We all realize how Virtual Assistants have revolutionized the way we work today. Most businesses now count on their Virtual Assistant the same as they used to count on their secretaries, only so much more. VAs are a prized and respected part of their client’s team, and unlike secretaries, who often were taken for granted, Virtual Assistants are praised for their professionalism and skills. Most businesses today can’t imagine where they would be without their VA. And as the potential for success in a virtual assistant business continues to explode, so does the need for good Virtual Assistants.

Today’s Virtual Assistants need to take pride in their business and also to learn as much as they can about their niche, which is the specialty they have chosen to specialize in. One niche that I highly recommend is to offer publicity and marketing services to clients. This is an area that is growing in leaps and bounds as more and more authors, businesses, and other professionals realize the need to market their business to get good publicity. A business can expand tremendously when hiring a Virtual Assistant to help them spread the word about their products or services. Also, authors today aren’t aware that once they write a book, that’s when the real work begins. They need to get the word out about their book in order for it to be successful. That’s where a good Publicity VA comes in.

Publicity and marketing is thrilling to say the least. There’s such a great rush when your client gets recognized in national magazines, or a TV station wants to do a segment on them and you helped them achieve this success. Or better yet, when your efforts start resulting in substantial increased sales for them. Clients will not only keep using your services, but also tell others about this new positive addition they have to their business. And best yet, you too get to feel that satisfaction as you are helping them achieve their goals.

One of my most successful tips is learning how to effectively use any publicity that a client receives. When clients get national attention in a magazine, newspaper, or TV Segment, or even on a popular website, it’s important to make sure that everyone is aware of this. A press release should immediately go out to announce their accomplishment. This release should be added to their website and also should go to all their local papers, radio stations, and TV networks. Media loves to highlight a success story of their locals, so make sure you get this out there as soon as you can. And you don’t have to wait for the publicity to happen. If your client lands a major TV segment, you can start sending this press out beforehand in order to get more media for when the event happens. You just want to make sure that the client is fairly confident the segment will air. Also, don’t worry if the segment gets bumped back, that often happens as breaking news takes priority. This can almost be a blessing, as then you get to do more publicity before the airdate.

It’s also important to follow-up with the reporters and let them know how much you appreciate the acceptance of your quotes for an article. When you go the extra step to show them your appreciation, they remember you when the next article comes up and they need help with more expert advice. Many reporters work for multiple magazines so one good ally can lead to lots of media exposure. Always keep your PR hat on. Learn to take any situation and turn it into good press for your clients and your business as well. Stay on top of current events and see if you have anything to offer. Whenever a story hits the press that any of my clients would have a connection to, I’ll send it right away. Having press releases already prepared for clients on their business is always a great help. How do you know about these events? Sign up for Google Alerts under the topics of interest and then whenever a story is written, you can follow-up with your press release or article to the reporter. It works! I also use ProfNet from PRNewswire, which allows me to get daily leads from major news outlets. You can also consider PRLeads.

It’s also important to learn how to write a good press release and article and also where to send those. Make sure that your press releases and articles are newsworthy and also something that interests the readers. When I write a release, I always think would I read this release? Would it interest me? If not, I doubt your target audience would be reading it either. Plus, be careful to sound too promotional. You can easily get your message across without sounding like an ad.

Publicity is a great niche for VAs. I hope you have found these tips beneficial.
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Diana Ennen is the author of numerous books including Virtual Assistant - The Series, Become a Highly Successful, Sought After VA and accompanying Workbook; Corel Word Perfect Office Ready, Virtual Assistant Solution Pack, and Words From Home, Start, Run and Profit from a Home-Based Word Processing Business. She specializes in publicity and book marketing and is president of Virtual Word Publishing http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com and http://www.virtualassistantstartups.com

Breakfast in bed prepared by the kids, hand-drawn cards, and bouquets of flowers are all wonderful ways to celebrate Mother’s Day. But this year, as you revel in those cherished gifts, think about giving yourself something special: a home-based business.

In researching and writing their books, Mompreneurs: A Mother’s Practical Step-by-Step Guide to Work-at-Home Success and Mompreneurs Online: Using the Internet to Build Work@Home Success, co-authors Patricia Cobe and Ellen Parlapiano talked with countless mothers who achieved professional and personal happiness by combining work and family under the same roof. These are just a few successful Mompreneurs who gave themselves the gift of a home business—and discovered a way to balance the best of both worlds.

Diana Ennen
VirtualWordPublishing.com
“I love to be home for my daughters when they come home from school. That’s when you really get their day’s events. Being able to share a snack together and bond is just priceless. Also, my kids get to see what I do working at home. It has instilled in them passion and the knowledge that dreams do come true when you work for them. Working from home for 23 years, I wouldn’t want to do anything else.

