Do you ever get the feeling that sometimes people miss the value proposition you are setting forth?

Now, I know it’s YOUR job, as entrepreneur / business owner / CEO / leader, to set forth your value proposition and describe the benefit statements to your clients, colleagues, etc. but do you ever find yourself still trying to show the REAL value?

Our virtual assistance services / creative, professional outsourcing services are priced in the mid-pricing scale of virtual assistance companies.  We offer excellent services for the online business owner and we have a team of people that my clients can plug into and rely on to get their work done.  We offer more diverse skill sets and services than a lot of solopreneur companies will.  All of these are great benefit statements and selling points.

But here’s the thing most people miss… I built my clients a team.

If you are working with a multi-VA firm, that firm’s owner built YOU a team.  You didn’t have to.  The hiring, the process of making sure the talent was good enough, shortening the know/like/trust factor was all done for you.  Hours spent unbillable doing interviews, creating sub-contractor agreements, e-mail addresses, Basecamp accounts, etc. was completed when you got here.

Now, I’m not moaning about the time spent building a multi-VA team and I certainly know it was my choice in creating a large company but I realized the other day that when people say, “You’re a little more expensive than other virtual assistants” I should respond, “I know!  We should be!”  THAT is our value.

Our benefit statement is that I’ve created YOU a company with web designers, blog designers, graphic designers, internet marketing support people, administrative support staff, PHP programmers, social media assistants… the list continues so that you don’t have to scour the web looking.  You don’t have to waste your time.

So, all this to say that if you are working with a multi-VA team and you are complaining about rates (or even gently trying to get even further discounted rates) remember that the time spent building this team was all done so you wouldn’t have to do it.

Do you have a benefit statement that is so obvious it gets missed?  If so, share it!

What are your thoughts? Leave them as comments below.

We’ve been in business five years this Saturday and we’re celebrating a few ways!

#1 – 50% Off Sale in My Store

We’ve got a store and we’re giving you a 50% discount on anything you want.  Yep.  Anything.  Except for the t-shirt.  We don’t own that and Zazzle might be upset if we undercut them like that.  Although, the t-shirt is pretty rad so you might want one of those anyway.  Just to have it.  If you don’t, it’s totally cool – the store has some great product and such that will help you learn new skills and grow your business acumen.

Random to business in one paragraph.  I like it.

Just use FIVEYEARS at checkout.

Store is here.

#2 – Friday Celebration on Ask Erin Live

On Friday, instead of doing just a normal Ask Erin Live, we’re doing a celebratory Ask Erin Live complete with cake, a pink dress (a really pink and really puffy dress), live and video guests and so much more…  We’ll be giving away some product and definitely will be dancing.  You can’t have a celebration, especially for five years, without dancing.  It would be just wrong.  Oh, you’ll have to grab your own cake though – I can’t teleport it.  Yet.

Sign up for event reminder here.

#3 – Lifestreaming Webinar — Free!

This month, we gave a presentation at WordCamp Montreal called Lifestreaming: The New Future of Blogging? and it’s been a hot topic ever since.  We’ll be doing an encore of that presentation on August 5 at 4pm Eastern (3pm Central, 2pm Mountain, 1pm Pacific) that will be a complimentary event for you to attend.

In our presentation recap, we’ll be taking you through the one hour presentation that we gave at WordCamp Montreal. This will take you through how these lifestreams are structured and why this could potentially be the future of blogging.

Webinar here.

The end.

(P.S. – We really must tell you that the fireworks above were not celebrated in our honor… I wish I could say we had a budget to afford fireworks that big because I love fireworks but alas, we do not.  So… yeah.  Maybe at ten years!  However, the photo credit goes to ACPhoto2007 on Flickr.)

In case you missed the email, here’s how it started:

today, we do this as a partnership rather than me bossing her around… Although, sometimes I still try

When I was a little girl, I always used to play office and play school with my little sister.  I was always the boss or the teacher and I would boss her around.  Getting her to type up documents on the Commodore 64 or make her do homework out of old text books my mom and dad would buy for us.

I remember she was always happy to help out and happy to be a part of whatever I was doing.  It made me feel honored to have an audience because, being a bit of a leader from birth, it was great to have someone I could guide through different things and watch prosper.

