Who is Chris Ducker and what you can learn from him: Entrepreneurs and those planning to be one in the near future can learn some essential job outsourcing tips fromRead More
The post 5 Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Chris Ducker appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.
]]>Entrepreneurs and those planning to be one in the near future can learn some essential job outsourcing tips from outsourcing guru Chris Ducker on how they can get on top and increase profits using simple low-cost outsourcing methods. Chris is also widely known for his book, Virtual Freedom that comes highly recommended by many successful entrepreneurs.
In his book and presentations, Chris Ducker teaches business people on how they can take their online marketing efforts to the next level with the help of virtual staff. These lessons will show you how to become more successful than you possibly thought using new mediums such as video. Online video is huge, and yet still many small businesses are not utilizing the power of online video to increase brand awareness and increase profits.
The following are 5 lessons entrepreneurs can learn from Chris Ducker:
One major reason why small businesses shy from creating web videos is that they don’t exactly know the kind of topics to present to their audience. According to Chris Ducker, “ It’s all simple. Like blogging, you should offer solutions to problems that plague your target audience.” You can do that with video presentations.
Ducker explains that brainstorming ideas with your virtual staff to know what exactly your target audience needs help with will be your first step. He goes on to emphasize the importance listing everything as this will be your source of video content. You can even list for the future too. Organize topic ideas into groups and see if you can create a video series that grow that list. Think of the common questions you get every day and consider making a video series to answer them.
In today’s evolving world, the best way of going about this is doing some keyword research. Ducker writes, “ Think about it rationally, you certainly wouldn’t go and launch a business if there wasn’t money to be made by selling your services and products, likewise there’s no need to keep creating content unless there is a real need for it.”
You can use the latest Google Adwords Keyword Planner Tool, especially if you are just starting out. This will help you know if people are visiting search engines to look for the information that you’re considering to record. Create a Google Adwords account to access this free tool.
If you’re looking to take things higher, there are also other keyword tools like Long Tail Pro and Market Samurai which do much more than give search engine volume results and cost per click. With these tools at your disposal, you can view exact statistics, check search traffic and analyze competition.
Fiddling around with Photoshop is a critical waste of time for any entrepreneur who hasn’t yet figured out what they’re doing. Ducker writes, “We enjoy the idea of allowing our Superhero Syndrome cloud us, and end up believing that we can do everything ourselves, even graphic and web design.” He explains that we pay the right skills to do the right job, because they will do it right the first time. Doing this won’t only make it look better, but it will also give you time spend on other marketing areas or putting in-place your next info-product!
Among other things, graphic and web designers will do the following:
• Design logos, icons, eBook covers, banners and headers
• Design infographic images
• Design websites and create mock-ups
• Design landing, sales and opt-in pages
• Do basic video editing, splice intros and outros with raw footage
The use and need for virtual staff in video and audio editing is still fairly new—it only started emerging over the last couple of years. But as Chris Ducker writes “I can personally tell you that this has generated a ton of extra time for me. Without the need to edit my videos, even the most basic ones has given me more time to spend developing content instead of scratching my head over the details. I did the same for my podcasting and the end results are always sexier in appearance.”
Virtual video and audio editors will do the following:
• Basic editing of video and audio files
• Remove background noise from video and audio
• Add intros and outros to videos
• Do basic Photoshop and edit images
• Setup podcasting
• Insert podcasts on blog posts
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) has drastically changed over the last couple of years. What worked before, doesn’t anymore. And likewise, what works today may not work tomorrow. If you however create captivating and solid content, you’ll be contender in the races. But what really happens after you’ve successfully promoted your online video, podcast episode or blog post through social media? The tide recedes right?
Ducker explains that having a firm SEO and Web Marketing virtual assistant will put you in a strong position for long-term and consistent traffic.
For a summary of Virtual Freedom according to Chris Ducker CLICK HERE
Buy Virtual Freedom by Chris Ducker on Amazon
Visit ChrisDucker.com to learn more about Chris, his book, and his exclusive content
Follow Chris Ducker on Twitter and Facebook
The post 5 Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Chris Ducker appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.
]]>A summary of things you should know about Virtual Freedom according to Chris Ducker: Introduction In this episode Chris Ducker takes a deep dive into his book, Virtual Freedom, whereRead More
The post A Preview of Virtual Freedom with Chris Ducker appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.
