Chris Ducker

Expert Business Growth, Virtual Staffing & Personal Branding

Road Trip Story: How I Made $350 in San Diego, in 15mins – in a Hotel Lobby!!!

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hotel lobby

On the way back from BlogWorld at the beginning of this month, I took a little detour from my trip back to the Philippines and stopped by to say ‘Hi’ to all the lovely people in San Diego, staying four nights to enjoy a little down-time with my wife. We hit the San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld (with my buddy, Pat Flynn and his family) and Macy’s for a brand new suitcase as my other decided to die the day before we were due to leave!

Our time in San Diego was awesome. The place is fantastic, and we’ll definitely be going back again in the future. There was one thing that made it all the more sweet, however.

As my wife and I were enjoying a late breakfast, before checking out, I had an email come in from my assistant back in the Philippines. She was confirming a consultation call with a Virtual Staff Finder client – in 30mins. Bad timing? A little… But, it was better to take care of the call now, I thought, before hitting the ‘road’, as I would be keeping my client waiting for at least a few days whilst I traveled and got re-acquainted with the Philippines time-zone.

I Don’t Pay for WiFi!

Being the tight bastard that I am, I don’t pay for wifi. Anywhere. I think that in this day and age, to even attempt to charge for it is nothing short of taking the piss, quite frankly. And at my hotel, they were attempting to charge me for in-room wifi. However, I was told that there was free wifi in the hotel lobby. Great!

I escorted my wife back to the room so she could finish the packing (as all good wives do!), and headed back down to the lobby with my MacBook Air and a pair of earbuds!

The call with my client was going by as normal. Simple questions at first, then getting a little more in-depth. Advice needed on how much to pay their virtual assistants, how to work with them properly, and whether the time differences would cause any issues, etc., etc. It was around half way through the 30min consultation that I noticed another hotel guest sitting across from me, using the free wifi, too. “I’m not the only cheap bastard staying here..!”, I thought to myself.

Why Eavesdropping is a Good Thing!

As I continued my chat, I noticed that my side of the conversation had gotten the attention of my freebie wifi buddy, sitting across from me. He was intently listening in on the advice I was giving my client, and quite frankly, I wasn’t bothered about it.

As with most people that I meet, not many of them know that much about virtual assistants and how they can help you run, support and grow your business, so I’m happy to educate whenever possible, if it means I help another had-working entrepreneur.

When I was done with my client call, I sent a quick email to my project manager, Stephanie, on the call notes, attaching a recording of the call, as I do with all my consultations (so she can go back and listen to it, if need be), and started to shut down my laptop. At this point, the other hotel guest reached out his hand and introduced himself as Mike, a business owner from LA, who was in town for a conference.

The Elevator Pitch!

After subjecting him to my 20-sec elevator pitch (which is perfected, trust me!) and a couple more minutes of general chit-chat he admitted listening in on my conversation, apologizing at the same time. No problems, I told him, and asked if there was anything in particular that pricked his ears up in the first place. He said that he liked the idea of having someone do the ‘shit work’ (his words, not mine!), that he hated doing everyday. As we all know, virtual assistants can do that stuff (along with other things, too!). 🙂

Ten more minutes goes by, I explain that we’re leaving soon and that I’ve got to go up to the room to make sure that the wife hasn’t stuffed the hotel bathrobes into our suitcase, along with other stuff that should stay in our room when we leave – he laughs – and asks one more, conversation-defining question.

“So, how much does it cost to use your service, then…?”.

BHAM!

I answered, gave him my card and told him to email or tweet me with any other questions that he might have. Here’s the thing… Because he had been a nosey so-and-so and listened in on my call, he already had all the answers to his questions.

By the time I had jumped in the taxi, got to the airport, checked in and was waiting for my flight to LA, I had a Paypal notification come through on my iPhone for $350. Nice.

Lessons Learned

Know your elevator pitch off by heart.

Never be shy, or scared to chat with strangers about ‘business’.

And above and beyond everything else – NEVER pay for wifi. 🙂

What do you think, should you have to pay for wifi? Anywhere? Have you any cool business stories like this to share? If so, go for it… below!

