Are you finding yourself unsure how exactly to turn those big dreams into achievable action steps? Move those tasks to our plate and let us help you achieve your #goals! Contact us today! #backtobiz #businessgoals #achievegoals #entrepreneurship #womeninbusiness #bosslady #businesswoman #bossbabesrva #communityovercompetition #businesswomen #ladyboss #mamapreneur #workfromhome #mamaceo #creativepreneur #entrepreneurlifestyle #dowhatyoulove #makeithappen #sayyestosuccess #solopreneur #livingthedream #businesslife #femaleentrepreneur #bossbabe #womeninleadership #backtobusiness
Often times entrepreneurs hesitate in hiring someone or a team to help them in their business. They feel that once their business grows enough or make a certain amount of money, then the time would be ‘right’. That may be true BUT first know the facts about your business and be honest with yourself on how much you can actually do and still have a successful business.
Behind the Scenes of Your Own Business
If you are just starting out, maybe the idea of hiring someone is a little overwhelming or you’re just not sure if you’re ready. Well, when is ‘enough’ enough to know that your business has grown? What exactly is the ‘right amount of money’ to make in order to hire someone or a dream team?
We have clients come to us to fix something technical that was implemented and caused a disaster during implementation. Lots of wasted time and money due to their sites being down because of complications; a loss of clients=money. Now money is spent on fixing the problem which usually costs a lot more than hiring the right person to do the job in the beginning. Has this or something similar happened to you in your business? Let’s face it, when starting out, we do what we can with as much resources has we have to get by. We do it in our everyday lives, so surely we will do it in our businesses at some point; especially just starting out.
We know as entrepreneurs, you don’t have time or money to waste. Your time and money is well spent on progressing and growing your business to the level you would like to achieve it. Even if you’re just starting out, think like a CEO and manage your time productively. You can spend a lot of useful time putting an automated system together only to find out later that the full automation is not complete. You wrote a blog post, but wait, did you integrate SEO keywords or ways to interact with your reader, or what about automating it to spread through your social media platforms along with your weekly or monthly newsletter? Is the webinar setup correctly or will you spend the majority of your time figuring it out in hopes that it’s ready to go when it’s time? Wouldn’t you rather use that time on creating the content you need for your webinar? These different systems seem so easy to do, yet they take up most of your time from actually focusing on what your ideal clients need from you.
Rethink and shift the way you look at your time and your business. Share on XAre You Ready For a Dream Team or Dream Person?
Let’s go over a few things to determine when hiring someone or hiring your dream team is that time for you.
You might be ready to add someone or a dream team behind the scenes of your business if:
- Your offers are not getting out there because you don’t have the time to put them out due to spending the majority of your time in areas outside of your expertise or on recurring tasks that is needed to run your business
- You are constantly being pulled away from activities that generate revenue for your business.
- You do not have time to connect with your paying clients. This is a great time to step back and take a look at where you are spending your time. Where do you benefit most with your time when you’re working in your business? It may be time to bring in some help.
- You work at implementing a new program or business strategy and realize you can’t do it or you don’t understand the how-to guides well enough to get it together and it’s draining your time. It’s great to have someone to implement these things timely and efficiently so you can move forward in growing your business.
- You are not able to focus on your CEO tasks that bring in more clients because you are too busy handling admin tasks and customer service; these are tasks that don’t move your business forward.
Does any of these things apply to you? Do you feel stuck in your business because of the recurring tasks, and you just don’t have the time to get your offers out or focus on those tasks that will bring in your ideal, paying clients? If the answer is yes, then why not look into hiring some help?!
Now What?
Don’t let the concept of hiring someone at this stage of your business scare you. There are virtual assistants you can hire for any number of tasks you may have and for a short period of time or a long period of time. This can be adjusted to your business needs. You can have virtual support a few hours a month or for a block of time each month. This is why we are here for you! Whether it’s one task or many, we are here to help you.
For as little as $500 with our Entrepreneur Plan, you could have:
- help to setup new opt-ins and processes with email management
- implement blog posts with graphics
- help with billing and payment tracking with bookkeeping support
- support with growing and nurturing your social community with posts
- technical support backup
- help with your inbox in email and social media platforms to help answer questions or weed through to messages that may need your attention immediately
Maybe only spending $250 or less and having a person in place on a regular basis to get to know your business, your customers, and how you run your business and help you setup a few things at a time can be a huge help and relief that you deserve in your business. Give it some thought. Having support behind the scenes of your business just may be what you need to help you give your business the boost it needs to be even more successful.
