Virtual Freedom: How To Work with Virtual Staff to Buy More Time, Become More Productive, and Build Your Dream Business is a guide to outsourcing tasks to virtual assistants: anything that costs you less to outsource than to do yourself (taking your billable hourly rate as what your time is worth). 

This same philosophy is what Donald Trump credits his fortune with - he says he outsources anything that costs less than $100 an hour. Ducker lists things like:

• research website keywords or blog post topics
• respond to customer emails
• invoicing
• create web content or translate existing content into new formats (like turning blog posts into slideshows)
• post your content on social media

and then recommends using that saved time to build your business. It's solid advice - in my experience, many entrepreneurs have never thought about outsourcing tasks they hate or find menial. 

Ducker's book would more aptly be called Virtual Freedom: How to Work with Virtual Staff to Build Your Dream Lifestyle. His advice isn't just for productivity or time management, it's about doing more of the things you like and less of the things you hate. 

I bought this book because I enjoy Chris Ducker's blog. I hoped the book would be like a really long, in-depth post - and I was partially right. Each chapter reads like a stand-alone blog post, which makes it easily digestible. However, it also means he repeats the same information over and over and over - including highly-specific info like public holidays in the Philippines or reminding you not to use all-caps when writing to your assistant. 

Perhaps my biggest beef with his book is his push for hiring overseas. (I will admit that I could be biased because I'm USA-based and my clients outsource their marketing to me instead of overseas.) "Section 4: Stay Local or Go Overseas?" promises to be a chapter weighing the pros and cons, but quickly turns into building the case for overseas outsourcing, highlighting the benefits of lower wages and cultures which are eager to please their bosses. 

While you may pay higher prices to keep your assistant(s) in your own community, you're also keeping your dollars in your local economy. I think that's a valuable thing which shouldn't be glossed over in favor of lower costs. It's something entrepreneurs should consider against their value system - especially because many small business owners take pride in being ultra-local. 

Overall, the book is a decent overview for the entrepreneur who has never outsourced a task and needs advice on affordable solutions. 

Workbook Review: Virtual Freedom Companion 

The companion workbook is $27 and contains 36 pages (including cover, intro letter, table of contents). 

Possibly the most valuable pages are the "Lists to Freedom," where you are instructed to brainstorm on the tasks you should outsource. These pages are mostly instructions with just a few blank lines for your brainstorming. Ducker distills a chapter from his book into 3 pages for the workbook, and the content is much better in this format. 

The next element, taking up the bulk of the workbook, is "10 Elements to a Good Job Description." Each element takes a page, and honestly, almost none of them need a whole page (like "time zone")... especially when Ducker's example for the element is only a sentence. 

The following nine pages are a guide to interviewing, complete with an assessment sheet for the interview. There's nothing groundbreaking in this section - you could find all the same information (albeit not in worksheet form) on any hiring website. A whole page is dedicated to "your questions" (meaning: blank). 

Six pages outline a monthly/quarterly performance review containing basic questions like "How well does the employee understand his role?" and "Are you happy with your employee's performance?" It's a decent start to a performance review, but there's no instructions on what to do with it once you have it. (And if you need a worksheet this basic, you probably also need a little instruction on how to use it.)

Finally, the last few pages contain a timeline and list of tasks for the business owner diving into outsourcing for the first time. By the end of six months, Ducker's timeline has you hiring two virtual assistants and taking a week off from your daily business management. 

If you like having the convenience of a basic hiring kit in one PDF, it might be worth the cost. But if you're ok with using Google for a minute to find basic hiring information, don't bother with the workbook. 

With the new year started, many people are starting to think about their annual marketing plan. While it’s optimal to start thinking about this several months before the new year, any start is better than none at all!

Before you can make you plan, you have to know how much you can spend. You’ll need to know your monetary budget as well as how much time you can personally spend on marketing. Be honest about your skill set and hire an assistant or a freelancer to help you with things you’re not great at.

What types of activities go in the marketing plan?

