Posts Tagged "BSETC"

You’re Only Successful Because

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Mar 2, 2010 in Business Tips | 15 comments

I have the utmost respect for entrepreneurs.  Regardless of their situations, they all share a common personality trait – the desire to succeed.  Nobody enters into the business world looking to or wanting to fail.  Nobody goes into it saying, “Well, if it does work out, that’d be cool.”  No, most of us hit the business world with the desire to create something bigger than we can imagine and we go into it thinking, “This WILL work!”  It’s our drive and our tenacity that allow us to stand amongst the entrepreneurial crowd with pride.

Until you meet those people who tell you, “You’re only successful because…”

I have come across a few women, over the course of the past six years, that have attributed my success to one key fact – I haven’t had any offspring yet.  Put aside the idea that I may very well be a driven, focused, motivated individual who wants to create a business that is sustainable, successful and a lot of fun to be in AND I’d probably have this drive regardless of whether or not I’ve also given birth to children…  Nope, it all boils down to how underused my ovaries are.

Now, I know that the men reading my blog may not be having my particular issue (mostly the underused ovaries part…) and I think it might be pretty specific to the female generation. Women can have difficulty sometimes with comparing themselves to another women in a similar situation.  So, when a woman is feeling like she isn’t as successful as the other woman she’s speaking with, she makes excuses as to why she isn’t there yet.  Generally speaking, the excuses are pointed directly at the other woman.

“You’re only successful because your husband has a great job and you can afford to take it slow.”

“You’re only successful because you’ve got a great support system.”

“You’re only successful because you got lucky and met the right contacts early on.”

When I hear any entrepreneur use these lines to compare themselves to another entrepreneur, I like to gently remind them that it doesn’t matter how the stars align and how perfect a scenario is, when it comes to running a business and being an entrepreneur you’ve either got it or you don’t.  The willingness, the drive, the motivation, the focus, the desire… you either have those traits or you don’t.

We don’t know a person’s history unless we’ve walked in their shoes and we’ve gone through what they’ve gone through.  We will never know and it’s time for us to put down the, “You’re only successful because…” and change it to, “I admire your ability to…”  Changing your attitude toward other people’s successes will allow you to experience your own success more fully.  You will be able to fully stand in your achievements and say, “I did this.  I created this.  I have the ability to succeed.” without attributing it to any other outside factor.

What do you think?  Have you ever been told that you’re only successful because…?  If so, what did you reply or how did you feel?

Moo Business Card Order (@overheardatmoo)

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Feb 23, 2010 in Resources | 5 comments

Just got my Moo business cards and I wanted to show you the unboxing!

First, let me just tell you that this company is awesome.  With hundreds of designs to choose from (or, create your own) and high quality printing, their cards are unparalleled to Vista Print and other similar printing companies.  I had asked on Twitter about business cards and a few people highly recommended the company so I ordered my cards last week.

I did the regular business cards, wrote in text, left off pictures and placed the order on rush delivery. They stated that they’d be here by February 26 and it’s the 23rd — nice surprise when a company goes beyond your expectations!  I had also placed a second order for business cards the very next day and e-mailed to see if I could get them in the same delivery order.  At first they had said no but to my surprise, they were here today too!

In the box, there are cool puzzles, this fancy little box for the business cards and of course, the high quality, thick stock cards.  They have that smooth surface that I love and the print quality on the text is awesome.  I’m really impressed!

Here are photos of the unboxing:

The box the cards came in. It also had an insert to organize your cards.

My cards – there are a variety of backs but the front is the same on all.

Trina’s card – a series of beautiful digital watercolors.

In each box were these little puzzles.  A great fun thing to add to the order!

Don’t Make This Cheap Outsourcing Mistake

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Feb 16, 2010 in Business Tips, Virtual Assistance | 24 comments

I get a lot of e-mail and I’m betting that you do too.  Lately, I’ve taken to unsubscribing from nearly every publication that I get e-mailed to me.  If it’s another pointless newsletter filled with salesy garbage, I don’t want it.  There is enough of that “stuff” circling the web as it is.

Today, as I was going through my e-mail, I received yet another newsletter.  Going through the motions to unsubscribe, I realized that this one was different.

This one had my e-mail address, and a group of others, in the “To:” line of the e-mail.  Realizing that my contact details were exposed, I scrolled down to the unsubscribe button and clicked it… only to realize that I was met with a Constant Contact “Test Message Only” error.  Turns out, I was forwarded a test e-mail that someone had generated from Constant Contact… I couldn’t even unsubscribe.

Scrolling back up, I noticed that the e-mail was in fact forwarded from the e-mail address that the test had gone to.  Not only was this particular e-mail not in compliance of CAN-SPAM laws, it was just a messy way to get a message across to your audience!

After realizing all of this, I sent the following e-mail to the company’s owner:

“Please remove me from this mailing list immediately.  Your unsubscribe button doesn’t work because this was sent out as a test instead of an actual e-mail.  If you have an assistant looking after this, he/she may want to know that it’s against CAN-SPAM laws to not allow unsubscribe from your e-mail list.

Also, my e-mail address was exposed (as were your other recipients) in the “To:” line of your e-mail.  I don’t want my contact details shared with anyone that I do not share them with as I get too much e-mail as it is.  Exposing my details goes against CAN-SPAM’s privacy laws.

Hopefully you understand that these suggestions don’t come from a place of negativity but being an Internet marketer, I do my best to inform people about the things that are happening in their business that may not be compliant.”

