Complete Guide To Creating A Client Attracting Facebook Business Page

Social media can feel overwhelming and while it’s easy to get discouraged with things like algorithm changes, there is great value to be found in leveraging these platforms as a business owner.

A Facebook business page is one of them and yes the organic reach can be low but the reality is that as business owners, we must embrace the professional way of marketing: having an advertising budget and providing strong, consistent content. 

Before I dive into how to create a client attracting Facebook business page, let’s first address why it’s important:

  1. As with most social media platforms, a Facebook business page and the content on it, is indexed by Google where as your personal profile page is not. When someone searches for you or your business, your fan page will appear in Google search engine results. 
  2. While it’s tempting to use your personal page to market your business, it’s also a violation of Facebook’s terms to use your personal profile page for commercial gain. Some have even lost their accounts for this practice so it’s just not worth the risk. 
  3. Your business is seen as more professional with a business page. Consumers are becoming more savvy and want to research people and brands before doing business with them. Running a business from your personal profile can look sloppy and overwhelm your personal network, many of them are not even your ideal client.
  4. Facebook Insights. As a business owner, it’s important to analyze the data for the content you are creating on a regular basis. A Facebook business page provides detailed analytics for every post. How many people are seeing the posts on your personal profile page? Without Facebook insights you have no clue and therefore can’t measure what kind of content gets better reach in the feed. 
  5. Sponsored Ads. I know it can seem unfair as a small business owner to have to pay to have your content seen, but the reality is you are a business and if you want to market it the right way and reach the right audience you will need to have a budget for advertising. The beauty of a business page is you can target your ideal client for a very minimal budget (I will get into more of that later in this post) and grow a following of people who need and want your services, something your personal profile simply can’t do.  

So now that we have covered the reasons why it makes sense to grow a Facebook business page, let’s jump into the how!  

 

COMPLETE GUIDE TO CREATING A CLIENT ATTRACTING FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGE

Your Facebook business page is tied to your personal account so you don’t need to create a whole new Facebook account for this (it actually goes against Facebook’s terms to have two accounts). Here is a step by step guide from Social Media Examiner on how to create a business page.

The focus of this article is how to properly brand your business page and strategies to market it so be sure to read this post in its entirety before setting up your page. 

 

Business Page Name. Ensure you are creating a page that makes sense for your business. Are you branding yourself personally or under a business name? Once you have determined that you can name your page. Take your time and keep in mind that Facebook is like a search engine and it will be indexed by Google, so think about keywords that need to go into your page name. 

For example, are you a graphic designer, virtual assistant or design websites? Include keywords into your page name – “Whitney Smith, Virtual Assistant” (if you are branding yourself personally) or “Twisted Vines Website Designs” (if you are branding under a business name)  

An important element to mention here is if you are creating a business page centered around your personal brand, to ensure you have your name in the page name. One of the biggest mistakes I see is people not including their name into their page name. 

For example, if someone searches for you they will most likely search for you by how they know you, your name, right? Without this piece of information in your Facebook page name people will not find you because they have no idea that you have branded yourself as the “Holistic Virtual Assistant” so ensure that the business page name includes how people know you “Tina Jones, Holistic Virtual Assistant” so you will pull up in the search results.

 

Complete Page Information. Take the time to complete all of the info related to your business page: upload a professional photo, create a cover photo for your page (you can easily do this for free with done-for-you templates in Canva), about section, hours, website, etc. It’s important to share your story, what drives your passion, your experiences and expertise. 

Spend time on this and put some thought into it. This is like meeting someone for the first time so make that first virtual impression count!

 

Creating Content. The content on your business page should be 80% value based that will resonate with your ideal client and 20% about your products and/or services. Create blog content regularly to share valuable information that positions you as an expert in your niche, create free offers to help you build an email list, share quote graphics your audience would resonate with, helpful tutorials, etc.

Creating content for your business page shouldn’t be a stressful so don’t over think it trying to come up with perfect posts, just share from your heart with the goal of serving others.

 

Facebook Ads. As you create content for your business page, you can boost those posts to target followers who will find the information useful and attract the right people to your page. 

For example, share a helpful blog post and boost it once a week for $10-$15. You don’t have to spend a ton of money on ads for it to be effective. By driving traffic to your blog, you can grow your email list while getting new eyes on your business page at the same time to attract new followers. 

Of course the more you spend on the ad the more people you can reach and the more results you will have but test this strategy out with a low budget first to ensure that you like the results before spending more. A post that does well you can always boost over and over to spend more. 

Here’s a tip: Stretch your sponsored post out over 14-21 days v. boosting it for only 1 day. Facebook will actually show it to more people when it’s stretched out over a period of time, meaning you will get more bang for your buck. 

