It’s 2010 and as with any New Year, things change. We decide to do new things and change things. With that said, I decided to create a welcome video for the visitors of my website to watch. I hope you enjoy it.

In our continuing discussion on outsourcing, we have talked about outsourcing your blog posts, newsletters, appointment setting, scheduling events, and article writing. Today we are going to discuss outsourcing your article submission needs.

Article marketing is something that every business owner should do on a regular basis. It’s a great way to grow your business and reach new levels of success.

The main reason article marketing is so good, is because it shows people that you are an expert in your field. It shows them that you can be trusted and you are the person they should do business with.

Now, for some business owners, article marketing is difficult to do. They know it needs to be done, but they have a difficult time making it work. One way to make things easier for you is to hire a Virtual Assistant to do your article submissions. Your VA can take care of setting up accounts for you at each directory and then she can submit each article you write.

As a business owner, you need to focus on the tasks that literally bring money in and while article marketing is truly important, it doesn’t make you money. If you are a coach, your coaching sessions bring you money. Your articles will drive traffic to your site and will help you bring in new coaching clients, but the actual sessions are what make you money.

So this is the prime reason why you need to outsource your article submitting needs. So the next time you are preparing to submit that article you just wrote, consider taking that time to find a VA that can do it for you.

Whether you know it or not, social media is important when you own a business. It doesn’t matter if you have been in business for a few weeks or a few years, you should use social media. It also doesn’t matter if you are in a business such as direct sales or you own a website that offers helpful tips and advertising, you should use social media. Whatever your business is you need what social media offers.

Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are two of the major sites out there that you need to be on and using. They will help you grow your business if you use them properly. These two sites can be used separately and together and they should be used this way.

Together you can use ping.fm and make posts that will go to both sites. Ping.fm is a site that allows you to create posts and publish them on multiple sites. Two of which are Facebook and Twitter. Another great thing about ping.fm is you can email posts to these social media sites that you have set up in your account. You can use your regular email, your Blackberry, or your Peek to make these posts.

TweetDeck is another way you can make a post and publish it on Facebook and Twitter. You can make posts that are posted only to Twitter, you can make posts that only go to Facebook, and you can make posts that go to both.

Making separate posts to Facebook and Twitter is important as well. You also need to make posts to your friends on Facebook and your followers on Twitter. This is the best way to stay in contact with people, show you care by answering their questions and helping them out when you can, and building trust by making these posts.

Finding time to make these posts can be a problem when you run your own business. It is very difficult to get everything done in a day by yourself. You have all the tasks that go with your home and your family plus you have all the tasks that go with your business.

When this happens, you should consider hiring a Virtual Assistant to make posts for you. Now this doesn’t mean you will never have to get on sites like Facebook and Twitter. All is means is you will spend less time on those sites, but you will still have the presence of being there.

Now there are a couple of ways to do this. You can give your VA general topics to post about or you can give her specific posts to make. While your VA is on your account she should also make posts towards others. For example, if one of your followers on Twitter makes a post like good morning, your VA could say good morning back. If one of your followers makes a post that is good and something that your followers would be interested in, she can retweet it and your followers will see it as well.

Another option is to have your VA post on TweetLater. TweetLater gives you the ability to make posts throughout the day when you can’t be on it. You can send topics or actual posts to your VA and she can schedule them throughout the day.

Social media is very important for all business owners, but it maybe hard to work it into your busy day. When you have your Virtual Assistant make posts for you, you will get the valuable exposure you need while spending time working your business and growing it to a level you need and want.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business. She enjoys helping others reach their goals and dreams. Check out her website at http://www.virtualfreedom4you.com.

In our continuing discussion on outsourcing, we have talked about outsourcing your blog posts, newsletters, and appointment setting. Today we are going to discuss scheduling events.

If you have a radio show, coaching business, or you are a speaker you know what it’s like to schedule things. Did you know that you can outsource this to your Virtual Assistant? You can give your VA the names, email addresses, and phone numbers for people and she can add those to your schedule. This will save you time all the way around because you won’t have to spend time communicating via email or phone.

If you have a Google or Yahoo calendar that you can give your VA access to, she can add these and send you reminders so you know what is going on ahead of time. She can also send you an email telling you what you have scheduled and when so you have an overview of what is coming up.

Scheduling these types of calls and meetings is beneficial because it will help you plan your day and you won’t over book yourself or schedule something at the same time as something else. Outsourcing this task will save you time which will allow you to schedule more in a day because you won’t have to do it yourself.

You should consider hiring a Virtual Assistant to schedule your interviews, coaching sessions, or speaking engagements. In the long run you will have more time, you will make more money, and you will be able to help more people.

Continuing our discussion on outsourcing, today we will talk about blog posts. Almost every person and every business has at least one blog. From a business aspect, we know it’s important to blog because it’s a great way to keep your business in front of people. You can set up RSS Feeds on your blog and people can subscribe to them via email or through their readers.

We know it’s very important to have fresh content on a regular basis. With all the different aspects of owning a business, writing content for your blog may be difficult to do. Finding time to write could be a challenge or maybe evening writing in general, so when this happens you may need some help.

One way to do this is to use articles from article directories as content. You will want to use articles that are what your target market is looking for or enjoys reading. When you use this type of content, make sure you include the author bio and make sure the link is clickable.

Another option is to hire a Virtual Assistant or Ghostwriter to write for you. You can give them topics to write about and let them run with it or you can give them specific ideas you have. Another option is for you to write the posts and have your Virtual Assistant schedule them on your blog. Either way, you will save time in the long run.

Using these ideas to keep the content on your blog fresh will help you keep your business in front of your readers on a regular basis. When you do this, you will increase traffic to your blog and your website. So remember these tips when you are looking for ways to increase the time you have to spend with your family this summer.

Summer time is around the corner. School is close to being over or may be over in your area.

Some business owners take the summer off while others must work so they continue to have an income. Have you considered outsourcing certain parts and pieces of your business so you can take time off, but continue to have money coming in?

Now you may ask, what does it mean to outsource? Or you might ask, what can I outsource?

The answer to the first question is simple. Outsourcing is where you hire someone to do work for you. You can hire a Virtual Assistant or you can hire family members or friends.

The answer to the second question really depends on your business. If you run a coaching business, you can outsource your appointment calendar, your newsletter, and your notes. If you run an advertising business, you can hire an advertising manager. This person will handle all advertising concerns. They will send you all the necessary information for new ads, send you reminders when it’s time to take down an ad, and answer any questions that come in regarding price, placement, etc.

Virtual Assistants, family members, or friends can do as much or as little as you need. You can hire them on an as needed basis, you can hire them for a special project, or you can have them work with you on a regular basis. The decision is yours to make.

When you decide to outsource certain parts of your business, you will have more time to spend with your family. You will feel comfortable taking a vacation or taking a week off to spend with your kids at the beach.

So how will you run your business this summer?

Social networking is very popular right now. Most people feel that your business will grow when you do some form of social networking on a weekly basis. We have all heard about social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin, but have you ever thought about forums and message boards?

Forums and message boards are a great way to meet new people, find your niche market, and learn new things. People get to know you in these places just like they do on Twitter or Facebook. The advantage to forums and message boards is you can limit the number of people you connect with and you can put yourself in front of your target market so they will learn from you. You will build trust with them and then your business will begin to grow.

So remember, when you are networking online, you should consider joining a few forums and message boards.