Creating content is essential when you’re trying to build a relationship with your ideal clients. Yet, many female entrepreneurs struggle with it. It’s time-consuming, tedious, and to be honest, creatively draining.

And no matter how much effort it takes, you always have to do it. You must put out content if you want your clients to know you, trust you, and ultimately buy from you. To do that, not only do you have to create content, you have to create engaging content that will appeal to your target audience and capture their attention.

Before anything else, I must reiterate that creating content is just one of many correlated parts of growing your business. When you create content, you must also be working on growing your audience, which you can’t do when you don’t know who your ideal client is, or if you don’t have enough leads. So if you want to do well in one area, you should also tend to other areas that affect it.

This article talks about content creation, a topic that’s part of the broader business area of Branding. And Branding is one of the nine fundamental areas addressed in the Women’s Blueprint to Success, Tineke’s holistic approach for female entrepreneurs in scaling and growing their business

That said, here are some tips on how to create engaging content. 

1. Make it look professional.

This is very true for social media platforms that focus on visuals, such as Instagram. Invest in photo shoots. High-quality photos can make a world of difference. If you’re on a budget, you can hire someone to enhance the photos you already have. You can find people to do this in outsourcing platforms such as Fiverr.com, for as little as $5. 

2. Diversify your content.

Instead of only focusing on your product or service itself, why don’t you highlight the making of it? You can also add a bit of fun trivia about your business. Or mix in some behind-the-scenes. There’s so much you can make into content if you look beyond the obvious promotional shots and videos.

3. Extract information from one material to make more kinds of content.

When you’re a female entrepreneur, you’re always busy. Make the most of your time and effort by making one piece of material and then turning that into other forms of content. For example, when you make a video, you can extract the audio from that and use it on your other content. You can also transcribe that video, modify it, and turn it into a blog. You can even edit that same video to create a teaser or trailer of it. The possibilities really are endless.

4. Duplicate and reuse content.

Running out of ideas to create engaging social media posts? Reuse content that’s over 6-months old. Social media is so fast-paced that users quickly see something, and then move on. You can modify it a little so bit so that they’re not identical, but otherwise you can reuse that content for your new followers that have not seen it yet.

5. Interview your clients to get insight for content creation.

This is another way to get ideas on how to make content more engaging. Involve your audience. Get feedback through polls, Q&As, and DMs. Ask them what they think about your product or service, what they want to see more from you, and other related topics.

6. Take inspiration from what others are doing.

Check out what your competitors are doing in their social media channels. There’s nothing wrong with copying the methods of others, as long as you use them for your tribe. (P.S. Don’t join your competitor’s group and try to sell there). 

7. Share your story.

Build a relationship with your target audience by sharing your “why.” Why do you do what you do? Why are you passionate about it? Sharing your purpose gives your audience an intimate understanding of your business and gives them a chance to connect with you.

8. Be consistent in creating content.

Engaging your audience involves so much more than just creating content. You have to be consistent in posting as well. You should be posting regularly and consistently. There’s a constant stream of new information from so many different sources, all trying to grab the attention of consumers. And if you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind.

10. “Can’t afford to outsource content creation” is a mindset

Some female entrepreneurs are hesitant to outsource because they think they can’t afford to do so. But if you’re struggling to create content and it takes you a lot of time, why not pay experts who can do this so much better than you for half the time it takes you? Besides, like I previously mentioned, you can find people who do this at affordable prices. Not only will outsourcing save you time, it will save you a lot of frustration too.

11. Create discipline.

Don’t like creating content but you still have to do it? Work on your thoughts. I’m a business coach for businesswomen now, but I was also a national athlete before. And when I was training, I couldn’t just say, “I don’t feel like doing it, so I won’t do it.” I do it anyway. It’s not just physical training, more than anything, it’s mental training. There’s always a thought first, and then feelings after. And you can change your thoughts. Try flipping your thoughts around and see the difference it makes in changing your whole outlook as well.

12. Wait for inspiration to strike before you create content.

Another thing you can do is wait until you are inspired. We all know it takes a lot to finish something we don’t love doing. So, wait until you feel creative. That’s when you are in the now and you can create momentum. During this time, try to create enough content to last you a month. Then you’ll have available content until the next time you feel inspired.

13. Get out of your comfort zone.

A common challenge for female entrepreneurs is promoting themselves. Some don’t like being in front of the camera or speaking publicly to audience. And that’s okay. But if you want to overcome this, just start somewhere. Too shy to appear in a video? Start with just doing voice-overs. Can’t speak in a live meeting? Start doing it with friends. Gradual changes can make a significant difference in the long term.

14. Know your clients inside-out to create engaging content.

The first thing you should know about engaging your audience is knowing who they are. What are their problems? What do they love? What don’t they like? What kind of words do they use? What kind of images do they feel attracted to?

I’ve written more about knowing your ideal client here.

15. Share things about yourself

These days, giving your content a personal touch can go a long way. With so many brands and companies promoting their products and services on social media, they can all appear as faceless, unfeeling images in people’s feeds. Aside from knowing your clients, let them know you as well. Share your own experiences, your own highs and lows. You’ll be surprised how many people will be able to relate with you. Don’t be shy to open up and share who you are.  

16. Use tools to automate some parts of content creation.

I’m a big fan of automation. It saves money, effort, and a lot of time. You can translate that into the creation of content too. There are so many tools out there that can help make this task easier. Some of the tools I use are Happy Scribe for transcription and subtitling, Publer.io for scheduling posting, and NeuralText for automated copy. Although these tools won’t accomplish the task perfectly, they still make the process a whole lot simpler.

Summing it up

Coming up with original content all the time, sure is a lot of work. And you have to do it all the time too. What you should keep in mind is that it doesn’t have to be so hard. There are strategies you can use to keep coming up with fresh, dynamic, and engaging content that will keep your target audience coming back.

And while you’re working on your content, make sure that you’re also working on other areas of your business as well. It’s never just one area that needs focus when you’re scaling and growing your business. As a business coach for female entrepreneurs, I can definitely say that a holistic approach is best if you want to succeed.

Learn more 

My name is Tineke Rensen and I am a business coach for women. I created the system “A Women’s Blueprint for Business Success,” where I work with female entrepreneurs in 9 major areas in their business.

