can Make Money While I Sleep

money-while-you-sleep

Everybody wants the 4-Hour Workweek dream of being able to make money whilst they sleep or travel around the world. Myself included, if the truth be told. But, lets face it – its pretty hard to do. The fact is, however, it used to be a hell of a lot harder than it is today, and I believe that as time continues to go by, it will actually become a lot easier than it is today, even. Here’s why…

I now make money while I sleep. There, I said it.

The new-age entrepreneur is a totally different breed of entrepreneur than we had 10, or 20 years ago. We are now a lot more tech savvy in general. We are also hungrier, I believe, than ever before to make money. And… We have this remarkable business partner just ready and waiting to get into bed with us and help us to start making money – perhaps not overnight, but nonetheless. That partner is called ‘The Internet’.

If you have an idea for a product or a service that you feel can genuinely help solve a problem for someone, get them to the next level in their career, or just make their life easier, then you can, utilizing the internet and all that goes with it (such as social media, etc.), start making money whilst you sleep.

How I am Now Making Money While I Sleep

A couple of months ago I set up a new consultancy service, Virtual Staff Finder (this is NOT going to turn into a plug for the service, I promise – you can read that here, if you like!). Since then, I have done very little SEO on the website, and absolutely no traditional marketing at all for the service. All I’ve done is focus on the community that I have been lucky enough to build online, and to utilize the power of incoming leads from the website of my outsourcing company, the Live2Sell Group.

I set up the Virtual Staff Finder service because every day we get a lot of inquiries from entrepreneurs all around the world wanting to hire virtual assistants, and other types of virtual staff (telemarketers, book-keepers, etc.) – but, want them to be based at home, for the cost saving benefits, obviously.

Although as a company, this is something that we didn’t used to do, the businessman inside of me finally came around to thinking that it was a real waste to a) not be able to help these entrepreneurs and b) make some money from doing so!

The Process of Building my Online Consultancy Business

I did my research and found out that there was nobody else out there, with the experience and reputation in the outsourcing industry that I have, that was doing anything similar. So, I got going with it.

Here’s what I did to get this ‘idea’ to market in less than 4 weeks:

  • Brainstormed and eventually registered virtualstafffinder.com domain name.
  • Plotted out how the process of the service would work, fine-tuning it to death to make it as simple as possible for both the entrepreneurs using the service, and us, too!
  • Sat with my web developer (who works for me full-time, in-house) to come up with a concept for the website, and a minimum of 3 different designs. I also decided that I didn’t want the site to be a blog style, but rather a static website which didn’t very little attention, to save my time.
  • Put together the written content, and shot the ‘welcome’ video clip.
  • Set-up several different avenues, locally, within the Philippines to be able to find the talent needed from the virtual staff side of things (which is actually still on-going all the time, although is now done by my VSF Project Manager).
  • Got going with an e-Junkie account, and linked it up via Paypal to be able to accept online payments.
  • Tweaked and tweaked the website, until we were happy with it (we will, however, be making some changes soon).
  • Went Live!

And that is it. Not a lot required, and to be very honest, if my web development guy wasn’t working on several projects at once, the chances are we could have got this entire thing up and running in perhaps half the time.

Since the launch we’ve had 25 people sign-up for the service (average of 3 per week) at a rate of $350 a pop. That’s $8,750 in around 8 weeks, or $4,375 a month – almost $220 per business day. And here’s clincher here, above and beyond everything else. I’ve made the majority of those sales while I was sleeping. Seriously.

Because I live here in the Philippines, when you guys are up and about in the US, I’m hitting the sack – usually by your lunch time. So, when I wake up in the morning (around midnight EST most days), I check my email and start the day with a smile.

Here’s a couple of instances where sales have come in at ‘odd’ times just recently… I’ve had 2 sales come through whilst at my Son’s playgroup (on separate occasions). I had 2 come in within the space of a 3 hour meeting with a client when I was in the US last month, one at BlogWorld and just yesterday I had 3 sales come through whilst working out and then having lunch with my wife.

Is This Truly Passive Income?