 

Consistency. While experts like to say how many times per day is ideal when posting, I find that quality definitely rules over quantity so find what works for you. If you can commit to posting once per day with good quality content, great but if you find that overwhelming, at the very least try to be consistent 3 times per week. 

Here are some tips to help you create consistent content for your business page:

  • Facebook has a separate app to manage business pages, Facebook Pages Manager. You can view your insights, boost posts and schedule content. Find what works for you to sit down for 30 minutes on Monday mornings and schedule out your content for the entire week. That way it’s done and you don’t have to think about it for the rest of the week except to check on your posts for comments, likes and shares so you can respond. 

You can find the Facebook Pages Manager app in your iTunes or Google Play Store.

 

Create A Marketing Plan. Write down all your favorite resources, blogs, etc. to pull relevant content from while you work to create your own. For example, if you are a logo designer you can pull articles from some of your favorite bloggers about why having a logo for a business is important or why branding is an important aspect of logo creation. Relevant articles like this help to edify what you do as a logo designer.  

Having a marketing plan you can refer to allows you to sit down and schedule out your content more quickly because you don’t have to think about where to find good content to share.

It’s important to be consistent so don’t go days without posting to your business page. It requires hard work and consistency but it’s all worth it to share your God given talents and grow your business for the long term. 

 

Ask questions. With the more recent Facebook updates, they are favoring posts that ask questions to promote engagement and spark conversations so think about how you can get your audience talking. 

People love to give their opinions so for example, maybe you are working on a new logo design for your Etsy shop and you have two variations you are trying to decide on. Put it to a vote on your business page! This is a subtle way of showing off your skills while valuing the thoughts of your followers.

 

Quote Cards. Quote graphics are very popular on social media and can be a great way to brand yourself and your business. The key is to be consistent with your design and to create graphics that resonate with your followers. 

At HireMyMom.com, our audience is primarily moms so the quote graphics we create are faith inspired or poking fun at motherhood as that is what resonates with our followers. 

So think about what kind of quote graphics you can create that will set your brand apart on not only your Facebook business page but Instagram and Pinterest as content like this can be used on multiple platforms. 

 

Go Live. Facebook is giving live video 6x’s the organic reach than regular posts so this can be a great strategy for your business when you focus on how you can give value that centers on how to solve a problem for your audience. 

For example, if you are a virtual assistant, think about how you could create value around something that your ideal client struggles with. Maybe they are having a hard time learning MailChimp. Give them a quick tutorial on how to create a list and send a newsletter. 

This shows your followers that you know what you are doing and yes, some will watch your tutorial and feel empowered to do it themselves and that’s okay. You were a blessing to that person while others will watch your video and say to themselves “Yeah, okay, I totally do not have the time to do all of that so I really need to reach out to her and find out what her pricing is to do it for me” and that right there is why giving value regularly on social media is so important. It’s one thing to tell people you are a great virtual assistant but it’s much more powerful to show them!

Were these tips helpful in creating a client attracting Facebook business page? Be sure to share it with other hard working mompreneurs and I would love to hear from you so please contact me with comments or questions

Need a word of encouragement to help you in your business building journey? I pray you take these words to heart today for God truly does want to see you prosper! “Submit to God and be at peace with Him; in this way prosperity will come to you.” Job 22:21

Looking for a community that can give you support, training and more job leads or even help you set up your own Facebook Business Page? Check out more of what HireMyMom.com has to offer. Click HERE

 

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9 Tools to Help Your Virtual Team Succeed

In our last article, we gave you 10 Key Questions to Ask during the Interview and prior to that we shared 4 Tips on Writing a Great Job Post.

Now that you’ve hopefully found your virtual professional, we wanted to share some tools to that can help you and your team be more efficient, effective and organized. Below you’ll find a variety of tools from time tracking to management to organization to help your team soar to success!

Harvest makes it easy for users to keep track of the time users spend on tasks and projects. It also allows you to spot trends and compares someone’s work hours vs their capacity week over week. Here are four other time tracking options to consider.

Slack– a platform to connect teams with apps, services and resources. From Slack’s website, “When your team needs to kick off a project, hire a new employee, deploy some code, review a sales contract, finalize next year’s budget, measure an A/B test, plan your next office opening, and more, Slack has you covered.”

Loom allows you to connect with your team via videos. You can record yourself, your screen or both. Save time by videoing notes, how-tos, directions, and more without spending valuable time emailing back and forth.

Asana  is a free team management tool that allows you to delegate and organize tasks into projects. You can track the progress of group projects while also displaying individual to-do lists.

Trello is a task management tool that gives you a visual overview of what is being worked on, who is working on it and what’s next to do.

Zoom is a great tool if you are looking for face-to-face meetings, a way to share your screen or conduct online meetings.

