Second to survival was coping with how to sustain my business. Most local businesses were closed for an entire week. Many employees of these businesses received paid time-off or were given the opportunity to use vacation, personal or sick time. As the owner of a one-person, online company, I had nobody but myself to rely on for a week’s worth of missed business.

I am going to share with you my story – what I learned about to prepare myself personally for survival and how to maintain my business in the event of a catastrophe. Don’t think it’ll happen to you? Really? I never thought so, either!

Listen Up!

With the media constantly blasting us about the next huge weather event, eventually we become numb to what they’re telling us. In the days prior to the October 29 storm, many local meteorologists urged us to pay attention to this monster. They were calling it catastrophic. But wasn’t Hurricane Irene also considered the same? Heck, we only lost power for 8 hours overnight when Irene hit. Therefore, most of us went on with our normal lives, not realizing what was in store for us. 

What did I learn from this? Pay attention to the weather reports when they are considered catastrophic!

Be Prepared

I can’t stress enough how important it is to be prepared to be without power for who knows how long. We were lucky – we had our power restored after five days. However, as I write this, there are still people without power in my state and it is 12 days after the storm.

Following is a list of what I believe is important to have ready prior to a catastrophic event:

• Know Your Evacuation Route. With this storm came massive destruction. Many were left helpless, shut off from the world due to downed trees and power lines. Make sure you know how to safely evacuate your home and neighborhood with a solid plan of action.
   
• Gasoline. Have a full tank of gasoline in your vehicle. My gas tank was on empty. Normally, it doesn’t matter because I have a gas station at the end of my street and I can creep down there on fumes, if needed. However, there wasn’t a gas station with power anywhere in the area that I could drive to without running out of gas. Other people were in the same situation – and many were pushing their vehicles while waiting in long lines at stations that were running on generators. I couldn’t picture myself doing that – so I stayed put until the station down the street reopened after four days.
   
• Cash. If you are lucky enough to have gasoline in your vehicle to drive to a store that is running on a generator, make sure you have cash on hand. Most likely, they are accepting cash, only. I had a measly $20.00 on me because I normally use a debit card for most items I purchase. Most banks and ATMs were without power.
   
• Heat. Temperatures in Connecticut dipped into the low 20’s at night during the power outage. Thankfully, we have a woodstove and plenty of firewood, but others were relying on dangerous alternatives that killed them or made them nearly lose their lives with the improper use of generators or charcoal grills in the home. Be mindful of how you’ll stay warm. If you can’t heat your home properly during a power outage, think about lots of layers of clothing, tons of blankets and sleeping bags to keep you warm at night.
   
• Check On and Take In Fragile Family, Friends and Neighbors. Many fragile people, especially the elderly, refused to leave their homes. An 82 year-old woman who lived in a neighborhood near my parents lost her life due to the chilly temperatures. Her family kept insisting that she stay with them, but she would not leave. She was found in her rocking chair, covered in a blanket, frozen to death. If someone you know is in need and appears too proud to come with you, do not leave that person alone. Call the authorities, if needed. It could save a life.
   
• Food, Water and Cooking Resources. Have plenty of nonperishable food and bottled water on hand, along with a manual can opener and coolers. Invest in a gas grill and have a few, full tanks of propane available at all times. With our grill, we were able to creatively make coffee in the morning, as well as heat up meals. With an electric stove, it was impossible to have a hot meal, otherwise. I was able to obtain dry ice to save the food in my large chest freezer and I used two large coolers for refrigerated food.
   
• Invest in a Generator. We always talked about getting a generator – just in case. During the power outage, there wasn’t a generator available for purchase anywhere. During the middle of the week, trucks loaded with them started arriving in Connecticut and were parked on just about every street corner. The day our power was restored, my husband had purchased a generator earlier in the day for $849.00 from a gentleman from Oklahoma who was accepting credit cards. We had it running for three hours when our power was restored. Did we feel like we wasted our money? Nope! The next time we lose power, we’ll be prepared. How? We’re going to pay an electrician to hardwire the generator to our furnace so we will have oil heat and hot water, as well as power for our refrigerator, freezer, lighting, computer, cell phone charging and television. Keep in mind that you should refrain from using items with heating elements, such as clothes dryers, toasters and blow dryers. Understand how to use a generator properly and never place the exhaust facing your home. Oh, and don’t forget to have plenty of full gasoline cans and oil to power it up!
   