Before you can evaluate how much you should spend on any particular aspect, you have to figure out your communication budget overall. How much can you spend?

Most successful businesses spend between 1 and 15 percent of their gross revenue on marketing. The newer and less well-known your company is, the higher you need to be in that range (even though it might be a little uncomfortable).

It’s common knowledge that most small business owners cut communication before anything else when they’re in financial trouble. It seems the easiest: it’s hard to evaluate the return on investment with some strategies, and it’s not like you can just stop paying rent. However, if you eliminate marketing completely (or even mostly), how will new customers find you?

Why have a budget?

A budget – rather than spending as you go – will help you evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of your strategy. If you’re a small business, and you spent $10,000 on marketing but only made $20,000 in sales, you have a problem. Something isn’t working. But if you spent $10,000 on marketing and made $100,000 or more in sales, you’re on the right track.

Budget types

Your budget could be based on:

I can't tell you how many times I bought a ticket to a networking event and didn't go. I always intended to go - and put my money on the line - but on the day of, I'd chicken out. I'd come up with reasons why I didn't need to go - I had dishes to do, or I already had enough projects, or some other excuse. 

By request, here are the four tips I use to force myself to network. Here are the tools you need to get there, put on a smile, and make meaningful connections with the most terrifying people of all: strangers.

I've had several meetings lately that went something like this...

Me: "Tell me about your target market."
Them: "We finally got it nailed down! Ok, so it's men and women, ages 16 to 60, who live in America."

...And the record comes to a shrieking halt. It's easy to see why someone would want a target demographic like that, at least initially - that's literally almost everybody in the country. However, it's not a target market. 

Logically, it can't be. If you place a 16 year old boy from Brooklyn and a 60 year old woman from rural Kansas in the same room, do you think they'd be even remotely interested in the same products? 

Let's zoom in further. Even if you focus on one geographic location, there's still a world of difference between a teenager and an AARP member.  

Oftentimes, when a smaller demographic is suggested, the business owner says: "I don't want to narrow my focus because I'm afraid I'll be losing dollars." 

The thing is, choosing a target market does not mean refusing to take money from someone who doesn't fit. If you're selling rubber bracelets to high school kids, you wouldn't turn away a middle aged man who wanted one. But you'd also know that the middle aged man is likely a fluke. It would be a waste of money to try and attract more of them. 

Establishing a target market will actually help you earn more dollars. Instead of wasting time and money on general untargeted messages, you can launch specific messages with real impact. You'll get more revenue coming in per communication dollar, resulting in more profits. 

To find your target market, base your customer profile around your ideal customer. For example, a yoga studio's target customer profile could look like this:

Women, age 28-40, who live or work within 10 minutes of the studio
Often in a long term relationship, no kids.
Cares about her body and fitness. Perhaps interested in competitive running.
Have a spiritual mindset, open to Buddhism and Zen practices.

This gives us a pretty clear picture of the type of person who might enroll in a yoga class. She will not be an Evangelical Christian, because she has to be open to Buddhism (so advertising in the local Evangelic church bulletin is a waste of money). She will not be a stay-at-home mom, because she doesn't have kids (so no use targeting play groups). She will not be a coach potato, because she cares about her fitness (so don't waste money advertising on daytime TV). 

This may still feel too faceless for you. If it does, consider creating a fully-fleshed character:

If this was your customer profile, you would write everything like it was meant for Jen's eyes only. You might have a dogs-welcome class. You might design a flier about cross-training for runners. You might host an open house and serve local-brewed craft beer. You wouldn't be afraid of alienating a faceless Jane Doe because you'd know that delighting Jen is all you need.

Having a specific customer profile is actually freeing. Instead of trying to capture everyone, you can try to capture the quality few. You can modify your storytelling to better resonate with the people who fit the profile. Instead of being locked into a prison of general bland messaging, you can be free to have a personality and tell an authentic story. 