DropBox and Google Docs let you share and access files remotely. No more emailing files back and forth, now you can easily edit and share files instantly.

idonethis makes it easy for your team to provide quick daily status updates and helps you run your team more efficiently.

And don’t forget we offer, our personal “Small Business Concierge Service” which includes:

    • consultation to learn about the position,
    • writing a professional, descriptive and thorough job post,
    • posting the job on our website (once approved by client),
    • reviewing all applicant resumes and cover letters, including a check of LinkedIn to reality check the resume.
    • Scheduling interviews – Reach out to selected candidates, coordinate interview scheduling,
    • Interviews -prep & conduct interviews, record interview notes, save interview recordings, etc. ,
    • Select top candidate(s) to pass along to client, write candidate summaries, upload interview video file(s) to Dropbox, email client with resume, summary and link to video file.
    • Follow up with client, answer questions about candidates, etc.
    • Wrap-up – Send turndown email to candidates interviewed but not selected, etc. along with final notes.

Contact us for details!

 

 

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2019 Small Business Conference Resource List

Conferences are an excellent way to learn new ways of growing and improving your small business. They also provide a great way to learn new trends, tools and resources. Another great benefit to conferences is that they are a great way to network and meet others in your same or similar industries where you can connect and learn.

And let’s face it, if you work from a home office or a small office, just getting outside those four walls can inspire and motivate you in new ways! So here are some Small Business Conferences we have gathered for you.

 

Small Business Expo

12/10/19

Houston, TX

Free

https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Sales Strategies, Website Best Practices, Legal Tips & Pitfalls to Avoid, Business Budgeting & Planning, Marketing on a Budget, New Technology Demos, And many, many more!

 

Small Business Expo

12/17/19

Austin, TX

Free

https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Sales Strategies, Website Best Practices, Legal Tips & Pitfalls to Avoid, Business Budgeting & Planning, Marketing on a Budget, New Technology Demos, And many, many more!

 

Know of any other small business conferences not listed?

Please send them to us!

 

 

Past Events:

 

Tony Robbins: Business Mastery

1/26/19

Palm Beach, FL

Price not listed

https://www.tonyrobbins.com/events

Learn from industry leaders, gain an edge on your competition, realize the #1 chokehold to growth, increase your profitability, grow your business 30-120%

 

10X Growth Conference

2/1- 2/3/2019

Miami, FL

$147-$347

https://10xgrowthcon.com/

Learn strategies from the most successful entrepreneurs that will guarantee you to 10X Your Business, 10X Your Income and 10X Your Life

 

Small Business Expo

2/6/19

Dallas, TX

Free

https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Sales Strategies, Website Best Practices, Legal Tips & Pitfalls to Avoid, Business Budgeting & Planning, Marketing on a Budget, New Technology Demos, And many, many more!

 

Startup Grind

2/12- 2/13/2019

Redwood City, CA

Full Access price:  $795 ( early bird until Jan 16- $355)

https://www.startupgrind.com/conference/

Roster of world-class speakers, thousands of entrepreneurs and innovators looking to build relationships, hours of impactful networking and partner opportunities

 

Small Business Expo

2/13/19

Miami, FL

Free

https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Sales Strategies, Website Best Practices, Legal Tips & Pitfalls to Avoid, Business Budgeting & Planning, Marketing on a Budget, New Technology Demos, And many, many more!

 

EntreLeadership 1-Day

2/19/19

Grand Rapids, MI

Price TBD upon completion of submitted form

https://www.entreleadership.com/all-events

Businesses or leaders at any level.Knowledge and tactics to give you and your business the edge in a market that’s constantly changing

 

PubCon

3/5-3/7/2019

Fort Lauderdale, FL

Platinum Pricing All Access Pass: $799
Gold Badge:  $699
Networking Badge: $499

https://www.pubcon.com/

Insights and techniques in SEO, PPC, social media, content marketing, paid social, local search, Google Analytics and more that will help them revamp and improve their online marketing strategies.

SXSW Entrepreneurship & Startups

3/8- 3/17/2019

Austin, TX

Prices: Badges range in price from $495- $1450

https://www.sxsw.com/conference/entrepreneurship-and-startups/

The Entrepreneurship & Startups Track brings together founders and funders of all stages to talk about current best practices as well as the most exciting new companies and services across industries.

Tony Robbins: Unleash the Power Within Conference 

3/14/19

Los Angeles, CA

price not listed

https://www.tonyrobbins.com/events/

Learn secrets to peak performance, discover the 3 steps to change, master the skills of rapport, decide what you want most in life, dramatically increase your energy.

