Liz Strauss.com

Behind every Successful small business is an Outstanding Manager.

In doing the research for my new service — The Perfect Virtual Manager — I spoke with people at all levels of business who’ve left traditional organizations to start their own. From homeschooling emoms who needed to earn their way to small businesses who’ve had clients for two decades, what I found is that we share agreement that schools prepare us to be great members of the working system. We gain strong skills in leadership within the context of the traditional organization, but few of us are ready to take on the challenges of cutting a path on our own.

I wrote about this on my writing blog not long ago . . .

Where I went to school we didn’t learn to lead. We learned to be good students and if we fit the mold just right we became exceptional employees. We might rise through the ranks. We might achieve a place where we could lead, but that didn’t make us leaders. We never had to forge a path. The path was always there before us. Do this and then do that to get there and you too, can be where I am now.

I was one of those faux leaders. I built companies and made them rich. I thought I knew how to do things, but I didn’t. I only had a piece, only a bit of the picture. No one had taught me how be on my own. No, no, they let me do things alone, but that’s not the same. I didn’t know that. How could I? It looks the same when you’re in a crowd.

Most folks who leave an organization are not aware of the support they are walking away from — the back office functions, the benefits plans, the wide-range of skill sets that are available that are not the skill sets that they personally have or understand. Some don’t consider the work they will have to do that isn’t billable — preparing invoices, doing taxes, buying supplies.

The learning curve is high for skills and functions that once were done by other people — collecting bad debts, making cold calls, writing a marketing plan.

Even folks prepared to run a business, as I was, miss the advantage of a second opinion — the board of directors, the intelligent colleague — the business mind who has time to listen and give intelligent and valuable feedback.

These needs are the underpinnings of the Perfect Virtual Manager (PVM). Over the next few posts, I’m going to share with you what I learned about working at home while researching this new (PVM) service.

Liz Strauss

I’ve been talking to colleagues and my readers about the problems of invidividuals who have left organizational employment to work on their own. Many are finding that they are unprepared for the change in environment, the call for new skill sets, and the need to manage their own time within a framework that dictates that if they don’t work, they don’t make an income.

Some have not done the research, either by nature of how they came to be in their new situation — through layoffs or loss of employment — or because they didn’t consider the wealth of services that their previous company provided for them. Many don’t know where to start. Some are completely overwhelmed. Others get distracted easily and find the week has ended before their work has begun.

Do you know someone who needs help

meeting deadlines?

managing priorities?

setting and meeting goal?

setting up a business?

determining personal strengths and weaknesses?

making sure that legalities and taxes are covered?

finding and reaching an appropriate market?

knowing where to start?

establishing a brand?

writing a business plan?

assessing needs?

making action plans?

I’m looking for 2-3 new clients to beta test the service that I’m about to launch — the Perfect Virtual Manager (PVM). If you or someone you know could benefit from an experienced business manager/partner, contact me to for a conversation. I’ll be offering this beta service at a special pre-launch half-price structure.

Behind every Successful small business is an Outstanding Manager.

Liz Strauss.

773-619 0371
lizsun2 at gmail [dot] com
Skype lizstrauss

Many blog posts that we write teach or explain how to do something. These questions form a nice rubric or checklist for making sure a how-to post is solidly written.

How-to Checklist

• Is there a clear purpose for the topic?
• Does the post provide information that complete and sufficiently detailed?
• Can the reader identify in the introduction what the post will teach?
• Are the steps in the order they will be completed?
• Did the post summarize what was taught?
• Do tone and voice sound confident and supportive in stating the directions?
• Are the sentences clear and concise?
• Does the summary give readers a reason to want to try to do what the post is teaching?

Keep this checklist handy and you won’t miss a step in writing your how-to post.

Liz Strauss

Where in the organization’s overall strategy does a blog fit?

Blogs are part public relations, part soft sell — in the same way a CEO interview is. The overall tenor of a blog should be “helpful not hypeful,” as they say. In it’s role as a part of the PR of a company, a blog establishes brand identity, shows the company as a thought leader, and opens the door to conversational relationships.

Blogs don’t replace other PR initiatives, but rather expand and enhance them. And new online venues actually work hand in hand with a corporate blog to give a PR program depth and breadth. The most known is PRWeb.

WebInkNow gives a great example of the way online PR is becoming blog savvy in the article “Press Releases Now Part of the Blogosphere with PRWeb TrackBacks.” Check it out. It’s a great resource to add to your PR toolkit.
Liz Strauss