To find out what you’re worth, you can start by shopping around to other people who do the same things. There are lots of sites that people can use to hire businesses, and often they let you see competitor’s prices. You may also speak to potential clients and ask for what they normally pay, though many will be tempted to give you a lower rate to get a better price.

Remember, just because someone does the same job as you, doesn’t mean you should charge the same as them. A writer who is a native English speaker is generally much more valuable than one who isn’t. Someone with twenty years experience often makes more than someone with two (but not always), and someone with proven results can make more than someone who is just starting out.

Just because you know what you’re worth doesn’t mean you can necessarily make that. When it comes to making what you’re worth, good marketing is key. There will always be people who can charge lower rates than you so it’s important that you don’t compete on price alone.

Let potential clients know what makes you different and why you’re worth more. The key is letting people know how good you are and convincing them that paying more for your services is going to help them make more money in the end.

Here are a few things to help you make your case:

* Samples – Samples of your work will help potential clients know that you’re good at what you do.

* Customer testimonials. This is one of the best ways to let potential clients know that your services are worth what you’re charging. If other previous clients have good things to say about you and your services, it will really vouch for you.

Charging what you’re worth can be scary, particularly during difficult times. However, with a little thought and planning there’s no reason why you can’t stand out from the competition – even with higher rates.
photo credit: Andres Rueda

Well unless you completely ignore everything I write, you know I absolutely love wordpress. I converted the last of my websites to WP about 2 years ago and it is all I personally work in now. The majority of my clients also use it or their first project for me is typically converting to wordpress. As with any medium it’s impossible for me to know everything. So I’m really looking forward to the Hot Seminar Series this year. It’s all about wordpress!

Just a few of the topics to be covered in this weekly series are choosing themes, security, branding, plugins and so much more.

This is a 9 week seminar filled with information.  The Hot Seminar Series has grown each year because of the incredible experts brought to the table.  This is not a pay as you go or an expensive series.  9 weeks of priceless information, with downloadable mp3′s to listen to as often as necessary and also video to watch later.  This way if you can’t make the wednesday night session’s you won’t miss out on the content!

Go get your subscription to the Hot Seminar Series and commit to learning and growing your business this summer.

So who is right? Are forums a timewaster or a great place to network?

The answer is yes.

An online forum is what you make of it. If you visit your favorite marketing forum and end up getting drawn into discussion after discussion without having much to show for it – then you’re wasting your valuable time. It’s not that the time isn’t beneficial, but you are taking time away from other aspects of your business if you are on the forum all day.

On the other hand, if you visit a forum for a specific period of time each day and spend that time wisely – sharing tips and discussing interesting topics for example – then it’s safe to say that forum is a great contribution to your business. As I’ve talked about before, building yourself up as an expert really drives up traffic and sales.

Many valuable friendships and joint ventures have been made through online networking forums. I have met many top woman in internet marketing through paid membership and free forums. The key, like with most things, is to use moderation and common sense.

Here are a few of the most common pitfalls of online forums and how to avoid them:

1# – They can be negative places. Sometimes you can visit a forum, get dragged in for two hours and leave feeling uninspired and even depressed. The truth is, when you visit an online forum you don’t always know who you’re dealing with – this is the anonymity our online world offers us. Unfortunately many forum regulars can be quite negative and even downright nasty.

To avoid this trap, visit forums that inspire you and make you feel productive. If you leave the forum feeling you have gained something and feel ready to get back to work on your business, then it’s likely a good place to spend time in each week.

#2 – You can get sucked in to meaningless discussions. While it’s okay to make friendships as well as network, you really don’t want to spend half of your day talking about non-business related topics (not while you’re meant to be working). It may be fine to contribute an answer or two, but keep your end goal in mind at all times – are you there to simply socialize or are you there to network as well?

To avoid this trap, use your time wisely. Be friendly and contribute to the informal chitchat from time to time, but don’t make it the emphasis of your time at the forum. If you apply this rule from the start, it’s easier to avoid this trap. It’s a lot harder to switch back to being more business-like after you’ve been very socially chatty and informal for a while.

#3 – You give more than you get. It’s good to give back; there is no denying that. But, if you spend a lot of time on forums helping others and not achieving much in return yourself, then you may want to ask why you’re doing it in the first place?

There is nothing wrong with helping someone from time to time. But not to the extent that it takes away from your own work or makes you feel used.

To avoid this trap, give out a few helpful nuggets of information here and there and include a link back to your website for further information. For example, if someone is asking a lot of questions about search engine optimization and you’re an expert, give them a few tips then direct them to the search engine optimization section on your website for further help. If you don’t have a post with more information, then create one!