Social Media Marketing World

3/20-3/22/2019

San Diego, CA

Price Rangs from $297- $1337

https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/smmworld

Social Media Marketing Tips from World’s Top Experts

Small Business Expo

3/28/19

Charlotte, NC

Free

https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Sales Strategies, Website Best Practices, Legal Tips & Pitfalls to Avoid, Business Budgeting & Planning, Marketing on a Budget, New Technology Demos, And many, many more!

 

Global Entrepreneurship and Business Management Summit

 

4/10- 4/11/2019

Toronto, ON

Business Speaker Price: $599
Entreprenuer Price: $599
Exhibition/Vendor: $2039

https://entrepreneurship.global-summit.com/

Innovation and Latest Trends of Entrepreneurship

 

Small Business Expo

4/12/19

Philadelphia, PA

Free

https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Sales Strategies, Website Best Practices, Legal Tips & Pitfalls to Avoid, Business Budgeting & Planning, Marketing on a Budget, New Technology Demos, And many, many more!

 

Small Business Expo

4/17/19

Orlando, FL

Free

https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Sales Strategies, Website Best Practices, Legal Tips & Pitfalls to Avoid, Business Budgeting & Planning, Marketing on a Budget, New Technology Demos, And many, many more!

 

Summit 2019

4/28/19- 5/1/19

San Diego, CA

Price TBD upon completion of submitted form

https://www.entreleadership.com/all-events

Business owners, senior/mid-level leaders, leaders looking to grow. Business and leadership strategies that you can immediately implement in your organization.

 

Small Business Expo

5/1/19

Boston, MA

Free

https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Sales Strategies, Website Best Practices, Legal Tips & Pitfalls to Avoid, Business Budgeting & Planning, Marketing on a Budget, New Technology Demos, And many, many more!

 

99u

5/8-5/10/2019

NYC

Price: Badge- $999

https://conference.99u.com/

Hands-on workshops give you a chance to dive into new disciplines, trends, and technologies. 99U provides you with endless opportunities to meet fellow attendees and get exposed to new ideas

 

Small Business Expo

5/9/19

Washington, DC

Free

https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Sales Strategies, Website Best Practices, Legal Tips & Pitfalls to Avoid, Business Budgeting & Planning, Marketing on a Budget, New Technology Demos, And many, many more!

 

Small Business Expo

6/5/19

New York City, NY

Free

https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Sales Strategies, Website Best Practices, Legal Tips & Pitfalls to Avoid, Business Budgeting & Planning, Marketing on a Budget, New Technology Demos, And many, many more!

 

Small Business Expo

6/20/19

Chicago, IL

Free

https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Sales Strategies, Website Best Practices, Legal Tips & Pitfalls to Avoid, Business Budgeting & Planning, Marketing on a Budget, New Technology Demos, And many, many more!

 

Entrepreneurs Cruise

7/7-7/14/2019

Orlando, FL

Cruise Event Pass: All Access Pass $697 ( family members are free)
Booking Cabin for Cruise ( price ranges from $1500- $2000

https://entrepreneurscruise.com

Content Strategy, Web Experience Management, Usability/Design, Mobile Marketing, Customer Engagement, Social Media, Targeting & Optimization, Branded Search, Marketing Automation, Analytics & Data

 

Tech Cruise

7/7-7/14/2019

Orlando, FL

Cruise Event Pass: All Access Pass $697 ( family members are free)
Booking Cabin for Cruise ( price ranges from $1500- $2000

https://techcruise.co/

Content Strategy, Web Experience Management, Usability/Design, Mobile Marketing, Customer Engagement, Social Media, Targeting & Optimization, Branded Search, Marketing Automation, Analytics & Data

Small Business Expo

8/22/19

San Francisco, CA

Free

https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Sales Strategies, Website Best Practices, Legal Tips & Pitfalls to Avoid, Business Budgeting & Planning, Marketing on a Budget, New Technology Demos, And many, many more!

 

Small Business Expo

9/27/19

San Diego, CA

Free

https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Sales Strategies, Website Best Practices, Legal Tips & Pitfalls to Avoid, Business Budgeting & Planning, Marketing on a Budget, New Technology Demos, And many, many more!

 

Tony Robbins: Leadership Academy

9/30/19

San Diego, CA

price not listed

https://www.tonyrobbins.com/events/

Master 3 mandates of leadership, learn 7 steps of lasting change, hone your unique leadership style, persuade and captivate an audience, tools to coach and empower others

 

Small Business Expo

10/24/19

Phoenix, AZ

Free

https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Sales Strategies, Website Best Practices, Legal Tips & Pitfalls to Avoid, Business Budgeting & Planning, Marketing on a Budget, New Technology Demos, And many, many more!

 

Small Business Expo

10/30/19

Los Angeles, CA

Free

https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Sales Strategies, Website Best Practices, Legal Tips & Pitfalls to Avoid, Business Budgeting & Planning, Marketing on a Budget, New Technology Demos, And many, many more!