• Communication. My cell phone didn’t work. The provider’s cell phone tower was down, along with two other major cell phone providers’ towers. I had no way to make phone calls or text. My landline requires electricity to work, so that wasn’t an option, either. Perhaps those old rotary phones aren’t so bad, huh? 

What did I learn from this? It is worth it to pay more to have an account with a strong cell phone company, as well as a phone with email and Internet access. When I was able to get gasoline on Day 4, I drove to a major provider in another state, purchased an iPhone and was able to communicate with others and receive emergency updates from my town on Facebook. In addition, make sure you have a vehicle charger for your cell phone.

• Shelters. Even the most affluent in our state used the services of local shelters that were set up in schools and senior centers. Hotels that did have power were booked for hundreds of miles around, so many people had no place else to go for warmth, food, water, hot showers and in many cases, running water. If you have a well, you will not have water from faucets or be able to flush your toilet. Don’t be shy about using shelters set up in your area – they’re arranged for this sort of circumstance!
   
• Batteries. Have tons of batteries available for flashlights and the radio that will keep you on top of what’s going on outside of your home. Without my battery-operated radio, I would have no clue what was happening in the state or where the nearest shelter was set up.
   
• Prescriptions. Most pharmacies in the area were closed during the height of the power outage, so make sure you have enough medication on hand. My husband ran out of his cholesterol pills the day our power was restored and my dog’s seizure medication was running low. Thankfully, I was able to refill these prescriptions without missing a beat.
   
• Don’t Forget Your Pets! Remember, your pets depend on you for food, water, medication and warmth. Always have an ample supply of what your pet needs to survive, as well. 

Miscellaneous Items. Other items that came in handy during the power outage were:

• Candles
• Chainsaw blades
• Personal hygiene products, particularly for women
• Clean clothing, especially underwear!
• Clean towels and dish cloths
• Dish detergent
• Paper/plastic plates, cups and utensils
• Games and cards

The items listed above are my personal ideas and what worked for me. Make sure you have your own list in place that’s tailored to you and your family’s needs. 

Online Business Preparation

If you prepare for a catastrophe by taking into account the items I shared above, you should be able to continue working seamlessly in an online business during an extended power outage. Unfortunately, I wasn’t completely prepared to sustain my business during our own outage, but I am grateful to have the most fantastic, loving clients who are scattered throughout the United States and Canada. They were understanding and concerned – but I refuse to let them and their work suffer again, due to my unpreparedness.

Here’s what I learned to maintain business operations:

• Again, Invest in a Generator! Although we had no electricity, our cable Internet was still running. We realized this when we powered up our generator and plugged the extension cord into the cable outlet and the television worked. This also meant we could power my two desktop computers.
   
• Invest in a Laptop. If your cable Internet is not working, it is wise to have a laptop. This way, you can use Wi-Fi, work off the battery and recharge it using the power from your generator. If you don’t have a generator, you can charge the battery at a local shelter. That is, if you have enough gasoline in your vehicle to drive to the shelter!

Make sure your laptop has enough capacity to house programs that you’d normally use on your desktop with and for clients. For instance, I use specialty products frequently in my business; therefore, it would be smart for me to include these programs on my laptop, as well as any other software that cannot be accessed online.

• Computer Backup Resources. I rely on a reputable online backup service. This way, I can retrieve files any time I need them. However, if their server is ever down (which, it never has been) I also depend on my external hard drive for instant file retrieval.
   
• Write Down Important Information. Keep a hard copy list of client phone numbers, email addresses, assignments and deadlines handy.

If you own an online business working from home, put in place all your home needs first. Then, build on that for your business. Again, customize the list to your particular needs.