The owner of the company promptly wrote back an apology, which was appreciated and included the following line:

“I have an intern from the college i teach at doing this and will look into it.”

This is where I stopped in my tracks to write this blog post.

Too many business owners are cutting costs in the WORST place in their business — their operations. Instead, they pour buckets and buckets of money into coaching, info-products, training, seminars, networking events, etc. and they scour the Internet looking for CHEAP outsourcing.

Why?

When we’re investing in more information, more training, more networking and we’re lacking on the investment back in the business’ core, things WILL fall apart when your momentum picks up.  Or, you won’t have time to implement 3/4 of what you learn so it becomes a waste of capital.

The worst part is, when all of the mistakes happen, the messy business operations happen and the business’ image is flawed (as the above example shows) the business owner places the blame on their team.  The very team that they went cheap with because the value of that particular service, to the business owner, just wasn’t there.

When you invest in your team, think about the fact that they are your core.  They maintain your operations.  They make sure that your professional image is carried through everything you do.  Outsource cheaply and you cheapen your image.

Luckily for this particular business owner, I was willing to point out where the errors had gone wrong and how they were in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act.  Had I been someone who didn’t care as much about informing them or who was really irritated over the situation, it could have gone very sour.  That business owner could have lost their right to their Constant Contact account, their ability to send out e-mails without being blacklisted and who knows what else.

However, this is just my opinion… what do you think?  Do you think outsourcing cheaply cheapens your business or do you think budgeting this area is important?

P.S. — I’ve been told that this video has helped people understand the value of outsourcing. Check it out:

BSETC Wins 2 Awards!

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Feb 16, 2010 in Virtual Assistance | 4 comments

Last Friday, February 12, we had the honor of attending the 2010 Bootstrap Awards here in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. We had got word that we were a finalist about a week prior to the event and we were excited! The Bootstrap Awards honor local businesses who had little to no capital investment in their businesses. Since BSETC (Business Services, ETC) is fully funded by me, we qualified and won!

We took home the first place award (and a boot!) in the category of Best ‘Pixie Dust’ Technique of the Year. (Learn what ‘Pixie Dust’ is here.) We also took home a second place win in the category of Most Innovative Source of Bootstrap Capital of the Year. Lastly, we were one of six finalists for the big award that will be given out at an award ceremony in April for Fastest Growing Bootstrap Startup.

BSETC, my company that won the awards, is a creative, professional outsourcing firm that helps business owners build, grow and manage their online businesses. Providing services that range from administration all the way to web design, the company helps create departments for entrepreneurs and start-ups that can’t afford full time staff. Check out the company here.

Here are a few photos from the event:

Erin Blaskie with her Boot!

Erin Blaskie and Scott Annan at the Bootstrap Awards!

The Coveted Boot!

We’re Like an Airline – No Baggage Allowed

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Jan 12, 2010 in blog, Business Tips, Virtual Assistance | 6 comments

Even though my business has grown to the level that it has, I still do all of the new, potential client calls.

Call me crazy and tell me there are better ways to spend my time but I continue to do these calls myself because I have an amazing red flag detection system.  I like to think it’s genetic but I really think it’s attributed to working with some very non-ideal clients in my past.  Having serviced over 300 entrepreneurs in their businesses, I can tell you… not all clients are good ones (sorry!)

One of my biggest red flags on any new call is what I like to call the baggage flag.

Better yet, let’s call it the bag tag… oh wait, that doesn’t sound appropriate… Baggage tag?  Nah, let’s just go back to baggage flag.

Imagine this… you’re me and you have a call scheduled with a potential new client who, on the onset, seems like a perfect match.  They have an online business, they are into the whole Internet marketing thing and they just seem to have it going on.  Exciting right?

So, you get on the phone with said person and they are all nice and pleasant and the call is going well until you turn their attention to what brought them to hire an implementation company.

New Potential Client:  “Oh, this isn’t my first time.”

You:  “Oh?”

New Potential Client:  “I’ve actually had quite a few VAs in the past couple of years.  However, they just didn’t seem to work out… I woke up one day and one of my virtual assistants had just disappeared… another one just wasn’t meeting my expectations… this other VA I hired, well let me tell you, didn’t… blah blah blah”

You:  “Sounds like you’ve had a lot of unfortunate experiences.”

From this point forward, the new potential client fills up their entire booked time with me discussing previous VA experiences and asking me to prove how we’re not going to step into those same mistakes.  Next thing you know, the half hour is up and the entire time was spent focused on the past instead of on the present.

BAGGAGE FLAG!

Instead, new potential clients (if you’re reading this and the above sounds like you, note taking time!) should push a big, giant reset button before starting any new conversation or working relationship.  This will help you re-focus on what’s important.

It’s like any relationship.  Let’s say you have this boyfriend (or girlfriend) who is really unromantic.  Never buys you flowers, never surprises you with chocolates and never takes you out.  Now let’s say you’ve met Joe/Joanne.  Do you spend your first date explaining how your previous relationships failed and grill them about how they are going to be different?  No.  You don’t do that because you’ll cause your new date to go running for the first exit.

Same principle applies with business.

If a new potential client spends all of their time talking to me about how previous relationships didn’t work and they stay so focused on how we’re not going to screw up too, they are going to miss out on our excellence.  They’ll miss out on my award-winning (okay, so that’s stretching it) pitch about what I’ve built and how our team is so different than other VA companies.  They’ll miss the fact that we don’t even really call ourselves VAs but rather creative professionals.

Most importantly, they’re missing the present moment.

Do you have your own red flags when speaking to potential clients?  If so, what are they?