 

Master Series

11/3-11/7/2019

Nashville, TN

Price TBD upon completion of submitted form

https://www.entreleadership.com/all-events

Business owners and leaders who make ownership decisions at their company. A definitive operational plan for scaling your business

 

Small Business Expo

11/14/19

Atlanta, GA

Free

https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Sales Strategies, Website Best Practices, Legal Tips & Pitfalls to Avoid, Business Budgeting & Planning, Marketing on a Budget, New Technology Demos, And many, many more!

 

Small Business Expo

11/20/19

Brooklyn, NY

Free

https://www.thesmallbusinessexpo.com

Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Sales Strategies, Website Best Practices, Legal Tips & Pitfalls to Avoid, Business Budgeting & Planning, Marketing on a Budget, New Technology Demos, And many, many more!

 

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5 Ways to Stay Fit From Home

Fitness should be a crucial part of our lives – it keeps us healthy and active. When you work from home, you may not have time or want the expense of an intricate gym routine. The good news is – you don’t need to let those challenges hold you back!

Read along for some of our best, simplest tips to stay fit when you work from home.

Take breaks

One of the major benefits of working from home is that your breaks can take place in your house! You have access to house chores, possibly a family dog, a side job, and much more. While this can also make focusing a challenge, it can also hold many benefits, especially when it comes to sneaking in fitness.

Use a few of your breaks during the day to do a short workout. You can even schedule these around meals and other breaks, and they don’t need to last long at all.  It’s even better to get up and move throughout the day, as we all know how bad sitting is for our health.

Make it short

Working out for an hour is not necessary, unless you truly want to.  Choose a reasonable amount of time and don’t make it overwhelming, especially in the beginning.

If you decide to use your breaks, maybe start by dedicating three, 5-minute breaks to do some type of fitness moves.  When it’s a doable amount of time, you’re much more likely to stick to it in the long term.

Use what you have

You don’t need to run out and buy anything fancy! Chances are, you have exactly what you need, or can get a few small, inexpensive items to start.

Most of us have some kind of fitness selection of gym equipment, machines, or dumbbells.  If you don’t have these things, you can start with bodyweight strength exercises or simply use the road for running.  If you don’t know what type of moves to do, you can access tons of free fitness content on YouTube. You can search by length time, type of workout, etc. For example, 5-10-15+ minute workouts that feature High Intensity Interval Training Cardio, light weight training, Tabata intervals, and so on.

Make it social

Fitness is great to share with others.  This is a great time to get out of the house – walk with friends, join a gym or exercise class, or join a running club.

When you work out with others, you come to depend on each other, which keeps you consistent and motivated.

Keep it consistent

In the end, consistency is key with fitness. If you don’t stick with it, you won’t reap the results that come from a regular workout routine.  Start with 10 minutes per day and go from there. You can simply walk or lift some light dumbbells if you’re a beginner, or find a way to make fitness social.

Set a specific number of workouts to aim for each week and start with at least 2-3.  Once you begin to feel better, sleep better, and generally improve your health, you’ll want to stick with your new, healthy habit!

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5 Tips for A Professional Job Application

We all know the importance of a resume when you apply for a job, but there’s often more to the application than just that. There’s the cover letter, recommendation letters, resume, and anything else requested by that particular position.

We’re sharing our best tips to keeping your whole job application professional and effective, so you’re ready to apply when those ideal positions come along.

Keep it up to date

Even if you’re not actively job searching, sometimes the right position just pops up. Be ready for these opportunities! Every month or so, take a few minutes to update and review your materials.  This will keep things fresh, keep you from scrambling, and help you avoid losing future opportunities due to time.

This is also a good time to prepare all potential documents.  If you only have a resume so far, draft a cover letter and seek out at least 2-4 professional recommendations to have on file.

Short and sweet

A professional application is short and sweet! You may think you need to elaborate or sound wordy to be impressive, but employers receive a ton of applications.  They will greatly appreciate that you kept to the most essential information.

Use bullets

Along with keeping things short and sweet, don’t be afraid to use bullet points liberally! It allows employers to easily scan your information for items that jump out, and keeps information in bite-sized pieces.

You can utilize bullet points in all areas of your application – the cover letter and resume, as well as any other documents required by the posting.

Free from errors

If you want to submit a professional application, it should be free from spelling and grammatical errors. Take the time to really proofread well, and ask a friend or family member to take a look as well.  We can miss small errors by seeing the same piece of writing so many times, so don’t be afraid to have several sets of eyes on it.

Errors and mistakes can make you come across as careless, even if that couldn’t be further from the truth.  It’s worth the extra time to ensure that all of your materials are perfect!