In Conclusion

Our state is slowly returning to normal. We are picking up where we left off and getting back into our regular routines. Please, do not wait to prepare for a catastrophe. Get ready NOW. It can mean the difference between life, death, the survival needs of you and your family and the sustenance of your business so you can continue generating revenue even during the worst of times.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include the following details with it: 

Known as the “everything ezine” expert, Allison Fede is passionate about partnering with life and business coaches who want more clients and a steady flow of income.

Allison educates coaches on how to use their ezines to make more money through group workshops and private consultations. Besides sharing her ezine marketing expertise, she offers quality ezine design services, as well as life and business coach virtual assistance. Her biggest joy is to collaborate with clients on building and sustaining their practices through effective business and marketing planning and execution.

If you’ve identified your target market and you know what makes you stand out from others in your industry, you have most of the critical pieces of your foundation in place to start marketing your business. But, are you like most entrepreneurs who freeze at the thought of marketing? For some, it brings visual images of cold calling, creepy sales tactics and endless business card swapping at boring networking events. However, you need not worry – to effectively market yourself in today’s business world, there are ways around these traditional methods. 

Modern technology has opened the door for alternative ways of reaching out to others. Gone are the days of picking up the phone to call strangers. Today’s online technology gives you the option of building relationships with prospective clients who are attracted to you and your services.

Three ways to effectively market your business are:

• Ezine Delivery
• Social Networking
• Guest Speaking

Ezine Delivery

The delivery of an ezine is one of the best ways to market your business online. Why? It is a soft way to promote your business to an engaged audience of targeted subscribers. They have opted in to receive communications from you because they are interested in what you have to say.

Having an ezine allows you to shine by giving you the opportunity to demonstrate your skills and abilities, while weaving in what services you offer and how you can help clients save time in their busy days. It helps to position you as an expert while building your credibility and relationships with prospective clients.

Social Networking

Social networking isn’t just for personal use. Have you noticed most businesses these days request that you connect with them through Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn? This is because most consumers are surfing online and enjoy connecting with companies that interest them.

The same holds true for your prospective clients. They’re searching for the best ways to improve their businesses, so why not join social networking groups on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn that focus on your ideal client? This way, you have a direct opportunity to share your expertise while building relationships with business owners who could use your services.

Guest Speaking

Guest speaking is a great way to get your message across to others who have an interest in your topic. However, this approach isn’t limited to just live conferences – many speaking events are now hosted online or over the telephone, allowing you the comfort of remaining at home.

Consider speaking engagements that are tuned into your target market, as well as events that are hosted and attended by your colleagues. You never know who is in need of what you offer or who would be happy to pass your name along to a prospective client!

Delivering an ezine, social networking and guest speaking are just a few ways to effectively market your business. You may want to start with these three methods or use ones that fit into your own business model. But keep in mind that the key to any marketing technique is consistency!

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include the following details with it:

 Known as the “everything ezine” expert, Allison Fede is passionate about partnering with life and business coaches who want more clients and a steady flow of income.

Allison educates coaches on how to use their ezines to make more money through group workshops and private consultations. Besides sharing her ezine marketing expertise, she offers quality ezine design services, as well as life and business coach virtual assistance. Her biggest joy is to collaborate with clients on building and sustaining their practices through effective business and marketing planning and execution.

Just like identifying who your target market is, one of the most important elements in setting yourself up for business success is to know what makes you different from other virtual assistants. This is widely known as your “Unique Selling Position” and discovering what makes you stand out in the crowd is like finding a precious diamond. However, it is the ultimate goal that most business owners fail to achieve.

There are now thousands of virtual assistants offering similar services. In order to set yourself apart from what everyone else is doing, you may want to take some time to understand how you can present yourself as unique in this competitive environment. How have I determined my own Unique Selling Position? By focusing on many aspects, but here are three of them that have worked well for me:

• Passion
• Expertise
• Solutions

What Are You Passionate About Doing?

