Live Full Work Fun Podcast

With what's going on in the world right now, many challenged with workplace disruptions.

Employers who had never considered a remote work situation for their employees are now giving it a second thought. Employees, who once thought to work from home would be a dream come true are facing their own challenges.

Uncertainty generates anxiety and tension. Transitioning to a remote work model takes a bit of time and patience to get the bugs worked out.

The Scrivener Solutions team had a roundtable discussion at our last team meeting. In this week's podcast, I share our conversation.

Our discussion included the challenges and advantages involved with remote work, both from the perspective of the employee and the employer. Each angle has very real concerns and responsibilities.

We share many of our experiences, like setting boundaries, alleviating distractions, technology issues, communication challenges, and family-time juggling.

We hope you find the episode helpful as you listen in as we pull back the Scrivener Solutions curtain.

Resources Mentioned:

We mentioned this short list of the wide selection tools and resources available to help achieve remote work.

• Slack | Collaboration & Communication Hub
• eFax | Faxing may be obsolete, but there's a tool out there just in case
• eVoice | Virtual Phone System
• Grasshopper | Virtual Phone System
• LastPass | Password Manager System
• TeamViewer | Remote Desktop Access
• Chrome Remote Desktop
• Zoom | Video Conferencing
• Screencast-o-matic | Video Creation
• Resources Used by Scrivener Solutions
• Real or Perceived? Risk! And What the Zoom To Do About It | Jen Filla

When most people first start looking to outsource and begin their search for hiring a virtual assistant, they usually seek someone who can do absolutely everything.

Any task you throw their way, they're able to perform with ease and efficiency. From managing your calendar, fielding support calls, writing your blog posts, to doing a complete redesign of your website. Everything with ease and efficiency. One person who seems to have superpowers and can even read your mind.

I can appreciate that dream. After all, it's much easier to manage one person versus several people. You only have one point of contact, one personality to get used to, one person to train. I, too, have wished for such a super VA.

However, that type of utopia doesn't exist.

In this episode, I cover different types of VAs and how you should hire to fill roles in your business.

Here's an example list of job titles of roles you may need to fill. These are the folks who work virtually but don't necessarily officially call themselves virtual assistants.

• Website Developer
• Graphic Designer
• Content Writer
• Video Editor
• Bookkeeper
• Podcast Editor
• Social Media Manager
• And of course, the General Admin Assistant

Individuals in one or more of these job titles may have skills and expertise that cross over to another job title. You'll decide who on your team has the best skill set to do what you need done.

Other considerations outlined in the episode:

• Foreign vs. Domestic
• Freelance vs. Firm

Whether you choose a freelancer or a firm, foreign or domestic, there's not a wrong or right answer. It's just a different answer.

Not everyone's preferences are the same. You should find the right scenario, the right individuals for you.

Finding the right people to add to your team entails conversations and trial and error. Start, nurture, and grow each relationship. Learn from each experience.

Your team will most likely consist of a combination of many freelancers or a combination of freelancers and firms.

Be aware of the different options you have available and go into the relationships informed.

Be sure to grab your copy of the 5 Things You Must Know Before Hiring a Virtual Assistant.

I hope you enjoy the episode. Until next time, have a fantastic week.

Additional Resources:

• 5 Things You Must Know Before Hiring A Virtual Assistant
• Canva

The very moment you decide to be your own boss and create your own business, you become a leader. You're a leader before you even begin hiring anyone to help you with your business operations.

Like most coaches, consultants, or speaker you, more than likely, start doing everything yourself. Literally EVERYTHING.

You'll roll up your sleeves and either learn the most important tasks or learn enough to make do until the time comes you can hire someone to help.

But soon you'll find yourself overwhelmed with not having enough time in the day to do everything and desperate to find relief and FAST!

When your overwhelmed and desperate is not the best time to begin your search for the ideal virtual assistant to start your dream team.

• Listen to this week's episode as I share when to begin your virtual assistant search. Here's the secret: Start your search BEFORE you need a virtual assistant.

A quick breakdown as to how:

• Networking face-to-face
• Networking online
• Online search
• Virtual Assistance associations or groups
• Ask your peers for references of who they use
• Follow virtual assistants on social, blog, email, etc.

When the time comes, you'll already have an idea of who or where to look for your first team member. You'll already have a connection.

I hope you enjoy the episode. Until next time, have a fantastic week.

Additional Resources:

• International Virtual Assistance Association | IVAA
• VA Networking

You've most certainly have heard the saying, "Only do what you love and delegate the rest." It's supposed to be a saying to inspire you to be successful in your business.

You would think that me, being an owner of a virtual assistant company, would be wholeheartedly supportive of that statement. After all, I'm a proponent of delegating and in order for you to be successful, you should delegate the stuff you don't like, right?

Wrong!

I believe that doing what you love and delegating the rest will lead you to success is a myth.