We are here to help you when you’re ready!
Listen, we all procrastinate in so many different ways and get so deep into it until we find ourselves buried under many ideas and tasks wondering how to stop procrastinating. We know we NEED to get things done. These things can ultimately grow our business and instead of getting it done, we procrastinate. Oh and how we can get really creative doing it! Are any of these procrastinators you?
We know that procrastination isn’t getting us where we want to go. So let’s work on no more procrastination!
FOCUS is the art to master! #noprocrastination Share on X
Here are a few simple strategies we use to end procrastination, stay focused and get more done. Along with our tips on creating a strategic to-do list, we use the pomodoro technique and Focus Matrix to help us stay focused and plow through those tasks. By the end of the day, we have a since of accomplishment and no more excuses.
Improve Productivity
We use Focus Matrix to prioritize our tasks using the Eisenhower method. Focus Matrix is a great tool that automatically adds the tasks to a calendar you connect to it. This not only prioritizes our tasks, but also add the tasks to the calendar which helps with scheduling. We have a guide that gives great information on how to strategically make a to-do list. Be sure to get it to know how to properly prioritize your tasks.
The pomodoro technique is a time management system – 25 minute sessions with a 5 minute break after the first three and a 20 minute break after the fourth. We run this cycle repeatedly until we complete our task. Usually, it takes us less time to complete our tasks using this technique versus not using the technique because we are focused while using it.
Focus Matrix combines pomodoro to run the pomodoro technique for each of the tasks. This is how you work smarter, with ease, stay focused and put an end to procrastination. Give it a try. Don’t forget to grab your free guide on how to create a strategic to-do list and get things done!
Let's work on no more #procrastination! Share on X
The best times to post on social media is one of the first things we look into for our clients. Although we work off of an algorithm that is tailored for our clients for us to post at optimal times based on our clients’ audience, we also follow some of these steps to maximize on a great thing!
Business tool to help #systematize your #tasks: know the best times to post on social media for your business. Share on XIn looking at the infographic below, you’ll see that about half of the country’s population is in the Eastern Time Zone and Central Time Zone, that accounts for over 75% of the total U.S population. Try alternating posting times in eastern and central time zones if you are targeting a U.S. audience.
1. Best Time to Post on Instagram
Instagram is used all day everyday by half of the U.S. population and meant to be used on mobile devices.
- Generally, the best times to post on Instagram are on Monday and Thursday, at any time other than 3-4 p.m.
- The best time to post videos is 9 p.m.-8 a.m., on any day.
- Some outlets have reported success on Mondays between 8-9 a.m., correlating with the first morning commute of the week for many.
2. Best Times to Post on Facebook
People log in to Facebook on both mobile devices and desktop computers, both at work and at home.
- On average, the best time to post is 1-4 p.m., when clickthrough rates have shown to be at their highest.
- Specifically, 12-1 p.m. is prime time on Saturday and Sunday.
- During the week, the same goes for Wednesday at 3 p.m., as well as Thursday and Friday between 1-4 p.m.
- The worst times are weekends before 8 a.m. and after 8 p.m.
3. Best Times to Post on Twitter
Like Facebook, people use Twitter on both mobile devices and desktop computers, both at work and at home. Twitter is usually treated like RSS feeds. People usually hop on Twitter to find something to read during down times like commutes, breaks, and so on.
- Good times to tweet average around 12–3 p.m., with an apex at 5 p.m. — evening commute time.
- Weekdays tend to show a stronger performance, while some might have more active audiences on the weekend.
- If your goal is to maximize retweets and clickthroughs, go for noon, 3 p.m., or 5–6 p.m.
4. Best Times to Post on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is mainly for professional purposes and used mostly during weekdays and work hours. About 25% of U.S. adults use LinkedIn; a platform that is not used as frequently as some other channels on this list. It’s used with slighly less frequency than some of the other channels on this list.
- Post toward the middle of the week, between Tuesday-Thursday.
- When aiming for a high clickthrough rate, post on these days during times that correspond with the morning and evening commute — roughly 7:30-8:30 a.m. and 5-6 p.m. — as well as the lunch hour, around 12 p.m.
- Some have also seen a positive performance on Tuesdays, between 10–11 a.m.
