Tag Archives: Human resources

What Is An Online Business Manager And Why Do I Need One?

What the heck is an online business manager? If you’re like me, you may have never heard the term before. It appears to be a relatively new job description…..at least formal job description.

The reason you should be interested is because you might be one, without realizing it. You might already have the skills to be one, or on the path to be one. Or you might need one.

If you’re Net savvy, this could be a job for you. If you don’t think you’re ready to be an online business manager yet, you could start out as a virtual assistant ( we’ll describe the difference later), or work on an online business manager’s team.

The flip side of the coin is, if you run an online business, organization or association, you might need an online business manager to handle the day to day tasks and free up your time for your core skills or to grow your business. Perhaps you just never knew such a position existed or put together all the elements you need to have for an online business and realized you could get all that implemented for you by a single person, who knows the right tools or manages the right team.

Tina Forsyth is the person who really crystalized this concept in her new book, Becoming an Online Business Manager.

Tina describes a situation in which business owners “already have teams of virtual assistants, webmasters, designers and other contractors, but what they really need is someone to manage all of this; to play a bigger role in their business so that they can grow to the next level.”
Now, as online businesses have grown and increased in complexity, with more sophisticated online tools available, Tina says she is “seeing more business owners who are ready to hire at the management level.”

When I started reading Tina’s writing, it was with a mild shock of recognition I realized I had been doing what she described for a number of clients for some time. Since I had operated a major website since 1996, I had ample experience on the web, so a number of businesses and organizations I had come into the same orbit with had asked for me to help them set up shop online. What happened, in every case, was that I was not just setting up or overseeing the set up of a website and collaborative and marketing tools, but helping them think through the business processes they would need to succeed and grow their businesses. It was a collaboration where I implemented their vision, more like a doctor collaborating with a patient, to diagnose the state of his or her health, determine the level he or she really aspired to reach, then prescribing a regimen for increased fitness to ultimately reach that goal. The actual construction of the website was more like being the pharmacist dispensing the medicine.

Why Aren’t More People Hiring Online Business Managers?

First of all, they don’t know such people exist. I didn’t. And I was one. I just hadn’t realized it. Tina says:

“For business owners, it is a matter of not knowing who or what they are really looking for. They may have a faint idea they could benefit from hiring someone to help them manage and grow their business online, but they often have no clue what that role looks like. They aren’t clear themselves on what it is they need, which of course makes it quite hard to find someone! Quite often, when we describe the role of an oBM to the business owners we speak to, we hear, “yes! that’s exactly who I need on my team … now where do I find someone?” and that leads us to the other side of the gap, that there just aren’t a lot of people out there who are actively working as oBMs, consciously or unconsciously. So when these clients start looking to fill that role, they are having a tough time finding the person they need.”

Let’s start with a job description so we can learn a little more about what the job looks like.

A sample oBM job description from the book reads like this:
The Online Business Manager will:

Have 5+ years experience in one or more of:

the fields of marketing, ecommerce, programming, coaching, business management, human resources, project management, personal development or other related area of study, or equivalent.
Work with the very energetic CEO/Owner of the business to create new passive revenue streams, taking them from idea to sale
Manage administration, logistics, human resources and infrastructure of a growing online business
Recruit additional team members and train/manage them into their respective functions
Be familiar with and/or practically experienced in all facets of Internet marketing including:
- Product planning and research
- Copywriting
- Website design and creation
- Creation of graphics and user interface
- Product packaging
- Traffic generation
- Conversion and
- The overall strategic marketing plan that creates a cohesive whole out of these elements
Have experience creating and implementing a business plan in a competitive environment
Be a relationship builder, client service oriented and a team player
Understand advertising, affiliate programs and joint ventures; be able to hold and cultivate key relationships
Diligently maintain and create a standard operating procedure or business training manual for the business
Be fiscally responsible

So why isn’t it easy to find these people? Tina says:
“I believe that there are .. professionals out there who have the skills to be working as an oBM; they just haven’t realized that this opportunity exists… This way of working is still quite new to most people and because of that there is a gap between the business owners who are looking to hire oBMs and the people who could potentially be working for them in this role.”