Renee Wood
The Comfort Company
“One of the best ‘presents’ I have given myself and my four daughters is my ‘presence’. Despite the challenges of running a home business, having the flexibility to work around the kids’ schedules is certainly a plus. But more importantly, it allows me to be present for those stolen moments…the unscheduled times when one of the girls will share a story, need a hug or decide to invite me inside their world if only for a little while.”

Debra Cohen
Home Remedies of NY, Inc.
“Working from home for the past ten years has afforded me an ideal balance between career and family. It has also shown my two young daughters that women can be successful at their careers and still put their families first.”

Sue Kirchner
ChocolateCakeClub.com
“Owning my own business, I can set a flexible schedule and participate in my kids’ lives. I spoke to my son’s first grade class the other day about my career. Just seeing how proud he was of my business and my accomplishments was so rewarding. I want my children to know that there are alternatives to the corporate career path and they can look to their mom as a successful role model.”

Tammy Gibson
InStyleMoms.com
“Having my kids see me on a daily basis at ‘work,’ they learn to respect my work time and celebrate my little and big successes. It’s so gratifying to see my 5-year-old jump around and chant ‘Mommy made a sale.’ Sharing these moments with my children wouldn’t be possible if I didn’t have a home business.”

Melody Spier
EssentialOfficeSupport.com
“Owning a home business has given my family balance and extra time to enjoy one another. Long gone are the days of rushed schedules, late appointments and drive-thru dinners. We truly have become what a family should be because we’ve had time to listen, learn and grow together. As I watch my children become young adults, I think about how lucky I am to have this opportunity.”

And here’s a mom who is so happy with her work-from-home choice, she is gifting her own mother with the same business: “I am having such success with my YTB Travel Business that I wanted to give my mom exactly what I had. She retires this year so I bought her a travel booking website business. Now she can ‘earn more and travel for less’ too.” - Tina Hicks, Hickstravelweb.com

Ready for your Mother’s Day gift? Find more information and tools for starting and running a home business—plus valuable resources and an incredibly supportive community of work-from-home moms—at http://www.mompreneursonline.com

Have you been searching for a wholesome children’s book and coloring book that sparks the imagination, is fun to read, and works to develop reading and coloring skills? Well look no further. Kids of all ages will enjoy the newly published, Zip, Burp, and Hula. This book is a delightful 32-page educational tale that helps children understand that it is sometimes hard to be yourself; but with the help of a few wonderful friends, it can be done. This beautifully illustrated book is perfect for beginner readers at the 2nd grade level. The colorful pictures also make it the perfect bedtime story book.

But the magic doesn’t stop there, Zip, Burp and Hula comes with an accompanying Coloring Book and Paint by Number book that allows your children to get to know the characters even more by coloring along with the characters in the book.

The story takes place when the main character, a Chameleon, tries to discover who he truly is. He knows he’s a Chameleon, and Chameleons are supposed to change colors, but he doesn’t have a clue how to do it. That’s when he befriends a zippy dragonfly, a burping bullfrog, three dancing wasps, and a wise moth. The Chameleon looks to his loving friends and the adventures begin as together they search for the answers.

Author, Cindy Johnston, has written several children’s books. Johnston had two books selected in the top four finalists in the Heartland Writer’s Conference in 2000, with Zip, Burp, and Hula awarded second place.

Zip Burp and Hula, published by Virtual Word Publishing, http://www.virtualwordpublishing. Virtual Word Publishing also offers an excellent selection of children’s musical CDs by Grammy Winners Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, who among their many accomplishments were part of the White House Easter Egg Roll.

Kids today need more books with good inspirational messages and Christian values. Zip, Burp and Hula is just that book. Discounts are available for schools, churches, etc.

Our book is available at Amazon and Kids Books and More, www.kidsbooksandmore.com and the publishers website at Virtual Word Publishing, http://www.virtualwordpublishing.com. Also, look to our other selection of best selling books on our site.

After years of psychiatrists reporting that ADHD stimulants are safe and effective, in February of this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced that all ADHD drug manufacturers must warn the public that the drugs can cause serious psychiatric and cardiovascular problems. These problems include heart attack, stroke, mania and even sudden death. Parents of children with ADHD were left with the agonizing decision of what to do. Is it safe to keep their children on these potentially harmful medications? What would happen to their children when they take them off these medications? Is there a safe alternative?

Dr. Paul E Dennison believes there is a healthy and safe alternative. A solution that is already being used in classrooms, workshops and homes throughout the world for not only helping with ADHD, but also helping with other learning and reading challenges, stress reduction, and overall better health and well being. The profoundly simple Brain Gym activities offer tremendously positive results and often eliminate the need for dangerous prescription drugs completely. For parents looking for an alternative to starting or continuing a medicine regime, this can be the answer they longed for.