5. Best Times to Post on Pinterest
#Pinterest is a graphical search engine. A GREAT power source for your #business. Share on XAbout 25% of Pinterest users are active on this channel daily. Don’t get it twisted with Pinterest! This is a graphical search engine. A GREAT power source for your business, and the posting times are usually off of business hours.
- Interestingly enough, Saturday evenings are said to be the best time to reach users, especially between 8-11 p.m.
- Some have also seen a strong performance on the later side of Friday afternoon, around 3 p.m.
- Evening commutes tend to be some of the worst times to post to Pinterest; which makes sense if you look at Pinterest as a searchable means. You search for what you’re looking for then leave Pinterest to go to the site to read about what you searched for.
6. Best Time to Post on Google+
Google+ doesn’t get as much hype as the other social media platforms. It’s Google for Pete’s sakes! Why not post on it and be effective with it?!
- People seem to be most active on Google+ during the start of the workday, between 9-11 a.m.
- That’s especially the case on Wednesdays, around 9 a.m.
- Some marketers have also seen success during the lunch hour, posting between 12-1 p.m.
Ok now you know. Theses are some great tips on the best times to post on social media thanks to our good friends at CoSchedule and Hubspot!
Remember, don’t overwhelm yourself with too much. This is a tool that can help you systematize your social media tasks. Whenever you need help with anything, or need to outsource this task – just let us know! We are here to help. {{{Tra la laaaaaa}}} (in the voice of Captain Underpants)
Are you where you thought you’d be 2/3 of the way through this year? Are you finding yourself unsure of exactly how to turn those big dreams into achievable, check-that-off action steps? There’s a guide for that! Grab it and get some relief and not get overwhelm with the many tasks in your business. FREE YOUR MIND! You ARE the CEO of your business! Now is the time to claim your title and act accordingly. You got this! We have your back when you need us!
We receive inquiries from various entrepreneurs about the cost to build websites. For some of them that are just starting out, they have big ideas and are very optimistic about the success of their business through their websites. However, they tend to not account for the cost of their ideas which is usually a bit more than they budget for if they have a budget at all.
Usually, this is because they aren’t privy to the cost or the structure until we share with them the breakdown of their web project based on their ideas. At that point, they want to know ‘how much does it cost to build’ and ‘how long does it take to make a website’. In an effort to never crush their dreams, we provide the steps, timeframe, and the cost of their web project in phases.
Do what you can to help any entrepreneur's dream become a reality! #entrepreneurslife #sharethelove Share on XThis works out well for some. For others, they choose to either do it themselves or wait until they are ready financially to get it done professionally. Either way, we do what we can to help any entrepreneur’s dream become a reality. Let’s go over some details about the types of websites and the average cost of websites.
The Type of Website
So what type of website would you like to build? That’s the first question you want to get really clear on.
There are simple, informational websites: the one-pagers, lead/landing pages, or the ones with about 5 pages such as Home, About Us, Services, Blog, Contact Us pages. These are great to use to start your business to get your information up and out to the world. They are also great for different freebies you want to create to pull in more leads for your business. And even great for information about a product or service you’d like to promote or a resume/CV, or a pitch deck or any type of report (i.e. annual report) you’d like to make available online with downloadable content.
There are mid-size, custom functioning websites: the sites that promote events and allow people to sign-up for the event, or the booking systems that allow visitors to schedule appointments. These sites are great for the entrepreneur that is ready to take the CEO seat and run a business.
There are large-size, custom functioning websites: similar to the mid-size, custom functioning site yet larger with a few more features such as the ability to sell products from the site (eCommerce), book appointments, or register for online or offsite events.
And then we have the large, database driven websites: these are sites such as hospitality sites that require reservations/booking rooms and banquet halls, or an online store with over 1000 products, or real estate sites connecting to IDX systems.
Four Components That Make a Site
There are 4 basic components that make a website:
- Domain – You will need to register a domain name for your website. This is your address where your website is located on the world wide web.
- Hosting – This involves a server to store all of your web files, email accounts, databases, and scripts that causes your web presence to function.
- Design/look of your site – Your company branding is what drives the look of your web presence which includes optimized graphics throughout your website and in your blog posts.
- Features to help your site be a great business tool – There are many features to add to your site to help your visitors sign up, register for events, schedule for appointments with you, purchase your services/products, interact with you and your business, gather analytics to get to know your audience, optimize your site for SEO and load fast, and many more features that suits your business.
Let’s Get to the Costs
We’ve broken this down to 3 routes you can take to build a site that is suitable for your business and your business budget.
