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I can’t seem to shake some things from my mind. As much as I’d like to let an issue rest, such as the case of training versus implementation. I hold onto this issue with the hopes that more people will start to understand that training courses do not guarantee results, they guarantee information.

Want to know about hero worship and your business? Just stop by Twitter on Friday for the infamous Follow Friday. I know I’m one of the few who wishes this was left for maybe one Friday a month - and not every single week. After all, how many deep new connections are you forming in 1 week? But that’s not the isssue right now.

The issue is that age old guru talk. Every Friday you get to see the hero/guru worship that can be overwhelmingly appalling. And it’s never anyone different. It’s always choosing someone in a higher station than yourself. When it comes to building your business though, flattery will get you nowhere.

Implementation gets you everywhere.

Who do you want to be?

I’m sure you have one person in mind who seems to be living the exact life you want. Maybe they’re driving the car you want, living in the house you’ve been dreaming about, or hopping on a jet plane while you’re slaving away with clients or at a desk job.

These are those great people that make you feel wonderful about yourself. They fill your car with imitation fuel, telling you that they are going to show you step by step what they did so you can be as successful as them. And you’re going to shell out a pretty penny for it too.

But while you may walk away feeling great about yourself after this training, what are you really left with except an inflated ego?

It’s too easy to whip out that credit card and sign up for a new course. And with the typical mindset towards money, you get this feeling of entitlement that you’re finally going to be the success that you’ve been wanting to be (even if this is your 16th high ticket course you’ve purchased) only to be disappointed once again. You come out of the course without a product, without any websites, with very little content of your own, and worst of all, you’re not adding anything to anyone’s life.

Money comes when you add value. Not when you work with a guru.

It breaks my heart because I’ve been there. But then I realized there wasn’t much difference between those heroes and myself. I had everything inside of myself that they made me believe I didn’t - that extra something I needed to shell out a hefty amount for so they could meet their launch income goal.

I know that being like your hero is tempting. You want to live their life and you want to live it now. But the journey is so much more important than the promise. Your business is going to grow so much more if you go out there and make mistakes of your own.

And you know what? When you go out and make those mistakes, fixing them as you go along, people will pay you handsomely for that.

When that happens, make sure they have a plan to implement what they learn from you. Gotta toot my own horn now and say that the best way to do this is make sure you partner with an internet marketing virtual assistant to help them actually have something to show.

Otherwise, you’re just selling the promise. If I find you doing that, I’ll find you and write a blog post about you. That’s just my style, what can I say?

What do you think? Are you still in the hero worship phase or are you actually out there making mistakes and fixing them as you go? Have you converted from being a hero worshipper to an action taker? Let me know! Comment below.

I spend a lot of time thinking about my role as an internet marketing virtual assistant and how that position will change in the future. I don’t just mean my own growth though. I’m talking about the growth of the industry itself.

One of the most difficult aspects of building a business online is the high potential for information overload. There’s always a new plugin, training course, social media tool, or product you can create. It’s a nightmare for business owners who just don’t feel like they can keep up with everything while retaining their sanity.

That’s why I see virtual assistants evolving into what I like to call Implementation Specialists.

What is this going to look like?

Side by Side Training

I wouldn’t be surprised if conference hosts will need to start looking for locations that can hold double the amount of attendees. Why is this? In a short amount of time, I imagine business owners bringing their virtual assistants into the real world. There’s so much information distributed at these conferences that 2 minds are going to get much more done (and a return on investment!) by attending together.

The business owner will be taking notes on the big picture of the conference presentations while the virtual assistant will be furiously writing up ideas for implementation. With this type of teamwork, business owners will no longer return home from conferences feeling overwhelmed about how much needs to be done.

Instead, they’ll have a clear action plan set in place that they’ll be excited to get started on.

More Strategy Focused

This is something that Craig Cannings over at VA Classroom does a lot of with his innovative training programs. In fact, he’s looking at the virtual assistant industry more through the eyes of a business owner rather than a virtual assistant’s eyes. What this means for virtual assistants is that he’s designing training programs for skills that he would like his own virtual assistants to have.

The benefit of this type of approach can’t be overstated.

Entrepreneurs typically get more ideas than any other subset of people you’ll ever meet. The problem is, these ideas get stashed on napkins, written in notebooks, or maybe hidden away in some private blog online. They love the idea phase but they get hung up on the implementation phase.

But imagine Virtual Assistant/Implementation Specialist (insert name here - preferably Jeff - end shameless plug) sweeping in to save the day. For this reason alone, virtual assistants will earn the title of “Millionaire Makers” by those who use their skills in the best way possible. They’ll be able to take those ideas and break them down into steps that can be done now, done soon, and done later.

Portfolio Based Hiring

Hiring a virtual assistant (or shall I say, Implementation Specialist) in the future is going to look more like hiring a graphic designer or web specialist rather than just an employee. The question that will be on every business owner’s mind will be “So, what have you accomplished?”

At that point, the eager virtual assistant will be directing their potential client to a virtual portfolio demonstrating how they took ideas into reality. Potential clients and virtual assistants will discuss problems that happened during the implementation process so that the business owner can see how their virtual assistant solves problems.

The major benefit of this is that it will help eradicate one of the doubts that many business owners have about hiring a virtual assistant which is “But I can run the business by myself.” While this might be true, is it leaving much room for innovating, implementing, and maybe even instigating some trouble (and of course writing a press release about it!)?

I don’t think so.

So whether you’re a virtual assistant or a business owner, how do you see the role of a virtual assistant changing in the future? What’s working right now and what could be changed?

Leave a comment and let’s get the conversation going, shall we?