Most business owners are wasting their money on marketing. Some people think I'm crazy for saying that because I sell marketing for a living. But most - and I mean the majority - of small and mid-sized business owners are just burning money when they spend it on marketing.

Until you can agree with every item on this checklist, don't hire anyone to do your marketing. (You can hire someone to help you get to this place, but don't hire people to perform marketing tasks just yet.)

⦁ I know who I am.
⦁ I know what attributes make up my brand. 
⦁ I understand my brand is more than a visual identity. 
⦁ I know who my target customers are and I understand their needs.
⦁ I know what products or services I offer.
⦁ I know what price my customers are willing to pay for what I offer. (Not just money - also how much time to get it, etc.)
⦁ I have a clearly articulated value proposition. 
⦁ Every decision maker and project lead in my organization understands our target customer and value proposition. 

It takes all eight items to have a successful marketing strategy. If you start promoting your social media profiles and email newsletters before you are firm on these items, don't be surprised if little happens and your marketing money seems wasted. (If you don't know who you are, your customers won't, either.)

I've seen it happen many times. An entrepreneur decides to "just start" and change later as they get a better handle on their brand. Then every time they discover an identity that seems lucrative, they invest heavily in changing their brand to that thing. Then they do it again. And again. Nothing ever works because nothing is authentic (or has enough longevity!). 

If you can't say "Yes!" to every item on the checklist, scale back your efforts and figure out your brand. 

"How can I get my name out there as a ______?"

This is one of the most common questions people ask me. They want to know what social media network to sign up for or what event to go to. If they only did the right things, they think, their name would be "out there" and they could finally be something.

The answer to their question is deceptively simple, but never what they want to hear.

You want people to think of you as a writer/insurance agent/life coach/filmmaker/whatever? You have to actually be that thing. No one is knocking on doors to discover if someone is thinking about being somebody.

If you want to be a writer, write. If you want to be an insurance agent, talk to people about insurance. If you want to be a filmmaker, make some films. Then talk about it to everyone you know -- talk about the thing you actually did instead of the things you could do if only you had enough attention. 

No one deserves an audience. It's a privilege. There's no magic bullet: you have to get out there to be out there.

Angry Birds started as an addictive game. Seemingly overnight, Angry Birds merchandise was everywhere – from T-Mobile commercials to Target end cap displays.

Though Rovio (the game company which owns Angry Birds) has a large budget and big dreams, the small business owner can learn valuable lessons.

1.       Angry Birds is easy to play

Anyone can download the app and get started playing. There’s no instruction manual and no rules to explain.

Takeaway: Simplify your customer’s experience.

2.       Angry Birds is addictive

The first time I downloaded Angry Birds, I played for six hours straight – until 4 a.m. Each level in Angry Birds is straightforward: Kill all the pigs with the least amount of birds possible. Players will redo levels until they get a three-star rating for excellent strategy.

Takeaway: Tell your customers exactly what to do, and be consistent.

3.       Angry Birds can be played in short bursts

On the bus, in line at the grocery store, or while waiting for the movie to start – Angry Birds can be played for as long or short as the user wants.

Takeaway: Consistently release content meant for quick digestion. 

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“I want to market my business, but I don’t know what to say.”

This is the most common thing I hear small business owners say. They know why they have a business – - usually based on a personal passion or a problem they identified in the community — but they don’t know how to express it.

The key to finding your marketing voice is to think about why you do what you do.

It’s not easy to own a business. Many people have dreams of entrepreneurship but they can’t make the leap from a steady paycheck and a known future. When you work in corporate America, the path is clear: climb the ladder until you retire.

With your own business, the path isn’t as clear cut. No one gives you a promotion in your own business. You might want to expand your business or make more money as the basis for your marketing plan. A higher profit margin or an expanded product line is a goal, not a marketing voice. Your voice doesn’t change with your goals.

Connect with the original feeling which inspired you to take the leap.