Most forums will allow you to do this as long as you have been helpful and provided information in your original post. At the very least you can include a link back to your website in your signature line.

Forums can be a great addition to your business success or a complete time-wasting exercise. It’s ultimately up to you how you use your time and if in doubt keep the old saying in mind – “time is money.” Are you using yours valuably?

Some good, positive forums I network in:

Mom Masterminds
Mommy’s Helper Community
Work at Home Space
Classy Chic’s
Self Starters Weekly Tips

Whether getting home from work, running the kids to activities or getting to our own evening meetings, dinner can sure get in the way. It’s not easy to find a schedule on some nights that is perfect for everyone to eat, let alone a time to cook that meal.

I do enjoy cooking, it’s just that being such a busy mom I don’t have the time most nights or I’m too tired to enjoy it. Menu planning and once a week cooking have changed this.

Each week I take a few hours. I head to the grocery store with my pre-written shopping list and then get cooking my main dishes. I can enjoy cooking again and have found I love it even more. It feels great to have all the dinners cooked up and ready to go for later use.

I always toss a couple of the meals in the freezer for the end of the week. This way there’s a quick answer to, “What’s for dinner?” I keep the week’s meal list on the fridge and cross them off as we eat them. It also helps to let one kid pick which meal will be next. Less arguments about eating said meal.

Plan for the week and spend less time in the kitchen!

All this WAHM value talk has made me think hard about my work life. I have major offline changes and I’ll post those later, but they have been truly major and all this talk of my value has made the decisions easier. Not saying that I’m waltzing through said changes, shouting with glee, but if this talk didn’t come up right now I would be dragging my feet. lol Remember this blog was created because I balance my two business personalities. Some are online and my personal training is offline, but both are mine alone The offline biz has not been easy to balance with the family and is yet another reason that forced changes and thinking have been awesome.

The last week I have been even better about scheduling and balance. This is not an easy task as all this discussion has gotten me very excited about my projects and a couple of clients projects as well. Not to mention two of my sites really kicking it this week. Hmm, wonder if it has anything to do with my passion being back in the biz and putting more value on my time?

I’m being better about charging for my time. One client wants my opinion on things, not even proofreading but just my opinion after reading documents. Yes, yell at me, but there have been times in short documents that I haven’t added the time in. You can imagine after a few emails back and forth every week, how that can add up. It’s not like he doesn’t want me to charge him for that time, that was my own odd perception. Yes, you can commence the “yelling” at me now, I’m in a good place to be able take it. lol

It’s that fine line that I am crossing over. I’ve given away a lot of help for free over the years. I’m grateful that I have and I will continue to pass free help on, but there is also getting to be a much better line for when it is too much and I’m getting better at getting that across in my emails as well. Years of freely helping others is helping me set up ecourses and reports to further help more people. That coaching was not in vain, however I need to keep it under control so I don’t become bitter and it takes up time I need to be working my business so I can continue to work from home. This also puts value to my time.

Getting control of my time spent on certain aspects of biz and projects helps me map out where my time is spent and how I can work to lower that time. Be it through outsourcing some of my tasks or creating products to help even more. Analyzing how I’m spending my online time will help me value that time or show me where my time wasters are.

Just because I love to help other moms doesn’t mean that I should always do it for free. I know this is a big mindset I have to change. I’ve been on work at home forums since 1999, getting a ton of advice and passing it as well. I think the fact that I have gotten so much free info over the years is a reason why I’m having some issues crossing that line. But knowing is most of the battle right?

When it comes to creating content, including ebooks, reports, articles, blog posts, and audio and video, there are a few options. You can create the content yourself. You can hire someone to create it, or you can use PLR (Private Label Rights) content. Of the three options, PLR offers some unique benefits.

Here’s why PLR is a great source of content for your online business:

* PLR helps you provide valuable knowledge and information to your website visitors without you having to know everything there is to know about your niche topic. It broadens your expertise without having to spend the time researching and gaining the knowledge yourself.

* It is a quick and easy means of creating content. It saves you both the time creating new topics but also researching and writing. Your time is valuable and PLR can give you the time you need to focus on more profitable tasks.

* It’s less expensive than hiring a ghostwriter. PLR saves you money and as a business owner, you’re already acutely aware of how to best spend your money. In many cases you can purchase two or even three times the amount of PLR as if you’d hired a ghostwriter to write the same content yourself. This is because multiple licenses are sold for PLR content.