Today, the story isn’t much different.  My sister and I work side by side in my office every single day, for eight hours each day, and we get to do amazing work.  The only difference is that today, we do this as a partnership rather than me bossing her around… Although, sometimes I still try

This e-mail is not just to tell you a story but to ask you a question.  Do you have traits in your adult life that you had so deeply engrained in you as a child?  If so, I’d love for you to hit reply and share those with me.

To read everyone else’s story, just click “Read More” below.

Anne Asher – Generosity

I have always been really generous, and have often reached out to try to make a better world around me.  My mother told me that when I was a preschooler, she had to stop me from giving away my toys to other kids.  When I was in the 7th grade, I and several friends/classmates got together and created HOW which stands for “Helpers of the World”.  We began campaigns to serve senior citizens, etc.  Our school provided a meeting place for the little club and we met once a week until our interest in boys waylaid our plans.

As an adult, I’ve repeated the pattern.  I have done fundraising, in which I brought in close to $1M for reading and character development programs for an underserved school whose students live in poverty.   At that school and another I was a volunteer literacy tutor and drama director for student productions.  I also coordinated a Tobacco Ed program, kickstarting the presence of an activist organization at a college campus. The program was really cool because not only did it seek to educate people on the damage of smoking to one’s health, but it also exposed the abusive advertising practices of Big Tobacco companies, such as marketing aggressively to children, and it worked to get smoke-free zone requirements on the campus.

Currently I am a part of the Cochrane Collaboration, another really cool volunteer organization.  This is a network of medical researchers and just regular people like you and me.  The researchers dig up the evidence about how well specific treatments work for specific problems.  My job is to go over reviews, as they are called, and give a lay person’s perspective, so that consumers are a part of the process, too.  The public is encouraged to access the reviews and to learn about medical treatments so they don’t get hoodwinked by doctors who might be only interested in making money.  Each review has a “plain language summary” so they are really easy to understand.  (http://www.cochrane.org)

Learn more about Anne here.

Joanne Burgess – Insight, Good Communication Skills & Common Sense

Hey Erin, what a great question. And the answer is YES, I definitely have traits that have carried through to my adult life. I believe everyone has a role that they play starting with their family and this often carries through to other areas of their life.

I’ve always had a healthy dose of insight, good communication skills and a lot of common sense (although interestingly, I’ve found out that common sense isn’t so common! lol). Therefore my role growing up, was usually that of the problem solver or mediator. This has definitely carried through to my business life.

The most rewarding part of what I do is in  helping clients solve their problems using my business experience, good communication skills and big picture thinking. This is particularly helpful in the social media realm. I think that’s why I am so passionate about it.  Thanks for asking!

Learn more about Joanne here.

Long Huynh – Inter-Dependence

A trait that was deeply ingrained in me is Inter-dependence. At first, I thought that it was Independence. Throughout my childhood and adolescence, I was pretty much on my own. I had to. My father was not around, he was in the army fighting the war. My mother had a religious calling. I paid for my own tuition through college. I had no allowance for any kind of expense whatsoever. Yet I graduated with distinction, happily married, and had a fairly successful professional life. I attributed these positive happenings to the spirit of Independence that burned fiercely in my heart. Only later on that I realized that it’s not Independence, it’s Inter-dependence. I didn’t succeed on my own. I succeeded thanks to the help, support and contribution from others who received back from me something of value. It was not through pity or charity. It was though mutual benefits.

So … the lesson I’ve learned was that you couldn’t take anything for granted. You could count on someone else, as long as you prepare to give back something of value, if not to the person in question then to the society. That’s the Inter-dependence lesson.

Learn more about Long here.

Roz Fruchtman – Connect People to Make Them Feel Special, Remembered and Counted

I was an only child, raised in a non-religious Jewish household, in the Bronx, NY.

I was a victim of “verbal” abuse and made to feel unworthy. Because of this I suffered low self-esteem and minimal self confidence.  In fact I don’t remember ever having a dream of what I wanted to be when I grew up.  Thus I know what it feels like to feel neglected, unwanted, not remembered, like I do not count, etc.

When I came to the web all those years ago I discovered a talent for digital design.  I am an untrained digital artist.

Today I find myself designing Judaic Themed eCards. In fact… my web site, Say It With eCards, is the only Judaic eCards site offering such a vast selection of Judaic Themed eCards for traditional and universal holidays as well as the traditional Jewish Holidays.