In order to grow as a person and as an entrepreneur, there will be times you'll have to do things you don't necessarily love. It's a part of being responsible for your business.

There will also be times when it's in your best interest to delegate tasks that you do love, and you find joy in. This will allow you to find time in your schedule to do other tasks that no one else can do.

"Do what you love and delegate the rest." Myth.

What you're really doing when you delegate is leveraging your time so that you may accomplish more. You will shift your focus on working in your business to working on your business.

Seven years ago, I created a virtual assistant business where I could work behind the scenes helping online entrepreneurs leverage their time, earn more money, and scale their companies. Over time, my VA business has become a true team effort where the Scrivener Solutions team really make the magic of time leveraging happen for our clients.

My role has shifted where nowadays I'm helping in a different way. Although I serve as the project manager for Scrivener Solutions clients, I find myself coaching solopreneurs and helping them to develop and implement strategies and create systems in their businesses to achieve their big goals. You could sum it up as: I teach how to lead a virtual team.

There will be times where the right things to delegate may be some of the things you love so that you may have the time to do the important things that you may not necessarily love but only you can do.

It's time to work ON your business and not IN your business.

What are your thoughts?

"Do what you love and delegate the rest." Myth or fact?

I'd love to hear what you think. Drop me a note by emailing me.

Enjoy!

Additional Resources:

• The E Myth Revisited | Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It | Michael E Gerber
• Mike Kim

In this week's show, I'm pleased to bring back Brandy Van Riessen. Brandy is the mother of three wonderful children, the wife of a college basketball coach, works as a virtual assistant for Scrivener Solutions, and is growing her own online business.

In episode #78, Brandy shared how she was able to create her dream job. This time she shares how her dream job is evolving into her very own dream business.

Brandy recently launched her personal brand. She had already started growing OliviaMaeFurnishings.com for future passive income selling printables and apparel and now she's launched BrandyVanRiessen.com.

Brandy had already transitioned from working a traditional day job into working remotely for Scrivener Solutions. With her schedule jammed packed full of raising her kids, managing her household, and working her remote job, she still finds the time lay the foundation of her own personal brand.

Brandy isn't waiting until a magical "someday when I have time" stage of her life to start. She's making the time now in her already busy schedule and growing a little at a time. She understands the importance of laying a foundation and systems now. As her children grow, so too will her business.

There's a great lesson for all of us, no matter our season of life. You will make the time to learn and do what you truly enjoy. Do it a little bit at a time. You'll see incremental growth and steadily laying the groundwork to take the leap into your next move.

Enjoy!

Additional Resources:

• Creating Her Dream Job with Brandy Van Riessen | Podcast
• Brandy Van Riessen Designs
• Olivia Mae Furnishings

You're not alone if filling your content calendar with social media posts is a daunting task.

When it comes to thinking about what to post, it's perfectly normal to feel overwhelmed by the whole process. Sometimes it may feel like you have writer's block.

In today's show, I'm going to go over a few social media post ideas to spark your creativity and inspiration for your posts.

The main thing to remember is to keep it simple and don't complicate things.

If you're unclear as to what to say, just becoming consistent and making it a habit of posting helps you achieve clarity. Download 48 Social Media Post Ideas, and over time, just by the act of getting used to posting and communicating on social media, you'll be able to understand and better know how you can effectively help your current customers and how you'll attract new ones.

In this episode, I highlight twelve of the 48 post ideas.

• A link to your newest blog post
• Company accomplishments and milestones
• Valuable information from other influencers
• A tutorial video on a common problem
• Inspirational quotes
• Information about upcoming events
• Customer reviews
• Behind the scenes of your business
• Holiday-related posts
• Ask for customer feedback
• Thank your followers for something
• Promote your products and services

For the rest of the list, download 48 Social Media Post Ideas.

Use it as a checklist and you could have 48 different social posts. Posting one a day, you'll have enough on your content calendar for almost two months. Then, just start from the top of the list again.

Additional Resources:

• 48 Social Media Post Ideas | Free Download
• Is Your Social Media Mindset Realistic? | Podcast [pull blog post link from episode #97]
• Midwest Cabinets and Design | Videos

We all have a mindset, or an established set of attitudes, about practically everything. Big or small.

Today's show revolves around forming the right mindset when it comes to social media marketing and using it as a tool in growing your business.

It's been my experience, through conversations with many individuals, that most fall within these three simple categories:

1) HATE it!

They don't want to be on any social platform. They feel it's a time sucker. They don't even want to have a social account but feel like they must have an account for their business, yet don't know how to wrap their head around using it in their marketing plan.

2) LOVE it!

Social media is one of the core sources to stay in contact with friends and family. They use their favorite social platforms as a primary source of entertainment and news. Their phone is almost an extension of them as they're continually checking their social accounts, numerous times a day.

3) OVERWHELMED!

Their opinion of whether they hate or love social media is indifferent. Many times, they understand that social media can be used in small business marketing. However, they're either challenged by tech to be active on it or are just too plain busy to get their head around using it in their marketing plan.