There are many out there who call themselves “business coaches” but have never had their own business. What you need is a business coach who has experience in scaling and growing businesses. And I’ve had plenty. In my 31 years of experience, I’ve become an expert on many areas, and I can help you with whatever topic you need help with. Because it NEVER is about changing just one thing that’ll pivot your business around

If you want to learn more about what makes a good business coach for women, check out this article about the 20 questions you should ask a business coach for female entrepreneurs.

Interested to learn how you can work with me one-on-one to build your one-woman gig to a proper business and double your income within a year? Click here now to schedule a quick 15-minute call with me and get started.

About the author:

Tineke Rensen of Powerful Business Academy has been in business for 31 years. She built an international Outdoor and Survival business from scratch and sold it after 22 years.

Tineke was also a national whitewater kayaking champion.

She now is one of the most all-round business accelerators and mentors you can find. She helps businesswomen to “Scale & Grow, Make More Impact And Work Less.” There are very few topics she cannot help you with in your business. Many people find this hard to believe, but hey, how much do you think you know about scaling businesses if you live it day and night for 31 years?

Tineke created the system “A Women’s Blueprint To Business Success.” She is a multi-awarded serial entrepreneur and is the author of the book “Maximum Business Growth For Women.”

As female entrepreneurs, we know that social media plays a big role in promoting our businesses. For it to be effective, you need an audience to market your products or services to. And the bigger your audience is, the more potential clients you can reach.

But we all know how difficult the task of growing your audience can be. There’s so much going on in social media. Add to that the intense competition among countless brands vying to get noticed by customers. This is why it can really be challenging to capture the attention of your audience, let alone grow your number of followers on social media.

So what can you do?

Before I share tips on how to grow your audience, I must first emphasize that working on this alone won’t significantly impact the growth of your business. Growing an audience is just one of the many areas you need to focus on if you’re serious about scaling and growing your business.

With that said, here are some tips you can use to grow your audience on Facebook, Instagram, and other online channels.

1. Add friends and invite them to your Facebook Group

Facebook allows us to invite 50 friends a day. The strategy I use is I add 50 new people daily who are my target audience, and then ask them to join my Facebook Group, Powerful Business Women. This method may take some time, and the growth may be slow, but it’s an easy way to grow your Facebook audience. And I outsource this task to my assistant.

2. Invite all the friends you already have who are your target audience

You can also start with your immediate circle of friends. If they are your target audience, or if they at least want to support you and hear more about your business, invite them to your group.

Another thing you can do is to ask your friends to invite their friends to join your Facebook Group. It’s a simple yet effective way because a referral works better than cold-messaging people on their inbox.

3. Create a website for your Facebook Group and promote the link everywhere

When I promote my Facebook Group, I use a website that I created specifically for it. It gives me the freedom to put more information about the group, and basically anything else I want to share, instead of being restricted by Facebook rules.

This website is the link I put in my newsletters, videos, and other promotional materials, along with my call to action.

4. Create good content and engage with people

Content is number one when you’re trying to grow your social media following. If people are able to connect with your content, they’ll be more likely to stick around, comment, and share.

Now, how can you create engaging content? Know your ideal client and post images and captions that clearly represent your message. Use the appropriate hashtags, follow the right people, and initiate the discussion by commenting on relevant threads. 

If content creation and social media management are not your expertise, outsource this task to professionals.

6. Start by engaging with people you already know

If you’re just starting out as a female entrepreneur, you can grow your audience by engaging people you already know. Reach out to your family and friends and you’ll already have an immediate following.

I know we usually don’t want to sell to friends or relatives, but you don’t actually have to sell to them. You can just enthusiastically talk about what you do and how you do it. And if they’re family and friends, they would like to know. And usually, the first customers of a launching business are people who are close to you.

7. Get client testimonials

I’ve written many articles about why a testimonial is important and how you can get good ones to boost your business. Aside from these points, testimonials also make for good content. They are recommendations for your business, without the need for hard selling or even self-promotion.

8. Create ambassadors

This tip flows from the two previous ones. Ambassadors love you and the product or service you have to offer. They rave about it. So when clients, friends, and family buy from you, make sure you get testimonials from them. People want to hear from real people about why your product or service is worth checking out. It builds trust. It shows that you are credible. Women, after all, usually don’t endorse products or services just for the money. They do it because they like the product and they’re sure others will like it too.

Summing it up

The question of how to grow an audience is something I often encounter as a business coach for women. Many women struggle to find their ideal audience and engage them meaningfully. And though I’ve shared many tips about how you can do this, it is still necessary that you know who your ideal client is and what your key messages are.

Not only that, but you also need to work on other areas such as branding and target-setting, and many other areas that simultaneously affect each other. Working on just one area will not make a remarkable difference to your business. What you need is a holistic approach. If you’re unsure how to get started, you can schedule a 15-minute call with me to see if I can help you achieve your goals.

Learn more

 My name is Tineke Rensen and I am a business coach for women. I created the system “A Women’s Blueprint for Business Success,” where I work with female entrepreneurs in 9 major areas in their business.

There are many out there who call themselves “business coaches” but have never had their own business. What you need is a business coach who has experience in scaling and growing businesses. And I’ve had plenty. In my 31 years of experience, I’ve become an expert in many areas, and I can help you with whatever topic you need help with. Because it NEVER is about changing just one thing that’ll pivot your business around

If you want to learn more about what makes a good business coach for women check out this article about the 20 questions you should ask a business coach for female entrepreneurs.

Interested to learn how you can work with me one-on-one to build your one-woman gig to a proper business and double your income within a year? Click here now to schedule a quick 15-minute call with me and get started.

About the author:

Tineke Rensen of Powerful Business Academy has been in business for 31 years. She built an international Outdoor and Survival business from scratch and sold it after 22 years.

Tineke was also a national whitewater kayaking champion.

She now is one of the most all-round business accelerators and mentors you can find. She helps businesswomen to “Scale & Grow, Make More Impact And Work Less.” There are very few topics she cannot help you with in your business. Many people find this hard to believe, but hey, how much do you think you know about scaling businesses if you live it day and night for 31 years?

Tineke created the system “A Women’s Blueprint To Business Success.” She is a multi-awarded serial entrepreneur and is the author of the book “Maximum Business Growth For Women.”

