A Virtual Perception has been nominated for a PodCast Award in the Business Category!

Thank you to everyone who submitted a ballot and included AVP on it for the Business Category. My listeners totally rock! Daily voting is now open  and ends on November 30th, 2009.

To vote – click here and then select A Virtual Perception in the business category.  Don’t forget to vote for your other favorite podcasts in a variety of other categories!  Once you have made your selection, scroll down to the bottom of the page and complete your ballot. Be sure to include a valid email address with your vote.

Thank you for your continued support! Let’s take this one home!

Diana Ennen, a past guest of A Virtual Perception (Episode 29)was kind enough to send me a copy of her newest book: So You Want to Be a Work-At-Home Mom: A Christian’s Guide to Starting a Home Based Business – co-authored by Jill Hart.

I recently had a chance to sit down and read through the book and boy, does it touch on so many different topics a mother that wishes to work from home will need to get her business up and running.  First, I need to preface this by stating, I myself am not a mother. However, being in the virtual assistant industry for almost two years now, I have formed friendships with virtual assistants that are work-at-home mothers. The topics in this book are not only great for those who want to be work-at-home moms, but for other women who wish to build a home based business as well.

Such topics that Jill and Diana cover are choosing a business type, business management, marketing, press releases and more.  Some notable mom-worthy topics include Telephone Basics — how to handle interruptions from your children when you are on the phone. Come on, you know these types of interruptions are bound to happen! While I don’t have any children of the human variety,  interruptions from my cat and dog (my children at the present time) have occurred in the past!

There is one topic that was included in the book that I was very very happy to see. And that topic is Podcasting! Thank you Jill and Diana for including the topic of using Podcasting to market and grow your business in your book. As a podcast producer, I am always thrilled when this topic is included in business books.

For me, the gold in the book are the chapters and topics devoted to working at home with children. Like I said before, I am not a work-at-home mom currently, but if someday I am – knowing what to look forward to and how to handle certain situations that may come up throughout the course of the day (like entertaining a child while working, naptime, sick children, etc.) is a resource like no other.

Overall, the book is a great primer for work-at-home mothers in training. Nice job Diana and Jill. I am going to go pull my high-heels out of the closet now and dress for success! (A reference to Work-At-Home Fashion Tips on page 206 of the book )

To learn more about this book visit: http://www.soyouwanttobeawahm.com

Join for me for a special LIVE episode of A Virtual Perception, this Wednesday, September 23rd at 4pm EST on Blog Talk Radio. Learn the Three Cs of Customer Service for the Service Oriented Entrepreneur.  A business’s interaction with their clients and associates is pivotal in maintaining and growing a successful business.   Ignoring a client or worse yet, handling a customer service situation badly can put your business in a negative light.  As a service oriented entrepreneur – great customer service should be one of the most important components of your business.  This Live episode of A Virtual Perception will touch on the three things (The Three C’s) that I believe are absolutely important to providing great customer service to your clients.

Also, find out who the winner is of AVP’s Co-Host/Hostess with the Mostest Contest.

Listen in Live on September 23rd – Click here to Listen

So, last month I announced that A Virtual Perception would be airing once a month, live on Blog Talk Radio, in this post. In the same post, I also announced the Co-host/hostess with the Mostest Contest; where I am looking for a co-host for the live airings of AVP.

Entrants simply have to submit their entry as video or video – then simply tell me why they want to be my co-host. The contest is still open and the deadline is September 22, 2009. On September 23rd, during the next live airing of  AVP on Blog Talk Radio, I will announce the winner.  Speaking of the winner, maybe you are wondering why you should enter? Well, if you like to talk, want to share your insight and expertise, have fun while doing AND learn about hosting your own show…then this is an opportunity you really shouldn’t pass up. Totally not hype, just telling you how it is

Now, I have a treat for you. Rikki Green of Time for Life Concepts (@TimeforLifeVA on Twitter) sent in an entry for the contest, a good entry at that. And,  I must tell you, Rikki’s closing is classic (and made me laugh out loud)! Listen to Rikki’s entry by clicking on the play button just below.

Now, you have until September 22nd to get your entry in too. So what are you waiting for?

 

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We all have days where we are just too busy to get to everything, right? However, if you are on Twitter often and have hundreds of followers, chances are you sometimes feel a bit guilty about not tweeting. Well, there are applications available that you can utilize to schedule tweets to be sent at a later day and time. Now, I want to say that I think the key and most important thing in using Twitter is making connections with people. With that being said, Twitter is also a great place to share awesome resources with your friends in Twitterland.  So, utilzing applications such as TweetLater or Hootsuite  to schedule tweets chockfull of goodness are great for doing just that. These are the two applications I cover in this episode of Twitter Talk.

Some additonal thoughts on Tweetlater and Hootsuite (not coverd in the episode)
With TweetLater  you can opt to have an email digest sent to you which includes all mentions of your Twitter ID (this is great if you have a lot of followers that you converse with on a daily basis, as well as, for online reputation management).

Final thoughts: I really like the simplicity of Hootsuite (less is more, right?). So, I have been using Tweetlater to get the email digests sent to me and Hootsuite to schedule tweets. The best of both worlds! Tweet yah later!
[tweetmeme]

 

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I received such a positive response to the first VA Round Table, that I have decided to bring the VA Round Table format back. The second VA Round Table (which will include Angie Green, Lily E. Chambers and Lee Drozak) will be recorded soon and will tentatively air on July 22nd.

After the first episode aired and I said that I would be doing VA Round Tables in the future, Tahneesha (owner of A Virtual Blessing) suggested that I ask virtual assistants and listeners to submit their questions for possible inclusion and discussion in future round tables. I kept that in the back of my mind, because I thought it was a fabulous idea (thanks Tahneesha)! And so, here is your chance to ask your question about Virtual Assistance, business, being a work at home mom or dad, technology, or anything else that may be heavily weighing on your mind.

All you have to do is add your question in a form of a comment to this post or send it via the contact form.  It is as simple as that!

Also, if you are interested in participating in a future Round Table as a guest, please contact me.

Thank you for listening!

Darlene

Have you heard the saying. “You are what you eat?”  Well, you must know then, you are what you tweet!  Listen to this week’s Twitter Talk to learn more.

 

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In honor of all things Twitter, I decided to experiment. This episode of Twitter Talk  is done in 140 characters or less. After you have listened to the episode which is only 42 seconds long, click the link below for the show’s transcript

Transcript

 

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This is the second episode of A Virtual Perception’s Twitter Talk.  If you are on Twitter, chances are you have seen tweets beginning or ending with something like #followfriday or #fova, but never really knew what they meant. Well, they are considered hastags? What on earth is a hashtag, you ask?  Listen to this episode of Twitter Talk to find out!

Links:
Twitter
Hashtags.org
http://twitter.pbworks.com/hashtags
Follow Darlene

 

 Twitter Talk - What on earth is a hashtag? [1:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (39)

Episode 23’s What’s on Your Mind Question is simply:

What’s Keeps You Energized? Around mid-day, we sometimes lose our steam. I want to know what you do to increase your energy and your productivity.

Simply post your response as a comment to this posting. One random poster will win a $10 iTunes gift certificate. Good Luck!