The 12 Days of Christmas – The Great Holiday Networking Extravaganza, hosted by Jill Hart and Diana Ennen, is an unprecedented opportunity to learn from some of the best entrepreneurs, best-selling authors, and small businesses who share tips for success and secrets to how to have a profitable business. Daily interviews go behind the scenes to share not only success tips but also how these entrepreneurs are reaching goal after goal.
Contacting Dana:
http://www.AngelArts.biz
719-785-4814
info@angelarts.biz
http://www.facebook.com/AngelArtsPublishing
http://www.twitter.com/angelartsbiz
Tell us a little about your business?
You know how sometimes Christian work at home moms and dads feel desperate with many challenges overwhelming them? I provide resources and tools that help them overcome obstacles and experience bliss instead as joyful parents working at home.
As a graphic designer, writer and publisher, I do this through various ways, including coaching on branding, providing entrepreneurial resources, training, and workshops, creating inspirational books, ebooks, and novelty art products, and much more.
Using excellently designed products from original art and literature is my passion, so that’s why I’m excited about my latest foray into digital magazine publishing. It’s a dream of 24 years that is finally coming true! And what’s even more exciting is that my magazines will touch and inspire people who are hurting and a portion of the proceeds will be given to grassroots charitable organizations.
What are some of your top tips for success?
The first tip I always give is to cling to Jesus. He is the best boss I have ever had! Then my next tip is to spend some time analyzing your gifts, passions, and skill sets so that you can create a unique selling proposition. Use this information, as well as a well-crafted marketing plan, to create a brand that fits you authentically. A brand is essential in business, whatever business model you are using, even if you are a direct seller. Be willing to invest in you and your business, and your prospects will be willing to invest in you!
Can you share with us two of top ways you market?
My number one way of marketing is Facebook. I have steadily increased my networking and now have my own niche group that is growing at a rapid rate. This group holds a lot of promise as I expand into some exciting business models.
My other top way to market is to have a sales funnel system. This means that I have free products that gets people on my subscriber list. It takes at least seven exposures to make a sale, so having this built-in audience to promote to as I continually give them gold nuggets of information is invaluable. As they say, the fortune is in the list!
Are you planning any special holiday promotions?
This Christmas, I will be (God willing!) finishing an ebook/magazine called Angels in the Midst: Rising Above the Fires and Floods of Colorado. It is a fundraising book to help survivors of Colorado’s recent disasters. I will be promoting this online as well as locally, specifically through a charitable fundraising event. I will also sell art cards that I published several years ago. I am excited to see how this goes because I want to start selling them online, too!
What goals do you have for the new year?
I have four big goals next year: 1) Publish more Angels in the Midst magazines: one for Leukemia survivors and one for Autistic families. These will be ebooks, printed coffee-style books, Apps, and perhaps Kindle versions. 2) Create a website for my niche group with a radio show, magazine, and more. 3) Sell my art notecards online. 4) Finish and market a unique planning system I’ve been developing for a few years.
Of course, I have many more goals than these, but those are the big ones!
How do you normally obtain those goals?
Prayer and Scripture reading is the cornerstone of my business. And just having an attitude of showing up to serve. I use, through dependence on the Holy Spirit, my planning system to make goals and to turn them into daily actionable steps. Every day, I strive to walk in the callings God has given me and to leave the harvest to Him.
How do you make your business unique & profitable
For me, it all comes down to strategic branding. The more vision and clarity you have for your business, the more you will be able to translate that into an image that attracts results. And that will mean more recognition, more leads, sales, and profits.
For instance, one of my clients is a direct seller with an essential oil company. Because of my branding course, she has realized a new vision for her business and she is very excited! It is helping her to brand herself in a unique way that really sets her apart from her competition. She sees a world of possibilities that she didn’t have before taking my course.
Any additional tips…come on give us a few secrets to your success!
The more I go on this entrepreneurial journey, the more I realize the biggest secret to success: having confidence. Without belief in yourself, you will not get anyone to believe in you or what you are doing. This has been a huge learning curve for me as I have struggled with inadequacy and fear of rejection my whole life. I realized that in order to have success, I have to lay these false beliefs down and take up a new kind of confidence, a confidence that God made me and that I can depend on Him. It is through Him that I have confidence and have been able to pass through barriers that before I thought were impossible.
Have any comical stories you’d like to share about your time in business?