Lead generation is the lifeline of any business. It ensures that there is a constant flow of potential customers coming in, so that you can make enough sales to sustain and grow the business. As essential as it is, many female entrepreneurs struggle with how to generate leads. As a business coach for female entrepreneurs, I’ve found that there can be a number of reasons for this. It’s likely that (a) they are looking for them in the wrong places, (b) they have no screening process for potential leads, or (c) they have no idea who their ideal client is.

And let’s face it, finding leads is hard, especially if you’re a female entrepreneur. We have attributes as women that make this task challenging to begin with. We don’t want to be too aggressive; we want to please everyone; we don’t want to over-promote ourselves—these are just some of the thoughts that hold us back.

Sometimes we are also faced with the wrong clients. This kind of clients waste our time and energy selling to them even when they have no intention to buy. They don’t pay enough, or they complain about every little thing. These people are not the type you want to be working with.

So how do you fix this?

Before I give you tips on how to find leads, I first need you to know that:
1. It takes time and lots of tweaking before you find the right strategy.
2. Growing and scaling your business is not only about finding leads and selling to leads.

Now, here are some strategies you can use to find good leads:

1. LinkedIn is best for business-to-business (B2B) lead generation

B2B means that one business deals with another business, such as in wholesale, where the other eventually sells the goods to the end consumer. For B2B lead generation, LinkedIn is the most effective platform to use. How to generate leads on LinkedIn? Start by connecting with your potential clients and then initiate an inbox conversation. From there, you can get to know the person, plan a meeting, and eventually make an offer.

2. For brick-and-mortar businesses, the best way is to connect and engage with your customers

If you’re in retail and your customers come into your shop, the best thing to do is to make sure that they get connected with you through newsletters or on the social media channels that you use. Once you have their contact information, you will be able to reach out to them and send them your latest offers.

3. It’s easier to sell to existing customers than find new ones

When a client has already bought from you before, it’s easier to sell to them again. They won’t need a lot of convincing if they love your product or service. What you can do is build a relationship with them by keeping them in the loop for new offerings or special packages.

4. Advertise locally

You might think that casting a wide net with your ads will get you more potential clients, but that’s not the case. Location is very important in any business. Use tools such as Google My Business and Facebook to target specific areas that are relevant to your business. And make sure that you use the right keywords. When potential clients search for those keywords in your region or city, they will more likely come across your business.

5. Implement retargeting campaigns

When you have a website, which I’m sure you do, there are many lead generation strategies you can use. One of these is retargeting. When people visit your website, make sure that they click on ‘Install Cookies.’ This will allow certain contact information to be collected, which you can use when you target your ads. The way this can work is, for example, when they click on a product on your website, they will be able to see that product when they go on other social media channels. They will be reminded of your product or be top-of-mind when they search for similar products.

6. Have different offerings or campaigns

There are a lot of offers you can give your clients to entice them to buy, or to at least check you out. You can organize open evenings, offer discounts and coupon codes, or have a referral program. How to get leads from these activities?

• You can boost your sales with reduced prices and special offers
• You can collect email addresses for your list
• You can encourage existing clients to tell a friend of your product or service

8. Engage your audience

Whichever platform you use (and I always advice people to choose a platform that they love, otherwise outsource the work), the key is to connect and engage your audience. As a business coach for female entrepreneurs, I advise my clients to use a simple strategy: follow people who are your audience, start an inbox conversation with them, and then somehow make sure that they get to your website or to your shop, or schedule a call.

9. Know who you want your ideal clients to be

It starts with knowing who your ideal client is. This is important if you are going to pay for ads, otherwise, you will be wasting money. The people who click on your ad, you know right away that they can eventually become your client. For the rest of your leads, you should be able to identify which ones are worth following up on.

Like I previously mentioned, not everyone is your ideal client. Not every lead is a good one as well. What I do as a business coach for female entrepreneurs is screen my potential clients with a short 15-minute call to find out if the person fits my criteria.

You also need to have a client avatar. You need to know exactly who you want your clients to be. If you’re not having conversations, you can scan their social media profile and find the information that you’re looking for. Then you would have an idea if they might be the right fit for you. If you’re still not sure, start an inbox conversation.

If you want to know more about finding your ideal client, I’ve written more in-depth about it in another blog post.

Summing it up

Knowing how to generate leads for business is essential if you want to scale and grow your business. While this may seem like a daunting task, it gets easier if you know where to find new leads, how to connect with these leads, and even how to sell again to existing leads. And you don’t have to do it alone. You can get help from agencies, companies, or even a business coach for female entrepreneurs such as myself.

You must also keep in mind that finding and selling to leads by themselves will not make a significant impact in your business. There are many different areas you must also work on. If you want to seriously scale and grow your business, you need to take on a holistic approach.

Learn more

My name is Tineke Rensen and I am a business coach for women. I created the system “A Women’s Blueprint for Business Success,” where I work with female entrepreneurs in 9 major areas in their business.

There are many out there who call themselves “business coaches” but have never had their own business. What you need is a business coach who has experience in scaling and growing businesses. And I’ve had plenty. In my 31 years of experience, I’ve become an expert on many areas, and I can help you with whatever topic you need help with. Because it NEVER is about changing just one thing that’ll pivot your business around

If you want to learn more about what makes a good business coach for women check out this article about the 20 questions you should ask a business coach for female entrepreneurs.

Interested to learn how you can work with me one-on-one to build your one-woman gig to a proper business and double your income within a year? Click here now to schedule a quick 15-minute call with me and get started.

About the author:

Tineke Rensen of Powerful Business Academy has been in business for 31 years. She built an international Outdoor and Survival business from scratch and sold it after 22 years.

Tineke was also a national whitewater kayaking champion.

She now is one of the most all-round business accelerators and mentors you can find. She helps businesswomen to “Scale & Grow, Make More Impact And Work Less.” There are very few topics she cannot help you with in your business. Many people find this hard to believe, but hey, how much do you think you know about scaling businesses if you live it day and night for 31 years?

Tineke created the system “A Women’s Blueprint To Business Success.” She is a multi-awarded serial entrepreneur and is the author of the book “Maximum Business Growth For Women.”