There's a lot of hype and undo stress when it comes to social media marketing.

In today's show, I share simple tactics in framing your mindset around social media to be an effective communication tool in growing your business online.

By creating a system of consistency when it comes to your social posts, you'll be on your way in developing a process where you will:

• Gain clarity in your messaging
• Leverage your time by scheduling posts to publish in the future
• Better delegate the process, further leveraging your time

Enjoy!

Additional Resources:

• 48 Social Media Post Ideas | Free Download
• How to Schedule Your Facebook Posts | Video
• Buffer
• HootSuite
• Planoly

Jennifer Filla, founder of Aspire Research Group and Prospect Research Institute joins me in this episode as she shares how she made her transition from her corporate job to becoming a solopreneur.

Jen felt stifled by her corporate job and knew she wanted to create a career and business for herself to fit a lifestyle she where she could travel, work remotely, and have the freedom of being more in control of her time.

In 2007, Jen took the leap right in the middle of the pool, as she puts it. Although she doesn't necessarily recommend such an abrupt change, she felt she was at a point in her life where she could take a few more risks.

Jen was one of my first virtual assistant clients. Over the years, I've learned so much from her. With every conversation, I learn. I receive better insight, perspective, and clarity for my business…and today's interview is without exception.

I know you'll enjoy the conversation just as much as I did as Jen shares her experience and journey in leaving the traditional 9-5 in lieu of pursuing a business of her very own where she could and does work from anywhere in the world.

Additional Resources:

• Jennifer Filla
• Aspire Research Group
• Prospect Research Institute
• Podcast | #016 Building and Managing a Virtual Team | Interview with Jennifer Filla
• F-Secure | Anti-virus software
• LastPass | Password Protection Software (affiliate link)
• Dropbox
• You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar | David H. Sandler

When you start and grow your personal brand...doesn't that mean you do everything?

After all, it's personal, you need to have your hands in everything and know how to do everything, right?

Intuitively...you may think so. But growing your personal brand isn't any different when it comes to recognizing the importance of seeing your brand as a business. Like any small business, you need to create systems and processes in order to incorporate efficiencies and set you up to scale.

When you listen to this week's episode, you'll see how I fell into the "it's my personal brand, I better do everything" trap. Hear how I was shaken out of this mindset after a conversation with Brandy from my team.

For all practical purposes, when you first begin your personal brand or even any small service-based business, you aren't in the position of hiring anyone. You turn to Google to search what you need to do. There's nothing wrong with that. Everything you need to know to start and grow your online business is out there for free with a Google search.

You can start out that way. But to leverage your time, you will begin to save up and invest in training and coaching to accelerate your learning curve.

You begin to invest in seminars and conferences to be surrounded by like-minded individuals, to learn from each other, and to be inspired and motivated to keep going.

You invest to hire your first virtual assistant to help you fill in the gaps of doing the tasks that are repetitive so you stay focused on your message and your followers and clients.

I think it's important to learn enough about systems or the tech tools out there and available to help you be more efficient. By learning the basics of at a minimum their capabilities and most likely going through the motions of using the tool, like MailChimp, WordPress, or ClickFunnels, you can better plan, strategize, and delegate.

You should be in control over what strategies you want to implement and how you want your brand to be represented. If you're lost as what to do, that's ok to get help.

Coaching and online courses are a great investment to accelerate your progress and understanding of the particular struggles you're having. It is up to you to implement what you've learned and had the dedication to follow-through with the investment of time and money involved. Without follow through of implementation, nothing changes.

Additional Resources:

• GaylaScrivener.com/webinar
• Scrivener Solutions
• Click Funnels
• MailChimp
• Thinkific
• This is Marketing | Seth Godin

When building your personal brand, my recommendation for your core piece of content where all other content draws from is either podcast or video production.

However, if you're just getting started producing a podcast or publishing consistent videos may seem like too big of a mountain to conquer.

In this podcast episode, I share other ideas for you to consider for our core piece of content even if you don't have a website yet.

Listen as I give examples about:

• Social Posts
• Facebook or Instagram Live Videos
• eNewsletters
• Direct Mail Newsletters

I'm not suggesting that you do ALL the things I've listed...pick one.

Whatever you pick to be your core piece of consistent content will not be the wrong answer. The important thing is that you're creating the habit of publishing the content. You'll get into the mindset of the importance of consistency.

Although you won't see an immediate return, you will begin connecting with your followers and gain more followers. You'll learn how you can best serve your followers. Over time you'll be able to build on your processes, your messages will get clearer and better, you will become more confident and at ease, you will grow your personal brand...your online business.

Are you ALL IN for the long-term growth of your business, your personal brand? Or are you just tinkering? What is your core piece of content?

Additional Resources:

• Accomplish More Tips
• How to Schedule Your Facebook Posts
• Scrivener Solutions | Services