- You can do it yourself! Sometimes this option is best. If you’re just starting out and you didn’t actually factor in a budget to handle the the cost of building your website, doing it yourself can be a good option with great success. The cost ranges from $0 – $500. There are now many DIY website builders out there where you can put up a site with ease and no coding.
- You can go with a Professional website in the range of $500 – $2500 with ease. This can go up to $5000-$8000 with added features and a customized platform. Entrepreneurs that are upgrading from their DIY websites or those that are rebranding go with this type of site. Over time they upgrade to a well tailored site that suits the needs of their business and provide ease and a more upgraded user experience for their visitors potentially converting them into clients/customers/buyers.
- Most corporations and some small businesses go for the Enterprise website investing in amounts starting at $10,000. These are well developed, customized and complex websites.
There are many different routes to take to get your website just right for your business. You can choose platforms such as Squarespace or WordPress. If things become too technical for you to continue buidling your website this way, let us help you with it. Just contact us or click to chat (below) with our Success Team and we will get you just what you need.
Grab our FREE, editable website checklist to help you while building your WordPress website. It gives a few great tips.
Understanding the Base Price of a DIY WordPress Website
Are you deciding to go the DIY route to put your WordPress site? A typical breakdown of expenses required to get up and running might look something like this:
Domain: $15/year
Hosting: $10/month – $30/month
Premium Theme: $50-$200
Premium Plugins: $15-$200 (each; some are one-time purchases, others are monthly/annual licenses.)
Rough Totals: $200-$1,000+
Turnkey WordPress Setup & Maintenance
Here’s a few models we’ve seen:
Hourly: $50-$100 per hour
Flat Rate: $500-$1000+
Monthly: $30-$50/month (in addition to the initial hourly or flat rate fees)
A-la-cart Extras: $100, $200, etc. per strategy document, training course, and so on.
Rough Totals: $500-$2,500+ (plus possible monthly or a-la-cart services)
Custom WordPress Design/Development
This type of custom design requires one to be proficient in PHP, CSS, Javascript, and MySQL which we are.
Many custom WordPress design and development work falls within the following price ranges:
Custom WordPress Theme: $3,000-$6,000 (for design and development)
Custom WordPress Website: $6,000-$15,000 (for design and development, with custom plugin functionality)
Custom WordPress eCommerce Site: $6,000-$20,000
Custom WordPress Web App: $15,000-$60,000+
Your website feels like a great deal when the value you get back in the form of it is greater than the money you invested. #success Share on X
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much something costs as long as you come away feeling like you have a great deal. That only happens when the value you get back in the form of your website is greater than the money you invested. This is just as possible at $20,000 as it is at $500. It’s all in how the process is managed.
As an entrepreneur or business owner, are you stressed and overwhelmed? Do you know how to clear your mind and not feel overwhelmed? Is your mind full, or are you mindful of what’s going on around you? When your mind is cluttered, you’ll never have the clarity and the calm that you need to do your best level CEO work. You’ll start to feel overwhelmed and burned out just because of the frantic pace of your life and your business.
If your mind is full and cluttered with to-dos and ideas that are nagging at you constantly everyday, it will have a negative impact on your life. It will slow you down, keep your energy low and you are never 100% present. This all leads to feeling overwhelmed and anxious. Often procrastinating the things you know need to get done, simply because you need to create the time and energy to actually start and/or see them through. You don’t have the energy for new projects that you know will help you get where you want to go in your life and for your business.
It's time to move away from having a mind full of to-dos and tasks to being mindful, #aware of where we're spending our time and our energy. #wegotit #virtualassistants Share on XSo, here’s the goal…FREE UP SOME SPACE! It’s time to move away from having a mind full of to-dos and tasks to being mindful – having an awareness of where we’re spending our time and our energy.
Grab this two-step process guide and complete it back-to-back to get the clarity and the calm you deserve.
Entrepreneurs know of the anxiety that comes from an unending to-do list.There are all of the little tasks that you continuously procrastinate on that you just don’t like doing or not proficient in doing; and would even avoid completely – but you know that it’s gonna bite you in the butt if you don’t get it done.
Then there’s the tasks that need to get done, but you end up using them as a way to constantly put off the bigger picture projects you know will grow your business. Now with a mind FULL to capacity of all these unending to-dos, is it any wonder that you find yourself exhausted and burned out?
It’s time to create some RELIEF!
