Online Collaboration – Help is Just a 'Click' Away!

By: Marlene Oulton
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:23:29
Print this article | Tell a friend | For publisher | Social Bookmarking
Rating:
 

Operating a small business can be a lonely venture especially if you’re doing it from your home based office, and doubly daunting if you’re involved in an on line selling venture. I know this to be fact as I’m one of those entrepreneurial spirits venturing into cyberspace and working where thousand have gone before – The Internet. (And you thought I was on the USS Enterprise with Captain Kirk, didn’t you?)

Here I sit, day in and day out, with very little contact with the outside world. There are times when the ringing of my phone startles me, as I’m so immersed in proofreading or editing a chapter for an author, that the sound literally makes me jump three inches off my chair. If it weren’t for my trusted network of Virtual Assistant buddies and coaches, I’m sure I’d feel as isolated as a mountain climber stranded at the top of Mount Everest would. Yet it doesn’t have to be so and I’ll share some secrets with you on how to maintain your sanity while working in (and traveling through), cyberspace.

Use Instant Messenger and Get a Buddy System Going.

Using an instant messenger service to chat with other like minded business owners is invaluable in my humble opinion. Not only can I chat ‘virtually’ with other Virtual Assistants, I can also check in with my clients if they too are using the same system I am. It saves valuable time for me as I don’t have to look up my clients telephone number, stop what I’m doing, and physically pick up the phone and call them, only to get their voice mail saying they’re out of the office at the moment. With one click of my mouse, I open either MSN Messenger or Skype, and with another click I have them on line. Boom! I’m then able to type in a message that goes directly to them.

Having a virtual ‘buddy’ is even better. Early on in my business I was extremely fortunate to connect with a super fellow Virtual Assistant, Jef Keep, of Daily Planet Virtual Services (http://www.dailyplanetvirtual.ca). Not only has he become a trusted friend who helps keep me ‘sane’, he’s also proven to be a very reliable resource whom I can ‘buzz’ through MSN Messenger should I need help resolving a work related issue. Having virtual contacts like Jef has saved me hours of time by providing instant solutions rather than my having to research on the net on how to ‘fix’ the problem.

Another caveat of agreeing to participate in Go Completely Virtual Conference team is that I now have many other wonder VA’s whom I can contact through Skype should I need to draw on their individual areas of expertise in business. So, get hooked up to an Instant Messaging system and get ‘buzzed”.

Make Friends with Another Like-Minded Web Business.

So, you’re selling antique silver tea settings on line... and so is Susan, Tom, Harry and a few other hundred (or thousand), other businesses. But consider this: is there anyone else conducting a complimentary business that could be tied in with your own line? Sometimes who you perceive to be a competitor can actually become a virtual business partner if you approach them with a terrific cross sales opportunity that will benefit both your businesses.

You’re selling beautiful antique silver tea settings that you find at local auctions and painstakingly restoring them to their once magnificent splendor. Then one day, while surfing through the net looking at your competitor’s sites, you stumble across a site that sells exotic, high quality tea blends. Wow! Just imagine how much you both could increase your sales margins if you connect with this person and agree to add links to each other’s websites. This is a prime example of cross-selling and all it takes is a little surfing to find a suitable fit for your own online business. Why not display their logo with a hyperlink and a brief message telling your customers who this new business is and why they should visit it? Not only will your own business come across as being friendly (after all, you’re sharing your valuable website space with another business, aren’t you?), you’ll be offering a complete full package deal to your customers. Trust me – people love a ‘one stop’ shopping experience as it’s a well known fact that most customers who purchase on line are in a hurry and want to save time. Why else are they shopping on line if not to save their valuable time?

Working online has its advantages and disadvantages. It’s how you tackle these challenges that will make or break your business. Consider using online collaboration as another key to your success.

So, what are you waiting for? Get out their and get a buddy and team up with another value added business. After all, you’re in business to make money, right?

Marlene Oulton,©
Write Choice Virtual Assistants
www.writechoiceva.com

Marlene Oulton, president of Write Choice Virtual Assistants, derives great satisfaction from assisting authors, writers, coaches and SOHO entrepreneurs produce clean, crisp and concisely written articles, newsletters, website copy or other literary works. She produces a quarterly Newsletter entitled “News and Views – From My Desk to Yours” which contains practical and often humorous articles on issues facing the small business owner. To receive her newsletter, please go to http://www.writechoiceva.com and click on “Sign Up” button. She can be reached at marlene@writechoiceva.com as well.

Article source: Expert Articles

Most Recent Articles in Internet Business category

  • Features of a professional website design - By: Orson Dixon
    No wonder you can find a website for every business and individual enterprise worth its name.
  • Setting up a web site to make money from home - By: James Betchley
    So you've decided to set up a web site to make money from home or supplement your income. It is important when setting up a web site which you intend to make money from that you decide early on what your theme and target audience will be - a top tip is to choose a subject or product that is close to your heart, this will make the whole process a lot less laborious as you will find it easier to keep motivated through the tedious process of search engine optimisation.
  • How to Become Internet Business Success - By: Seema Sharma
    Is your business seeing the kind of returns you should expect from your internet website? If not, then you will be able to get things up to speed in no time through following the steps outlined in this article. Through showing dedicated, and a willingness to invest, you will find that the results can often be lucrative and far more tangible than offline marketing initiatives.
  • Basic Things to Know About Affiliate Marketing - By: varinder singh
    The truth behind affiliate marketing is the fact that 90% of affiliates will actually make less than 100$ a month. Therefore, you shouldn't count on making Full time income unless you can get very good at the following: 1. Building a good web site that converts. 2. Search engine optimization. You'll need a lot of traffic, as maybe 1 out of 200 visitors will buy your products. SEO can help you get your site in the search engines so more people will be able to find you. 3. The trial and error of picking the right merchants and learning the correct ways to promote them. Too many people out there assume that affiliate marketing is actually a get rich quick type of program. These types of people will throw up a couple of banners, and then wonder why they never make a single sale or any money at all.
  • How to promote your business in eBay- rules and regulations. - By: Amit Kumar
    Auctions sites are a great way to promote your websites and sell any affiliate product. For example, EBay, the largest online auction there is, will expose your websites and products to millions of people who use it on a daily basis. People from more than 100 countries use EBay to either buy or sell products. Ever since its inception in 1995, EBay had already hosted billions of different auctions and its rate is growing at an incredible 30% a year.
  • Tips for Effective Sales Letter Writing! - By: Seema Sharma
    The global marketplace is fast becoming a real marketplace: it is growing noisier and even more crowded, with vendors all racing to sell their wares to the nearest customer, and with marketing techniques that can be clever
  • Tips to start Successful Online Auction Business - By: Aman Sharma
    The online business around the world is into billions of dollars. And one of the important part of this online business is Online Auctions
  • Bringing Your Retail Business Online - By: Nazeer Daud
    For business owners that have yet to bring their retail business online, it can be a daunting prospect. You will have to recruit a web developer, or appoint an agency; you will have to fulfil orders going all over the world; and you'll have to ensure that you get enough online customers to cover your costs.
  • EV SSL: A new weapon in combating internet fraud - By: Liam Derbyshire
    SSL was originally developed as a secure communications protocol to protect consumers from fraud in their online business transactions. When it failed in the form of widespread phishing scams, a better method was needed to win back customer confidence. The answer is EV SSL.
  • The Ugly Face of Website Downtime - By: Rob Seolas
    No one wants to be known as the company who lost out on a great amount of money because their website was down. The cold hard truth though is that a company can receive that label rather easily. Many well-known companies cringe when they see their names on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, detailing what went wrong.