Why Is It So Hard to Hire a Virtual Assistant or Consultant?

I’m going to share the Top 6 Reasons We Might Hesitate or Avoid Hiring a VA to help us in our business – and the important thing they all have in common.

There are lots of pain points around this topic for coaches and other solopreneurs.

And it’s not just when thinking about hiring a VA, but any kind of virtual help: hiring a consultant, or an online business manager – or even just going on Fiverr to hire someone for a relatively simple project.

But based on my own experience and in the surveying of scores of other coaches whom I coach on business-building and productivity, I’ve boiled down the Top 6 Reasons Why We Hesitate to Hire Virtual Help…

So if you’ve been hesitating, deliberating, procrastinating, you’re not alone, and my guess is you can relate to most if not all of the following reasons…

ONE: I’m not sure exactly what to hire someone for.

I don't even...

Have you been thinking about hiring a VA or consultant to help you in your coaching business? Or adding an additional one? But maybe you aren’t sure if it’s the right time to pull the trigger?

 Well, I’m here to help, by sharing the…

Top 10 Signs It’s Time to Hire a VA or Consultant (or add another one!)

#10: You keep thinking about it!!

If you’re thinking, “Wow, maybe I need some help,” then you probably need some help.

#9: You’re doing more social media, onboarding, billing, bookkeeping, website troubleshooting, etc., than…coaching!

And the only one of those things listed that is a pure revenue-generating activity is…the coaching.

#8: You continue to do things you absolutely HATE doing

or SUCK at!

And we keep doing these things, why? Hmmm.

#7: You continue to do relatively simple tasks, just cuz you like to do ‘em.

Or, you keep doing simple repetitive tasks someone else could/should do because,...

7 Secrets for Emails that Convert to Clicks: Simple, Proven Tips for Getting More Traffic to Your Primary Content

In two previous posts, I shared ways to increase traffic to your blog – or any ‘primary content’, whether blog, video or podcast – by making some simple improvements to your Copywriting (e.g., better headlines, titles) and by increasing your email Open Rates and social media post engagement. 

But even if you were to double your email open rates, you’re still NOT DONE optimizing. Because once you’ve gotten your subscriber to open the email or read the social media post promoting your primary content, there’s still the job of getting them to read through it so they make their way to the link to that blog/podcast/video – and then the job of getting them to click on that link! 

Increase Traffic to Your Blog by Upping Your CTR

In other words, we gotta up our click-through rate (CTR). And...

Follow These 5 Research-Based Ways to Increase Your Email Open Rates

The two primary ways we let the world know about our latest blog or video or podcast (collectively, our “primary content”) are through our email list and social media channels.

“Every day 4.4 million new blogs are posted. So you’d better have an intriguing headline and subject line!”  – Marie Forleo

Which is why, in my previous blog post, I shared the following:

• The sad stats on how few of our email subscribers and social media followers, on average, will actually see our latest piece of primary content.
• The 6 General Factors that Increase Traffic to Our Primary Content, and...
• Of those Factors, the most easily and immediately improved: our Content Titles, Headlines and Email Subject Lines -- and how to improve them with some simple copywriting tweaks.

But more specifically to getting more eyeballs on the blog/podcast/video we're promoting ...

It Starts with Tweaking Your Copywriting (Don't Fret -- I’ll Show You How)

Do you have a blog? Or a podcast? Or put out a video regularly?

If so, you’re probably hip to the bad news: Most of your audience probably won’t see your next posting of that content.

Given the restrictive algorithms of the main social media platforms (e.g., only 5.2% of a Facebook page’s followers will see a given post; and only 0.25% will engage with it), we can only expect a tiny percentage of our followers to see and click on the post that promotes our blog (or podcast or video – which I’ll refer to collectively as our “primary content”).

And even with a healthy-sized email list to which we send the link to our latest bit of value-bomb content, only about 20% of our subscribers (average open rate in Education & Training segment) will actually SEE the email content.

