Home › Viziun Blog

Viziun Blog

Recent Posts

Tags

Work Life Balance encouragement Email Marketing guidance Ramblings New Business Monday Motivationals content management system Niche Social Media product knowledge expertise Personal Growth Blogs

Archive

    Balancing Work and Life

    Erin Glass - Sunday, September 20, 2009
    Work/Life Balance

    I read a statement the other day on some work from home job opportunity that claims that most start up businesses require working 80 hours a week and that their opportunity allowed you to work as much or as little as you wanted.

    Well, owning and operating your own business allows you to work as little or as much as you want as well. The difference is, how you define success.

    Personally, I can tell you that both my husband and I work closer to the 80/hr work week currently, but it's totally worth it.  Our company is growing faster than we ever anticipated and that's exciting because we know all of our hard work and dedication is paying off.  

    Nothing worth while comes easy and those who try to sell you this "easy get rich quick" pipe dream are fooling themselves and you.  Don't waste your time searching for a job that doesn't require hard work, but pays big bucks.  It doesn't exist.

    Now, there is one very important item that you should be prepared to address. That is work/life balance. It's very easy to allow your work to take over you life, ESPECIALLY if you own your own business, but it is vital that you find some balance.

    This will help you to stick with it for the long haul.  Don't forget to make time for your family and friends. I was once told that you shouldn't talk about work with your friends and family all the time and it's difficult not to do that if you don't have anything else to talk about.

    If you're married and you work together, take little vacations (2 days+) away from work quarterly (at minimum).  You want to be able to decompress and reignite your personal relationship so you don't forget why you fell in love in the first place.

    Try to keep a hobby or something you can do to take your mind off of work on a regular basis. Exercise to keep the stress level down and as difficult as it may be, try to get a good night's rest every night.  

    From someone who's been there and done that, I just want to share my life's lessons with each entrepreneur who's just getting started.  

    Best wishes,

    Erin Glass
    Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

    Staying Focused

    Erin Glass - Monday, June 01, 2009
    So, this blog is a little bit different. I know that each of us is an entrepreneur to some degree and I have to say that there is a unique quality among us.  We tend to be very creative thinkers. We are always coming up with new ideas, better ideas, and ways to improve what we are currently doing.

    I think it's great to continually evolve as that's what makes your business sustainable.  However, I think it's important to note that if you continue to "move forward" with out giving your current "product", "process", or "message" time to really be effective, you will fail to gain the necessary momentum to propel you into the next phase.

    This is one of the most challenging things for us as entrepreneurs to do, be patient.  Set short and long term goals and stick to them.  Gauge your progress and if once you've hit your benchmark, it's not working, then re-evaluate.  It's natural that your initial idea may not even resemble your final product, but that's how we create. 

    I'm not saying to stop looking for ways to improve. I'm saying make sure you give your current idea or product time to determine what improvements (if any) need to be made.

    I'll leave you with something some one once told me. "Hard work along will not determine success; Consistency will."

    Keep that in mind as you proceed in your endeavors.  Best wishes to you all!

    To Your Continued Success,

    Erin Glass
    COO

    www.viziun.com
    Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

    Social Media Overload?

    Erin Glass - Friday, May 29, 2009
    Is anyone else out there finding it a "job" just to manage your social media marketing? There are so many great tools out there to put you in front of your target audience but who has the time to manage it all?

    I've found an awesome tool for automating my twitter account. It cost me $27 but WELL WORTH IT!!! I added 500 new contacts in one day (and they were specifically targeted contacts) and I wasn't even on my computer. I'm serious.

    I usually don't buy into all this "get it done quick" stuff but I took the gamble and am really glad I did.

    I've also found a great tool for Facebook too and am in the midst of testing it out before I give my feedback.

    If you're wanting to expand your reach to your target market for FREE (well, essentially Free after you pay the $27...ha) then ask me about it.

    I can help walk you through the set up process. It can be a little cumbersome at first but once you set it up, it's on auto-pilot!

    It's called the Twitter Traffic Machine by Bill Crosby. Check it out and start buildiing your list today!

    Enjoy,

    Erin Glass
    COO
    Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

    Would You Like To Automate Your Income?

    Erin Glass - Sunday, May 24, 2009
    Okay, so who wouldn't want to put their income stream on auto-pilot? It sounds great, but is it realistic? I say yes, it is. There are ways that you can set your business up to run while you sleep, play golf, or go on vacation. You know that saying, "if you build it, they will come". Well, that's not entirely true. There are things you have to do to drive leads to your business.

    In the world wide web of business advertising (websites) there is more competition than ever before and it's only positioned to get tougher. You HAVE to know who you're targeting and put together a solution to get in front of them. You can have the greatest product or the best service and if no one knows about you, you could go out of business as quickly as you got into business. Don't be a statistic!

    So, let's say you have done your research, invested time and money into optimizing your website, have your products or services ready to go, and.....you start getting traffic. What do you have in place to capture this traffic? Do you have a contact us form. Not just an email to ask them to reach out to you? You should be capturing people when they're on your site. Do you have a CRM (contact database)? Does your website talk to your CRM? If it doesn't it should or you could be missing out on tons of warm leads!! This is vital.