In fact, I believe there are two levels of workers an online business owner can turn to. A good virtual assistant, or VA, with substantial experience could oversee the technical tools and processes and probably has some tricks up her sleeve about marketing tools which could help expand your business. An online business manager would be a step up from that: someone who could analyze your business and its processes and collaborate with you to design the elements which would create more value and help you reach your goals.

So, if you’re Net savvy, there could be a job in here for you. Most small business owners, or growing organizations will definitely reach a point where they are either unable to handle all the tasks before them, or don’t have sufficient background and experience online to know how to proceed. When that point comes, don’t hesitate, look for an online business manager.

Author: Gretchen Glasscock, AdvancingWomen.com

Can You Tell Me Something About Yourself? Fine Tune Your Answer For Your Audience

Can You Tell Me Something About Yourself! – Careers-Employment- AdvancingWomen.com

“Tell me about yourself” is a question, usually posed at some point in an interview. In Can You Tell Me Something About Yourself? Don ‘t Let That Question Stop You Cold we discussed the fact that interviewers use the interview process as a vehicle to eliminate your candidacy. Every question they ask is used to differentiate your skills, experience, and personality with that of other candidates. And we also discussed the process of preparing for the interview and how to handle the question. To review that discussion, go here.

But remember, one size does not necessarily fit all. Yes, your core skills, competencies and value to the company remain the same. But there is a slight difference in perspective, depending on who’s asking the question. For different people, with different roles in the company and therefore different perspectives on qualities which will be reassuring to them, you should retain your core “elevator pitch” but pivot slightly to address the main concerns of a person whose role shapes his or her outlook and the qualities he or she is focusing on.

When Asked by Different People?

The HR manager or CEO of the company or the Departmental Head can ask the same question and your answer should vary slightly since the expectation of each such person is different.

When asked by HR Manager, who is all about people skills, your response should include something like this: “My career has been characterized by my ability to work well with diverse teams. I seek out opportunities to involve others in the decision-making process. This collaboration and communication is what has enabled me to achieve success in my department. People are the most valuable resource of any organization.”

When asked by CEO, who is all about the bottom line, your response should include something like this: “I have achieved success in my career because I have been focused on the bottom line. I have always sought out innovative solutions to challenging problems to maximize profitability. Regardless of the task or challenge, I always established benchmarks of performance and standards of excellence. I have never sought to maintain the “status quo.” An organization that does not change and grow will die. I would enjoy working with you to help define new market opportunities in order to achieve the organization’s goals.”

So, prepare, define your competitive advantage, think “elevator” pitch, and adjust your pitch every so slightly, depending who’s asking the question. Then go in and dazzle them with your capabilities! Good luck! And please write and tell us how you do or if you have any other thoughts to help with this process.

( If you think you may need some help clarifying and preparing any of your answers, go to Advancing Women Portfolios, email advancingwomen@gmail.com or call toll free: (888) 565-4627. We would love to hear from you and we will be happy to help.)

To read the whole post, go to Can You Tell Me Something About Yourself! – Careers-Employment- AdvancingWomen.com

Can You Tell Me Something About Yourself? Don ‘t Let That Question Stop You Cold

Can You Tell Me Something About Yourself? – Careers-Employment- AdvancingWomen.com

“Tell me about yourself” is a question, usually posed at some point in an interview , which can send cold shivers up and down your spine, if you’re not prepared to give the right answer. In a nutshell, the right answer should be succinct, differentiate you from the swarm of other candidates, and highlight your value to the company for whom you are interviewing.

Purpose of the Question:

There is a purpose to asking each and every question in the interview. Although the set of interview questions varies from industry to industry and position to position, interviewers use the interview process as a vehicle to eliminate your candidacy. Every question they ask is used to differentiate your skills, experience, and personality with that of other candidates. They want to determine if what you have to offer will mesh with the organization’s mission and goals.