#NewBusiness Chit-Chat: If you started a Business tomorrow, what would it be?

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start-openIn the last year I have started two virtual businesses. I’ve been heavily involved with both of them for a certain period of time, and then, once things seem to level out, and starting running on their own (and after I’ve hired people to run the businesses for me!), I step away, manage from a distance, and move on to the next project / start-up.

I love doing this…!

The First

The first was Virtual Staff Finder. This is a service that I started up purely to fill a gap that I saw in the outsourcing market, where my team of qualified sourcing experts match busy entrepreneurs with experienced, home-based virtual assistants here in the Philippines.

When I start it, I said I’d be happy with servicing 10 clients a month. We are currently serving an average of four times that amount, and it continues to become more and more popular!

The Second

This one has been in beta mode for around 4 months now. I am literally 4-6 weeks away from a full-blown launch of this new company, that I feel will revolutionize the way people outsource project-based work. I mean, its gonna be in a class of its own.

We’ve been testing our products and services with existing clients and a few newbies, and so far everyone has nothing but awesome things to say about the quality of the work, the speed at which its completed and the service in general.

More info on this soon, peeps.

What IS a Virtual Business?

This might differ from one person to another. However, my definition of a virtual business is that of a business entity that does not require YOU, as the owner of the business, to be present on a regular basis at any one location, in order for the business to function properly and ultimately make you money.

It doesn’t need to be ‘online’ (ie. an e-commerce store). It can even require office facilities. However, if as the head-honcho you have the freedom to come and go as you please, work from anywhere you want and fundamentally run the business at an arms length – THAT’S a virtual business.

Coming Soon: Virtual Business for Virgins!

I’m around a month or so away from finishing my first ‘real’ online product. I had actually wanted to get this out months ago, but, as you can tell from the first few paragraphs of this post – I’ve been busy building my virtual business empire!

This is going to be an eBook, Audio and Video content based product, and will talk you through how I’ve set-up my virtual businesses, and the steps you need to complete to be able to do it easily, and quickly (under 30 days, actually!) for yourself.

To help me finish things off and come up with a couple of hypothetical case studies to include, I’d like to ask you this question today, and engage in another one of our, always-popular, VBL Discussions.

If you were to start-up, or even just start PLANNING the start-up of a virtual business tomorrow, what would it be?

Over to you…

How to Get Your Virtual Entrepreneur Juices Flowing More Than Ever Before!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTBFf-hhFDw

Today we have the beginning of a 4-part video series with fellow virtual entrepreneur and business owner, Dan Andrews. You might already be familiar with Dan, as he also contributes pretty regularly to this blog, too. As someone that produced over $800,000 in revenue – virtually – for his businesses last year, he has a few things to stand up and take notice of.

Dan is a full-blown virtual entrepreneur, lives in the Philippines for the majority of the year and we’ve hooked up on various occasions. What usually ensues is a fantastic entrepreneurial breeding ground of ideas, lessons, tips and tricks – and this video series is no different, I can tell you.

Be sure to watch right the way through to the end of the video for some out-takes, including our Soprano impressions – they are worth the price of admission alone!

In this first video we discuss being a virtual entrepreneur and business owner, subject points such as:

  • Building your online brand.
  • Launching a product / service to a small and large audience.
  • The differences between old school and ‘new school’ entrepreneurship.
  • Why you need to really care about your ‘business world’.
  • How your processes need to be put in place ASAP.
  • Why ‘lifestyle design’ has become so much more than just a ‘search term’.
  • Tons more stuff…!

Dan does something to me, personally. When I’m talking with Dan my own virtual entrepreneur juices get flowing very, very quickly. To be able to get on the same level with someone like that does great things for your thought process. We also seem to have a LOT of fun, too.

The second part of this series will go live next Monday, so be sure to subscribe NOW, via either RSS, or by downloading my free eBook, to make sure you don’t miss out on any of the goodies that are coming up!

Until then, if you have any comment, or questions in regards to virtual entrepreneurship, feel free to drop them to us below. And if you’re feeling ‘sweet’, then please Retweet, too! 🙂

Ask the Readers: What are Your Top 3 Online Tools for Getting Things Done!