Then, even with a strong open rate, with an average click-through rate (CTR) of just...

Why Open Rates, Clicks and Conversions Matter to Your Bank Account

"Hey Alan! What does my email open rate have to do with my business’s bottom line? And sure, click-throughs on my links are important, but hardly seem a factor in my monthly income.”

Well, if you write a blog, post to social media, put out a podcast or videos, then you are a content marketer. And opens, clicks and conversions are the primary metrics in the business of content marketing – and therefore, in improving the bottom line of your coaching business.

Because a properly functioning content marketing machine maximizes the number of people who SEE your content (opens), ENGAGE in it (clicks), and TAKE ACTION on it (conversions).

And in this process, your content is building your 'like and trust' factor, grabbing an ever-larger space in her brain for your personal brand, and ultimately predisposing her to work with or buy from you.

More Eyeballs = More Like & Trust = More Coaching...

OK, I did break a bit of a sweat at times, and it certainly didn’t happen overnight.

But learning how to create new revenue streams in your coaching business – including passive and recurring income streams – might be easier than you think. In fact, keep reading and you’ll learn some simple ways you might add new revenue streams to your business – whether you’re a life coach, health coach, professional organizer, or any kind of coach; just getting started or a seasoned pro.

And along the way, see if you can spot the common factor across many of these coaching revenue stream additions...

From 1:1 to Growing a Coaching Business: Passive Income

My company, Crusher Solutions, LLC, consists of three businesses with distinct, although somewhat overlapping target audiences: ADD Crusher™, Crusher™TV and Crusher™ Coaching, created in that order over the last eight years.

I started a coaching side-hustle based on the productivity...

Need a great blog post (or podcast episode or YouTube video) but fresh out of fresh ideas?

Here are five blog titles that will practically write the blog for you.

OK, I mean, make it WAY easier to write a blog – because the title is so “loaded” with potential juicy content. When you just read the title, your brain will call up your “greatest hits” wisdom; your lowest-hanging-fruit, if you will.

Which makes it a subject that flows more easily onto the page than, say, a topic you’ve been busting your butt on for a week trying to figure out how to make interesting.

To illustrate, let’s start with…

The ONE Thing ALL [top performers/experts/etc.] Have in Common

This headline will steer your writing brain directly toward one of your go-to, can’t-lose strategies or tips or tools. For instance, in my world of productivity, upon reading this headline, my mind goes to the morning planning ritual. Because I know that 99% of all successful,...

*I don’t really mean that.

Well, I do mean it a little…(I’ll explain further below.)

Worrying about ‘being original’ is one of the classic barriers to consistent content creation. Coaches trying to generate new blog, video or social media ideas can get paralyzed because they tend to feel, well...

“What I want to say has already been said a million times.”

Of course it has! We are ALL writing stuff that’s ‘already been written.’ But also, no one has said it the way YOU will say it. Nobody’s put the exact information together and articulated it in the exact same way you will with your perspective, your particular words, images, etc.

And here’s another thing: Go ahead and steal. That is, after all, how art is made. Picasso once said: “Good artists copy; great artists steal.”

Beethoven “stole” from Mozart, Brahms “stole” from Beethoven, and so on. Brahms famously said, after a...

Last week I wrote about the reasons so many of us coaches are feeling overwhelmed in running our businesses. Are you among the overwhelmed?

See if you can identify with this scenario...

You turn on your computer to craft an important email, and when you open your emails, there are 45 new emails. You figure, well, let me answer a few of these – just the most urgent ones – and then I’ll get to writing that important email.

And 45 minutes later, you’re still dealing with your inbox and you don’t even remember what email you were supposed to be writing!

Well...

You’re not crazy, lazy, or lousy at what you do…

You’re just overwhelmed.

Tim Ferriss says, “Being overwhelmed is as unproductive as doing nothing.” Actually, it’s way worse.

When we’re overwhelmed, we’re jacked up on cortisol, which hobbles us in the present, drains us for the balance of our day, and damages our neurons for the future. It results in a...