A good testimonial can be extremely powerful for your business, especially if you are a female entrepreneur. Not only do testimonials build your credibility and make you trustworthy, they are a good way to drive sales into your business. Now, if you’ve only just started out as a businesswoman, testimonials also help to reach your ideal clients and build your reputation.

This is why it’s very important not just to get testimonials, but to get good ones. A testimonial is a sales pitch after all. And as in any sales pitch, you want your best features on the spotlight.

Before we continue with this topic, I want to inform that; when you are serious about scaling and growing your business, working on just this one little area is not going to make a big difference. Scaling and Growing your business is always about a complex factor of working on many different areas which are all connected with one another. It is different for every business and even for every business owner.

What makes a testimonial good?

 For a testimonial to be effective:

• It has to be authentic and relatable. Testimonials that are sincere will make the most impact to your ideal audience. Clients want to hear from real people and be able to relate to their struggles. And they are smart. They will be able to tell the difference between a genuine testimonial and a manufactured review. If you want a good testimonial, let your clients share their unique experiences and say these in their own words.

• It has to be concise but detailed. Research shows that the average attention span of a person in this digital age is 8 seconds. So holding your audience’s attention for more than this duration requires that you engage their interest. Don’t bore them with generic information about your services. Don’t ask them to read a whole page of text or watch minutes of footage before they get to the good parts they need to hear. In other words, keep it short and to the point. 

To show you what I mean, here are some testimonials that I received from my clients as a business coach for female entrepreneurs:

“I met Tineke during a lecture she gave for our business club. I felt attracted to her knowledge. I also felt a click, I felt understood and it was time for me to grow, time for the boost I wanted, time to show up in a much bigger way My company is called C-vents. It surprises its client and target group in a creative way and creates opportunities and thereby realizes growth with organizing events. “
Claudia Alberda
C-Vents

Written testimonial vs. video testimonial

As a business coach for female entrepreneurs, I’ve found that video testimonials are always the best. In a video, everybody can see that a person is being truthful. It can’t be tricked, and it can’t be fooled. But many clients still give written testimonials for several reasons. They may be an organization and therefore cannot give a personal testimonial, or they can also be individuals who are very private and do not want to be on camera.

The thing is, not all your clients will be willing to be recorded. And that is fine. You may not receive an honest or heartfelt testimonial if you force them to do something they don’t want to do. You can encourage and prepare them, however, to make a video testimonial by providing them with a list of questions they can answer will help.

Summing it up

To encourage your clients to follow through with making a testimonial for you, makes it easy for them to do so. Let them know that the burden of editing falls on you. There is no pressure for them to make a perfect recording, and they can have as many takes as they require. Reassure them that you will provide a list that will guide them when they do the retakes. Let them know that all they have to do is speak clearly and sincerely. The rest of the work will be up to you.

You may need to work a little bit harder for this, but I promise it will be worth it.

However, you must keep in mind that getting testimonials by itself will not help you scale and grow your business. You also need to know who your ideal client is. You must know how to position yourself. You need to constantly generate new leads. You need to work on ALL areas of your business. If you want to seriously scale and grow your business, you need to take on a holistic approach.

Learn More

My name is Tineke Rensen and I am a business coach for women. I created A Woman’s Blueprint for Business Success, where I work with female entrepreneurs in 9 major areas in their business.

There are many out there who call themselves business coaches but have never had their own business. What you need is a business coach who has experience in scaling and growing businesses. And I’ve had plenty. In my 31 years of experience, I’ve become an expert in many areas of business. I can help you with whatever topic you need help with.

If you want to learn more about what makes a good business coach for women check out this article about the 20 questions you should ask a business coach for female entrepreneurs.

Interested to learn how you can work with me one-on-one to build your one-woman gig to a proper business and double your income within a year, without spending a dime? Click here now to schedule a quick 15-minute call with me and get started.

About the author:

Tineke Rensen of Powerful Business Academy has been in business for 31 years. She built an international Outdoor and Survival business from scratch and sold it after 22 years.

Tineke was also a national whitewater kayaking champion.

She now is one of the most all-round business accelerators and mentors you can find. She helps businesswomen to “Scale & Grow, Make More Impact And Work Less.” There are very few topics she cannot help you with in your business. Many people find this hard to believe, but hey, how much do you think you know about scaling businesses if you live it day and night for 31 years?

Tineke created the system “A Women’s Blueprint To Business Success.” She is a multi-awarded serial entrepreneur and is the author of the book “Maximum Business Growth For Women.”

When you are a female entrepreneur with a new business, I know it can be a challenge to get your name out there. It takes constant marketing just to be able to get recognized by potential customers. It’s a different case altogether to get them to trust you and buy from you. It’s not enough to just advertise anymore. What I’ve noticed is that clients don’t want to feel like they’re being sold to. They want to connect with real people with real-life experiences.

This is why testimonials are one of the best ways to promote yourself and communicate with your client. I know that many female entrepreneurs tend to be uncomfortable when they have to do self-promotion. If you’re feeling the same way, getting testimonials is really the way to go. It’s selling yourself without actually selling yourself, because your customers do it for you. You give your business credibility, without hard selling or self-aggrandizing. In other words, in testimonials, potential customers hear from your current customers why it’s a good decision to do business with you.

If you’ve only just started as a female entrepreneur, getting your first testimonial can seem like a daunting task. And there are many factors that can be at play here. It can be because you lack confidence, or you don’t think you have clients who will do it. Or maybe you just don’t know how to get customer testimonials. If these are your concerns, read on.

Next, offer an exchange

When you find a potential client you think you can work with, offer an exchange of service or product for a good testimonial. Lay out what is in for both of you in the deal. Don’t sell yourself short! After all, just because you’re offering a product or service for free doesn’t mean it’s of less quality. When you’re a female entrepreneur trying to grow your business, it’s actually the contrary!

Here are some notes you should discuss with your client:

• Be clear that you will be providing a product or service for no cost (or at the very least, for the amount of expenses) for well-thought testimonials, preferably in video form. Videos are more engaging and versatile, and you’ll have more use of them across all your platforms.

• It must also be explicitly agreed upon that you will be able to use the client’s name and logos. You can add these to your website, or use them in your other marketing materials.

• Think of it as a collaboration. This is your chance to test everything that you think can happen, including issues that may arise. You and your client can communicate openly and learn from each other’s perspectives.