This is the only thing I can think of–back in 2007, I decided at the last minute to enter a logo contest for our city’s balloon festival. I worked on it the day of the deadline and turned it in 15 minutes before the cut off. I thought there was no way I would win it as I threw it together haphazardly and I was even sick when I did it! So a week later, I get a letter from the company. I had won! The funny thing was, that when they saw my designs, they wanted to run after me and yell, “You won! You won!” But they didn’t want to scare me. All day, they had been disappointed by the entries. When they saw my designs, they were thrilled! My prize for the logo contest–riding in a hot air balloon. I took my company, AngelArts, to new heights that day!
Tell us a little about your holidays and how you spend them. We love to get to know the people behind the business, so please do share.
The Christmas season never seems to be the same with us because I have a large extended family and we are often visiting relatives. This year, we want to focus more on the tradition of Advent, and really bring the true meaning of Christmas into everything we do. We always enjoy a Christmas candlelight service, and since we are attending a new church this year, I am looking forward to partaking in their events. We will most likely spend Christmas morning at our house, slowly and leisurely opening presents, then travel to the Denver area for the frantic present opening time with all the cousins, as well as Christmas dinner. Our family also does a lot of singing together, so that should be fun!
Tell us our audience about your free download.
Customer retention is absolutely critical in creating a successful business. In this giveaway, learn how to use cards and novelty products to gain brand recognition. You can begin to develop your own brand promotion marketing campaign. And it’s fun! You will learn new computer skills and be exposed to some creative ideas for making Christmas cards. Includes an in-depth workshop. Be sure to enter coupon code ‘CWAHM’ to bring the balance to $0.00.
The 12 Days of Christmas – The Great Holiday Networking Extravaganza, hosted by Jill Hart and Diana Ennen, is an unprecedented opportunity to learn from some of the best entrepreneurs, best-selling authors, and small businesses who share tips for success and secrets to how to have a profitable business. Daily interviews go behind the scenes to share not only success tips but also how these entrepreneurs are reaching goal after goal.
INTERVIEW with MICHELLE CAMPBELL
Michelle Campbell is a military spouse and mom to three. After struggling for years with being a working mother and being saddled with the additional challenges that come with being married to the military, Michelle chose to test the entrepreneurial waters. She launched Forte Virtual Support Solutions and has been working her business full time since leaving her corporate job in January 2013. She is thrilled to have the opportunity every day to support her husband’s military career, to be available for her family, and to in a position to help others as they work to achieve success in their own businesses. Michelle currently lives with her husband and their three awesome Army Brats just outside Ft. Knox, KY.
Contacting Michelle:
http://www.fortevss.com
410-530-5424
MichelleCampbell@ForteVSS.com
www.ForteVSS.com
http://www.facebook.com/ForteVirtualSupportSolutions
http://www.twitter.com/ForteVSS
www.linkedin.com/in/fortevss
Tell us a little about your business?
My business is Forte Virtual Support Solutions. I am an Administrative Consultant who partners with overwhelmed Coaches, Consultants, and other busy entrepreneurs by taking over their administrative responsibilities so they can focus on making money, working with clients and growing their businesses. I specialize in back office support, creative support services, and meeting and event organization.
I strive to form collaborative and strategic partnerships with my clients, and I draw on more than 12 years of corporate experience as an Administrative and Executive Assistant to help them identify those business tasks they can and should delegate. I love helping others streamline processes and implement systems that allow them to make better use of their time, earn a better living, and achieve the flexibility and balance they desire.
I started my business to take back some of the control over my own life that I felt I had lost. I was a working mom of three. My husband is in the military and commuted more than 90 minutes each way to work in Washington, DC every day and had little flexibility (as is the case for most service members). I was always on point to drop off and pick up the kids at daycare, take off when they were sick, and manage the household. I hated that I always felt like I had to justify myself to people at work if I had to be out for my kids, especially if it happened frequently during a short period as a bug made its way through my house. I hated feeling guilty about being away from work when I needed to be home, and I hated feeling guilty about being away from my kids when they needed me because I had to be at work.
Life became overwhelming, and I grew tired of juggling so many balls. I craved flexibility and balance in my life that would allow me to work and exercise my brain while being able to be available for my family when they need me the most. And, I didn’t want to have to look for another job when the Army decided that it was for us to move again. I realized that the only way I could have what I wanted and need was to work for myself.