    Now, the next step is follow up. How are you followiing up with all these leads? Can you handle hundreds or thousands a day on your own? Why not set up a system that automatically will follow up with each person on it's own? You can use auto-responders to automatically generate a thank you email. With using Viziun Insite you can also have each prospect/lead automatically be filtered into an email campaign that you have pre-designed to go out on a repetitive cycle. For example, they fill out a contact us form, they go into the "lead campaign" group. Now they'll receive a series of emails that you have designed to go out every few weeks to stay in front of that lead. The goal is to convert more leads to sales. On average it takes 7-8 touches before a lead becomes a customer. Why not set up your database to do the work for you? Makes sense, right?

    Take it one step further. Let's say you are emailing these leads but how do you know they're reading them or that it's even drivng any activity? Well, Viziun Insite can tell you who opened the email, how many times they opened it, what links they clicked on inside the email, any actions they took on your website, any products they purchased as a result, and so on. You now have a complete 360 degree veiw of your prospect/client activity.

    Once your prospect or client is in the system, you will have an ongoing customer record history where you can add your own notes, tasks, calls or action items. The customer can even have their own secure log in where they can access their account to view past orders, etc.

    And, keep in mind, all of this wonderful activity is being captured PASSIVELY! You aren't doing any manual labor. You simply wake up in the morning, log in to see the statistics, and smile at how many new customers you are capturing every day.

    Viziun Insite has many more features and this is just one. If you are ready to set your businenss up on auto-pilot, call us for a free consultation.

    1.800.277.3606
    info@viziun.com

    To Your Continued Success,

    Erin Glass
    COO
    Viziun Media

    www.viziun.com
    Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

    Tired of Your Business Running You?

    Erin Glass - Friday, May 22, 2009
    In today's business world, we are increasingly stretching ourselves to the extreme. With more and more technology available to "make our lives easier", many find, it can become time consuming to manage every new tech gadget, solution, etc

    Technology really is a great way to increase efficiency if you can manage the systems while not letting them manage you.

    Viziun has a number of software packages that consolidates all of your business management needs. From Email marketing, Customer Databases, Blogs, User Forums, E-Commerce, Content Management Systems, and much much more, we have a system that will allow each component to work seamlessly together, communicating all necessary information for you to get the most accurate statistics needed in order to better run your business.

    People every where are jumping on board and are saving weeks out of their lives each year simply by consolidating their software solutions.

    If you want to learn more about how you can increase your efficiency while decreasing the time you spend managing all of these different systems, then visit us at www.viziun.com.

    We look forward to "Putting you Back in Control of Your Business".

    Best Wishes,

    Erin Glass
    COO

    www.viziun.com
    info@viziun.com
    Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

    Visual Emotions

    Gary Glass - Saturday, April 25, 2009
    It is interesting to me how some things that we hear, smell, touch and even see can create an instant flashback to a particular moment. A memory of a time and/or place that is as real as its original experience. Even more so, how those moments can invoke a very real and specific emotion. During a call recently, my older brother recalled such a memory of us that was triggered by me wishing him a Happy Birthday. WIthin 30 seconds, he had taken us both back to a particular moment, recalling the road that we were on, the car that we were in, and even the look on both of our faces as I gave him a particular birthday gift. More importantly is that along with the images of that moment, he absorbed, filed away and recalled a particular emotion that we were both now able to relish. Because my brother was able to attach an emotion to a visual memory, I know now, a decade later, that my brother has a historical appreciation of me.

    I am a bit of a movie-goer, and relish in the fact that I have probably watched over 300 movies in my short life (this is including those seen more than once). I agree with the anti-movie-enthusiasts, in that a lot of time can be wasted in watching movies. Some are long (enter sarcastic smile here). However, I find that I can live vicariously through most characters, and read deeper into the core character or emotions of the actor, than most probably do. I enjoy learning people, their motives, their actions and reactions. A related pastime of yours may be "people watching" at any public venue. I guess you can call "People Learning" a passion of mine. (sidenote: I have learned that I can define a Passion as something that I can never be dissapointed in when doing)

    An example of this is "Good Will Hunting" from the mid '90s with Robin Williams, Matt Damon and Ben Afleck (Movie Reviews). Though not a story of my life, I draw a few relations to Matt Damon's character. What is interesting to me is that although I have seen this movie at least a dozen times, I still find myself laughing at his engagement with Robin Williams' character, as well as pulling for Damon to find the strength to dictate the outcome of his own life. I think that this movie was superbly written. Though humor is subtle and sparatic throughout the movie, opposite of Williams' common performances, the ending leaves me motivated to find a way to remain open to new and unknown opportunities, and not prevent them with emotional stubborness.

    The common thread here is that it was a movie that recalled emotions that are tied to the images of those memories of mine. For you, it may be a picture, a smell or a conversation. The emotions invoked could be those of enlightenment and anticipation, or of sorrow and unhappiness. Whatever it is, know that it is not the past that holds your future, but the decisions made today of how you allow your emotions react to present opportunities.

    Be Encouraged,
    Gary Glass
    President/CEO
    Viziun Media LLC

    www.viziun.com
    "Putting you back in control of your business!"

    Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink
    1