Is the Internet Monster Holding You Hostage?

It’s 11pm – the rest of your family has gone bed.  You are on your 5th cup of coffee since dinner.  You’ve been staring at the computer for the past hour – trying to figure out where to start.  You want to create a simple page for people to subscribe to your e-newsletter – but just don’t know where to start? Or…

Maybe you are a virtual assistant,  your client has a big ideas and a huge product to bring to market that will help a lot of people.   The first e-mail is scheduled to go out tomorrow and she wants it to integrate with her social media accounts.  Something isn’t working quite right.  You turned off your billing clock hours ago… you’ve been searching online for some directions, but everything is either an ad for a product or you need to know advanced programming to make it work.  You’ve spent 5 “free” hours working for your client trying to figure it all out..  You feel like screaming… but your family went to sleep hours ago.

When you started your online business, you thought that it would give you a chance to work with more clients, make more money and have more time to spend with your family. Instead, you feel chained to your laptop and held hostage by technology.

The Internet Monster lives to cause overwhelm.  His mission is to send you running away from your online business in frustration.

Here are some symptoms of an Internet Monster attack:

• You spend more time tinkering with the technology than on coming up with ideas and content for your business
• You are spending all the money you make in your business getting people to take care of technical tasks for you.
• Your hard-drive is full of articles, blog posts, e-newsletters and even full fledged e-books that you’ve written but you can seem to get the content out into the world.

Even people who start out with a strong technical background, have a lot to learn when they start out online.  Seasoned veterans run up against the Internet Monster all the time.  They are successful because they learn how to tame the monster and get on with building a profitable business.

Although I started my virtual assistant business with a solid background in web design and a lack of fear of technology (people have always come to me for help with technology) – I found myself having to master a whole new set of skills to help my clients with their online marketing.

I love to learn -  but it was a challenge to learn everything I needed to know on top of learning about starting my own business, taking care of clients and marketing my services. I fervently wished that there was one place I could go to get step-by-step “recipes” to help me do all the things that were being asked of me.

I found that my best source of answers was posting questions to my fellow virtual assistants.  I usually got an answer — but it would sometimes take several queries to get what I needed. I didn’t charge my clients for my “research” time — so I ended working all the time (since I wasn’t being paid for many of the hours I worked).

Over time, I found a way to make things much easier…

I developed a cookbook of step by step recipes for common online marketing tasks.  The recipes in the cookbook save me a ton of time since I don’t need to re-invent the wheel each time.   I can just follow my step-by-step recipe and get the job done.

A few months ago, I started thumbing through a Junior League cookbook looking for a cake recipe, and I had an idea…  One of my passions is life is using the Internet to get information to people that can help them.  The Internet Monster is one of the main obstacles to getting the information out.

Why not mobilize the virtual assistant community to help tame the Internet Monster?  I asked some of my friends if they would contribute some of their “favorite” technical recipes… of course, they wanted to help.  The Tame the Internet Monster Community Cookbook was born!

Here’s A Quick Sneak Peek of What’s Included:

• Over 150 step by step recipes (with screenshots) on topics ranging from autoresponders to wikis
• Recipes in Word format so you can add steps to customize them to your own business
• A place to request new recipes so we can make sure that the cookbook is as up to date and complete as possible.
• Step by step instructions that you can print out keep next to you as you do the task.  Or, just e-mail them to your virtual assistant and have them handle it for you.

The community cookbook has recipes for every taste:

• How to set up an Autoresponder
• How to integrate all of your social marketing platforms
• How to adjust to the new facebook fan page changes
• What to look for in a bookkepper, copywriter or other contractors
• How to choose and deploy twitter widgets on your blog
• How to create products in 1Shopping Cart
• How to edit audios in Audacity

and much more…

Here is what some of my clients have to say about my ability to explain and teach online marketing tasks:

“Before working with Meredith I had so much difficulty making changes and updates to my website that I was often sitting and waiting for help. If you’ve experienced that, you already know that under those conditions help never arrives fast enough. But with all that I have learned from her in just a short time I quickly take care of the small jobs myself and this makes my entire life much more productive. I also know much more about what’s possible and what specifically to ask for when I hire someone else to do the work. Thanks, Meredith, you’ve helped to make my life much easier and stress free.”Jim Niswonger – The In Demand Marketing Coach

Remember as kids, we always believed that there was a gigantic monster under our bed. Somehow, as I grew, the monster seemed to decrease in size.As a adult, I had an Internet Monster fear. Seems like I had to do everything (anything) on the internet just right or it was not worth doing……Then I discovered “Tame the Internet Monster” class and its superb teacher, Meredith.Delightful internet exposure and clear directions from Meredith took that Internet Monster away. The fears decreased class by class. Participate in “Tame the Internet Monster” class and, before you know it, the fear of dealing with the Internet goes back to its hiding place…..under your bed. Molly Warren

Can I ask you a favor? Will you consider being one of the intrepid souls who become charter members of the Tame the Internet Monster Community Cookbook?  The site is already full of information, but to keep it growing, I need people to join and give me feedback on the cookbook.

When I launch the cookbook in a big way later this year, I will be charging at least $47 a month for membership for the BASIC level. Right now, I want your feedback, so I’m asking for $47 for a LIFETIME  basic membership (that just about covers my costs.)

I’m taking 25 members at this price.

Sometimes, all my clients need is access to someone to ask questions… I am also offering a monthly e-coaching program with 2 group coaching calls a month for $47 a month.  Again, this is charter rate so I can get feedback and improve the program.

I’m taking 10 members at this price (so I can make sure I can answer your questions)  After the first 10 members, the e-mail coaching will go up to $147 a month.

Imagine what your life will be like when you’ve Tamed the Internet Monster?

Instead of drinking cup after cup of late night coffee, you’ll have time to spend time with friends because your opt-in page is working and bringing you new prospective clients daily.

Or… your virtual assistant business is booming. You are making more money and spending more time with your family because you know where to go to learn how to vanquish those techie gremlins that used to waste so much of your time.

To taming your monsters and creating a business that works for you,

The Internet Monster Tamer

P.S.  $47 is a steal for a complete library of training sheets.  It would cost more than $47 to have just one sheet created for you.  Start saving money today – sign up now!

P.P.S.  Isn’t it time you stopped being held hostage by the Internet Monster?  Break free by signing up for the community cookbook today.