Here are some of the feelings my clients have expressed:

• Life coach: “I want to help people become who they always wanted to be.”
• Yoga teacher: “I want to make physical fitness fun and affordable.”
• Personal trainer: “I want to help people to recover faster from injuries and chronic pain.”
• Financial planner: “I want people to feel like they’re in control of their checkbook.”
• Hair stylist: “I want women to feel great in their own skin.”
• Writer’s club: “I want to provide a safe space for writers to express themselves and find support.”
• Church: “I want to create a community gathering space for people who are seeking something bigger than themselves.”
• Health education nonprofit: “I want people to love their bodies.”

Look again at the simplicity of those statements. At the core of your motivation for being an entrepreneur, you probably have a simple statement, too. You might have thought of it as a mission statement or a guiding principle.

This is the place to find your marketing voice.

I’ve been working with a client on a brand new marketing plan. She does spiritual life coaching, which is not an incredibly easy thing to market. Many times, people don’t know they want a life coach. They just know they’re unhappy and they want help.

However, she had a problem many small business owners have: her website wasn’t working for her.

A website is often lauded as an essential marketing tool. And it is – a website is a place where prospective customers can go to find more information about a business and be persuaded to buy. Most people’s websites don’t do this.

When it comes to marketing, I believe efforts should translate into dollars. It’s not helpful to put a lot of time and effort (and money) into a tactic which isn’t working. So the issue of her website was a large one to tackle.

We worked together to create a new website for her. We launched the website a couple months ago with the goal of translating digital visitors into clients.

Before the new website, she never had someone visit her site and ask to become a client. She had her old website for years – somewhere around six years – and never saw a visitor become a client. That’s the depressing reality for many business owners.

The problem wasn’t her content. Her content was well-written. It appealed to emotions and explained who she is and why people should care. It included a contact page. But it doesn’t matter how well-written your website is if it’s not working.

The problem also wasn’t her traffic count. She had a healthy amount of traffic – but none of them became clients. It doesn’t matter how many people visit your website if they’re not buying. Awareness doesn’t pay the bills.

So we decided to overhaul her website to funnel more people through her door in real life.

Step one: Decide what the visitors should do.

In this case, we wanted website visitors to sign up for a consultation. It doesn’t cost them anything and doesn’t require a commitment. Once someone tries your service, they’re more likely to pay for it. That’s why grocery stores offer samples of food.

You might want visitors to:

• Sign up for an email newsletter promoting your products
• Come to an event
• Buy your book
• Sign up for a consultation
• Donate to your cause
• Otherwise help you stay in business

The first step is to decide on one goal for your visitors. If you don’t have a goal, your visitors won’t respond.

Step two: Promote your goal.

After we decided on her goal – get visitors to request a consultation – the rest was in the details. We created a page with testimonials from current clients as well as information on what life coaching looks like. We provided all of the factual information someone might need to decide they want to try life coaching.

Next, we promoted her coaching on every single page of the website.

This might sound obvious, but how many websites have one goal on every page? Does your website remind people of your goal even on your bio page? Or do you have one or two pages for your goal and a bunch of other pages about the company in general?

In this case, we added a promotion in the header of every page with a button linking to the coaching page. It’s literally the first thing people see on every page.

Step three: Make it easy for visitors to complete the action.

Before the overhaul, she had a page about her service and the contact page was somewhere else. Asking for a consultation was a multi-step process: Find the website, read the right page, then click to another page and figure out what to say in a general contact form. That’s how most websites operate, and it doesn’t work.

On her new website, I included a contact form directly on the page about life coaching. The new contact form had clear instructions: fields for contact information, consultation options (in person, phone, or online), and an optional comment box. One step. Boom.

This change revolutionized the way her website works for her. In the first week, two people signed up for consultations. It’s been a steady stream ever since.

Imagine if you had new clients with no ongoing effort. That’s not a pipe dream. It’s possible. It’s what your website is meant to do. My client can focus on her business – helping people – and new clients come to her. It’s not too good to be true.

With these simple steps – define your goal, promote your goal, and make it easy – your website can work for you, too.