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First up, I’d like to send out a massive HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all my brothers and sisters from the ‘other side of the pond’, as we say in England – hope you guys have an awesome day with your families…!

Welcome to another VBL Discussion post. For those of you who haven’t been here before (read the first one here), every Thursday (I may skip the odd one!) I kick off a discussion with my two pennies worth on a topic related to the Virtual Business strategy, and then you guys pitch in with your take on the subject.

Hopefully, in the process, we give each other a ton of new ideas on how to get more productive, live awesome lifestyles, be excellent at what we do, and a whole lot of other important, interesting and inspiring stuff. So, today, I am opening things up on the subject of the three top tools that you use, online, to get things done.

For me, as someone about to become VERY virtual, I’ve been studying up in regards to online tools more and more and more recently. At present (and this might change in the future) my top three online tools for remaining productive are as follows:

Gmail & Google Calendar

Being able to check my email (across several accounts) from any device or computer connected to the internet is just a pure Godsend. Plain and simple. The fact that I can also access my entire schedule is even more awesome (although GCal has had a couple of brain farts recently that I haven’t been all that pleased about!). This set-up is a MUST HAVE for any virtual entrepreneur. Check it out at Google.com

Dropbox

I work with several staff in my company, and several staff that do not working directly for my company. Dropbox gives me the freedom to share files with everyone I give access to, they can then update them at your end and upload the newly amended file to everyone else in the Dropbox folder to stay up-to-date with everything. Sheer genius. I use this every single day, without fail. Check it out at Dropbox.com

Evernote

Since becoming an iPad user, I use this device a lot more than I do my laptop. I love that fact. Evernote gives me the freedom to make notes, jot down ideas, and to capture great content from the web to read / listen to / watch at a more convenient time. You can also attach images and audio recordings directly to your notes. It’s super powerful. Check it out at Evernote.com

Over to you guys!

Why Being a Virtual CEO is Going to Make Me a Better Dad – The Importance of Setting Goals

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I have three awesome kids. I genuinely love being a Dad. But, if I was to be honest, I have missed out on a few things. Kick-starting my career as a young professional, working several jobs to pay the rent, creating my own businesses, building those businesses
 It takes its toll. However, all that is about to change.

When I started the beginning of 2010 I set myself a goal. I sat down and I made a big, long list of things I would need to do to achieve that goal. As I get closer and closer to accomplishing my mission of becoming a Virtual CEO (more on that journey coming up soon!), I am starting to make a different type of list. Today I thought I would share some of the things on that list.

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Why Are So Many Internet Start-Up’s Failing Today?

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Online Business Failures

This guest post by Don Silver is the FINAL post in the awesome VBL Guest Post Month!

To all of you who contributed, and those that have commented on all the excellent posts from everyone, thank you, sincerely, for making October such a great month – and the one with the most traffic EVER, here at Virtual Business Lifestyle

I’ll see you guys on Monday with my October ‘Virtual CEO’ Monthly Report!!!

In the real world of brick and mortar business, every day millions of people are dragging themselves from their comfortable beds, performing their morning rituals of washing and breakfast to head to their jobs. In their daily grind some are thinking that there must be a better and easier way to make a living.

All these millions know someone or know of someone who has “made it” by quitting their boring existence and become their own boss using their own computers in the comfort and ease of home….

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They Laughed When I Said ‘Tell the World What Scares You’, and then they saw my Balance Sheet!

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Note from Chris: This is a guest post from El Edwards.

It’s Monday morning, the first day of a brand new week. You stare at the blank, white screen in front of you, cursor flashing. What on earth are you going to do today?!

You pull out your planner, to-do list, GTD system or the good old fashioned diary, but it might as well be written in ancient Greek for all the help it gives you. You’re stuck.

Coffee? That’ll help won’t it? It’s bound to shift this fog and get you back in the right direction toward amassing your fortune, earning your keep, and generally keeping the proverbial wolf from the door. Because, let’s be honest, you don’t have time for this do you? You’ve a business to run.

There’s a whole world of stuff you should and could be doing right now but none of it feels right. Woah! Hang on a minute there cowboy. Feels? What’s this feeling nonsense you talk of? You’re an entrepreneur. You deal in plans and figures and goal setting and targets. Since when did you let your feelings dictate your work flow?

