Thursday, April 23rd, 2009
In essence…
Pepper Virtual Assistant Services is amping its launch with a contest.
From April 23 until June 1, 2009, everyone who signs up for our free trial will get the chance to win “The Peppered Customer of the Year” contest.
Just like the story on our article A Real Success Story That Could Happen To You Too, there are many business people whose businesses have grown tremendously through offshore hiring or through working with a virtual assistant.
What we want is to be able to choose one lucky customer and give his or her business a boost by providing our services gratis. The irresistible offer…
The winner for The Peppered Customer of the Year will get one year free Bit Hot Jalapeño Package or 40 hours per month of virtual assistant services.
Value: $6,684.00
And if that’s not enough, we will also give the winner the opportunity to put his/her name in lights.
- We will publish an article about you. The article will announce you as the contest winner and will ultimately be about you and your business.
- The article will be spread out to multiple channels like the Pepper blog site and all Pepper social media accounts.
- We will tweet about you winning the contest on Twitter.
- We will publish a YouTube video about you and your business.
- We will send press releases about you and the contest.
Value: Free viral marketing, can you really put a price tag on that? Two baby steps and you’re in…
We simplified the promo mechanics to give everyone the chance to join. ☺
Step 1: Sign up for the 10-hour free trial VA services.
Step 2: Choose from the two topics
What can a one-year Virtual Assistant service do for you and your business?
Or
What’s your Virtual Assistant wish list?
Then submit your answer as a comment on this article.
How do we choose the winner?
Simple, the winner who gets the most votes from our promotions team will win. So put your heart in your story.
That’s it!
Now all you need to do is stay tuned and wait for the announcement of winners on this blog on June 2. Although we’re only choosing one person for the grand prize, we really want everyone to be a winner…
So everyone can claim a prize now, we’re also giving away an additional 5 hours of free virtual assistant services ( Making your free trial a total of 15 hours for the whole week!).
Value: $ 74.85
All you need to do is spread the word…
After submitting your comment/story on the blog, all you need to do is post an update on your Twitter & Facebook accounts.
Can’t think of what to say? Here’s an idea…
“Just joined Pepper’s contest to win a year of virtual assistant services, I highly recommend you check it out http://budurl.com/bepeppered ”
Then join Pepper Fan Page on Facebook and follow Pepper on Twitter.
That’s it folks, good luck!
Tags: contest mechanics, free service, free trial, virtual assistance, virtual assistants
Posted in Announcements | 14 Comments »
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
When I started working as a virtual assistant, I thought it would be a temporary thing for me. You see, five years ago I was very skeptical about this industry. I didn’t think being a VA was a real career. But I was dead wrong.
The first job I landed as a virtual assistant was with a start-up company. My boss and his accountant, who both live in the US, and myself located in Manila, were the only 3 people running the company at the time.
But the company grew so fast, that the accountant had to hire another person dedicated to doing the payroll and handling the staff schedules, after only eight months. That company now has more than 50 regular employees working virtually from the Philippines. What worked?
When he put up his company my boss had little capital to start with, so he couldn’t afford to pay a decent salary to a full time employee in the US. A really smart guy though, he knew that in order for him to successfully build his company, he has to offload the most tedious tasks and just focus on his marketing strategy and client relations.
So he looked for options that would fit his needs. He went online and found resources for offshore hiring.
In a matter of weeks, he was able to find the right people to run his business operations smoothly. This allowed him the freedom to focus on conceptualizing ideas to further his business success, plus more time connecting with his customers to gain their loyalty and trust. Time is money.
My boss attributes the success of his company for having the luxury to focus on constantly improving his business and establishing client relations. Offshore hiring allowed him to afford a team of professionals to handle his business operations. His time is solely used on things that would ensure his business success.
He’s able to achieve his ambitious goals through using his time wisely. If you’re ready to take the plunge, now is the best time…
Start using your time wisely and reap the benefits from hiring a virtual assistant. A Pepper Virtual Assistant is trained to act as a partner and not just an employee. They will understand your business and work with you to achieve your company’s success.
Stay tuned!
We are launching our new site tomorrow. Besides our 10-hour free trial offer, we have a special surprise to all those who sign up for our free trial. Tomorrow, we will be announcing the surprise, here on the blog, and we promise you won’t be disappointed. Hint: it’s worth big bucks.
Tags: Free trial offer, offshore hiring, Pepper assistants, success story, virtual assistants
Posted in Outsourcing | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
 Susan Boyle has become a phenomenon in just a few days' time Are You Joking?
