Food for Thought
Featured Members - Tiffany Washko, Constellations Virtual Services Group
Upcoming Events
Member Specials & News
Re-ignite Play and Joy in Your Life
Newsletter Sponsor
When the Honeymoon is Over…
Members, You Can Earn Free Membership!
NVAS Steering Committee Contact Information

Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.

Aristotle

Featured Members -
Tiffany Washko, Constellations Virtual Services Group

Tiffany Washko, Constellations Virtual Services Group
602-206-1883
twashko@constellationsgrp.com
http://www.constellationsgrp.com/

“Helping You Re-Invent Your Business Everyday”

Constellations provides administrative, secretarial, consulting and business coaching services. By utilizing these services, business owners, executives, and entrepreneurs can outsource their administrative needs and eliminate payroll taxes, benefits, office space, equipment and more. As specialists in the business marketing, advertising, and public relations fields, they offer unique and highly valued services. They are more than just a contract employee, Constellations has a vested interest in your success.

Constellations is ready to help you with regional and national press releases, direct mail campaigns, production of newsletters and e-zines, and will even ghost write articles on your behalf. Please see their web site for an extensive listing of services.

The Growth Guild
All of our events are FREE, unless otherwise noted.

September 11th from 9:30 am - 11:30 am
"Preparing for Printing" presented by Jenny Garcia of Moonlight Imprinting
Please RSVP - theresa@nvas.org.

November 13th from 9:30 am - 11:30 am
"Wellness at Work" presented by Sue Roe of Performance Dimensions, LLC
Please RSVP - theresa@nvas.org.

January 8th from 9:30 am - 11:30 am
"Get Organized" presented by Eileen Roth of Everything in its Place®
Please RSVP - theresa@nvas.org.

EVENT SPONSORS: Please contact us if you are interested in sponsoring any of the listed events. Sponsorship only costs between $10 - $30 & you receive recognition for being an event sponsor.

TOPICS: Have a topic you'd like to hear about? Email us at info@nvas.org and let us know.

All events are located at 4130 E. Van Buren, Suite 150 (just south of Loop 202 & west of 44th Street) in the conference room at the ASBA office.

Check our calendar for more detailed and updated information... information will also be included in our meeting reminders.

A Byte In Time Business Support Services
"Saving Valuable Time -- Yours"
623-435-6500
abyteintime@juno.com

CONGRATULATIONS!
A Byte In Time Business Support Services is celebrating 8 years in business this month!

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ASAP Solutions
"Creating Quality Solutions"
480-515-5055
info@asap-solutions.com
http://www.asap-solutions.com/

Need some help designing a flyer or newsletter? Maybe in creating a new look for your business? ASAP Solutions provides Desktop Publishing and Graphic Design services to help create high quality, great impressions for you and your business at great rates!

Call now for more information, 480-515-5055!

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Constellations Virtual Services Group
“Helping You Re-Invent Your Business Everyday”
602-206-1883
twashko@constellationsgrp.com
http://www.constellationsgrp.com/

FOR A LIMITED TIME...
Constellations is running a summer special on their latest e-book, "Search Engine Submission and Optimization - A Guide to the Basics". This e-book will show you how to create online traffic and high demand for your products or services with proven methods for search engine submission and optimization…Find out what professional web designers and internet marketing gurus are doing to create a windfall of web traffic. If you are doing business on the internet…you must have this book. Purchase is available at a significant discount at http://www.constellationsgrp.com/E-books.htm.

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Web World Wizardry
"Every Web Site Begins with WWW"
480-515-2832
info@webworldwiz.com
http://www.webworldwiz.com/

***Web Site Usability Consultation - ONLY $75***

Is your web site user friendly? Is it getting noticed? Can people find you?

Let a web site usability expert help you find answers to those questions and guide you to making your web site the best it can be.

Call now for more information, 480-515-2832!

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MEMBERS - Have news to share? Specials to announce? Be sure to send in any information you would like to include in our newsletter by the 25th of the month. We would love to get the word out! theresa@nvas.org

Re-ignite Play and Joy in Your Life

By Petra E. Boham, PetrArt LLC

When was the last time you had laughed so hard your tummy hurt? Or your face was sore from smiling for so long- a genuine connectivity that opened you up? Made you feel glad to be alive and left you with a sense of awe and vibrancy? You can recapture those feelings of playfulness and joy in your life: it is never too late.

What makes you laugh? Is it watching your cat tear around the house attacking a plastic bottle cap like a ferocious hockey player with eyes fixated on getting that puck no matter what? Is it reading the comic strip Marmaduke to find out what he is up to today? Or maybe it's passing on an innocent joke that you think is really cute. I have one for you from my good friend Nancy, or "Mom", in St. Louis. She wrote: You know Picabo (pronounced peek-a-boo) Street, the famous skier? She works as a nurse at a hospital. She is no longer able to answer the phones at the hospital because it causes too much confusion when she answers the telephone. Why? She answers the telephone "Picabo, ICU".