All materials

These days, not all job postings are standard.  Some of them require additional writing samples, tests, and so on.  You need to read very carefully! They’re often looking for someone who follows directions.

Be sure that you include everything that is asked for, and don’t include other things that are not.  Each employer usually has a very specific skill set and documents that they’re requiring, so it’s best to stick to that.

To start, ensure that you have a cover letter, solid, updated resume, and recommendations, which can either be attached or ready upon request. This will give you a foundation, and any other requested materials can be created quickly!

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5 Time Tracking Options for Virtual Professionals

When you work remotely or hire virtual professionals, you need a reliable way to track hours. Small businesses want to see how their virtual contractors or off-site employees are spending their time.  And contractors need a professional and reliable way to track their hours and bill their clients.

We’ve complied a list of some of the most popular time-tracking websites below. Many of these tools also integrate with other team and client management software which can be very helpful.

Toggl

Toggl makes it easy for you.  “Logging time with Toggl is as easy as it can possibly be. Just click a button to start the timer, and stop it once you’re done with your tasks. Simple as that, on any device.”

Toggl also allows you to log time anywhere on the web, so you don’t have to login to Toggl every time.  You can also discover what’s taking up your time via their visual reports option, so you’re able to visually see how long each task takes, as well as the time spent by your team members.

Pricing begins at $9.00 per month for the Starter level, and goes up to $49.00 per month for larger organizations and those who want additional features.

Harvest

Not only can you track your own time on Harvest, but you can see where your team’s time is going as well.  “Harvest collates this raw timesheet data into a visual summary of where your team’s time is going,” according to their website.

You’re also encouraged to keep track of Projects, so things never slip through the cracks.  According to their features, you can “Keep your projects on track (and make sure your business is going strong) with answers to key questions, courtesy of intuitive visual reports pulled right from your timesheets.”

Pricing is free for one person and 2 projects, and goes up to $12.00 per person, per month if you purchase for a team.

Timely

Timely offers great features that allow you to “Let your timesheet create itself. All you need to do is to confirm.”

The site allows you to create an automatic timeline based on tasks, from your calendar, which you’ve completed in an easy to see and use format.  This was created because “People forget what they worked on, and they don’t want to spend time tracking time. So they avoid it, and you have to chase them down. That’s where Memory comes in: A radical new way to track time,” according to the Timely website.

Pricing begins at $7.00 per month and goes up to $59.00 per month for larger teams and more in depth features.

MyHours

MyHours allows you to “Start or stop timer with a single click, switch timings between tasks in seconds or, just as important, pause for a coffee break.”

MyHours also has the capability to set variable hourly rates, report work to your clients in style and detail, and do this via PDF and Excel reports.  They also offer a graphic breakdown of your work, so you’re able to see how your time is spent, how tasks are going, and what your team members are up to.

Pricing begins for free, and goes to $6.00 per user, per month for more capabilities, such as budgeting, billing, additional team members, and more.

Paydirt

Paydirt offers Smart Time Tracking, which means you can “Use the built in tracker to start a timer for any client in one click. Tracking time is a pain, but Paydirt takes the sting out,” according to their website.

It also integrates with Basecamp, Trello, Redbooth, Google Chrome and Zapier. Pricing begins at $8.00 per month for a single user, and up to $149.00 per month for a large agency of 20 team members.  “Smart Reminders” allow you to “determine who you’re working for automatically, and adds a link to start a timer right there on the page.”  It’s a very simplified option that keeps you on task.

 

 

 

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5 Tips for Goal Setting in the New Year

We’re coming up on the new year, which means we’re likely being inundated with ways to achieve our resolutions.  This is a perfect time to reflect on how we’re living our lives – personally and professionally – and make any necessary changes.

We all talk about setting goals, but how do we actually achieve them and keep the momentum going well into the new year?

Read along for some best tips and advice for achieving your goals.

Choose a reason

It helps to keep your motivation high when you know why you’re doing something.  If your goal is to make more money, is there a specific item you’re looking to purchase that you can envision?  If you want to make more time in your schedule, will you fill it with more fun with your kids or friends?

Find something inspiring to use to visualize your goals, which will make follow through much easier!

Make it realistic

It will only lower your confidence if your goal is completely unlikely to happen. You can always start small and build from there.

If you’re looking to achieve a certain position in your organization, and you’re quite a few positions away from this, make small goals to keep achieving the next position up.  It’s much more fulfilling to meet and achieve your goals, versus spending a long time without the satisfaction of meeting them.

When your goals are realistic, they also push you to do real things, versus picking a very “out there” goal that you won’t even attempt to truly achieve.

Stretch yourself

While setting realistic goals is very important, you should also stretch yourself a bit.  If your goals are much too easy, you’re really not achieving anything beyond the norm.