Since I was a child, I have enjoyed art, writing and educating others. At six years old, I was creating books, complete with stories and illustrations, by using construction paper folded and stapled together. I invited my neighborhood friends to gather in a group so I could share with them my creations and how I put everything together.

As a business owner, I have fallen in love with ezines and all that they have to offer. I translated the pleasure I found in my childhood activities into ezine design, copywriting and holding workshops to share my knowledge.

Think back to what you loved to do as a child. What were your hobbies? You may not realize it, but carrying your interests from childhood into your virtual assistant practice is a great way to understand what you’re passionate about.

What Is Your Expertise?

We all have something we’re good at doing. By combining your expertise with what you’re passionate about, think about your hard and soft skills. Are you a wizard at shopping carts because you have amazing attention to detail and technical skills? Or, perhaps you love number crunching, so bookkeeping would be an ideal fit for you?

If what you’re already expert at doesn’t excite you, then envision what you may want to learn about that you believe would add value to your business and that would make you jump out of bed in the morning. It’s your business, so think about all the possibilities that bring you happiness while making money!

What Solutions Do You Offer Clients?

Have you noticed a pattern where you’ve solved the same problems for various clients? If you have a target market identified, most likely, your audience experiences similar challenges in their businesses.

Merge your problem-solving abilities with what your market struggles with. This way, you have THE solution to their needs. They will seek you out because they know you can handle what is eating up their valuable time and keeping them up at night!

Understanding your Unique Selling Position will bring you success because it is attractive to your prospective and current clients. They will feel your passion about what you’re doing, as well as respect and admire your expertise. Most importantly, they will look to you as their ultimate problem-solver.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE?
You can, as long as you include the following details with it:

Known as the “everything ezine” expert, Allison Fede is passionate about partnering with life and business coaches who want more clients and a steady flow of income.

Allison educates coaches on how to use their ezines to make more money through group workshops and private consultations, as well as collaborates with them on building and sustaining their practices through effective business and marketing planning and execution.

To find out more, visit www.VirtualPrecisionBusinessSolutions.com.

What keeps your coach up at night? Probably the same things that keep you lying awake at 3:00am! As you may know, a coaching business model is similar to a VA business model. Before you collaborate with your coach in the strategic business and marketing activities associated with her practice, focus on your own business, first. This way, you’ll have proven to her that you have achieved success in your own way and have the expertise to help her succeed, as well.

I’m excited to share with you an overview of how I have identified and nailed down my target market. In addition to having a solid financial plan and business roadmap, I strongly urge you to know who your audience is. Otherwise, all other actions you take will be unclear, scattered and a huge waste of your valuable time and money.

Demographics

There are many variations of demographics you can use to discover who you’d like to work with. A few that I use are:

• Age Range: Do you prefer to work with a younger crowd, middle-aged people or perhaps retired individuals? You may want to base this on the type of VA business you have and what age group resonates with you.
• Gender: Depending on your personal tastes, you may connect well with just women, just men, or, maybe gender doesn’t matter to you. Your choice! 
• Occupation: This one is a biggie because it helps you narrow down specifically who you’re reaching out to in your marketing messages. You may be a VA to coaches, but what kind of coach? There are many different specialties to choose from, but I suggest working with coaches whose work you enjoy and who hold similar values as you. If you strongly believe in traditional religious practices and you partner with an alternative spiritual coach, the relationship may not work well. 
• Educational Level: Some people have a high regard for educational credentials. If this is important to you, then you may want to focus on working with coaches who only hold masters or doctorate degrees. If it’s not a critical factor, then you may not need to worry about this demographic. Again, it’s your decision! 
• Income: You may think that you need to partner only with clients who make oodles of money. But if you create an effective product and service funnel that allows people in at varying price points, then you may not need to be concerned about income level across the board. Put your energy into hefty income demographics solely for high end clients, or if you currently market one level of service. 
• Geographic Area: With today’s online technology, you aren’t strapped to one region and have the ability to reach out to others around the world. However, there are many differences to think about, including currency, time zones, cultural diversity and language barriers.