* With PLR you don’t have to worry about it being delivered on time. Nor do you need to listen to any potential excuses, questions or timely communication issues you may deal with when employing a ghostwriter. It is delivered monthly or for immediate download.

* You can easily edit the content to fit your particular keywords. And by adding a few personal touches to each piece of PLR, you create an original piece of content. Also, it only takes you minutes rather than hours.

* PLR is great to boost search engine optimization. Because each article or PLR piece is created around a unique topic, a little keyword research and some fine tuning of the content is all you need to publish it, be recognized by the search engines and boost your page ranking. A better page ranking means more traffic. More traffic equals more profits, generally. And because search engines look for both quality and volume with regards to content, PLR makes it easy to get noticed by the search engine spiders quickly.

* It helps you become an export in your niche. Private label rights content helps you increase the amount of published content you have on your website and available online. Because you own the rights to it, you are free to place your name as the author. Publication helps establish you and your company as an authority on your niche topic. Authority is a key buying trigger – we buy from people we believe to be experts.

* PLR offers many options. You can easily re-purpose PLR articles into books and reports to give away as bonus material, opt-in offers or even to sell. And if you purchase PLR books and reports, they too can be re-purposed into articles, autoresponders, and blog posts.

* PLR comes in a variety of formats. Articles and blog posts are often the most popular; however, you can purchase PLR autoresponders, ebooks, reports, online courses, software, audios and videos.

PLR offers busy entrepreneurs an easy way to supplement their content. It fills in the gaps and it makes creating and providing content on a regular basis a much easier and less time-consuming endeavor.

Find great quality PLR without the subscription at Busy Blogger PLR. Purchase the plr packs you will use right now.

The art of doing business on the Internet has come a long way. Businesses large and small are doing more online, they are demanding more useful, exciting websites. There’s simply a lot more riding on today’s business websites than a collection of text and images. With that comes the increasing need for technically savvy help to manage it all and a smart, forward thinking VA should be sharpening her skills and offering services like these:

Backup – Far too often have I saved myself (and the clients), from hours of work putting things back as they were. You cannot rely on a web host all the time. To save space, web hosts only store backups for a very short period of time. And because restoration is not always part of their service, a host will usually restore the entire site when you may only need to restore one folder. Besides, some hosts are here today gone tomorrow. Or your client may have got tired of them.

Offering a backup and restoration service to your clients makes so much sense and it is often quite profitable for you since you don’t have to restore sites everyday nor every month for that matter. Backups can be put on autopilot and you can charge a recurring fee.

Software Update – So many web sites today run on open source software like WordPress, Drupal or Joomla. These are actively developed systems that move forward regularly and sometimes at a quick pace too. Every time you turn around it seems like the software needs to be updated.

Many clients don’t bother to update because they may be afraid of the consequences or just don’t know how. In the end, they either become victims of hackers or find themselves unable to proceed with their latest program because the software is outdated.

WordPress Hardening – Talking about open source software, WordPress is one of the hottest. There’s a great chance at least one of your clients are using to manage their website. But a popular software also means it is a big fat target for hackers who test it daily. Unfortunately, during setup, many designers and even VA’s do not take the time to secure it. Much of the default settings remain which make it easy for anyone to exploit.

We’re not talking about making a security guarantee to your clients – no software is that iron clad, but there are things that one can do to make WordPress more resistant. Sell that to your clients. This is a great way to earn extra from existing clients and bring in some money when things are slow.

Operating Procedure Wiki – You might already have heard of it. Create systems. Reproducible steps that anyone in the organization can take and run with. It make sense. Systems make your work faster – even if you already know it like the back of your hand, having checklists on hand can help remind you of steps you may miss regularly. Also, training new help becomes easier.

Many clients know this but are just way too busy. What you can do is not only document the knowledge, but set up a search-able, easy to use archive like a Wiki. In the long run it will help you too since you are likely to have more than one client, you may not remember all the steps you have to complete on a task that is not often repeat.

Enhanced Help Desk – You could already be the ‘voice’ behind your clients’ help desk right now. That’s great! If you enjoy it and want to win more clients in that area, why not offer an enhanced help desk service? What is that?

Some clients have multiple points of contact that can slow the customer service process down or cause confusion for customers because it may not be clear where to get help. The best thing is to pull everything together into one help center where people can find answers to frequently asked questions and initiate contact. It takes some planning and a bit of email routing and you can be the one to pull this together for your clients.