Build from there

Testimonials build your trustworthiness and reliability. And when you get your first one, it will be much easier to get more. Especially if you use what you’ve learned in the testing periods to further improve your products or services. And as you gain more confidence in your experience, asking for testimonials wouldn’t be such a strain anymore. But if this is a challenge you need help tackling, you can also consult a business coach for female entrepreneurs. 

Summing it up

After everything’s been said, don’t forget to have fun with it! The good thing about having a pilot is that there is not too much pressure and risk. You can just focus on providing a good service, which is what the testimonial will be about in the first place. Remember, if you have a great offer, a great testimonial will come effortlessly too.

If you need help with this or any other area in your business, schedule a free 15-minute call with me here.

Learn More

If you’re a female entrepreneur looking for extra knowledge and expertise, look for a good business coach for women because there are many out there who never even had their own business. This advice could make or break your business.

How do you know if someone is a good business coach for women?

Check out this article about the 20 questions you should ask a business coach for female entrepreneurs.

My name is Tineke Rensen and I am a business coach for women. If you want to work with me one-on-one to build your one-woman gig to a proper business and double your income within a year, without spending a dime, click here now to schedule a quick 15-minute call with me and get started.

About the author:

Tineke Rensen of Powerful Business Academy has been in business for 31 years. She built an international Outdoor and Survival business from scratch and sold it after 22 years.

Tineke was also a national whitewater kayaking champion.

She now is one of the most all-round business accelerators and mentors you can find. She helps businesswomen to “Scale & Grow, Make More Impact And Work Less.” There are very few topics she cannot help you with in your business. Many people find this hard to believe, but hey, how much do you think you know about scaling businesses if you live it day and night for 31 years?

Tineke created the system “A Women’s Blueprint To Business Success.” She is a multi-awarded serial entrepreneur and is the author of the book “Maximum Business Growth For Women.”

When you are a female entrepreneur creating a team, hiring team members is only the beginning of the process. If you want to build a strong team, you need to train them. Research shows that training gives your employees the information they need to be able to perform at the required level of skill and knowledge.

In other words, training bridges the gap between how they (your team members) perform, and how you (the leader) expect them to perform. After all, you are still in charge. How they work and their quality of work should meet the standards that you set for your business. And it’s up to you to implement this.

Before we go into detail about how you should train your virtual assistant, let me just emphasize again that building a strong team is just one of many areas you need to work on when you’re scaling and growing your business. This article discusses Area 6, Team, but there are also other areas such as Planning, Branding, and Sales. Find out more about them in the holistic approach I created, “The Women’s Blueprint to Business Success.”

If you’re new to this and have only just hired your virtual assistants, here are a few tips on how you can train them.

SOP’s are a must

 It doesn’t matter if you have one team member or a hundred, standard operating procedures are essential for female entrepreneurs. SOP’s help you and your team avoid mistakes, especially when they are just starting out. With these step-by-step instructions, your team members will be able to carry out their tasks correctly at any given time. And you will not have to supervise them or instruct them every time as well. With SOP’s, your work process becomes efficient and on target.

If you don’t have SOP’s for your business yet, I’ve written a quick guide to create them in this blog post.

Start with easy tasks

When working with your team, don’t just hand over the reins and assume that they will do a perfect job right away. On the contrary, you must take on the attitude that it is likely that they will make mistakes. This is why you have to guide them every step of the way.

You also have to keep in mind that they will not be able to do the job exactly how you would do it. They are not you after all, and you can only guide them to do the best work that they can. So you have to manage your expectations, too. Give them simple tasks in the beginning so that you can find out how they work and how much direction they need. As they learn and improve, they will need less overseeing and you can gradually give them more complex tasks.

Have systems in place

 When you’re working with a team across different time zones, it is important to have systems in place to ensure order and productivity. Here are a few you should consider:

• Use a tool for delegation and teamwork. Your team will need a project management tool that can keep track of all the work that is being done simultaneously. Apps such as Slack, Trello, and Bloo work well for this. These tools facilitate teamwork by organizing files, assignments, deadlines, and records other activity within projects. These also make it easier to create tasks and assign them to the relevant team members. They give everyone a general overview of where each member is at on their task.

• Work in the cloud. Keeping documents and other files in the cloud makes them accessible to all members at any time. This saves everyone the trouble of sending or asking for certain files, which can easily cause delay in the workflow. It also creates a layer of safeguard for your documents, ensuring that no document gets lost or destroyed. Working on the cloud generates both a database and a backup of all work, without all the extra steps.

Summing it up

I know that as a female entrepreneur, all this sounds like more hard work. And you’re right. Training your VA and your team members requires time and commitment. But you have to remember that your team serves as the foundation of your business. You need to nourish them, especially in the beginning. But like any good investment, the returns will be worth it. If you train your team right, you will eventually free up more of your time to focus on scaling and growing your business.

As a business coach for female entrepreneurs, I’ve helped many clients build strong teams so they can do the work they are good ad and let the team handle the rest. You can schedule a quick 15-minute call with me to see if I can help you build and train yours.

Learn More

If you’re a female entrepreneur looking for extra knowledge and expertise, look for a good business coach for women for female entrepreneurs because there are many out there who never even had their own business. This advice could make or break your business.

How do you know if someone is a good business coach for women?

Check out this article about the 20 questions you should ask a business coach for female entrepreneurs.

My name is Tineke Rensen and I am a business coach for women. If you want to work with me one-on-one to build your one-woman gig to a proper business and double your income within a year, without spending a dime, click here now to schedule a quick 15-minute call with me and get started.

About the author:

Tineke Rensen of Powerful Business Academy has been in business for 31 years. She built an international Outdoor and Survival business from scratch and sold it after 22 years.

Tineke was also a national whitewater kayaking champion.

She now is one of the most all-round business accelerators and mentors you can find. She helps businesswomen to “Scale & Grow, Make More Impact And Work Less.” There are very few topics she cannot help you with in your business. Many people find this hard to believe, but hey, how much do you think you know about scaling businesses if you live it day and night for 31 years?

Tineke created the system “A Women’s Blueprint To Business Success.” She is a multi-awarded serial entrepreneur and is the author of the book “Maximum Business Growth For Women.”