I am a firm believer in the importance of a strong work/life balance. It really is the driving force behind my decision to form Forte Virtual Support Solutions. My business allows me to work from home, and it gives me the balance I need. And if I can do what I’m good at and help someone else life easier by taking work off their plate, that’s just icing on the cake for me. My ultimate goal is to work closely with clients to help them work smarter in their businesses, achieve their goals and have the same work/life balance I enjoy.
What are some of your top tips for success?
- Learn what you don’t know but need to know
- Don’t do it all yourself if you don’t have to
- Remain flexible and be willing to change what doesn’t work for you and your business
- Trust in yourself, your skills, and your knowledge
- Hire a business coach
- Charge what you’re worth
Can you share with us two of the top ways you market?
Two of the top ways I market are:
- Blogging and posting tips and helpful hints on social media. My go-to social media platforms are Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. There are so many out there now, it’s difficult to be everywhere, so I stick with those that are the best for me
- Relationship networking. Building relationships and referral sources is important. Since mine is an online business and much of my target audience has a presence online, it makes sense for me to spend a lot of time networking online. I do some in-person networking when I meet and seem to “click” with someone I meet online.
Are you planning any special holiday promotions?
I am! I am in the process of developing something now that will allow clients to build their own custom support package that works with their budget.
What goals do you have for the new year?
I am ready to move in to the next phase of growth. I finally feel like I am reaching the end of the start-up phase. I am ready to work with more clients and put together a team made up of talented military spouses that will help my clients establish practical work flows and processes that will help them achieve the success they desire.
How do you normally obtain those goals?
This is a new goal for me. I plan to:
- step up my marketing game and take my own advice from the success tips above and hire help in that area if I feel I need it.
- continue to learn about the needs of my ideal clients and develop practical solutions to fulfill those needs.
- begin to seek out military spouses who might be interested in working with me and my clients
- continue working with my WONDERFUL coach and do what she tells me to whether I want to or not. She is a great advisor and mentor, and she stretches me beyond my comfort level.
Tell us a little about your holidays and how you spend them. We love to get to know the people behind the business, so please do share.
I love the holiday season. We are in a new home in a new state this year, and we are looking forward to finding and exploring a new Christmas tree farm. This is a tradition we started several years ago, and I think it is my favorite thing to do this time of year. We all have a great time strolling through rows and rows of trees searching for the perfect one for our family.
This year, we had our children (14, 6, and 4) fill and donate shoeboxes of gifts for Operation Christmas Child. We took them to the store and explained that they were going to pick out gifts for other children and they weren’t allowed to buy anything for themselves. The two youngest had a difficult grasping that concept, but we thought it was important for them to understand what it truly meant to give without receiving anything in return. When it was time to take their shoeboxes to the donation center, they handed them over willingly and were excited to learn that their gifts were going to travel all the way to Africa! I think this is the start of a new family tradition.
Since all of our family is in Canada and our boys are still young, and because airfare for five people is very expensive, we choose to always have Christmas at home. This year we have decided to travel to Ontario a few days after Christmas to ring in the New Year with my husband’s family. I have never experienced New Year’s Eve in my home country’s capital city. I hope will be able to see the fireworks over Parliament House.
This is a time for my family to reconnect. My husband and I take at least the week between Christmas and New Year’s off of work and spend extra quality time with our kids. We have spent Christmas apart before, and we express stress the importance of family. My husband and I take the week between Christmas and New Year’s off of work. We disconnect from technology as much as we can and spend extra quality time with our kids doing things as a family.
Tell us about your free giveaway.
Do you feel like you are constantly reinventing the wheel each time you have to do certain tasks in your business? Do you misplace information and documents because your electronic files and office space are disorganized? Do you notice that you are missing deadlines and things are falling through the cracks because you don’t have a good method of keeping on top of and coordinating all of the moving pieces in your business? Does it seem to take forever to accomplish things that should be quick, simple activities? Do you know you’re losing money because you don’t have time to work with more clients or follow up with people who have expressed an interest in working with you?
If you feel like your business is disorganized and you know you would be more focused and more productive if you could just get things in order or if you feel like you’re wasting precious time that you don’t have to spare working in your business when you’d rather be working with clients and earning more money, Six Steps to Creating Systems for Success is for you!
In this eBook, you will learn why developing systems for your business is necessary, why it doesn’t have to be difficult or overwhelming, and what I believe are some of the most important foundational systems you should create now. I will also share with you a simple six step process that will help you develop the processes and procedures you need to work more efficiently and create the systems you need to make your business run like a well-oiled machine so you are better prepared to grow your business, work with more clients, and make more money!