Get the guide to do these two exercises! It brings instant clarity and lots relief! Find out which tasks to minimize, systematize, or even just stop doing completely! You deserve to have a well-balanced life with a successful business and a fulfilling personal life with family and friends. Stop carrying all of that weight. Grab the guide and start transforming that cluttered mind full of tasks and ideas into a strategic master to-do list that will help you be more successful in completing your goals.
We are here to help! Contact us today and move those tasks from your plate to ours.
This is the perfect opportunity for you to have a mobile app! We created an introductory offer to support small businesses, entrepreneurs, or any individual with an idea to finally have a chance to bring that idea to life! Start small and GROW BIG with our mobile app development services. What is mobile app development? It is what will give you the resource to help your audience solve a problem or optimize a process.
You don’t have to have an app that do multiple things in one app. Apps are best when they serve one purpose. If there are multiple problems you know your app idea can solve; this price is great for you to create multiple apps with solutions.
What is mobile app development, anyway?!
Mobile application development = processes and procedures involved in writing software for portable computing devices like smartphones, tablets and watches.
The demand of mobile apps has escalated in all businesses. To keep businesses updated with the latest technologies, we become your accelerator to design and develop brilliant mobile apps from the ideas you have been sitting with. We offer mobile app development services for iPhone, iPad and Android.
These devices have literally become extensions of us in a large way. Our devices are being used more and more over our own desktop and laptop computers; we'd prefer to begin the work or finish the work on our devices while it is still fresh on our minds. Share on X It’s even more common to own a smartphone than a desktop or laptop computer.
More people have access to mobile apps
Mobile technology and consumer habits are paving a new and exciting way to reach your customers. The possibilities are endless with the only limit being your creativity. Brands are able to reach customers through authentic communication that provides value and builds trust, rather than through a giant billboard in their face. For the most popular social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, 80% of their most active users will primarily use mobile to connect.
Because of mobile app development,
- 61% of emails are opened on mobile
- 90% of text messages received are read within three minutes of receipt. These messages could be appointment reminders, promotions, or time-sensitive updates.
- Mobile users are also 3x as likely to view a video than a desktop user
- With an app, a customer has the ability to spend more time with your brand
- About 49% percent of mobile users said push notifications cause them to use an app more
With all of this progression happening in the mobile technology, mobile is changing the marketing game! So what’s holding you back from getting a mobile app for your business?
3 Types of Mobile Apps
There are different types of mobile apps. Three types of apps to be exact!
Native apps are normally what you think about when you think about apps. They are available in app stores to install on your devices. They do not fully rely on web viewers built within the app to work. The cost is generally higher than a hybrid or web app starting at $8000 per platform. They are much like the familiar apps you are usually working with on your phone like the camera app the calendar app, the notes apps, the map app, Waze, or Pokeman Go.
Hybrid apps are like the native app + web app had a baby = hybrid app! It’s installed like a native app from the app stores, but it’s mostly web app inside which means it relies on a web viewer built within the app to work with some of the features. You still have access to the device’s features just as a native app. The cost generally starting at $3000 per platform. These apps are great to use for MVP (minimum viable product) for startups and if your goal is to put something usable into your users’ hands as quickly as possible. This option is also great if you’re short on resources or maintaining a minimal business budget, and if you need to create a simple version of your product that still provides value. The hybrid apps allow you to see whether people will download and use an app on their device; which makes it a great option to use before upgrading to a native app. Examples of hybrid apps are Evernote, Gmail, or Uber.
Web apps are typically responsive websites. They are not installed in the app stores. These apps are accessed through your device’s web browser. They totally rely on access to the internet in order to work. Progressive web apps are currently on a rise. We will talk more about this in later posts. Examples are Lancome, Twitter Mobile, Washington Post, and our favorite Paperplanes.world.
Can Mobile App Development Help Your Business?
Well, that’s a resounding YES! There are many larger companies that have all 3 types of mobile apps such as Walmart, Facebook, Twitter, to be sure to accommodate all of their users. Owning a mobile app all depends on how you’d like to market your business, how you’d like to help others, or how you’d like to entertain others. Our goal is to help your businesses grow through affordable mobile apps and mobile marketing with our mobile app development services! Give it some thought and grow with technology. Contact us today to see how your idea can come to life!
Get a cost efficient method of creating mobile apps for your business HERE
Get your FREE guide to help transform a cluttered mind into a strategic to-do list!