When you’re growing your business as a female entrepreneur, there will come a time when it’s simply not possible to do everything on your own. And that’s actually a good sign. It means that business is picking up and you need extra hands to accomplish everything. Or you’re trying to shift your focus from routine tasks to tasks that will make you money. Either way, building a strong team can only increase your productivity.

But before I go into more detail about hiring a virtual assistant and building a team, let me emphasize again that scaling and growing your business does not only require help and support from team members. Although this is an important area, there are many others such as Planning, Mindset, and Sales.

I cover all these areas in the holistic system I created, “The Women’s Blueprint to Business Success.” Check it out here

What is a VA and why do you need one?

As a female entrepreneur, your most valuable resource is your time. And how you spend it affects how and when you achieve your goals. Do you spend it on time-consuming admin tasks? Or do you use it to work on your core business?

This is why you need a virtual assistant. A virtual assistant provides support services on a remote-work basis. A VA’s most common tasks are administrative in nature, but they can also work on other areas of your business. And because they work flexible hours, you can hire them part-time based on the amount of work you need to be done. In short, you can hire a virtual assistant based on your needs and your allocated budget.

What do you need in a virtual assistant?

There are already many articles out there discussing the reasons to hire an assistant, or when to hire an assistant, so I will focus on the more practical details of how to hire a virtual assistant.

As a business coach for female entrepreneurs, the first thing I tell my clients when hiring a VA is figuring out which tasks need to be delegated. Aside from the usual admin tasks, you can delegate work that you don’t like doing or work that isn’t part of your expertise but are essential in running your business.

After you make a list of tasks that you need to outsource, you can identify what skills or competencies your possible hire needs to have. For example, if you need your social media channels managed, you can look for a VA who is good at content creation and project management. If you need someone to handle business communications, you need to look for a VA who has excellent communication skills and is good with customer relations.    

Ironing out the details

 It goes without saying that you need to interview your potential VA to get an idea if they would be a good fit for the team you want to build. I write about this topic in detail in another blog post. Once you’ve found your ideal VA, there are a few housekeeping tasks you need to take care of before you formally start working. Here are some points you need to sort out:

• Working hours and days. Do you require a minimum or a maximum number of work hours per week? Are there any specific days that you need your VA to work?

• Timezone. Clearly set which timezone you need your team to work at, especially if you have more than one assistant. This will clear up any confusion on schedules and deadlines.

• Copyright. Your VA must understand that you have full ownership of any and all content produced while under your employ.

These are just basic terms that you need to state in your VA’s contract. You may have special circumstances depending on what business you have, and you should put those in as well. Remember to have everything down on paper and in black and white. This may seem tedious or even inappropriate, but it is better to have a document on record in case of future disputes. This will also be a good way to set your expectations as well as your VA’s.

Summing it up

 It’s not easy doing everything on your own. And as a business coach for female entrepreneurs, I don’t recommend it. Hiring a virtual assistant is the first step in scaling and growing your business, and building a team that can support the growth of your business is important. If you need more help with this topic or any area of your business, you can schedule a quick call with me.

Learn More

My name is Tineke Rensen and I am a business coach for women. I created the system “A Women’s Blueprint for Business Success,” where I work with female entrepreneurs in 9 major areas in their business.

There are many out there who call themselves “business coaches” but have never had their own business. What you need is a business coach who has experience in scaling and growing businesses. And I’ve had plenty. In my 31 years of experience, I’ve become an expert in many areas, and I can help you with whatever topic you need help with. Because it NEVER is about changing just one thing that’ll pivot your business around

If you want to learn more about what makes a good business coach for women check out this article about the 20 questions you should ask a business coach for female entrepreneurs.

Interested to learn how you can work with me one-on-one to build your one-woman gig to a proper business and double your income within a year? Click here now to schedule a quick 15-minute call with me and get started.

About the author:

Tineke Rensen of Powerful Business Academy has been in business for 31 years. She built an international Outdoor and Survival business from scratch and sold it after 22 years.

Tineke was also a national whitewater kayaking champion.

She now is one of the most all-round business accelerators and mentors you can find. She helps businesswomen to “Scale & Grow, Make More Impact And Work Less.” There are very few topics she cannot help you with in your business. Many people find this hard to believe, but hey, how much do you think you know about scaling businesses if you live it day and night for 31 years?

Tineke created the system “A Women’s Blueprint To Business Success.” She is a multi-awarded serial entrepreneur and is the author of the book “Maximum Business Growth For Women.”

As a female entrepreneur, I’m sure you have been conditioned to work hard and do everything on your own. Especially when you’re starting out and you want to cut on costs. But as your business grows and your tasks multiply, you’re probably asking yourself: “Do I need a team, or do I just need to work harder?”

Working harder is not a bad thing. It’s important in any business. But as you put in more and more hours, you’re gradually building yourself up for burnout. According to an article by the Harvard Business Review, overwork is a story of diminishing returns. The more you overwork, the more careless you become with tasks that become increasingly meaningless as well. My point is this: don’t spread yourself too thin. I know you wear many hats as a woman, but when it comes to being a female entrepreneur, you only need one—being a leader.

This is why, as a business coach for female entrepreneurs, I recommend that you build a team that will increase your productivity. Instead of spending your time organizing files, scheduling, bookkeeping, and other admin tasks, you get to focus on your core business. You also get to work on your financial targets and long-term plans. In other words, you free up your time to do tasks that only you can do.

You don’t have to do everything

This brings us to the tasks that you don’t have to do. Here are a few that you can either automate or delegate:

• Call, meeting, or event schedule
• Invoicing
• Bookkeeping
• Social media management
• Email marketing
• Lead generation
• Research
• Business correspondence

A reduced workload isn’t the only advantage of having a team. Your team members can also participate in planning, problem-solving, and decision-making. This collaboration can make way for a dynamic exchange of ideas and creative ways of doing things. After all, brainstorming is only possible when you don’t do it alone. In the next sections, I will explain how to build a strong team at work and what you need to look for.

Building a strong team means finding the right team members

When I say the right team members, I don’t just mean qualified team members. When you first start hiring, you may be tempted to hire anyone who has the general skills you are looking for. But you must remember that every business has specific and unique needs. And you need a team member that will particularly fit yours.

