Project Support (a.k.a.  "your secret weapon in getting it ALL done")

There comes a time in every business when growth hits a plateau; most typically NOT because of the lack of good ideas, but rather because the manpower to do the business development work falls short.

But with a little project support happening behind the scenes by our virtual team, you'll leave your competitors scratching their heads and wondering how the heck you get it all done!

Project support fees are based on the size and complexity of the project, but an initial consultation to discuss your business situation is always free.  Book a day/time at www.joyduling.com.

Large-Scale Project Coordination - Need someone who can sort through all the details of a complex project and create the perfect plan of attack?  

BaseCamp is one tool we use regularly to help our clients manage heavy workloads and big projects. 

One great example is our recent involvement in the Extreme Makeover Home Edition Project that happened in Central Illinois... involving 1,000+ volunteers, hundreds of companies, and an extensive project team. 

Thanks to a BaseCamp hub, our strategy team was able to easily share files, send messages, and track major milestones prior, during and after the build.

        


Another helpful project management tool that we use for project coordination with clients is a Gantt Chart.  These make it really easy to see all the dependencies that may exist in your project(s), as well as exactly what has to be done and by when.  

Knowing how to use the Gantt tool a key management skill.  Managing Director Joy Duling can teach you how to read, interpret and maybe even create your own Gantt charts.

        

 

Designing, Hosting & Maintaining Websites - we offer our clients all the perks of a full-featured website that costs thousands of dollars, with the ease of a do-it-yourself site-building system.

Our proprietary site-builder offers MORE features than anyone else in the area and the prices are extremely reasonable. 

We can coach you through the set-up of your own site using our super-easy website builder OR we can design it all for you from scratch.

In addition to standard website set-up, we can also help you with the set-up of shopping carts, blogs and other specialty plug-ins.

Contact us for full details and a complimentary website design proposal.

Writing Website Content - just need someone to plan/write your site?  We've helped over 100 small business owners do just that. 

We're passionate about helping small business owners tell their stories and our clients get excellent search engine results.

Contact us for a no-obligation quote for a brand new website or for a refresher on an existing site.

Setting Up Email Campaigns - we recommend Mail Chimp; it's a powerful, yet user-friendly system that can send graphic-rich emails to your entire email base.
(Prefer Constant Contact, Vertical Response, i-contact or aweber?  We're familiar with those, too.)  

                
                           Powered by MailChimp

Developing Drip Marketing Campaigns - Whether you want to send out your mailings individually or prefer an automated tool, we can get your campaign(s) planned, designed and implemented flawlessly.

Send Out Cards is a terrific tool that we use often in very creative ways.
Contact us and we'll walk you through how to send a sample card to yourself or someone else... and we'll explain how a business can creatively use this system to automate touch-points with clients and/or prospects.

                  


For email drip campaigns, AWeber is hands-down the most reliable auto-responder on the market.  Emails go out automatically on the schedule you've designated.  We use this system to handle all of our auto-mailers, like our 365-day series entitled A Day's Potential and our 21-day Productive Entrepreneur Quick Tips series.

                       

Again, we make setting up these systems headache-free.  We'll work with you to define exactly what you want the systems to do for your business and then we'll custom design the drip marketing campaign that meets those specific needs.

Drafting Award Nominations - It's really HARD to write about yourself!  So, let a professional, freelance writer do it for you!  We interview you, collect the info we need to fill out the nomination and return it to you for review. 

Numerous entrepreneurial and industry-specific awards have been won by clients based on applications that we've created for them, including:

- Microsoft Start Something Amazing Award
- NAWBO National Awards
- Milliken Regional Entrepreneurial Network
- Innovate Illinois State Semi-Finals
- and more!

Developing Ezine or Newsletter Articles & Article Submission Services -
Ask about our extensive list of places to post your articles.  We happily take care of writing your articles, then place them in the article directories appropriate to your specific industry.

Preparing Grant Proposals - We get outstanding results and can provide you with an impressive list of successes.  Our grantwriting clients have included:

      - Illinois AmeriCorps
      - Metropolitan Oasis Community Development Corporation
      - Crittenton Centers
      - Komen for the Cure
      - Cochlear Implant Awareness Foundation
      - Communities at Maple Lawn
      - Eureka College
      - UCP of Illinois
      - FORUM (Fulfilling Our Responsibilities Unto Mankind)
      - Schuler Family Foundation

Annually, Managing Director Joy Duling conducts grantwriting technical assistance seminars for dozens of organizations across the state of Illinois. 

Developing Requests for Proposals - we've prepared numerous RFP packages for the State of Illinois in various areas of human services.

Invoicing and Collecting On-line Payments from Your Customers - If you are a business owner looking for a convenient way to send invoices to your customers, we highly recommend Freshbooks.  We've tried others, but always come back to Freshbooks as our favorite pick.

We can get you set up and ready to start collecting money from your customers very quickly.

             

 
Competitor Analysis - want to know how your processes compare with your competitors?  We'll do the ghost-shopping for you.  You receive a written report, including price comparisons and recommendations for differentiation.