Dr. Dennison recommends that you consult your family physician before commencing an exercise program. Dennison has found that most doctors will welcome the Brain Gym movement program as an alternative, as no one really knows the true harm done to those who do take the prescription drugs. Dennison believes that ADHD is an insufficiency in the ability to focus attention and to tune out distractions, one that can be illuminated by processes that integrate the functioning of the brain and the body, which is exactly what the Brain Gym Program does.

As a professional educator and a pioneer in the field of applied neuroscience and a world authority on cognitive skills and reading achievement, Dennison has done extensive field studies in this area. During the last twenty-five years, Dr. Dennison has taught workshops in movement-based learning in more than fifteen countries, being presented with numerous honors, including the Reading Excellence through the Arts (RETA) Award from the International Reading Association. He has also written eight books, including his latest, Brain Gym and Me: Reclaiming the Pleasure of Learning. His books have been distributed through eighty countries’ bookstores, with a total sold of over 415,000 copies. These books have also been translated into more than forty languages.

What makes the Brain Gym special?

• It reactivates whole brain function via the intimate connection with body movement.
• It achieves the necessary focus of attention with activities that relax the tendon-guard survival reflex and help children feel safe in their body.
• Sometimes one Brain Gym session can help a person do linear and recognition tasks simultaneously, thus overcoming the reading impediment labeled as dyslexia.
• Children will naturally enjoy reading, as good stories activate the imagination.
• Children learn to read words other writers have put together to express their thoughts, emotions, and observations, starting with the writing of their peers.

Methods to create fundamental structures for learning include:
• Music and dance.
• Tapping things out.
• Developing active listening.
• Receiving visual, kinesthetic, and tactile input simultaneously.

If you or your child has been diagnosed with ADHD, look for an alternative to the medications that are being too readily prescribed. Parents need to carefully reassess the situation on a case-by-case basis to see what is the best for their family. Stop by www.braingym.com for additional information on the Brain Gym Program. Also, Dennison’s latest Book, Brain Gym and Me: Reclaiming the Pleasure of Learning is also available at his site and Amazon and provides useful exercises and information on Brain Gym basics and how it can benefit you and your family. Your kids deserve the best; let our program help them achieve that

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Educational Kinesiology, enhanced learning through movement, was created by Dr. Paul E. Dennison and his wife Gail E. Dennison through their visionary insight into the learning process. Today these techniques, which are the foundation for the Brain Gym Program, http://www.braingym.com
are taught in a variety of settings, including schools, corporations, and athletic training programs, with even athletes in the World Cup singing its praises. The Dennisons have coauthored a series of books and manuals including their latest, Brain Gym and Me: Reclaiming the Pleasure of Learning. For additional information please contact publicist, Diana Ennen, diana@virtualwordpublishing.com or stop by their site at http://www.braingym.com. Article is free to be reprinted as long as the author’s bio remains intact.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Diana Ennen, Publicist for Joanie Winberg
http://www.happywednesday.com
diana@virtualwordpublishing.com
954-971-4025

Making a Difference — One Family, One Home, One Day at a Time

Boston, MA (March, 2007) Radio personality and well-known author, Joanie Winberg, helps thousands of people globally every week be inspired though her Happy Wednesday Broadcast and motivational seminars. Empowering people to live their lives with more ease, happiness and a lot more fun is the basis for the Happy Wednesday Corporation. Winberg, long known for her educational and inspirational work, is now also recognized for the profound difference she is also making for women and children in the world. On a mission to improve the world, one family at a time. one home at a time, and one day at a time, her quest is simple, to help those in need and to encourage others to do the same.

Setting the example of how it can be done in hopes that others will follow her lead, Winberg is spearheading the Women Build project in Kingston, MA. The Happy Wednesday Foundation will help raise funds for the Women Build Project with Habitat For Humanity of Greater Plymouth to provide a family a home. This ensures a positive impact on the lives of a family by making homeownership a reality and helping them create a healthy and safer environment to raise their children. The results tell the story. To date there have been more than 800 Habitat houses within the United States, and they are now under construction in more than a dozen other countries. That’s over 800 families who now have a home to call their own. Winberg is also busy developing two other projects to support women and their children, an outreach program for young girls, and a coaching program for divorced women.

Her finest work to date might prove to be her efforts to assist hospitalized children. Winberg is partnering with the Music Therapy Program at Children’s Hospital Boston hoping to raise $10,000 towards their music program by donating profits from her book, Rising to the Top - A Guide to Self Development. Music Therapy provides distraction from stressors, temporary pain relief, entertainment, and community opportunities for children that need it the most, hospitalized children. Taking place in private quarters, as well as in activity rooms, Music Therapy has proven to be a wonderful component to the healing process. Winberg hopes to not only raise more money for this project, but to increase the awareness that it exists. Her message is simple, “If I can do it, so can you.”

So whether it’s helping to build a house, donating to a useful cause, or changing the concept of Wednesday’s Hump Day to “Power” Day, Winberg is out to change the world. For more information visit http://www.HappyWednesday.com.