]]>In this episode Chris Ducker takes a deep dive into his book, Virtual Freedom, where he provides the ultimate resource necessary for building a business with the help of virtual employees.
In his book, Ducker gives you a step-by-step guide to figure out the jobs you should outsource along with hiring, training, motivating, and managing virtual assistants. The goal of the book is to show you how to buy more time, become more productive, and build your business through virtual assistants.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs that have outgrown their daily tasks, are thinking about hiring other people, and are operating with a small, limited budget.
I don’t think there are too many books out there that really cover this topic properly. There are a few books that mention outsourcing but they failed to actually show you how to do it. This is your essential guide on finding, hiring, training, managing and working with virtual staff to help you run, support and grow your business.
You can jump in and out but it’s always best to read straight through.
Without a doubt it would be the 3 list to freedom exercise. The reason why this is the one thing that I would want people to take away from the book and take real action on is because it changed my life.
In the introduction of the book we talk about my personal burn out story where I hit burn out after working 16 hours a day for three to four years. I was building my business and had about 100 employees at the time and I hit a brick wall. It became very, very evident to me that I was no longer running my business, my business was running me. We put a plan in place by the end of 2010 to remove myself from the business and become a virtual CEO. Which is what we achieved and I have been doing it ever since. I only work four days a week, I have a three day weekend and I work five to six hours a day maximum. It wasn’t always like this so in the book I talk about my struggle and my demons in regards to that micromanagement and superhero syndrome. From there we set about helping the reader overcome their superhero syndrome that’s within them.
Section one of the book is all about finding and hiring virtual staff. We go through everything from being very real and mentioning the facts that although we would love to just hire one person to do everything in our business, it’s not possible. You have got to hire for the role not for the tasks. And then we start off the entire book by introducing our 3 lists to freedom. The first list is a list of all the things that you hate doing every day. The second list is a list of all the things that you struggle doing and the third list is all the things that as an entrepreneur you feel like you shouldn’t be doing
In section two we go through the actual training of your virtual staff.
Section three is all about managing your VA and we go through all the different types of VA roles and how to manage them properly. We talk about the difference between tasks and projects and how they are managed differently.
Section four is about going overseas or staying local and the pros and cons of doing that.
Section five is my favorite section of the entire book because it starts to really level up everything you are doing from an entrepreneurial perspective and building a real team.
We wrap up with a bonus section where I talk about the most frequently committed mistakes by entrepreneurs when they start building virtual teams and how to avoid those as well.
“Work on your business and don’t be trapped working inside your business.” – Chris Ducker
I am originally from London in the UK. I am a sales and marketing guy and was in the publishing business for a long time over there. I came over to the Philippines to deep dive into the outsourcing world in 2000. In 2004 I set up my first business and sold that in 2008. After that I dipped back into the 9 to 5 for almost two years and then in 2008 I decided to go ahead and start that entrepreneurial journey again which I’ve been on ever since. We now have almost 300 employees and are a multi seven figure business annually. I have a blog, a podcast and speak as well.
I have been involved in the outsourcing business for a long time and particularly since the 4 hour work week came out I have become more active online. It had become very evident to me that there were a lot of people in the same space claiming to be gurus that really had no idea what they were talking about. There were so many false truths being pushed out on the internet that it was actually starting to cause me problems in my business. I wanted to write those wrongs that were everywhere online and provide a resource and an essential guide to finding, hiring, managing and working with virtual staff to build your business.
Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Buy Virtual Freedom by Chris Ducker on Amazon today
Visit ChrisDucker.com to learn more about Chris and his book
Follow Chris Ducker on Twitter and Facebook
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books: The Suitcase Entrepreneur: Create freedom in business and adventure in life by Natalie Sisson | The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth: Entrepreneurship for Weirdos, Misfits, and World Dominators by Chris Brogan | Lifestyle Entrepreneur: Live Your Dreams, Ignite Your Passions and Run Your Business From Anywhere in The World by Jesse Krieger
What did you like and not like about this episode? Fill out this one minute survey here.
The post A Preview of Virtual Freedom with Chris Ducker appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.
]]>