Pick a goal that is realistically achievable – but also scares you a bit. A little bit of apprehension can be a great kick start towards action.

Change the timing

Often times, people set goals that can only be achieved in many months or even years.  Pick a few goals and set time limits to keep you going.  You can even break your goals into categories of short term and long term, or by days, weeks, months, and years.

By setting goal dates and setting them incrementally, you stay in the mindset of thinking about them on a regular basis.  Plug these into your calendar for more accountability, reminder, and visual aid.

Create a plan

A famous quote says that “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”  A plan is a very crucial component of a goal!

Start by writing out what you want, then proceed to determining your “why” for your goals, as explained in our first tip.  From here, create your timing – short or long term goals, or by days, weeks, months and years.  Then, you’ll want to put these goals into your calendar and/or schedule.  To really take things up a notch, you can include visualization and meditation practices to truly solidify your process.

Achieving your goals takes work, but it should also be uplifting, fun and inspiring.  Determine what process works best for you, and do your best to stick with it as you achieve your goals in the new year!

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6 Tools for Work From Home Teams

 

Working from home comes in many forms, and one of those includes working on a team.  While some of us may just do freelance work for various clients, there are times when we might land a part-time or full-time job with a company that has other virtual (or in-person) employees.

While it’s no secret that working from home boosts most people’s productivity, adding a team into the mix can be challenging.  Communication isn’t as simple as walking into another colleague’s cubicle, and keeping files and conversations in one place can seem tedious.  Read along for some of the top tools for work from home teams and co-workers.

Basecamp

Basecamp is billed as the “leading web-based project management and collaboration tool,” which manages files, to-do lists, schedules, and much more.  When you join as a team, you can create separate folders for each client or project, and within those folders, you can have conversations, exchange files, keep information, utilize checklists, and more.  

This is an excellent place for collaboration, and it keeps everything from each team member in one place – no searching through zillions of emails, Google Docs, or other word documents that are just disorganized.

Basecamp begins at $29/month and you can learn more about it here.

Skype

Almost all of us use Skype for personal use, but did you know that it can be great for teams?  Not only do you get face-to-face interaction, but you can hold mini meetings throughout the day.  Phone calls are helpful, but seeing each other brings a new level of professionalism and accountability.

If your team is up to it, suggest that you keep Skype up and running on a daily basis.  You can call each other when needed, or use the chat feature to communicate quickly.

Skype is generally free to use.  Learn more about it here.

Free Conference Call

FreeConferenceCall.com is a completely free conference call service that allows you to host online meetings and record and share any call.  This is great for group meetings, as well as client calls that you need to hold with your whole team.

To host basic conference calls, simply sign up on their website and you’ll receive a conference number along with an access code.  You can send this information to your co-workers or clients to meet you on a call without having to fumble with three-way calling.

Learn more here.

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is a “social media management tool created to help businesses grow their social media presence.”  Simply put, it allows you to schedule all of your posts on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn business and personal pages, and so on.

You can link all of your accounts in Sprout and choose which profiles will receive the post(s).  You can schedule posts as far out as you’d like, making it easier to manage multiple clients.  This is an excellent tool for teams, as many times several people are managing social media profiles for one client or employer.  This keeps things organized, and you can easily see which posts are scheduled for when.  You can also easily export reports and data to share with clients and/or team members.

Check out Sprout Social and its capabilities here.

Go To Webinar

Go To Webinar is an affordable webinar service that’s helpful for larger teams or those with clients.  It’s incredibly helpful if your whole team is virtual, as your boss can give presentations or teach concepts via a webinar.  It’s also an excellent tool for communicating with numerous clients on a larger scale.

You can record your webinar, receive analytics and data, and add numerous features to your presentations that make them memorable and easier to use.

Learn more about Go To Webinar here.

Calendly

Calendly’s tagline says, “Say goodbye to email tag for scheduling appointments, interviews, calls, demos and much more,” and that’s just what it does.  If you’re tired of email tag to make a simple appointment, Calendly is for you.

You can utilize the free version with fewer features, or upgrade to the paid version starting at $8/month.  This is an excellent tool for teams, as you’ll likely be scheduling team calls and client calls frequently when working from home.

Keep things streamlined by sending a simple link to your colleagues and clients to pick a time to speak or meet with you.  Since it connects directly to your Google calendar, It gives the other person the option of choosing a time, while also giving you the accountability of keeping your calendar updated – a plus for your team and your productivity!  Learn more about Calendly here.

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4 Best Work From Home Admin Tools

Working from home often leaves you without a lot of the administrative help and tools that are available in a traditional office environment.

 

Although your job may not come equipped with the necessary admin tools, the digital marketplace has an abundance of options to keep you organized – as well as efficient. Read along for some of the top administrative tools to make working from home much more effective.