In “low times” I ask myself “why don’t I give up!”  The answer is crystal clear to me…

My passion and goal to connect as many people as possible, and help them feel special, remembered and like they really count is fueled by my own early feelings of worthlessness.

With each eCard I design, I think of the sender, who picked out just the right eCard and customized it for their recipient. Then I think of the recipient, who gets to feel extra special, not only knowing that they were remembered, but that the sender took time out of their busy day to demonstrate how special they really are by sending my eCards.  So it’s win/win/win for the sender, the recipient and for me, knowing that I made a small difference in so many people’s lives.

Learn more about Roz here.

Diane Coville – Creativity & A Love of the Written Word

Although I had many friends, I spent a lot of time alone too.  I was a very avid book reader.  All my allowance was spent in Coles Book Stores.  I wanted to be a journalist when I grew up.  I was always writing fiction stories as a child.

When I became a secretary, I had little time to be creative.  But since starting my Virtual Assistance Business, I now focus on marketing (a subject that fascinated me in high school) and I now have an outlet for my creative writing by doing ghostwriting and copywriting for clients, providing content that I then distribute through Social Media.  The little creative bug I developed as a child is now flourishing in the work that I do for my clients and I love it.

Learn more about Diane here.

Elma Mayer – Spacing Out & Tuning In

hi erin – what a great question!

synchronistically, i’ve been thinking a lot about this topic too, and have probably come to the same conclusions you have.  here’s my story:

as far back as i can remember, i tended to space out in nature, and in solitude.  i’d stare out rainy windows for hours, or go sit by the brook behind my house and watch the water flow and the light play in the leaves.  my parents teased me and call me unflattering names, like “lazy!”  they complained that i was wasting my valuable time.

today, as an energy healer, i use the same technique of “spacing out” to “tune in.”  because of my childhood practice, i can now discern and shift subtle energy, heal people, teach people how to self-heal, and get paid for it!

i had no idea that as a child, i was actually doing something highly useful that contributed to healing the world in a specific and concrete way.  i’m so lucky to have found the connection between a seemingly useless childhood state of being and an adult career and spiritual calling — many others probably have that blessing soundly beaten out of them!

i’ve been telling my kids about this recently — about how important it is to simply notice what you tend to do naturally, and how it’s very likely that you can leverage that into a life purpose!

Learn more about Elma here.

Emptyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy….

Please don’t fill it   Okay.  Go ahead!

There are benefits to this…  I get to be present, in the moment and writing about things I’m actually going through and in being honest, I help out other people or at least let entrepreneurs they are not alone.  There are also downsides.  Generally, when I write about an issue I am going through, the person reads it and thinks, “That’s about me!” and is either right and gets to learn about my way of thinking or is wrong and hates me for having an opinion about them when it was never about them in the first place.

Luckily, I’m willing to take that chance and write honestly.

Way back in the day when I was struggling for new clients and prospects, I used to bend over backwards like crazy for clients.  If they wanted me to fly to the moon, jump through five hoops of fire and walk across coals while eating cockroach legs, I would… and I did.  Now, I still love and cherish and honor the process of getting a new client and I still stand in the place of gratitude of receiving this new, awesome business but I no longer compromise my own needs and my desired lifestyle to do so.

Case in point: I have a 100% virtually based business. I don’t have an office, I don’t have a physical space, I tried to do co-working once (even bought a certificate at a Twestival) but they never opened their doors so even that failed.  I have a love / hate relationship with working from Starbucks (love – coffee… hate – people who bring their babies into Starbucks and the babies cry and I can’t write a sentence with words let alone anything intelligent… just sayin’.. Mommas, don’t be angry – it’s just the crying ones that force me to do that!)

I also have zero local clients. Well, I have one but we’ve never met in person so it’s almost like she’s virtual too!  I’d say I was sad about this but I’m not.  I like to live my life online…  I like being on the Internet.  I get more done. In-person meetings are ineffective for me because of the time it takes to get dressed up, drive, find parking, get to the location, etc., etc., etc.  In fact, the minute someone suggests meeting in-person, I immediately realize it isn’t going to work.

I’m not trying to be mean to the people who like in-person meetings, it’s just not my style.