With so many talented and hardworking candidates out there, how can you find the perfect one? Here are a few tips you can consider on your search:

• Clearly identify the job title and description. Many candidates look for roles that match their skill set. By stating exactly what tasks you need to be done and what skills are required to accomplish those, you reduce that pool of possible hires. For example: Looking for an assistant with strong communication skills who can handle client concerns and complaints, as well as respond to emails, phone calls, and other business communications.

• Give an overview of the job. Be honest when you state the range of tasks you need from your team members. They need to know what to expect and what is expected of them. Misleading your hires will lead to friction later on. They may even quit, which will lead you to go through the whole hiring process all over again.

• Interview them thoroughly. There is only so much information a resume can give you. What looks good on paper may not be the case in person. When you interview your candidates, you should spend time knowing things about them that aren’t already on their resumes. What are their strengths and weakness? Do they work well in a team? What are their interests and goals? Let them explain their problem-solving process. Personal information like these will help you see if they will be a good fit for you and the rest of the team.

The most important part of teamwork is cohesion. If you don’t click with them, even when they are exceptionally skilled, they will not be able to contribute meaningfully to the growth of your business.

Summing it up

Having the right team to support you in achieving your goals will help you scale and grow your business quicker and easier. I know that having the money to pay your staff may not come easy. But it comes down to a choice. Do you save money and waste your time? Or do you invest on the right people who can make you more productive in the long run?

If you need help outsourcing or overcoming burnout, I’ve written many other articles on my blog that can help you with your struggles as a female entrepreneur.

Learn More

If you’re a female entrepreneur looking for extra knowledge and expertise, look for a good business coach for women because there are many out there who never even had their own business. This advice could make or break your business.

How do you know if someone is a good business coach for women?

Check out this article about the 20 questions you should ask a business coach for female entrepreneurs.

My name is Tineke Rensen and I am a business coach for women. I host monthly masterclasses about various business topics.

The next masterclass is on the 19^th of August. The topic of the next masterclass will be: How To Double Your Income With The Membership Method. You can also check it out here. Try it out!

 For the first class, you only pay 1 euro ($1,20), so it is safe for you to check me out. Afterward, you decide if you’ve learned something and whether you want to continue to become a member for 47,- euro/month (with a lot of extra benefits). Or you just move on.

If you want to take it a step higher and work with me one-on-one to build your one-woman gig to a proper business and double your income within a year, without spending a dime. Click here to schedule a quick 15-minute call with me and get started.

About the author:

Tineke Rensen of Powerful Business Academy has been in business for 31 years. She built an international Outdoor and Survival business from scratch and sold it after 22 years.

Tineke was also a national whitewater kayaking champion.

She now is one of the most all-round business accelerators and mentors you can find. She helps businesswomen to “Scale & Grow, Make More Impact And Work Less.” There are very few topics she cannot help you with in your business. Many people find this hard to believe, but hey, how much do you think you know about scaling businesses if you live it day and night for 31 years?

Tineke created the system “A Women’s Blueprint To Business Success.” She is a multi-awarded serial entrepreneur and is the author of the book “Maximum Business Growth For Women.”

As a female entrepreneur, you should be aware of the best strategies for finding leads on LinkedIn. Generating leads on LinkedIn is extremely important for any business. Without it, your business may struggle to grow. A business coach for female entrepreneurs will advise you to have and use a remarkable lead strategy. A good lead strategy introduces a constant new flow of potential clients into your business. You can also have regular conversations with potential clients. LinkedIn is the best social media platform for this. Most business-to-business (B2B) marketers swear by it to promote themselves as it drives 50% of social media traffic to B2B sites.

Getting a premium LinkedIn account is the best thing you can do for your business. The paid LinkedIn account has many good features. It allows you to view the people who visit your profile, and you can also further increase your visibility. As a female entrepreneur, you can use the “InMail messages” feature of LinkedIn to better communicate with your ideal clients. This strategy of LinkedIn InMail lead generation can help you reach potential clients you are not directly connected to. You can also use the “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” feature to your advantage to promote yourself.

Strategies We Use To Get A Constant Flow Of Leads To Have A Conversation With

You may be wondering what lead strategy we are using to get leads from LinkedIn. Well, we are here to let you in on our secret on using LinkedIn for lead generation.

This method is recommended by business coaches for women. All you need to do is follow these steps:

Step 1

Firstly, we add the criteria or characteristics of our ideal clients in the LinkedIn search engine.

The next thing is we check their profiles. Because the search engine can make mistakes.
You have better search options when you have a premium LinkedIn account.

Step 2

Secondly, we invite our ideal client to connect. Always remember to use a personal message to accompany your invite to connect. In this way, they will be more likely to start a conversation with you.

Step 3

After sending the invite via personal message, you may start a conversation with them in the LinkedIn inbox.

Step 4

The primary aim of this conversation is to set an appointment for a call. You need to use an online scheduling tool for call appointments, such as Calendly or Oncehub (we use the latter one), which converts into time zones and can connect with your Zoom or your team’s video conference tool.

If you want to know more about this strategy, you can consult a business coach for women.

We Can Schedule Your Lead Call In Your Calendar

As a female entrepreneur, you may have a lot of work on your shoulders. Scheduling your lead call can take up a lot of your time.

What if we do all the work for you?

All you need to do is filter your ideal clients out of the 15-minute calls which we will schedule for you. All you have to do is to have these calls and determine if you want to continue the conversation with this potential lead. We guarantee you a number of calls, depending on what we agree.

 You may want to do it all yourself. I, a business coach for women, can help you do just that.

But I can assure you when we do it for you, you will save a lot of time having inbox conversations with lots of people before you can finally schedule a 15-minute call.

Join my masterclass on 17^th June where I will show you the exact steps I follow and the exact text templates we use.

Summing It Up

We shared with you our best practices on how to generate leads via LinkedIn. I hope this blog was helpful to you in starting to generate high-quality leads and maintaining a stable lead flow.

If you want to know how to get leads from Facebook for female entrepreneurs, check out this blog article.

Learn More

If you’re a female entrepreneur looking for extra knowledge and expertise, look for a good business coach for women because there are many out there who never even had their own business. This advice could make or break your business.

How do you know if someone is a good business coach for women?

Check out this article about the 20 questions you should ask a business coach for female entrepreneurs.