Your Elevator Pitch

Before arriving at any interview, you should have prepared and internalized what many of us call “an elevator pitch”. This is a description of yourself, your unique competitive advantage and your value to a company which is short enough to be delivered to someone whom you or one of your advocates…..your spouse or colleague, perhaps.. run into and have the opportunity to pitch on the elevator, somewhere between the 10th and the 3rd floor. Three to five sentences would make a good elevator pitch, so they’d better be good ones, whetting the appetite for more.

Defining Your Competitive Advantage or Unique Selling Point

Long, long before this, you should have spent some serious time figuring out what is unique about yourself…. your unique selling point… what makes you different from others… and you’d better have one. Not only that, you’d better be able to quantify it. ( If you’re a little foggy on this, or are afraid you’ll melt into the crowd, instead of standing out, it might be a good investment for you to develop a career portfolio that demonstrates the positive results of your career in a graphic manner which you can then share with others like the person who is interviewing you.)

Avoid This Type of Answer

Try to avoid a too general answer and one that focuses on what you are looking for. For example: “I am a hard-worker who is good with numbers. After I worked as a financial analyst for a few years, I decided to go to law school. I just finished and now am looking for a new challenge.” Trust me, they don’t care what kind of challenge you’re looking for: they want to know “what’s in it for them”, so……

Instead, be specific and quantify, something like this:” I began developing skills relevant to financial planning when I worked as a financial analyst for three years. In that role, I succeeded in multiplying the wealth of my clients by carefully analyzing the market for trends. The return on the portfolios I managed was generally 2% more than most of the portfolios managed by my company. After two promotions, as the manager of a team, I successfully led them to develop a more efficient and profitable strategy for dealing with new accounts”.( Give the numbers; better yet, show them in a graph.) “My subsequent training in the law, including tax law and estate law, gives me an informed view of what types of investments and charitable gifts would be most advantageous for your clients.” ( If you have a a career portfolio that demonstrates graphically the success you’ve had, now is the time to whip out your Blackberry or iPhone and share it with them.)

Preparing for the Answer:

Follow the steps outlined below to ensure your response will grab the interviewer’s attention.

1. Provide a brief introduction. Introduce attributes that are key to the open position.

2. Provide a career summary of your most recent work history. Your career summary is the “meat” of your response, so it must support your job objective and it must be compelling. Keep your response limited to your current experience. Don’t go back more than 10 years.

3. Tie your response to the needs of the hiring organization. Don’t assume that the interviewer will be able to connect all the dots. It is your job as the interviewee to make sure the interviewer understands how your experiences are transferable to the position they are seeking to fill.

4. Ask an insightful question. By asking a question you gain control of the interview. Don’t ask a question for the sake of asking. Be sure that the question will engage the interviewer in a conversation. Doing so will alleviate the stress you may feel to perform.

There you have it – a response that meets the needs of the interviewer AND supports your agenda.

When broken down into manageable pieces, the question, “So, tell me about yourself?” isn’t overwhelming. In fact, answering the question effectively gives you the opportunity to talk about your strengths, achievements, and qualifications for the position. So take this golden opportunity and run with it!

To read the whole post, go to Can You Tell Me Something About Yourself! – Careers-Employment- AdvancingWomen.com

Pitch Anywhere with a Cell Phone Portfolio [Career]

Women’s Workplace Balancing Dilemma

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Changing Expectations and Strategies to Achieve Successful Career Integration

Society is sending women conflicting messages about which elements constitute success for a woman. Should she bake a perfect blueberry pie and chauffeur around kids with sparkling white socks, or should she aspire to be a corporate attorney for a Fortune 500 company and hire a nanny and a cook to shoulder some of the household duties.

In fact, both of those images conjure up a type of perfectionism women should aspire to, which, in itself, is a problem. The fact that both ideals are diametrically opposed makes a choice even more painful. To achieve great success in one area, almost certainly means giving up on great success in the other, at least, as both work and family are structured today.