Ya... So! I Live Online!

So, what do I do?  Well, I could compromise my working habits but that’s not me. I am the kind of person who, when she realizes that travel puts a damper on her creativity, cancels a fun trip to San Diego.  You might say fun police, I say honoring what I need as a business owner and as a person.  Maintaining happiness and sanity.

So instead, I just don’t do it. I’d rather take the chance of losing business than do something that goes against my own beliefs, needs and standards of work.  It’s me and I need to honor that.  Most of my clients are fine working virtually.  We do great work, they are millions of miles away, some are in other countries and it works out great.  I get more done, I can stay in my pajamas and do what I do best…  Building kick ass online businesses.

What do you do when faced with something that compromises your beliefs and needs?

[tags]Jay Berkowitz, Web 2010, strategies, business, future, Erin Blaskie, virtual assistance, technology, blogging, social media[/tags]

“I love my current service provider.  We’ve been together for years now and I just can’t bear the thought of leaving him behind.”

“My vendor is someone I trust with my life… They know my business inside and out and no one else will.”

Sound familiar?  If it does, read on.

The love relationship between the client and vendor.

I’m not talking about romantic love here, I’m talking about devotion and the desire to stay with someone because of the comfort level you’ve built up with them.  Many people also stay with vendors when they trust them and they are heard.

In 9 times out of 10, this is a perfect situation and most of you are probably experiencing this.  You’ve built up your working relationship to the point where trust exists, familiarity exists and that love and devotion is happening.  However, in that 1 case (sometimes more than just 1/10 cases) it goes sour … sometimes, without you even realizing it.

Here’s why these love relationships can sometimes be detrimental to your business growth.

When a service provider works with a client for awhile, they build up that comfort AND the exclusivity to tell you what they think you should do in their business or guide you through the next phase.  Sometimes, that vendor’s knowledge and skill set is limited.  When the guiding process and a limited skill set meet, fear sinks in.  Particularly, when another vendor or service provider pops up on the scene.

The comfortable, caring, loving vendor you have then has fear.  When this fear exists, good judgement is no longer made for YOU and your business.  Instead, they may act out on their “lack mindset” and guide you in ways that are NOT the best for you and your business.  They may tell you that one path is the right way and the other way is wrong… And you bet they’ll have a ton of fear-based reasons why it is so.

How to tell if you’re in this love/hate kind of relationship.

Ask yourself a simple question: when I bring up other vendors or service providers to my comfy vendor, the one I’ve had for awhile, does he or she look to hear the opinions of others or are they always finding fault in the newcomers?  If so, there’s a good chance you’re dealing with a fear-based vendor.  Someone who knows they lack the skillset yet doesn’t want to lose the source of income.

If they are instead willing and open to hearing new ideas, then you know they are working for your best interests and not just a paycheck.  You also want to be sure that you are working with someone who stays current, trendy and knows a lot about the subject matter on hand.

Hopefully this helps you get out of relationships that may not be in your best interest and move into ones that are!  Remember, comment and tell me your opinions or share your stories.

[tags]Erin Blaskie, client, vendor, relationships, love, hate, lack mindset, fear, scarcity, business[/tags]

Good to remind yourself if ever you find yourself asking vendors for various things at discounts, special rates, etc. or if you find yourself asking for all the details and information to do things yourself.

None the less, it’s FUNNY! Comment and let me know if you have ever experienced business like this.

[tags]Vendor client relationship, vendor requests, client requests, vendor client, vendor / client, relationship, business, discounts, YouTube, Erin Blaskie[/tags]

I’m soooooo excited that I can hardly sleep (ok, I can’t at all!)

Today kicks off our 2009 Summer Speaker Series and we have Shama Hyder presenting to us tonight at 8pm Eastern.  If you haven’t registered yet, the early bird was extended to today only so register while you can!

The event features FORTY speakers over the next month on all topics related to running a business.  Everything from social networking to websites to hiring teams to marketing your business.  It’s all covered from a wide range of experts throughout many different industries.

We are so proud of the diverse network that we’ve put together and can not wait to present this information to you.  So, if you aren’t already registered, please join us!

[tags]Summer Speaker Series, 2009, Erin Blaskie, speaker series, speakers, online business, marketing, business, entrepreneur, social networking, social media[/tags]