My name is Tineke Rensen and I am a business coach for women. I host monthly masterclasses about various business topics.

The next masterclass is on the 14th of July. The topic of the next masterclass will be: Generating Leads on LinkedIn. You can also check it out here. Try it out!

For the first class, you only pay 1 euro ($1,20), so it is safe for you to check me out. Afterward, you decide if you’ve learned something and whether you want to continue to become a member for 47,- euro/month (with a lot of extra benefits). Or you just move on.

If you want to take it a step higher and work with me one-on-one to build your one-woman gig to a proper business and double your income within a year, without spending a dime, click here now to get started. Click here to schedule a quick 15-minute call with me and get started. Read and learn more about the results of some calls I’ve had here. 

About the author:

Tineke Rensen of Powerful Business Academy has been in business for 31 years. She built an international Outdoor and Survival business from scratch and sold it after 22 years.

Tineke was also a national whitewater kayaking champion.

She now is one of the most all-round business accelerators and mentors you can find. She helps businesswomen to “Scale & Grow, Make More Impact And Work Less.” There are very few topics she cannot help you with in your business. Many people find this hard to believe, but hey, how much do you think you know about scaling businesses if you live it day and night for 31 years?

Tineke created the system “A Women’s Blueprint To Business Success.” She is a multi-awarded serial entrepreneur and is the author of the book “Maximum Business Growth For Women.”

Female entrepreneurs need to stop sleeping on LinkedIn, especially when almost all business coach for females entrepreneurs swear by it for business-to-business (B2B) interactions. Although Facebook is widely known to be the best social media platform for networking, LinkedIn is used by 97% of B2B marketers for business.

LinkedIn has more than 740 million users, 40% of which use it daily, adding up 1 billion interactions monthly. It also has more than 55 million registered companies, making it ideal for B2B interactions. LinkedIn drives more than 50% of social media traffic to B2B sites and has many features that allow you to attract your ideal audience.

But how can you get leads from LinkedIn?

3 Ways To Get Leads On LinkedIn For Female Entrepreneurs

There are many ways of generating leads on LinkedIn. A few of them are:

• Organic Leads
• Paid Advertising
• Social Selling

To find out more about them, keep reading. I will explain more about them a bit further on.

Before you can start finding leads on LinkedIn, update your profile. Most business coaches for female entrepreneurs think optimizing and upgrading your LinkedIn profile is the first step to generating good quality leads. Here are a few pointers you should consider:

• Firstly, you need to add a few good keywords throughout your profile to increase visibility.
• The biggest mistake most B2B marketers commit is thinking that their LinkedIn profile is their CV, which is not the case. Your LinkedIn profile is for addressing the concerns of your ideal clients and giving possible solutions for them.
• Try to get recommendations of your ideal clients.
• Add a professional photo to your profile. Your background photo needs to depict what your ideal client is looking for or needs.
• Make sure people can connect with you. You can add your website link to your profile. If you don’t have a website, at least add your email address.
• Pin important articles that you have written. This will increase their visibility and your visitors will be able to easily access them.

For reference, check out my LinkedIn profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tinekerensen/

Paid Advertising on LinkedIn

When it comes to increasing awareness of your business, paid advertising is always crucial. It is highly advised by any business coach for women to hire a company to do the paid advertising for you.

There are two different types of paid ads. One is advertising your services directly in the inbox of your ideal clients. Another is advertising yourself in the feed of your ideal audience. Both are fairly effective ways of paid advertising and can easily help you generate high-quality leads.

Social Selling To Find Leads on LinkedIn

Business coaches for women reveal that social selling is the best way for female entrepreneurs to generate high-quality leads. You can start generating sales leads on LinkedIn by initiating a personal connection through private messages. To reach people beyond your network, a premium account can help in LinkedIn InMail lead generation.  Your main goal in this conversation is to meet in a call. You also need to determine what the call will be about, depending on your goal. Then, you can get to know each other. Find out if this person can become your potential client. If he or she can, then this will be a sales call. Make sure that you make it clear to the other person that the purpose of this call is not just to get to know each other but also to promote yourself.

Summing It Up

Although many female entrepreneurs are reluctant to use LinkedIn to their advantage, it is one of the best social media platforms for B2B marketers to promote themselves. You can easily showcase your skills, core values, and services on your LinkedIn profile for your ideal clients to see. These features are what make LinkedIn extremely useful for businesswomen.

If you want to know more about how to generate leads via LinkedIn, you can consult a business coach for women or a business coach for female entrepreneurs.

To find out how you can generate leads from Facebook, you can check out this blog article.

We can do the lead generation on LinkedIn for you–we guarantee you appointments in your calendar.

Let us know if you are interested and contact us at info@tinekerensen.nl

Learn More

If you’re a female entrepreneur looking for extra knowledge and expertise, look for a good business coach for women because there are many out there who never even had their own business. This advice could make or break your business.

How do you know if someone is a good business coach for women?

Check out this article about the 20 questions you should ask a business coach for female entrepreneurs.

My name is Tineke Rensen and I am a business coach for women. I host monthly masterclasses about various business topics.

The next masterclass is on the 14th of July. The topic of the next masterclass will be: Generating Leads on LinkedIn. You can also check it out here. Try it out!

For the first class, you only pay 1 euro ($1,20), so it is safe for you to check me out. Afterward, you decide if you’ve learned something and whether you want to continue to become a member for 47,- euro/month (with a lot of extra benefits). Or you just move on.

If you want to take it a step higher and work with me one-on-one to build your one-woman gig to a proper business and double your income within a year, without spending a dime, click here now to get started.

About the author:

Tineke Rensen of Powerful Business Academy has been in business for 31 years. She built an international Outdoor and Survival business from scratch and sold it after 22 years.

Tineke was also a national whitewater kayaking champion.

She now is one of the most all-round business accelerators and mentors you can find. She helps businesswomen to “Scale & Grow, Make More Impact And Work Less.” There are very few topics she cannot help you with in your business. Many people find this hard to believe, but hey, how much do you think you know about scaling businesses if you live it day and night for 31 years?

Tineke created the system “A Women’s Blueprint To Business Success.” She is a multi-awarded serial entrepreneur and is the author of the book “Maximum Business Growth For Women.”