Simply answer, to a simple question – no. Not really. But again, I am now to the point where I know I can make money while I sleep. The ‘getting the order’ is passive. However, because its a consultancy service, once the order comes in, the work begins. First with a consultation call with the client, then with my project manager and her team sourcing, interviewing, testing the candidates, communicating with the client, etc. But, you don’t hear me complaining, do you..? That fact is that we service our clients well, and my company makes extra money. Money, that if I hadn’t of started the service, we wouldn’t be making.

Looking back into the archives of this blog a little, you’ll see I did a video post where I discuss 6 Different Passive Income Ideas, and lets face it, by definition, passive income should be earning whilst totally hands off, I appreciate that – and I am due to be launching my first ‘true’ passive income product soon. This is just a spin-off of the ‘passive’ idea of things.

Why I Wrote This Post

I wrote this post because I get so many emails every month from people that are interested in starting some kind of ‘make money’ venture online, but are either a) not sure how to get started, b) don’t have a solid idea, or c) can’t believe that its really possible and therefore never really go for it.

The whole thing here more than anything else is that I had an idea, I realized that there was a hole in the market and that the idea was going to be solving a problem for people (in this case, saving people valuable time more than everything else) and used the resources and people around me to make it happen – quickly. Can you do the same – YES!

FACT: Everyone has the chance to make money while they sleep, or get beaten up by toddlers at their Son’s playgroup (!). You just have to simply plan and execute. Stop procrastinating and get going with it. Start it up. Promote it. SELL it. And make money from it.

Had success with starting an online service or business? Need help, or got questions on how to do it..? If so, tell us all about it below. I’d love to hear what you all think on this topic. Cheers!

October 2010 “Virtual CEO Goal” Monthly Report

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzdZYKCAfPU

Number of Days in the Office: 7, Total Number of Employees: 212

Ah… It’s good to be back! October was a whirlwind of a month, I must say. Above you’ll find a little (4mins) montage of my trip to the USA. I actually have a TON of footage I shot over there this time around, hours and hours to be frank! However, I decided to keep this video short for digestion purposes! But – get excited, there is plenty of awesome video and podcast content coming in the next few months, thanks to my adventures at BlogWorld. So, onto the Monthly Report – strap yourself in – its a biggie!

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Lessons From the Corporate World: Tips for Outsourcing Business Tasks

lessons from the corporate world

This guest post by Eric Gati is part of the VBL Guest Post Month!

If you’re reading this post right now on Virtual Business Lifestyle, chances are you’ve at least heard of virtual assistants, and are perhaps interested in finding one or finding out how to utilize them effectively.  Congratulations, you’re already more advanced than the majority of people out there who believe that affordable help is difficult to find.  The fact of the matter is, outsourcing bits and pieces of your business (or in some cases, most of your business) is a critical part of making you as productive as possible….

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Top 3 Surefire Ways To Effectively Delegate To Your Virtual Team

Screen Shot 2013-09-01 at 1.37.04 AMHave you ever delegated to your virtual team, but been frustrated with the finished result? It just wasn’t what you were expecting, and you didn’t feel that your VA really understood what you were trying to get at. Well, you’re not alone, this happens to a majority of entrepreneurs starting out in virtual delegation, and can often lead to them giving up entirely and going back to the old reliable — themselves!

I am going to share with you now the “Top 3 Surefire Ways” to delegate effectively, quickly and easily to your virtual team so you can get your tasks and projects back right – first time, every time….

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3 Daringly Different Ways To Run A Company From 3 Dangerously Different Countries!

This is a Guest Post by Jonny Gibaud, founder of Emergency Food Storage.

So it is guest post month of Virtual Business Lifestyle and so fittingly I have written a quest post. I know, I am very much on the ball.

For those that have never heard of me, My names is Jonny and I am a traveling entrepreneur who gets my kicks from travelling and living and running businesses in different countries.

In this post we will look at three of my recent “office” environments from which I have been expanding one of my companies EFS Ltd, and take a quick gander at some experiences, “Definately Do’s” and “Definately Don’ts” that will hopefully help you in your own Virtual Business adventures. And so our little story begins in sunny England.

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Baby Boomers and the Virtual Business Lifestyle!

This guest post by Steve Thomas is part of the VBL Guest Post Month!

Most blogs and articles about online business are geared toward the twenty or thirty something crowd. These young people have become disillusioned with the world of work and want to spend more time traveling and enjoying life. Fine for them, but what if you are forty, fifty, or older?…

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