People laughed at Susan Boyle when she walked on stage. A 47-year old woman who has never been kissed, Susan goes under the scrutiny and sneers of the judges and audience of Britain’s Got Talent. With an air of confidence, she answers questions cheerfully and refuses to be intimidated. When she tells them she wants to be like Elaine Paige, and that she’ll be singing “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables, she elicits even more snickers from the audience.
The moment she opened her mouth, however, the audience is quickly transformed. Her powerful voice and stunning rendition of the Les Miserables hit song leaves everyone completely awestruck. She receives a standing ovation way before ending the song … and gets the three biggest yeses from the astonished judges.
This video took Youtube by storm over the last couple of weeks, garnering around 100,000 views from the time I saw it, to 35,565,543 views now, as I write this post. 35 Million!!! Imagine that.
What made this video spread like wildfire?
This story is a perfect example of what makes ideas stick. According to Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the book, Made To Stick, ideas that take hold actually follow some principles, all of which are captured in the Susan Boyle episode. Their book explains these principles in depth. It’s definitely worth a read.
1. Keep Things Simple
Keeping things simple helps you know what you to say. Find the essential core of your ideas and focus on that. Prioritize, prioritize prioritize. “The Golden Rule is the ultimate model of simplicity; a one-sentence statement so profound that an individual could spend a lifetime learning to follow it”, says Heath.
2. Make it Unexpected
How do you get people’s attention and keep their interest? We get attention by using the element of surprise and keep it by sustaining their interest. Break your audience’s guessing machines and then fix it. Keep their interest by piquing their curiosity.
3. Be Concrete
Concreteness helps people understand and remember. People filter out ambiguous and meaningless things and keep memorable ones. Speak in terms of human actions and senses.
4. Be Credible
To see is to believe. People need a trial period before they’re convinced. You can also use statistics, try-before-you-buy strategies, and other convincing details to support your idea.
5. Make it Emotional
Make people care by tugging at their emotions. When people feel something, they are more likely to act on it.
6. Tell Stories
Stories inspire people to act and tell them what to in certain situations. They are easy to remember and are often passed on and retold. Susan’s video is a typical underdog story, with her being ridiculed at first, and then winning people’s hearts in the end. Several lessons can be found in her story, two of which are, “Do not judge a book by its cover” and “Never give up on your dream”.
These principles will help people understand and remember your ideas. Keep them in mind when presenting to your bosses, colleagues, clients and partners and you’ll be sure to leave a lasting impression.
Tags: communication skills, how to present ideas, made to stick, susan boyle
Posted in Business and Marketing, Creative Toolbox | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
 Knowing the tricks of effective delegating will make your life easier. As a virtual assistant, I’ve talked to dozens of employers, clients and fellow VA’s and have heard some unpleasant stories from both parties about their experiences in working together.
Learning from their stories, I found that the same issues emerge over and over again. Given the diversity of tasks that virtual assistants are assigned with, it is quite common for a VA to under deliver if not given proper instructions.
If it’s necessary for you or your business to outsource, your delegating skills will be essential to make or break your virtual assistant experience.
Here are some delegating tactics that can help: 1. Clearly define your expectations.
Knowing what results you expect will greatly affect the outcome of any task you delegate to your virtual assistant. Your expected results will serve as a guide while doing the project. This ensures that your VA will work towards meeting the same goals that you have.
2. Be specific.
When giving instructions or requirements, be as specific as you can. Vague instructions can lead to several back and forth emails between you and your VA, causing delays and affecting project costs.
For tasks that are complicated or need to be repeated (especially if you’re not using dedicated assistance), it would help to prepare instructional guides. 3. Prepare a timeline.
A timeline with scheduled milestones will give you realistic expectations on the time required to complete a project. Your VA can also work around that timeline and provide you with updates when necessary.
Having a timeline eliminates several issues, especially for big projects. If it’s met, you can be assured that your VA is in fact working on your project. It allows you to check the progress of your project regularly. This way, you can spot errors early on and have them revised before they affect the next phase of the project. 4. Be reasonable.
When presenting a project, be realistic with your expected results and with your deadline. A virtual assistant should not have to choose between quantity and quality. Unrealistic expectations will most likely produce inferior work. A good VA will strive hard to over deliver and to please their clients as long as they are reasonable with their requests.
5. Communicate.
VA’s like to hear from their clients. We normally improve through constant communication with you. Even if you’re criticizing our work, we will appreciate it because it gives us an opportunity to get better.
Communication helps us understand you and your business more, ultimately leading to an effective and harmonious working relationship.
Outsourcing should make your life easier. If it doesn’t, apply these simple tips and start getting the most out of it.
A virtual assistant is a great ally to your business, but your delegating skills will ultimately be the key for your VA to fulfill your business needs.
Tags: delegation tips, effective delegating, how to outsource, virtual assistants
Posted in Outsourcing | No Comments »
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