Demographics boil down to your personal preferences. Besides the ones listed above, consider coming up with some of your own to fit your particular business needs.

Ideal Client Profile

Like demographics, creating an Ideal Client Profile is based on what you value in your business. However, developing a profile helps you understand more than hard facts – it provides you with a snapshot of the type of relationship you’d like to have with a client, as well as giving you a solid basis for qualifying prospective clients.

Following are some questions I use when deciding if a coach would be a potentially perfect partner for my business:

• What kind of personality does she have? Is she serious, or does she enjoy a good laugh?
• What is her communication style?
• Is she honest, direct, reliable, trustworthy and respectful?
• Does she have passion and enthusiasm for life?
• What type of energy level does she have?
• What makes her stand out from other prospective clients?
• What’s the one big challenge that keeps her from moving forward?
• What does she dream about being, having or accomplishing?

 In addition to the questions above, you may also want to research where you can locate your ideal client. A few examples would be: 

• Where does she hang out online?
• What type of live networking events does she attend?
• What types of magazines or other periodicals does she read?

By narrowing down your target audience, your work eventually becomes seamless and effortless. This doesn’t mean you can’t take on clients who don’t fit exactly into your ideal profile; it just means that understanding who you’re reaching out to becomes natural, easy and fun, leaving you more time to enjoy life outside of your business!

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE?
You can, as long as you include the following details with it:

Known as the “everything ezine” expert, Allison Fede is passionate about partnering with life and business coaches who want more clients and a steady flow of income.

Allison educates coaches on how to use their ezines to make more money through group workshops and private consultations, as well as collaborates with them on building and sustaining their practices through effective business and marketing planning and execution.

To find out more, visit www.VirtualPrecisionBusinessSolutions.com.

As a virtual assistant, it’s likely that you have amazing administrative skills and solid experience to offer your coaching clients. You have the finesse to effortlessly communicate with their customers and the knowledge to whip up a dynamic presentation in a moment’s notice. You are proud to be a seasoned professional with a solid foundation. However, are these skills and knowledge enough to “wow” your clients? They may very well be enough, but if you want to increase your VA value, you need to understand what keeps your coach up at night. Rather than continuing as her assistant who she delegates tasks to, become your coach’s trusted business and marketing strategist, as well.

What has worked for me to add significant value to the relationships with my coaching clients is to focus on my own business model first. As a coach’s VA, you may have noticed that a coaching business model is similar to a VA business model. So, take a look at your own business first to figure out what keeps you up at night! I bet you are struggling with same issues as your coach:

1. Who is my ideal client?
2. What makes me stand out from others in my industry?
3. How do I effectively market my business?

If you are finding it hard to answer these questions for yourself, then it may be difficult to strategize with your coaching clients in their businesses. How can someone look to you as an expert if you haven’t conquered these areas yourself?

True Success Story — How I Increased My Value as a VA

I invested in my business by working with a coach to identify my target market, to discover what my unique selling position is and to use various methods to market my business to get more clients. Without taking the initiative to partner with a coach, I would still be where I was at earlier in my VA career: struggling to figure out how to add value to my business and to my clients’ businesses, as well as how to make more money and get more clients!

With my revised business model, my current clients now consider me a strategy expert because I am successfully doing in my business what they’d like to do with their own businesses. Potential clients are interested in working with me because I have the strategic knowledge to help them improve upon what they’re currently doing, or not doing, in their practices. New clients are thrilled that I have a solid plan in place to get them from where they are now to where they want to be.

In my next article, I’m going to share with you how I increased my VA value by identifying my ideal client and how I strategize with my coaching clients on determining their target markets.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE?
You can, as long as you include the following details with it:

Known as the “everything ezine” expert, Allison Fede is passionate about partnering with life and business coaches who want more clients and a steady flow of income.

Allison educates coaches on how to use their ezines to make more money through group workshops and private consultations, as well as collaborates with them on building and sustaining their practices through effective business and marketing planning and execution.

To find out more, visit www.VirtualPrecisionBusinessSolutions.com.