It’s no secret that business owners have struggled for YEARS with finding, hiring and working with a virtual team.

It’s not surprising really … while there are a ton of people out there telling you to hire virtual professionals to support the growth of your business, there’s no one telling you where to find them, how to connect with them, how to hire them and how to successfully work with  them.

… Until Now.

Enter Tina Forsyth and her brand new video series of the Top 10 Questions Business Owners Have About Finding, Hiring and Working with a Virtual Team.  And just to confirm – she’s not making this stuff up – these were the top questions hundreds of business owners asked in Tina’s recent survey.

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One word.  Impressive.

That’s what I have to say about the videos Tina Forsyth developed to answer the Top 10 Questions Business Owners Have About Finding, Hiring and Working With a Virtual Team.

Every business owner needs to see these —  check out what I’m talking about – https://obm.infusionsoft.com/go/videos/tzwierzynski

We’ve all heard about it  … or perhaps we’ve experienced it first hand.    A business owner hires a new virtual professional – a Virtual Assistant, Online Business Manager, or other virtual professional who specializes in specific area.

They’re excited … looking forward to the amazing results they’re going to achieve with this new found support.

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We have a VERY special opportunity for subscribers (and subscribers-to-be) of Solo-E.com who are ready to skyrocket their business!

As proud sponsors of Nancy Marmolejo’s I Heart My Biz workshop in Anaheim, California, in early June, we have two tickets to give away exclusively to Solo-E subscribers. It’s easy to enter — just sign up for one or more Insider’s Tips and fill out the entry form (details) and you’re entered!

Want to improve your chances of being a winner? Spread the word about Solo-E, I Heart My Biz, and the contest itself, via your blog, newsletter, Twitter, or even by forwarding our newsletter to a friend or giving us a testimonial — and you get more chances to win.

Hurry — the contest ends next Sunday, May 2nd, at midnight PST! I Heart My Biz Contest

Sorry, the giveaway has ended. Sign up for our newsletter (over there in the left column) for other great solo entrepreneur advice and learning opportunities, and you’ll also get notified of future events like this!

Back in December, as I was watching everyone and their brother announce their Christmas giveaway event, I was struck by how enticing these events are! I mean, everyone likes to get something for free, right? But there were three things that bothered me. First, unfortunately too many of these giveaways were for the same old freebies that are given away all the time. Second, many required signup — I just don’t have time for that and don’t want to clutter my inbox further. And third, they were all happening at the same time.

And so, the Solo-E Post-Resolution Hangover Remedy giveaway event was born! (ends Friday, February 5th, at noon ET)

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What to write in Twitter? Lots of new tweeps and even veterans ask this question. Should I tell people I had chicken salad for lunch? Should I only write about business? etc.

The answer to that depends on how you want to use Twitter. If you prefer to connect with people only professionally, then only tweet about business stuff. If you’d like to connect on a more personal level occasionally, then tweet about personal stuff and respond to other’s personal tweets. The more you do whatever you are comfortable with, the more your tweeps will respond in kind.

Ho hum. So what’s the real secret? Read the rest of this post »

Today I read an article about a local man whose business recently went bankrupt, in good part because he gave a lot of breaks to folks who were in economic trouble. It reminded me of a lesson I learned 19 years ago as an engineering manager — an important piece of business wisdom.

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When I started my business in 2001, it was a given that I would need a website. Just as I’d need business cards, a telephone, and a computer, I’d also need a presence on the web to truly be in business.

Times have changed — yes, your business still needs to be on the web, but increasingly, that presence is a blog, not a website (and sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference!) Here are 10 reasons why: Read the rest of this post »

Congratulations to Marnie Pehrson, creator of IdeaMarketers.com, for ten wonderful years serving article writers! You can read more about the IdeaMarketers history on Marnie’s blog. Drop by and offer Marnie your congratulations!

IdeaMarketers is one of the biggest, and one of my favorite, article posting sites, providing great visibility for authors and their articles online. Marnie is also one of my favorite people online — knowledgeable, generous, and with six kids and a dozen online businesses, she’s an inspiration!

IdeaMarketers.com also has a special Expert program that offers additional features including events posting, several topic-specific blogs, monthly training and mastermind calls. For more information, visit the IdeaMarketers Expert Program description page.

Here’s a nice list of potential New Year’s resolutions for 2009, from the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur blog, “Are These 31 Deadly Time-Wasting Mistakes Killing Your Company?“,

(Includes an excerpt from Solo-E’s free ebook, 25 Surefire Ways to Capture More Clients, Get More Done in Less Time, and Increase Your Income – in 90 Days or Less!)

As business owners we quickly learn that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. False promises on get-rich quick and home-based business opportunity sites come to mind as an example. So we become wary consumers, looking for the truth behind the spin. So when we were contacted recently by George Ajazi offering “free SEO advice“, we were understandably skeptical.

But every so often, someone comes along who is, honest to goodness, giving something really valuable away. George turned out to be one of those people! Read the rest of this post »