Sometimes when I'm feeling bogged down with stress, I look around for something to clean. It's a joke between my Dad and I that he knows something is bothering me when I am really going at it cleaning. But on the serious side of it, it takes my mind off focusing on what's troubling and refocuses it on honoring my home. It also feels good physically to really get into it by scrubbing the floors so I'm getting out that pent up energy. I certainly am not spending a lot of time cleaning, as anyone would attest to who has been in my home, but it's maintained- that's how I like to refer to it as.

When was the last time you really did stop and smell the flowers? I think of it like this: it truly is remarkable what needs to occur for that little flower to bloom. And if hummingbirds like them, then there must be something of interest!

In keeping my eyes open to what's around me, there are a multitude of opportunities for me to pause for a brief moment, and reconnect with nature in all of her many forms. I have a quote hanging in my bedroom that inspires me and I want to share it with you. It communicates the bigger picture of life and helps me reclaim the play and joy in my life: "To be alive, to be able to see, to walk, to have music, paintings- it's all a miracle. I have adopted the technique of living life from miracle to miracle." -A. Rubenstein

Petra specializes in selling original paintings and prints, as well as Creativity Baskets. She facilitates Creativity Workshops, teaches art, and provides complimentary consultations to anyone interested in exploring their creativity.

Petra E. Boham, PetrArt, LLC
602-267-9251
info@petrart.com
http://www.petrart.com

NEWSLETTER SPONSORED BY:
Web World Wizardry
"Every Web Site Begins with WWW"
480-515-2832
info@webworldwiz.com
http://www.webworldwiz.com/

If you would like to sponsor our monthly newsletter, please contact newsletter@nvas.org.

By Tiffany Washko, Constellations Virtual Services Group

I envision that the start of a business is like beginning a marriage. We begin by dating and getting to know the details and peculiarities about our chosen field. Hopefully, we spend some time "getting to know" our business before jumping in and making a commitment. Once we make that leap though, we enter into a marriage, putting effortless energy and work into the relationship. We love this first phase and it requires little motivation on our part to keep that "lovin' feelin" alive. In the early stages of business, marketing is often something that is fun for us. We love the creative processes of building a company identity, designing a logo, writing a catchy tag line, creating our business cards and letterhead. We have a clear vision of all the possibilities that lay before us.

For many people though, that initial glow wears off fast and marketing starts to become a tedious task. It gets harder to devote time to marketing when so many other business details are vying for our attention. The romantic, dreamy, love phase is gone and reality sets in. But how can we keep the passion for our business and marketing in particular, alive? We must find small, cost effective, and timely ways to market our businesses everyday or improve upon our current strategy. It's the little things that count, right? Here are just a few easy ideas.

• Carry business cards with you all the time.
• Maintain a tickler file for marketing ideas, even if you can't get to them now.
  
• Get automated. Create a series of letters and emails that address virtually every aspect of your business and save them as "stationary files". You will never have to start from scratch again.
  
• Create a nametag or pin with your company name and logo and wear it often.
  
• Read the business section of local newspapers and periodicals.
  
• Write an article for your local newspapers and periodicals and submit it for publication. Keep trying if your first submission goes unnoticed.
  
• Attend a business seminar or tradeshow.
  
• Look for a marketing or networking list-serve.
  
• Barter your services in exchange for advertising.
  
• Develop a newsletter or e-zine.
  
• Send postage-paid survey cards to your existing clients.
  
• Add client testimonials to your collaterals.
  
• Put your direct mailings in bright, colored envelopes.
  
• Put a wrapped lifesaver or a pencil in your direct mailings to give them that "lumpy" look that will create recipient curiosity.
  
• Update your media contacts.
  
• Send letters to old clients that you've lost contact with.
  
• Have a publicity photo taken for inclusion with press releases and articles.
  
• Search for a mentor. Contact a respected industry professional and ask for an interview.
  
• Change your voicemail recording to add a "helpful hint" for the day.
  
• Re-invent your services when things change in the marketplace.
  
• Send interesting magazine articles to your clients with an FYI note attached.

Bring back the enthusiasm for your business by integrating your original visions for your business with what you know about your business and your market today. Think about what your business will look like and how it will operate when you reach your desired objectives. By utilizing these easy marketing ideas, you are creating focus and direction for your business on a day-to-day basis. Write down some daily marketing goals that you want to achieve and keep them handy. By reviewing them daily, you are choosing to put all your energy and passion into creating in real life what you've put on paper.

Tiffany Washko is a virtual assistant in Phoenix, Arizona and the President of Constellations Virtual Services Group. Tiffany has provided marketing and support services for companies specializing in areas such as Income Tax Preparation, Financial Planning, Theatre, and Healthcare.

Tiffany Washko, Constellations Virtual Services Group
602-206-1883
twashko@constellationsgrp.com
http://www.constellationsgrp.com/

Members, you can earn free membership!
For every new member you refer to us, you receive an additional month of membership!

Don't forget to invite friends and colleagues to an event!