Starkly put, this ambivalence about women’s role assumes that it is not possible to fulfill both roles as well as one should and, consciously or unconsciously, results in the “dumbing down” of women, who often choose less demanding careers, or avoid some career tracks altogether.

At times, women have taken it upon themselves to lower their expectations at work, in order to fulfill their obligations at home. A woman might choose to stay in a position in human resources, for example, rather than seek as job as a line executive, responsible for profits. Her career prospects would definitely be enhanced as a line executive but that career path might force her to travel, or subject her family to frequent moves.

This avoidance of career opportunities not only extracts an emotional as well as career price, hindering advancement but also affects the balance of power in the home, as the primary wage earner garners more prestige and respect and increasingly dominates the decision making. This unfortunate cycle leaves the woman with even fewer choices and increasingly less opportunity to grow and move along a successful career path.

Kim Babjak in StartupNation Blog writes Take me serious, or else!: “How do we get taken seriously about being sister-preneurs? My husband, I love to death and have been with for 25 yrs… needs to be continually trained and educated on the principals of homemaker/entrepreneurism. I am sad to say that the topic of the current Sara Palin phenomenon that I do not understand; how can you be a mom and run the world?

Well we can! We just need to delegate well.

I will tell you that as a mother of FOUR boys, just last night I had to once again snap hubby back into the reality of mom-preneurism.

It was our fourth child’s birthday, I ran around all day gathering items for the birthday, plus clean house, and I took off work to be with them as mommy….

Then hubby gets off work, scott free from anything. At the end of the evening, me being tuckered out, asked hubby, who did -0- to help out with anything, complained when I asked him to rub my sore, tired feet……YIKES! (no matter how successful you are, or become, we all have the same problems, just on different days!)

Moral of the story….men will always see us, consciously or unconsciously, (depends on what PhD you ask)as the one who takes care of the home, kids, HIM, and oh yes your home office thing!

Girls….It is a matter of conditioning, reinforcement and firm commitment to ease/shift the home and kid responsibility to the family for help. Take care when doing this, do not cause tension, for that will ultimately cause more stress. Teach without them knowing they are being taught.

My solution…..first talk and make clear your requests….

Second….if not responding…..reiterate your needs…

Third…..start going to dinner by yourself and movies, giving the family time to fend for themselves….

If all else fails…STRIKE!

There has to be a balance of power and commitment for both sides, keep pressing until it is reached.”

Moving Towards Change : Strategies for Successful Career Integration

Communication With Their Peers

Women should seek to dialogue with other working women about these choices and challenges in order not to feel isolated or that the fault lies with them

Higher Aspirations by Women

Women sometimes do not “actively work toward promotion“. Women must reflect higher aspirations and never stop seeking to advance in their careers.

Financial Independence

Women must seek to achieve and maintain financial independence because of expected additional years in the workforce and because a realistic look at statistics shows that women are most at risk for financial hardship as they age.

Enhancement of Career Opportunities

To enhance career opportunities and remain current and viable in their careers, women must take advantage of diverse learning experiences, volunteer for opportunities or positions which lead to additional experiences and seek advice of mentors, experts or colleagues.

The Equal Partner Conundrum

Negotiate with your husband, before marriage, or now, if you are already married, on what responsibilities he is willing to share so you can continue to grow and advance.

In the final analysis, AdvancingWomen.com agrees with author Kim Babjak : “If all else fails…STRIKE!”

For more, go here:

AW WebBiz & Social Media Blog

Mentoring, Tools & Strategy To Succeed

Tag Archives: Human resources

What Is An Online Business Manager And Why Do I Need One?

Can You Tell Me Something About Yourself? Fine Tune Your Answer For Your Audience

Can You Tell Me Something About Yourself? Don ‘t Let That Question Stop You Cold

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Was that “Bring HomeThe Bacon” or “Bring Home The Baby”? Coping With The Conflicting Demands of Career & Family

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