Take it a step further. Host the help desk software yourself for ‘free’ as part of the contract with your client. Many clients do not want yet another software for them to maintain. If the software can be part of your agreement, it absolutely makes sense for them. And, they would probably stay longer because if they break the contract with you, that means they have to source and purchase the software and setup. All of which takes time and money – valuable resources that the client may prefer to save.

What do you think? Is there any service here that you can implement right away? Maybe you want to but do not know how to start. After all, these are somewhat technical and you may not consider yourself technically inclined. There’s good news. Tech stuff is a lot easier than most make it out to be. You just need the right type of help, like what you can expect over at TechBasedTraining.com.

I don’t at all. I’m thankful that tonight hubby is loving watching movies and playing with the dogs as we get the kids off to bed late. lol They are a teen and tween now so it’s part their fault for not going to bed on time The horrible part is that at 9:30 it was getting close to my new bedtime. DOH, that is hours and hours past a normal bedtime I would have. So it was bound to hit me again. I know that part of my being up late is this addiction to a good days business.

I have new projects that are going great. I set up a newer design at Once A Week Cooking. It’s a brand new theme that I am testing for the designer. I’m in love with it and adapted my theme in a very short time. I’m excited to get a link out for everyone when it’s ready for sale. I purchased an ecourse that I had high, high, OMG high hopes would come out. I will be adding it and new coaching options in the next couple of days. We have our latest event out for sign up at Mom Chats and it’s all about pampering mom. An ebook will be launched at the event as well.

This doesn’t even touch on the coolness that is my VA clients that went down today! I’m telling you, today is just an incredible day.

Tomorrow is going to be the same. I know how it happened, I know I stayed positive and I completed projects. Yes, some of it was just the luck of it happening on an already good day, but much of it had to do with how productive my day was.

I should also stress that I knew I had limited time to get stuff done. My MIL had ankle surgery in December when she destroyed her ankle. Then hubby hurt his leg as well and was immobilized. I hadn’t realized just how long it had been since we visited. I am blessed with awesome in-laws and that is saying a lot as I have 4 of them. lol So the odds were totally against me! Spending time with my MIL and stepFIL kicked butt. Even more kick butt because I had gotten my projects done before leaving to visit so I wasn’t doing the toe-tap-let’s-go dance. I was able to visit freely and enjoy. Then get home eventually to work, work, work some more

Did I mention it was an incredible workday? Here I post before I even check my emails this morning. Drinking a little coffee and psyching myself up for another incredible day. I know that my mental outlook DOES have some pull on how my day will go.

Are you ready for some serious internet marketing coaching? Stay tuned, it’s opening for sessions very, very soon!

Sometimes being online keeps my head thinking only online. I am a VA, but why does that have to be strictly virtual? Why wouldn’t some local small businesses want a contractor to help them get a newsletter out, manage a mailing list, set up their website, or any number of details that a small business can’t get to. Many small businesses can’t afford full-time employees and even regular part-time employees for that matter.

Taking my virtual assistance businesses to the next level could mean advertising locally. Dropping off custom promotional mugs with a gift basket and a detailed flyer of ideas on how I can help them grow. Many small businesses don’t know how many ways I can help them and how many ways there are to advertise affordably. Possibly they want to run a promotion, but truly don’t have that extra time to put it together. It’s holding their profits back and that’s where I could be stepping in.

I dislike the saying, “Think outside the box.” Being one who has never thought “in the box” I don’t get it. lol But this is one of those instances where I think I may have just gotten the saying I’m not going to just “think outside the box”, I’m gonna jump on top of it and soar.

I’m going to start with my absolute favorite forums. Mommy’s Helper Community. I’ve been a regular posting member there since Sept of 2004. So working on 6 years now! Not only do I have a ton of posts and helpful replies, but I’ve made a ton of friends there. Some of us found each other from a negative forum and then also a forum that was very active and then became spammy. So it was awesome to all join in at Mommy’s Helper and have this positive place to hang out together again.

This forum is not just for direct sales or affiliate marketers. We touch on all of it and yes, we do welcome men to the group as well. But we really do hit on all of the above and more. We encourage you to bring your expertise and your questions. Everyone has something they are more knowledgeable about in business and we love to learn from each other.

One great thing about the groups is the spam is kept at a very low minimum and usually one of us deletes it before you can even report it. You can ask any business question and never be treated like you are an idiot AND if we can’t get you an immediate answer then usually Anita or I will go looking for answers for you.

So if you are looking for a productive and friendly wahm forum, then I encourage you to visit us at Mommy’s Helper Community. My username is BusyMomma as it is on most forums around the net. lol I’m sure I’ll be one of the first to tell you welcome on your intro anyway