Well I have news for you sweetie. Feelings are what got you here in the first place.

Think back to why you started playing this game. What made you turn your back on the regular nine to five working for the man? Did it have something to do with dreams? Maybe a desire to spend more time with loved ones? Perhaps you wanted to earn a bit of cash whilst travelling the world? Forget travelling the world, do you have a desire to change it?

Whatever got you into this game, it certainly wasn’t facts, figures and balance sheets. Whether you choose to acknowledge it or not, your feelings have got you on this path so it’s time to play them at their own game. It’s time to start recognising your feelings for what they are and get real.

Stop pretending that you have it all together. The very next time your world feels a bit foggy, look around you. He might never admit it, but that guy over there in the slick suit and fancy tie? Yes him. He’s been where you are right now. And Ms ‘I have three degrees and six suits from Gucci’? She’ll be there next week. You are not alone.

The stuff whirling around inside that lovely head of yours is amazing. You can do such awesome stuff. But on the day that the fog descends, on the day when everything around you suddenly feels wobbly, you will feel all alone and shut off.

I’m here to blow the whistle on all that nonsense. The sooner we start being honest about this entrepreneurial journey of ours, the easier and more fun it will be.

Imagine that you’re having a dark day. Not black but certainly a darker shade of grey.

Just as you’re beginning to feel like the most frustrated person on the planet, your phone rings. It’s your best friend. A person who you not only respect and adore as a friend, but someone who you look up to in business too. So you pick up the phone expecting to hear of their latest triumph but instead, they tell you that they have a secret to share with you.

You grab another cup of coffee, ready for a tale of secret travels for their spouse’s birthday next month. But no, it’s not that kind of secret:

“Shhh, don’t tell anyone. I have something to tell you. I feel like a fake and a fraud. Everyone sees me as this hugely successful person. They respect my opinion and think I’m great. But the thing is, who am I to think I can run this multi-national corporation? I’m just me. Who am I kidding?!”

Wow! You land in your seat with a bump, the air knocked out of your lungs in shock. And then smiling and breathing a sigh of relief, you recover and prepare to welcome your friend to the club.

When was the last time you heard a peer own up to this darker side of business? Do you ever look around at your contemporaries and feel a slight tinge of envy because they have no worries?

I have news for you my friend. Every single person on this planet has days like this. There are some great actors in our circle but it’s an illusion.

It’s time to start being honest. It’s time to start being real. It’s time to shine a light on the dark stuff so it has no-where to hide. Who’s with me?

El Edwards is a muse and writes Heaven and El where she inspires people to live their dreams in an honest and authentic way. You can read more about El’s vision in her manifesto, Like A Breath Of Fresh Air. She’s also the founder of UK registered charity Give A Brick where she uses social media to empower unconditional love and giving.

3 Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know About Building A Business Online

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

This guest post by Milt Baron is part of the VBL Guest Post Month!.

When entrepreneurs make the leap from real world offline business to online Internet business it can be tricky to know the best way to go about building your online presence. With so much conflicting information around and different approaches for different types of businesses it can be very confusing.
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Virtual Office Tips for Virtual Business Success!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk85OfMCrSA

This guest post by Valerio Paolini is part of the VBL Guest Post Month!

Today, we have the pleasure to see a guest video post from Valerio Paolini all the way from Rome, Italy. In this clip, Valerio shares practical tips on how to take your business to new heights utilizing virtual office magic tricks! Valerio highlights the Pareto efficiency in economics that we can all learn from. He also mentions the bliss of having a virtual business lifestyle, meeting new clients in 5-star hotels and restaurants.

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Alone and Stuck With Your Online Business? Join a Mastermind Group TODAY!

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Join the Mastermind Group Today

This guest post by Juha Liikala is part of the VBL Guest Post Month!

I guess we’ve  all been there. You wake up, check your blog’s statistics for the morning, open up your blog and start thinking about what would be your next step. What can you do to make it better. No new comments today, is there something wrong? Have the audience lost their interest on my stuff? Will this lead somewhere or am I just wasting my time? Should I create a product about this or launch a service about that?

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