 

Basecamp

 

Basecamp is a project management tool that is web-based. It allows you to work much more effectively in a team environment, as well as keep track of tasks and items to do.  Although Basecamp would keep any work from home employee on task, it’s especially great for teams. You can create collaborative to do lists, check off tasks, assign tasks to others, and so on. It’s a place to see everything in one place, as well as easily add your input, files, photos, and so on, to any discussion or project. Basecamp offers a free trial and then starts at $20/month.

 

Trello is a similar project management tool that also allows you to collaborate and keep to do lists organized.

 

Billings

 

When you work from home, you often have to create and send your own invoices, as well as keep track of your time. Another difficult task can be finding this type of program for a Mac – this is where Billings comes in.  It’s a downloadable program that allows you to track time on your desktop, as well as send invoices and manage your clients in one place.

 

Billings is also affordable, ranging from $5-10 per month, and you can backup your past invoices to your computer.  Overall, the program allows a simple method for tracking your time, sending invoices, and managing your financial workspace in one simple application.

 

Sprout Social

 

Sprout Social is an all-in-one social media management tool.  Another tool that’s also excellent for groups, Sprout is a useful tool for anyone posting to numerous social media profiles and accounts. Link your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn business and personal, Google+ business and personal pages, and so on.  

 

This way, you can schedule posts, post to more than one profile at a time, and even pull reports. With the click of a few buttons, you can export detailed reports for yourself or for your clients. This allows them to see crucial data in a simplistic way, as well as beneficial information for comparison of campaign effectiveness.  You can see interesting things such as location and gender of followers, new followers over the time frame requested, and which day is most popular for posts on that particular page.

 

Hootsuite is a similar social media management tool that allows you to schedule postings across various profiles and accounts.

 

Evernote

 

Evernote is the place for all of your ideas to become organized and also presented, if need be.  It’s designed to be a place for you to take and organize notes, archive them, write lists, clip articles from the internet, and so on.  It also allows you to create presentations from your notes (without creating slides), making it an ideal business collaboration tool as well.

 

It’s helpful to have a place to keep all of your notes and web interests, making it an organizational dream and productivity tool.

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Gadgets for Working Moms On-the-Go

Times have changed for working moms. With the amount of technology available to helps moms juggle work, kids and the home, it all seems a little more doable. Whether you work from home, the office or both, check out these gadgets for moms on the go:

Smartphone

If you’re looking for a change or needing an upgrade on your current phone, the ZTE ZMAX works well for moms who toggle between work at home and the office. With a 5.7-inch HD display and 2 GB RAM for memory, you have both an easy-to-see monitor, which is great for video conferencing, and plenty of storage for filing digital work. It also comes equipped with a long lasting 3400 mAh high capacity battery so you can rely on this phone to last through long webinars or your kids’ recitals. Plus, through carriers like T-Mobile, the ZTE ZMAX is affordable for as little as $10.50 per month.

Smartwatch

One of the most cutting edge tech gadgets is the smartwatch. Because working moms usually need a third hand to get everything done, a smartwatch is the optimal tool because it’s hands free. For instance, Sony’s SmartWatch 3 SWR50 or Kronos’ ZeWatch2 offer communicative technology on the wrist. They can text, funnel calls and send social media messages from a phone connected through Bluetooth. Plus, any calendar and email notifications for upcoming meetings or checkups for baby will appear right on the watch face.

Bag Tracker

Between your work briefcase, baby bag, purse, luggage and other bags, it’s easy to lose track of things. Gadgets like Trakdot Luggage Tracker aim to prevent this problem. The Trakdot is a device you place in your bag, and when it reaches its destination the device wakes up and sends you a text or an email confirming where it’s located. Especially when traveling for work or with the kids, this device helps you stay organized and makes sure you don’t lose anything. Plus, it only uses two AA batteries and only costs $19.99 a year.

Attachable Photo Lens

Attachable camera lenses like the the Photojojo Lens Set are a trendy way to take photos. Whether you’re a travel writer, public relations officer, a buyer or a small business owner, a high-quality lens can come in handy. This set of lenses comes with a super fisheye, telephoto, wide angle/macro and polarizer so you have something for almost every situation. Pack these lenses in your purse to take from your product meeting to your child’s baseball game with ease. All you have to do is place the removable metal ring on the back of your phone, and then attach the lens magnetically. This makes for an easy transfer between lenses or an easy clean up. Plus, they come with a felted wool storage pouch, which keeps them safe next to your notebooks, wallet and keys.

Being a working professional and a mom can be hard when you constantly have to shift between your home and the office. Luckily, these gadgets for mom make it a little easier to get everything done.

Check out these other great articles about productivity / time management as a work from home professional. Also check out our current job postings for mom professionals.

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